Yearly Archives: 2014

Photo Recap from the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award ceremony

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

A lively crowd gathered on 22 August 2014 at Fringe Central to celebrate the fifth year of the Fringe Sustainable Practice Award’s existence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Elinor Gallant from the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh accepted the award on behalf of The HandleBards, part of the production company Peculius who are touring their productions of The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth via bicycle across Europe now.

Gallant quoted the HandleBards-

“We’re thrilled to have received the award, but it’s clear from the long list that all of the companies here are doing fantastic work in communication the message of sustainability through the arts, and long may it continue.”

The following images are from the award ceremony. More information on the award can be found here.

Click to view slideshow.


Images courtesy Gillian Murphy from the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts. HandleBards image courtesy Callum Cheatle.

The post Photo Recap from the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award ceremony appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Upcoming Events: Creative Carbon Scotland Drop-In Advice Sessions

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

By popular demand, we are now offering a series of informal drop-in sessions this coming September at Stills Gallery in Edinburgh (23 Cockburn Street, Edinburgh EH1 1BP) on the following dates-

11th September 1:00pm-4:00pm

18th September 10:00am-1:00pm

25th September 1:00pm-4:00pm

Come along and find out more about using the resources on Creative Carbon Scotland’s website including:

  • Online tools to calculate your carbon emissions
  • Developing your environmental sustainability policies
  • Learning from our case studies
  • Use of our templates to help you develop useful environmental policies for staff induction, for travel and for recording

Come along for a coffee and a chat. Feel free to stay as long as you like, but please be sure to bring your own laptop. The session will allow you and your company/office/venue/organisation to get signed up for our Green Arts Portal, the Green Arts Initiative, and our recording and reporting tools for energy and travel.

Already signed up to GAP? This is an opportunity to get one to one advice with any problems you have been having with preparing emissions reports.

Signing up for the sessions is advised but walk-ins are accepted. 

For more information, please contact Fiona MacLennan at fiona.maclennan@creativecarbonscotland.com.

We hope to see you there!

The post Upcoming Events: Creative Carbon Scotland Drop-In Advice Sessions appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Opportunity: Spring Fling Evolution Project Manager

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Spring Fling Evolution Project

September 2014 – April 2015

1. Background

Spring Fling is a visual art and craft organisation supporting visual artists and makers through creating a range of platforms for professional artists and makers to showcase and sell their work across, and from, a large rural area:  Dumfries and Galloway, in the south west of Scotland. Spring Fling (the organisation)’s flagship event is Spring Fling: an annual contemporary visual art and craft open studios event covering the region. The event is the one of the most successful of its kind in the UK and was set up in 2003 to support and promote the region’s professional artists, makers and their businesses. Spring Fling, the event, has a significant impact on the local economy (£1.4 million in 2014), generates substantial sales in artists’ studios over a three-day event (over £250,000), and in 2014 attracted 13,400 visitors (44,300 studio visits).

Since employing a small team in 2011 Spring Fling has developed into a leading organisation commissioning and producing experimental public art (Couch 2012 and SFRM 2014); year round paid developmental opportunities for established and emerging artists to develop new work through bursary schemes; mentoring; residencies and apprenticeships; and marketing and media training for artists. With a strong brand associated with quality and ambition, it has significantly developed its impact across the media through TV and print and also through increased use of social media.  It has taken Spring Fling out of the region with national exhibitions in Glasgow, Newcastle and London.

Spring Fling is now in the process of evolving into a regionwide development organisation supporting experimentation and enterprise within the visual art and craft creative industries of a rural area. The organisation will work with artists and partners to create local, national and international opportunities for established, emerging and aspiring artists and makers. Providing professional, business and marketing development the organisation will offer support to artists enabling; experimentation & risk taking; the creation of new work; sharing of skills; engaging with the public; and reaching new markets.

The creation of a new organisational brand will protect Spring Fling (the event brand) and open the organisation’s services to a wider customer base of both artists and audiences. The new organisation will be launched in April 2015. This project will ensure that we have the best organisational business model for the efficient management and delivery of the present and future activities provided by the wider organisation.

The strategic aims of the organisation are to maintain Spring Fling as the vibrant flagship event within a wider organisation which supports artists and makers at different stages of their careers throughout the year, and through this nurturing the arts and artistic activity within the communities of the largely rural population of Dumfries and Galloway.

2. Brief

Spring Fling CIC (SFCIC) is looking for a Sustainable Development Project Manager or Sustainable Development Project Team (freelance) who will lead the development project.

This is an eight-month project split into four phases:

Phase 1 | Creative & Collaborative Development | September 2014 – January 2015 | Fee: £8000 (approx.)

Phase 2 | Business Development | December 2014 – February 2015 | Fee: £3000 (approx.)

Phase 3 | Financial & Economic Development | January – March 2015 | Fee: £7000 (approx.)

Phase 4 | Branding Development | December 2014 & March – April 2015 | Fee: £3000 (approx.)

FULL BRIEF DOWNLOAD

3. Proposals 

To apply please send:

  • Proposal document (one per phase)
  • Budget breakdown
  • Detail on partners and collaborators, if applicable
  • Outline of your experience in this area including CV’s of all individuals involved

This should be sent to Leah Black, Director, Spring Fling CIC to leah@spring-fling.co.uk by 5pm Friday 5 September 2014

Interviews will be conducted in Dumfries between Monday 8 – Thursday 11 September. Phase 1 is due to start in late September 2014.

Please direct any questions to Leah Black by email (above) or on 01387 213 218.

Image courtesy of Spring Fling: http://www.spring-fling.co.uk/

The post Opportunity: Spring Fling Evolution Project Manager appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

The Content of Nothing :: Part 4 :: On Attending

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Featured Image: “A Sort of Visual Rhythm: Symphoricarphos” from Back to the Things Themselves GFVA 2012

Samantha Clark: I was really interested in how you see the role of drawing within your practice. It seems to me that the process of drawing, particularly such obviously meticulous and detailed drawing that has evidently taken some time, is a kind of attention, a meditative or contemplative process. And I think so much of creative work, whether visual or writing, is fundamentally about this paying attention, and then through putting the work out, drawing other peoples’ attention, a kind of ‘pointing out’, saying ‘have you ever noticed this?’ To ‘attend’ means to wait, to be present with, to serve, to listen, to wait, to take care of someone/something. Its Latin root ‘ad-tendere’ means’ to stretch into’, to stretch one’s mind towards something.

I wanted to quote from the Canadian poet Tim Lilburn’s essay How to be here? because he puts something very eloquently that I couldn’t say any better. Lilburn was trained as a Jesuit, now teaches philosophy in a catholic college, and his work is imbued with a very scholarly understanding of the tradition of ‘negative theology’ and the mystical, contemplative tradition of Christianity that has been somewhat lost. He writes really beautifully about the practice of contemplation, and that desire to be ‘one with nature’ that is bandied around so much in environmental thinking, especially some of the less careful interpretations of deep ecology. It’s something I am always uneasy with. We can never be ‘at one with nature’ in any straightforward, cosy way. Nature doesn’t give a s**t.

PDF extract, Lilburn on watching some deer come into his yard

Lilburn is eloquent on this being-in-the-world and yet there being a separation, a gap, an otherness. Merleau-Ponty is also helpful on this when he talks about the ‘flesh’, that there is a kind of blind spot, a gap in our experience of the world just at the point where we are folded into it – a ‘chiasm’. He goes back again and again to the experience of the toucher touched, when you touch one hand with the other – you can experience ‘touching’ or ‘being touched’ but not exactly simultaneously. I think he was wary of the ‘merging’ that can be implied when we start to see self and world as ‘the same’. In his work on the flesh he describes an ‘embrace’, not a merging. The fleshy solidity of things in the world is not an obstacle but a means of communication. There is differentiation, a gap. But this is not the same as dualism. (Merleau-Ponty, 1968: 130-155) Sartre was big on this too: ‘Nothingness haunts being’. He argued that when we become ‘self’ conscious, there is a slight displacement of the ego that allows us to become reflexive, and so there is a gap, a nothingness, right at the heart of the self. (Sartre, 1937/2000) He was predictably bleak and gloomy about it, describing it as a ‘worm’ at the heart of being, but I think of it in a similar way to the ‘gap’ between two eyelines in stereo vision (or sound) that punches a third dimension into experience, or like to space in a bell that allows it to resonate.

Judy Spark:  I had never heard of Lilburn until you introduced me to him but I am really struck firstly by how beautifully he puts this feeling of wanting to ‘know’ the world, but not really being able to; he sees his ‘separation’ from it as part of the experience; a “desire whose satisfaction is its frustration and continuance” and his thinking does seem comparable to Merleau-Ponty’s on the concept ‘flesh’. These notions speak to me especially in light of what I was alluding to earlier about the impossibility of bridging this separation through description or the sort of attention that is part of drawing, and I’m not saying that bridging the separation ought to be the aim. What we seem to be saying is that this gap itself is very important, and indeed may itself prove to be fertile ground in ways that we (humans) do not yet fully appreciate or understand.

This practice of drawing is indeed a method of paying attention, it is contemplative and the idea of ‘stretching ones mind towards something’ is exactly how it feels. However, these drawings don’t come about through any romantic method of sitting in a field meditating over something and its rendering. As much as this activity may exist as a personal counter to an overload of daily information transmission, through which little of value may actually be received, their making employs the tools of this culture: the digital camera, the print shop, the photocopier. The subjects of the drawings are ones that have ‘spoken’ to me, usually accumulatively, over a period of time on walks made regularly as I go about daily activities (getting to work for instance) on routes that are often a mix of the urban and the rural, the peripheries of the cities I inhabit. I would no more sit down in these environments (or any other outdoor locations) and start drawing than fly in the air. I am too much a product of the 21st Century for that, I’m too afraid I’d attract unwanted attention (human or animal), I’m too soft – get too hot or too cold easily, get hungry, need to pee, or suffer from some other discomfort. As long as I keep moving, I’m fine. But the things still ‘speak’ and I try to build sense from these broken transmissions. Back in my climate controlled studio, I grid up the enlarged photograph of the ‘thing’ that I’m working from. I refer to the notes on it made after each encounter. I think my way back through this encounter as it is transferred to paper, appears as marks in graphite and ends up as not of one world (mine) or another (the one the thing itself inhabits) but something in between. In this process of working in the gap between the two, I find the space to ‘stretch my mind toward’ the thing encountered, the world it inhabits, and this ‘exchange’ is picked up again, the next time I’m on that particular path.

I’m aware that there is again something of the cynic present here in this account of observing the ‘natural’, in a way that still ‘confounds’ it with the technological, in the methods employed in bringing about the work, and in the overlaying of the sound-work that relates to it. Sometimes during the process of these drawings, I think about an experiment I came across in a book called The Secret Life of Plants, the aim of which was to clear a field of pests using electromagnetic resonance to treat, not the field itself, but a photograph of it! It was claimed that the molecular make up of the photographic emulsion would resonate at the same frequencies as the objects in the photograph. If this is just slightly unbelievable (it maybe doesn’t work with digital!), it nevertheless does make me think about what exactly is taken, made, stilled or distilled in the making of a photograph. There is some sort of exchange, and energy has to be part of this, between the seer and the seen. Both are slightly changed by the encounter, folded into one another but still distinct, to turn to Merleau Ponty again. Drawing these things, even through these clunky methods, is a way to begin to get to this.

References:

Lilburn, T (1999) Living in the World as if it Were Home: Essays, Ontario: Cormorant Books

Merleau-Ponty, (1968) The Visible and the Invisible, Evanston: Northwestern University Press

Sartre, Jean-Paul (1937/2000) ‘The Transcendence of the Ego’ in Priest, S. (2000) Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings, Routledge

Tompkins, P. and Bird, C. (1974) The Secret Life of Plants, London: Allen Lane (Penguin)

ecoartscotland is a resource focused on art and ecology for artists, curators, critics, commissioners as well as scientists and policy makers. It includes ecoartscotland papers, a mix of discussions of works by artists and critical theoretical texts, and serves as a curatorial platform.

It has been established by Chris Fremantle, producer and research associate with On The Edge Research, Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University. Fremantle is a member of a number of international networks of artists, curators and others focused on art and ecology.

Go to EcoArtScotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Out of the Blue

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Out of the Blue Drill Hall is another one of our fantastic Green Arts Initiative venues in Edinburgh, just finishing a very successful Forest Fringe run. The creative hub shared their thoughts and advice on sustainability with Creative Carbon Scotland.

CCS: What is your most recent action related to sustainable operations or programming?

OOTB: We most recently overhauled our recycling system to offer our tenants and building users a full spectrum of services, the only things that hit our waste bin now are items which are un-recyclable.  This has raised awareness throughout and  has drastically reduced the amount we send to landfill by over 50%.

CCS: What have you most enjoyed about being a member of the Green Arts Initiative?

OOTB: Being part of the Green Arts Initiative has been great for Out of the Blue providing us with the opportunity to meet with other like minded organisations to share, test and implement new ideas on carbon reduction. We also find Smeasure a very useful tool to monitor the energy usage of the building and tweak it to make savings and forecasts.

CCS: What are you most eager about for the 2014 summer festivals season? 

OOTB: We are currently hosting the Forest Fringe festival programme at Out of the Blue Drill Hall for the second year running. This is a fantastic partnership and event hosting a huge variety of entertaining shows, installations, speakers, music and interactive workshops to the drill hall. All the events are free to attend which makes it viable and socially inclusive for anyone to catch a bit of the alternative Fringe. The festival is very environmentally conscious with mostly paperless marketing,  a focus on alternative transport and power saving measures which fits in seamlessly with the ethos of Out of the Blue.

CCS: Do you have a top tip for new GAI members?

OOTB: Take the time to analyse your energy consumption and seek ways to improve operations, not only will this benefit the environment through reducing your carbon footprint it will result in savings for your organisation.

Recycle everything.

Go to the meetings, they are very informative and great for idea sharing.


The Forest Fringe took place at Out of the Blue Drill Hall 6-17 August 2014. To read our highlights from the “Honey-bee-lujah!” performance by Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, click here.

Image: Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. Courtesy Catriona Patterson.

The post Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Out of the Blue appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Saughtonhall Drama Group

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

Saughtonhall Drama Group is one of our newer Green Arts Initiative members and have been very successful in spreading the word about their green work. We recently heard from the theatre group about their latest activity.

CCS: What is your most recent action related to sustainable operations or programming?

SDG: Our preview article in the Edinburgh Evening news was linked to the fact that we are a green venue. We took the opportunity to encourage people to come by the new tram which has a stop only about 300m from our venue. Talking to some of the audience in our outdoor café pre show they mentioned they had never thought of using the tram before they saw the article. As a result they had left their car at home and found the tram a great way to travel.

CCS: What have you most enjoyed about being a member of the Green Arts Initiative?

SDG: The opportunity to spread the word about green activity. We operate from a Church that is a member of Eco Congregations, with various initiatives including solar panels and low energy lighting. We discovered one of the journalists writes a green web article. We took the opportunity to give a briefing on the Green Arts initiative which then was mentioned in the SmartestEnergy web publication.

CCS: What are you most eager about for the 2014 summer festivals season?

SDG: We have now finished for the summer, the next production is our pantomime 26-28th November, featuring Sleeping Beauty and a very special guest. On the green front we are taking stock and thinking- what next? Our key concern is the hot drink cups. We are exploring other options such as china mugs.

CCS: Do you have a top tip for new GAI members?

SDG: Make best use of the initiative with your audience. It is a new thing to talk about, most audiences only think about the show, so it is great to find an opportunity to talk about the venue and how the venue is playing its part for the environment. This also gives an opportunity to profile some of the rest of the team that make for a great night out.


Saughtonhall Drama Group produced “Beyond a Joke” by Derek Benfield  as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 4-9th August 2014.

Image: Cast of comedy ‘Beyond a Joke’ by Derek Benfield © Saughtonhall United Reformed Church

The post Green Arts Initiative Spotlight: Saughtonhall Drama Group appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

#GreenFests: The Future of Food in Scotland

This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The Scottish government has recently unveiled new updates to Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy. The new aims are for Scotland to become a “Good Food Nation,” changing stereotypes of a cuisine of orange-coloured sugary drinks and deep fried candy bars. The policy is not limited to changing ideas of what we eat, but also addresses how we source our food. Themes of food security and food sustainability made themselves known at recent festival events in Edinburgh. Creative Carbon Scotland was able to attend multiple events, all contextualising the topic of food within Scotland’s past, present and future.

On 6 August 2014, I attended the “PhD in an Hour” event hosted by Stacia Stetkiewicz and Just Festival. Stetkiewicz’s PhD topic is “Opportunities for Environmental Improvements on Scottish Arable Farms,” arable meaning farms used to grow crops and not livestock. Ideally hoping to engender a top-down approach, she hopes that after completing her research she will be able to influence government policy makers and farmers into making more informed decisions about their growing practices. Stetkiewicz’s research specifically targets the amount of green house gas emissions from the agricultural industry and suggests ways to reduce emissions while also increasing ecosystems services provided by the cropland. Examples of this include planting wildflower margins at the edge of crop rows, which provide habitat for birds and other pollinators. Stetkiewicz does not fail to address practicalities however, and plans to use modelling software to support her ideas for improvements to the agricultural systems so that farmers and policy makers can see which changes may make the most impact, while also taking into account economic and social factors.

Authors Mike Small and Andrew Whitley presented their thoughts on food sustainability and food equity to an active and captive audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival‘s “Good Low-Cost Food” event on 13 August 2014. Small is the co-founder of the Fife Diet and author of Scotland’s Local Food Revolution, and shared just a few of his provoking ideas at the event. The Fife Diet, one of Europe’s largest local food projects, has revolutionised cycles of production and consumption in Fife. Small asserted that there is a “large scale understanding that there is something fundamentally wrong with how we eat” which is the problem that the Fife Diet addresses. He contrasted Tesco’s recent appointment to head a “Farm to Fork” programme for schools with their evident uncertainty of where Tesco products really come from after last year’s horsemeat scandal. Small also mentioned this year’s great food trend- food banks, the grim reality of a public health emergency.

Andrew Whitley, author of Bread Matters and co-founder of the Real Bread Campaign, brought interesting thoughts to an often-overlooked matter of food sovereignty. Whitley advocates for food justice and equitable access by everybody to good healthy food. Whitley addresses our “terrible confusion” about basic foods, or more specifically, bread. The author traced the emergence of bread as a convenience item, a characteristic of the food system that emerged in the development of urban tenements. The downside to this newfound convenience was the element of social control that this gave to bread manufacturers and markets. Whitley’s solution to this is enabling people to bake their own sourdough, bread that has a higher nutritional quality due to its fermenting process. He warns of “pseudough,” referring to partially baked or quick sourdough often sold at markets as a more traditional and wholesome version of the typical sliced loaf. Whitley’s book DO Sourdough enables readers to bake their own bread, encouraging those with a busy life that baking bread doesn’t actually take much time.

After taking questions from the audience, Whitley and Small left the audience with some inspiring calls for action. Small asserted “reclaiming thrift and simplicity, for me, is the key,” explaining that food doesn’t have to cost a lot of money in order to be good. For supermarkets and producers, the profit is in the process, which is why processed foods always seem to be on offer. Whitley affirmed the “cost of food as the only metric of quality” is an assumption that needs to be discontinued, and that consumers can rebuild Scotland’s food system one loaf of bread at a time.

Later in the evening, the Edinburgh International Book Festival hosted their third Dialogue event, featuring Alex Renton (food writer and journalist) and Annie Anderson (professor of public health nutrition at Dundee University), and centred around the question “Can Scotland Kick its Sugar Habit?” The Dialogue events are debate-style discussions about relevant topics to today’s political, environmental and social climates. Dialogue 3: Health brought into question notions of government regulations, as Renton probed the evidence of the correlation between sugary drinks and sweets and decreasing health. Renton warned that sugar is becoming the new obsession of government regulation falling after tobacco and alcohol, which are already heavily regulated. Anderson rebutted that the correlation between consumption of sugar and decline in health has firm evidence, and that the government’s involvement in promoting a change of behaviour is a step in the right direction. The audience in the Guardian Spiegeltent was most interested in immediate action and clarity of information for consumers.

To complete my food-themed experience at the festivals this past month, I attended “Food Security”, a talk included in the Festival of Politics’ programme. Dr Alan Rowe (Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen) chaired the event, which included panel participants Mr Scott Walker (National Farmers Union Scotland), Dr Alex Johnstone (University of Aberdeen), Professor Elizabeth Baggs (University of Aberdeen) and Dr Flora Douglas (University of Aberdeen). The panel shared their own thoughts on the future of food in Scotland, with the consensus being that food security is possible but changes to the current production and consumption system need to be made. Professor Liz Baggs, whose research involves the analysis of green house gas emissions produced from agriculture, explained- “the search for solutions leads to exciting opportunities such as organic composting” amongst other ideas that can lessen the environmental impact of agricultural production. The fragility of our food production system was discussed by Mr Scott Walker, as he explained that food supply is dependent on weather, which in recent years has proven to cause some problems, and food distribution is dependent on oil to fuel transportation. Public health experts Dr Alex Johnstone and Dr Flora Douglas both described their research, which has often unearthed food inequalities or barriers to buying healthy food. Individuals don’t always feel that they have enough information to make good food choices, and this is just another barrier in addition to food cost, availability, cultural beliefs and lack of food skills. The discussion opened to audience members, and much of the discussion was centred on the tension between what the consumers want and what policy makers and supermarkets provide.

Dr Alex Johnstone provided an excellent idea of how to adapt global cuisine to local ingredients; reformulation produces meals similar to what we eat now, but adds healthier local ingredients. The example of reformulation that was given was adding locally grown peas or lentils to a chicken curry. The discussion involved similar points as to what Mike Small mentioned at “Good Low-Cost Food”- processed foods are usually eaten more than primary products, but reducing the amount of processed foods we eat and returning to simpler foods would make a significant impact.

Through the questions and comments posed by those in attendance at “Food Security”, it became clear that a fifth panel participant should have been added, particularly someone of influence from a major supermarket chain. In fact, it seems the presence of major food distributors was lacking entirely at all the aforementioned events. Though many opinions and options were discussed at these gatherings, one idea remains clear- the people of Scotland are craving food justice. Hopefully it will only be a matter of time before they receive it.


Have your own thoughts on the future of food in Scotland? Feel free to share them with us on Twitter @CCScotland using #GreenFests.

“PhD in an Hour” with Stacia Stetkiewicz was part of Just Festival and took place 6 August 2014. “Good Low-Cost Food” and “Dialogue 3: Health” were part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival and took place 13 August 2014. The Festival of Politics “Food Security” event took place 15 August 2014.

Image: Flickr/Farmanac

 

The post #GreenFests: The Future of Food in Scotland appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

#GreenFests highlights: Edinburgh College of Art 2014 Masters Festival


This post comes from Creative Carbon Scotland

The Art, Space and Nature postgraduate course, situated within the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, provides an interdisciplinary perspective for the future of visual arts, architecture and environmental planning. The course, led by Ross McLean and Donald Urquhart, gathers postgraduate students from various backgrounds, including architecture, visual arts, ecology and technology. The Master of Art students are showing their thesis projects at the Edinburgh College of Art 2014 Masters Festival; the postgraduate students on the course produce outputs that are often inextricably linked to ideas of sustainability and ecology.

Christina Gråberg Røsholt is an early-career interior architect and visual artist, whose work primarily focuses on studies of natural light. Her thesis project is “Healing Pavilion” an outdoor architectural proposal for the North Ayrshire Community Hospital. The fantastic thing about Røsholt’s practice is its ability to be translated from a pure visual arts practice into a realised architectural work. Her contributions to the exhibition included architectural models and plans, but also immersive projections of some of the artist’s pinhole photography.

We asked Røsholt how sustainability has influenced the production of her work; the architect/artist replied-

“I always consider sustainability in my design proposals by making sure I choose local materials and materials that are robust and low maintenance. This doesn’t always work, but when possible I always go for the most sustainable alternative using local sources.” She also added “artists can influence people by making something that inspires and fascinates, but also has a story or a purpose to it, which can work as an eye opener for some.”

IMG_2672-webDiandra Pandu Saginatari “script: dunbar”

Other work in the Art, Space and Nature Masters Festival exhibition include “oOo,” an interdisciplinary collaboration between Sonia Ali and Cameron MacNair that involves audio-visual interaction revolving around algae and the “disequilibrium we as human facilitate through our environmental interventions.”  Artist Rachel Powell’s “The Fabric of Teesside- Portrack Marsh: Maze Park” included foraged weaving materials from the Portrack Marsh location. Powell has extensive experience using natural dyes and offers a refreshing eco-renewal to the traditional craft of weaving. Architects Akshaya Narsimhan and Diandra Pandu Saginatari both have created architectural responses to the landscape of Dunbar, addressing the conflicting elements of industrialism and environment in the Scottish town. Artist Elin Webb, whose background includes experience in outdoor education, has created an interactive kit bag assemblage, asking participants to “consider only what is absolutely necessary.”

This year’s class of MA Art, Space and Nature postgraduates shows an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm and creativity when responding to matters of ecology and sustainability. The various profound perspectives are proven by the outputs in the exhibition, and all the artists and architects show promise of influencing the future of their respective professions towards making more sustainable innovations.


The Edinburgh College of Art Masters Festival runs from 16-24 August 2014. More information can be found here.

Image: “Healing Pavilion” courtesy Christina Gråberg Røsholt

The post #GreenFests highlights: Edinburgh College of Art 2014 Masters Festival appeared first on Creative Carbon Scotland.

———-

Creative Carbon Scotland is a partnership of arts organisations working to put culture at the heart of a sustainable Scotland. We believe cultural and creative organisations have a significant influencing power to help shape a sustainable Scotland for the 21st century.

In 2011 we worked with partners Festivals Edinburgh, the Federation of Scottish Threatre and Scottish Contemporary Art Network to support over thirty arts organisations to operate more sustainably.

We are now building on these achievements and working with over 70 cultural organisations across Scotland in various key areas including carbon management, behavioural change and advocacy for sustainable practice in the arts.

Our work with cultural organisations is the first step towards a wider change. Cultural organisations can influence public behaviour and attitudes about climate change through:

Changing their own behaviour;
Communicating with their audiences;
Engaging the public’s emotions, values and ideas.

Go to Creative Carbon Scotland

Powered by WPeMatico

Top 10 Ways to Green Your Office

This post comes to you from the Broadway Green Alliance

 TOP 10 WAYS TO GREEN YOUR OFFICE

    1. Use reusable cups, mugs, or bottles. Give your employees a mug or reusable water bottle with the company logo for their first day, a holiday or any occasion. At Broadway Cares we use concessions’ plastic cups from closed shows, placed at the water cooler, instead of plastic or paper cups.
    2. Buy recycled paper. Start buying 100% post-consumer recycled paper for your office. It now works just as well as any paper in printers and for all uses.  Every office supply company now offers 100% recycled paper – many are post-consumer recycled. At the very least, avoid paper products made from 100% virgin fiber content, and switch to paper that is at least 30 percent post-consumer content.
    3. Ditch plastics. Use washable plates and silverware instead of paper plates and plastic utensils. It saves money too. If you cannot wash dishes at your office then at least purchase recycled service-ware or those made of bagasse (which is the residue from sugar cane production), or corn starch – both widely available at stores and online.
    4. Print double-sided. Mandate double-sided printing and explore paperless options. Change the default setting on all of your printers to double-sided  printing and you will save reams of paper. Single-sided printing can easily be checked if needed for a particular use.
    5. Set computers to sleep and hibernate. Enable the “sleep mode” feature on your computer, allowing it to use less power during periods of inactivity. In Windows, the power management settings are found on your control panel. Mac users, look for energy saving settings under system preferences in the apple menu. Configure your computer to “hibernate” automatically after 30 minutes or so of inactivity. The “hibernate mode” turns the computer off in a way that doesn’t require you to reload everything when you switch it back on. Allowing your computer to hibernate saves energy and is more time-efficient than shutting down and restarting your computer from scratch. When you’re done for the day, shut down. And don’t forget to turn off the screensavers on your computers—you don’t need them to protect your screen, and they use more energy than just leaving your computer idle. You can also turn down the backlighting on your computer screen to save energy even while it’s in use (look at the top of your keyboard or under program settings for both Macs and PCs).
    6. Turn everything off at the end of the day. Turn off all lights and mandate that all computers and printers be turned off at the end of the work day. Think of how much electricity you will save.
    7. Encourage the use of public transit through TransitChek (transitchek.com) or other programs.  Employees use pre-tax deductions to pay for their commute, reducing their taxable income. The more pre-tax deductions that are made, the more employers decrease their payroll taxes. Everyone wins.
    8. Get greener energy. Have your office inquire with your energy provider about buying into an energy portfolio consisting of energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro. Con Ed offers this option.
    9. Recycle better. Check with your building’s trash hauler about separating out white paper and other materials for better-quality recycled material in the end. The trash hauler makes more money from these and is therefore eager to help your office do this. Most trash haulers are pulling recyclables out of the trash they collect in a materials recovery facility after collection. This is called post-collection sorting.  Make sure your hauler is doing this.
    10. Buy energy-efficient office equipment. Energy Star-rated equipment is an option at work as well as at home. Energy Star equipment has power management features that allow it to reduce its power use or turn itself off when not in use. According to the EPA, Energy Star-labeled equipment can save up to 75 percent of total electricity use.

AND ALWAYS PARTICIPATE IN THE BGA’S RECYCLING COLLECTION DRIVES!

———-

The Broadway Green Alliance was founded in 2008 in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council. The Broadway Green Alliance (BGA) is an ad hoc committee of The Broadway League and a fiscal program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. Along with Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, the BGA is a founding member of the International Green Theatre Alliance. The BGA has reached tens of thousands of fans through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media.

At the BGA, we recognize that it is impossible to be 100% “green” while continuing activity and – as there is no litmus test for green activity – we ask instead that our members commit to being greener and doing better each day. As climate change does not result from one large negative action, but rather from the cumulative effect of billions of small actions, progress comes from millions of us doing a bit better each day. To become a member of the Broadway Green Alliance we ask only that you commit to becoming greener, that you name a point person to be our liaison, and that you will tell us about your green-er journey.

The BGA is co-chaired by Susan Sampliner, Company Manager of the Broadway company of WICKED, and Charlie Deull, Executive Vice President at Clark Transfer<. Rebekah Sale is the BGA’s full-time Coordinator.

Go to the Broadway Green Alliance

Powered by WPeMatico