Postman in Crema, Italy Goes Green

While a new study rates many Italian towns and cities as in very poor environmental health, and cities like Milan are trying to do something about that by charging vehicles to drive in the city center by how much they’re polluting, one Italian town has done something simple to help cut the levels of both air and noise pollution – the postman has gone green.

In the town of Crema, the postman used to do his rounds on a motorcycle. He’d leave it idling while he ran in to the various stops along his route, and it would spew both pollutants into the air on a constant basis nearly every day. The noise of the engine also disrupted the calm of the beautiful piazzas and cobbled streets. But now, instead of a noisy and polluting motorcycle, the postman in Crema uses an electric scooter that not only doesn’t pollute, it’s silent.

It’s a great innovation, and one I think many more Italian cities could adopt easily. The only issue I see is that with a silent scooter, one is in much greater danger of getting hit by the thing because they don’t hear it coming around the corner. Although that’s nothing that a charming horn can’t fix.