Grahamstown (SA): Climate-Culture was active in assisting the 2009 SAARMSTE Conference in setting a great precedent for future (scientific / academic) conferences worldwide with a dedicated effort to tackle questions and issues related to environmental sustainability. As hosts of the conference, the Rhodes University Education Department delivered on their commitment to ‘green’ the conference by actively seeking creative ways to reduce their ecological footprint. The vision for SAARMSTE 2009 was to reduce the consumption of resources, avoid damage to the local and global environment, protect biodiversity and human health, and offer sustainable development options to the local people and economy. The conference organisers focused on the following themes: travel, contribution to ecosystems and community, waste, food and drink, water, and energy. Each theme aimed to raise awareness and stimulate debate about what we can do individually and/or collectively through environmental education initiatives.
Barcelona (ES): The eyes4earth initiative was present and active at the recent IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Barcelona. In some ways, you could call the WCC the Olympics of conservation – it is an event which attracts around 7500 attendees and is held every four years. It brings together government representatives, inter-governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, academics & scientists, businesses, indigenous groups and anyone else with an interest in getting a feel for the cutting-edge issues and approaches in conservation.
Brisbane (AU): In science and government, increasing attention is being given to the concept of ‘ecosystem services’. Ecosystem services are usually defined as the diverse benefits humans obtain from nature (but which are not valued in the marketplace, e.g. pollination of crops by insects, purification of water by wetlands or the recreational value of nature.) However, we wonder what the general public understands by ‘ecosystem services’. Here’s a first glance…
Yirrkala (AU): eyes4earth asks ‘The Question’ to Peter Garret AM MP (Australian Minister for the Environment, Heritage & the Arts) on his visit to Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land on 23rd July 2008.
The staff of SEQ Catchments whipped around the office and then took to the streets of Brisbane to make this entertaining contribution to “The Question”. If you thought that the person on the street might have a similiar of understanding of ‘ecosystem services’ as science does, then this clip again provides evidence that we’ve still got some way to go…
eyes4earth took “The Question” to the Surrey Hills Community Festival in Sydney on a sunny day back in April and got some inspired & funky contributions. We asked two questions this time: the first half of the clip are responses to “What did nature for you today?” and the second half seeks responses to “What did you do for nature today?”
Global: eyes4earth is delighted to report that the attention given to the ‘value’ of nature has just taken a huge leap forward with the release of the series Nature Inc which is currently screening on BBC World.
Bonn (DE): Attendees to the recent NAJU Workshop delivered some on the edge surprises in terms of how they responded to ‘The Question’: “What did nature do for you today?”
During an EarthCollective workshop on ‘ecosystem services’, participants were divided into four groups, given a Canon camera, 20 minutes and asked to answer ‘The Question’ in pictures only.
eyes4earth’s Climate Culture programme was active today at Wageningen’s Liberation Day (Bevrijdingsfestival) encouraging the public to generate some warm fuzzy feelings for landscape restoration in South Africa.
The Question is simply “What did nature do for you today?”. And we’re asking it in various locations around the world. First stop: Nhulunbuy (Gove) in northeast Arnhem Land, Australia. This video clip is the full length version of the preview which was posted last week on Earth Day. It gives an insight into the perceptions we have of nature and raises our awareness of ‘ecosystem services’.
What is nature doing for you now?
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