As wildfires ravage California and the West Coast of the US several cities have been shrouded in smoke and orange fog. The scenes are eerie and apocalyptic.
Frostscape in Nepal. A year after the earthquake the wound is still open
A journey of discovery to Nepal, a year after the earthquake. Mattia Vettorello – aka Frostscape – and his new “slow paced” expedition has started.
After taking a million steps in Iceland and creating the photographic book Materia instabile (Unstable matter), young explorer Mattia Vettorello aka Frostscape from Conegliano, a municipality in the province of Treviso (northern Italy), has embarked on a new journey to Nepal. Exactly a year after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated the small Asian country and brought its inhabitants to their knees. A few days after the opening of Milan’s Universal Exhibition many people gave their contribution to finishing the Pavilion of Nepal in time because local workers joined their families in their country.
The wound is open, in Kathmandu
Vettorello’s trip started from the capital, Kathmandu, on 25 April. “Kathmandu is active. You can see the house ruins but people united to start a new life. They know it will be difficult to return to their everyday lives because the wound is still open”, Vettorello said after he spent a few days in the city that has still access to electricity few hours a day.
“The scent of incense sticks lit by shopkeepers at the sidewalk kerb wakes you up every day and for this reason it is so pleasant to walk these streets”, Vettorello adds. “One thing that has always impressed me is the mass of cables flying over our heads. These poles full of cables look like a big nest”.
Frostscape and Finale for Nepal
The new expedition of the project Frostscape has no “otherworldly” goals, no records to set and no unexplored places to discover. Vettorello, on the contrary, chose a country in need to rediscover the anthropological aspect of trips, explorations and research. He walked at a slow pace to plunge into other cultures and challenge stereotypes. Carrying just essential things.
The only required stop will be Rajban, a village in southern Nepal where Vettorello will help building a school financed by the social and sports project Finale for Nepal. The rest will be decided according to his experiences. The road, time, people, stories. Everything will be traced and decided, day by day, step by step.
Salman Khairalla is an Iraqi activist who’s been fighting to protect his country’s marshes, a key water resource, since 2007.
Dozens of people who fell ill because of toxic fumes and waste from a lead refinery on the outskirts of Mombasa have found justice in court.
Dozens of people who fell ill because of toxic fumes and waste from a lead refinery on the outskirts of Mombasa have found justice in court.
Mohammed Reza Sahib, who fights for the right to water as a public good, has contributed to halting the privatisation of this resource in Indonesia.
He’s been fighting for solutions to India’s water crisis for a long time. Environmentalist and water defender Rajendra Singh tells us his story.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Earth Overshoot Day 2020 falls on 22 August, over three weeks later than in 2019. A blessing in disguise?
The cargo ship that ran aground off the coast of Mauritius on 25 July, causing incalculable damage, has split in two and its captain has been arrested.
Moha Tawja is an activist fighting for the right to water in Morocco. The water defender tells us about the damage caused by the mining industry.