m'illumino di meno
16 February was the all-Italian (international?) day of risparmio energetico - energy saving. A popular radio show, Caterpillar (pronunced Cat-eR-pi:ll-aR) on Radio Due, has done a good job talking of hybrid cars and simple everyday energy saving techniques; come up with a beaty little song; and created a strong slogan that is likely to come up every now and again. The name of the campaign, M'illumino di meno, literally means "I light up of less" and refers to Giuseppe Ungaretti's famous poem Morning (1933):
M'illumino
d'immenso.
d'immenso.
In translation it says: "I flood myself with light of the immense". Caterpillar's adaption of it is witty, easy to remember and utter, and most importantly of all - strikes some note in any Italian that ever went to school.
From 6 pm to 6:05 pm, ENEL - the Italian electricity network - registered the decrease of energy use by the amount of 300 megawatt (approx. 5 million light-bulbs) as cities switched off the lighting on their main squares, people shut down their computers and our own humble flat was cooking in the light of a tiny IKEA saving-bulb.
We organised a candle-light dinner for our closest friends for the occasion. It had to be Friday, though the usual party-night is Saturday. (Due to long lunch-breaks, people leave work no earlier than 6 or 7 and bearing in mind to visit someone after a week of these evenings might not be easy.) We sent out the invitations and sat down waiting. By Friday afternoon only one person had excused himself, as his way home would be half the length of Italy. Another left the country in a flurry of fresh love and he was excused too. The others made no sign because:
a) they didn't check emails;
b) they did, but thought our invitation was a Caterpillar announcement;
c) knew there was something, but preferred to have their usual Friday-evening relaxation instead.
It often happens here in Veneto, but it still baffles me: it is the exact opposite of my first stereotype of the Italians. I was delighted to think that they value their friends and the time spent together much more than the Estonians do (not that the Estonians don't love their friends - they do - but the habitual everyday goings-on, studying, and work generally tend to take the first seat). In fact, I might have been mistaken due to the holiday-like nature of my first encounters. Or then again, I might have mistaken the Italians for the Portuguese.
Regardless of our company being the usual 4 instead of a merry 12, we enjoyed ourselves immensely over the food and the ceremonial feeling of candle-light, three courses of dinner and two kinds of wine. It was so good that it took us two days to do all the dishes.
What comes to saving energy, I don't think that 5 minutes of darkness on Piazza San Marco will change much; but if there were people who spent all the evening being fussy about turning on the TV, I guess it will have at least some kind of an impact for the next weeks. Then, of course, we'll go on using the tumble-dry, the lift and leaving lights on in the interest of atmosphere.
From 6 pm to 6:05 pm, ENEL - the Italian electricity network - registered the decrease of energy use by the amount of 300 megawatt (approx. 5 million light-bulbs) as cities switched off the lighting on their main squares, people shut down their computers and our own humble flat was cooking in the light of a tiny IKEA saving-bulb.
We organised a candle-light dinner for our closest friends for the occasion. It had to be Friday, though the usual party-night is Saturday. (Due to long lunch-breaks, people leave work no earlier than 6 or 7 and bearing in mind to visit someone after a week of these evenings might not be easy.) We sent out the invitations and sat down waiting. By Friday afternoon only one person had excused himself, as his way home would be half the length of Italy. Another left the country in a flurry of fresh love and he was excused too. The others made no sign because:
a) they didn't check emails;
b) they did, but thought our invitation was a Caterpillar announcement;
c) knew there was something, but preferred to have their usual Friday-evening relaxation instead.
It often happens here in Veneto, but it still baffles me: it is the exact opposite of my first stereotype of the Italians. I was delighted to think that they value their friends and the time spent together much more than the Estonians do (not that the Estonians don't love their friends - they do - but the habitual everyday goings-on, studying, and work generally tend to take the first seat). In fact, I might have been mistaken due to the holiday-like nature of my first encounters. Or then again, I might have mistaken the Italians for the Portuguese.
Regardless of our company being the usual 4 instead of a merry 12, we enjoyed ourselves immensely over the food and the ceremonial feeling of candle-light, three courses of dinner and two kinds of wine. It was so good that it took us two days to do all the dishes.
What comes to saving energy, I don't think that 5 minutes of darkness on Piazza San Marco will change much; but if there were people who spent all the evening being fussy about turning on the TV, I guess it will have at least some kind of an impact for the next weeks. Then, of course, we'll go on using the tumble-dry, the lift and leaving lights on in the interest of atmosphere.
No comments:
Post a Comment