thoughtsandtalks

Mal au Pixel festival is looking at connecting technology, urban electronics and social transformation issues, and to investigate our contemporary beliefs. The festival brings together young digital artists and unconventionnal electronics: unexpected technologies, prototypes and open ended events.
For its fifth edition, Mal au Pixel further explores environmental issues and looks at the signals coming from the South, through initiatives from the worldwide DIY community.
ALTLABS MEETING au 104 • June 27 • 14h-19h
104 rue d’Aubervilliers - 5 rue Curial, Paris 19
with : Okno | Trias Culture | Ker Thiossane | TMPLab | HONF | CRAS | APO33 | Refarm the City | DakarLug | …
http://www.le104.fr

http://www.happynewfestival.be/Klinkende_Stad.html

MAHILA is a multi media project that engages with women empowerment in small communities, here especially focused on Indian countrywomen affected by climate change. The project is presented in a twofold installation. One room unveils a multiple speaker ante-chamber that guides to the second room where a film is shown. The first room gives a taste of the material and atmosphere that the artists captured during their research in India. By the use of polyphonic principles and theatrical setups Billy Bultheel creates a simple yet elegant sound installation approaching the contemplative Indian landscape.
The second room shows a film made by Annemie Maes, which is a reflective documentary on women empowerment, going from west to east and vice versa.
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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

Summary of an interview I conducted with Vandana Shiva during the workshop and seminar ‘The Future of Food’ on the Navdanya-farm in Dehradun, India - early october 2008.

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You can view this info also on PADMA (public access digital media archive).
click here for the excerpt :Vandana Shiva on Diverse Women for Diversity
Press ‘P’ to start the video excerpt.
click here for the transcript of this section.

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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