Press release 13 June 2012, also available at: http://www.aidoh.dk/Rio

Sculptural outcry in the streets of Rio during UN summit

Sculptures depicting climate refugees and a polluting Statue of Liberty will parade the streets of Rio de Janeiro during the Rio+20 summit, reminding politicians, the media and citizens of the harsh reality we are in: we cannot continue business as usual if we want our grandchildren to have the same opportunities that we have.

The parade is part of an intercontinental art manifestation carried out by Danish artist and activist Jens Galschiot and his team Art in Defense of Humanism (AIDOH) to restore public as well as media attention to sustainability and climate issues.

Jens Galschiøt and his team AIDOH will set up a pavilion at Flamenco Park from June 15th, where they will exhibit the sculptures and host debates with lobbyist, negotiators and politicians.

Broken promises

They said they wanted a world, where people’s needs would be met without destroying the basis of life for future generations. They said they would reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. They acknowledged that the developed world puts the greatest pressure on the global environment and thus has the greatest responsibility for solutions.

Now, 20 years later, it is clear that the promises of 1992 have been broken.

Our unsustainable life

We are already consuming more than 1.3 planets, and we have not been able to sufficiently decouple development in production and CO₂ emissions. We are literally taking the bread out of our unborn children’s mouths.

The Western world, who in '92 admitted to be the biggest culprit in the destruction of our planet, have not done anything to diminish consumption patterns, but have instead exported production to the developing world. This way it looks like developing countries are contributing to the problem, but they are in fact producing for the Western populations’ overconsumption – not for themselves.

We need to reconsider our understanding of 'the good life' so we consume less and produce in a sustainable way.

Contacts

Updated info and photos available at: http:// www.aidoh.dk/Rio

Coordinator in Rio: Lasse Markus, phone: +55 (21) 8284 5639, lasse@markus.dk

The artist: Jens Galschiot, phone +45 6618 4058, mobile +45 4044 7058, aidoh@aidoh.dk

From June 18th in Rio: +55 (21) 8374 7492