Numbers Game

Tags

bbc radio 4, birth, climate change, consumption, death, food, science, sustainability, water

“It’s less about the numbers – it’s more about the way we live’.                          Stephen Emmett 2013

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0367dzs/Start_the_Week_Population_Ten_Billion/

Hear scientist Stephen Emmett, Microsoft Lab, Cambridge, discuss the critical factors in our self-destruction with other notables on this BBC Radio 4 programme.  We are the drivers of climate change, water stress, land degradation, lack of biodiversity and food shortages. Despite birth rates falling globally in the last forty years there are more people alive – ten billion predicted for the turn of the century. How will we live?

2.5% Freshwater

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consumption, environment, photography, research, sustainability, water

What are we doing still using drinking-quality water to flush our toilets?

 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23597-act-now-to-avert-a-global-water-crisis.html

As the powerful water masters meet in Bonn, Germany this week we hope water conservation and sensible usage gets an airing on the agenda. Only 2.5%  is freshwater on our planet so its a precious resource we should protect. Scaremongering of water-wars in the future is not so stupid when you study the facts. This article makes interesting reading.

Photograph – I took this shot of Lake Windermere in March 2013. Windermere is the largest natural lake in England.  I am currently working on a commission from Friends of the Lake District with the theme of water pollution. http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/170623/windermere_catchment_restoration_programme_leaflet.pdf

A small collection of sculptures will be created from the salvaged debris collected on a mass dive to the Lake depths.

Coming Home

Tags

art, China, environment, found, home, moss, nature, philosophy, rust, sculpture, sustainability

Home.

What and where is home?

Is our home a place of refuge from the outside world?

But what if the world was our home, where is the refuge then?

‘A home does not simply specify where you live; it can also signify who you are (socially, economically, sexually, ethnically) and where you ‘belong’ (geographically, culturally). And a house or a dwelling is full of the occupant’s corporeality, of sleeping, eating, loving: of its existence as a home. Moreover, a house contains evidence of the intimate relationship between space and time. While the space of the constructed building may shelter people or families over long periods of time, the evidence of more transitory individual lives is visible in traces in and on the building and its furniture. These ‘traces’ may take the form of damage, dirt, dust, decorations, scratches, repairs and so on.’

 (Extract from Gill Perry ‘Dream houses: installations and the home’ in Gill Perry and Paul Wood (eds.), Themes in Contemporary Art, Yale University Press in association with the Open University, New Haven and London, 2004)

Applying this idea of home, as described above in the quote from Gill Perry’s ‘Dream Houses: Installations and the Home’, but to the Earth, rather than a building, invites a new perspective on our custodial duties.

The Earth is home not only to us but also to many other organisms – it provides the right elements: atmosphere, temperature, sustenance and time, for us to prosper.  Sustaining a world with a sense of equilibrium towards these fundamentals and appreciating the interconnectedness of them all is vital for our home to flourish.

One of my new sculptures ‘Home: 3 bed semi’ is created from three rusty beds I found washed up on the beach. The waves had ravaged the upholstery leaving a tangled web of rusting and flaking metal armatures.   Salvaged, the beds were crushed and compacted into a cuboid by a baling machine normally used for condensing old metal cans into bales ready for recycling. The spirit of the springs, now largely tamed, was further restrained to prevent the metal’s memory returning.

Five fragile birds nests rescued from local hedges in mid-winter adorn the ‘bed’ and remind us that a shelter is temporary if not nurtured.

The coming into being of  ‘Home: 3 bed semi’.

home in china

home for pigeons

home in China

nest and bed spring

detail of magnified feather

inverted spring

sample of idea

birds nest with broken egg

rusty spring detail

finished sculpture top view

finished sculpture – side view

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729066.400-splash-and-grab-the-global-scramble-for-water.html

Tags

hidden impacts, resources, sustainability, water

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729066.400-splash-and-grab-the-global-scramble-for-water.html

Ever wondered what is inside your tv or computer?

Tags

China, consumption, materialism, recycling, sustainability, toxicology

Rare earths? Firstly, the name is a misnomer as they are not rare, but abundant -just difficult, and therefore costly, to extract. Rare earths are highly valued as they provide essential material for all the electronic gadgets we prize: the laptop I am writing this blog on, the phone I have just used, the television I watched last night and so on.

Most rare earths sit in the lanthanide section of the Periodic Table, gradually gaining attention as more countries realise the potential and significance of these elements.  The growth and prosperity of a nation partly rests on the key resources it has or can get access to either through leverage or money.

Between 2008 -11 China exported around 90% of its rare earths. In 2011 China reassessed its position, and understanding that the finite supply of these precious materials would put it in a vulnerable position if it ran out, now only ships out 50%. At the same time the USA resented China’s grip on the market and their spiralling charges, and reopened some of their mines.

The European strategy is to salvage rare earth metals and reuse them. This month I visited Recycling Lives in Preston (all photos here are taken on the visit), one of the leading companies in the recovery and recycling of electronic goods. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is the largest growing waste stream in the EU. Recycling Lives alone recycle 150-200,000 televisions every year. If the machines still work they are refurbished and sold on supporting the waste hierarchy of re-use. But all the redundant ‘fat’, plasma and LCD televisions are there alongside outmoded laptops and broken computers. It’s an amazing and startling sight: hundreds of televisions tumbling out of lorries, black and grey with the odd pink and green case vying for attention. Long benches of people systematically stripping the machines down to their constituent parts: working like machines on machines. Bales of grey and black plastic stacked high waiting to be sent to the polymer recycler for chipping, screen glass is crushed and recycled, circuit boards are graded and stored, metals are salvaged with copper, a prized treasure, being scrupulously saved.

Initially, this captures a wonderful scene of a modern nation sensibly managing its waste, and it is, but there is a dark side. Inside our favourite gadgets are dangerous materials that are difficult and expensive to safely dispose off. To handle this at Recycling Lives there are sealed areas in the warehouse that ‘manage’ the toxic substances present in all the electronic goods. Highly protected in specialist gear the workers remove and contain the hazardous materials such as phosphorus. It is then put into barrels and processed at a purpose built facility. To reduce both the level of hazardous waste and the costs incurred in safely handling it, it was agreed in Brussels only last month that LED bulbs should replace the phosphorus ones – LEDs do not contain mercury.

Each of us generates around 3.3 tonnes of WEEE in a lifetime and globally we create 50 million tonnes annually.  The screens have captured both our attention and documented our lives and the aggregate of that engagement is visible in the huge piles of WEEE littered around the globe.

Tags

climate change, hidden impacts, research, science, sustainability, toxicology

A little ray of light in a dark world – the hole in the ozone layer is getting smaller due to the measures we are all taking to cut down and out on CFCs . But it won’t be at safer 1960s level until about 2050, so we all need to keep up the good work.

Finally some good news regarding the health of our planet: The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica appears to have shrunk.

According to the European Space Agency’s MetOp weather satellite, the ozone hole’s size is at a record low. Per the satellite’s data from 2012, hole was the smallest it has been in the last decade.

Scroll down for a photo of the ozone hole.

LiveScience notes that the hole over Antarctica first appeared in the early 1980s and resulted from the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting chemicals. It typically occurs from September through November, as a result of high winds, which channel cold air across the continent. Ozone-depleting chemicals are most damaging in cold weather.

In 2012, “It happened to be a bit warmer… in the atmosphere above Antarctica, and that meant we didn’t see quite as much ozone depletion as we saw [in 2011]…

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Tags

carbon, consumption, hidden impacts, materialism, power, science, sustainability, toxicology

This article connects with my toxicology research thread.
Last December I accompanied MSc Waste Managers on a research visit around a waste incinerator in Bolton. My post on 9 December 2012, beautifuldystopias.wordpress.com, recalls the mixed messages I was struggling with that day. The science seemed to stack up in favour of the furnace: the technologies to deal with the polluting emissions has been significantly improved, the calorific value of the waste varies according to the nature of the rubbish being burnt, so the amount of power it generates is variable, which is logical. In the UK we can no longer dump our unwanted possessions in the ground, as we have already filled in holes with our materialistic habits, so we need to seriously take a look at alternative methods. OR we could value what we have, buy better stuff that lasts longer, mend things, respond less to fashion and marketing drives to dispose and replace everything regularly. I wonder what will happen?

Bagged – ‘Picture this…’ part 2

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art, carbon, consumption, education, installation, photography, recycling, sustainability, waste

http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/carrier-bags-material-matters-0

The issue of plastic carrier bag use is not as simple as it may seem. Information on this link clearly explains the impact of all shopping bags and that carbon footprinting isn’t just about end use, but also the resources of making the products and the distance from the producer.

The students at uclan chose to use plastic bags to make their picture inside the frame (see post 11 February 2013) as it is widely accepted they are a sign of our consumerist society – plus they are suitable material to work with in this particular project.

Picture this

Tags

art, consumption, education, installation, recycling, sustainability, up-cycle, waste

Today I installed a commission for University of Central Lancashire Green Week, entitled ‘Picture this… gold in their hands’. The work is a temporary, interactive public sculpture that harnesses the grandeur of the traditional gilt frame to highlight our consumption of plastics. Over the course of the week students will create a picture within the frame made from discarded plastic bags.

I was approached by the Green Team at uclan to design a sculpture that the students could not only work with on their own, to showcase their skills, but also to draw attention to environmental issues they were interested in.  

It will be interesting to see what they focus on.

Tags

climate, consumption, hidden impacts, power, research, science, sustainability, toxicology

Until our priorities change stories like the one here are going to increase.

If we want to end this then we must stop expecting an endless supply of energy- that means walking home in the dark, sitting by candlelight in the dark evenings, making only a few journeys by car or plane and enjoying warmth from a fire or central heating system on very rare occasions and of course not having the air-conditioning on when its hot, and not using the fridge, oven… you get the picture. It sounds medieval doesn’t it?
It’s interesting to note that in a lecture at uclan I heard that if all the lands currently used for food production were set aside for growing bio-fuels there would still not be enough fuel to ‘power’ the world. Oh yes, and of course most people would be starving!
Meanwhile, there is snow outside – I have my electric lights on of course because its dark, and the oil central heating is making my home nice and cosy, plus my husband has just driven home in his car, I used my hob and oven to cook dinner, but I don’t have an air conditioning – I live in England we never need it! I consume with a conscience, but I still consume. Difficult.

Wake Up

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climate, consumption, electricity, materialism, power, research, science, sustainability, toxicology, waste, water

Wake Up

Please read this article in the Guardian and remind yourself just how frightening brutal and short-sighted we are in respect to our planet and all that inhabit it.
A loud wake-up call to everyone at the dawn of 2013 – but will we ever change?

Green fracking light

Tags

consumption, drawing and photography research, power, research, science, sustainability, toxicology

Well we are all burning everything now and still we don’t have enough power – what is the future going to bring?
Globally the greed for fuel to power our world is the prime motivator for the big players – identifying the key to domination as a secure energy source and supply. The race for shale gas through fracking is on, with some governments letting their avarice shield environmental and safety concerns away from the debate. The brilliant video made in the USA to petition against fracking is impressive – so I discussed the issue with energy scientists at UCLAN. The UK policy is restrictive with tight controls and therefore drilling for gas here is deemed safe – safer than the USA (?) – where the lobby against it is growing. Apparently, the operation is safer than coal mining and less toxic, wherever you live. Difficult to believe if you have seen the guy in the US having flames coming out of his tap.

Ed Davey has lifted a suspension on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, on the condition of strict seismic controls.

Fracking is set to be the next frontier for the UK’s oil and gas industry, after the government lifted restrictions on the controversial practice on Thursday, giving a green light to drilling that could produce billions of pounds worth of gas.

The first new site is likely to be at Anna’s Road in Lancashire, near three exploratory fracking wells that were closed after they caused two minor earthquakes last year. Dozens more sites across the country could be licensed as ministers signaled their hope that shale gas would help to make up for the decline in North Sea gas supplies.

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat energy and climate secretary, said: “Shale gas could contribute significantly to our energy security, and reduce imports of gas as we move to a low-carbon economy. It…

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