Ligabue Magazine 77

18.00

Second semester 2020
Year XXXIX

All aboard!
This issue of Ligabue Magazine takes us to extremely varied, distant destinations: from the tropical rainforest to the Namib desert and the Antarctic ice sheet. We then continue our world tour on treetops, before discussing climate change and measuring time in Venice. We start in the Amazon rainforest and its native peoples.

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Emiliano Guanella describes, in particular, the role of the elders in tribes such as the Yanomami, Kayapà³ and Palikur. The older people still represent the community when it comes to political negotiations on environmental conservation, while never neglecting their vital task of passing on knowledge to the younger generation.

It is not uncommon for groups of ten young people to sit up late into the night listening to their stories about life in the forest, hunting or fishing, the use of natural resources, interpreting nature’s signs, and a host of other topics. Unfortunately, a serious threat hangs over these tribes: the elders are the most vulnerable to Covid-19. Some of the historic leaders of the Amazonian communities have fallen victim to the virus. They pass away in silence, while you are reading these lines, while the future of the rainforest is crying out for help. Without the elders, we lose a precious source of knowledge, essential for the conservation of the largest green lung in the world.

After leaving the Amazon rainforest, we cross the ocean and touch down in the neverending expanses of the Namib desert, where Alessandro Parodi takes us to visit a now abandoned settlement: the ghost town of Kolmanskop. Built by German settlers in 1908, it is situated in the middle of an area rich in diamonds. The last inhabitants left in 1956, and now the town is completely deserted, its houses invaded by sand and dunes. Diamonds had enabled this small community to flourish, but the end of mining activities brought its rapid demise as people suddenly moved on. Everything is still in place: until a few years ago you could still even roll a ball in the perfectly intact, functioning wooden skittles alley. From the desert heat, we plunge into the freezing polar world. Giuliano Gallo recounts the incredible adventure of Ernest Shackleton.

In 1915, in a war-torn Europe, he and his crew sailed aboard the Endurance to Antarctica to try and reach the South Pole overland. The Irish adventurer and his men never made it to their destination, but the story of their survival is still an incredible testimony to life in extreme conditions, pushing human capabilities to the limit. We know much more about this expedition than about similar ventures thanks to photographs taken by the Australian Frank Hurley. His photo report showed for the first time the cruel beauty of a still unknown part of the world: people could finally see the reality of the Antarctic and not simply imagine it from the words of previous expeditions. Had Shackleton lived in the days of the Vikings, wrote the Buenos Aires Herald, the bards would have composed a saga to his praise, & would sing it [sic] in the North land by the side of roaring fires. We know that today our climate is changing, but what do we know of its ups and downs in past eras? Many surprises come to light as Luca Mercalli looks into some historical myths. For example, it’s not true that the climate was warmer when Hannibal crossed the Alps. Some of his elephants died because of the cold and snow.

Paradoxically, many more died on the apparently much less insidious Apennines: those smaller mountains almost completely wiped out his legendary war elephants. Or again, it’s not true that Greenland was once all green. Only narrow coastal strips were lush when Erik the Red arrived and called the island Greenland to attract settlers. And lastly, while it is true that the Middle Ages was followed by the so-called Little Ice Age, the differences in temperature and climate were not as great as some have surmised. After the climate, we come to forests and trees. Alessandra Viola takes us on a fascinating journey amongst nature’s giants. No living organism has demonstrated such a great capacity for survival: trees have lived through the atomic explosions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vajont disaster and the attack on the Twin Towers. In this sense, some trees have always been reliable, silent witnesses to events that have shaped the course of history. We need to start thinking about how to protect them better, and not simply consider them as trunks to be cut down.

Keeping the time is essential for city life, and when clocks were first introduced and prominently displayed in public squares, they became symbols of a city’s wealth and opulence. One example is Venice, which flaunted its technology and power also through its sophisticated timepieces. Francesco Zane describes them in a fascinating account of clocks during the Serenissima Republic. Sadly, he died while this issue was being produced, and we would like to remember him here on his last journey through the wonders of the lagoon city.

We are greatly indebted to him. Thank you, Francesco.
Enjoy your reading!

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