The “Thinking Day” is celebrated every year by all the Scouts and Guides of the world: they celebrate the birthday of Olave and Robert Baden Powell, the founders of Guiding and Scouting, who were born the same day : the first in the year 1889, the second in 1857. For this important event, the MASCI Sardegna (Italian Adult Scout Movement for Adults) asked EARTH GARDENERS to coordinate the day. A series of events between the members of Sassari of the two associations, has allowed the development of the program and the design of the intervention.
This year the themes that animated the “Thinking day” were the Millennium Goals. For Scouts all over the world, the “Millennium Development Goals” and the “Thinking Day” are different names for the same challenge: “Leave the world a little better than we found it”. In short, this was stated by Gigi Dirusso, Secretary of MASCI Sardegna in the brief but significant opening speech of the meeting held in Sassari at the San Giuseppe Oratorio on Sunday 19 February 2017.
The event, organized by Corrado Maninchedda, Magister of the MASCI delegation Sassari 1, saw many delegations from all over Sardinia converge in Sassari with the “fazzolettoni”, the guitar and the serious happiness of those who try to live giving a deep sense of being together.
The day was held around the event “Environmental integrity: problem of conscience and knowledge”.
The work was started by Anna Lacci, President of EARTH GARDENERS, who in her conversation was able to interpret the spirit of the “Day of Thought” addressed to the problems of the Earth, with a particular look at the Sardinian reality and the possibility of what everyone can do to change a future that seems already marked by apparently “natural” catastrophes, but in reality daughters of carelessness, ignorance and the special interest of a few.
The introduction, begun with some quotations from the encyclical letter “Laudato sì”, has developed along three lines: the intelligent design of housing and industrial buildings; vegetation cover, seen as the cornerstone of
terrestrial ecosystems; the problem of alien species as a great threat to the original biodiversity. The themes were addressed using the Metaplan technique, which involved seven groups of at least ten members each in a passionate way. Directed by members of the MASCI (Rina Pinna, Gavino Piga, Rossana Nieddu), of EARTH GARDENERS (Marcello Deidda, Francesco Sgarrella, Irene Testoni) and of Zoeticamente (Massimo Lubinu), the event has been articulated for the whole day. Short reports presented by group delegates on the ideas elaborated, introduced the final debate.
The event, which also included moments in the life and activities of the MASCI Sardegna, was closed by the regional secretary Gigi Dirusso, who underlined how the growth and development of human society must be rethought in respect of the planet and greater equity in the distribution of resources.
The meeting also marked the start of a collaboration between the MASCI and EARTH GARDENERS that we hope will be expressed in a series of positive actions for the Sardinian territories.
