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THE GREAT MELTDOWN | Climate Change
The Climate Change Film
With this project, 3Bee aimed to document climate change from the perspective of the whole range of human actions-alterations on ecosystems and biodiversity. The CO2 produced by human activities is the main factor of global warming, its most common representation. Underlying the phenomenon is anthropisation, in its most obvious form: the overuse, extraction or exploitation of a natural resource.
Genre
Drama Horror
Creator
Climate Change
Screenwriter
The Overexploitation of resources
History
3Bee, the Italian company that has been at the forefront of protecting bees and pollinators through technology since 2017, is launching a provocative new campaign to raise awareness about climate change and wants you to be part of it, because it certainly affects you personally.
History
The winter of 2022 in Italy was the sixth driest in the last 63 years. In climate terms, this means an average of 1.7°C more than in the 30-year period 1981-2010. Especially in the North (+2.3°C) and especially in the north-west (+2.6°C). On 8 March, the Po showed the lowest flow levels compared to the last thirty years.
Abnormal heat waves, fires, severe droughts, floods, landslides. Experts call them "extreme events". In reality, they are tragedies with a very high cost in terms of human lives and biodiversity. They all share the same trademark: they can be attributed, more or less directly, to the climate changes taking place on the planet, which are in turn linked to human activity, and in particular to the release of climate-changing gases into the atmosphere.
Milan, August 2023
S2 E1 - Milan on Fire: Heat Islands
Heat islands are urban areas where the temperature is significantly higher than the surrounding areas. In Milan, these islands cover 80% of the urban surface, mainly due to the lack of green spaces. Materials such as asphalt, concrete, and metal absorb solar heat, creating thermal hotspots with very high temperatures, up to 40-45 degrees in some areas. This phenomenon is exacerbated by climate change, which increases temperatures and extreme weather events. Watch the full episode.
"Each hard-won victory over climate change, globally, could be swept away by the effects of uncontrollable urban heat islands." - Richards S. J. Tol MAE - University of Sussex
Triveneto, October 2018
S2 E2 - Vaia, a Memorable Storm
The Vaia storm on October 29, 2018, named after Vaia Jakobs, manager of a German multinational, caused wind gusts of up to 190-200 km/h, destroying red spruce forests in the Triveneto region. About 15 million trees fell in a few minutes, with trunk cleaning taking years. 10% of the trees still to be removed have been attacked by the Ips beetle, a beetle that spread due to tree damage. Watch the full episode.
"The landscape binds man and nature through the composition of their respective manifestations. Cultural assets characterize the landscape as much as natural assets in the territories they share and interact in. Therefore, the assessment of the value of a landscape cannot ignore considering, as a whole, the physical, natural, and human components of value." - ISPRA - Map of the naturalistic-cultural value of Italy
Mediterranean, August 2023
S2 E3 - Silent Invasion, Blue Crab, and Alien Species
In Veneto, the invasion of the North American blue crab and the Japanese beetle Popillia japonica threatens biodiversity. Blue crabs, introduced 70 years ago, now dominate the Goro Lagoon, damaging the ecosystem. Popillia japonica devastates crops, fought with harmful agrochemicals. Watch the full episode.
"It’s maybe premature to say the warming is accelerating, but it’s not decreasing, for sure. We still have our foot on the gas" - Matthew Huber, July 2023, The Guardian
Udine, July 2023
S2 E4 - Extreme Hailstorms, the New Normal
In Mortegliano, Udine, in July 2023, a devastating hailstorm occurred, lasting 5 minutes and leaving still visible damages. A hailstone of a record 19 cm surpassed the previous European record. The Po Valley is experiencing climate changes similar to the American Tornado Alley, suggesting a future of more extreme weather events in Italy. Watch the full episode.
"It’s not a question of finding solutions, we have solutions. It’s a question of identifying the solutions we already have, replicating them, and scaling them up" - Jane Lubchenco
Conselice, May 16, 2023
S2 E5 - Emilia Underwater
The devastating flood that hit Emilia Romagna last summer left a tragic toll: 21 rivers flooded, 32,000 displaced, 16 casualties, over 1,000 landslides, and damages totaling 1.5 billion euros. The region, intensely reclaimed with canals and monocultures, has soil made impermeable, aggravating the risk of floods. Despite the risk, excessive soil consumption continues, reducing the ability to prevent floods. Watch the full episode.
"The ongoing mass extinction of species, and with it the extinction of genes and ecosystems, ranks with pandemics, world war, and climate change as among the deadliest threats that humanity has imposed on itself." - Edward O. Wilson, Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life
Carrara Marble Quarry, Apuan Alps
S1 E1 - Over-exploitation of resources
Almost all of the 3015 active mining sites in the country since 1870 have been disused or abandoned, of which 794 involve the extraction of metalliferous minerals. Most of these sites have been managed with little attention to prevention and containment of their environmental impact, with reckless abandonment of large quantities of mining waste. These, in turn, cause the release of toxic elements into the environment, heavy metals in the tailings ponds and possible sludge releases. Our environmental impact, subsidised by an economic model that has reached its limits, necessitates changes in production and consumption systems for food, housing and mobility. Pollinators are fundamental to the resilience of ecosystems to imbalances of various kinds. If the very existence of pollinators is at risk, so are the ecosystem services from which humans and the environment benefit. Watch the episode here.
"The recovery and valorisation of this memory can represent a development opportunity for territories orphaned, and often battered, by mining activities" - ISPRA ambiente
The Caribbean of Tuscany, Rosignano
S1 E2 - Pollution of the sea
Rosignano is a symbol of how human waste alters marine ecosystems. In the past, more than 400 tonnes of Mercury were spilled into the sea, which we now find in our fish chain. Poseidonia, our ally for absorbing CO2, is diminishing due to the opacity of the water. The beach has become Caribbean and is 'perfect' for photo reports or advertisements for suntan creams. But would you bathe here? Watch the episode here.
"It is paradoxical that such a technological age is so unscientific. And then there is a very poor ability to refer to authoritative sources. Climate change is determined by man's productive activities." - Mario Tozzi
Poison Landfill, Bussi sul Tirino
S1 E3 - Soil and groundwater pollution
Europe's largest illegal poison dump is in Bussi sul Tirino. Dioxins, chemicals and heavy metals have been spilled into the ground for years. Now the soil is polluted and rain has carried the toxic substances into the groundwater. The Tirino river, just a few metres away, has carried them into the Pescara and then into the sea. We have exceeded the legal limits for many carcinogenic and mutagenic substances by more than 1,000 times. Analyses on dioxins, copper, mercury, boron, lead, some PAHs and hydrocarbons showed unprecedented levels of pollution. Watch the episode here.
"The consequences fall on everyone, from microorganisms, to fish, to man. We got goose bumps." - 3Bee
Marble quarry, Apuane Alps
S1 E4 - Drought
An analysis of the SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) on different time scales shows that the disturbances that occurred between May and June are not, however, sufficient to make up for the water deficit accumulated over the medium and long term. A deficit that is now also affecting several areas in the centre-south, in particular Tuscany, Lazio, parts of Umbria and Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily. Why should we care? Because the whole of Italy is suffering from falling surface water levels and a huge reduction in groundwater. Agriculture is on its knees just as plants have stopped making nectar. Water is an essential resource for living organisms and for the bee it is no less (consumption of up to 5 litres a day).
"The recovery and enhancement of this memory can be an opportunity for the development of territories orphaned, and often battered, by mining activities" - ISPRA ambiente
Country roads between wheat and corn fields, Cuneo - Italy
S1 E5 - Monocropping
Among the causes of the decline in pollinators and animal biodiversity is the simplification and impoverishment of the landscape. This results in the scarcity of food resources in the flight range of pollinators. Such situations are typical of extensive agricultural areas, such as cereal or sugar beet production. This results in a scarcity of food resources in the flight range of pollinators. Such situations are typical of extensive and monoculture agricultural areas, such as cereal or sugar beet production. Can you imagine a bee travelling dozens of miles just to find a flower from which to extract nectar or pollen? This is exactly the situation that has been going on for years in the areas of the Po Valley or the Abruzzi Plain.
"In Italy, the results of the third national report on the Habitats Directive shows that of the 132 habitats of community interest, 67% are in 'unfavourable' conservation status (27% 'bad' - 40% 'inadequate')" - ISPRA ambiente
Forest fire on Monte San Michele, July 2022. Trieste-Slovenia border
S1 E6 - Wildfires
In the summer of 2021, 158,000 hectares of forest burned in Italy. Of these, 40 thousand were in the EU's network of protected areas, affected by 510 fires. Pollinators are now unable to find sufficient nectar supplies to survive without artificial emergency nutrition, primarily bees. A fire leaves a heavy scar on the scenery, destroys biodiversity, produces carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming and hence fires themselves, wipes out an ecosystem. Yet fire prevention is possible. In fact, 97% of these phenomena are man-made. In addition to prevention, compliance with regulations and fighting incivility, it is necessary to plan in good time works and infrastructural measures to prevent fires and safeguard our green lungs.
"In the 2009 - 2016 period in Italy, one in three hectares of land went up in smoke in Sicily, one in five in Sardinia" - Corpo Forestale
The roof of Europe, the Mont Blanc.
S1 E7 - Melting glaciers
The cryosphere (the portion of land covered by ice) is constantly shrinking. Since 1976 we have lost 87,000 square kilometres of frozen water worldwide. Shrinking glaciers and melting permafrost have already unsettled mountain slopes, and in recent decades there has been an increase in: ice avalanches (the last one near us La Marmolada), landslides and floods. These will become an increasing problem in the coming years. Glaciers are our source of fresh water, the supply of water for biodiversity, and are the most sensitive climate indicators as well as the first to clearly show a changing world. We cannot tolerate this.
"A current global loss during the last decade, from both ice sheets, of around 372Gt per year, which roughly translates to eight times the volume of Lake Garda, in Italy" - Copernicus
Crashing on the Marcesina valley plain, Altopiano dei Sette Comuni. The area was among the hardest hit with 14 million fallen trees. Credit: Nordavind
S1 E8 - Deforestation
420 million hectares. 600 million football pitches. this is the surface area deforested by man over the last 30 years (WWF data). despite this, the ecosystem services provided by forests are fundamental to life on earth: they contribute to soil protection (e.g. against erosion and surface runoff), participate in the water cycle and regulate the local climate (in particular through evapotranspiration) as well as the global climate (carbon storage). Forests also house 80 % of the earth's biodiversity and more than 1.5 billion people worldwide depend on forests for their subsistence.
"Landscape and forest management practices, especially those that promote a mosaic approach, can help to ensure the continued availability of pollinators and thereby increase resilience and productivity of both forestry and agriculture" - SDG Knowledge HUB
About 3Bee: bees
3Bee is the result of the idea of its two founders Riccardo and Niccolò, a biologist and an electronics engineer respectively, to protect bees through predictive monitoring technology. Today, 3Bee counts more than 100,000 supporters of the Adopt-a-Hive project, more than 500 corporate partners promoting the culture of proactive social responsibility, and more than 3000 technological beekeepers in up to 80 countries worldwide. Thanks to the nectar forest planting project, 3Bee restores nectar supplies to bees and has initiated the largest movement in the generation of Biodiversity Oases, areas in which the ideal habitat for bees is regenerated and available to beekeepers. The more we are, the wider the bee shield becomes.
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