Stitchwort in Ludwell Valley Park

The Depth and Breadth of Kith and Kin

Clare Bryden. The Depth and Breadth of Kith and Kin, The Porch Magazine, 3 September 2024. 
The English writer Clare Bryden has written an extraordinary reflection for The Porch on kith and kin. That’s a term that used to be familiar to me, but when I read Clare’s essay I realized that I had missed the depth of possibility contained in those words.

Japanese Dogwood

Japanese Dogwood

When I moved to Exeter, one of the first things I did was to plant a tree. This year it’s gone ‘berserk’ and many of my neighbours have remarked on it… Which has led me to take more notice of it too.

Hanging umbrellas

Working title: “The application of weather forecasting techniques to health forecasting”

In a past working life I conducted a thought experiment, looking at the different aspects of numerical weather prediction and weather forecasting at the Met Office, and asking whether these techniques might have an analogue in health forecasting. At the time, I thought there might be a paper in it. It never came to be written, so this is how I am keeping the idea alive.

3D printed nodding donkey

Nodding donkeys

The nodding donkey is a grotesque distortion of circular natural seasonal fecundity into linear exploitative extraction. The donkeys are nodding to capitalism’s exponential growth message, always looking down even when their head is high, never looking up to reality or the future.

Xray of lungs. Photo credit: Adam Ciesielski on FreeImages.

Migration can kill

Since my wander around St Loyes with Rosie King, I’ve been continuing to think about migration patterns. The daily migration of workers on Sowton Industrial Estate became particular obvious to me during “The Birds of Sowton Industrial Estate” as it emptied of cars at the end of the working day. How do we make this migration pattern less harmful? How can we persuade people out of their cars and onto their bikes/feet?

Star field. Photo credit: Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash.

Wiggle Room in the Universe

Clare Bryden. Wiggle room in the universe. The Porch Magazine, October 2016.
“Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!” – Paul Goodman. Clare Bryden embraces Rebecca Solnit’s vision of Hope in the Dark.

"Artist Toys", Berlin 2016. Image credit: Rekha Sameer and contributing artists.

“Little colouring book: Winter Blues” in the “Artist Toys” exhibition

The idea for the “Little colouring books” originated partly in the games I made for my “Particulart: Up in the Air” show. It seemed a natural progession to create more playful engagement with climate change. Although the maps are of the UK, they can be applied elsewhere, and I am very happy that they have made their way to other lands.

Ghost Bees at Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape

Knit your own bee

You are welcome to download my instructions for making “Ghost Bees”, which includes a knitting pattern for the body, a size guide for cutting out the wings from milk cartons, and instructions for assembly.

Ploughed field in Ludwell Valley Park

Talks, sermons, lectures and media – Climate and environment

Drawing on my work at the Met Office, on the Shrinking the Footprint campaign in the Diocese of Exeter, as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, as a member of Transition Exeter, and while living in the eco-monastery at Mucknell Abbey.

Didcot Power Station - where else with those cooling towers? Photo credit: Forester2009 CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

“Energy infrastructures inhabit our interior landscapes” for Power Culture blog

I am almost certain that Didcot Power Station’s looming bulk sparked my interest in energy and shaped my environmental interests and career. But I am not the only person which it has sensitised. Many regard it as a blot on the landscape, many others have seen its sculptural appeal. A guest blog for Regen SW.

Was the Feast of Candlemas linked to a volcanic eruption?

Candlemas-ology

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple, otherwise known as Candlemas. Was establishment of the Feast linked to a volcanic eruption?

BP has been found "grossly negligent" in the lead-up to Deepwater Horizon. Credit: skeeze on Pixabay

Petroleum

BP has been found “grossly negligent” in the lead-up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I wrote a series of haikus in response to the original event, and other oil-related events past and imagined,

Forget-me-nots on the verge of Ludwell Valley Park... now wantonly strimmed!

Wildflower whispers!

Now is the time when we most need our pollinators, and our pollinators need wildflowers to thrive. So I have been feeling sad over the last few days about the acres of wildflowers in the verges in Exeter that are being strimmed, and took it upon myself to protest a little…

Blackbird singing. Photo credit: Alexander Wallnöfer via Free Images.

Must. Not. Get. Sarcastic. Ach failed again.

Oh dear, I was writing about Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, then I was writing about modern criticism of the book, then I was writing about environmental regulation vs economic freedom, then I was quoting George Osborne, and it all went downhill from there. But I enjoyed the rant 🙂

Blackbird singing. Photo credit: Alexander Wallnöfer via Free Images.

Silent Spring

Today is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In its honour, I am spending a couple of hours walking around my neighbourhood listening for bird song. In the meantime, here are three short posts I wrote a year and a half ago, reflecting on the book.

Blackberries. Photo credit: Benjamin Stangland via Free Images.

Summer fruits

I was away from Exeter for a couple of weeks, and when I returned (though I returned) I remained absent. It was several days before I remembered it was ‘high summer’ and there was free fruit to be had in Ludwell Valley Park and along the suburban margins.

Local explorations triggered by a corn cockle

From wood to water

Yesterday, cycling down a section of Woodwater Lane, I noticed a corn cockle in the bank. It struck me that I have cycled down the lane many a time, walked down it occasionally, picked blackberries at that time of year, but I have never really paid attention to it.

A common house martin in the nest. Photo credit: HTO under GFDL licence via Wikimedia Commons.

The migrants’ return

This week I am happy because “my” house martins have returned. It happened on Tuesday. As I was sitting at my desk, suddenly there was a rush of gurgling and chuckling, and I looked out of my window to see madcap aerobatics.

On speed

On 29 September, Phil Hammond, the then Transport Secretary, proposed increasing the speed limit on motorways to 80mph. We may as well, mayn’t we? After all, Department for Transport figures show that as many as 49% of drivers currently flout the current 70mph limit.

I have the same dream. Photo credit: Jerónimo Bernot on Unsplash.

Values going viral

People don’t make decisions based on rational assessment of facts; they make decisions according to how they fit with their values and identity. Psychologists classify values as either extrinsic, which concern status and success, or intrinsic, which concern relationships and benevolence. How can we make intrinsic values go viral?

A pile of fresh vegetables. Photo by Sven Scheuermeier on Unsplash.

Food #BAD11

Thoughts around the L of the LOAF principles – Local, Animal friendly, Organic, Fairtrade – and how you apply these principles when confronted by a bewildering array of choices.

During 2010-11, I lived alongside a Benedictine community as they moved into the eco-monastery at Mucknell Abbey. I created a series of articles and factsheets about Sustainability for their website.

Sustainability at Mucknell Abbey

During 2010-11, I lived alongside Mucknell Abbey, a mixed Benedictine community in the Church of England. Early in the period, the community moved in to their new eco-monastery. I supported them in establishing a pattern of sustainable living, which included creating a series of articles and factsheets about Sustainability on their website.

"Climate Change, a new prophetic ministry for Anglican Religious?" Written while living in the Mucknell Abbey eco-monastery.

Climate Change, a new prophetic ministry for Anglican Religious?

Clare Bryden. Climate Change, a new prophetic ministry for Anglican Religious? Mucknell Abbey, March 2010.
“The world’s faith communities are among the oldest and most enduring of institutions. You can, and do, inspire people to change. As we take the final steps on our journey to Copenhagen, that inspiration is critical.” — UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.