According to UN estimates, by 2050 two thirds of the population will live in metropolises. It will therefore be very important to include natural elements within the urban geography. The real challenge will not only be to integrate the natural spaces within urban spaces, but to design more and more immersive experiences in which the human being physically interacts with vegetation for example.
As Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington Peter H. Khan reminds us, to obtain benefits for human psychophysical health it is necessary to interact practically with the natural world. In what sense? Rather than visually experiencing a forest or contemplating nature in a detached manner, it will be necessary hug a tree, feel the rustling of the leaves on a sunny spring day, walk barefoot on the grass in the park, etc. All this because the advantages and benefits that we can draw from the aforementioned “full immersion experiences” will forever benefit our psychological balance.
It is not new that nature expresses itself and sends signals to man. Already William Shakespeare in act II of his play “As you like it” recites: And this life of ours away from the crowd, finds tongues in the trees, books in the streams, sermons in the stones and goodness everywhere. This is how nature personifies itself, evolves, transforms and thus sees trees that “speak”, streams that “read” and stones that “preach”. Nature has always been described as an earthly paradise with breathtaking shows, dream landscapes and the refuge par excellence where we can find that inner peace that the daily frenzy unfortunately takes away from us..
There is therefore an extraordinary life which is an ecosystem within which we human beings, just like a plant, a flower, a fruit, an insect, an animal, interact circularly building a living community, a society, until we understand the entire terrestrial globe. Discovering the dynamic intertwining of all these actors is the new frontier to be achieved as a call to understand the Anthropocene.
It will therefore be necessary to find which emotion of ours will open up the possibility of listening to silence as well as the sound of something new. What I feel? What do I discover? Can I experience walking barefoot in the grass? Can I observe some glimpses of an unusual landscape? Which “voices” can I listen to? Can I enter the world of trees? They express themselves much more than we had understood until now and tell us about the ecological transition underway. Those who experience new interactions with plant life, who listen to them, study them and care for them, are part of the new leaders of this transition.
Silence and sounds in Cascina Alta, event in Bergamo
This is where the idea of Academy Educandosi-Educare to organize the May 30th in Bergamo the event “Silence and sounds in Cascina Alta” inside the Festival of Complexity in collaboration with the Cpia 1 and the Cpia 2 Of Bergamo, The Erasmus+ Adult Education Ambassadors of Lombardy and Epale Italia.
There will be various topics covered (see program attached), but certainly among the new features in the reception phase will be the sensorial encounter of the participants with their emotions, the sounds and silences of the beautiful natural context where the event will take place.
Furthermore, a discovery phase will follow in which there will be a real concert entitled “The Choir of Trees”: participants will be able to listen to the “voice” of the leaves, detected and recorded using a special device that transforms the resistance of the plant’s lymphatic system into sound.
The talks scheduled from 5.30pm to 6.30pm include the intervention of Luisa Traversi Guerra (Academy EducandosiEducare), Raffaella Trigona researcher at the University of Bergamo who talks about her ethnolinguistic research at high altitude. Followed by Federica Re, Giulia Scarduelli and Caterina Runfola, Erasmus+ EDA Lombardy Ambassadors, will present their experiences in their respective realities and the EPALE platform. Closing the proceedings was the concert by the Vokal-Total Polyphonic Vocal Complex
of the “Secco Suardo” high school in Bergamo.
Sounds and silences in Cascina Alta
via Ghisleni Mazzola 1
Parco dei Colli, Bergamo
Participation in the event is free and open.
FLASH MOB social noiascoltiamolanatura
During this day a meeting will be organised ecological walk and a social flash mob that will take place from 11.00 to 12.00. Pupils, learners and teachers leave their school and “stop” in the nearest park to listen to nature. (What do I hear? The song of a bird, the rustling of the leaves of a tree? My breathing and that of my neighbor? The silence?)
Everyone, in their respective locations and cities, will be able to do the same, stop from the daily frenzy and immerse themselves in the world of nature to listen to its sounds and silences. let ’slet’slistentonature will be thehashtag that everyone can use to send their own green photo I remind you of the social networks Facebook and Instagram.
Join the flashmob virtually on May 30th!
