The most significant feature of the climate change we are currently experiencing is an evident tendency towards tropicalisation in the coldest regions of the planet, which manifests itself in seasonal displacements, short and intense rainfall, and significant temperature swings. This year in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, the lack of rainfall and temperatures too high for artificial snowmaking caused all the ski lifts to close. In Alta Badia, on the other hand, in the Dolomites, due to the lack of rainfall, artificial snow was provided on the slopes for the lifts below two thousand metres.
Due to low rainfall and low snowfall in the mountains, the water reserves will not be able to support traditional agricultural activity, which is why the world of industry is developing alternative cultivation techniques that allow water savings of 90% compared to the traditional cultivation. They are called Vertical Farms, closed-cycle crops, in a controlled environment, which allow intensive agricultural production and in which all environmental parameters are controlled (temperature, humidity, CO2, light). The roots of the plants develop on an inert substrate (or in the air) and the excess nutrient solution is recovered and reintroduced into the circuit.
In the last 50 years in Italy, eroding shorelines have tripled: it is like losing an average of 23 metres of beach depth for all 1,750 km of eroding coastline. The phenomenon is most widespread in southern Italy, especially in Sicily, where the province most affected is Agrigento. Between San Leone and Eraclea Minoa, in fact, the natural beaches have been literally obliterated and in the luckiest cases reduced to short strips of sand and debris, while new beaches have been built by constructing artificial barriers and groynes along the coast. Over the last 20 years, Agrigento has lost 42% of its beaches, meaning that out of 16 km of coastline, 9 km have been declared unsuitable for swimming due to the danger of landslides. Coastal erosion is the direct and indirect result of alterations in the sediment cycle, caused by natural but above all anthropic causes. The reduced supply of sediment to the sea by rivers has led to the consequent instability of the sandy shores, resulting in a progressive retreat of the beaches to the point of threatening the safety of inhabited areas and infrastructures.