Who are the real ecovandals

Linguist Vera Gheno, who explains the origin and deep meaning of words, he says we should stop calling young protesters “eco-vandals”. against our indifference to climate change by smearing our artistic heritage with washable paint, vegetable charcoal or vegetable soups, or (as happened again yesterday) covering ourselves with mud in front of institutional offices to symbolize the carelessness that caused the disaster in Romagna .

Linguistically, etymologically, they are not ecovandals, says Vera Ghenoas the Vandals “were an ancient Germanic population which repeatedly invaded the territories of the Western Roman Empire and in the fifth century attacked and sacked Rome”. Today, always writes Vera Gheno, the term is used with the meaning of “anyone who, out of ignorance, incivility or pure taste for violence, destroys or tampers without reason, especially assets belonging to the artistic or cultural heritage”. they do not do their actions for no reason and indeed they do it with a precise motivation. And moreover scientifically founded (which does not mean that the strategy is right and is working).

So who are the ecovandals? Who is it that damages the environment or the artistic heritage “for no reason”? For example, who continues abusively to consume soil with concrete instead of regenerating it. Those who use the car, even in the presence of alternative means, contribute to introducing a quantity of pollutants into the air that damage the lungs and eyesight, as well as attacking statues and monuments. And more generally, who wastes, who doesn’t reuse, who doesn’t repair, who doesn’t separate waste. Who pollutes not to carry out a mission or to work or out of necessity, that is, not being able to do otherwise, but to satisfy an entertainment, to get rid of a whim.

I would add: politicians who indulge in pointless polemics instead of putting the fight against and adaptation to climate change at the top of the agenda. It’s us, the ecovandals, our children, our friends. Every day we are the ones who vandalize the monuments a little but also the environment, the planet that hosts us, without a real why, unknowingly. And then we are indignant.