Big names for Mountain Future Festival

Big names for Mountain Future Festival

Appreciating the beauty of nature while learning to respect the fragile ecosystems of high altitudes: this is the message that, year after year, underscores the Mountain Future Festival, the event dedicated to the future of the mountains that – now in its fifth edition – will animate the Dolomiti Paganella area from July to October 2023.

Through debates, walks, exhibitions, concerts, and meetings with prominent guests and experts – including science popularizer Mario Tozzi, TV host and writer Massimiliano Ossini, and popularizer and expert in sustainable forest management Antonio Brunori – the festival aims to make people reflect on the need to achieve a balance with nature, starting with the adoption of new lifestyles and the enhancement of relationships with the natural environment and other people.

It starts with the relationship between “Man and Forests,” with a two-day (July 20-21) in the company of Antonio Brunori, science popularizer, PEFC Italy secretary general and expert in sustainable forest management and the health benefits of forests.

An initial event will be dedicated to analyzing the impact of man on forest health and emphasizing the importance of careful and sustainable forest management (July 20, 5 p.m., at the Arena delle Stelle in Fai della Paganella).

The following day, the point of view is reversed, to delve into the role the forest can play in human health (July 21, 5 p.m., among the trees of Fai della Paganella’s Breath Park). This is demonstrated, for example, by the practice of Forest Bathing (or “forest bathing”): several scientific studies show how monoterpenes, volatile substances emitted by different species of trees-if inhaled in a sufficient dose and for an adequate period of time-can induce prolonged physiological changes in the human body (e.g., reduction of stress and blood pressure, elevation of the immune system). The mental and physical well-being attainable through Forest Bathing is therefore also determined by a number of structural features of landscapes, views, elements, and tree species that the forest must possess to provide the benefit.

Climate change, on the other hand, is the focus of the meeting “From Merchants of Doubt to Concrete Actions – The Future of the Mountains Begins Now” (Aug. 5, 5 p.m., Plan dei Sarnacli, Andalo) with science popularizer, RAI host, author and CNR researcher Mario Tozzi. Organized in collaboration with the Paganella Libraries and the Cuore di Carta Cultural Association, the event is an important opportunity to reflect on the impact that climate change is having on our daily lives and on what awaits us in the immediate future: it will start by analyzing and dismantling the theses of the “climate deniers” to arrive at identifying concrete actions to act now and make one’s own contribution to get out of the climate crisis.

To emphasize the effectiveness of photography and cinematography as universal media to rediscover Italy’s natural heritage, celebrate its beauty and raise awareness of their preservation among the general public. This is the goal of photographer Luciano Gaudenzio and director and documentary filmmaker Marco Rossitti, with the event “L’Altro versante – An Untold Tale of the Italian Mountains” (Aug. 8, 9 p.m., Piazza Chiesa, Molveno).

At the center of the meeting, introduced by journalist Paola Pancher and organized in collaboration with Trentino Marketing, will be the story of the ambitious project of the photographic exhibition “L’altro versante,” through which Maurizio Biancarelli, Bruno D’Amicis, Luciano Gaudenzio and Marco Rossitti have documented a “different” Italy, thanks to their research of unusual places, especially in the mountains, but also of known places photographed in an unusual way. The photo exhibition will be on view from Aug. 8 to Sept. 17 at the Plan Sarnacli Chalet in Andalo.

The Mountain Future Festival is also preparing to address the issue of drought and melting glaciers: the cycle and fate of water, the most precious commodity for life on Earth, will in fact be the protagonists of the event “The Fate of a Drop of Water” (Sept. 5, 5 p.m., in Fai della Paganella, Piazzetta Orme). TV host and writer Massimiliano Ossini will talk about it with traveler and explorer Yanez Borella, who is delving into the topic through his world travels and the Ice Soul project, photographer Giacomo Meneghello, Muse (Trento Science Museum) glaciologist Christian Casarotto and zoologist, writer and Adamello Brenta Natural Park scientific research manager Andrea Mustoni. Beginning with the birth of a droplet, we will follow its path that brings it to us, to our homes, and take stock of future scenarios considering the climate crisis and its consequences.