Unità 6 (AP Italian): Sfide globali tra ambiente, istituzioni e responsabilità civile

Environmental issues

Problems in which human activity (and natural processes amplified by humans) disrupts ecosystem balance, risking health, resources, and social/economic stability.

Global challenges

Issues that cross national borders, require cooperation, and affect everyday life (e.g., air, food, urgent policy choices).

Cause–process–impact–response chain

A way to explain environmental problems: pressures (causes) lead to mechanisms (processes), producing consequences (impacts), which then require solutions (responses).

Climate change

Long-term shifts in climate patterns, often discussed today in relation to human-driven greenhouse gas increases and global warming.

Weather vs. climate

Weather is day-to-day conditions; climate is long-term trends and patterns over time.

Extreme events

Severe events (e.g., droughts, heat waves, wildfires, intense rainfall, floods) that can become more likely or intense with warming.

Hydrogeological instability

Land vulnerability that increases landslides and flooding, often worsened by fragile terrain, overbuilding (cementification), and poor maintenance.

Air pollution

Contamination of the atmosphere from transport, heating, and industry that can worsen respiratory and cardiovascular health.

Environmental justice (equity)

The idea that environmental policies and harms affect groups differently; vulnerable communities may bear higher health and cost burdens.

Waste management

How a community handles trash through collection, treatment, landfills, incineration, and policies that shape everyday behavior.

Separate waste collection (sorting)

A system where residents divide waste by material type for recycling/processing, with results varying by locality.

Circular economy

A model that reduces waste by keeping materials in use longer through repairing, reusing, and recycling instead of “produce–use–throw away.”

Waste hierarchy

The principle that reducing and reusing often have greater impact than recycling alone.

Pay-as-you-throw pricing

A policy where households pay more if they produce more waste, used to change private behavior through public rules.

Water as a common good

The view that water is a shared resource requiring collective management, not only individual conservation.

Logical connectors (cause/effect/proposal/concession)

Language tools that show relationships (e.g., because/therefore/it is necessary that/even though) to make arguments precise.

Subjunctive after expressions of necessity/importance

A grammar pattern used after impersonal phrases (e.g., “It is necessary that…”) to express necessity/opinion appropriately.

Political and social structures

Institutions, rules, and organizations that shape decision-making, resource distribution, and conflict management in a society.

Bicameral parliament

A legislature with two chambers; in Italy: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

President of the Republic (Italy)

An institutional guarantor figure associated with safeguarding constitutional stability rather than day-to-day governing.

Welfare state

Public policies and services that support citizens through assistance, social protections, and essential services.

Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN)

Italy’s national public healthcare system, often discussed in terms of access, equity, and long-term sustainability.

Social mobility

The ability to improve (or worsen) one’s socioeconomic status compared to one’s family of origin, often linked to education access and quality.

Push and pull factors (migration)

Forces that drive migration: push factors (war, poverty, environmental crises) and pull factors (jobs, safety, family networks).

Media literacy / misinformation

Skills to evaluate information (check sources, separate facts from opinions, compare outlets) to reduce the impact of false or misleading claims.