thoughtsandtalks

From 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 benefit 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

BRUSSELS – 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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Annemie Maes is invited by Ana Valdés (Maraya.org) to present the Politics of Change project in Damascus, Syria. Presentations (lectures and screenings) are scheduled at the Finnish Cultural Institute in Damascus.
The Finnish Institute in Damascus, maintained by the Foundation of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East, is an academic institute, which promotes, in particular, the research and teaching of the languages, cultures and religions of the Middle East. The institute focuses its operation on the Arab world and its fringe areas with high cultural and historical significance. It has permanent representatives in Syria and Egypt.

The institute’s main function is to organise academic courses, lectures and seminars for undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers. The aim is to promote widespread cooperation in the fields of education and research, and to improve intercultural dialogue.
The headquarters of the institute are located in a building in the Old Town of Damascus, a Unesco World Heritage site. The building has a seminar room, an exhibition hall, a reference library, and lodging facilities for visiting researchers and students.

okno’s harvest day is set up as an open_lab where visitors can explore the projects conducted by artists and researchers in the open_green rooftopgardens. We will exchange ideas about the different processes of social and cultural issues related to the urban, green environment. We will share everyday procedures as cooking algorithms with ingredients forthcoming from the seasonal harvest of the connected urban gardens. We intend to explore via public discussions and onsite/online presentations the character, properties and the expressions of different natural processes.

2pm: Your hosts of the day are Olivier Meunier and Annemie Maes.
Throughout the afternoon they will give an overview of the setup of the okno gardens (materials, decisions, technology) and introduce the artistic projects -the beehive observatory, the spiral-dye, the connected domes and webcams- located in the gardens.
2:30: we start for a walk through the city to collect berries and plants for Bartaku’s mini-lab on solar cells.
4pm: workshop featuring natural dye sensitized solar cells and Preb 501, an experimental light amplifier. This arts/science research project is fused by Bartaku’s PhoEf.
4pm: workshop on absinthe-making. Various Artists will go beyond Toulouse Lautrec and create natural alchemy with local plants: Aude Thensiau - 50%.
6pm: the honeybee observatory by Christina Stadlbauer.
Spring 2009 the 2 honeybee colonies arrived at the connected rooftop gardens. The ladies enjoyed a rich season of urban blooms and rewarded us with the first harvest! A taster of urban beekeeping techniques and a view on the harvesting fields will be offered as well as some spoons to evaluate the city honey of Brussels.

Across workshops and presentations samples of homemade bio products can be savoured: pickled russian cucumbers, sundried tomatoes, pinjur, city honey, absinthe, blueberry wine, kosovar pita, courgette-soup, … Bring your recipies to share them with us!

and some other micro transformations by Bartaku

recipies by Various Artists

cours de jardinnage écologique aux Ateliers des Tanneurs
David (début des haricots) vous enseigne une fois par mois ce qu’il y a à faire au jardin en fonction des saisons, les légumes à cultiver, comment s’y prendre, trucs et astuces. Transmission de savoir-faire inspiré des enseignements de Gilbert Cardon (Fraternités Ouvrières asbl, Mouscron) et des techniques de permaculture.
Ouverts à toutes et tous, gratuit.
Lieu: 58, rue des Tanneurs - 1000 Bxl, dans les Marolles.

Un Belge qui ne râle pas, n’est pas un Belge. C’est bon pour la santé!
Who is Gilbert Cardon and what is the Fraternité Ouvrière? Click here!
Check out pictures of Gilbert’s permaculture garden in Mouscron. Click here.
Check out Gilbert’s permaculture advise for your garden in october/november. Click here.

Een workshop in 9 voordrachtreeksen van de Imkersbond Brussel. Alle facetten van het beheer van een bijenvolk worden uitgelegd, vanaf de zwerm over de koningin, haar eileg, het broed , de werksters en de mannelijke bijen -de darren-, tot terug naar de zwerm.
adres : CC De Meent, Gemeenveld 34 Alsemberg 1652.

17/10/09 : bestuiving in open lucht (Dr. Michel Asperges)
21/11/09 : de evolutie van de bijenkast (Aloys van den Akker)
19/12/09 : bijenrassen (Roland Vaes)
16/01/10 : bijenwas, een architecturaal verhaal (Roland Vaes)
20/02/10 : evolutie van varroa - inzicht in bijenziekten (Leo Van Malderen)
20/03/10 : imkeren het hele jaar door (Frans Daems)
17/04/10 : moerteelt en zwermcel (Gaston van de Vloet)
15/05/10 : koninginnebrij (Gaston van de Vloet)
19/06/10 : zwermen - kunstzwerm (Aloys van den Akker)

Download here the interview with Aloys van den Akker, lifelong beekeeper and organizer of the workshops.