Last July 10th a woman, Silvia Ferrarireturned approximately 40 kg of sand to the beach of Is Arustas, in Sardinia, thus fulfilling his mother’s last wish Valeria that in 1979 he had taken what he shouldn’t have taken.
In 1979 a Milanese family discovered the beauty of Is Arustas beachwith its tiny grains of quartz similar to grains of rice.
I must have been about fifteen years old – says the woman – when, during a caravan holiday with my parents, we discovered Is Arutas. We were amazed
Those were different times, of less environmental awareness, so the parents, lightly thinking of not committing any crime or environmental damage, picked her up and brought her to their home to beautify their Zen garden.
Years pass, awareness grows and even the regulatory system adapts: the lady thus discovers the damage she had done, and before dying she asks her daughter to return what should not have been taken. So on July 10th Silvia Ferrari she returned everything to the Municipality, which publicly thanked her.
Today my mother is here with us. Before passing away – the woman continues as she takes the grains back to the sea, accompanied by the director of the Marine Area Massimo Marras – she had asked me several times to return to Sardinia to return what she had taken. Today I fulfilled his wish, but above all I brought that sand back to its place of origin
A beautiful gesture that reminds us that taking natural elements from a territory disfigures the environment, potentially putting at risk all the ecosystems that have founded and grown their habitat in that territory. Furthermore, this practice has long been a crime punishable by a fine ranging from 500 to 3000 euros.
A crime that unfortunately continues to be perpetrated: only in 2020 in the three airports of Cagliari, Olbia And Alghero the authorities seized over 150 kilos of shells, sand and pebbles taken from Sardinian beaches and hidden in luggage.
On behalf of the entire administration and the community I would like to thank Mrs. Silvia Ferrari for understanding the value of this gesture – declares the Councilor for the Environment Carlo Carta – Returning the sand, even after years, by courageously exposing oneself, means recognizing that the natural heritage belongs to everyone and that each of us has the responsibility to protect it. We hope that this story can be an example for those who still have sand or other natural elements taken from our beaches. In recent years we have witnessed other episodes of restitution and each time they represent an important signal of growth in collective environmental awareness
We hope that soon there will never be a need to return what is not ours.
Sources: Municipality of Cabras / Municipality of Cabras/Facebook
