Telmo Pievani in conversation with Dr. Paolo Ferri – “Nature is bigger than us: evolutionary notes on the Antropocene”

06.06.2023, 18:30

Nature is bigger than us. It started long before humankind developed on this planet two hundred millennia ago. Still, we do not realize that we are part of it and have changed the Earth’s geophysiology by triggering global warming. The consequences are loss of biodiversity, instability, environmental migrants and conflicts over resources. Nature is also bigger than us because it keeps surprising us with new species of plants and animals that we discover every year.

Telmo Pievani takes an enlightening, at times personal journey between science and ecology, history and anthropology, medical discoveries and zoological adventures, stories of strange creatures and encounters with extraordinary personalities. A fascinating itinerary between the Anthropocene and the pandemic era that explains why nature does nothing with a purpose and how Homo sapiens is just a recent, and fragile, twig in the great tree of biodiversity.

Telmo Pievani (*1970 in Gazzaniga, IT) is Full Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Padua, where he covers the first Italian chair of Philosophy of Biological Sciences. He also teaches Bioethics and Science Communication. He is the director of Pikaia, the Italian portal on evolution, and collaborates with Corriere della Sera, Le Scienze and Micromega. He published La vita inaspettata (The Unexpected Life), 2011, Imperfezione (Imperfection. A Natural History), 2019, Finitudine (The Earth after us), 2020, and Serendipità (Serendipity), 2021.

The event is free of charge and will be held in English.

Please register to attend the reading via email francoforte.culturale(at)esteri.it.

The lecture by Telmo Pievani Nature is bigger than us takes place in cooperation with the Italian Consulate General in Frankfurt and is part of the event series Italy: A World of Books.