Earth Day is the largest environmental event on the planet, the only time when all the world’s citizens come together to celebrate the Earth and promote its preservation. Earth Day, a moment strongly advocated by US Senator Gaylord Nelson and promoted even earlier by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, involves up to a billion people in as many as 192 countries around the world each year. The United Nations celebrates Earth Day every year, one month and two days after the spring equinox, on 22 April.
Earth Day began on 22 April 1970 to emphasise the need for conservation of the Earth’s natural resources. Over time, it has become an educational and informative event. Ecological groups use it as an opportunity to assess the problems of the planet: the pollution of air, water and soil, the destruction of ecosystems, the thousands of plants and animal species that are disappearing and the depletion of non-renewable resources. Solutions to eliminate the negative effects of human activities continue to be sought: these solutions include recycling materials, conserving natural resources such as oil and fossil gases, banning the use of harmful chemicals, halting the destruction of key habitats such as wetlands, and protecting endangered species.
Fondazione Studio Rizoma relaunches by hosting the first stage of the “School of Water Education” in the April 2023 edition. Moreover, as collaboration and cooperation are the fundamental spirit of the event, the edition of Earth day Palermo 2023 will also benefit from a new and important collaboration with Annalisa Corrado, co-creator of Green Heros, Kyoto Club.
PROGRAMME EARTH DAY 2023
FRIDAY, 21 APRIL
10:00 – 13:00 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus
Meeting with schools: Water, fire, earth. How climate change affects our choices and how we can contribute to the green transition in our daily actions
The water we eat – with UNESCO cartoon. Speaker: Francesca Greco PhD London Water Research Group
Call to Action: Q&A with female entrepreneurs, virtuosos and associations in the area. La Goccia del Colibrì “doing one’s part” moderated by Annalisa Corrado
10:00 – 13:00 – Piazza Bausch
Zen, or the Art of Bicycle Maintenance by U’Game (survival microcourse for urban cyclists)
15:00 – 17:30 – Spazio CEAS “Rospo Smeraldino” Legambiente Sicilia
Giant board game Agenda 2030 – Target Sustainability (10+) by Legambiente Sicilia.
16:00 – 17:30 – Spazio Mediterraneo Legambiente Sicilia
Seminar “Plants of Planet Earth”: Evolutionary Adaptations to Environmental Challenges by Tancredi Fogazza, biologist and Aurelio Virginio Sanguinetti, Legambiente Sicilia science popularizer
16:00 – 17:30 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus (coworking)
S.O.S. Earth calling child – a workshop for children (+7/12) to discover their own ecological footprint and build a catch-all. max. 15 participants. 90’- curated by PalermoScienza – reservation: 335 595 4858.
17:00 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus
Green Conversations: From the cave to the ecological house, stories of comfort and energy by Federico Butera. The author talks with Maurizio Cellura, Director of the Department of Ecological Transition at the University of Palermo.
18:00 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus
Ecovisioni. L’ecologia al cinema dai Lumière alla Marvel, by Marco Gisotti, journalist and popularizer Wikiradio Rai Radio 3, Quasar Rai2. Dialogue with the author Gian Mauro Costa, journalist.
17:30 – Ridotto Sala De Seta
Inauguration of the watercolour exhibition Abbracciare gli Alberi (Embracing Trees) curated by Anna Cottone. Speaker: Giuseppe Barbera Professor of Arboreal Crops at the University of Palermo
18:00 – Spazio Mediterraneo Legambiente Sicilia
Inauguration of the photographic exhibition Paradise Lost (the last forest fires in Sicily) by Giuseppe Mazzola
18:30 – Spazio Mediterraneo Legambiente Sicilia
Concert Il Canto degli Alberi by and with Patrizia d’Antona, music by Francesco La Bruna
19:30 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus
Filicudi Wildlife Conservation presents: The Aeolian Islands Sea Turtle Rescue Service; The European Life Delfi project for the protection of dolphins in the Mediterranean; Capo D’Eolo (the Aeolian Sea Giants) presents Monica Francesca Blasi. Antonio Scannavino will follow with: “Save The Wave Mondello: a project to regenerate the Sea and the School”.
SATURDAY, 22 APRIL
10:00 – Spazio Cre.Zi.Plus
Presentation of School of Water Education – Speaker: Patrizia Pozzo, Earth Day Palermo
Water challenges on development and climate – Speaker: Francesca Greco, Phd London Water Research Group
Ecological transition and energy communities – Speaker: Massimo Amato Department of Political and Social Sciences Bocconi University
Climate, water and energy in the Mediterranean region – speaker Giulia Giordano (Ecco Climate)
Syndicat! Trans-European Best Practices compared to identify common models of environmental participation and activism Moderated by Niccolò Milanese (co – funder European Alternatives) and Patrizia Pozzo
Q&A with Maurizio Cellura and Massimo Amato – An exchange of speeches and practices between activists from European Alternatives visiting Palermo for Earthday 2023, Fridays For Future Palermo, XR, Plastic Free and visiting students from the University of Amsterdam, Athens, Rotterda, Students For Future Dresden and Bassines Non Merci, European Alternatives and Legambiente.
Best practices: Green Heroes “Babbaluci fuori dal Guscio” Symbolic delivery of plants from the San Giuseppe Jato memory garden (created on land confiscated from organised crime, in the place where little Giuseppe De Matteo was imprisoned and barbarously murdered) + Telling of the civic experience of a community redeeming itself from a history of Mafia pain and oppression Planting at the Cantieri della Zisa.
10:00 – Piazza Bausch
Drawing meeting with Anna Cottone. This was followed by a talk by Prof. Ettore Sessa entitled: Stabilimenti Ducrot. The city of Production.
10:30 – Bottega N. 3 Teatrialchemici
Borago: nutrition workshop on the use of edible wild plants, curated by Aterraterra LAB – Followed by tasting with Matilde Argento – max. participants: 15 – reservation: aterraterra.info@admin. This was followed by a talk by Professor Adele Traina. Email aterraterra.info@admin for reservation.
10.30 – 12:30 – Spazio CEAS “Rospo Smeraldino” Legambiente Sicilia
Biodiversity in the City – nature treasure hunt organised by Legambiente Sicilia with Affido Culturale Palermo. Reservations: 091301663.
11:00 – Piazza Bausch
Small Green Bombs to Green the City – Guerrilla gardening workshop for children (4+) by Orto Capovolto – No booking required
12:00 – 13:30 – Bottega N. 2
Virtual immersive tour to learn about the Sea and re-sanitise it: a project by the students of the Liceo Galileo Galilei and marine biologist Antonio Scannavino
12:00 – Spazio Tre Navate
NaturataMente – Meetings of Yoga, Classical Indian Dance BharataNatyam and Meditation in Movement (with Maestro Valerio Bellone) organised by the Rishi Culture Centre of Palermo
16:00 – 17:30 – Spazio CEAS “Rospo Smeraldino” Legambiente Sicilia
Little Animals and Where to Find Them: let’s build a bugs hotel. workshop (+6) by Legambiente Palermo volunteers. Booking required: 091/301663
16:00 – 17:30 – Spazio Mediterraneo Legambiente Sicilia
There is Life Underground: how to build a composter – workshop by Giuseppe Andolina (for young people and adults).
Conversazioni Green: From water to soil: a vital, non-renewable resource that we must preserve. Presentation of the Pesticides Atlas, (Heinrich Boll Foundation) speakers: Alfredo Tamburino, head of agricultural policies at Legambiente and Giuseppe Mancuso of Slow Food and Carmela Pupillo, agricultural entrepreneur – Moderator: Rossella Muroni, President New R-Generations Association.
Presentation of the book Nessi e Connessi (a compass to discover the circular nature of our reality) by Annalisa Corrado and Rossella Muroni. Speaker: Ilaria Capua virologist and Senior Fellow of Global Health, J.Hopkins University and Patrizia Pozzo Earth day PA – codirector.
19:00 – Istituto Gramsci Siciliano
Concert for the Earth – VacuaMoenia. Studi su paesaggi sonori abbandonati siciliani, (vers. Earth Day Palermo 2023) by Fabio R. Lattuca and Pietro Bonanno – authors PietroMaltese and Dario Oliveri discuss – Project realised in collaboration with MainOFF.
