Mario Tozzi: “Climate? Kids know more than us”

He accuses everyone – politicians, the scientific community, economic powers – for not having tackled the climate crisis more decisively. And he even blames himself for not yelling louder that the situation is very serious. Mario Tozzi, scientist, essayist and television face with 25 years of experience in communicating the environmental crisis, feels that all this outreach work is not enough. His latest book Why is the climate changing? (EL editions under the Einaudi Ragazzi brand, €12.90) opens with the paragraph “A well-founded accusation” in which Tozzi (who will make a speech at the Green&Blue Festival on 8 June) points the finger at those who continue to invest in fossil fuels, against politicians who do not act to eliminate climate-altering emissions, against the media that give space to deniers and the rich who unload the worst effects of the climate crisis on the poor. Finally, he doesn’t even spare himself from accusations, and among other things he reproaches himself for not having wanted to be told, once again, “that he is a catastrophist”.

Tozzi, do you really think your commitment to correct disclosure is not enough?
“I feel guilty for not having exposed myself – he replies – for not having done more in an era in which not being exposed has become the norm. Precisely for this reason, taking a stand with conviction is more important than ever”.

Scientists chain themselves, activists show themselves naked, or demonstrate actions on works of art. What else can be done?
“The pressure on those who continue to use fossil fuels and deny the climate crisis is never enough. The new forms of protest implemented by activists should be calibrated, because it is one thing to throw charcoal into a fountain, another is to smear a porous surface like the walls of Palazzo Pitti. In any case, I met these guys who I admire for their far-reaching battle and because they are informed, contrary to what some would have us believe. They show adults their guilty inaction and adults don’t like it have the finger pointed at”.

Are you proposing to reflect on striking but more sustainable forms of protest?
“I don’t know if sustainable is the right term. In any case, protest cannot alienate ordinary people, who often find themselves trapped in a system of incomplete information. The problem is that in Italy, perhaps more than in other countries, denial climate is strong, also due to a general lack of scientific culture”.

Your book, in which each chapter answers a question, would like to fill these gaps?
“I would like it to become a starting point for discussions in schools, in assemblies in which possible adaptation and mitigation strategies are discussed, which would serve to refute the denial junk”.

Go back to too much space given to deniers. Are you strong in your skills and do you perceive that many do not have them?
“In Italy, true scientific dissemination on television is almost absent and too often in the name of debate, space is given to deniers: if I am invited, I always ask who I will have in front of me and I do not accept comparisons, nor do I give the stage to deniers. I study, I read, I reflect, I have a degree in geology, a PhD in Earth Sciences, I am senior researcher at the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the Cnr, in 2018 the La Sapienza University of Rome included me among its illustrious graduates, I have various teaching and presiding positions, President Napolitano awarded me the honor of Cavaliere al Merito.In short, I list all this because the principle of ‘one is worth one’ cannot be applied, people who speak with knowledge of the facts and others who express simple opinions! In this, acclaimed science is not democratic, but I also want to reiterate that 97% of scientists agree that global warming depends on sapiens, if we still need numbers and percentages”.