Pushback 28

Andrea Dooley

02 Mar 2025 — 3 min read

All over Florence, Italy, there are wheatpaste art posters like the one above. Famous works of art altered to appear as if the subject is underwater. It is a reference to climate change and rising sea levels but is rooted in Florence's loss of 101 souls and damage to millions of pieces of art and property in the 1966 flood of the Arno.

Artist Marco Sassone, in a 1969 interview, recalled the impact of the flood on Florence's residents: "The only thing you could do was watch and be helpless. Nature was master...the women became crazy with fear. They began throwing things from the windows and screaming 'who is going to save my children?'" It was reported that 101 people lost their lives in the flood waters.

I saw the wheatpaste posters when I visited Italy in 2019 and they suggested that our only preparation for global climate disaster was to put on goggles and hope for the best. They seems to say a force greater than the flood is coming and will swamp our world unless we prepare. But the response to the 1966 flood suggests that when people are aware of a disaster, they come together to rebuild. Governments, cultural institutions, and individuals passed laws, raised money, and undertook a restoration effort of Florence and its artworks. The work there is not done - it never is - but this is a reminder that together we shape the future.

What we were doing was dictated by the desire to give back the traces of the history of the past to future generations, so that it could be used for the spiritual growth of people who perhaps had yet to be born...it was the international community that worked to try to save Florence, this unique patrimony which belonged to the whole world.

— Mario Primicerio, Speciale Alluvione (from wikipedia)

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Action Items

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On March 7, Stand Up for Science will be hosting events around the country to voice support for science and federal funding. There are protests and walkout events so you can participate by walking away from your desk!

Legal

Reminder: Just Security's Litigation Tracker is now following 94 different lawsuits brought against the Trump administration. I'll try to do a list of their updates in the next day or two.