Renewable Energy

Donald Trump links wind farms and the Lockerbie disaster

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We received this email and thought it was worth highlighting,

Has Donald Trump sunk to a new low? On Friday, he splashed two full-page adverts in Scottish newspapers linking new wind farms to the Lockerbie disaster – and called for people to email Alex Salmond with their opposition. [1]

It’s hard to imagine what was going through his mind when he agreed ads which said:

“Tourism will suffer and the beauty of your country is in jeopardy! This is the same mind that backed the release of terrorist al-Megrahi, ‘for humane reasons’ – after he ruthlessly killed 270 people on Pan-Am flight 103 over Lockerbie.”

Trump thinks that he can buy opposition to wind farms by flashing his cash to push misleading information. But what if we could turn the tables on Trump and show him that for all his money, he’s no match for people power?

Together we can flood Alex Salmond with messages of support for renewable energy and make sure that Trump’s plan backfires. It takes two minutes to write to Alex Salmond – click here to get started:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsE/

And do you know why Trump is kicking up such a fuss? Because he thinks a new wind turbine test centre will ruin the feel of hisluxury golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast. He’s throwing everything he’s got at trying to stop the planning application from going through.

But there’s huge potential for Scotland to become a world leader in green energy, bringing new jobs for Scots and more investment for the economy. [2]

Click here to tell Alex Salmond to make sure the Scottish Government take up every opportunity to unlock our green potential:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsF/

38 Degrees members have a strong history of standing up to big money. Big companies sponsoring the 2012 Olympics were hoping for a windfall from tax dodging during the Games – until we got them to promise to pay taxes on their Olympic profits.

And we’ve stood up to Trump before. Along with the campaign group Tripping up Trump, we stood shoulder to shoulder with brave local residents when Donald Trump wanted to evict families from their homes in Menie. [3]

Click here to take two minutes to email Alex Salmond now:

https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/m/74c053e8/2d527884/5ea13b2c/4678e28f/236853858/VEsC/

Thanks for being involved,

Marie, Becky, Hannah and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES

[1] Scotsman: Donald Trump ‘sick’ for using Lockerbie in a rant against wind farms http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/donald-trump-sick-for-using-lockerbie-in-a-rant-against-wind-farms-1-2693006

[2] The Paisley Daily Express: Trump links wind farms with megrahi http://www.paisleydailyexpress.co.uk/renfrewshire-news/scottish-news/2012/12/14/trump-links-wind-farms-with-megrahi-87085-32430473/

[3] Read more here: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/02/22/weve-tripped-up-trump/

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.
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Land and energy

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

Northumberlandia, Charles Jencks, 2012 (photo provided by Banks Group)

Matt Ridley is the author of a number of books on the subjects of evolution, genetics and society, and has been variously a scientist, journalist and businessman.  There was an article in Saturday’s Times and the full version is on Matt Ridley’s website.  It’s worth reading.

His family leased land to a mining operation in the North East of England and have sponsored Charles Jencks to create Northumberlandia, the latest of Jencks’ earthworks.

When the Banks Group approached my family to dig out coal from under farmland we own, creating 150 local jobs, they also came with an imaginative suggestion. Instead of waiting ten years to put the rock back and restore the surface to woods and fields, which is the normal practice, why not put some of the rock to one side to make a new landscape feature that people can use long before the mine is restored?

Ridley makes an argument around energy and land.  It’s an economic argument about fossil fuels and land use.

The replacement of muscle power, burning carbohydrates, with fossil power, burning hydrocarbons, has been one of the great liberators of history.

Unfortunately the argument doesn’t look to the future.  It is true that fossil fuels have transformed society, but that’s the transformation of the industrial revolution.  The current transformation is focused on renewable energy and the need to massively reduce our footprint.

And in terms of art practices, this is not innovative, just large.  Cutting edge art practices look to integrate the future into the landscape, not just shape it aesthetically.  Whether it’s AMD&ART addressing Acid Mine Drainage, or the Land Art Generator Initiative  bringing together at scale renewable energy and art, or any of a number of other artists working on energy and land futures (see greenmuseum.org for examples), Northumberlandia misses a trick and a big one.  The creation of new public space is important, but the use of that process to exemplify new futures is vital.

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.
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Talking about climate change

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Jason's story

This post comes to you from Ashden Directory

Wallace Heim writes: 

One of the explanations offered for why climate change is not more prominent in people’s thinking is that it’s not physically seen. It doesn’t feel ‘real’ enough.

But a different view comes out in the stories people tell about how climate change is immediately altering their everyday lives. The climate is changing how they feel about the world and their decisions about what to do.

Project ASPECT, based at University College Falmouth, is gathering people’s stories about climate change from individuals and communities in Wales, northern England, London and Cornwall. Building a digital narrative archive, they are capturing on DVD how people talk about the climate in the context of their everyday lives.

There are those who watch. Heather continues the diary her mother started, recording every day what work is done on the family farm and the weather. Duncan and Matt are surfers in Cornwall, watching the storms. There are those who work with renewable energy, or, like Hanna, find green jobs for young people. Many are changing the way they grow food and eat: Mary from Incredible Edible; Owen with his backyard in Peckham; and masked night-time Ninja guerrilla gardeners. Singers, rappers, athletes tell their stories. Spontaneous acts of community kindness sit alongside the meticulous work of digitising the weather reports from World War I ship’s logs.

In these stories of everyday life, there is a cultural reality emerging, soft-voiced, but pressing.

“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

BLDGBLOG: Tar Creek Supergrid

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This post comes to you from EcoArtScotland

BLDGBLOG’s most recent post relates to a PhD focusing on re-purposing abandoned mines as renewable energy infrastructure.

 

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

Arcola Energy for Schools.

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We launched Arcola Energy for Schools during Climate Week 2011 (21 – 27 March).

Climate Week is a national campaign to get people taking action on climate change.  It has created some controversy due to its partners, see Guardian blog HERE.

Arcola has enjoyed the opportunity of bringing the excitement of the science of renewable energy to over 100 local school children. Full report coming soon on our latest news page

Go to Arcola Energy

London Global Teacher Network event

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Arcola is hosting the London Global Teacher Network event on Tuesday 8th February from 5-7pm. 

The London Global Teacher Network (LGTN) is an opportunity for London teachers to share experience, opinions and resources around global learning – online and through meetings and events hosted at various London venues. Membership and events are free.

At the event, as well as exploring the role of sustainability within education, participants will find out more about Arcola’s vision to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre, the research work of ‘Arcola Energy’, and get a tour of the theatre. Participants will also hear about Arcola’s ‘Sustainability for Schools programme’, through which it offers workshops to schools around renewable energy. To sign up to come to the event go to: www.lgtn.org.uk

Go to Arcola Energy

Eneropa | Art and design | The Observer

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Rem Koolhaass architectural practice OMA has created an audacious design for an Europe-wide power network tapping into the different regions various renewable energy capabilities. Commissioned by the European Climate Foundation, the proposal claims it would cut carbon emissions in Europe by 80% by 2050. OMAs proposal also cheekily redraws the map of Europe as Eneropa, with countries forming new regions according to what type of energy they would supply to the grid

via Eneropa | Art and design | The Observer.

ECO ART: Solar-Powered Speakers Sing Volumes for Renewable Energy | Inhabitat

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A piece on Inhabitat from Moe Beitiks. We’ll have some news from Nick Vida and Brent Heyning’s talk at CalArts on designing the Solar Array and Lighting from the Crimson Collective’s Acension Soon!

Solely reliant on the sun for its power, the piece changes in synch with nature, offering visitors clear auditory cues into the cycles that occur over a normal day. Each individual is strongly encouraged to wander the field and experience the evolution of music in relation to their position within the space, as well as the intensity of the sunlight – the Sun Boxes will adjust to the light accordingly, and stop playing music when the sun sets. Given the variation in volume and sound, each person is able to create their own experience specific to the path they take within the space.

Original Here: ECO ART: Solar-Powered Speakers Sing Volumes for Renewable Energy | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.