St. Peter’s Island and the Falcon Cliffs

Thousands of years ago the Phoenicians called it “Inosin”, for the Greeks it was “Hierakon Nesos”, while in Roman times it was known as “Accipitrum Insula”; during the centuries the original meaning of its name has not changed: “Falcons’ Island”, underlining its main feature that fascinated the sailors who approached […]

May flowers

Saying may be thinking of roses. It is to the roses that poets, painters, musicians of all time have dedicated their works. It is to the roses that we refer if we want to talk about feminine beauty. Yellow, pink, red, orange, violet, almost blue roses. Bush roses, vines, creeping, […]

“Polluted” falconry

Falconry may have begun before the 2nd millennium in tribes living between Middle East and Central Asia, because of hunting purposes and afterwards it spread towards east and then west. However, some people think that the real value of falconry, more than being a mere hunting style, consists in devoting […]

October flowers

October. Autumn shortens the days, the trees begin to color the landscapes. If you make an excursion from the sea to the mountains, moving towards the higher heights, we leave behind the green sclerophyllous woods to let ourselves be enchanted by the yellows, ocher and brown that occupy ever greater […]

Olive tree

Symbol of peace and different cultures is the most emblematic element of the Mediterranean flora. OLIVE (Olea Europaea L.) BOTANICAL CARD Belonging to the Oleaceae family, it originates from a vast region between the southern part of the Caucasus, Iran, Palestine and Syria and has gradually colonized all the countries […]

Nocturnal birds of prey

Probably very few animals over the millennia have impressed and stimulated the collective imagination as much as the nocturnal birds of prey. Creatures at ease only after sunset, able to fly and hunt in total darkness, have aroused, depending on the cultures and the period, wonder and admiration or superstitious […]

December flowers

Darkness is the characteristic of the last month of the year. And with so much darkness it is difficult for the blooms to be many … In spite of everything, however, the oblique rays of our star are able to color the dark green branches of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), […]

About family and languages

Our second appointment is focused on two themes at first sight not close, but in my opinion strongly connected: the parallel development of the phylogenetic lines of populations and languages ​​and the ecology of the family, or the recovery of the primary mission of families to educate their children. Cavalli-Sforza’s […]

January flowers

January, the coldest month. The day slowly begins to gain time on the night. Deciduous trees, now devoid of leaves, show their fractal structures; many evergreens during the last vegetation have stretched and directed their branches to the ground forming a dome that helps them to close to the cold […]

The right to be an alien

Hottentot (Carpobrotus edulis) native to South Africa is highly invasive and is a serious danger for the pioneer species of both sandy and rocky coasts. From the Neolithic period to that of colonization and geographical exploration, introductions of species from other territories have facilitated human life especially from the food […]

Read me! March – April

“Ecology”, “sustainability”, “compatibility”, “biodiversity”, “biological” are words that have entered our everyday life and that sound like reassuring. This is the reason why advertisers use them even in cases where the products they promote have even antithetical characteristics with the word used. The volumes suggested this two months are deepened […]

Verbal pollution in the times of global communication

When, many years ago, I collaborated with Professor Attilio Marcolli in organizing the first Environmental Design courses at the IED in Cagliari, I discovered that my visual design knowledge could contribute to the formation of young and creative environmental designers: the teachings of balance, essentiality, formal cleanliness, simplicity, correct hierarchy […]

Birds of prey at school: no and this is why

Maria Montessori, in the fourth chapter of her most important work, “The method of scientific pedagogy”, which later became “The discovery of the child”, highlights the importance of nature in education and training. “In our time and in the civil environment of our society children live very far from nature […]

April flowers

The abundant rain that has characterized this spring has made the spring vegetation luxuriant, showing phenomenal blooms for abundance and exuberance. The impossibility of containing on a page all the species that bloom in April, will focus our attention on “more flowery” environments. We will follow the path of colors […]

The January sky fascinates with its constellations and myths

Around January 3rd, the Earth is in Perieli, that is at the point closest to the Sun of the Earth’s orbit, which, evidently, does not coincide with that of the Winter Solstice; during these days there is the maximum of the meteoric swarm of the Quadrantids that take their name […]

The February sky shows us where the summer sun is

The Sun until mid-February is in Capricorn and then go to the Aquarium. The days continue to grow and in the night sky, towards the south, we can still enjoy Orione and the summer constellations. At the Solstice on June 21st, the Sun is located halfway between Toro and Gemelli, […]

The sky of April rich of stars and galaxies

The Sun from March 12 in Pisces, passes on April 19 in Aries where it will remain until mid-May. Oriented towards South in the evening, we see from the West to the East the Taurus, the Gemini, the Cancer and the Lion. the Virgin and the Libra. Virgo In the […]

The game as a communication model

In animals, the innate disposition to learning is expressed in curiosity and play. It is curiosity that leads to the exploration of the environment in which each animal moves. Curiosity, and therefore the drive to explore and experiment with the surrounding world, is obviously most evident in puppies. A kitten […]

THE KINGFISHER… myths and traditions

The visual and behavioral characteristics of the Common kingfisher have certainly not gone unnoticed and so, since ever, popular imagination has given these birds virtues and magical powers that certainly did not help their conservation, making them the object of hunting and easy hunting techniques: a viscous substance placed near […]

IDENTITY: female body, body of the Earth

This document is the contribution that EARTH GARDENERS brought to the “Network Day” of the REBEL NERWORK network, of which it is part, which was held in Rimini on September 8th 2018. The images are taken from the Power Point that accompanied the intervention. “T’insegneranno a non splendere. E tu […]

The sub-products of the olive supply chain: from discharges to resources

The culture and culture of the olive tree have been handed down over time by the farming tradition, repeating every autumn the whole process of harvesting and pressing the olives. The pressing technique has been refined over time, with the production of cutting-edge tools and machinery to meet the needs […]

The sky of December gives emotions: Super Moon, Orione and his dogs

The Sun is in Ophiuchus until the 18th of the month when it passes, in Sagittarius. December 21st is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day there is for our hemisphere, because the Sun is at the lowest point of the Ecliptic; inappropriately it is said that the shortest is December […]

The origins of mediterraneans foods

The substantial immobility of pre-industrial society overlaps with the immobility of the productive potential of the environment, driven by an evolution that only knows the slowness of biological times. The foods of vegetable origin known today are practically almost the same as those of the Neolithic. The archaeological findings of […]

Bread, places, cultures

The history of bread is closely linked to the development of human civilizations, from the dawn of agriculture until nowadays. We do not know exactly when bread was born; its first documented production dates back to 2,000 B.C. when the Egyptians realized the importance of cooking food at high temperatures […]

Anthropic activities and the future of the Planet

Reworking with additions to the text of P.R. Ehrlich Global change and its influence on biodiversity (R.Casagrandi & P. Melia (Eds) Proceedings of the XIII National Congress of the Italian Society of Ecology, Como, 8-10 September 2003. SItE Acts 27: 35-45). The article begins with a reference to the impressive […]

Plastic for food? No thanks! New eco-sustainable solutions for food packaging

To define the current era, the term “Plasticene” has been proposed: plastic fragments throughout the world are continuously detected in oceans, soil, sediments and air. Just to have an order of magnitude, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Pisa, the amount of microplastics on Italian beaches […]

At the mercy of the tides

…. Thus amidst this immensity lies my thought: and TO shipwreck is sweet to me in this sea. Giacomo Leopardi’s twenty-one-year-old sea, however, was not water, it was the representation of that infinity that was the silence, the eternal, with which the poet measured the reasons and absurdities of life. […]

The sky of May

The Sun is not … constant The Sun is in the constellation of Aries from April 19th to May 13th, remaining there for about 24 days; then it passes into the constellation of Taurus where it remains until June 21, taking about 38 days to then pass into Gemini. Actually, […]

Close encounters at San Rossore, unique emotion!

Late Spring in the park, wild irises and buttercups stain the ditches while yellow, white and pink patches of wild garlic color the edges of the paths. The green meadows are dotted with daisies, here and there tufts of blue irises sprout; presences can be glimpsed between the blades of […]

Bee

“Honey: a precious gift from bees”. Features, properties and problems

Honey is the oldest substance used by man as a sweetener; the first traces of beekeeping date back to the Neolithic, as evidenced by some cave decorations dating back to around 8000 years and found in the Cuevas de la Araña, a group of caves located in Bicorp, near Valencia, […]

Reverse mounting in birds: when the female is on top

In birds, fertilization is an action of… tightrope walkers: the female, after a suitable period of courtship, decides to stop by crouching on the ground, lets the male climb on her back, waddling in precarious balance until in an instant, having achieved the necessary coordination, the two bring their cloacal […]