Gutman

Speedier spring

July 11, 2012Ashden DirectoryApril 4, Associate Editor, Atlanta Georgia, Climate Change, Daffodils, Eastern Seaboard, Features Interviews, Fort Kent, Gutman, Interviews News, Metaphors, Miles Per Hour, Northernmost Point, Paideia School, Robert Butler, Route 1, Six Ways, sustainability, Twitter, Warm Spring

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‘Progress of Spring’ final report

Kellie Gutman writes:

The Â fourth and fifth grade class at the Paideia SchoolÂ in Atlanta, Georgia, has completed their year-long project documenting the progress of spring, as defined by the first blooming daffodil reported along the length of Route 1, from Florida to Maine. Â Their results confirm the general impression that this was a very warm spring on the eastern seaboard. Â At the northernmost point, Fort Kent, Maine, daffodils were spotted on April 4, 2012 – nearly a month earlier than last year, and the earliest in the twenty-two years that the class has been keeping records. Â The rate that spring advanced, 1570 miles in 93 days, was approximately 17 miles a day, or .7 miles per hour, which is about average.

One Day on Earth

June 2, 2012Ashden DirectoryArts Programming, Associate Editor, Center Materials, Charities, City Materials, Climate Change, Department Of Cultural Affairs, Features Interviews, Gutman, Interviews News, June 3, Materials For The Arts, Metaphors, Proceeds, Reuse Center, Robert Butler, Showings, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter

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Kellie Gutman writes:

On Friday June 1, and Sunday June 3, New York’s premier reuse center,Â Materials for the Arts, will be the recipient of proceeds from screenings of One Day on Earth. Â It was made in 2010, and filmed in every country on earth on the same day. Â There will be a week of showings to benefit local charities in New York City.

Materials for the Arts is a program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Â It collects unneeded materials from businesses and individuals and donates them to arts programming across the city.

Tom Toles wedding cartoon

May 31, 2012Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Caricature, Cartoonist, Climate Change, Doodle, Editorial Cartooning, Environmental Issues, Features Interviews, Gutman, Herblock, Interviews News, Metaphors, Pulitzer Prize, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Toles Cartoons, Tom Toles, Twitter, Washington Post, Wedding Cartoon

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory Kellie Gutman writes: Pulitzer-Prize-winning Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles‘Â latest cartoon on climate change. Toles has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning, winning in 1990. Â He replaced the legendary cartoonist Herblock at the Washington Postin 2002. Toles’ cartoons are syndicated in over 200 newspapers. Â He is known for tackling complicated subjects such as environmental issues. Â He often includes a small doodle, a caricature of himself, in the corner.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chu on The Avengers

May 29, 2012Ashden DirectoryAmbitious Agenda, Avengers, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Dependence On Foreign Oil, Economic Opportunity, Energy Secretary, Global Competition, Gutman, Interviews News, New Jobs, Obama, Robert Butler, Secretary Of Energy, Six Ways, Steven Chu, Tesseract, Twitter, U S Energy, World Sense

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Kellie Gutman writes:

Steven Chu, the 12th Secretary of Energy for the United States, has a post on his Facebook page about the new movie, The Avengers. Though his friends are not listed, he does have 18,963 ‘likes’ on his page. Chu lists his job:

As Secretary of Energy, proudly carrying out President Obama’s ambitious agenda to invest in alternative and renewable energy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create millions of new jobs.

About The Avengers Â he says:

Six films on culture and climate change

May 23, 2012Ashden Directory20th Anniversary, Alliance FranÃ§Aise, Associate Editor, Austrian Embassy, British Council, Climate Change, Cultural Partners, Culture Change, Earth Summit In Rio, Features Interviews, Goethe Institut, Gutman, Interviews News, Italian Institute, Metaphors, Precarious Relationship, Rio De Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro Information, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Twitter

About Water - 2007 a film about our precarious relationship with water

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Kellie Gutman writes:

Filmbase, in Dublin, is presenting climate.culture.change, Â a series of films from six European countries, and discussions, through 12 June on culture and climate change. A collaboration between CultivateÂ and the EUNIC European cultural partners: Goethe Institut, British Council, Austrian Embassy, Alliance FranÃ§aise and the ItalianÂ Institute of Culture, with additional funding from the European Commission, this film and discussion series is a lead-up to Rio +20, the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Information on the program available here

Soap operas for social change

May 5, 2012Ashden Directory1950s, 28 April, Associate Editor, Bbc, Bbc Radio Program, Climate Change, Features Interviews, Gutman, Interviews News, Land Mines, Listeners, Metaphors, Reflection, Robert Butler, Significant Influence, Six Ways, Soap Opera, Soap Operas, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter

The Archers, courtesy BBC

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Kellie Gutman writes;

The BBC have looked into soap operas as agents for social change and have discovered in some cases they have changed the world. Â From the longest-running program, The Archers, which encouraged farmers in the 1950s to increase production by trying out new techniques, to a BBC radio program in Afghanistan, calledNew Home, on women’s rights, which taught listeners how to avoid land mines, the soap opera has had a significant influence.

A two-part programme on Your World (part 1, 21 April; part 2, 28 April) can be heard here.

Warm winter, early blooms

March 31, 2012Ashden Directory10 Year Olds, Associate Editor, Atlanta Georgia, Blooms, Climate Change, Daffodil, East Coast, Features Interviews, Gutman, Interviews News, Maths Skills, Metaphors, Miles Per Hour, Northern Tip, Paideia School, Robert Butler, Route 1, Sign Of Spring, Snowfall, Southern Tip, Twitter, Warm Winter

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Kellie Gutman writes:

Our yearly collaboration with the Paideia School, in Atlanta Georgia has just wrapped up. Â Each year they send a pre-written postcard, ready to be filled in with a date, for the first spotting of a blooming daffodil. Â All of those who receive cards are within 5 miles of U.S. Route 1, which stretches from the southern tip of Florida to the northern tip of Maine. Â As the cards return to the school, they are used by the Â 9- and 10-year olds to plot the advance of spring on a map. Â When all the cards are in they use their maths skills to figure out the rate at which spring advances.

This year the winter was unseasonably warm on the east coast. In Boston, where the snowfall average is 41.3 inches, we have received only 9.1 inches. Â This is only a tenth of an inch more than the least snowiest winter on record.

Last year the first daffodil was spotted on April 5th. Â This year it was three and a half weeks earlier on March 12. Â We will have to wait until all the cards have been returned to see if spring in general was much earlier this year.

Climate is culture

March 8, 2012Ashden DirectoryArtist David, Associate Editor, British Artist, Cape Farewell, Climate Change, Communication Gap, Feature Article, Features Interviews, Gap, Gutman, Interviews News, Metaphors, Robert Butler, S David, Six Ways, Social Issues, Societal Changes, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter

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Kellie Gutman writes:

The feature article in the March issue of Nature Climate Change is written by Cape Farewell‘s David Buckland, and is titled Climate is Culture.

A pioneering project that was set up to bridge a perceived communication gap between the science of climate change and the deep societal changes required to avoid dangerous impacts is explained by its creator in Nature Climate Change this week. Â In 2001, British artist David Buckland founded the Cape Farewell project, which he feels attempts to address one of the most pressing social issues of our time.

Read the full article here.

Island at the National Theatre

March 3, 2012Ashden Directory25 February, Arctic Island, Computer Phone, Cottesloe Theatre, Different World, Effects Of Climate Change, Facebook, Family Audiences, Feather Boy, Gutman, Herschel Island, Interviews News, Primary Schools In London, Robert Butler, School Holiday, Schoolboy, Schools In London, Six Ways, Spring Term, Twitter, Whaling

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Abandoned whaling settlement at Pauline Cove, Herschel Island

Kellie Gutman reports:

A new play for children ages 8 and up runs at the Cottesloe Theatre 15-25 February. Â Island, by award-winning author Nicky Singer (Feather Boy),Â has been commissioned by the National Theatre’s Learning programme. Â The play is set on the remote Arctic island of Herschel.

[It] raises questions about the effects of climate change on the island. Â the play centres on a London schoolboy, Cameron, forced to spend his school holiday without computer, phone or Facebook with his scientist mother on the remote Herschel Island, where he encounters an indigenous girl whose stories open up this different world.

Along with the performances and workshops for family audiences at the Cottesloe Theatre, Island will tour to primary schools in London throughout the spring term.

A final posting from Cape Farewell expedition

September 14, 2011Ashden DirectoryArtist Sculptor, Basalt Columns, Basking Sharks, Cape Farewell, Climate Change, Gutman, Interviews News, Island Profiles, John Cumming, Kame, Lexicography, Minke Whales, North Rona, Pilot Whales, Risso, Robert Butler, Screes, Sea Journeys, Shetland Islands, Time Journey, Twitter

Shiants - watercolor by John Cumming

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Kellie Gutman writes:Â The artist, sculptor and writer John Cummingtook part in the fourth and final week of Cape Farewell’s expedition to the Shetland Islands this summer. Â John was born and raised in Burra Isle, Shetland. He writes:

What draws me to these places is hard to define.Â The journey is part of the magic.Â The sea is endlessly, and wonderfully alive; unlike concrete, unlike tarmacadam.Â No two sea journeys are ever the same.Â On the trip to North Rona, we met families of dolphin, Rissoâ€™s, basking sharks and minke whales.Â The sea was calm, the swell long and leaden.Â The night-time journey back was before a north-easterly gale, sailing only on the jib.Â Â Driving southwards at eight to ten knots, we listened to the clicking of a school of pilot whales some three miles away.

Next day the sheer sculptural magnificence of the Shiants was a revelation.Â I have a personal lexicography of island profiles; the Kame of Hoy; the Kame of Foula; the Drongs of Eshaness; each place uniquely powerful and awe inspiring, yet even now, weeks later the basalt columns and screes of the shiants are etched on the back of my eyelids.

For his complete posting, including additional sketches, as well as postings of others on the expedition, see the Cape Farewell blog here.