Some references to ideas and material that came up in the class’ first site investigations.

Cemetary project: Sky burials, including ref to vultures dying from pharmaceuticals etc (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial, http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/solar-replaces-vultures-traditional-sky-burials-vultures-may-come-back.html and this looks like an interesting site in general: http://www.dailyundertaker.com/2009/02/vulture-club-tower-of-silence.html); The American Way of Death http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Way_of_Death; and eco coffins.

Oak trees parking: tree-sitting and tree-spiking in the anti-logging and anti-roads movements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_sitting and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_spiking. See ‘monkey wrenching’ more generally: http://earthfirstjournal.org/subsection.php?id=2 and  http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/Various_Authors__Ecodefense__A_Field_Guide_to_Monkeywrenching.html Re ecology and value, a resource is Henrik Ernstson’s work at UCT: http://www.rhizomia.net/#!/p/publication-list.html

Woodstock railway site: that washing power in a matchbox made me think of a recent article I read about how poor people in Cape Town buy food and supplies in very small quantities, in little packets for a few rands or cents, as all they can afford; also the alternative ways of valuing people, things and spaces than according to their economic output or consumption. Sorry no links yet! 🙂

Frog canal: performance artist Mark MccGowan pushing a peanut through London with his nose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McGowan_%28performance_artist%29; under road tunnels for wildlife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing and in pictures

Observatory wasteland: notions of alchemy and natural magic… in your later account of how you might use materials from the site, especially re melting and reforming waste glass, I thought of the toaster project (how to attempt to make something from available materials) http://www.thetoasterproject.org/ This relates too to one of my favourite metaphors for DIY replication of technology, a ‘cargo cult’ approach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

Noordhoek vlei: Mark Lombardi’s mapping techniques could be useful for showing the different groups involved in this issue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lombardi; Trevor Paglen is a geographer and artist who does investigative work http://www.paglen.com/; and I thought somehow of this project to make warning signs for nuclear waste that will be readable forever (there are many articles online about it)… http://www.salon.com/2002/05/10/yucca_mountain/

Here are a few of the many sites on the environment that are now available to you to research – it is unlikely that you will be able to go through all of them during this project so pick a few, delve in and become informed and perhaps inspired, and use them as a jumpoff start to your own projects:

Climate Change info (accessible science):

• One of the newest (launched February 28, 2013!) is ‘Reality Drop’ from The Climate Reality Project, built to spread the truth and destroy denial around climate change. This is the REAL information from scientists’ decades of research, not government or corporations. Give it a try: https://realitydrop.org/?utm_source=ctrpnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch please note that because it is brand new you might experience difficulty getting onto the site.
• To get informed about climate change and be able to answer denialists go to this web site – thoroughly scientific but put together in a way that gives us all access to important information http://www.skepticalscience.com/
• *recommended: on this site you can get a very good description about global warming if you go straight to http://www.skepticalscience.com/big-picture.html
•  http://www.ssireview.org/ a great site for new ideas about bettering our world) might prove a useful jumpoff point: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/environmentalism_refreshed_part_1?utm_source=SSRI+Environmentalism+Refreshed&utm_campaign=SSRI+Environmentalism+Refreshed&utm_medium=email

Activism:

• *recommended: http://350.org/ a growing global movement with great resources and a proven history of working with artists – good info packs for what to do in organising events and brainstorming ideas http://350.org/en/diy-creative-projects
• *recommended: Join in EarthHour coming up soon March 23: http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx
• http://www.avaaz.org/en/ Subscribe to Avaaz one of the most effective petition sites – it covers many issues, but often makes a specific contribution to environmental lobbies.

Specifically directed to African environmentalism:

• *recommended: http://www.naturerightsafrica.org/ and read the charter: http://www.naturerightsafrica.org/draft-charter.html
• http://www.africanrainforest.org/ note the Artists for Africa event in New York in April this year.
• Join EarthlifeAfrica at http://www.earthlife.org.za
• Join Wiserearth at http://www.wiserearth.org/

check out what is close to home in South Africa and Cape Town:

• *recommended: http://www.capetowngreenmap.co.za/ lots of info re what’s happening in CT in relation to green events and resources
• http://www.greenworks.co.za/ tips on how to be greener and work towards sustainability.
• *recommended: http://sustainourafrica.org/ large sustainability conference last year in CT – will be doing another one this year and will be looking for artists to contribute. Good resource for links to ‘Change Agents’ – local people who are contributing to change: http://sustainourafrica.org/change-agent-publication.html
• *recommended: http://www.urbansprout.co.za/ green directory on all things green and eco-friendly in SA.
• http://www.greenpop.org/ if planting trees is your thing.
• http://www.groundup.org.za/content/ocean-view-man-explains-how-he-lives-grid-0 goundup is a local news site that deals with all sorts of news (i.e it is not specifically environmental), but check this video for an inspirational story of a man from Ocean View who rigged up his own solar and wind electricity system.
• http://theshift.org.za/ more design-oriented but has a great toolkit for thinking about sustainable design.
• Join the Koeberg Alert Alliance: http://koebergalert.org

Art and Green issues:

• *recommended: http://www.tippingpoint.org.uk/ Based in the UK, but with a global network, it is dedicated to energising the creative response to climate change – it has a bias towards performance-based work. Examples of current projects and many web links.
• *recommended: http://www.capefarewell.com/ In 2001 the artist David Buckland created the Cape Farewell project to instigate a cultural response to climate change. Cape Farewell is now an international not-for-profit programme based in the Science Museum’s Dana Centre in London. It has done many powerful projects with artists. Check out their current art projects at http://www.capefarewell.com/art.html
• http://www.guerrillagardening.org/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QGcNIsysuI guerilla gardening Joburg 50/50
• http://dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com/ created for COP17 in Durban (2011) what South African artists contributed (and continue to contribute) to creating awareness around environmental issues.
• Check out Joe Zammit-Lucia the ‘Intersectionist’: http://theintersectionist.com/ Joe explores the relationship between growth, sustainability, and the environment within cultural frameworks. His interest is in cross-disciplinary approaches that re-imagine ‘conservation’ and ‘environmentalism’. How do we make ‘environmentalism’ itself more effective and sustainable in the 21st century? On his site he has a blog: http://www.thethirdray.com/ – a blog about artists and the environment  – while the commentary is a bit naïve, there is a great list of artists engaged with environmental issues including some we may not generally think of environmentally concerned such as Al Weiwei, Gary Hume and Damien Hirst. You can also check out the little know environmental pieces in Banksy’s production. Finally, given that environmentalists often have a doom and gloom message, it might be useful to check out Joe’s more upbeat take on what has been and is being done: http://theintersectionist.com/2013-reasons-to-be-cheerful/

COP (conference of the Parties)

• Websites dedicated to COP (Conference of the Parties) – the annual UN meeting on climate change with world governments.

http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/ all about COP 15 in Copenhagen (2009) when South Africa entered the debate. There is a section on SA in the site: http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/climate-change-south-africa.html

http://dontcopoutcopart.blogspot.com/ created for COP17 in Durban (2011) what South African artists contributed (and continue to contribute) to creating awareness around environmental issues.

We looked at the website for the international ‘Wasteland Twinning‘ project on the second day of the course, as a possible reference for creative investigation of urban wasteland sites – particularly the ‘Methods‘ section.

Kony 2012 – Students brought up the current (in March 2012) ‘Kony 2012’ viral internet campaign, possibly the most successful internet meme yet. It is an example of both the potential to reach vast audiences, and of the risks in the kinds of messages transmitted in this way, as controversy around the campaign demonstrates. It is worth noting that while the internet can be a way of spreading messages with little to no cost to the producer, a lot of money went into crafting this meme.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/09/kony2012-video-70m-hits?newsfeed=true

http://innovateafrica.tumblr.com/post/18897981642/you-dont-have-my-vote

The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere – A widely-cited exhibition of contemporary interventionist art and design work curated by Nato Thompson and Gregory Sholette at the MASS MoCA in 2004: “Over the course of the 1990s, the term “intervention” was increasingly used by politically engaged artists to describe their interdisciplinary approaches, which nearly always took place outside the realm of museums, galleries and studios. A decade later, these “interventionists” continue to create an impressive body of work that trespasses into the everyday world — art that critiques, lampoons, interrupts, and co-opts, art that acts subtlety or with riotous fanfare, and art that agitates for social change using magic tricks, faux fashion and jacked-up lawn mowers”. An imperfect proof of the  exhibition calogue can be downloaded for free along with other essays on Gregory Sholette’s website.

Adbusters – Adbusters is a print magazine, available in the Hiddingh library, and also has an extensive website. It deals with the modern malaise in which affluent citizens (aka ‘consumers’) find themselves, and attempts to break them out of this lethargy. They famously called for the occupation of Wall Street, catalyzing a worldwide ‘Occupy’ movement – demonstrating that an ‘intervention’ can be as simple as an instruction (albeit one which needs platforms and audiences on which to circulate). Their practice of ‘culture jamming’ is a classical Situationist ‘detournément’.