Travelers’ eyes

From spiral-jetty.blogspot.com:

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I received an urgent email from Lynn DeFreitas, Director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake, telling me of plans for drilling oil in the Salt Lake near Spiral Jetty. The deadline for protest is 13 of february. Of course, DIA has been informed and are meeting about it today.

I have been told by Lynn that the oil wells will not be above the water, but that means some kind of industrial complex of pipes and pumps beneath the water and on the shore. The operation would require roads for oil tank trucks, cranes, pumps etc. which produce noise and will severely alter the wild, natural place.

If you want to send a letter of protest to save the beautiful, natural Utah environment around the Spiral Jetty from oil drilling, the emails or calls of protest go to Jonathan Jemming jjemming@utah.gov

Every letter makes a big difference, they do take a lot of notice and know that publicity may follow. Since the Spiral Jetty has global significance, emails from foreign countries would be of special value.

They try to slip these drilling contracts under the radar, that’s why we found out so late, not through notification, but from a watchdog lawyer at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, the group that alerted me to the land leasing for oil and gas near Sun Tunnels last May.

Thank you for your consideration of this serious environmental matter.

Be well,
Nancy Holt

To know more about the Spiral Jetty +++

“A Paris court found oil giant Total guilty of negligence over the 1999 sinking of the tanker Erika and ordered the company to pay $298 million in damages.

The money will be paid mostly to the French government, but also to various regional environmental groups, including Greenpeace. Total was also fined $550,000 for maritime pollution.

The Erika broke up and sank in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay some 70 km off the French coast on December 12, 1999, pouring 20,000 tones of toxic fuel into the sea. The accident fouled 400 km of beaches and shoreline, crippled local industries including fishing, tourism and salt production and killed some 75,000 seabirds.”

This drawing made by Nicolas Vial just gives you an idea of how we felt as this tragedy happened.

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Power lines in the desert near Dubai,
taken by Mariana Canepa Luna during a recent visit to Sharjah, UAERSA

Arts & Ecology supports the work of the arts in examining and addressing social and environmental concerns in an interdisciplinary and international arena. The entire programme is informed by the notion of ecology as the study of relationships between an individual and their cultural, social, political, economic and natural environments, and by the belief that the arts can play a central role in providing creative insights into the challenges facing contemporary society.

Initiated in April 2005, the programme has since consisted of a series of initiatives including conferences, ongoing discourse, international research trips, education pilots, artists’ projects and commissions, and a publication. The RSA is creating a growing network of groups and individuals concerned with the issues - alongside and working with other organisations who have similar concerns. These include Tipping Point, Cape Farewell and Arts Catalyst. More information about these projects can be found throughout this website.

Over the next three years, the ambition of the RSA Arts & Ecology programme is to become an international hub and a portal to increase the level of information and exchange. The project will act as a catalyst in seeking to involve a far greater number of artists, while simultaneously supporting, profiling and helping develop the visibility of artists’ work, sharing the outcomes and experience with others.

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The celebration of the International Year of the Potato (IYP) will raise awareness of the importance of the potato - and of agriculture in general - in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.

Over the next two decades, the world’s population is expected to grow on average by more than 100 million people a year. More than 95 percent of that increase will occur in the developing countries, where pressure on land and water is already intense. A key challenge facing the international community is, therefore, to ensure food security for present and future generations, while protecting the natural resource base on which we all depend. The potato will be an important part of efforts to meet those challenges…

Jean-Louis Gonterre, a photographer, has worked with the International Potato Center’s Papa andina Intitiativa, based in Lima, Peru, the world’s cot for potato. His work with them has included several trips to the Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes to register with his camera the true essence of the people who’s life revolve around this ancient and rich tuber.
The material recolected can be used for different purposes as you will discover by exploring his web. Here you will find that potato is a great food supply but also a master piece of art from Mother Nature.

© Jean-Louis Gonterre

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Afro Peaks is a trans-afro-mountains scientific expedition, with the aim to climb and film African Mountains from north to south, in memory of the pioneering Naturalists and Explorers who greatly conribute to better understand Nature , Africa or Moutains wilderness.

Their trip is going to take them trough all African countries, from Morocco to South Africa, from Senegal to Eritrea through the 47 continental African states to symbolically link all peaks according to their travelling.

They are going to participate to study projects on biology, environment conservation and mountain development in about ten selected areas. They wish to meet and help various education and environment conservation actions (water, biodiversity, ecofriendly citizenship) and promote the values of sustainable development they stand for.

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The challenge of the polar schooner Tara is to drift on the Arctic pack ice for two years. On her board, scientists take turns to study the effects of the climate warming.

In September 2006, the scientific polar schooner Tara began her Arctic drift which will last for two years. Indeed, her rounded and flat hull enables her to resist to the extreme pressures exerted on her by the pack ice and to be carried through by it.

Led by Etienne Bourgois, the expedition takes place within the International Polar Year (IPA) 2007-2008 and is a major partner of the European scientific programme DAMOCLES. This extensive programme gathers more than 45 laboratories to develop an observation and long term prediction system of the Arctic Ice Sea so as to evaluate and foresee the risks and impacts of climate changes on our environment.

Bringing together science, technology, education and communication, Tara Arctic is a great human adventure of which the aim is to raise the world citizens awareness on the importance of ecological equilibriums.

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