Eartheart: Defend the Future

Slow Food has chosen Terra Madre Salone del Gusto to launch a major fundraising campaign to protect biodiversity. It has done so in partnership with an outstanding ‘travelling companion’, the Scuola Holden creative writing school in Turin.

‘We are proud to present the collaboration between Slow Food and Scuola Holden here at the school itself,’ said Holden’s CEO Mauro Berruto. ‘In the 19th century this building was an arms factory. Today we “produce” narrators. This is the idea we want to set out from. Together with Slow Food, we have put together our intelligences, ideas and creativity to develop a tool that is consistent with the aims and vision of Terra Madre and Slow Food. In the last few days, walking round the streets of the city and the Parco del Valentino, I’ve seen extraordinary beauty. I’m increasingly convinced that it’s necessary to fight monocultures together.’

‘The Eartheart: Defend the Future campaign is based on the union of the two English words “Earth” and “Heart”,’ explained Serena Milano, secretary general of the nonprofit Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. ‘The illustration of the countryside was drawn by Marco Cazzato, while the images in the videos were not bought from an agency but are the fruit of 20 years of work in the field. They show the faces of Terra Madre and Slow Food Presidium food producers and were shot by photographers who have been collaborating with us for a long time, such as Paola Viesi, Oliver Migliore, Marco del Comune, Alberto Peroli, Paolo Andrea Montanaro. The videos themselves were filmed by Stefano Scarafia and Remo Schellino. All the subsequent work was done by Scuola Holden and a fantastic group of young students. The images were selected by Andrea Giuseppe Castriotta, Stefano Cau, Fabio Dal Pan and Lucia Moschella. Davide Cerreja Fus did the editing, the animation is courtesy of Movie & Arts, the music was composed by Niccolò Bosio, and the graphics were designed by Anna Galli and Alessandra Bruno.’

The campaign slogan sums up the aim of all Slow Food’s projects: to defend the future. To defend it from a form of agriculture that is polluting the soil and water, that is reducing and almost erasing diversity without managing to feed the world. From an economy that is banking on never-ending growth without taking into account the limits of a finite planet. From development that is an end in itself, that is destroying nature and the social fabric and making humanity constantly dissatisfied and unhappy.

‘Many take Slow Food for an elitist association of people who enjoy fine dining,’ pointed out Carlo Petrini, president of Slow Food. ‘Pleasure is a distinctive feature of our philosophy and we are never going to put it to one side. On the contrary, it is pleasure that gives us the energy and enthusiasm to do so much good work day by day to protect small producers and biodiversity. A few days ago we heard the news of the merger between Monsanto and Bayer into a single gigantic corporation controlling seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, fertilizers, and even medicines! How can we defend ourselves if not by protecting biodiversity and its differences? This work demands commitment, sacrifice and resources. We can only do it if, thanks to campaigns like this one, we have the support and solidarity of everyone.’

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