AN ASTRONAUT AND AN EXTREME CYCLIST DISCUSSING CLIMATE ISSUES
At the Living Planet Symposium, the prestigious symposium of ESA, the European Space Agency, a story-telling dialogue between the astronaut Luca Parmitano and the ultracyclist and Italian Climate Network Ambassador Omar Di Felice to highlight the evidence of climate change
Back from the recent first Arctic World Tour, the ultra-cyclist Omar Di Felice is ready to start a new chapter of the ‘Bike to 1.5°C’ project and will participate in a panel of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Living Planet Symposium (LPS) in Bonn on Wednesday 25 May, together with the astronaut Luca Parmitano. The conference focuses on the Earth Observation, which plays a key role in advancing our understanding of how our planet works and how it is affected by climate change.
In the panel, Omar will talk about his latest adventure of more than 4,200 km across the three borderlines of the Arctic world, not only to describe the sport-related implications and objectives of his latest crossing, but also, and above all, the scientific outreach activities on the climate crisis in the framework of the project launched with the long journey that saw him and his bicycle enter COP26 in Glasgow.
Omar decided to reach Bonn, the venue of the Symposium, by bicycle, leaving from Bormio on Sunday 22 May, where the day before his departure he will symbolically inaugurate the summer road opening at the Stelvio Pass, and arriving after having covered almost 900 km in 3 days.
The path of storytelling and dissemination of climate change issues, which began in Glasgow in occasion of COP26 and continued with the tour of the Arctic world, will find in this talk a moment of synthesis: starting from the story of the genesis of the “Bike to 1.5°C” project and the reasons that led him to link his adventures to science, he will recall the stages of the journey so far.
“Thanks to the achievements he made in his career and the experience he gained by working together, we are happy to appoint Omar Di Felice as ICN Ambassador, and the first acknowledgement is indeed the invitation to this important Symposium,” says Marirosa Iannelli, Climate and Advocacy Coordinator of the Italian Climate Network and scientific manager of the Bike to 1.5°C project – As Italian Climate Network, our goal is precisely to clearly and competently communicate complex climate-related issues and, at the same time, to fascinate, intrigue, and make people feel responsible for the places we live and for what is happening. Omar achieves all this with his adventures, and next week’s event on the ESA stage together with Luca Parmitano cannot be missed.”
As usual, it will be possible to follow Omar’s journey on his social network channels, those of ESA and of Italian Climate Network, as well as “LIVE” on the ENDU map through which you can see his position live and have the possibility to ride some sections of the journey with him.
The ESA Symposium, on the other hand, will be streamed on the Instagram channel: @esa_earth.