thoughtsandtalks

Some visions and inspirations behind the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation Farm. Ideas that contribute to the strenghtening and the growing of the Organic Movement.

Navdanya creates alternatives to the corporate globalization, and this at every level of the foodchain. Nature centered and people centered alternatives based on the organic way can provide health and food security for as well the poor as the rich (malnutrition and diabetes).
Navdanya positions itself as a public health movement, a sustainable living movement and a retail democracy movement.

Everything is connected. The seeds they save and grow in their own farms, the soil that they junvenate through biodiverse ecological farming methods; the organic and artisanal processing through which they conserve and enhance the taste and wholesomeness of food, and the direct marketing model of retail though which they bring organic products from the field to the table.
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The ‘Alternative Economy Cultures’ (alt.econ.cult) programme on April 3rd & 5th brings together leading international and Finnish thinkers, cultural practitioners and activists, to present alternative economic visions.
The seminar aims to tackle not just the financial, but the social, cultural, institutional, human, material, emotional and intellectual forms of capital. Not just about individual gain, boosting, balancing or bail-outs, but common good, peer-to-peer, shared wealth and appropriate reward for effort involved.
Cultural production and social-networking, especially the digital online versions of the recent decade, have promoted new ideas of wealth, opportunity, scarcity, and exchange. Importantly, it also reminds us of old ones. Surrounding those ideas are developing practices, cultures and entrpreneurship.

all info: seminar alternative economy cultures

Pixelache 09 features a seminar (in Finnish) and a series of presentations and discussions (in English) related to theme Art, Science & Ecology.
This theme aims to bring together local and international environmental scientists and artists. The programme will feature presentations about recent art/science collaborations and discussions about working methods and shared interests.
We will also explore what could be done with the real-time energy consumption data recently released by Helsingin Energia (see below) together with the participants of Digital Craftsmanship and Audiovisual Hacking themes.

info: seminar Art, Science & Ecology

report by regine debatty - we make money not art : how to save the world in 10 days!

Setting up an exhibition about today’s ecological and economical crisis is a delicate exercise: it seems that everybody has done one such exhibition before you and invited the same artists as you. This year’s edition of The Game Is Up! , a festival organized by one of my favourite art centers, the Vooruit in Ghent, Belgium, was brazenly titled How To Save the World in 10 Days.

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A free newspaper gives background information on the Politics of Change-project (PoC).
An artistic research project driven by grassroots activism, eco-technology and networks of women to build integrated and sustainable relationships between people, their environment and technology.
How did we start, why and where? What is the relation between partners in this north/south/east/west project?
The magazine is printed on recycled paper with vegetable inks, and all collaborators are listed on the backside.

If you don’t manage to come by at one of the public presentations, you can download the magazine in pdf version - here.

With the urban garden project we want to blend the natural and the digital world in one and the same eco-system. Can natural evolution be generated, controlled, enhanced or imagined in artworks? Is our environment programmable? How does the fusion of natural and artificial matter produce new organisms, new environments, new natures? How does technology animate nature and space, and how do users and programs animate matter?

workshop — part1 : the natural setting/ designing the urban garden
friday, march 6 - 10 am @ okno
This is a Fo.am/OKNO collaboration!

Part I: the natural setting (the urban garden, permaculture)
Can we talk about ‘permaculture’, as an intrinsic part of this media-ecological system? What is Permaculture? Permaculture is about designing human environments that have the stability, diversity and resilience of natural ecosystems. Permaculture integrates renewable energy systems, energy efficiency, food/gardening systems, natural building, rainwater harvesting, urban planning along with the economic, political and social policies that make sustainable living possible and practical.
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