»If wise and peaceful aliens visit us one day, the first thing they’ll ask, will be how we have been looking after our planet.« – Telmo Pievani

“Planet Book. The world, the climate emergency, the solutions. 200 photos narrated by 40 young men and women committed to changing the future” is a selection of 200 art photographs on the environmental crisis. Based on an idea of its curator, Telmo Pievani, and on a collaboration with Padua University, “Planet Book” is intended to encourage an aware involvement on the wellbeing of the Earth. In passionate debates led by Professor Pievani, a group of students from various Padua University courses have chosen and commented the photos included in the book, while they have identified the problems caused to the ecosystem by human activities, and they have suggested some possible solutions to them.

By featuring high-impact pictures created by internationally renowned photographers (such as Jonas Bendiksen, Frans Lanting, Alex Majol, Paolo Pellegrin, Sebastiấo Salgado and Mikheal Subtosky) and organised according to the classical elements (water, air, fire, and earth) as well as to the human factor, “Planet Book” gives evidence of the extent to which mankind is jeopardising and undermining the infinite beauty of the Planet, while showing how human beings have the extraordinary ability to set out a new harmony between nature and themselves thanks to their intellectual resources. 

Telmo Pievani is full professor at the Department of Biology, Padua University, where he covers the first Italian chair of Philosophy of Biological Sciences. He also teaches Bioethics and Science Communication. Researcher in the field of Philosophy of Biology, he is fellow of several academic institutions and scientific societies as well as of the editorial board of international magazines. He was President of the Italian Society of Evolutionary Biology from 2017 to 2019. He has been in the WWF Scientific Committee since 2020. 

Introduced by Stefano Faggioli, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Lubiana. Event in English.