MAN ON THE RIVER: A boat and a man go across Europe | |
(2010-03-24 14:09:25) London to Istanbul 2010. On the rivers of the Old Continent to take man back to nature, nature back to man, man back to man. For a New man. The questions. Can we continue to “use” the Earth without limits, without sense? Can we continue to destroy, consume, throw away? Is a “sustainable” life possible? Are conferences, campaigns, grapevines on the internet enough? Is there not perhaps a need for simple, yet epic gesture? A new and ancient gesture? The facts and figures. 5,200 kilometres, 6 months on a rowing boat, day and night, 1 million oar strokes on the Rhine and Danube from the English Channel to the Black Sea. And to help him across 15 countries from London to Istanbul, passing through England, France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey, there will only be the wind and a sail. All of this not for a sporting achievement but to build a new relationship with nature, water and rivers. It is the feat of 44 year old Giacomo De Stefano, born in Asti but Venetian by adoption. He is more than just an environmentalist. He defines himself as a “new world traveller”. The miracle of the feat is written in the budget: 0 euro. It is centred on a “gift economy”, cost-free. Private businesses, friends, partners: they are working with him, providing him with tools and ideas; they are creating conditions to make possible something exceptional. One man. Who is this crazy man? Who is this prophet of the water, this “man on the river” who seems almost to be playing the role of Forrest Gump in a boat? Giacomo describes himself as a “simple person”. After spending many years of his life working as a researcher and a documentary film-maker, he made it his aim in life to make men and women of the consumer culture conscious (at any cost) of how their style of life is decisive for the environment. He lives on a boat in the Venetian lagoon; he lives with little, because often “less is more”, and he can withstand almost all conditions. In 2009 his first project, “Un Altro Po” (www.unaltropo.com) took him along the River Po from Venice to Pavia, a journey with daily broadcasts on Radio 24 and with more than 200,000 contacts on his blog. London to Istanbul 2010 www.manontheriver.com Change if you can. “Man on the River”: a journey across the heart of Europe, a green heart that is searching to destroy a black and polluted heart, with the cry “Change if you can”. Could it be the original and alluring European version of the American “Change”?
More info on www.manontheriver.com If you want to row with us we will be very happy. See you Giacomo |
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www.weRow.com - April 26th, 2024 12:17:26 AM |