Say Goodbye to Plastic Bags

In Manchester, this environmental performance is planned for 3 July - International Plastic Bag Free Day. We could do something similar in South Africa, can't we?

Addition (28 July 2014):

On local soil, in Greyton and Montagu:

Thank you, Jurgen from Simonskloof Mountain Retreat for sharing this poster!

Cleaning in your studio

Changing the way you make your art - whether for your own health or to lessen your impact on the environment - does not only apply to the way you make your artworks. You could be painting with natural homemade paints, work with plant dyes or even work with bits of waste that you collect from sidewalks, but still have an incredibly detrimental impact on your own health and the health of our environment due to the chemicals you use to clean your studio.

If you're wondering what I mean, go and read this information (click here) on the Spotless Living website. Also read 'Does it Matter'. Spotless Living has been an incredible tool in my own life, giving useful guidelines and alternatives for personal care and household cleaning. Here's some of those guidelines that applies to your work and cleaning in the studio.

To clean paintbrushes

• Soften paintbrush bristles by soaking in a cup of hot vinegar for about 30 minutes.
• Then sprinkle on a little bicarb and stir around.
• You can also use soap and water to wash them and get all the paint out.
• Rinse with warm water.

To clean hard dry paintbrushes that you forgot to clean

• Soak the brush in vinegar for an hour or so until you can bend the bristles.
• Fill a saucepan with vinegar until the brush bristles are covered.
• Bring the vinegar to a boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for a minute before removing the brush.
• Gently comb the brush with your fingers. The paint will still be attached but will fall away as you comb it.
• Rinse the brush under running water to release the loose paint.
• Depending on how much paint there was you may need to repeat steps 5 and 6 a couple of times, but before you know it your paint brush will be ready for another round!

Also read William Burgoil's method to clean his oil paint brushes.

General tips

• With some of your cleaning you could just use water. Try cleaning with water first, before reaching for a bottle of cleaning liquid. 
• When using non-chemical, natural cleaning materials you can empty your bucket into the garden. 
• Use old rags or microfibre cloths for most cleaning jobs. Soft cloths are best for wood and metal surfaces.
• An old toothbrush is great to clean some of your artmaking tools

Using glass as mixing palette, monoprints or other printmaking?

Window and glass cleaner

• Mix equal parts of water and vinegar (or lemon juice) in a spray bottle.
• Alternatively use vinegar infused with lemon or other citrus fruit peels. Simply add some peels to a bottle of vinegar and allow them to soak for a few days before using. The more peels and the longer you let them soak the more powerful and fragrant the infusion will become.
• Spray onto windows or any glass surface and wipe clean with a rag, or buff to a shine with crumpled newspaper.
• Or, spray glass with 3% (10 volume) hydrogen peroxide and wipe with a clean rag

Messed on the walls while being wildly creative?

Wall wash

• To clean painted walls or painted woodwork, mix one cup of vinegar, one cup of bicarb and three cups of warm water.
• Wipe dirt from the surfaces with a soft cloth dipped in the mixture, and rinse with clean water.
• Use this same mixture to prepare walls or surfaces for painting.

Try these in your studio and let us know whether it works for you. Also share any other cleaning solutions that you have found effective and eco-friendly.

Sources:

Spotless Living: spotlessliving.info
www.apartmenttherapy.com
www.naturalthrifty.com

A Sapling a Day

I just read this amazing story, shared in the latest Ethical Co-Op newsletter. It illustrates how much can be done just by doing one positive thing every day, or every week - consistently we can make small changes that amount to something much bigger than we could even imagine right now.

The year was 1979, and a teenager in India saw the floods come, with trees uprooted and hundreds of dead animals littering the banks. He had already noticed the reduction in migratory birds, and the village elders told him that this was due to deforestation. Animals lost their homes and birds had less wild lands to visit. They suggested he plant trees to help reduce the damage. 

And plant trees he did. Every day for 34 years he has planted trees, and the area has been transformed into a lush forest of 550 hectares, supporting wild elephants, tigers, deer and rhino. Watering the newly-planted saplings was quickly impractical, so he designed bamboo platforms for each tree, holding earthen pots with small holes, which would slowly drip down quenching the thirst of the young saplings. With the initial forest now sustainable, he is now planting another forest of 150 hectares.  

 Too many of us look at the scope of the challenges or the long journey ahead, wonder what we alone can do, and, discouraged, fail to even start. But making a difference is easy really. Just aim in the right direction, and start walking. Time takes care of all the rest.

---------------------

Tthe Ethical Co-Op delivers organic and ethical food and produce weekly to the Cape Town and surrounding areas. They deliver door-to-door or to convenient pickup points, and also courier a selection of their products countrywide. Check them out at www.ethical.org.za.

Too busy trying to be an artist, to be green too?

Have you been painting, drawing or photographing this month? Have you been creating land art? Have you been living a creative life? Or have you been wrapped up and distracted by life's little dramas?

As artists we don't necessarily get encouraged or motivated to do art by looming deadlines and bosses tracking our productivity, unless you work at a company, or do a lot of client-driven work - in which case, I'm not really talking to you at the moment. I'm talking to the full time artists, the starving artists, the supposedly self-sustaining artists. The artists who need to motivate themselves to do the work they need to, in order to further their careers, or put food on the table. I'm talking to an enormous amount of artists, who might really like to do more natural or environmentally conscious work, but they cope with the stresses and challenges of:

• managing their own self-criticism or inner critic enough so that they could push through the resistance and fear of failure far enough to actually produce an artwork. 
• finding inspiration, art materials and the energy to work hard, while being worried about their bank balance, the rent needing to be paid in 3 days, or even overcoming the emotional turmoil from the latest gallery owner rejection. 
• finding a place to sell or show their work - too often with a lack of knowing where to go, how to approach a gallery, shop owner or agent.
• coping with clients for commissions who do not value our creative work in the same way that they value the work of a doctor, lawyer or financial manager - undercutting our prices, resulting that we make very little money when considering the cost of our materials and the amount of time it may take to create the commissioned work

I could go on and grow the list further, but the point I'm trying to make is that I understand that there are many challenges that artists face daily. So expecting artists to change the way they create art in order for it to be safer and more respecting towards our environment is a bit much to ask, right? Wrong! I believe that we can overcome many of these challenges by changing the way we make art. 

"Ungrown Branches" by Kai Lossgott

Before I talk about these benefits, let me clarify what changes I am referring to:

• instead of buying commercial acrylics and oil paints, you mix your own paints - buying and collecting pigments and binders. Yes, you'll need to research and experiment, using tested recipes and even finding your own, but this is all part of the process, which adds to the story behind your work.

Danelle Malan from Cotton Star, painting with ProNature Paints as part of Claire Homewood's Collage Mural Project

• If you're a sculptor, you will experiment with different materials and methods that don't create hazardous waste or toxic fumes.

Sculptural work in wood, by Loni Dräger

• If you create prints, you could try to find new substrates to print on - organic cotton, hemp, papyrus, handmade recycled paper, dried leaves stitched together, bamboo sheets, wood... use your creativity!
• Try use things you would normally throw away - keeping them away from the landfill or the ocean. You'll save money by using an empty yoghurt container to wash your paintbrushes instead of buying a container. You'll save even more money by using 'trash' as materials, creating interesting sculptures, installation art, or mixed media works. The sky is the limit, we have so much free materials to our disposal (no pun intended)!

"Power", found Plastic and Electrical Cables, Simon Max Bannister 2012

• Also think about ways that your art can contribute to your community - doing murals, mosaics with waste materials, or giving art classes to kids. Your art will expand much more than you realize when you start exploring and being open to new opportunities and ways of doing things.

Land Art in the Tankwa Karoo by Strijdom van der Merwe

In short, I'm asking you as an artist to explore, to find new ways, to create something unique. Not really much to ask for, if you consider that this exploration and learning is PART of your job as an artist!

Because you'd be doing things differently to other artists, some people may struggle to understand your art at first, but it definitely sets you apart from your competition. Tell people about the process, how much you're learning about art through your new focus or approach. They will be interested, many will love it, and many people will be inspired to make changes in the way they do things within their work or life too. And you do want your art to inspire others, or make them think differently, correct?

Installation view of "Cree Prophesy" by Stefanie Schoeman

As mentioned, you could be saving money by working more naturally - avoiding chemically laden products and materials. Some 'pure' materials are more expensive than their commercial, mass-produced counterparts, for sure. But the cost to your health and wellbeing cannot be measured. Using a citrus cleaner for your oilpaints instead of turpentine is a great way to make a small improvement in your art practice. The citrus cleaner is more expensive, but without even being conscious of it, you'll be saving on medical costs in the future. Here's an extract about long-term exposure to turpentine:

When inhaled, turpentine can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and cause coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and a sore throat. The vapors may also affect the brain or nervous system, and trigger headache, dizziness, confusion and nausea. Beyond inhalation, if turpentine is ingested or absorbed through the skin, it can cause gastrointestinal burning and pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Repeated or long-term exposure may damage the kidneys, bladder and nervous system as well as trigger dermatitis and eczema. (Source)

If you feel that changing your materials and techniques in your art is too much of a challenge, there is another way that you can effect positive change or support our planet. By focusing, even if only for one series of work, or in some of your artworks, on environmental issues, conservation or a related topic. As artists we have a responsibility to make society more aware, more clued up about what is really happening in our world. If you are one of the artists who answers this call of duty, then environmental degradation and sustainable development gives you a lifetime of conceptual material to work from. 

One in a series of photographs by Dillon Marsh, documenting the sociable weavers nests in the Kalahari 

"Walking on Water" by Willem Boshoff

Further reading - check out:

Eco Friendly Art Brands and Materials on Fine Arts with Lori McNee

Earthbound Moon calls for artist proposals

Art Without Limits : Farther Regions

Artists can get discouraged and their art-making interrupted by practicalities like deadlines, proper studio space, available resources, technology and the biggest heartbreak of all; not enough money. What if an artist was presented with the possibility to create a work of art without these limitations? What if that artist had financial backing, equipment, materials, manpower and experienced technicians ready to take direction and create their vision? What if that artist’s work wasn’t limited by the fact that they live on the planet, Earth, in the year 2014 and are subjected to physical laws?

Art Without Limits: Farther Regions explores what is possible for artists when they are released from practical, economical and physical constraints. What can be accomplished without limitations of natural laws, moral codes or current technologies? Art Without Limits will give artists resources to execute their dream-projects. Artists often create work that is determined by the walls around them. Art making is often a problem that needs to be solved. We would like to solve that problem. You can create art anywhere in the Universe! Show us your gallery inside of a volcano, your sculpture on top of the Great Pyramids,float your work on top of the largest storm in the solar system or Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Unbound by the physical realities of the here and now, the sky is not your limit!

Earthbound Moon seeks proposals from around the nation for fantastically imaginative and absurdly inventive site oriented artworks. You have artistic immunity, you have every resource you need. Indulge us!

The requirements of the Artist proposal are outlined simply as:

1. CV
2. Description of the artwork that can be as long or as short as the artist wishes.
3. Rendering of the theoretical artwork.
4. Return envelope with return postage

No entry fee.
Deadline March 24, 2014

Please send Proposals to:
Art Without Limits ℅ Carson Murdach
1627 Marion St. NW #2
Washington, DC 20001

Questions? Contact carson@earthboundmoon.com
http://www.earthboundmoon.com/
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ART/SOA/nav/landmark/currentprograms.php

Works will not be returned without stamped return envelope

(call for proposals source. Cross-posted on Land Art South Africa)

Earthlife Africa Press Release: The climate circus is in town!

An international conference concerned with clean air, the International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Association’s (IUAPPA) “Clean Air Congress” in Cape Town at the end of September, is being sponsored by some of South Africa’s biggest air polluters.

Sasol (which is the emitter of the largest point source of climate changing greenhouse changing gases in the world); Eskom (who are currently requesting an exemption from compliance with South Africa’s National Air Quality Act and supporting plans to build yet a third mega-coal fired power station, notwithstanding radioactive emissions from its Koeberg nuclear power plant); Engen (with a long history of harm to residents of South Durban); Shell (linked to human rights and environmental violations in the Niger delta, and one of many who wish to carry out polluting hydraulic fracturing in our country) and Exarro, our 2nd largest coal mining company. We find it surprising that no mention is made of the fatally toxic and radioactive air pollution planned by the smelter plants of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) at Pelindaba.

“The Clean Air Congress is shown for what it is – an opportunity for South Africa’s Climate Clowns to sponsor a green-washing circus” said Muna Lakhani of Earthlife Africa Cape Town. “The irony is compounded by the fact that the Mayor of Cape Town and the MEC for the Western Cape (who are featured speakers at the Congress) support this process.”

Over 60 civil society organisations find this Congress problematic. An indication of the potential for “green-wash” can be found in the draft programme (fourth revision), which has as a heading “Health Impacts and Perceptions.”

“The health impacts of air pollution are not ‘perceptions’, they are a fact!” commented Des D’sa of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA). “Our children and other residents suffer from high rates of upper respiratory tract problems due to poor air quality in South Durban.” 

They are calling for companies to take responsibility for their actions, and for government to hold them accountable, in a transparent manner.

Roegshanda Pascoe, of the Manenberg development co-ordinating structure, says “Our people are hurting with the high and rising electricity prices, and with nuclear and more coal power stations, prices will just keep on escalating. Since the first price increases, we have seen an increase in domestic violence linked to unaffordability of electricity, and other social impacts. It is time government takes the steps necessary to change our vision to one of energy security for all, in a safe and sustainable way.”

Community members feel that government must take their lead from our Constitution, and fully engage civil society in our supposed “participative democracy” in fully informed and thorough consultation before taking decisions on behalf of communities, especially the poor.

The media is encouraged to cover this congress, and ask the questions that civil society are asking, viz:

1. Why is a parastatal even asking for an exemption from our National Air Quality Act, when a substantial body of evidence confirms harm from coal fired power stations?
2. Why is fracking even being considered, when it is at least as problematic as coal, certainly from a climate change perspective? Has nothing been learnt from water, land and air pollution impacts elsewhere in the world, accompanied by social devastation?
3. Why is government complicit in these kinds of “greenwashing” exercises, yet finds it impossible to hold companies to account for the known harm that they do?
4. What is the point of IUAPPA convening such a congress under these auspices, when even they (IUAPPA) confirm: “Air pollution causes over 800,000 deaths and tens of millions of respiratory and other illnesses each year. It damages ecosystems and affects quality of life, reduces economic activity and reinforces the cycle of poverty in many areas of the world.”

Civil society that is concerned with plans for more climate change-inducing coal fired power stations that is now on the cards in South Africa, dangerous and expensive nuclear power, polluting and socially and environmentally devastating hydraulic fracturing (fracking), problematic coal mines and the high price of electricity, have come together to protest this gathering of our polluters and government representatives.

The protest is planned for Sunday the 29th of September between 2pm and 4pm opposite the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Cape Town Mayor, Councillor Patricia de Lille, and representatives from the named polluting companies have been invited to receive a memorandum outlining the concerns of civil society that believe the polluter-pays-principle should be strictly enforced. This initiative has thus far received the support of more than 80 organisations.

Come and join us!!

This initiative is supported by:

Earthlife Africa Cape Town; CAPTRUST; Community Consent Movement; Manenberg Dev Co-ord Structure; Southern Cape Land Committee, Groundwork, South Durban Community Environmental Alliance,  Cochoqua Tribal House (Khoi San), Coalition for Environmental Justice, Million Climate Jobs Campaign, The South African United National Anti-nuclear Mobilisation Initiative (TSUNAMI) comprising over 60 organisations; Coalition Against Nuclear Energy (CANE) comprising numerous community-based organisations, professionals and NGOs.

Nature in Expressive Movement

In 2010 Karl Cronin from San Francisco got backing from sponsors on Kickstarter for a project in which he documents the movement patterns of plants and animals. It's facinating work and I love watching his reenactments of these movement patterns. View the Somatic Natural History Archive at naturalhistory.us and dryearth.org



You can also read more about the project at Cargo Collective, the Movement Research Blog, and a review by Cathy Fitzgerald entitled "Performance artist creates movement portraits of 10,000 plants and animals".



When looking at a project like this, I am reminded how endless the possibilities are for art or creativity to express and explore our natural world, and to educate people about the wonders of nature! 

Are you working on a project focused on appreciating, researching, archiving, expressing and/or exploring the natural environment, animals or the landscape? Share it on this blog - email your story to artlovenature@gmail.com. 

ARTSHIFT: Global Power Shift 2013

"We know that we are running out of time to stop our planet from becoming a very inhospitable place, and we know that our local organizing is the most important tool we have in this struggle. So just as co2 levels and extreme weather are on the rise exponentially - so are we. 

This June, 350.org will be organizing Global PowerShift an international gathering in Istanbul, Turkey, where 600 young climate leaders from around the world will converge to skill-share, trade tactics and connect on how we will be the generation that will turn the tide on the global climate crisis. Organizers will then return to their own countries and organize a regional gathering, developing regional campaigns, goals and actions connected to a global movement."

To do this, they need new creative tactics to have maximum impact!

 "We are up against the richest corporations in the history of money, so our currency will be our creativity. A major focus of Global PowerShift will be on creative activism, including workshops and skillshares in puppetry, mass production for mass mobilizations, subvertising, street art and street theater, creative non-violent direct action, activist animation, reality correction, and historical reclamation.

We will also be constructing an Arts Camp for the duration of the gathering to integrate creativity into the functioning of daily life while providing important encampment skills to Global PowerShift participants.

We need creative, impassioned and dedicated individuals to join us at this historic gathering, and to grow a globally connected network of creative organizers strong enough to reclaim our future from the fossil fuel industry. Apply now to join us for Global PowerShift, deadline for applications has been extended to 4 January 2013. Participants will have all expenses covered."

Take a minute to share this invitation with anyone you think might be interested or share the ArtShift webpage on twitter or facebook. For this to be a success we need diversity in all aspects and will need to reach outside just the “climate” movement - this is, afterall, a struggle as big as our planet that involves many different movements. Please encourage anyone to apply who you think would contribute to and benefit from this crucial gathering.

Do it now, we’ve got no time to lose.

The gathering in Istanbul is only the first phase of this project, we’ll need many more dedicated individuals to participate locally in one of the hundred regional PowerShifts and in the hundreds of local campaigns and projects beyond that. If you can’t apply, but wish to stay in touch, please email art@350.org

This callout was sent by 

Kevin, Art Ambassador for 350.org

Read more and get your FAQ answered by clicking here

350 Moving Planet - Cape Town

"In Cape Town, a collection of green leaders have come together to create a massive event that will celebrate environmental successes while simultaneously demanding change from our leaders.

The Cape Town Moving Planet event will feature a huge march/parade with floats, costumes, puppets and more, with thousands of people, young and old, marching to make change. The event will seek to raise awareness of climate-friendly alternatives to damaging practices like driving your car, cutting down trees, and many other harmful actions. As fun and exciting as it will be, the event will also be a petition, demanding change in the policies and programs put forth by our government that damage the environment.

Alongside the march we will also be hosting an exciting bike ride to promote cycling as an active mode of transportation.

The event should be very exciting and seeks to represent all members of the Cape Town community. We would love it if you got involved, as we want this to be the most powerful and exciting event to date. We are still in the early planning stages of this event, so more specific details like the time and location are to come, but we are excited and hope you are too!"

For more information:

About the Moving Planet action day:
www.moving-planet.org/about
www.350.org

GET INVOLVED!

Event Page for the Cape Town event: www.moving-planet.org/events/za/cape-town/978
Facebook Page for the Cape Town event: www.facebook.com/pages/350-Moving-Planet-Cape-Town/137845456301050


Some of the amazing organisations represented by the people that have joined for this event so far:

• Project 90 by 2030
• Shikaya
• GreenPop
• Fairtrade South Africa
• ...350 Africa
• LitterAWEH!ness
• Anti-fracking Group
• WESSA
• Ecobuzz
• UCT Green Campus Initiative
• Public Health Movement (PHM)
• Bicycle Empowerment Network (BEN)
• Cape Town Bicycle Map
• Green Your Art (GYA)
• Skateboarders Association
• UNIMA South Africa
• COPART
• Jungle Theatre Company
• Anglican Church

Anti-Plastic (Fan)tastic

The CTWW challenge by reducefootprints.blogspot.com for the week is to go without plastics as far a humanly possible.

Generally I find it easy with regards to taking your own fabric bags when you go shopping, when the challenge really kicks in when choosing what to buy - plastic is used in packaging, labeling, products themselves, and even the basket that you carry your groceries to the counter, where you pay with your plastic card that you retrieve from your synthetic materials (sometimes plastic!) wallet. The toothpaste tube, toothbrush and water bottle when you go hiking.

In Cape Town, I find buying veggies, fruit and eggs from the Ethical Co-op, Wild Organics, the market in Hope Street or Zetler's Pharmacy in Mill street/Orange street the best option. Your fruit and veggies are put into brown paper bags, without copious amounts of unnecessary plastic packaging, your eggs without extra packaging around the carton holder. The Fruit and Veg city in Roeland street is of course also an option, where you can choose bunches of carrots, radishes and other veggies without plastic packaging, held together with twine.


Wild Organics - you can visit their store in Woodstock, or order your very own wild bag, delivered to a collection point close to you! Go to www.wildorganics.co.za for more information

myplasticfreelife.com is a blog by Beth Terry, who committed to stop buying new plastic. Her blog records and shares her story and progress, and is an inspiring look into what is possible, and where our biggest challenges lie. Read about Gardening without plastics, delivered in three parts, or about plastic labels and fruit packaging, a possible alternative for brushing your teeth and many more interesting posts to read, ponder and apply in your own life.

Celebrate Biodiversity!

22 May
International Day for Biological Diversity

The International Day for Biological Diversity (or World Biodiversity Day) is a UN international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues. The theme this year is Biodiversity and Forests.

More information: http://www.cbd.int/

Another date to diarize:

23 May – 01 June
Eskom: proposed nuclear power station – public meeting

Eskom is hosting a series of public meetings as part of their environmental impact assessment for a proposed nuclear power station. Please go along to make your views heard to strengthen our call for no nuclear power and a call for a renewable energy revolution.

• 23 May: Pretorius Hall, Main Road, Gansbaai. 18h00 - 20h00
  


• 25 May: Atlantic Beach, Golf Club, Melkbostrand. 18h00 - 20h00
  


• 30 May: Oyster Bay Hall,Oyster Bay. 18h00 - 20h00
  


• 31 May: St. Francis Links Golf Club, St. Francis Bay: 18h00 - 20h00
  


• 01 June: Sea Vista Community Hall, Sea Vista, 16h30 - 18h00 Public Open Day

More information: www.eskom.co.za/eia under the “Nuclear 1-Generation” link

---

This information was obtained from the Project 90 by 2030 April newsletter. Visit their website at http://www.90x2030.org.za/

Anti-fracking Activists call for a National Boycott of Shell

An excerpt from the press release issued by Earthlife Africa Cape Town:

Earthlife Africa is calling for a nationwide boycott of all Shell service stations and all Shell products, from Tuesday 17th May – which coincides with Royal Dutch Shell’s AGM in the Netherlands, and is also, co-incidentally, the United Nation’s World Information Society Day - to show their displeasure at plans to “frack” large parts of our country.

“We ask people to go to their nearest Shell garage, NOT fill up, but ask to speak to the manager and say that they have nothing against the manager personally, but the company is carrying out plans that have potentially horrendous impacts on people and especially scarce water in our country,” said Andreas Spath, Earthlife’s
Anti-fracking co-ordinator.

Shell, the South African government and the natural gas industry portray shale gas as a climate-friendly, low-carbon energy source. In reality, however, preliminary studies have shown that if the entire carbon footprint, including methane (a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) escaping from fracking wells in substantial quantities, is taken into account, natural gas from this source contributes to climate change in a magnitude similar to oil and coal.

“Shell’s record in Africa should be cause for alarm”, said the Reverend Barry Wuganaale, of the Ogoni Solidarity Forum. “Not only for widespread and continuing environmental harm, but they have also acknowledged being complicit in the murder of activists opposing them in Nigeria. They cannot be trusted.”

Read the full press release here: http://www.earthlife.org.za/?p=1591



VALLEY OF DELINQUENCY, charcoal and pastel on paper.
Duncan Stewart
[See more of his work]

Show your commitment on Friday

25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster

Illustration: Matt Davidson
Found here (read more about nuclear in Australia)

MEDIA RELEASE: 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster

A Salute to Radiation workers everywhere. - Japanese Consul to receive
messages of condolence and concern from local anti-nuclear groups.

The ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could not have come at a
more poignant moment. While the world's attention is focused on this
unfolding catastrophe we must remember to contextualise current events in
light of the past. The 26th of April, 46 days after the start of the ongoing
Fukushima nuclear crises, marks the 25th year after at similar disaster in
Chernobyl, Ukraine. How tragic to witness, 25 years on, a repeat of the
desperation that drives men and women into a working environment that they
know will kill them, with Chernobyl now being assessed as being responsible
for nearly a million deaths, and with the total fuel at Fukushima many times
that of Chernobyl. 1,760 tons of nuclear fuel versus just 180 tons at
Chernobyl, implying a potential impact some 10 times greater from the
current disaster is, but which is becoming more difficult to quantify as the
Fukushima accident is already ranked as a level 7 disaster which is where
the scale for such events ends.

Our hearts must go out to the "Fukushima 50". Four teams of 50 brave workers
who, on a daily basis, expose themselves to massive quantities of radiation
to help avert a total meltdown. Instead of learning lessons from the
Japanese experience before we aggressively pursue more nuclear options in
South Africa, government approved the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP2) (that
will make nuclear power the single biggest contributor of new future
capacity to our national grid), within the first week of the Fukushima
disaster. This, when almost every other country with new nuclear build plans
are taking a step back, and indeed, reducing and cancelling such plans, as
in China and Germany.

"South Africa has an array of alternative, renewable energy supplies that
are cheaper, create more jobs, contribute less to climate change and don't
leave us with a multi-100,000 year waste legacy, said Muna Lakhani,
Earthlife Africa's Cape Town anti-nuclear spokesperson. "It is time that we
reawaken the spirit of the Struggle and remind ourselves that we do have the
power to shape our future."

"Around Fukushima Daiichi Station, on March 23rd, they measured 400
millisieverts - that's per hour. With this measurement (Chief Cabinet
Secretary) Edano admitted for the first time that there was a danger to
health, but he didn't explain what this means. All of the information media
are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are
exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from
outer space. But that's one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a
day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400
millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that
safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT
scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it," said
Hirose Takashi, well known author on the nuclear industry.

Independent scientists are warning, contrary to statements from the talking
heads on corporate media outlets who say Japan is not Chernobyl, that the
levels of radioactive material being released in from Japan's nuclear
fallout already rivals Chernobyl levels as at the end of March.



In a more local vein, Earthlife Africa's Cape Town branch secretary, Gray
Maguire, said: "Six months after 90 Koeberg workers were contaminated by
radioactive Cobolt-51, our leaders have yet to announce the names of the
members of the panel of inquiry supposedly convened to look into the
accident. What confidence do we have that even the current problems can be
resolved, far less the imposition of even more nuclear radiation, when the
alternatives are cheaper and create more decent work for our people?"

To this end, members of the media and of the public are invited to a number
of events in the run up to Chernobyl Day (26th April). Earthlife Africa Cape
Town will be hosting a number of events to raise awareness about the
outcomes of our recently approved IRP2; information linked to the global and
local nuclear industry and a way forward.

* 18th April - Monday (12:00pm to 14:00pm - Pier Square, Heerengracht Street, Cape Town, with handover at 1:00pm). - A demonstration of concern about the events at Fukushima, a commemoration of the legacy of Chernobyl, a protest against the IRP2 and the submission of statement of solidarity, of condolence and concern, to the Japanese Consul in sympathy with their plight. Activities include an art installation, music and related activities.

* 21th April - Thursday ( 12:45pm to 14:00pm at 6 Spin Street Cape
Town) "Investigating South Africa's nuclear goals" - by Gray Maguire -
Earthlife Africa Branch Secretary.

* 21st April - Thursday (6:15pm at the Labia on Orange) Screening of
the documentary "The Nuclear Comeback" with a facilitated discussion
afterwards.

This media release was written and issued by Earthlife Africa Cape Town:
Contact:
Muna Lakhani - 083-471-7276 or muna@iafrica.com
Gray Maguire - 084-3355778 or graymaguire@gmail.com

Excerpt from Lewis Pugh's speech on NOT fracking in the Karoo

“Never did I think there would be a debate in this arid country, of what was more important: gas or water, we can survive without gas, but we cannot survive without water, if we damage our water supply, and fracking will do just that, we will have a conflict again here in South Africa. Look around the world; wherever you damage the environment, you have conflict. Fellow South Africans we have had enough conflict in our land, now is the time for peace... there are many here among us who do not want the dreams of our heroes to be rubbished by an amoral corporate giant. There are many here among us who do not want this—our hard-fought Constitution—treated as mere scrawls on a piece of paper."

- Lewis Pugh at the public meeting held by Golder and Shell about fracking (hydraulic fracture mining) in the Karoo, on Friday, 25 March 2011 at Kelvin Grove in Newlands, Cape Town.

Read the full speech here:
http://lewispugh.posterous.com/the-day-we-stood-up-to-shell-what-was-said-to

Or watch it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5PejoRGmBo

Want to know more?
Go to http://www.treasurethekaroo.blogspot.com/ and www.fractual.co.za

Rethinking art's role in society

I've read a very interesting article by Sam Bower of greenmuseum.org a few weeks ago, and realized that it's the ideal thing to share. It sparks a lot of new thoughts and questions about how and why we make art, and even though perception differs very widely from person to person looks at the ways that we might be very wrong in our way of thinking and doing things at the moment. It looks critically at the economy and funding for the arts in America. Here is an excerpt from the article:

I'm a firm believer in the notion that art, ecological thinking and social justice are essential to making sustainability work. Any culture that has lived in the same place for thousands of years has had to integrate these things. Unfortunately, we have not and are now facing a global crisis in the financial sector, ecological doom and gloom, endless wars and the increasing burdens of social injustice. One of our most powerful tools as a species, the arts, have been coopted by the dominant culture and presented back to us as a largely ornamental commodity, divorced from social and environmental responsibility. The fact is, the arts have an important role to play in healing our disconnection from each other and the Earth. As a people, we need to call attention to this.

- The Need to Circle Back, by Sam Bower



Lea Redmond, "Barcode Falls: Scanning the Land and Taking Stock", paper, 2007.

Make yourself a cup of herbal tea, and go and read the full article:
www.greenmuseum.org/generic_content.php?ct_id=309

...

Updates on COPART's first CFE

Go and have a look on www.dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com for daily updates about COPART's first Climate Fluency Exchange!

First COPART Climate Fluency Exchange!

The first Connecting Our Planet & Re-imagining Together (COPART) Climate Fluency Exchange (CFE), scheduled from the 4th-10th December 2010, in Cape Town. The CFE aims to turn complex climate change information into accessible ways of knowing, as well as accessible practices in our lives. The CFE facilitates a transdisciplinary intersection between scientists and artists; activists and creatives as well as the general public.

This CFE is the first of seven scheduled between December 2010- December 2011, these are week-long social learning processes that facilitates creative and innovative participation and learning for artists, activists, scientists and the public. This event is also strategically scheduled to run concurrently with the COP16 climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. Activities, concepts, ideas, comments and other forms of communication will be sent to a parallel exhibition within COP16.

There will be interactive public activities scheduled for the weekend of the 4th-5th of December, which include public artworks and mobile installations/performances on trains, by the sea side, within the Company gardens and at Iziko Natural History Museum. The rest of the week we will offer a variety of different talks, presentations, film screenings & other showings of artworks/performances.

What makes this week different is that there will be facilitated artful processes that will encourage participants to explore various different artistic genres and "ways of knowing", the turn the information we will be exchanging, into real lived alternatives or practices.

If you would like to know more or find out details on how you can participate contact Dylan armadylan@gmail.com

The COPART CFE is kindly funded by:

Tyres and clay = building a centre!

Yesterday I went with Nick Ralphs from Tierra Construction Projects to look at the earth-tyre recycling centre that they're putting up in Khayalitsha. The walls are made up of tyres, earth and hard labour. They are stacked like bricks and then earth beaten in to fill each tyre - each tyre gets about two and a half wheelbarrow's worth of earth!!

They’re doing this as an iniative with one of the major waste recyclers where they will set up a ‘swop-shop’. The concept is that they will trade defective, but usable, waste-products (like pens with the logo on skew, etc) for tins, bottles, etc. This is targeted mainly at the local schools and children. It is intended that some of the revenue generated from the collected recyclables will pay a small wage to the centre manager/ess.

Nick from Tierra, and David - the other driving force behind the project - are currently receiving no funding, and are funding the project themselves. Most of the labour is voluntary too, and this is really hard work! I am currently recruiting and looking for artists who would love to join in with the final stages of their project, when the structure and openings between the tyres will be filled with tin cans, clay and straw, and creative adornments such as mosaic added (see an example of an 'earthship' below). I believe that it's going to be a lot of fun and that this is a really worthy project to be part of.

If you want to assist in any way or can help with funding/fund-raising, contact Nick Ralphs at 021 396 2577 / 084 280 7028, or info@tierraprojects.co.za. If you're an artist and would like to get involved on the fun, creative side, then contact me, Janet, at artlovenature@gmail.com.


earthshiphomes.info

Another CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

INFECTING THE CITY 2011: TREASURE

Seeking visual artists, designers, architects for a public arts project

Infecting The City – the Spier Public Arts Festival is themed ‘Treasure’ for 2011. The main aims of ITC are to turn the communal spaces of our City into stimulating, creative, truly public spaces, and to put socially engaged performance and art on the streets where they are accessible to everybody. The Festival (21 – 26 Feb), which gets high profile in the media, will overlap with the Design Indaba and will serve as a streetwise counterpoint to that event.

‘Treasure’ takes in various realms of preciousness: the weird and wonderful performance and musical expressions that underlie the rich cultural diversity of our society and that are seldom seen outside of the communities in which they originate; our heritage sites; and the barely visible workers that make the CBD function. A variety of artists are participating in these realms.

Another of the areas that we are drawing attention to is the vast quantity of valuable resources that are trashed in the City, resources that should be recycled and put to good use. Throughout the Festival week a large scale durational art happening will take place: a selection of artists from diverse backgrounds will work with discarded recyclable materials on the Cape Town Station Forecourt – a huge paved area traversed by thousands of people everyday. We are seeking artists who would like to join this project.

On the Station Forecourt on Monday 21 Feb garbage will be delivered from 5 different socio-economic zones (e.g. Constantia, Mitchells Plain, Gugulethu, Observatory, the CBD). In advance we will have approached citizens in the 5 selected areas and mobilized them to sort their garbage into recyclable components for 2 weeks or so.

Hence we will get 5 lots of garbage that speak to the demographics of consumption and wastage, kind of like an archaeological / anthropological dig into cross-sectional sectors of contemporary Cape Town society. It should provide material for interesting observation and commentary: who uses what; what does it say about lifestyles, diets etc? These demographic ‘Slices of Life’ will comprise mounds of glass, hard plastics, soft plastics, paper, metal etc.

We are putting together a collective of 6 - 8 artists from different backgrounds and with different skills to intervene with the assembled matter. The artists can tackle whatever material they like, sometimes in collaboration with one another, sometimes individually. Turning the 25-odd piles of waste into individual works over the course of the week.

The concept for this intervention is still in development. We aim to build a nuanced, punchy, intelligent framework that is accessible and stimulating to people from all walks of life. As one of the artists working on this intervention we would require you to do some preparation. It is important that the creations made out of this junk are rooted in rich conceptual ground, that they speak to concerns and critiques about our wasteful lifestyles. We are linking up with COPART – a collective of local artists and activists working around issues of climate change and holistic modes of living – and are exploring how best to make this resource available to the participating artists.

As a participant you’ll have the opportunity to get out of your studio and make provocative, socially-engaged works for 5 ½ days with a bunch of creative people on a public square with the mid-February sun smiling upon you; to engage with spectators and curious passersby; to be part of a buzzing, ground-breaking festival; and to be paid for the privilege. Are you up for it?

If this appeals to you please contact me with a CV by Friday 22 October.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brett Bailey

Curator: Infecting The City

Email: brettbailey@thirdworldbunfight.co.za