Elizabeth and Albhea's Blog Post

January 20, 2026

Elizabeth and Albhea's Blog Post

Elizabeth

For class, my partner and I had to present the 4 readings: "Lead in Ancient Rome", "Urban Regeneration", "Organic Farming", "Managing Sustainable Farm". For each of these readings, in "Lead in Ancient Rome" the most important thing that stuck out was "the record of human Pb pollution from the time that the harbor basin was excavated and well into the Middle Ages offers a new historical, ca. 1,000 y-long perspective on the evolution of Pb released by Rome, its water distribution system, and the major disruptive events that affected the life of the capital city and its harbor". This shows that lead levels are still changing over time. And understanding how human activities can contribute to the long term effects. In the "Urban Regeneration", the most important thing said was "but this heritage certainly does not represent the only sign that the historic evolution, especially recent, has left on the environmental sub system of the Tor Vergata area". This shows that the ecosystem exists between many historical events and human activities. In "organic farming", the most important thing said was "Several studies on organic consumers have shown that the presence of a certification body well known and with a good reputation on the market can affect the choice and consumer confidence compared to a less known certification body". This shows that consumers tend to choose trusted organizations that have a good reputation like meeting certain standards. Lastly, in the reading "Managing Sustainable Farm", the most important thing said was " the scheme has an overarching identity which links particular farming practices to environmental conservation and links the commercial dimension of the scheme to sustainable land use and a particular ethical position". This shows that it's a set of values that help assure the food is produced and consumed (providing environmental friendly practices).

At the village and went to some museums within this village (01/17/26). Before modern plumbing, sewer and drain cleaning, in the picture below, women hold the big metal water containers over their heads. It was interesting how they collected the water and made sure to keep it clean. As this relates to thoughts on contamination, this way provides a safer and more cleaner water supply. Though, back in the days, collecting water was a sustainable practice for women who gathered at a local watering supply. This would also mean that preserving water can help contribute to environmental friendliness by maintaining a good reputation on healthy products such as clean clothes, drinking, etc.

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Albhea

Throughout the first two weeks of being in Italy, we have visited various sights and places. Notable places in highlight of the reading for today are the Walking/Sparse Museum, Farmer's Market, Sheep Farm and Donkey Farm (see figures below). A common theme that can be observed from these three is the presence of community. First, is the Farmers' market that is composed of various businesses that work together and help each other after the earthquake of the 2000s that affected the area. The community is not only felt by those within, but also those who are perceiving them.

When we went to Fontecchio, one evening we attended the annual bonfire. Some of our classmates even got involved in playing the tamborine with the people who were playing and singing tranditional music. This has to be one of my favorite days I loved observing the culture and the community.

Supporting a culture has a similar feel to supporting a business. According to our Organing Farming reading, the customers who are closer or know more about the production/process of the product and products are more likely to buy them because of the relationship of trust that they have with the person or persons (pg. 198). Not only for support but also the knowledge that you have trust and intimacy with your community.

The village where the Walking Museum took place, banded together to create this museum that highlights their important people, events, books, and history; hoping that this will attract more people to visit and stay. The creation of this museum can be linked to the idea of “Urban Regeneration of the peripheral areas”, it mentioned that regeneration does not need to differentiate between parts of the city (or village, in this case) that were developed in different periods, but rather to adapt them to the circumstances of said regeneration (pg. 413, Urban Regeneration of the peripheral areas. The case study of Tor Vergata). One of the places that stood out to me was the one centered about women, where it houses documentation and items that women used while the men would go away for work. Items such as a loom, grazers, and buckets that were placed on their heads to carry water from the source to their home. There was also a building where it focused on ideas and thinking which progressed as we explored more rooms, all while displaying the books written by people of the village. This creates a great connection of cultural and natural history integrated in the tour (pg. 414).

In one of the rooms, we were given a glimpse of what they used to gather rainwater from the roof. One of our readings focused on Lead in ancient Rome's city waters. When I saw this, I started to wonder how the progression was from the use of lead pipes and gutters, even in daily use like the cups they used for drinking; to the use of stone bricks as a foundation and what this can indicate of the environmental and economical situations of each instance.

Not only that, the tap waters that Ancient Romans were drinking contained 100 times more lead than local spring water (6594), which can be due to the high usage of lead in various parts of their lives. However—this was a bit of a shocking discovery—it was found that the lead content was unlikely to be harmful even though some types (Hercynian Pb (Lead)) contamination were prevalent in the river sediments (6598).