Music for Change - Resurgence & Ecologist joins Neil Young on tour

We’re very excited that Neil Young has invited Resurgence & Ecologist to join his tour of Britain and Ireland this week, helping to spread his environmental message – the tour starts in Belfast on Tuesday (7th June).

Resurgence & Ecologist will be part of the extensive ‘Global Village' of activists accompanying Neil Young’s tour, which has already toured the US with the veteran singer, and which will be a feature at the UK/ROI gigs this week in Belfast (SSE Arena, 7 June), Dublin (3 Arena, 8 June), Leeds (First Direct Arena, 10 June) and London (O2 Arena, 11 June), before continuing across France and Europe.



Neil Young's new album, The Monsanto Years, showcases the Canadian singer-songwriter's longstanding concerns for environmental issues, including the dangers of GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) and corporate power. It features songs exploring such topics as global hunger, pesticides and ecology as well as highlighting issue ranging from climate change and renewable energy to social justice, endangered species and ocean conservation. The tour, which is supported by Californian rock band, Promise of the Real, will also promote Neil’s new live album, Earth.

In the Global Village, we will join many other respected local and international green campaigners and organisations on the tour - such as Beyond GM, Friends of the Earth and Sustain - who have been invited to share their materials and messages at Neil’s gigs.

One of the few musical artists to have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame twice, Neil Young has been blazing a light on political and environmental issues through his music for decades. His song ‘Ohio’ – written during his days with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – was a condemnation of the shooting of four students at Kent State University in 1970 during anti-war protests. More recently he has protested against the tar sands projects in Canada, made a stand for the rights of indigenous peoples, and initiated a boycott of Starbucks until they stop supporting Monsanto’s bid to block GMO labelling in the United States.

Neil Young explains the Monsanto dilemma that fuelled his album and the tour: "The Monsanto Years are here and we are living them. Monsanto is the poster-child for what is wrong with corporate controlled government in our world. The Monsanto Years encompasses several associated subjects that millions of people worldwide are concerned about and active in. Earth is not ours. We are of the Earth. That's how I feel. When we plunder our own home we hurt our children and their children after them. I feel responsible."

Neil Young has also recently launched a resource website, GoEarth.org, to support people wanting to live a greener life, based around the activities of the Global Village.

“We’re delighted that Resurgence & Ecologist is joining Neil Young’s UK tour and quest to create more environmentally conscious world,” says Charris Ford, Neil Young’s Environmental Campaign Manager.  “Like Neil, both Resurgence and the Ecologist have been at the forefront of the green and social  justice movements for decades – and since the two magazines merged in 2012 – they have provided a strong united voice in the call for a more just and resilient future.” 

The Global Village comprises of six themed tents focussing on six different activist topics:  GMOs, Earth Ecology, Energy & Climate, Freedom & Justice, Future of Farming, and News You Can Trust. Attending fans will have the opportunity to talk with organisation representatives to learn valuable information about the most pressing ecological and social issues facing our planet today.

Resurgence & Ecologist will be featured in the 'News You Can Trust' tent, along with fellow green publications including Permaculture, Positive News, Peace News and Earth Island Journal. We’re very grateful for this opportunity to communicate some of our shared ideals and messages for a more sustainable and fairer world to a wider audience via this tour.  This year – 50 years since Neil co-founded Buffalo Springfield in 1966 - Resurgence celebrates its own 50th birthday.  So like Neil, we were among the early campaigners for the sort of environmental and social issues that have become so relevant and critical today.

Do look out for Resurgence & Ecologist If you come to any of Neil Young’s gigs in Belfast, Dublin, Leeds or London - copies of the magazine will be available in the Global Village and we’ll also have a stand and reps from the magazine at the Belfast and London gigs who will be delighted to tell you more about the magazine and the wider work of The Resurgence Trust and answer any questions. We look forward to seeing those of  you that make it on the road!

MORE INFORMATION
Details of Neil Young’s European tour dates can be found here.

The Letter from America is an open letter from citizens of the US to citizens of the UK and the rest of Europe warning of the risks of GMOs. It was signed by groups and individuals – and celebrities- representing more than 60 million Americans and has been translated into eight languages.

Resurgence & Ecologist magazine and two websites: Resurgence and The Ecologist are published by The Resurgence Trust, an educational charity (no. 1120414) which promotes ecological sustainability, social justice and spiritual values.

To order the 50th anniversary issue of Resurgence & Ecologist (May/June 2016) in print or PDF format, visit the online shop

For details of how to become a member of The Resurgence Trust, and receive six magazines a year, visit the Resurgence membership page;  email the membership department or telephone: 01208 841824.

Network of Wellbeing Celebrates World Environment Day

Florence Scialom looks at activities lined up by the Network of Wellbeing (NOW) to mark World Environment Day on Friday, 5 June.

NOW have shared a series of inspiring guest blog posts and videos on the connections between wellbeing and the environment throughout this week, as follows:

•    Connect with nature for improved mental health: World-renowned environmentalist Jonathon Porritt shares a guest post on the health benefits of nature. In particular, Jonathon talks about his experiences as President of The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), and TCV’s innovative Green Gyms project.
•    Nature is central to wellbeing: Campaigner, writer and leading environmentalist Tony Juniper shares a guest post offering his reflections on how Nature is central to our wellbeing, and should not be sacrificed for a misguided pursuit of 'progress'.
•    Strategies to build wellbeing for people and planet: This post shares some recent NOW video interviews, offering insightful perspectives on wellbeing and the environment. One interview is with Alan Watson Featherstone, Founder of Trees for Life and the other is with Chris Johnstone, Founder of The Centre for Resilience, Happiness and Positive Change.
•    Friends of the Earth: The final post in this series will be from Friends of the Earth, and will be shared on NOW’s blog on World Environment Day. 

Enjoy more with less

“Seven billion dreams. One planet. Consume with care.” This is the theme for World Environment Day 2015 shared by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which coordinates global activities for the Day. This theme has served to inspire NOW’s range of activities. “Living sustainability is about doing more and better with less”, says the UNEP. NOW agrees, and therefore is keen to help highlight ways we can enjoy life with less, while being mindful of the world’s natural resources.

NOW has run a photo competition over the last month to help celebrate the lead up to World Environment Day, inviting entries which show how we can enjoy life more with less environmental impact. Prizes for the best entries include a free ticket to the Resurgence Festival of Wellbeing 2015 in London, a year’s subscription to Resurgence and the Ecologist magazine, and a free copy of Satish Kumar’s book, Soil, Soul and Society. Entries have now closed, and NOW will be announcing the winner(s) from the range of beautiful entries received on their blog soon.

Foraging for Wild Food

Throughout NOW’s activities for World Environment Day, it’s been emphasised that Nature is essential to our overall wellbeing. Another way NOW will be celebrating Nature’s bounty for World Environment Day is through running a Foraging Walk in Totnes (Devon, UK) together with Transition Town Totnes. NOW's Dr. Larch Maxey will be leading the Foraging Walk, and he’ll be guiding participants to find Spring treats from alexanders, daisies and  dandelions to valerian, wild garlic and yarrow. For those outside of Totnes, NOW have also put together a blog post sharing some useful resources on foraging.

Celebrating Nature

It has been proven that Nature is good for us, and the green life can be a good life. NOW wants to mark World Environment Day by encouraging people to connect with the joys of nature, and celebrate how it’s possible to enjoy life to the full whilst still respecting the environment.

You can help to spread the word to raise awareness about World Environment Day, through sharing some of the blogs, videos and photos mentioned above via social media. You can find NOW online via their website www.networkofwellbeing.org, as well as on social media via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Bionote
Florence Scialom has a background in communications, community building and research. She works at the Network of Wellbeing (NOW), helping to coordinate NOW’s online communications and community building. She holds a BA in International Relations and Development Studies, and an MA in Anthropology and Development.

Photo credit: Sunny Loch Lomond, in Scotland - World Environment Day photo competition entry from Rebecca Crowther.

Green House event

Green House Think Tank is an exciting new environmental organisation which was created last year with the remit of “challenging the ideas that have created the world we live in now, and offering positive alternatives”.  

I attended its recent event at The Guardian’s headquarters in London where Green House think tank chair Dr Rupert Read and Polly Higgins, environmental barrister and Damian Carrington, head of environment at The Guardian, explored the idea of the ‘Guardians for future generations’ idea which Rupert had developed in discussion and collaboration with the membership of the Alliance for Future Generations.

Over 40 people attended this event which included a mini-try-out of Rupert’s idea. Twelve of those attended the meeting – including me – were picked at random to form a mock-jury to decide an issue of vital importance to future people. Our topic was fracking and as a ‘super-jury’ we agreed, on balance, that it would be against the basic interests/needs of future people.

This mock-super jury session was modelled on Polly Higgins’s ‘mock ecocide trial’ of last year, which has been featured in Resurgence.

This event represented a new idea to charge a ‘super jury’ of ordinary people with more extensive powers than the House of Lords. It followed Rupert’s launch of the ‘Guardians for Future Generations’ report at the House of Commons in January. The report proposes that a council of randomly picked members of the public should be placed above the House of Lords to oversee all government decisions. The Guardians’ central powers would be a veto over new legislation that threatens the interests of future generations and a right to force a review of existing legislation that is already damaging their basic needs.

For more information on Green House Think Tank, please visit: http://www.greenhousethinktank.org/page.php?pageid=home

Sharon Garfinkel is PR and Marketing Manager at Resurgence.

New Green Deal for Israel

What a great start to the day... breakfast briefing at the Big Green Jewish’s offices in London with Sagit Porat speaking on ‘a New Green Deal for Israel’.

Participants came from a number of Jewish organisations including the Union of Jewish Students and the JCC for London.

Interestingly, in her talk, Sagit, who is a member of the Israeli Green Movement, spoke about how Schumacher’s  influential “Small is Beautiful” has been a guiding inspiration for her and others. Before joining Resurgence, when I thought about ‘small’ and ‘beautiful’ in one sentence, my taste buds awakened and I automatically thought of a wonderful restaurant on the Kilburn High Road. That’s another story. Now, I know more about Schumacher’s philosophy and it is refreshing to learn about its influence in Israel, a country where green politics is a key issue.

This summer was a season of protests both in the UK and Israel. We are all familiar with what happened across this country, but the protests in Israel were fuelled by something different: social justice.

Sagit told us how Israel’s green party has been leading a team of activists, with the support of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, in creating a new economic programme for the country which would include the concepts of the ‘Green New Deals’ from across the world. The draft of Israel’s proposal: ‘The Economics of Tomorrow’ was released this week. Amongst other things it calls for a total change in Israel’s energy sources.

With two years until the next planned Israeli election, time will tell how much of an impact the new green vision will have in Israel. Still, I left this morning’s event feeling proud of what Jewish people contribute to the environment. A look at the Big Green Jewish website highlights what Jews have done in the past and continue to do for the environment.

David Brown, and his team at the Big Green Jewish website are to be applauded for their efforts in raising awareness of environmental issues across the Jewish and wider communities.

Sharon Garkinkel is the PR & Marketing Executive at Resurgence magazine.

For more information visit the Big Green Jewish website: http://www.biggreenjewish.org/

The North Atlantic Right Whale

A conversation with researcher and conservationist Laurie Murison

“Most of our knowledge about the North Atlantic right whale has been lost and is only now slowly being re-learned.” This is not surprising considering that this animal is one of the rarest on Earth. Having studied right whales in the Bay of Fundy since 1982, Laurie Murison is certainly qualified to tell the dramatic story of this beautiful and highly endangered animal.

“An amazing property of whale blubber, as far as humans are concerned, is that it becomes oil when cooked and, after cooking, remains an oil rather than reverting back to fat. It also burns extremely well.” These valuable properties may have initially been discovered by accident. Maybe one day a dead whale washed ashore and ‘cooked’ in the sun, turning its blubber into oil, and was later found by a human who had a brilliant idea…

“Commercial whaling began 1,000 years ago in the Bay of Biscay.” The Basque people became efficient hunters. They had stations on shore to spot whales and alert the long boats, the boats men rowed out, killed the whale and towed its body back to shore. Right whales were the ‘right whale to hunt’ (hence their name), for several reasons. They came close to shore, were slow moving, spent time at the surface and, because of the density of their blubber, floated when dead, allowing for easy transportation back to shore. Most importantly, their bodies yielded huge quantities of oil.

In the 1400′s, Europeans began hunting right whales further afield in North American waters. “During the 1500′s and 1600′s, the age of exploration and exploitation of the high seas, oil very quickly became part of European life.” Even by the 1600′s, right whale numbers had plummeted. Whalers began additionally hunting bowheads, humpbacks and sperm whales, but the price for a right whale was exorbitantly high. “One right whale catch could pay for the majority of a whaler’s costs for the entire year, so this incentive only served to accelerate their decline.” Whaling expanded from the North Atlantic into the North Pacific and then the Southern Oceans.

By the 17-1800′s, oil was used in England for lighting and, as the industrial revolution took off, oil was needed to lubricate machine parts and allow longer working days in the darkened winters. “It is an interesting question to ask how differently the industrial revolution would have developed was it not for oil. That explosion of technology got us hooked on the stuff!”

By the late 1800′s, modern whaling was born with the invention of the exploding harpoon head, steamships and new methods for transporting ‘sinking’ whales. This was bad news for many species of whale, but took the pressure off right whales to some degree. In addition, whale oil was by now being replaced by petroleum. “But when the industrial world stopped exploiting whales, the fashion world soon took over. The wonderful, flexible properties of baleen were discovered!” This material was used for such inventions as corsets, hoop skirts, parasols, furniture springs and horse drawn carriages.

In 1935 a decision was made to protect all right whales, no doubt helped by the fact that they were no longer commercially valuable. At this time it was believed the North Atlantic population numbered about 50 individuals, with 400 in the North Pacific and more in the Southern Oceans. In 1937 the protection took effect and this multi-country agreement became a precursor for today’s International Whaling Commission. Illegal whaling still continued unfortunately, for example the North Pacific population fell to about 30 individuals due to illegal whaling by USSR.

It is possible that places such as the Bay of Fundy helped the North Atlantic species survive the whaling years. The bay, with its colossal tides and dense fog, never had a history of whaling and no sightings were made there before research in the 1970′s and 80’s. “It may well be that whales who spent more time in remote areas such as the Bay of Fundy lived long enough to breed, thereby keeping their entire species alive.”

During the 1980′s, North Atlantic right whale numbers increased from approximately 200 to 300. In the 90′s they suffered a decline, probably due to a lack of food and increased accidental mortality. “2001 was a baby boom year with 32 calves being born!” From 2001-2011 an average of 22 calves have been born each year. And that brings their story up to date with an estimated North Atlantic right whale population of 450-500.

But what of the future for right whales, where does their story go from here?

“This is still unknown. We do not know if the North Atlantic right whale has sufficient genetic variation to survive in the long term, let alone the North Pacific species. The Southern right whales have recovered more rapidly. But all right whales face continued threats from other human activities such as ship collisions, entanglement, pollution, climate change and loss of food and habitat. We may be able to control shipping and fishing to some degree, but with the larger and longer term global problems of pollution and climate change, we have no idea what impacts will be felt in the future…”

In another hundred years time, I wonder what the history books and computer applications will have to say about right whales…

Laurie Murison is the executive director of Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. To find out more about the organisation's work, go to: http://www.gmwsrs.org/main.htm

Amanda Banks is a freelance writer from England, recently engaged in writing about the life and work of cetacean conservationists in North and South America. To read more of her posts about conservationists, go to: http://amandabanks.com/blog/

Copyright in photographs belongs to Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station.

Opening Peru's Secret Treasure Chest

A conversation with conservationist Stefan Austermühle.

Peru is known for its inland treasures, for its mountains and rainforests, ancient ruins and rich culture. But there is an undiscovered treasure in Peru, or more accurately, in its oceans. Stefan Austermühle of the conservation organisation Mundo Azul and the marine eco-tourism company Nature Expeditions, told me more about this unrecognised marine hotspot.

This part of the Pacific is vaguely known to have a high biomass (meaning biological mass, i.e. a lot of anchovies). But what remains unrecognised is its astonishing biodiversity (meaning many different animals, i.e. not just anchovies.) The water here is dense, it is a "Floating soup of food", but with no existing culture of marine tourism to promote it, no one knows of its bounteous beauty.

The richness of the Peruvian coastal waters is the result of two ocean currents. One is the Humboldt Current, which flows northwards along the Peruvian coast, bringing with it cool, oxygen rich waters from Antarctica. The other is a strong upwelling close to the Peruvian coast which draws up nutrient rich water. These two currents combined cause a very high production of algae, and consequently form the basis for an extraordinarily rich diversity of marine life. There is one big party going on here, and everyone is invited, be they a charismatic whale or a humble mollusc.

The figures which Stefan gives are, quite simply, staggering. "Over 30 species of cetaceans either reside or migrate here to feed. That's 37% of the total number of cetacean species in the world. There are 1,000 species of fish, 600 crustaceans and 1,400 molluscs. There are sea lions, fur seals and sea otters. There are 87 species of marine birds, 27 of which are albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels, and seven are gulls."

When Stefan takes tourists out on trips with Nature Expeditions, they are at a loss for words. More than 1,500 bottlenose dolphins reside along one short stretch of coastline near Lima, which means there are a staggering six dolphins per kilometre. Viewing the dead desert meeting the sparkling ocean and watch dolphins leaping out of the water against a background of dramatic sand dunes, takes people's breath away.

Kayak tour operators from other countries have told him that they have never in their life seen as many species of marine birds and animals as they see in Peru on a two hour kayak trip. Divers are amazed to see rocks covered in a carpet of life not just one animal deep, but two or thee animals all sitting on top of each other!

One of Stefan's personal favourite nature experiences is swimming with sea lions. In Stefan's words, "Swimming with sea lions is great. Sea lions make contact with you, they gently nibble at you to see what strange creature you are. They are funny, they play, they sneak up on you and shoot away when you turn and look at them!"

In could be assumed that it is a blessing for Peru's ocean to remain unknown to the world at large. After all, surely this means that it will not become spoilt. However, as Stefan says,

"The ocean here is being overfished, contaminated and destroyed, and no one knows about it. Nobody sees the plastic bags and other waste floating in the waves. Because no one sees it, there is no one to shout out 'Wait, what are you doing to this beautiful ocean!' Conservation only works when people are aware of the fact that beauty can disappear. When no one is aware, no one cares, and when no one cares, unscrupulous people are free to continue destroying."

I asked Stefan what he hopes Mundo Azul and Nature Expeditions can achieve in the future. He replied, "Helping people to discover the beauty, so that they care and take action to protect it."

There is a huge potential in Peru for marine eco-tourism. The more successful Nature Expeditions and other companies become, the more well known Peru's ocean treasures become. Stefan hopes this will start the metaphorical snowball rolling on its way to providing incomes for local people and, importantly, gaining the worldwide recognition which the area needs to ensure its protection for the future.

Stefan Austermühle is the director of the conservation organisation Mundo Azul, and the marine eco-tourism company Nature Expeditions, in Lima, Peru. To find out more about each organisation go to: http://mundoazul.org/ and http://nature-expeditions-peru.com/

Amanda Banks is a freelance writer from England, currently engaged in a three month project writing about the life and work of cetacean conservationists in North and South America. To read more of her posts on conservationists, go to: http://amandabanks.com/blog/

Photographs, copyright: Mundo Azul

Reflections on Humanity

A conversation with cetacean conservationist Peggy Stap

Having just spent the last month working alongside Peggy Stap of Marine Life Studies, California, I decided to ask her for her thoughts on humans and our role on this planet.

She responded, "Sometimes I hate to say that I am human. Even in my own circle of friends and family, some people are doing what they can and some are not. It is frustrating. But we can only keep trying to find ways to help people connect with the world around them. Everything and everyone is interrelated and dependent on one another, only together can we keep our oceans healthy for the future."

Peggy notices that some people may say they care, but this is not always reflected in their actions. She also notices that some people are so unconnected from their relationship with the planet that they do not care at all, in thought or action. Peggy believes that it is up to those of us who do care to help those of us who do not. She believes strongly in the role of education to bring home to us all the effects of our actions; effects which will have as great a consequence on us as on the rest of life on this planet.

Peggy believes that the message we need to get across is that, "Every little thing every single one of us does has an impact, like whether we use plastic bags and balloons or not." As she explains to students on a regular basis, if she influences just two people and those people then influence two people, who then influence two people... very quickly that influence has expanded to 1000's of people.

I asked Peggy what she thought of the view that it is our leaders and the corporate world, with their greater sphere of influence, who should be the ones making changes. She answered, "If we want our leaders to do more we need to tell them so. We must write letters and emails, sign petitions and make phone calls. If we want businesses to change their habits we must buy from ethical businesses and write to manufacturers. We must be prepared to play our part."

Peggy gets a little cross with people who are good at complaining but not so good at taking responsibility for their own lives. She recounts various stories of people who may have a TV in every room of the house but still think they do not have enough. She would love to transport them out of their comfortable lives to see the reality of the world and the hardships which many people face, in order for them to learn how to appreciate their lives and take responsibility for them.

A few days ago Bob Talbot, film maker and friend of Peggy's, said, "People are involved in conservation for three reasons: they care and believe in what they are doing; they are lost and do not know what they believe in; they are satisfying the needs of their ego. These three reasons are not mutually exclusive, there are of course crossovers."

His thoughts can probably be echoed in every walk of life from corporate boss to factory worker. Whether we are a conservationist, politician or average person on the street, we are all human and suffer from the same potential for both weakness and strength, darkness and light. It is our choices and actions which allow either our strengths or our weaknesses to flourish, and these choices are our own responsibility, no one else's. As Peggy says, "When I am on my deathbed it is me, and me alone, who will either suffer from having stored up anger towards others and guilt for my actions on this planet, or be at peace from feelings of good will, knowing I have lived my life trying to make a difference and leaving the world a better place."  I think she has given a near perfect definition of what it means to take responsibility for your own life.

Peggy Stap is the founder and director of Marine Life Studies, a cetacean conservation, research and education organisation in Monterey Bay, California. To find out more about the organisation's work, go to: www.marinelifestudies.org

Amanda Banks is a freelance writer from England, currently engaged in a three month project writing about the life and work of cetacean conservationists in North and South America. To read more of her posts on conservationists, go to: http://amandabanks.com/blog/

Photograph: courtesy Amanda Banks. Peggy Stap (left) with education co-ordinator Jenna Contuchio (centre) and writer Amanda Banks (right).

The Soul and Heart of Environmental Art

"I touch God in my song
as the hill touches the far-away sea with its waterfall.
The butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.
Let my love, like sunlight, surround you
and yet give you illumined freedom.

Love remains a secret even when spoken,
for only a lover truly knows that he is loved"
Tagore, excerpt from 'Fireflies'

Having feasted on many events in the first few days of the Tagore festival, I scaled back and made the decision to go to only one on Tuesday. A tough decision. I opted for Chris Drury. It was the best possible choice. I had seen Chris's work for the first time in Resurgence and was immediately struck and captivated by the simplicity and beauty of what he is creating in the world. Artworks in stone, wood, water, ice and even mushrooms... ! draw easy comparisons to Andy Goldsworthy and Antony Gormley, artists I've admired for many years. Chris's work equals both Goldsworthy and Gormley. He very much ploughs his own furrow, creating completely original, environmentally inspired works of art.

I arrived a few minutes late to the event because I 'd spent ten minutes looking for a parking space. The festival is very well attended – the eco worrier (no spelling mistake) in me was muttering and wondering how many of the rides were shared?

Chris's event was presented as a slide show of some of his recent works across the world with different groups, communities and tribes. He narrated his way through the creation of stone and wood works in a UK hospital inspired by the images of a cardiogram. Massive reconstructions of the formations and flows of arctic wind on the freshly snow covered ice sheet where he used satellite images of the wind flows uploaded onto a GPS satellite navigation system. He then attached the GPS to a skidoo (motorised sled), and followed the lines carefully, scaled up large and 'drawn' in the snow by the skidoo's skis. He then photographed the reconstructed lines of wind in ice from a high vantage point. Utterly inspiring and ingenious.

I literally drew a sharp in take of breath when he talked us through the slides of his recreation of a nuclear mushroom cloud out of sprigs of sage from the New Mexico desert where the first nuclear tests changed the world forever. The dried sage (used in cleansing rituals around the world) was hung from the ceiling in a multitude of pieces, forming a facsimile of the mushroom-shaped cloud that became synonymous with mankind's most destructive bomb. Chris repeated the concept in Italy using dried mushrooms, lit stunningly from beneath. I have never seen anything like it. I absolutely loved this work.

A sharp observation from the audience from a long term environmental campaigner highlighted the recent acceptance from environmental groups that the heavy message of environmental catastrophe simply wasn't getting through to the masses. What was though, was environmental art. For me the kind of art Chris creates opens up the heart and soul before the cynical mind can distract me from a deeper truth, leaving me much more open to the messages that relate or connect to that work.

Chris clearly has a message and a passion for the natural world and is constantly looking at ways to connect technology, nature, life and death and create artworks that move and inspire. He warned that as an artist it was a bad idea to approach environmental art with a world changing agenda; 'it kills the heart of it.' He said he always looked for the connections in nature, the bridges between objects and ideas and this was his driving force. The eco message comes later, as a bonus not a primary driver.

As I'm writing, I realise I wish I'd gone to meet him and buy his book so he could sign it for me. I will buy it anyway. His work, the heart and soul of it, filled The Barn Cinema with hushed reverence from the audience and left me feeling nourished and connected and even more ready to bring my own creativity deeper into the world in the hope that hearts and minds will be opened and if I'm lucky, agendas aside, there will be a greater reverence and respect for our life and impact on the earth.
Tagore would be proud.

Caspar Walsh is the film editor for Resurgence. He is an author, journalist and wilderness teacher. His new novel Blood Road is available in paperback. www.casparwalsh.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/caspar-walsh

The Minute and Miraculous

After the long, lagging winter, the season of singing is at last upon us. Fuzzy buds and blossoms burst from the trees and shoots come burning up from the ground in a colorful profusion.  Minute wonders surround us, yet they are so easily overlooked. The petals of magnolia or bluebells when examined closely reveal how they draw and translate their beauty from water and light – into prismatic glory.

In these signs of vernal renewal I find a kind of counter balance issuing from Nature; an answer to the human-created chaos unfolding around the globe. We wage war, poison Earth and sea – yet still, she sings. The exquisite trills of robins, spinning out like dewdrops along a spider’s silken line are, just like the flowers, awash in light. 

In spring perhaps more than any other season, we sense reminders of the divine all around us.  This ancient, eternal dance of renewal brings into perspective this current blink of history, overshadowed by the rage of homo sapiens. Flowers and birds were here first and in one form or another, they shall endure and in this, there is a certain solace. And for those so inclined, invitation stands, that if even for a few moments, we may set down the human drama and “be as the lilies” – discover to our delight, that there exists a place for us within the symphony.

Leah Lemieux is an author and lecturer who works on dolphin protection, education and conservation initiatives. www.RekindlingTheWaters.com

Reining Passions

And God took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath over it, and created the horse.... Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any sword. ~ Bedouin Legend

For those trying to raise awareness about an issue or cause close to their hearts, it is of utmost importance to direct one’s passion carefully.
In a world where so many seem dangerously deaf and blind to the increasing troubles that beset us, it can be incredibly difficult to summon patience and avoid succumbing to the inclination to vent one’s frustrations on the very people one is attempting to educate. Where cooler heads do not prevail, we may inadvertently find ourselves becoming part of the problem rather than the solution.
The flaring of our passion sustains our will and commitment to support restorative changes, but like a team of wild horses, if not carefully directed and guided, it can easily trample rather than enlighten ignorant bystanders.
Particularly in times of heightened debate or discussion, reining our passions in, like trying to quiet wild horses, is an unmitigated challenge.  However, doing so almost invariably rewards our efforts.  Rather than alienating others, directed passion is a powerful force of Nature that can engage and inspire those around us to join our efforts to transform our world.  Indifference and even opposition can ignite – and unite to discover solutions, as our passions carry our hopes into reality.

Leah Lemieux is an author and lecturer who works on dolphin protection, education and conservation initiatives.  www.RekindlingTheWaters.com

Just Bee

We are all part of one great whole, visibly or invisibly depending on each other.

Together we can make an active contribution to the great whole.

Without bees life would not taste so sweet.

There was a play on Radio 4 recently called ‘Hive Mind’. It was set in the near future in a world lacking Bees where farmers were paying immigrant workers to pollinate essential crops by hand (as featured in our Health Special in the May/June issue of the magazine), until the evil scientists came along with their ‘HoneyBots’. This was the first time I have experienced this kind of (positive?) propaganda on the radio and I am not sure how it has left me feeling about the use of this medium. In the play, the Honeybots turned bad and ended up killing the children fuelling a full-scale riot which led to their self-destruction and a return to simple hand-pollination.
We are all fully aware of the demise of the Honeybee and are constantly fed alarming statistics about the dramatic extinction rates-which, ironically, has led to a collective de-sensitization to the loss of species and habitats. Popular films such as 2012, The Age of Stupid and Avatar target (at varying levels) the fact that we know we cannot keep taking more from our Earth than we put back. But will the use of media to convey these powerful ecological messages do more harm than good?
By making the challenges and possible outcomes into entertainment do we risk downgrading the problems? Will we be open to criticism and attack from bar-stool Britain? “You’re only saying that ‘cause it was in that T.V Show”/ “That’s not really gonna happen, that was a film/play etc”.
Bees use the medium of dance to communicate the location of nectar to one another. Plants make use of colour, scent and deceptive shapes to get other organisms to carry out essential reproductive activities. Humans employ stories, fables and myths to warn of making the wrong choices, so maybe we will see the afternoon play being used more often from now on as a warning of our wrong doings.

Jon Every is a Botanist, studying Botanical Conservation at Plymouth University.