Sustainability Fair 'Expanding Energy' at Gessnerallee Zurich

On Saturday, February 4, 2012, Gessnerallee Zurich invited to a sustainability fair. The topic of sustainability was interestingly processed and presented from an artistic perspective. And so we had the opportunity to contribute to the program with our freshly won WWF Hub Fellowship. We could present our aspects of sustainability to the public and exchange ideas with various organizations and professionals.

The fair was set up so that the fair took place in the hall from Stall6, while in the back on stage 4 times a different performance on the topic of sustainability with actors from the University of the Arts could be seen. When you entered the fair, you could stock up on information and sustainable products of all kinds and were immediately interrupted by an emergency exercise. The two performance artists animated two volunteers to participate and then took them to the back. In the hall, we made acquaintance with interesting people and their ideas: Eric Meili from Meilibeef, who produces meat in mother animal husbandry, the winemakers from the Stammerberg winery, who produce organic wines, were there and the Kalkbreite Cooperative, which builds apartments according to ecological guidelines in District 3 in Zurich, which can be occupied from 2014, or Sichtbar GmbH, which binds beautiful booklets from recycled material. NeustartSchweiz was also present, an association that advocates for a society that goes back to a modest way of life, in which production is local and environmentally friendly, and social life is improved through neighborhood, interaction, and common property.

Securing Energy

For the performance "Securing Energy" you had to have good English skills. Two business people, a woman and a man in suits, tried to bring energy-saving electrical appliances to the audience, which seemed very American. So everything was also "hudge, giant, incredible and amazing", fair enough, the most important thing is that in the end everyone is satisfied and consumes less energy. The vacuum cleaner robot for stressed people also belongs to the assortment.

Consuming Energy

Then it went to the performance "Consuming Energy", a very original way to hold a panel discussion. The guests were allowed to sit around the discussion round and comfortably enjoy a menu. A discreet hint against meat lovers was the way the menu with meat was served; in a fast-food cardboard container, while the plates of the guests who had opted for a vegetarian menu were a joy for the palate and the eyes. The discussion was about the topic of how to solve the climate and environmental problems in the world. Participating in the conversation were political scientist Dr. Regula Stämfpli, Prof. Daniel Spreng from ETH, geographer Dr. Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, and Dr. Marco Salvi, project manager at Avenir Suisse, moderated by journalist Philipp Löpfe. In the round, different perspectives collided, so that the energy that was released would have been enough to heat the Gessnerallee building. It was interesting that it even went around the role of men and women once. When Ms. Stämfpli very provocatively threw into the round that women are no better people than men, it became clear that in the climate discussion it's also about reconsidering existing values once and being able to change perspective. Particularly beautiful was the African perspective of Ms. Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, who repeatedly addressed the unfair distribution of the wealth of this world and the exploitation of workers and the environment, thus directing attention to the causes of the problems and not always just to how to combat the symptoms. She also addressed another topic, namely that the population in African countries has no access to education, another human right that is not respected in many countries and leads to poverty and environmental problems. By education, she meant not only what we understand as education from a European perspective, namely school education, but that people are informed and can participate when important decisions are made. That they get the necessary information to prevent, on the one hand, that the mineral resources of their country are bought by foreign countries at a ridiculous price, and on the other hand, that they are well enough educated to be able to provide for themselves. In contrast, from Mr. Salvi's side, a typically economic discourse was heard, which emphasized how well everything works here in Europe and that the problems should be solved by exporting our knowledge to developing countries. It almost made one sick, although the cabbage roulade with potato puree tasted delicious.

Expanding Energy

The highlight of the evening was the last performance "Expanding Energy", in which many artists stood together on stage. The show began quietly and reflectively with the audience being able to make various promises to consume less energy in everyday life. When it came to the suggestion of not using the car for a week, not watching TV for a week, or not eating meat for a month, it was still relatively easy, it became more difficult with not using the internet for a month or only showering for 2 minutes per day. The most difficult was probably the plan to plant a tree that would definitely survive the next 10 years. For this, only a few got a badge with the inscription "I made a promise". Good inputs anyway! The second part of the performance came without many words and told the development of humanity. It started very quietly and ended so loud and moving that it almost made one dizzy at times. The artists wanted to express with what insane and frantic pace we today consume our energy and that of our earth and, in all the running, consuming, and having to bow, get totally out of breath. So people also ran from all sides and also backwards across the stage and staged a joint race towards the audience or a goal at the end, which didn't seem clear to anyone.

Where are we running? Into the abyss or into a world where we manage to slow down the destructive pace a bit again?