Chronicles of “Humana Communitas” from the Silicon Valley

How and why we have to change our models of development…now!

I am writing from the heart of California, where I proudly take part twice a year to the Google Food Lab; the global assembly of science, enterprises and NGO experts of the food industry who, summoned to the Mecca of innovation, are called to make stock on the state of the art involving the impacts they are generating, sharing inspirations, needs and ambitions.

On Wednesday, for the first time, I climbed on that stage not to speak about the new projects of the Future Food Institute, but Michiel Bakker invited June Jo Lee, Eve Turow Paul and me to speak about Gen-Z, a conversation exploring their appetites for cultural diversity, fluid identities and radical futures.

So, this time I took that stage inspired by the concept of “Humana Communitas” that Pope Francis described in his letter to the Pontifical Academy for Life.

Why?

Because last week the notorious Greta Thumberg was in Italy and met the Pope. Italy hosted and listened to her in the Senate. And #Fridays4Future welcomed her in the main squares of Rome. Her message was extremely powerful and my reflection was dedicated to her during the spot on stage at the Google Food Lab.
Greta has become a global icon of environmental activism and an erupting reminder of the urgency to face the climate crisis and weather science that have been exclaiming the current and expected data relating to the emergency for years. She is an icon that also drags debris such as the digital revolution. The impression is, however and in spite of her, that the theme has become “the little Greta” and not the climatic crisis of which she is speaking about with great effort and fatigue. Her tears (last Tuesday) shed in the European Parliament prove the failure of a planet that we adults put on the shoulders of a 16-year-old girl. Those tears are the debris of a revolution made of selfies, distracting us from the silent necessity of a dutiful energy saving masked thundering self-celebratory moments, which instead demand an imposing action.

How do we contemporaries explain this essential change? What kind of positive contribution can the world leaders from all over the world, called to gather by Google, give to the anthropological, ethical and spiritual analysis that we are experiencing, and that subtends, contaminates and is contaminated by the social, cultural, environmental and economic one?

This is the reason why I thought of the concept of “Humana Communitas”, which represented the basis on which I made my report in California.

“Family initiation to fraternity among human beings can be regarded as a real hidden treasure in view of the community reorganisation of social and human rights policies that today is strongly needed”. This is what the Pope stated in that letter.
In this regard, Claudia Laricchia, our Director of Institutional Relations and an international environmental activist, wrote, paraphrasing Roosevelt, that “freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere, and not the supremacy of humans over nature”, moreover implying that there is a link between human rights and the environment. If we break such link, we condemn ourselves to a social slavery that is a further consequence of the current climate crisis. At the moment, the human right to a healthy environment is not fully recognised at international level. Claudia’s battle for the environment also deals with this point. The impact of food innovation on climate change that is also determining the exponential increase of refugees and climate migrants, which from 22 million will become 147 million people by the year 2050. Their rights are at risk and the only way we can restore social policies and human rights is to go from mere a initiation to a profound connection between human beings. Today, Claudia represents my perspective on this aspect of contemporaneity, having met the Pope during Greta’s visit and being in the Italian Senate. Moreover Italy itself, unbelievably, — as stated in the Journal of the United Nations — asked the EAT Lancet Commission in Geneva not to eliminate freedom of choice of consumers with regard to the “Healthy diets from sustainable food systems” report. Instead, the range of products that could adversely affect human health and the environment should be widened.

For this reason, on the stage of the Google Food Lab, I wondered and I asked to myself and to te rest of the audience: “Are we becoming falsely authentic leaders? Can we imagine new indicators to measure growth and progress that are not only economic ones? Are we really and authentically ready to guide the Gen-Z, the Z Generation, represented by these youngsters, ideally symbolised by Greta and who are protesting in the squares of over 100 countries in over 1 million and 600,000 young people? Are we sure that today we are using technology in the right way to transform our “Humana Communitas” for the sake of future generations and of the planet? Are we also transforming this rage and protest into truly alternative proposals to the catastrophic scenarios that mankind has determined?”
I am tired of witnessing people who come to meet at my privileged international observatory just to say that they are right, those who made analyses in the Newton tubes of offices or behind desks. We brought 15 innovators for 60 days in 12 cities of 10 different countries to connect, accelerate impacts, generate a change that starts from experimentation and from change itself. I did so because science and technology must remain at the service of human beings and of their fundamental rights, contributing to man’s integral good. I did so to better interpret the growing pace of techno-scientific innovation which — again citing the Pope– “multiplies interactions. It is an urgent matter, therefore, in is necessary to intensify the study and the challenges on the effects of society’s evolution in a technological sense in order to articulate an anthropological synthesis that is up to this momentous challenge”.

The epic challenge now is the environmental one!

It occurred that in the very moment of the world’s history in which the economic and technological resources available would allow us to take sufficient care of the community, our most aggressive divisions emerged right from those economic and technological resources.

If we don’t think about changing the reference models for the integral good of man, then who will do it? And if not now, when?
My mission is to transform the development models so that the holistic purpose of an integral good can guide our behaviours, listening and “voting” for the Gen Z, as Greta stated to the European Parliament. It is necessary to include indicators of total sustainability within our organisations in order to measure, compare, promote virtuous behaviours and discredit the purely financial economic logic that has led us to the epochal challenge we are facing today. These models should be based on the following 6 key concepts:

• People, recalling the concept of a hyper-connected “Humana Communitas” for the integral good of humankind.
• Purpose, capable of generating prosperity through a purpose that takes into account multiple indicators of well-being.
• Planet, that stands at the centre of the models, also in order to assess the ecological deficits and ecological spending review, as the scientist Luca Mercalli writes in his work “Non c’è più tempo” (No more time is left).
• Trust, as a tool of intelligence and analysis of the big data that objectifies the transparency of processes.
• Authenticity, that allows conveying its messages through examples of life and of lives, capable of inspiring virtuous behaviours.
• Education, because the most powerful weapon to change the world will always be education, awareness and study.

In my opinion, Chiara Cecchini, our FF Director USA, embodies these values. Acknowledged by Food Tank as one of the most influential leaders in the field of food innovation, Chiara is a researcher at UC Davis, author of the World Economic Forum, member of the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition and is one of the most prestigious Alumni of our University Master’s Food Innovation Program. I invested in Chiara’s training and experiences 4 years ago, as well as we did with many other talented youth like Simona, Chhavi, Alejandra, Murray, Kerong, Ilaria, Francesco, Josè and many many more and the return of this investment has a remarkable impact, as they succeeded in increasing science, knowledge and experimentation thanks to their extraordinary experience.

Today, the Future Food Institute works with FAO, the United Nations, international governments, agencies, foundations, networks, academies, universities, research centres and large corporations. Yet I have a feeling that it is not enough. That it is too late to multiply and accelerate an impact that is generated, measured and compared with obsolete indicators. We must change our development models now. Let’s train more Claudia-s, Chiara-s, Simona-s, Chhavi-s, Alejandra-s, Murray-s, Kerong-s, Ilaria-s, Francesco-s, Josè-s and more Gen-Zs that can pass from protest and anger to proposals and useful efforts.

Let’s make exponential impact, empowering their generative approach. We must lead, with more sense of responsibility, the human community towards which we have the duty to nourish with healthy and eternal values. We must find the courage to change ourselves and not the climate.

Today, the Future Food Institute works with FAO, the United Nations, international governments, agencies, foundations, networks, academies, universities, research centres and large corporations. Yet I have a feeling that it is not enough. That it is too late to multiply and accelerate an impact that is generated, measured and compared with obsolete indicators. We must change our development models now. Let’s train more Claudia-s and Chiara-s, and more Gen-Zs that can pass from protest and anger to proposals and useful efforts. Let’s make exponential impact, empowering their generative approach. We must lead, with more sense of responsibility, the human community towards which we have the duty to nourish with healthy and eternal values.
We must find the courage to change ourselves and not the climate.