Venice, Italy is experiencing its worst flooding in 50 years and Venice mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, has blamed climate change for the high tides.
Venice, Italy is experiencing its worst flooding in 50 years, shortly after Venice city council voted to reject climate change measures. The council chamber itself started to flood on 13 November. Andrea Zanoni shared photos of the flooding in a Facebook post, saying, “Ironically, the chamber was flooded two minutes after the majority League, Brothers of Italy, and Forza Italia parties rejected our amendments to tackle climate change.” Zanoni is the deputy chairman of the environment committee.
The council rejected amendments to fund renewable energy, remove polluting stoves, reduce plastics, and replace diesel buses with non- polluting. The council’s President denies the accusations from Zanoni, telling CNN, “Beyond propaganda and deceptive reading, we are voting (for) a regional budget that spent €965 million over the past three years in the fight against air pollution, smog, which is a determining factor in climate change.”
Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro blamed climate change for the high tides, calling the flooding, “a wound that will leave a permanent mark.” The mayor said on twitter ,”This is the result of climate change.” He declared a state of emergency on 13 November due to the flooding. St. Mark’s Basilica was flooded, gondolas were smashed and other parts of the city experienced rushing water. The tide had risen to 6 feet, 2 inches on Wednesday. Saint Mark’s square was under a meter of water. 80{85424e366b324f7465dc80d56c21055464082cc00b76c51558805a981c8fcd63} of Venice was underwater during the highest tides.
Italy has been dealing with climate change across the country. The country recently voted to tax plastic. Italy also recently introduced climate change curriculum for its schools.
Original source: https://www.onegreenplanet.org