Timeline

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.

First daffodil in Low Wood

February 6, 2012Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Blossom, Climate Change, Daffodil, Features Interviews, Flowers, Garden Cultivars, Interviews News, Latitude, Leaves, Metaphors, Old Apple Tree, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Soil, sustainability, Timeline, Two Kinds, Wild Ones

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Wallace Heim writes:

Today, the first daffodil is blossoming here in Low Wood, Cumbria (latitude: 54 degrees North). There are two kinds of daffodil here, the garden cultivars and the small wild ones that fill the woods. This one, a cultivar protected by an old apple tree, will be in full, open blossom in a day or two, unless the forecasts are correct and the nights are cold and the snow is heavy.

The wild ones usually blossom earlier than the cultivars, but their leaves are only breaching the soil. Last year, the wild ones blossomed on 18 March. This one today is 7 weeks earlier that that.

Michael Pinsky LIFT unveiling 7 February

February 1, 2012Ashden DirectoryArt Work, Artworks, Associate Editor, British Artist, Central London, Climate Change, Features Interviews, Flowers, Interviews News, Metaphors, Nbsp, Public Art, Public Spaces, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, sustainability, Theatre London, Thirty Years, Timeline, Twitter, United Kingdom

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To celebrate thirty years of groundbreaking international theatre across London, LIFTÂ Â partnered with Arts Admin., as part of the IMAGINE 2020 network, to commission a new piece of public art work in central London. Â Michael Pinsky, a renowned British artist, who has created artworks in public spaces and galleries across Europe, won the commission. Â His work will respond to the issue of climate change. Â This secret project will be launched 7 February 2012. Â Stay tuned for more details.

New metaphors for sustainability: include the craft of great design

January 17, 2012Ashden DirectoryAesthetics, Aged Sex, Associate Editor, Climate Change, Co Founder, Creative Solutions, Design Photo, Ed Gillespie, Features Interviews, Gillespie Co, Interviews News, Metaphors, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Solitaire, sustainability, Sustainably, Timeline, Twitter, William Morris

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Following Solitaire Townsend’sÂ suggestions for metaphors – teen-aged sex, Shakespeare, and advice to the dude – Ed Gillespie, co-founder of Futerra, emailed us to add a crucial component to the art of sustainability. Ed writes:Â

To add to Soli’s suggestions I would include: craft.

Sustainability is really all about craft – artful, considered, creative solutions that work for people and planet.

Sustainability is also the crucial third component of great design, building on William Morris’s‘fit for purpose’ (functionality) and ‘beautiful to look at’ (aesthetics). I add to these ‘sustainably produced, reusable, durable, recyclable’. Sustainability turns good design into truly great design.photo above of William Morris

New metaphors for sustainability: the surprises

December 22, 2011Ashden DirectoryAmbiguities, Associate Editor, Climate Change, Conceptual Metaphor, Directory, Environment, Features Interviews, Flowers, Glass Ceiling, Interviews News, Iron Curtain, Metaphors, People, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Surprises, sustainability, Timeline, United Kingdom

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Wallace Heim writes:

When weâ€™ve asked people to think of a metaphor, we tried to present the idea of â€˜sustainabilityâ€™ in neither a positive nor a negative light, but to leave it as open as possible for people to interpret it in their own way. Even for the DVD, we filmed the four people without knowing ahead of time what their metaphors would be. We didnâ€™t want to promote any one idea of sustainability.

Itâ€™s been surprising how positive the metaphors have been, even from those people for whom sustainability is not a strong idea, or from those who acknowledge its ambiguities.

It’s also been surprising to see how people have found something, maybe not the grand conceptual metaphor, but something in their lives that relates to their view of sustainability. This is as important as the encapsulating metaphor, like the ‘iron curtain’ or the ‘glass ceiling’. The metaphors have not been about a concept imposed from the outside, but about a relation between the idea and something from one’s life that makes sense.

We’ll be presenting more metaphors in the next two weeks.

New metaphors for sustainability: why we started

November 18, 2011Ashden DirectoryAnomaly, Associate Editor, Climate Change, Definitions, Dissent, Everyday Life, Expression, Features Interviews, Flowers, Interviews News, Metaphor, Metaphorically, Metaphors, Paradoxes, People, Reflection, Robert Butler, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter

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Wallace Heim writes:

We began thinking about metaphor and sustainability when we noticed that there weren’t any strong or imaginative metaphors for the concept, or ones that we could easily use in conversation. Metaphors are pervasive in human thought and communication. ‘Sustainability’ stood out as an anomaly, a common concept with many definitions, but no metaphors.

So in April, we asked four people to suggest a metaphor and we filmed their responses. We weren’t looking for ‘the’ metaphor. We were experimenting to see whether it was possible to think metaphorically about sustainability, in all its promise, its limitations and paradoxes.

Since then, we’ve added 14 more metaphors, (18 if you count everyone in the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home), and will add another 6 through November and December, here on Ashdenizen and collected on the Directory.

Too, we’ll be posting comments on the project itself, which for some contributors was challenging; for others, playful; and for others, a delicate expression of meaning taken from their everyday life.

Margaret Atwood is with the bears

November 10, 2011Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Bbc, Bbc Radio 4, Climate Change, Directory, Element, Features Interviews, Flowers, Helen Simpson, Interviews News, Margaret Atwood, Mariella Frostrup, Metaphors, Reflection, Robert Butler, Short Stories, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter

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Margaret Atwood and Helen Simpson discuss I’m With The Bears, a new collection of short stories about climate change, with Mariella Frostrup on BBC Radio 4’s Open Book.

Helen Simpson says one problem of writing about climate change is the moralizing:

“That’s about as popular as telling someone they need to lose weight. It’s the nagging and being preached at element that is very hard to avoid around this subjectâ€.

My Last Car – final showings

October 15, 2011Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Climate Change, Component Parts, Features Interviews, First Car, Imove, Interviews News, Last Car, Metaphors, Nbsp, Reflection, Robert Butler, Rover 216, Showings, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Tipping Point, Twitter, Warwick Arts Centre, Wheel

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My Last Car, commissioned by Tipping Point, I Move, and the Warwick Arts Centre, has its final performances today through Saturday at the Warwick Arts Centre. Â Everyone remembers their first car; what if their present car were their last car? Â The show looks at the influences the motor car has had on people’s lives, and issues of sustainability.

The star is a soft-top Rover 216 broken down to its component parts. Â My Last Car is both a gallery installation and a performance. Â Information and ticketsÂ here.

My Last Car – Alan Dix, the man behind the wheel from imove on Vimeo.

Ecocide’s day in court

October 7, 2011Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, Barrister, Climate Change, Crimes, Ecocide, Expert Witnesses, Extraction Of Oil, Features Interviews, Gulf Of Mexico, Interviews News, Metaphors, Michael Mansfield Qc, Mock Trial, Robert Butler, Six Ways, Sky News, sustainability, Tar Sands, Timeline, Twitter

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Wallace Heim writes:

Today, the theatre of a mock trial plays out in the UK Supreme Court, live onlineÂ (download the software at the top left of the panel).

The Ecocide Trial has Michael Mansfield QC as prosecuting barrister and Nigel Lickley QC as defence barrister leading a case for and against two fictional CEOâ€™s, and is complete with expert witnesses, jury andÂ judge.

The crimes chosen by the court this morning are the extraction of oil from Canadaâ€™s Tar Sands and the Deepwater disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is no script. It is up to a jury to decide whether the case for Ecocide crime is made.

Follow the case on twitterÂ and on Sky News/home/supreme-court.

Culture and Climate Change: Recordings

October 5, 2011Ashden DirectoryAssociate Editor, blog, Climate Change, Culture Change, Directory, Environment, Features Interviews, Flowers, Interviews News, Metaphors, Pdf, Podcasts, Reflection, Robert Butler, Robert Wallace, Six Ways, sustainability, Timeline, Twitter, United Kingdom

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A pdf of Culture and Climate Change: Recordings is now available.

See four podcasts on culture and climate change

Download the podcasts