Abstract
The prevalence of mainstream media as source of information on environmental issues and
their tendency to draw global attention around a few major, dramatic environmental disasters (melting
of glaciers in the Arctic, desertification and drought in the African continent, deforestation of the
Amazon, oil pollution in the oceans, etc.), is creating in less conative readers/audience a lack of
awareness of the damages suffered in the local territorial systems to which they belong and low
willingness to collective action. Therefore, crossing and comparing the highest possible number of
sources of information, preferring those that can generate a proactive response to events and themes
concerning environmental sustainability and highlight deep local/global interconnections, is essential to
attain an independent, critical, and responsible narration. After shortly illustrating some theoretical and
methodological considerations developed in the areas of popular geopolitics, anti-geopolitics and
ecocriticism, this paper reviews two Italian graphic novels providing a bottom-up representation of local
environmental issues: the first one deals with the eutrophication of the Orbetello Lagoon (Tuscan
Maremma); the second one concerns the collapse of the tailings dams of the Prestavèl fluorite mines
located in Val di Stava (Trentino Alto Adige), a disaster that caused the death of 268 people. We will try
to point out how the authors, who are totally “embedded” in their works, provide a “translocal”
narration, condemning effectively and immediately the environmental damages in the territorial context
analysed and, at the same time, highlighting the interconnections between such site-specific events and
global sustainability, inviting readers to adopt an holistic view of the nature-culture relationship, beyond
the anthropocentric and instrumentalist production model which considers biosphere a mere tool to
satisfy the contingent needs of contemporary society.