10TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ENERGY FROM BIOMASS AND WASTE
HOTEL MONACO & GRAND CANAL, VENICE (IT) / 25-27 NOVEMBER 2024

Focus Session V
Communication and public acceptance in Waste to Energy

FOCUS SESSION V / 23 November 2022 / 16:00 - 17:00
Communication and public acceptance in Waste to Energy

Moderator:
Giuseppe Tipaldo - University of Turin (DE)

Panellists:
Antonio Cianciullo - Huffington Post (IT)
Alessandra Fornetti - VIU, Venice International University (IT)
Giovanni De Feo - University of Salerno (IT)
Maria Cristina Lavagnolo - University of Padova (IT)
Vito Tartamella - Focus Magazine (IT)


The scope of the discussion presented in the focus session can be easily limited by resorting to three key terms: waste management, opposition to large-scale works, and environmental communication.
Macroscopic social phenomena, such as the growing suspicion towards almost every intervention on the territory, the mistrust of expert knowledge, and the recourse to paternalistic decision-making processes pose enormous challenges to those who deal with communication, within which recurring problems that have never been fully resolved are mixed with new ones: how can a solid relationship of trust with public opinion be built? What communication tools should one focus on? How to contain distortions and disturbances (noise) that physiologically afflict any communication process? What strategies should be followed to arrive at decisions that are as participatory and shared as possible? But first of all: which variables influence tensions and conflicts between science, media, politics and society?

Relying on a multidisciplinary group of academics and professionals, the focus session will try to provide empirical evidence, critical reflections and good practices to begin to answer these questions.