see the grass “from the side of the roots”
From 23 to 24 October the Republic of San Marino returns to being the capital of sustainability. For the past three years, in fact, it has been the scene of a unique event, which combines culture with science, education and teaching: the Green Festival. This edition has as its motto “Seeing grass from the root side” and has exceptional patronage: the secretariats of State for Industry, the Territory and the Environment, Education and Tourism and Cooperation. And then: the Embassy of Italy in the Republic of San Marino, the Cesab (Interuniversity Research Center in Environmental Sciences and Biotechnologies) and the Castles of San Marino, Serravalle and Borgo Maggiore. “This year we have reached a great milestone also because we are still in a pandemic period. In the first edition, that of the debut, there were few who bet on the project. In the second we encountered the Covid emergency without ever giving up and respecting the whole program with its stages and preparatory initiatives. We worked a lot on communication and carefully weaved the network of relationships, which proved to be successful. We create a network around the environment: there is an ever-growing team of people united by a vision of the future that rests on the spread of beauty and the defense of territories. Here we have had a lot of our time and listening to people talking about something to say on social and environmental issues, has allowed us to broaden our horizons and important agreements which then, as in a virtuous chain reaction, brought us to new discoveries and new contacts “.
Among the initiatives that the festival is carrying out in agreement with Nagasaki-Brescia Kaki Tree Europe there is an international project, the Kaki Tree Europe, which combines art, memory and the preservation of testimonies related to the atomic disaster that has hit the Japanese city in 1945, spreading the persimmon plant which saved itself from the explosion. “There is a connection between an ecological festival and the culture of peace. Where there are wars, sustainable development processes and attention to the environment are heavily penalized. And it is no coincidence that the 16th of the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals is dedicated to promoting a peaceful and inclusive society, that is, to peace. Knowing history and working for peace also means working for environmental sustainability. This is why we have included the “Kaki Tree Europe” project and the local history lesson in the path of the San Marino Green Festival ». “Personally I believe that it is not only as consumers and by adopting a lifestyle with little impact that we can act on climate change – adds the creator Gabriele Geminiani – Especially at a time when speed of action is an essential element, just as we should be ready to accept more and more compromises to contain the effects of climate change. It is now an established fact that individual actions do not substantially affect the context of the problem ».