rooftopgarden : list of trees
February 7th, 2010acer campestre - veldesdoorn - field maple
amelanchier laevis - krenteboom
cornus mas - gele kornoelje
corylus avellana - hazelaar
crataegus pinnatifida - meidoorn
malus domestica melrose - appelboom
malus domestica winterbanana - appelboom
mespilus germanica - mispel
olea europea - olijfboom
prunus armeniaca - abrikoos
prunus avium - kers
quercus robur - zomereik
preparations for a rooftopgarden
February 7th, 2010Snowy days are over, the bees are flying out again and we started with the preparations for the built-up of the rooftopgarden. An edible garden. 300m2 on the 6th floor -on top of a parkinglot- in the center of the city. A natural environment built-up in an artificial way, a semi-controlled ecosystem, a shelter for birds and bees, an experimental zone for urban agriculture.
Trees, schrubs and vergetables will be put together in different layers so that they work harmoniously in relation to each other and to their environment. The rooftop offers a microclimate which is ideal for permaculture approaches. All trees, tall and small shrubs and other plants have edible berries. Land, animals and people, light and shade are taken into account. All materials used are selected on their cradle to cradle aspects and their sustainability. We also take mobility of the elements into account to calculate the carbon footprint. Waterharvesting and green energy are at the basis of the system, and the selection of plants is chosen to be beneficial as well for the people as for the bees and the birds.
girl power
January 30th, 2010tipping point : Open Space - group O
January 30th, 2010During 1 of tipping point’s Open Space Sessions, Maarten Roels and myself propose the topic: urban agriculture and urban walking. In following document you can read an overview of the points we discussed in our group : points of interest, obstacles, food as basis for change, walking the city and solutions. Conclusion : What will YOU do (the coming 6 months) to tacle climate change?
Download group O’s pdf and add your own solutions.
DAAD : Do And Act Differently

Above a selection of the tipping point Open Space topics.
Under: the award-winning BEE HOUSE by James Ennis.
The Bee House is a micro habitat encouraging daily interaction to promote and help the survival of diverse insects that are essential to our food production cycles. The flower puppets are ornamental seed-totems, providing ornamentation for a flower bed while awaiting germination.
The bee house, the seeds and their flowers are certified organic and have been studied and selected by a group of entomology researchers from the university of Bologna. Info: positiveflow.net.
navdanya : future of food
January 30th, 2010From october 1st till october 7th, I followed a workshop/residence at the Navdanya Farm of Vandana Shiva, in Dehradun, North India.
Participants made up a diverse mix of scientists, strategic thinkers, artists, farmers and students. We discussed Genetically Modified Organisms (a case study: Percy Schmeiser’s war against Monsanto), Biological Commons, Fair Trade and the Organic Revolution.
Before and after the lectures and discussions, we practised yoga in the early morning, worked on the farmland in the afternoons and did some great collective cooking in the evening (all with organically grown products from the farm).
Conclusion: mix tradition with diversity. Take good things from other cultures, but never step away from yours!
PRINCIPLES FOR FOOD SECURITY IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
This manifesto is an agro-ecological response to challenge posed by climate
change for ensuring the future of food security by mitigation, adaptation and
equity, based on the following principles:
1. Industrial Globalised Agriculture Contributes to and is Vulnerable to
Climate Change.
2. Ecological and Organic Farming Contributes to Mitigation and Adaptation
to Climate Change.
3. Transition to Local, Sustainable Food Systems Bene?t the Environment
and Public Health.
4. Biodiversity Reduces Vulnerability and Increases Resilience.
5. Genetically Modi?ed Seeds and Breeds: a False Solution and Dangerous
Diversion
6. Industrial Agrofuels: A False Solution and New Threat to Food Security
7. Water Conservation is Central to Sustainable Agriculture
8. Knowledge Transition for Climate Adaptation
9. Economic Transition Toward a Sustainable and Equitable Food Future
further links:
The Future of Food Manifesto (download)
Vandana Shiva on the Future of Food (download)
The case of Percy Schmeiser : interview in MO*magazine (nl)
navdanya, organic farm
traditional beekeeping in the low countries
January 23rd, 2010Flanders 1500’s. The hives were tall straw skeps with a flight entrance well above the base. The skeps were housed in a thatched shelter near the farm buildings. Pigs and poultry were kept near the hives. Women, children and men were involved in beekeeping activities and all wore protective clothing. Similar hives were used up to the 1900’s. (The world history of beekeeping, by Eva Crane).

A Flemish beekeeping scene, by Pieter Breughel the Elder, 1565.
It has been suggested that the men might be stealing the hives.

Meanwhile, wintertime 2010 on a Brussels rooftop garden.
Let’s hope the colonies survive!
tipping point - art/science/climate change conference
January 22nd, 2010BRUSSELS – 25th and 26th JANUARY 2010
This pan European event is a collaboration between TippingPoint, the British Council, the European Commission, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Kaaitheatre Theater in Brussels. A major European gathering of individuals from across the cultural sector, including artists from all art forms, together with a broad range of scientists involved in the world of climate science will take place, symbolically, at the heart of the European institutions, in the building of the EESC in the centre of Brussels. A number of key climate change policy makers will also take part.
TippingPoint aims to ‘harness the power of the imagination to help stabilise the climate’. We offer a range of activities centred on exposing creative artists to the enormous challenges of climate change; at the heart of this lies a series of meetings involving very high quality, intense dialogue between artists, scientists and others close to the heart of the issue. These encounters provide a chance to explore the broader cultural challenges precipitated by climate change.
Tipping Point or how to change the mentality of the world population? : conference report by Eva Peeters on the BAM-website ‘Kunst en Ecologie’







































































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