October 15, Wednesday • 3pm - 6pm
Antonio Donato Nobre and Gerard Moss
Public Lecture: Wake up call: Aesthetics of survival
Antonio Donato Nobre introduces the subject of environmental ecosystem services, and the need to touch on people's senses in a way they will respond meaningfully with the help of art. Together with Gerard Moss this public talk aims to illustrate how objective science and subjective experience and adventure can connect in tandem, allowing the cold facts to sink synergistically on the warm sea of sensorial perception. This connection boosts awareness about the whole of the living environment, generating a sense of wonder with the privilege of being alive and able to grasp that condition. The water supply drama in Sao Paulo and other regions of Brazil, connected with the devastation of forests, serves as a conducting line in this storytelling. Questions are: How to connect the perception of our environmental condition (nexus) with intimate flows of motivating emotions (ethos); Is there "art" in the functional "crafts" and systems of nature?; Can natural art inspire human art?; Can nature-inspired art feedback constructively onto our self preservation capacity?
Antonio Donato Nobre plays a relevant role in the dissemination and popularization of science, on topics such as biotic pump moisture and its importance for the advancement of large forests, rivers and air vapor, which transfer moisture from the Amazon to the productive regions of Brazil. He is senior researcher at the National Institute for Amazon Research and Guest researcher at the Center for Earth System Science, National Institute for Space Research.
Gérard Moss is a Swiss-Brazilian private pilot, engineer, public speaker, environmentalist and explorer. Primarily as a traveller, with the rare privilege of having flown a small aircraft at low altitudes over some 100 countries, Gérard witnessed first hand how human interference was and is having a negative impact on forests, lakes, rivers, oceans. He realized that a light aircraft could serve the environmental cause well, not only to capture images and monitor from above, but also to collect research data. His first environmental project, Brasil das Águas, involved collecting fresh water samples from over 1.100 bodies of water in Brazil using an amphibious aircaft. The purpose was to alert the general population on water quality and water conservation. In 2007, he moved the focus from fresh water to rainfall, with a view to increasing awareness on the role played by the Amazon rainforest in providing humidity and rain to other areas. Having perceived how our quality of life and our very survival is totally interconnected with nature, more than ever he is feels a sense of urgency in communicating to the public how important it is to preserve the rainforest. The drastic drought that has hit São Paulo this year is a wake-up call. Gérard will share his wide experiences, and show how a non-scientist can contribute to the preservation of Brazil's ecosystem services through media coverage and environmental education.
Links:
petrobras.com/en/magazine/post/sailing-on-air-1.htm
theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/15/drought-bites-as-amaz
