On 5 November 2019, more than 11 thousand scientists, from 153 countries, signed an open letter published in the journal Bioscience. The appeal, launched by William Ripple of the University of Oregon, Thomas Newsome of the University of Sydney, and William Moomaw of Tufts University, represents an attempt by the international scientific community to stand up and be counted for the first time in no uncertain terms. "We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency," reads the text, which was also signed by 250 Italians. In the document the scientists say they are ready to help political decision-makers take the necessary action to ensure a future for our generation and future generations.
This new research takes into account 40 years of data showing how human activities have irreversibly changed the planet. With a series of numbers that leave no room for interpretation, the scientists warn that the climate changes the planet is undergoing are intensifying much faster than expected. Even according to the latest report by the IPCC, the UN panel of climate experts, if no concrete and effective action is taken within 11 years, the average global temperature will exceed the 1.5 degree safety threshold, with dramatic consequences for the Earth as we know it.
What can we do for our planet and our future? This is the question we must answer today to ensure a future for our children and the very survival of the human species.
With 21 Minutes Awareness, scheduled from 5 to 8 December, Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti is responding to the appeal launched on 5 November 2019 by more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries around the world. The external conditions in which we live are a reflection of those in our inner world. The current emergency fully reflects the educational emergency which the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation has been dedicated to for 19 years, with knowledge dissemination activities for the growth and development of society and individuals. As Patrizio Paoletti, president of the Foundation, says, “research means exploring our inner world, our brain, understanding that it is the creator of our relationship with the environment”. The current emergency is the external projection of what each of us chooses to be within ourselves: the earth, as an icon, is the mirror of our inner world. 21 Minuti focuses not only on the external responses that the moment of great global challenge demands of us, but on the need for a new inner response, a new education that places awareness at the centre.
The inner change of individuals is the basis for the birth of a new awareness, necessary to adopt different and sustainable strategies and behaviours to try to save our planet. This is the only real source of change that can orient each individual towards improving the whole. The social and climatic changes we are experiencing in this historical period are the result of choices that are not only political and governmental but first and foremost individual, depending on the way we perceive ourselves and others. Everyone can educate themselves to awareness by learning to manage their own inner resources, their own role and their own responsibilities to guide humanity towards peace. 21 Minutes Awareness brings together people and innovative ideas, shared by some of the best minds in the world, with the aim of creating sustainable innovation.
Taking another point of view, becoming aware of our inner resources, becoming agents of change, men and women of peace: this is the challenge that awaits us to save ourselves and the world around us.
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