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SYMPOSIUM FORUM 2022: PICTURING CLIMATE CHANGE

About

Picturing climate change (March 21, 2022) was an online symposium that explored ‘what is seen and unseen’ in climate change from the viewpoints of the visual arts and photography, community action, agro-forestry to climate monitoring by earth orbiting satellites. This web event  was hosted by Street Level Photoworks (Glasgow, Scotland) in partnership with Dundee City Council, British Council and with NASA’s Earth Observation unit, NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It asked participants to change their views and to be prepared to see the world from the ground up and back through space.
The symposium video can be played here and found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sttJuXmJmPA



A follow-up conference covering the development of new nature-based and arts solutions will be hosted in Spring 2023. It will also address the further progress of 'Trees for Life' and other eco-arts projects led by Earth-Art-Studio.

Topics covered:
SYMPOSIUM 2022
Community engagement and multidisciplinary collaborations

Climate conversations and actions are now involving a wide spectrum of  practitioners from a variety of fields, including researchers, horticulturalists, astrophysicists, engineers, planners, activists, artists, citizens and school children, to name a few. How have multidisciplinary arts collaborations local to Dundee and Glasgow, Scotland, for instance, successfully changed how we perceive climate challenges with immediate and international communities?

Researchers say emotion and imagination are urgently needed to reach people in ways information alone cannot

Ecology, land rehabilitation, and culture
What are the real stories from the ground about environmental change? How can people better express what is happening to them? Ecology and land rehabilitation need a balance of culture and ecological knowledge to be co-presented in order to create real action. How can that work?

The solution <-> problem

Activate and co-support knowledge stakeholders
Climate change disproportionately affects people in low-and middle-income contexts who have done the least to contribute to it. Yet often these communities do not have the information or the channels they need to share or make informed decisions about how to prepare for climate change. Can simple actions and tools help make a difference? Can sharing examples and local knowledge lead to new ways to innovate?

Picture

NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from the Climate Hazards Center, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net), and modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by the European Space Agency courtesy of Josh Willis/NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Picture
Image from 'Internet of Nature' series
Strobsmuir Park, City of Dundee, Scotland (2021)

Picturing Climate Change was hosted on March 21st, 2022, the UN's official day of the Forest
Archived page at
https://www.streetlevelphotoworks.org/event/picturing-climate-change
The event lasted for 120 minutes and included a live Q&A on the YouTube channel.

The forum was supported by the British Council Creative Climate Commission and with associates from NASA Earth Observatory and International Space Station, Women4Climate, Dundee City Council, Dundee UNESCO City of Design, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Canada), climate artists: Borda & Donnelly, and ROBA with community participants from schools at Kofele, Koma Mamo, Gormicho, and Usula Moke  in West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia.  Support for ‘Leaves We Live’ project has come Basharat Khan and made in collaboration with Stella Rooney and children at St Francis and Blackfriars Primary Schools, Glasgow and Street Level’s Culture Collective programme.
 
A publication from the forum will be launched in Autumn 2022.
See past Climate Conversations: Forever Changes series hosted by Street Level Photoworks at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXDDGnjohqo
 

Learn about how to create earth observation art

In considering climate science and the arts as part of wider toolkits we can use these in creative ways to assist in climate mitigation, while creating new mesmerizing visual forms. 
 

PICTURING CLIMATE CHANGE

Speakers

Nura Beshir - Women4Climate, Ethiopia & Urban Planner
Sylvia Grace Borda - Climate Artist

Malcolm Dickson - Curator-Director, Street Level Photoworks
J.Keith Donnelly
- Climate Artist
Kenton R Fisher - Lead,
Earth Science and Remote Sensing, NASA and PI, Crew Earth Observations,  International Space Station (ISS)
John Gray - Public Art Planner, Dundee City Council, Scotland
Deborah Henderson - Director, Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada
Hussein Watta - Director, Rural Organization of the Betterment of Agro-pastoralists (ROBA), Kofele, Ethiopia





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Picture
EARTH OBSERVATION RESOURCES
United Nations - Office for Outer Space Affairs
www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/aboutus/roles-responsibilities.html

Current & near-term advances in earth observation for ecological applications, Ecological Processes Journal (2021)
https://ecologicalprocesses.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13717-020-00255-4

Centre Nationales d'etudes Spatiales 

https://phototheque.cnes.fr/cnes/categories

Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute
https://etssti.org/about-essti/

European Space Agency Publications
https://espi.or.at/publications/collaborative-studies

LandSat9
The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. 
https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat-9/landsat-9-overview

Worldview Snapshots is a lightweight tool for creating image snapshots from a selection of popular NASA satellite imagery
https://wvs.earthdata.nasa.gov/

CLIMATE 

Climate Kids NASA
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/tree-rings

Earth Observation and understanding bird migration
https://climatekids.nasa.gov/extreme-weather-birds/

The Nature Conservancy Climate Change Guide
https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/climate-change-frequently-asked-questions/




PanAfrican Planetary and Space Science Network (PAPSSN)​
https://www.papssnmobility.org

Reflections on the value of ethics in relation to Earth observation
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01431161.2012.718466
​

SPOT 4 - 5 satellites: four multispectral bands to 20m spatial resolution of Canadian tree line (years 2005-2010) Interactive Map
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/d1fc6010-e2e7-401a-8dc1-544cd2ac0b03
​

Satellite-Based Earth Observation Trends and Challenges for Economy and Society (2018)
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-74805-4  /
link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-74805-4.pdf


United Nations - Office for Outer Space Affairs
www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/aboutus/roles-responsibilities.html

What can satellites really see?
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/what-can-you-really-see-space​

TREES & CLIMATE

Environmental Education: Project Learning Tree
https://www.plt.org/activity-resources/focus-on-forests-activity-8-climate-change-and-forests/

National Centre for Atmospheric research: Tree Rings and Understanding climate change
https://aambpublicoceanservice.blob.core.windows.net/oceanserviceprod/education/pd/climate/teachingclimate/trees_recorders_of_time.pdf




Who’s behind the project?
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​Trees for Life project has been supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions 2021 programme.
This was a series of creative commissions exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology for presentation at COP26.


Trees for Life continues (2021 - present) as an active artists-community collaboration and illustrates that land rehabilitation doesn’t need to be expensive. We understand the benefit of trees to the land and that people can assist in creating better soils and future-proofing sites from climate issues by planting trees.

Trees for Life also highlights that sustainability is dependent on the motivation and generosity of citizens, communities, artists, and scientists working together to redefine the challenges of climate change and to foster the next generation with the idea that we can make an impact through climate art and other creative approaches.

Tree Circles and Trees for Life project are co-led by climate design and media artists, Sylvia Grace Borda (Canada) and J.Keith Donnelly (UK) together with partners Ethiopia (ROBA – Rural Organisation for the Betterment of Agro-Pastoralists ) in the UK (Dundee UNESCO City of Design, Dundee City Council, Scotland),  and Canada (Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Kwantlen Polytechnic University) to creatively respond to global issues of climate change.  
​

  • Home
  • Trees for Life
    • The Project
    • Creating Living Artworks
    • Satellite Images
    • Tree Nursery
    • Field Notes from ROBA
    • Youth reflections
    • Climate reflections
    • Elder Knowledge
    • Acknowledging Indigenous Rights
    • Oromo tree circle
    • The Lion
    • Adopt a Tree
    • Celebrations
    • What's Next
    • Symposium
  • TREE CIRCLES
    • Plant Graffiti
    • TREE CIRCLES
    • Contributors
    • Venice Biennale
  • Internet of Nature
    • Internet of Nature
    • COP26
    • City of Dundee
  • Exhibition kits
    • Exhibition kits
    • Resources
    • Tree stories making the news
  • About Us