ILICA - Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance

This year's Conference will be an exciting exploration of the high water crisis which has invaded Venezia for centuries and which devastated the city of New Orleans in 2005. Head engineers from Italy's Consorzio Venezia Nuova along with special guest, Prof. Ing. Patrizio Cuccioletta, Presidente Magistrato alle Acque di Venezia, Italian Ministry of Infrastructure & Transportation will discuss the Mose system, "Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico" which in English translates to "Experimental Electromechanical Module".

The MOSE is an engineering system that was developed and manufactured to protect built-up areas in Venice's lagoon and the entire ecosystem from all high waters, and which will be able to cope with a rise in sea level of at lest 60 cm during the next hundred years. The MOSE, a controversial project, which even has Italians debating among themselves, is already over 50% completed and should be operational by the Spring of 2014.

Also in attendance will be major authorities on climatic changes and rise in sea levels working in the USA, including Prof. Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli from the Massachusetts Institute of Techology, as well as Prof. John W. Day, professor emeritus the Dept, of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences and the Coastal Ecology Insitute School of the Coast & Environment, Louisiana State University, an expert in coastal and wetland ecosystems. Both the engineering factors as well as those concerning the environment of  the cities of Venice and New Orleans will be discussed by some of the most notable experts in their fields. In addition, the cultural will inreface with the scientific: Marylou Tibaldo-Bongiorno & Jerome Bongiorno, Emmy-nominated, award-winning, husband and wife filmmakers, will present their feature-length fictional film project Watermark, which is set against the backdrop of global warming's threat to coastal cities.

The perils of global warming and the debate over ways to defend our environment while at the same time protecting our planet from natural disasters are topics of grave concern worldwide and were major topics of discussion at the recent G8 meetings in Italy.

This Conference, an all day event from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm,  is free and open to the public, however seating is limited. Please call 718-392-2020 for further information or e-mail us at: ilicait@aol.com. You may also visit our web-site at www.ilicait.org for details concerning conference topics and speakers.