On 18th June the city of Ravenna hosted an event for a positive and proactive contribution to global change. The massive presence of all those people who took a seat on the steps of Ravenna Chamber of Commerce that day, shows how people really care about the concept of sustainability. The proof that nowadays the world is still unsustainable is a clear message coming from institutions which participated that day, like Edo Ronchi, former Minister for the Environment and the summit of Green Economy National Council, which directly stated that the real “sustainable revolution”, climatic in particular, can only be carried out through politicians complete awareness of the problem: according to Ronchi, we are undergoing a transition phase, where unsustainability is still going too fast, while processes towards sustainability are still too slow and cumbersome. The data shown by Filomena Maggino, Teacher of Social Statistics and President of the Italian Association of Life Quality Studies (AIQUAV), were clear and direct. They highlighted a dangerous convergence with tendencies already envisaged in the 70s, which showed the aftermath of no global intervention to preserve the environment and society.
The Region of Emilia-Romagna, represented by Paola Alessandri, is giving value to social responsibility and sustainable development on the territory with particular focus on the world of business, by means of proactive and coherent initiatives. Projects like Province Laboratories of Corporate Social Responsibility and RSI Award are exemplary in the range of initiatives undertaken by the Region.
A trend emerges with the aim of giving value to a wider dimension: the “positive culture” of our land in the whole. Therefore, together with the interventions of key actors in the field of national sustainability, there was a presentation of some peculiar aspects of wine and food tradition, with a buffet made up of typical local products exclusively, but also an artistic point of view with valuable performances offered by Ivano Marescotti e Franco Costantini who “strolled” on Dante’s verses in the typical enthusiasm of Romagna.
The mayor of Faenza, Giovanni Malpezzi, maintained that the key for a completely sustainable future is “co-design”, which means involvement of a plurality of parts organized responsibly in the creation of sustainable projects and initiatives, hinting at the positive example of the group of Romagna enterprises called Il Senso Ritrovato, involved in activities concerned with social responsibility and sustainability.
I agree with mayor Malpezzi when he says that our future must be built together, as well as Natalino Gigante (President of the Chamber of Commerce) repeated during his speech, working with positive energy and shared goals oriented towards a sustainable ethical conduct.
In this spirit of “teamwork”, where enterprises will be directly involved, together with local councils and institutions, new projects will be born with the objective of making companies and communities understand the importance of a sustainable economy for the benefit of a territory and its community development.
A company produces “sustainable economy” when it recognizes as a unique and vital value its own territory, as underlined by Plef founder, Paolo Ricotti.
On this basis Saturday’s event revealed itself as the perfect occasion to present “Territory’s school” to the community of Romagna: a path for companies, local councils and all attendants to recognize and give value to a territory’s distinctive features, peculiar elements, thus distinctive, which increase the value of a company by starting from the sustainable bind with the territory.
On the horizon of sustainability in the territory of Romagna, there is the outline of a future in which companies, local councils, institutions and communities contribute to a unique cause: creating benefit to all people beginning from the community itself. From the small one to the bigger…
On Saturday 18th June 2016, without making it obvious, we laid the foundations for a completely sustainable future from a simple yet revolutionary point of view, indispensable and crucial to meet the big goal of setting up Italy’s First Permanent Centre of Territory… right here, in Emilia-Romagna!