Please save and share this info where possible. This report has since been removed by Amnesty International due to legal threats of libel from JK Rowling. This information is no longer easily accessible.
Now that everyone is discussing Nolan's Odyssey movie, I feel like it's a good time to let non-Italians know that the production dumped plastic props into the Italian sea. Weirdly enough I could not find any article in English about it but it's a fucking problem nonetheless.
I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.
Non è la prima volta che la produzione solleva un vespaio in Sicilia. A Lipari una squadra di sub sarebbe però già impegnata a bonificare i
Nolan's The Odyssey between "junk skeletons" and wrecks: Arpa [translator's note: Regional Environmental Protection Agency] is working in Sicily. What's happening?
It's not the first time that this production stirs up a hornet's nest in Sicily. In Lipari, divers are reportedly already working on cleaning the sea. Here is what we know.
[Translation of the article below the cut]
In recent weeks, some macabre discoveries made in the waters off Linosa, near the village of Pietra del Bagno, have caused quite a stir.
A number of fake skeletons and various props have been found on the seabed around the island. These are from the production of the film The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning director of Oppenheimer, a film dedicated to the tragic figure of the man in charge of the Manhattan Project.
The skeletons, in particular, have caused worry among divers and swimmers who didn't know that some of the scenes of the movie had been shot on the island.
It's not the first time that the production of this movie stirs up a hornet's nest in Sicily. This past spring, some environmentalists accused the Wildside production of ruining some parts of Egadi, the other Sicilian archipelago in which some of the scenes are set. To ascertain whether any damage has occurred and, if so, the extent of it in these archipelagos, Giusi Savarino, the Councillor for Land and the Environment, decided a few days ago to carry out further inspections, in collaboration with ARPA Sicilia and on the basis of reports already submitted by the Port Capitancy, which had previously highlighted the failure to remove certain props from the seabed around these islands.
To make it worse, Egadi and Aeolian Islands are part of some of the country’s most important marine protected areas and are amongst the archipelagos with the greatest tourist appeal in our country. “Along with the authorisation to shoot the film in our region,” explained Councillor Savarino in a statement, “we had also provided precise rules and guidelines to protect the environment of the areas involved in the filming. The discoveries of the last few days are a cause for serious concern and, for this reason, together with ARPA, we will take action to assess the potential impact of these materials on the habitat and marine species in this area of significant natural value.”
We are delighted to host international film projects and are always willing to support these productions, but no one should think they can take advantage of our generosity by showing a lack of respect for the beauty of our environment."
There has been no response yet from Christopher Nolan, but it is a known fact that the director's intention was to film in Sicily to make his ‘Odyssey’ as faithful as possible to the literary work.
Nolan had been planning to shoot this film in the Mediterranean for years and waited until he had obtained all the necessary permits to film at the various locations, which – in addition to Sicily – included Tunisia and some mountainous regions of Greece.
Furthermore, it is not the director himself who is under fire, but once again the film production company Wildside, which collaborated with him during shooting in the Aeolian Islands in May.
In Lipari, however, a team of divers is reportedly already working to clean up the seabed, precisely to defuse the controversy.
Sorry for the poor quality of the translation, I couldn't be bothered to polish it, hopefully it's understandable, but if it isn't please feel free to reach out and I'll clear up any doubts. If you want any more information about it I can try to find more articles in Italian and translate them for you. So far I haven't found any in English, only one in Dutch and a few in Italian but even in Italian news there isn't much, they aren't mentioning it on tv or anything (and I don't expect them to mention it when they are going to promote the movie on the national news). It's mostly on some local newspapers.
a funny thing about having conversations with people within institutions (academic in this case but also others) about gatekeeping, is that you end up having a conversation over and over in which you're like, "hey this alligator spike pit moat you have erected around your institution is keeping a lot of people out," and they're like, "well *I* navigated the alligator spike pit moat just fine," and you're like, "right. by dint of us having this conversation, you within the institution and me without, it is understood that you navigated the alligator spike pit moat. due to that being an inherent requirement of entering the institution," and they're like, "I don't think you understand the prestigious history of our alligator spike pit moat," and you're like, "is there a reason why there needs to be an alligator spike pit moat encircling the concept of higher education?" and they're like, "look, the alligator spike pit moat isn't for everyone. some people just aren't cut out for the alligator spike pit moat :)" and you're like, "right, yeah, like disabled people and people coming from poverty or unstable home environments or underserved communities or people dealing with difficult to navigate life events like pregnancy or abuse or prison or addiction or the death of a loved one, for example" and they're like, "how dare you imply that we are keeping those people out on purpose. it's their own problem if they can't wrestle the alligators and avoid the spikes while also disabled and/or poor and/or pregnant etc" and you're like, "well that seems evil," and they're like, "it sounds like maybe you're just bitter about the alligator spike pit moat because of your totally random individual experience with ONE bad alligator spike pit moat. have you considered therapy?" and you're like, "did you know that there's some patterns here in terms of how y'all are handling this stuff?" and they're like, "actually yes. we even have a department of alligator spike pit studies :)" and you're like, "that's great, how do I get access to and participate in those conversations?" and they're like, "well firstly you must cross the alligator spike pit moat"
if you can document that you have a medical condition that might make it challenging for you to navigate the alligator spike pit moat, they'll give you an extra 20 minutes to complete your navigation of the alligator spike pit moat
IMPORTANT: any injuries incurred as a result of navigating the alligator spike pit moat will be the sole responsibility of the injured parties. once you leave, the people who made you navigate the alligator spike pit moat and the institution that installed the alligator spike pit moat will never contact you again. except sometimes to ask you for more money.
These pescatarian birds are directly exposed to PFAS contamination due to the island's position near the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Over fifty years of data show a peak in PFAS (also known as "forever chemicals") content in seabird eggs in the 90s, followed by a decrease as regulations went into effect. The most recent findings show a 70% decrease of most common PFAS.
While continued vigilance a regulation is needed, this data indicates that regulations are working to reduce PFAS concentrations in marine ecosystems.
This is a perfect time to read the brilliant and unforgettable graphic novel(s) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about growing up in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of the oppressive theocracy that persists to this day.
Both graphic novels are available free online (Persepolis vol. 1, Persepolis vol. 2)
It also was adapted to a wonderful film (co-directed and co-written by the author) which is available to watch for free on Sundance Now (sign up for the free trial)
These pescatarian birds are directly exposed to PFAS contamination due to the island's position near the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Over fifty years of data show a peak in PFAS (also known as "forever chemicals") content in seabird eggs in the 90s, followed by a decrease as regulations went into effect. The most recent findings show a 70% decrease of most common PFAS.
While continued vigilance a regulation is needed, this data indicates that regulations are working to reduce PFAS concentrations in marine ecosystems.
Dave Brandt was so much more than a meme. He partnered with universities to experiment with and expand soil conservation and cover crop techniques, worked to educate other farmers through worldwide conventions and direct mentorship, founded the Soil Health Academy, and was called the "Obi-Wan Kenobi of soil health" by the chief of the USDA's conservation department.
There is no healthy planet without healthy ag practices, and this guy was a legend.
Most modern Ag operations don’t even have a proper A-Horizon. They’re too busy turning the earth every time they replant. The A-horizon is the Black Gold that makes Soil Soil. It’s a structurally complex soil horizon that must be built in place by the interactions of Plants and Fungi and Insects. It is The Thing that soaks up rain and holds onto it for plants. The A-Horizon is The Thing that builds up when you let a field sit fallow. The act of tilling creates fecundity by breaking up the A-horizon. On a really good Organic no-till farm you might find an A-horizon between 3-6 inches.
His A-horizon was 4 feet deep. 50 inches.
I-
I have no context. His farm was covered in a living skin thick enough for a child to stand in.
Gives me hope for what we could accomplish if we got our collective heads on straight, you know? Like. This was one guy. A brilliant man, who knew what he was up to, but. The thing about brilliant ideas is they can be shared.
Humus, or Humic Compounds, are a cryptic and poorly understood set of organic substances. As the final metabolic result of once-living things being digested first by macroscopic organisms, and then by microorganisms, they resist most forms of analysis, and have cryptic structures. A few that we have managed to isolate and study are the Humic & Fulvic Acids.
Humus has a number of remarkable tendencies. It is capable of retaining water far better than any raw mineral clay; it also retains electrically charged clay granules, which themselves retain mineral ions, all of which is essential to make a soil a high-quality resource for Plants to grow in.
A composter is a box that contains an environment that is conducive to the production of Humus, but the best way to produce it is in-place, by laying layers of organic material down over an unbroken earth and growing things out of that. The interaction of the plants rooting, the fungus weaving itself through everything, the bacteria and archaea metabolizing as they do, and inorganic weathering forces all combine to gradually build up the microscopic equivalent of a complex megastructure capable of retaining far more water, and containing far more nutrients, than any inorganic substrate.
This stuff is black gold. This is the stuff that determines whether or not a plot of land is going to be “productive.” The knowledge of how to make it, how to care for it, is an essential piece of wisdom that our civilization needs to remember.
Fortunately, folks seem to have the right response:
Farmers are more important to the continuity of civilization than administrators, no matter what the elitists say. This knowledge is important.
it is unfortunate that there's no reason for most people to remember high school chemistry because the best analogy I have found for "the amount of energy that it takes me to initiate a task, which can be higher than the amount of energy it takes to actually complete the task" is "activation energy" and it's not precisely perfect but
yeah. and you can even include "thing that reduces the barrier to doing the task" as a catalyst/enzyme
anyway. unfortunately this does not actually clarify anything for the average person. but #ToMe it works
Here is where I stand. There is a Jew who lives, by force, in half of my home in Jerusalem, and he does so by “divine decree,” in the name of the Jewish people. Many others reside, by force, on Palestinian land and in Palestinian houses, while their actual owners languish in refugee camps. It is not my fault that they are Jewish. I have zero interest in apologizing for centuries-old tropes created by Europeans, when millions of us confront real, tangible oppression, living behind cement walls, or under siege, or in exile, and living with woes too expansive to summarize. I am tired of the impulse to preemptively distance myself from something of which I am not guilty, and particularly tired of the constant burden to prove that I am not inherently bigoted. I’m tired of the pearl-clutching pretense that should such animosity exist, its existence would be inexplicable and rootless, of the academics and the intellectuals punching down on the unfiltered among us. Most of all, I am tired of the false equivalence between semantic “violence” and systemic violence: only one party in this “conflict” is actively engaged in the intentional and systematic attempted eradication of an entire population.
Mohammed el-Kurd, Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal
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