The Barbican Art Gallery- Radical Nature
Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969-2009

Forty acres of baffling axis: seven floors of future-heritage; it must be the Barbican Estate, London. In a quiet foyer of the Barbican’s dedicated Arts Centre, staircases spiral and elevators hover. The Arts Centre can shift itself against the grain of gravity, or else impose its own depth charge. Within this colossal transfer-unit (moving us through planes, trajectory, space), the Radical Nature exhibition is nestled.

The sense of mutated elevation continues inside the exhibition- trees grow from the walls, grasslands float on wheeled trucks. Upon entering the exhibition one instantly walks into the territory of a guardian-wolf, its eyes and nose raised; what seems to be merely a fashionable piece of taxidermy, standing on a two-wheeled trailer (it seems as if the animal might be driven away at any moment to a new freak-show) has more significance than that: Mark Dion’s tightly-packed corpse (situated in sniffing distance from the gift shop) warns us visitors away from the cataloguing and commodification of nature, urging a native caution in regards to the roots and branches on display. The exo-cadaver of the wolf (not nature at all, but a sculpture slid inside a hide) possesses a realistic sadness; it knows better than us the dangers of holding on for too long to a lifeform that needs to die.

Out of the wolf’s glass sight, and away from its cautionary message, we walk on to more fertile sections. On the left, chicken wire pens of British crop specimens, a re-staging of 1972’s Full Farm (the show delves as far back as 1969). In the centre of the gallery, a bubble-chain: a series of plastic pods floating with the assistance of wires and hooks, forming the plan of Air-Port-City, Tomas Saraceno’s situationist utopia: a visionary architectural model of a flying cell of conjoined cities and transport terminals, ‘similar in status to airplanes in flight, which are bound by international law rather than the rules of one country’. The un-realistic construction of the piece, from transparent plastic sacks, adds another level of interpretation to the model, another shift from the ‘real’; its position inside the Barbican, a realised utopian complex, another.

A room on the left holds plans for symbiotic buildings by the Parisian architectural firm R&Sie(n). Amongst the thin veins of data, blueprints and schema that climb and spread over the white gallery walls- mirroring the viral shoots and nodes of the creeping life that their architecture ‘clones’- rests a snapshot of a mutating architectural mission- unstable and necessary. Amongst the patterns (it seems wrong to call them blueprints) flow mutations of repetitive elements, organic graphs eating into themselves, cloning, hybridising, grafting, perpetual. From the unstable substitutions, the genetic cartographies and territorial alterations, the ‘plans’ of ‘structures’ stutter smoothly out of the blueprints to become something else; the buildings themselves, mirroring the topography of their sites, are colonised and made invisible by invasive plants. Truly impressive.

In a dim room a recycled plywood/MDF bench faces a projection of two films by Robert Smithson. Spiral Jetty, barely heard through the musty fuzz of the audio, nevertheless impresses with its Jurassic maps and hovering camera angles. Spiral Jetty itself is a monumental earthwork on the Great Salt Lake in Utah, USA, constructed with black basalt rocks and earth in 1970- a 1,500 foot long coil that stretches from the land out into the water of the lake. Spiral Jetty is best viewed from above, and an image search on the web will uncover certain photographs that appear to show a blue-green sun (the rounded edge of land) spouting a sun-storm of white flame (the jetty) into red space (the translucent lake).

A grass hillock rests on the gallery floor nearby- as if the peak of a hillside had been surgically sliced and implanted here. Hans Haacke’s ‘real-time system’ Grass Grows, dating from 1969, is alive and fresh, one of the pieces of the exhibition which is nature, regardless of its surroundings. The mound seems to be pushing up through the floor, making the viewer cast their eyes around the Barbican space and view the apparently solid and grounded floor with new eyes. The piece creates a sense of reassertive nature, or else highlights our un-natural level of height, here in the Barbican centre, as in the multi-levels of the surrounding city also.

The next ‘exhibit’ is one of the boldest and most real/unreal. The deep-brown trunks of tropical trees- again, real specimens- grow slowly in height and girth under a sustaining field of artificial light. The thing about this authentic 16-metre-square rainforest segment, however, is that it grows on its side- the forest ‘carpet’ is a base-board situated at 45 degrees to the gallery floor, through which the trees are inserted, their roots immersed in nutrients behind. A square of whispering, weeping forest drapes a leafy canopy gracefully downward through the air, brushing the floor. Suggestive of hurricane detritus or jungle warfare after-effects, Fallen Forest (2006) gives the viewer a one-on-one experience with nature that many will have never had. Actual rainforest, in the flesh; the stuff that everyone talks about so much and that most people vaguely accept as somehow key to the existence of the world, is encountered through a simple physical distortion; a first-experience that, possibly, questions the first-contact with nature that most people experience, occurring through the medium of HD Satellite television and Ipod LCD imagery, or even the banal language of postcard pictures; the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, &c. In a more obvious way, the forest segment is a brought-forth commodity; a ‘bought-back’ forest; shipped timber; or waste from rainforest destruction, the primal form of office paper. The forest seems to grow towards us in attack-mode, facing us like a mute rhinoceros, defensive and instinctively expressive. The great thing about this and other pieces is that the natural forms do much of their own talking, and their presence is the most convincing argument.

Elsewhere on the ground floor, a room of mirrors echoes and reverberates a square of lush inflorescence into a shaky and mis-printed infinity. Another criticism of artificiality and reproduction, and of false space. An outdoor garden on one of the Barbican balconies gives us our first taste of fresh air.

Upstairs there is less greenery, and more architectural, photographic and performance work. Here one has the strange vantage point of seeing Fallen Forest from above- on the ground, we could walk its length and feel that we had climbed to the top of a rainforest; up here we can fly around the side of the forest, reaching the canopy only by a strange circuit on the upstairs mezzanines. None of this surveying of the forest is done in natural or easy movements.

Philippe Rahm’s indoor installation Pulmonary Space is a baggy form with arms that lead to wind instruments; when blown, the bag inflates at different points. A video of a György Ligeti piece being played ‘into’ it (Ten Pieces for Wind Quartet, 1968) is shown behind the saggy form, along with a chunk of printed theory concerning Hegel, idealism, and physicality.

The 1970s design group Ant Farm are represented by Dolphin Embassy (1974-1978), a funny/serious project (documented with video, designs and promotional material) to promote interspecies communication with dolphins, including a sea-top embassy. An interview between a human ambassador and a dolphin, to see how the dolphins feel about all this, says it all. Ant Farm are particularly admirable for their forward-thinking sense of the ridiculous whilst acknowledging the profound and the important; this is one of the valuable exhibits which question the natural art movement in a major way. Artists such as the British Bruce Mclean made similar jabs at land art in the 1960s whilst still creating ‘profound’ works; Pulmonary Space also questions the possibility of ‘connecting’ in any real way with nature, denouncing philosophical idealism (and romanticism) and claiming physical materiality as its successor.

Next, a construction material. Wolf Hilbertz’s original process of ocean-based mineral accretion promised a natural, regenerative material that was stronger than Portland cement. In the mid-1970s he trademarked Biorock® and drafted his model of Autopia, a spiral shaped island accreted underwater- basically a frame that develops hard ‘muscle’ in the form of a mineral bulk attaching and surrounding itself to it. A scale model of this island is displayed along with sections of life-size Biorock®, in its barnacle- and skeletal-like manifestation.

Elsewhere, Joseph Beuys’ ‘healing and regenerative’ work Honeypump at the Workplace (1977) is on display- two tons of honey being pumped through two ship’s motors lubricated with margarine. Apparently ‘the honey embodied energy as well as the nutritional value of a natural substance produced by an ideal collaborative community’.

Luke Howler’s Bogman Palmjaguar (2007) is a dirty-misty land/mind-scape documentary film about the mental state of the ancient bogland of Flow Country in North East Scotland, as well as its inhabitant, Bogman Bluequartz Palmjaguar, diagnosed as schizophrenic by the local authorities. Definitely worth watching, the film’s projection in a very dark room, in-between the gallery walls, makes one feel that the bogland doesn’t exist in this world, just as this viewing room doesn’t seem to.

Lara Almarcegui has kindly printed booklets for visitors to take away and peruse; ‘Guide to the Wastelands of the Lea Valley’ gives us basic photographs and magazine-style histories of East London’s Lea Valley canal ruins, an area popular with artists and given significance by the impending London Olympics, but covered more definitively and in more splendid detail by the writer Iain Sinclair.

Elsewhere Tue Greenfort showcases his camera-traps, urban ghost-catchers disguised with plastic bags and soda-cups which contain a disposable camera with flash, triggered when a fox nibbles and tugs at the frankfurter attached by string. Photographs are displayed of the surprised foxes, caught in the act- another suggestion of animals as being elsewhere, like the wolf-skin; only mindless vegetable matter can be caught and taken into this gallery, where they rear towards the artificial ceiling from their unnatural bed of air. Greenfort’s Wardian Case (Alustar-Sonatural) (2007/9) is also here- a flatpack green house containing mass-produced orchids.

Radical Nature is a good collection, notable for its international scope and its focus upon the uncontrollable, even as it it cuts, moves and stimulates nature. The lack of indulgence in artists such as Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy is a good indicator of the exhibition’s focus on dialogue, warning and interrogation; the inclusion of popular artists like these might have added an extra aesthetic appeal to the show, but, as it stands, the exhibition is distinguished by a respect, admiration and awe of nature, in which the place of humans is ambiguous. The visitor sees snapshots, moments, surprises- the glanced portions invoke nature as a wider force despite their disparateness. The autonomy of nature is the centrepiece here, and our place within it is merely as another mutation, a growth. The name says it all- this isn’t a show about shining beauty, but the radical intersection of nature and human projects.

Note- the gallery guide is printed by ‘an energy efficient stencil duplicator’, with soy inks, on 100% recycled paper, and is printed in batches to avoid large-scale waste. The gallery is open daily from 11am-8pm (Wednesday 6pm, Thursday 10pm). Tickets are £8 for adults and £6 online/concessions. Radical Nature runs until 18th October.

The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS

Nearest tube- Barbican/Moorgate.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/radical_nature

Posted under Eco Reviews, EcoWarriors, Events, Gardening & Outdoors, Lifestyle & Fashion

With attendance free to all who can vouch for a professional or business interest in the conference, All-Energy ’09 is casting a wide net when it comes to potential suitors for their appeals.

Taking place on 20th and 21st of May 2009, at the Aberdeen Conference and Exhibition Centre, this year’s All-Energy ’09 Conference boasts a number of high profile speakers, and the conference is shaping up to be the largest All-Energy ’09 has seen; it is now in its ninth year.

Defining Objectives

As an introduction, the All-Energy ’09 conference will begin with discussion and debate from several government and ministerial bodies, including Ed Miliband, British Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and the Scottish Government Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Jim Mather.

In a conference that will look to discuss the challenges surrounding policy and implementation of clean and renewable energy, both Mather and Miliband are big names, and they will be joined in the opening day’s plenary session by notable personalities from non-British governments; helping to define the aims and outcomes of the conference will be Moon Sang Kwon, President of the Korea Institute of Marine Science Technology Promotion, and the Executive Chairman of the Qatar Science and Technology Park, Dr. Tidu Maini.

Key Discussion Areas

Over the two days speakers will discuss and assess the strengths and weaknesses of a number of alternative energy sources and harvesting techniques, including Wave and Tidal, Carbon Capture and Storage, Onshore and Offshore Wind, Biomass, and Nuclear Power.

Using case studies and key topical debates, speakers will inform audiences of the past successes and future potential of renewable energy, from the capability of wind power in Scotland itself, to the use of renewable energy in small communities.

The All-Energy ’09 conference will also entertain a number of theoretical and conceptual discussions on the future of power and energy in Britain and the world, with key discussions on subjects including ‘Planning for Marine Renewables – Environment. Friend or Foe?’, and Power Storage – ‘The Holy Grail ‘.

Presented and elaborated by key experts in these fields, such talks will look to raise awareness of the immense untapped potential in a number of renewable energy sources.

Practical Benefits

Fully aware of the dangers of conceptual discussion, though, the All-Energy ’09 conference has drafted a number of talks on implementation of renewable energy practices in communities at large.

On Thursday 21st May, for example, Dr. Elaine Booth will Chair a discussion titled ‘Especially for the Farming Community‘, which will look – with Dr. Booth alongside names such as Ian Cowe, Biomass Development Officer for Forestry Commission Scotland – at implementation of Biogas and Biomass on farmland, and financing of on-site Renewable Energy Projects.

A Conference Tipped for Success

With this year’s All-Energy ’09 Conference fielding a large number of experts from government, business and the academic community, the 2009 conference looks set for pertinent discussion of genuine opportunities for renewable energy and its subsidiaries.

It has already proven itself to be the biggest conference of its type yet; it seems that it might also prove to be the most successful.

If you wish to attend the All-Energy ’09 Conference, you will need to book tickets – you can do this at the All Energy conference 2009 website.

Posted under Environmental News, Events, Press Releases, Renewable Energy

UNITED KINGDOM

Note: A previous Ecoswitch article on the Ecological debt concept can be read here.

Each year, Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries), and compares this with global bio capacity, the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb waste. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin living beyond the means of what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year. For the Global Footprint Network Website, click here.

While the planet as a whole was ecologically self-sufficient all year round until 1986, the British Isles were deep in the red early on. In 1961 the UK ecological debt day was 9 July, but this year it falls on Easter Sunday according to Andrew Simms and New Economics Foundation (NEF). On a planetary level, last year’s debt day was the 23rd of September…NEF says: ‘National food self-sufficiency is in long term decline, and we are increasingly dependent on imports at precisely the time when the guarantee of the rest of the world ability to provide for us is weakening.’

Making a few pertinent points in an interview with John Vidal the environmental editor of the Guardian, for example on trade; Simms says ours is a very wasteful system of world trade of which certain aspects, it should be painfully obvious, is completely un acceptable. The NEF goes on to claim that:

Virtually identical amounts of gingerbread, fresh boneless chicken, chocolate covered waffles, are imported and exported … In 2007, the UK exported 1.8m tonnes of essential oils, perfumes and toilet preparations, while it imported 1.5m tonnes.*

The UK was also recently, but perhaps not so surprisingly, prophesised to be the worst hit of the large economies. Apparently, the fantasy mortgages in Britain were even more irresponsible (some exceeding the already inflated value of the property). Nature has a budget — it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste every year. The problem is our demand for nature’s services is exceeding what it can provide. Studies have shown that we would need 1.4 earths to sustain our current average rate of consumption. A quick, off the top of the head calculation offers the not very encouraging number of 1.75 British Isles to cover what is consumed in the UK. Granted, this is from someone who is neither a mathematician nor an ecologist but it is indication that we are doing something wrong. Or rather, many things are wrong and talk of a perfect storm does not seem far-fetched. Climate change, competition for energy resources, economic instability and changing consumption patterns are all now compromising not only some few countries here and there. We are looking at a very shaky and possibly crumbling global system. The centre does not hold. Or back to Finance for Dummies: A credit card where you each year go into 75% overdraft is very likely to be cancelled. Therefore, we must try to live less beyond our means. It all starts now…

.

* Article ‘UK goes into ecological debt on Easter Sunday’ by John VIdal in the Guardian on the 11th of April 2009, read it here.

Posted under Climate, Environmental News, Money & Finance

U.S. & CANADA

Last summer, consumers experienced unprecedented gas prices at the pump. Suddenly, gas-guzzling SUVs didn’t seem such a good idea. Then the full impact of the US ‘sub-prime’ debacle hit and economies tanked. The price of gasoline – or petrol as Brits call it, has since slumped to more reasonable levels. But is this but a short reprieve? ‘Big Oil’, such as Exxon-Mobile Corp, BP plc and the Saudi giant Aramco, have in recent years; all poo-poo’d any suggestion that global oil supplies have peaked. BP exploration boss Michael Daly recently told oil execs “Peak oil is a long way off and that the exploration of alternative hydrocarbons indicates that the peak oil argument is misplaced or at least premature.”

Daly’s comments fit well with Big Oil spin. In-house economists working for Exxon-Mobile, BP and other multi-nationals, tend to focus on the bottom line and preach an investor-friendly, but not necessarily honest perspective that while commodity prices always go down, ingenuity will always beat scarcity! Bottom-lining, mentioning peak oil is bad for business!

At an offshore oil industry supplier’s convention in Newfoundland, Canada last year, the counter-argument was not well received by delegates attending. An Australian oilman, Jim Buckee, recently retired from heading Talisman Energy Inc, a leading Canadian oil company, warned that the coming oil scarcity could see gasoline prices rocket to $20 a litre. His presentation received polite, but scant applause from the oil pundits listening. Buckee told his audience that crude production had already peaked. The biggest oilfields were 50 years old and output was unsustainable.  No discoveries had been made in recent decades to replace the half-million plus barrels a day mega-oilfields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. While demand may be down due to the recession, the equivalent of a new Saudi Arabia is needed to sustain existing reserves into the future.

Buckee suggests the evidence is clear. Population growth continues unabated, especially amongst emerging economies. Once the recession recedes, demand for petroleum will rise again. At the same time, production in OPEC countries will likely shrink, due to rapidly expanding populations of young people putting pressure on domestic consumption. All of this will leave western societies feeling increasingly uncomfortable and in need of some serious thinking about how to cope in the future with gasoline prices in the $10-20 range.

Much has been stated about the wealth in the Alberta tar-sands; however, Buckee considers them overrated as a future source of supply. So far the tar-sands have proven horrendously expensive to exploit, with rapidly escalating labour costs and major environmental challenges such as water supply and contamination as so graphically shown in a recent edition of National Geographic.

The Obama administration has adopted a somewhat opaque stance towards the tar-sands, but looking at the eco-sensitive composition of his team, Alberta’s best chance right now is to take really positive steps to curb CO2 emissions and grapple with other environmental hot potato’s in the present economic lull – and before their southern neighbours start dictating.

Whatever happens, the message is clear; oil is a rapidly depreciating commodity. For society at large, and especially in the West, the future indeed looks troubling, given the degree of economic dependence on hydrocarbons. Ingenuity may yet provide some answers, by way of example, electric vehicles. But priorities will increasingly be forced on us, be it loss of the ubiquitous plastic bag, or decreasing access to foreign goods, due to a paucity of bunker fuel for shipping.

Posted under Environmental News

CLIMATE CHANGE

The last few news items on EcoSwitch have been reporting on some issues connected to climate change and global warming. The growing consensus that ‘climate change is the common denominator of everything we do’ as WWF puts it, combined with December’s Copenhagen climate summit means that 2009 will be like 2008 only more pressing and desperate; climate change and credit crunch sharing the the golden slot of media ‘prime time’ -if there still is such a thing in a world of blogs and rewinded live television.

This issue is of course the most decisive ones in recent history -regardless of what one believes to be the truth about it- and Copenhagen will most probably deeply affect human activity for the coming years. If it is to become another Kyoto (by that meaning a relatively futile document despite the number of nations signing it) many experts and laymen alike will seriously doubt our possibilities to affect the course of events leading up to a cataclysmic shift of paradigm. Whether the science backing global warming scenarios is flawed or not -something that is increasingly hard to disprove and the attempts to do so often seem to lack solidity. The sceptics and deniers of global warming, complaining that the mainstream media, politicians and funding are turning away from ethically and environmentally dubious enterprises, are simply suffering from a logical change of sides due to the case made for global warming by convincing science, in-depth media coverage and finally our personal experience of climatic anomalies.

We have indeed no valid reason not to take some kind of environmental action if it would mean that we as a society begin to live in a more sustainable way. The concerns raised by developing countries and multi-national corporations alike, that environmental action will slow growth and the assertion that prosperity is good for the environment are powerful arguments as extreme poverty But, it neglects that continuous growth on a finite planet is an impossibility and that wealth, especially in the poorest nations, is difficult if not impossible to distribute fairly. For the sake of argument, if the US bail-out package of $700bn had been equally distributed to each person of the world’s population, we would each have $104million and in a single blow, no one would be going hungry or default on their loans. But since we are human, some of us would soon have bought guns for a part of that money in order to gather more by force. Or, as the laws of scarcity go out of play, we would be bying bread by the wheel-barrel once again. In short, just as a humanity with access to free, unlimited and clean energy would very probably entail a worse environmental disaster than our fossil fuel economy of today, a world population of instant multi-millionaires would be a society in total disintegration within weeks. Probably. This does not mean we should not pursue clean energy or equality. It simply means that

If you have knowledge of anything that would contribute to a constructive discussion, this website can offer you a platform to share that knowledge and have it read by thousands. Each day, an average of 9,000 visits to EcoSwitch make for a large audience, interested in what you have to say. As a collective effort, the dissemination of information and the following discussion is an eco-activity in its own right. EcoSwitch hereby invites everyone to write articles and news items related to environmental issues by registering for an account. You can do this by clicking here.

Posted under Environmental News, Press Releases

This article will try to draw parallels between economy and ecology, beyond the shared prefix. Wish me luck.

Unfulfilled Christmas wish lists have become commonplace (this is ancient of course, many children wish for peace on earth without a sliver of a chance of getting it). The allusion relevant here are that some countries in the Western world, for two consecutive years, did not break Christmas retail sales records, something we have been strongly encouraged to do to keep the wheels turning. This could be due to a combination of economic sluggishness and consumer awareness of environmental impact consumption. True enough, it has often been the American consumer in particular that cushioned economic slumps. Not so this time around.

The $825bn Obama stimulus package is intended to jump start a severely damaged economy and much of the countries around the globe, unable to cope by themselves, are now hoping to enjoy spin-off effects. The UK is suddenly, but perhaps not so surprisingly, prophesised to be the worst hit of the large economies. Apparently, the fantasy mortgages in Britain were even more irresponsible (some exceeding the already inflated value of the property).

Reality: our wallets are emptying faster than we can fill them. This is pretty much what is happening on a planetary level; on September 23rd 2008 we had spent more resources than the planet regenerates in one year. That meant we had a 267 to 365 days ratio, adding up to a 98 day deficit. Or a 40% overshoot which equals 1.4 planets. Ecological debt day is happening earlier every year: in 1990 it was early December, in the year 2000 it happened on the 1st of November. The first year we entered planetary debt was 1986 and since it has been accelerating. [Source: Global Footprint Network]

Each year, Global Footprint Network calculates humanity’s Ecological Footprint (its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries), and compares this with global bio capacity, the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb waste. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin living beyond the means of what the planet can regenerate in a calendar year.*

2007 could perhaps be labelled Climate Change year, with the discussion reaching the top of the global agenda billboard, making Al Gore arguably more useful as a renegade than he would have been as president, regardless of his ulterior motives or the means used -remember the private jet hoping as well paid key note speaker at conferences, talk show appearances and high profile book signings.

Studies have shown that we would need 1.4 earths to sustain our current average rate of consumption. In the midst of a northern hemisphere cold spell we got a sneak preview of the future, with negative growth figures in much of Europe and everything from record costs of heating (or even present the eastern/central European shortage of natural gas).

Just like any company, nature has a budget — it can only produce so many resources and absorb so much waste every year. The problem is, our demand for nature’s services is exceeding what it can provide.*

A way to describe our basic attitude could be a fear of speeding ticket mentality that stipulates that if we see uniforms, we slow down. If, on the other hand, we know there will be no consequences, we press down on the accelerator. In view of a multi-lateral predicament, a profound change in habits is bound to occur due to the economics of necessity and scarcity. Metaphorically, we see more police on traffic duty. With the crisis deepening, we are offered an opportunity. For some of us this means easy cynical gains through day trading stock market investment for others adjusting to a less criminal lifestyle. Ecoswitch.

* Global Footprint Network Website, click here.

Posted under Climate, Money & Finance

Washington, Tuesday 20th of January 2009, Out with the old in with the new. Barack Hussein Obama set to replace George Walker Bush. Greed and easy earnings to be replaced by responsibility and hard work, ‘A nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous.’ And finally, coal and oil to be replaced by sun, wind and soil.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Even if the sun, the winds and the soil is to be used to power factories and fuel cars it is a statement of intent, climate change is to be addressed resolutely. This will hopefully be at least seriously attempted if not actually done. He will be hard pressed every step of the way, every day in the oval office. In this historic address to the 2 million who had gathered to hear the 44th president of the United States of America tell them:

But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

We are a catastrophe first kind of species. We need, it appears, to court disaster before we react. The Bush administrations, both of them, have waged wars to maintain stalemates, have denied. The misfortunes that the last eight years have bestowed on not just one nation but on so many levels of human civilisation, have emanated from this same house, this same city that now will be home to another kind of politics. If all goes well that is. The logics and workings of the corridors and back rooms of Washington might not permit all the changes that are called for.

…and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

In the context of the environmentally related challenges that the new president stand before, the question of how Green the White house will become is up for grabs.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

In the Times, the editorial states, ‘Barack Obama’s inaugural address did not match his finest displays of oratory, but it was as serious as the moment demanded.’ The Times is wrong. The times demand. Past tense and speaking of moments does not apply. Nothing changed yesterday. What happened was that a window of opportunity opened, a launch window, a possibility? Let us hope the Americans he spoke to will take it. Let all of us that he reached out to, take it.

Posted under Environmental News

Not surprising. Considering the broadening demands for rhinoceros horns used in East Asia for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes, we are witnessing a drastic decline in the species’ population, so far as to epitomise its complete extinction. Empirical statistics reveal severe slumps in African rhinoceros density, compelling proactive measures to be taken by concerned entities such as the UN. In fact several pro-environmental organisations have tried to bust the illegal horn trade but their efforts failed due to the continued smuggling of horns between Africa and Far East Asia.

Already in 1970, the wildlife trade monitoring network, also called TRAFFIC, confirmed that only 2,400 black rhinoceros and 7,562 white rhinoceros out of an original total of 70,000 rhinoceros remained in the African wild. At that time rhino horns’ poaching was gaining momentum to prop up the manufacture of Yemeni daggers or Jambiyan in which the crafted horns served as handles. From a respite to the full embrace of the counteracting policies, Yemen finally officially condemned the ruthless, yet lucrative transaction of rhino horns. This said, overwhelming concern has then been allocated to the soaring Chinese market which, in contrast, is still forging hard in the prohibited rhino horn business.

It is not unknown that for centuries, traditional Chinese medicines have ascribed healing properties to specific parts of animals, including endangered species. It is believed that the rhinoceros horn powder, similar in texture to fine hair, has aphrodisiac properties and is sometimes mixed with Viagra, according to reports. TRAFFIC has also estimated the price for 1 Kg of unprocessed horn powder to be worth more than US $1,000.

Like Yemen, the Chinese did sign the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1981, a convention which originally banned the international trade in rhinoceros horn in 1977. What was the outcome then? Disappointment. Investigations have found several medicine shops in China still selling rhino horn products. The Chinese are still transgressing the covenant, in spite of the awareness that rhinoceroses live on the cusp of extinction.

The most recent arrest occurred on Friday where 11 suspects were identified by South African police. Among the criminals were Chinese, Mozambicans and South Africans. The officials also spoke of the killing conditions, all effected in the scope of mere cruelty where the horns were hacked out while the animals were still alive.  The series of accusations included the following: illegal hunt activity, the illicit possession and transaction of rhino horn and ultimately, the outlawed possession of firearms.

In fact, other than South Africa, regions such as India, Zimbabwe, Nepal and the Republic of Congo are also witnessing the plummeting of their rhinoceros populations. In West Africa, the UN’s Environment Programme has identified armed conflict and political instability as factors which beget unlawful poaching. This said, the rhino horn trade will not cease unless stimulus protection and legal actions are taken to prevent the irreversible extermination of the rhinos.  

Posted under Environmental News, Wildlife

A note on old school barbarians. They probably had a fairly organic, no-nonsense sort of approach to things in general; almost surely good at recycling, reuse, dealing with resource scarcity and, we are inclined to believe, rarely washed. Straightforward and honest if you will. The Roman Empire that the Vandals and Visigoths helped bring down, for all its roads and hot baths and technological superiority, was a large and unsustainable machine built on ideas of continuous expansion/growth, progress and war-induced peace, brimful of greed, deceit and vanity. This ex-empire is sometimes brought up today as a case in point to illustrate what happens now. In the words of Glen W. Bowersock, ‘from the eighteenth century onward, we have been obsessed with the fall; it has been valued as an archetype for every perceived decline, and, hence, as a symbol for our own fears.’ And if the decline and fall of the Roman empire is a valid precedent to our contemporary predicament, Arnold Toynbee, a British historian, might have added that in an environment of societal collapse, people resort to:

• archaism (idealisation of the past);
• futurism (idealisation of the future);
• detachment (removal of oneself from the realities of a decaying world), and;
• transcendence (meeting the challenges of the decaying civilization with new insight, as a Prophet).

What we have today is a rock n’ roll mixture of the above four points and many of the elements of what is believed to have usurped Roman hegemony such as lead poisoning, environmental degradation, deforestation, overly populated cities, civil wars, shortage of raw materials and low mining output. The difference is the magnitude and speed with which things happen these days. Some things just stay the same and greenwashing is a modern variant of good old deceit.

In a more down to earth kind of way, greenwashing would be using eco-friendly laundry powder or organic olive soap perhaps. And in many cases of corporate greenwashing that is probably part what is going on, they will make a big show of using green products wherever it can be seen from the outside. But the company in question may also boast that ‘We are proud to announce that we are now Carbon Neutral’ or ’100% of our Office paper is recycled’ or just about any ‘We have started to [insert favourite eco activity here] and intend to [insert bold statement here] in our upcoming blablabla.’ In the end, as individual actors [one person or a multi-national corporation] we can first of all see to minimising our own impact. This makes [eco]switching to a low-impact alternative a vital first step and cannot really be underestimated as such, be it locally produced groceries for a family dinner or implementing energy-saving measures in the company HQ. So far so good.

Indeed, as 2008 showed, not many companies can afford a 100% crash-and-burn attitude towards the environment but must be able to flash a brochure full of green credentials in the face of journalists or inquisitive customers. Of course, in a world as weird and crooked as ours, many of them will be hard put to it when there is such a large difference between what they are actually doing and how they want to come off publicly. Therefore, it is when reading BP statements or F1 Carbon offset measures in Mexico that we raise an eyebrow. ‘Aha… Greenwashing…’ A frustrated Ian Thompson says:

All this supposed ‘green’ focus is nothing more than an attempt to sell us products. What these companies have recognised is that consumers want to buy green products so that they can feel better about themselves. I’m willing to bet some of these companies would cheerfully club seals or burn rainforest if people liked the idea and it got them more sales *

Healthy suspicion is hereby encouraged if not outright demanded. And it is easy to shout ‘boo’  at what seems like green lies. (I usually do auth. note). To then instead try and make a case for greenwashing will of course be a tightrope walking exercise; how can something like willful trickery and intricate lying be, if not defended, then at least understood and to a certain degree accepted?

Let us try and keep it simple then. Any one thing/action that can have a positive influence on human-nature-human relationships must be good. With a bombardment of greengoing corporate messages around us and even if we sometimes get sick of doublefaced book keeping, what we can try and do is hold them to it. James Murray would prefer it if we gave them the benefit of the doubt:

Surely all that matters is whether they are seeking to cut their environmental impact or not and whether they are doing so effectively? In fact, I prefer it if their green initiatives are driven by a desire to make profits, as at least that gives them the ultimate incentive to make sure they are successful. [..] Green marketing messages might run ahead of a company’s overall ability to deliver green products and services, and will almost certainly run ahead of their ability to decarbonise their operations. But what they demonstrate is the company’s awareness that these products and services are desirable and will resonate with customers.**

So having read that and realising that nothing of this is simple, we are almost back on square one. What do we make of greenwashing? Murray has a point when he says that profit will be the best incentive for companies to really fulfill green promises and that green marketing demonstrates awareness. But to accept that we live in an age where demonstrating awareness is good enough is simply not good enough. To conclude, let people and companies and politicians boast and make claims. And then, when they quiet down a bit, hold them to it, Organic Barbarian Style.

* Blog post ‘CES 2009 Greenwash’ by Ian Thompson on Silicin Valley Seuth, read it here  here.

** Blog article ‘Is Greenwash really all that bad?’ by James Murray on Businessgreen Blog, read it here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Corporate, How To's & Guides

At the beginning of what promises to be a nervous 2009, political leaders are doing their best to show determination and clarity. With an interesting president entering the oval office in a white in Washington, the rest of the political establishment tries to approach a weary, angry world’s predicament. In France Mr Sarkozy tries to get down to earth after a busy EU presidency and almost seems prepared to get his hands dirty. And Gordon Brown, prime minister of Great Britain, is preparing for a spring cleaning too.

‘I want to show how we will be able, through public investments and public works, to create probably 100,000 additional jobs over the next period of time in our capital investment programme – schools, hospitals, environmental work and infrastructure, transport. We are not going to stand by and allow nothing to be done when people are facing difficulties.’*

Many a government’s response to bad times have been to initiate large projects aiming to keep the economy going. Franklin Delano Roosewelt’s New Deal has gone down in history as a decisive and powerful initiative, influencing much more than just the economy. This time we might see that happen in many countries and on many levels due to our coinciding and all-too pressing global environmental and financial problems. The conventional wisdom, that recession is an excuse to shelve environmental issues, is something that Brown claims he opposes, saying, ‘Rather than pushing the environment into a lower order of priority, the environment is part of the solution.’ One example of this is that Brown is studying 10 specific projects on alternative energy sources. Reminiscent of the Green New Deal** that  was proposed last year by a collective consisting of politicians, journalists, economists and others experts, the Brown New Deal could possibly be, if not a ground breaking all-out attempt at salvation, at least a big, bold step. Should it actually come to pass. Clarence B. Carson, a historian, says this about the FDR New Deal:

At this remove in time from the early days of the New Deal, it is difficult to recapture, even in imagination, the heady enthusiasm among a goodly number of intellectuals for a government planned economy. So far as can now be told, they believed that a bright new day was dawning, that national planning would result in an organically integrated economy in which everyone would joyfully work for the common good, and that American society would be freed at last from those antagonisms arising, as General Hugh Johnson put it, from ‘the murderous doctrine of savage and wolfish individualism, looking to dog-eat-dog and devil take the hindmost.’

While we cannot say for sure of what, if anything, historians will say about the Brown initiative, General Hugh Johnson would have many agree with him today as well.

* Article ‘Brown unveils plan to create 100,000 jobs’ by Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian on the 4th of January 2009, read it here.

** Read our article on the Green New Deal here.

Leif Ahnland leif ahnland

Posted under Climate, Environmental News, Renewable Energy