Are Italians pigs?

News the other day reported that environmental volunteers cleaned up approximately 200 beach resorts in Italy. The garbage collected amounted to “only” 45 tons! Some interesting articles included: plastic containers, cans, shoes, used tires, washing machines, gas containers (for cooking), old scooters and bikes and the odd bed spring mattress. Experts said that chewing gum requires 5 years to decompose whereas a simple cigarette lighter which is thrown on the ground requires a whopping 500 years to disintegrate. An empty plastic bottle instead has no time frame. Every year many Italians, especially school kids, are called upon to clean up beaches and cities. In 30 years that I lived in Canada, plus 20 years of schooling (8 alone of university studies), I don’t ever recall that there was a national campaign to clean up the country. Why? Because at school we were taught from an early age to respect the environment, something which evidently is NOT taught in Italian schools. That would also explain why a few years ago my “bible” (The Economist) stated that German tourists love going to Canada because it’s a CLEAN country (I’ve been to Germany twice and I can confirm that it too is a clean country)! After nearly 20 years of living in Italy, I have (quite) some time ago come to the conclusion that many—but not all—Italians hate the environment. Anyway they can destroy it (for example through countless forest fires every bloody summer), they’ll do it. A silly example? When I used to go jogging at the Circus Maximus I used to find old abandoned mattresses, shoes, bottles and even pants (!!). Italians, especially Romans, quite often blame tourists for littering the city. I say two things to them: a) What example do they set for tourists and b) What Japanese tourist from Tokyo BEFORE leaving for Rome ALSO packs his/her used mattress to dump at the Circus Maximus? I rest my case.