ecopolis

Climate change is the symptoms of suffering on the planet. The plants, animals and human beings suffers because every day the balance of nature is sacrificed on the altars of the god of profit. Giuseppe Serravezza and Patrizio Mazza, coordinated by Tonino Girau, will lead us in the adventure of complex prevention and treatment of cancer, but also on the prospects opened up by the new local law. The talk is broadcast live on the Internet Wednesday, 11 March 2009 at 21, at www.oistros.it/lunapiena web – it is advisable to book the activities at lunapiena@oistros.it or email to skype contact casaoistros.

Going out in a trendy club and feel good because you contribute to positive environmental processes, such as generating electricity by dancing and upcycling of waste into decoration. This idea forms the basis for the Sustainable Dance Club. The Sustainable Dance Club is a creative concept of Rotterdam based organizations Enviu – innovators in sustainability and Döll – Atelier voor Bouwkunst.

The Sustainable Dance Club incorporates innovations in the field of sustainable design and applied techniques with social responsibilities in attractive club surroundings. No more counter culturists and moralizing attitudes but sustainability as a positive, young and profitable alternative for a broad target group. The Sustainable Dance Floor will generate electricity from the movements of dancing people. This human powered floor is now being developed in cooperation with the Technical University in Delft and will most likely be the projects’ piece de résistance.

London’s Hyde Park plays host to 4 nights of incredible line-ups and cutting edge bands.
Gates will open at 14:00 on the Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th July with the music starting at 15:00. On the Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th July we will open at midday and the music will start at 14:00 to finish at 22:30 on all days.

O2 today announced the launch of O2 pedal power, enabling O2 customers and music fans attending this year’s O2 Wireless Festival to generate their own green energy on-site simply by peddling on bespoke BMX and Chopper bicycles.

The pedal power bikes offer a fun way to help provide an alternative energy source. Each of the ten bikes situated at various points across the O2 Wireless Festival site have been specifically designed to generate enough energy to help to recharge a mobile phone handset.

The initiative is backed by many of the artists lined-up to play this year’s O2 Wireless Festival, and is the first of its kind to be introduced to the UK music festival scene.

In 5960 B.C. and 3580 B.C., Vesuvius had two eruptions that rate among the largest known in Europe. But the italian stratovolcano
is famous for the catastrophic eruption in 79 A.D. that buried the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii. It is estimated that at times during the eruption the column of ash was 20 miles tall.

Image: courtesy of Crew Creative.

It was also the first volcanic eruption ever to be described in detail by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the eruption and later recorded his observations in two letters. He described the earthquakes before the eruption, the eruption column, air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, pyroclastic flows and distruction.

Praeterea mare in se resorberi et tremore terrae quasi repelli videbamus

That’s why volcanologists use the term “plinian” to refer to sustained explosive eruptions which generate high-altitude eruption columns and blanket large areas with ash.

The Pompeians who died trying to escape were buried in layers of moist ash, which as it fell was packed gently about the victims, precisely in the manner of plaster molds, preserving in detail their very features, the musculature of their bodies, the folds of their garments. And of their animals.

Beware the volcano!
Volcanoes provide resources for energy extraction, also called geothermal resources. Natural heat from the earth’s crust is being converted to steam therefore energy. The big advantages to this type of energy are that it is very clean and the resources are nearly inexhaustible.

The history of geothermal use prior to the industrial revolution. Also to the ancient greek and roman baths… It centers itself mainly in the volcanic region of western North America. The use of the geothermal resources during this period was by Paleo-Indians and Indians going back at least 10,000 years. Many of these hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles were sacred places for these Native Americans, who had a special respect and sacred understanding of the environment.

According to Karl Gawell and Griffin Greenberg 2007 Interim Report Update on World Geothermal Development

geothermal development appears to be accelerating. The trends in both the number of new countries developing geothermal energy and the total of new megawatts of power capacity under development appear to reverse slowdowns in international markets seen in the late 1990s, and approximate trends from the more robust 1980s

Chile and Italy have recently come together to plan the drilling of several wells in the southern regions of Chile. The Empresa Nacional de Geotermia S.A., jointly owned by the Italian company Enel and the Chilean company ENAP, is currently exploring the
potential of the lands on which it holds geothermal leases. In Italy Enel geothermal plants are concentrate in the region of Tuscany and they provide 5 billion Kwh per year, avoiding 3.8 millions tonnes of C02 emissions.

It is worth noting that in numerous cases discussed in this report, the success of development in a country is linked to government policies and initiatives. The extent of future geothermal project development would appear to depend more upon adequate funding and sustained policy support than geologic factors.

For example: The 2007-2013 Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) Programme is part of the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP). With a budget of €730 million, the IEE programme aims to increase use of renewable energy and reduced energy consumption by supporting energy efficiency, new and renewable energy sources, and technological solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transport sector.
European Green paper:
GREEN PAPER. A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy

The Future of Energy

The Future of Energy relies on the policy support: in Italy, at the moment we can mainly mention the art marketing and new media support starting with
Enel Contemporanea: Curated by Francesco Bonami, includes a series of public art installations in the city of Rome, created by three international artists dedicated to the theme of energy. After Angela Bulloch and Jeppe Hein, Patrick Tuttofuoco will close the first edition with an installation in Piazza del Popolo from 18th October to 4th November 2007.

For videomakers there is the Enel Digital Contest. Promoted by Enel and the Future Film Festival the aim is to create an original short film on “The Future of Energy.” Application form by October 31, 2007.

Last but not least EnelPARK, Enel’s island on Second Life.The park aims to inform and reveal by using interactive methods, entertainment and stunning features to attract its audience. Enel Island has been designed to welcome its visitors in maximum comfort. Avatars will accompany residents to the island’s various destinations.

But let’s Not (only) Play to make money: the 60th Annual DPI/NGO Conference will takes place until the 7th of sepetember at United Nations Headquarters in New York. More than 2,000 representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from over 80 countries are expected to review the scientific evidence on climate change, including its consequences on indigenous peoples, water security, land use and the politics of energy. While on December 2007, the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meets in Bali. Governments will have a unique opportunity to build common ground to fight climate change.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the highest decision-making authority of the Convention. It is an association of all the countries that are Parties to the Convention. The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change supplements and strengthens the Convention and provides a further framework for action.

DEBORAH LIGORIO
VULCANO, 21st September 7 p.m.

Deborah Ligorio presents at Francesca Minini’s gallery a new video that leads the visitor to the discovery of one of the most frightful settings in the world: the Vesuvio. The public is invited to take part in this trip, an almost ascending path that, after overflying the ragged surface of the urban areas, ends up at the top of the volcano.
The sound captures fragments of radio broadcasts, speeches, music and interferences – in a parallel narration that becomes a comment on the flow of images.