Monthly Archives: February 2012

Community Energy and Efficiency

In these times of rising gas and electricity costs, and concern about the impact of our lifestyles on the planet, there is growing interest in local renewable energy generation and efficiency.

DECC have launched a new fund for communities in England and Wales who are playing an active role in the development of a low carbon society. They want to fund projects that increase understanding of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. This is really interesting for Arcola Energy with our research in hydrogen power and long-term involvement in our local community.

There’s also very encouraging news from Germany, where as TreeHugger reports over half of the renewable energy produced is owned by citizens and farmers, and not utility companies. Perhaps the same situation will start happening in the UK…

Go to Arcola Energy

ECOPSYCHOLOGY & NATURAL CHANGE COURSES in 2012

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The purpose of the ecoSelf project is for people to find a sense of ecological identity and based on that to live in ecological balance. In order to find this ecological identity, people have to face the fact that humankind is part of the Earth’s wider ecology, thus stands in constant interdependence with nature. This knowledge can contribute to personal healing because the individual can be healed as part of the larger body of the Earth. Since wild nature seems to provide a powerful context for processes of ecological Self realisation, David Key uses it as a basis for his courses and projects. He provides professional development courses to help people learn how to facilitate ecological Self realisation programmes.

In the following some of his courses and programmes are introduced:

Natural Change for Facilitators

Knoydart (Scotland) 24th – 31st March, 2012

It is a professional development course for those interested in facilitating groups using approaches pioneered on WWF’s Natural Change Project. Natural Change is an outdoor-based experiential programme designed to engage and support leaders for sustainability.

Ecopsychology Distance Learning Programme

16th April – 15th June, 2012
This programme offers a 12 week learning opportunity for those interested in exploring ecopsychology theory. A major part of the learning process will be to help exploring how one might apply ecopsychology to the personal and professional life.

Ecopsychology: experiencing the ecological self

Schumacher College, Devon from May 27- June 1, 2012

Through a series of carefully facilitated outdoor experiences and small group work, this course will help participants experience the ecological Self and ask what it really means to “reconnect with nature”.

Wild Mindfulness

Scotland (Holy Isle) from the 26th June – 2nd July, 2012

This course takes the practice of mindfulness out of the meditation hall and into the wild. Through mindfulness practice and other contemplative work outdoors on the island, the course offers a chance to attend to the deep interconnectedness with the wider ecology.

For more information about the courses and bookings visit http://www.ecoself.net/courses/

Furthermore programme design, mentoring / supervision, and ecopsychology teaching, research and consultancy services are offered, visit www.ecoself.net in order to get more details.

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Access to Tools

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The Library at MoMA in New York had an exhibition on Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog over most of last year.  They have a comprehensive online resource.  Brett Bloom and Bonnie Fortune’s Let’s Re-make also contains a wealth of documentation on radical and counter cultural living.

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 ResearchGray’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

IHOPE

Image from NASA's online history of Apollo 11

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

The Journal of Ecology and Society frequently has interesting papers, and the current issue includes “Toward an Integrated History to Guide the Future”.

Abstract:

Many contemporary societal challenges manifest themselves in the domain of human–environment interactions. There is a growing recognition that responses to these challenges formulated within current disciplinary boundaries, in isolation from their wider contexts, cannot adequately address them. Here, we outline the need for an integrated, transdisciplinary synthesis that allows for a holistic approach, and, above all, a much longer time perspective. We outline both the need for and the fundamental characteristics of what we call “integrated history.” This approach promises to yield new understandings of the relationship between the past, present, and possible futures of our integrated human–environment system. We recommend a unique new focus of our historical efforts on the future, rather than the past, concentrated on learning about future possibilities from history. A growing worldwide community of transdisciplinary scholars is forming around building this Integrated History and future of People on Earth (IHOPE). Building integrated models of past human societies and their interactions with their environments yields new insights into those interactions and can help to create a more sustainable and desirable future. The activity has become a major focus within the global change community.

Key words: agency; anthropocene; backcasting; causality; contingency; holistic approach; integrated history; long-term perspective; resilience; social and ecological systems

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

Open Call 2012: Christiania Researcher in Residence (CRIR)

This post comes to you from Cultura21

The urban Freetown of Christiania exists since forty years now on the disused military base in central Copenhagen. After a long struggle with the Danish state an agreement was reached, after which part of the area has to be bought from the Danish state.
For further information see www.christianiafolkeaktie.dk

Christiania allows experiments with environmental and social ecologies, of loving and learning from mistakes and with the creation of different ways of living together. Almost a thousand people live in Christiania by now. Above that it is visited by millions of guests from all over the world, making it one of Denmark’s top cultural attractions.

The Christiania Researcher in Residence (CRIR) will continue till December 2012, with possibility for prolongation. CRIR offers residency from 1 to 4 weeks for artists and academic researchers with a specific interest in Christiania as an important field of study.

The CRIR projects aim is to involve artists, researchers and academics in an open, critical and reflective dialog around the free town Christiania in Copenhagen. Further a new creative and critical thinking should be generated. Christiania offers a research field of local organization, alternative architecture, lifestyle, culture, sustainable environments, quality of life, democracy and innovation and could generate important knowledge that may inspire a new  thinking of urbanity.

For 2012 applications dealing with the current situation in Christiania are encouraged, but all applications regarding to Christiania are welcomed.

Applications should be sent to: emmerikw [at] tiscali [dot] dk

For more information on the residency an application details see www.crir.net

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Review: Encounter with Giovanni Impastato

This post comes to you from Cultura21

On the 2nd of November 2011 the Sicilian Giovanni Impastato, who fights against the mafia, was invited in Düsseldorf and Cologne, in order to present his book Resistere a Mafiopoli (Resist Mafiopolis) at the Heinrich-Heine-University and at the Filmhaus Cologne. In this book Giovanni Impastato tells the story of his brother Peppino Impastato to the music journalist Franco Vassia (co-editor). Peppino Impastato was an activist in the fight against the mafia and was murdered by the Cosa nostra in 1978. After the death of his older brother Giovanni Impastato went on fighting against the mafia together with his friends and family.

The encounter with Giovanni Impastato, his touching story and his plea for a nonviolent and democratic society have moved the students at the University Düsseldorf as well as the mainly italian audience at the Fimhaus Cologne. After the book presentation of two hours, Giovanni Impastato and his guests continued their conversation with a glass of wine.

The presentation was organised by Prof. Vittoria Borsò and Aurora Rodonò of the Institute for Romance studies at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in cooperation with Cultura21 (Davide Brocchi) and the Filmhaus Cologne.

Links: http://www.peppinoimpastato.com/index.asp and http://www.centroimpastato.it/

This post is also available in: German

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Arcola Energy for Schools is Project of the Week for London Sustainable Schools Forum

Arcola Energy is a member of Project Dirt ; London’s largest and most active green network. It’s a social network of people / organisations doing tangible green projects. The London Sustainable Schools Forum is a group trying to make London’s schools more sustainable places. We’re really excited that Arcola Energy for Schools has been listed as their project of the week – for our workshops where pupils use renewable energy technologies to design, build and test possibilities for a low-carbon future. For more information about the LSSF – check HERE

Go to Arcola Energy

The Home and The World

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Arts and Ecology Conference 2012 – The Home and The World takes place at Dartington Hall in Devon 19-21 June 2012.

Deadline for presentation proposals 4.00pm February 24th. 

This summit explores existential questions such as: what does it mean to be at home in the world? what does home mean to us? how can we be more aware of our ‘inhabited place’ in the world? It’s been more than fifteen years since Gablik suggested that art can re-enchant our connection to the world – how have we responded?

Download/view the Call for Proposals; download/view the print flyer (pdf).

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

Food Forward

This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

John O'Shea, Black Market Pudding, 2012 Photo: courtesy the artist

Michael Burton & Michiko Nitta, Republic of Salivation, 2011 Photo: courtesy the artist

Stroom den Haag‘s new exhibition…

‘Food Forward’ presents scenarios for the future of our food based on the work of artists and designers. The starting point is the video ‘The Hunt’ by Christian Jankowski (DE) that humorously puts the estrangement between city dwellers and food on edge. John O’Shea (UK) pushes the limits of the law in his attempts to achieve a more humane meat production and meat consumption scheme. Michiko Nitta and Michael Burton (UK) will present two scenarios from their larger study of life after agriculture: the symbiosis between humans and algae and a functional food regime. Arne Hendriks (NL) finally explores the possibilities and consequences of shrinking men to 50 centimeters. Uncomfortable? Alienating? The scenarios start from existing scientific research and new food trends and deserve our attention, because our food future is uncertain.

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

Following spring’s advance

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

For several years we have been following the advance of spring on the East Coast of the United States by participating in the Paideia School’s science project.  Our editor, Kellie Gutman, writes:

The letter arrived on January 7th, the address printed in a 9 or 10 year-old’s hand, with an accompanying postcard carrying this message:

I saw the first blooming daffodil on:__________, 2012
Kellie and Richard Gutman
West Roxbury, MA

The fourth and fifth grade classes track the speed of spring by documenting daffodil sightings along U. S. Route 1, from Florida to Maine.  It will be interesting to see how quickly spring arrives this year.  Here in Boston we have  had only one snowstorm, and that one freakishly early before Halloween.  Last year the school’s letter arrived on a day that Boston got 8 inches of snow; this year it was a record 60 degrees fahrenheit.

In 2010, spring advanced at the speed of 1 mile an hour; in 2011 it was clocked at 1.3 miles an hour.

While waiting for the first bloom, you might want to re-read our ‘flowers on stage’ postings, to get into the springtime mode.

“ashdenizen blog and twitter are consistently among the best sources for information and reflection on developments in the field of arts and climate change in the UK” (2020 Network)

ashdenizen is edited by Robert Butler, and is the blog associated with the Ashden Directory, a website focusing on environment and performance.
The Ashden Directory is edited by Robert Butler and Wallace Heim, with associate editor Kellie Gutman. The Directory includes features, interviews, news, a timeline and a database of ecologically – themed productions since 1893 in the United Kingdom. Our own projects include ‘New Metaphors for Sustainability’, ‘Flowers Onstage’ and ‘Six ways to look at climate change and theatre’.

The Directory has been live since 2000.

Go to The Ashden Directory