A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Through Beppe Grillo’s blog (http://www.beppegrillo.it/) I got to see two horrific pictures today. Northern Italy is under siege of traffic pollution, and all attempts at reducing the amount of poisonous substances in the air we breathe are unable to get the situation back under control.

The pictures, which I stole from his site, show a filter exposed for 12 hours in Modena through a device that simulates the normal breathing of a human respiratory system. Grillo makes the point that what once had to be measured with special devices is now so blatantly evident that one does not need to measure anything: you can see that the exposed side (in the second picture, below) is totally blackened by the toxic substances. That is the daily amount of poison for citizens of Modena.

I would be glad to be able to make the selfish grinning comment that I am glad my family lives in Venice. Venice, however, is not alien to poisoning of its air, despite the lack of cars: in fact the glass factories in Murano are suspected to raise leukemia levels by four times in the city with respect to other nearby towns.