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In the Greek world, the epidemic is deeply linked to the idea of siege. The archetypal image is offered by the plague narrated by Thucydides (The Peloponnesian War II 49-57). In 430 BC the Spartans raged in the countryside of Attica and the citizens of Athens locked themselves up inside the city walls, while the fleet counterattacked by sea. The balance, a tragic sign of a conflict that will mark the beginning of the end of a civilization, seems to be able to resist.

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“We provide evidence that people living in an area with high levels of pollutant are more prone to develop chronic respiratory conditions and suitable to any infective agent. Moreover, a prolonged exposure to air pollution leads to a chronic inflammatory stimulus, even in young and healthy subjects. We conclude that the high level of pollution in Northern Italy should be considered an additional co-factor of the high level of lethality recorded in that area”.

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"One of the most important market failures is the environmental damage resulting from the impact that man has on shared property and free access resources. In order to increase the effectiveness of the tools provided for the protection of biological diversity, decisive action will be necessary in different context, from local to global ". There could be no more appropriate conclusions for a time when deforestations expose humans to viruses previously contained by the integrity of ecosystems.

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Structural inequality, substantial economic stagnation and environmental crisis have been given an additional tragic dimension by the pandemic emergency triggered by Covid-19. The eternal bubble of the markets has burst once again, leaving political institutions with the burden of sustaining and relaunching a crisis that many analysts imagine far more radical and lasting than the one which began in 2008.

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In January 2014, the vast screen of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, usually used to spread regime propaganda to tourists and citizens, exhibited fiery sunsets and clear blue skies crossed by the crests of the mountains. The long luminous strip was embedded, incongruous and disturbing, in the dense poisoned atmosphere, an ashy blanket capable of devouring the figures of men and things. In those days, the World Health Organization warned the Chinese government with the pollution data, twenty times higher than the recommended threshold.