Earthwatch Lecture - Dolphins across the Med

WFUK is always looking for leactures and events that may be of interest to our Friends, to supplement our own Events Calendar. This week the team at Earthwatch present "Dolphins across the Med".

Earthwatch Lecture - Dolphins across the Med

Thursday 27 March 2008, 7.00pm - 8.30pm, at the Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR

Joan Gonzalvo Villegas & Ricardo Sagarminaga van Buiten

Two talks by leading scientists, who, with Earthwatch volunteers, are monitoring the status and health of dolphin populations in Greek and Spanish waters, and implementing plans to secure their future.

Doors open at 6.00pm (cash bar); lectures followed by a second cash bar, 8.30-9.30pm.

Entrance free to Earthwatch supporters; otherwise a small donation will be requested on the door.

For tickets and more information, please contact the Events Department on (01865) 318856; events@earthwatch.org.uk ;

www.earthwatch.org/europe/events08/dolphins.html

Please remember to mention WFUK when making enquiries/bookings.

Talk: Psyche in Transition

Our Friends in Devon have the chance to hear Jungian Analyst and Eco psychologist Mary-Jayne Rust talk on the subject of "Transition Culture" during February.

Presented by The Heart and Soul group of Transition Town Totnes this evening talk on 13th February 2008 at St. John's Church, Bridgetown, Totnes will explore how eco-psychology can help the Transition Movement to create a deep and lasting change.

Admission Fee is £4 or £3 for concessions.

For further information on Mary-Jayne visit : http://www.mjrust.net

Explorer Henry Cookson on Antarctic Wilderness

Earlier this month we held an intimate event at the Troubadour Club in London where the explorer Henry Cookson, a member of the first British/Canadian expedition to reach the rarely conquered Pole of Inaccessibility, talked about his experiences and showed us some amazing slides.

The pole of inaccessibility is the furthest point from the southern oceans in Antarctica and Henry and his colleagues (Rory Sweet, Rupert Lonsdon and guide Paul Landry) are the first team to reach it without aid - hauling and kite-skiing essential equipment across 1,700km of wilderness at altitudes of up to 3500m and coping with temperatures of up to -50 centigrade.
In fact, the only people there before them was a Russian mechanised military expedition in the fifties - hence the Lenin statue you'll see the amongst the pictures Henry kindly let us use to illustrate this mini-interview with him about Antarctic Wilderness:



If you want to know about future events like these, consider becoming a Friend of the Foundation. Also, do sign up for our RSS Feed or get it by e-mail. We also have an occasional e-mail newsletter not to mention a Facebook Group.

For more visuals from Henry and the team - Check out the teamn2idotcom videos on you tube including: Kite Skiing / Snow Kiting to the center of Antarctica and Extreme Ironing in Antarctica.

You can read BBC coverage here and here and also see their route on a map.

Do share this with friends - Set of links for that purpose immediately below.

The Outdoor Environment as a Place for Theraputic Change

We are pleased to present details of this workshop being run by our friends and partners at An Turus:

The Outdoor Environment as a Place for Theraputic Change
22nd—24th October 2007
Lumley Fee, Cumbria
(Residential)
£370.00

We are proud to work in collaboration with Dr. Robbie Nicol to present the second workshop in our certificate, The Therapeutic Application of the Wilderness and Adventure Experience.

Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is important for outdoor trainers, counsellors, therapists, teachers, social workers, youth workers, health workers or anyone in a related profession who find themselves pondering their role and place in the natural environment and how this influences their professional life. This workshop is the secondmodule in the certificate and is open to both participants of the certificate and others.

What will the workshop cover?
Some of the questions that we will address include; when we venture into the outdoor
realm, how much attention do we pay to our connection to the environment we find ourselves in? What importance do we place on whether we are journeying through nature or alongside it? How is it that we speak of going out into nature as a separate experience? Does it matter that we ‘use’ nature as a tool to promote human recovery and health?

To answer these questions and many others, Robbie will guide us to philosophical depths through his wise teaching and through meaningful experiential activities. He will encourage discussion and debate that ranges from the very real and present ecological issues that face the planet, through to practical environmental awareness and outdoor educational practice.

By attending this workshop participants will gain a greater insight into what it means to be human and to weave this awareness into their work. A beneficial consequence to this will be the ability to work with ‘natural mindfulness’ while facilitating change in others in the outdoors and to assist the client to engage with nature in a similar vein.

All of this will be placed within the context of the therapeutic application of the outdoor experience.

Robbie Nicol is Programme Director for Outdoor Education Postgraduate Studies at Moray House School of Education in Edinburgh and he has published widely on a number of subjects on the history and current practice of outdooreducation, environmental education, and sustainability as an educational issue.

Where will it take place?
The workshop will be held at the Lumley Fee centre near Kendal. All meals, refreshments and bunkroom accommodation will be provided from the evening of the 21st to the end of the afternoon on the 24th, and are included in the price. Detailed joining instructions will be sent on receipt of a booking.

Presented by Dr. Robbie Nicol

To Book Your Place or for further information
Please contact:

Nick Ray or Ruth Bradbrook at team@an-turus.co.uk
Or telephone 01463 243852 or 07818094311
Or visit http://www.an-turus.co.uk to download a booking form

Campfire Questions with Cameron McNeish

We wired Cameron McNeish, Wilderness speaker, editor of TGO Magazine and WFUK Trustee, to hear a bit more about what's going on in his end of the UK.

Here's the Q&A:

• You recently wrote on the TGO blog about 'The Wild Places', the new book by Robert Macfarlane – Could you tell us a little bit more about why our readers should check it out. Also, could you maybe give us an insight into what you discussed with Robert in your forthcoming podcast interview with him?

Many folk will be familiar with Robert Macfarlane's book 'Mountains of the Mind'. It was published to wide critical acclaim a few years ago.

His new book, The Wild Places, was published earlier this month. Rather than focus on the kind of person who climbs mountains Rob has placed the spotlight on the landscape itself. In that sense it's the kind of book that Americans tend to write much better than we do, people like Barry Lopez, Edward Hoagland, Ed Abbey and Annie Dillard, not to forget, of course, the earlier writers like Muir, Emerson and Thoreau. In the UK we have a good legacy in mountaineering literature - We also have a reasonable legacy in "nature" or "wildlife" writing - I can think of people like Gavin Maxwell and Frank Fraser Darling, although today's wildlife writers are but a pale copy of these people.

Very few people, with possibly the exception of WH Murray and Jim Perrin, and perhaps one or two others, have ever written evocatively about our relationship with wild places, and why such landscapes are important to us, spiritually and emotionally, not to forget any bio-vidersity role they have.

I discussed these issues with Rob and also a little about his background - his grandfather, who lives in the Scottish highlands, was a very enthusiastic mountaineer and is a superb botanist. Rob was brought up in these traditions. We also discussed the need for writers like Rob to remind readers that wild places are a dwindling commodity, and that it is incumbent on all of us to protect them.

• What are the main lessons you’ve taken away from both book and interview?

Robert very gently reminded me of my own role as a conservationist.

In particular he shared a thought that very much resonated with me. He told me he'd had some criticism from natural history scientists and academics who claimed that he focused too much on the emotional/spiritual side of the great outdoors, rather than work to a stricter scientific analysis.

That thought reminded me of a conversation I once had with the late WH Murray, whose first book, 'Mountaineering in Scotland', had been returned to him by a prospective publisher because it was “too spiritual.”

I’m very aware of such criticism, much of which comes from academia and science-based naturalists. It’s as though the emotional, spiritual or experiential side of the outdoors is almost worthless and yet such emotions, I would suggest, are inherent in all of us.

They are, as the wilderness poet Gary Snyder once said: "perenially within us, dormant as a hard-shelled seed, awaiting the fire or flood that awakens it again." Perhaps we can be the fire or flood that has that affect on people?

• Is it right that you’re thinking of doing more video – and if so, where will our readers be able to find it?

I've made a couple of DVDs - The Wasdale Round and The Howgills, for a company called Striding Edge, run by my old friend Eric Robson. I'm also making a series of Wild Walks for a BBC Scotland monthly programme called the Adventure Show. That series will eventually appear on a DVD.

I've also been pretty involved in making audio podcasts for my own website at cameronmcneish.co.uk and for my magazine's website at tgomagazine.co.uk so it seems logical to move on from those audio podcasts to video podcasts. I've just bought a pro video camera and have been working hard trying to master the video editing software so hopefully, within the next 2 or 3 weeks, we'll have videos running on both websites.

• Now you’re a wild places not to mention wilderness speaker in your own right – where would we be able to hear you this autumn?

Yes, the lecture season is just about to start and I'm off to the Isle of Arran for the Arran Walking Festival at the end of this month. That'll be followed with a talk in New Galloway, the Inverness Book Festival, two lectures for the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Dunfermline and Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. On top of that lot I'm giving the annual Snowdonia Society lecture in Bangor and I've been honoured to be asked to give the annual Wainwright Lecture on this the centenary of Wainwright's birth. All the dates and venues are on my website.

• Give us a couple of top autumn reads that’ll broaden our mind.

Well, you must read Robert Macfarlane's book, The Wild Places and I would urge anyone to look out the books of an American/Welsh writer called Colin Fletcher.

Colin died earlier this year but his book, The Man Who Walked Through Time, is the finest outdoor book I've ever read. It's about the first on-foot traverse of the Grand Canyon before it was flooded.

Read it and it will open your mind to the amazing geological timespan that formed one of the world's natural wonders, the Grand Canyon.

Thanks Cameron - and best of luck with that hectic schedule!

A couple of quick extra links not covered above:

• Wasdale clip (WMV format, 2.5MB)
• The Howgill Fells clip (WMV format, 7.9mb)
• BBC Scotland Outdoors

Campfire Questions with Graham Game

We grabbed Graham Game, friend of the foundation and a professional environmentalist, for a quickfire round of questions further to Wednesday night’s ‘Climate Change and Essex - Winner or Loser?’ debate:

• What are the most urgent issues facing Essex?

Essex is on the front line as far as the effects of climate change are concerned, and with our long and incredibly fragile coastline, it's sea level rise and then flooding that I'm probably most concerned about, but the face of agriculture is changing too.

We are facing a 2 - 6 degree celsius rise in temperatures, and an increase of up to 20% in winter rainfall. It's also predicted that water levels in the Thames Estuary could rise as much as 86 cm by the 2080's, while there could be a fall of up to 60% in soil moisture levels during summer.

Our rich biodiversity here in Essex is really taking a hammering as our seasons change their patterns due to climate change.

So what are we doing? Building thousands of new homes on flood plains in the Thames Estuary, turning thousands of acres of arable land over to growing non-food crops & looking to almost double our airport capacity.

• What can our local readers do to make a difference?

Here's where I take many people out of their comfort zones: I passionately believe that far too much emphasis is being placed on mitigation & nowhere near enough action is being taken to prepare & adapt for the inevitable effects of climate change here in Essex & the UK.

There simply isn't the time to play around with greenwash. With 1.32 billion Chinese, 1.12 billion Indians & 300 million Americans all hell-bent at achieving economic growth through polluting technologies, even if every one of us 60 million Brits reduced our carbon footprints it would be merely a drop in the ocean.

Set an example? To who? Yes, let's continue to push for sustainable lifestyles, but the real work to be done is adapt to survive. No more building new homes on flood plains. More coastal realignment schemes, more renewable power schemes, but most importantly we need some strong direction & leadership at the top. Finally, don't get sucked in by the Carbon Offset mindset - if you want to salve your conscience when you take your next cheap flight, give £20.00 to The Wilderness Foundation instead.

• Give us a couple of top autumn reads that’ll broaden our mind

Jay Griffiths' book 'Wild' will transport you up the Amazon for some amazing encounters with indigenous shamen, while my friend Jon Symes' superb little book 'Your Planet Needs You' is just inspirational - even for a seasoned old cynic like me!

Thanks Graham! - Graham's website can be found here: greenfuturesconsultancy.com/

Last but not least, here are a few further resources:

• RSA Ted Happold Memorial Lecture: Adapting to a changing coastline in East Anglia - Full lecture and Q&A session (21MB) / Lecture text (PDF)
• OU OpenLearn Module: Managing coastal environments (U216_1): "Coastal environments are by their nature ever-changing. This unit looks at the example of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, describing how the current state of the estuary came to be."
• Notes from the 2006 Chelmsford Challenge: 'Environment vs. Development'

Population Increase - The Greatest Challenge?

Presentation by John Simpson, Lord Adair Turner and Richard Ottaway MP.

Royal Geographical Society, 7.00, Wednesday 6th December 2006

With population set to rise by 40% to 9 billion over the next 45 years, this is arguably the single most important challenge to the future of our planet.

It will increasingly hinder poverty alleviation, accelerate climate change, cause widespread environmental degradation and foment international conflict.

John Simpson, celebrated broadcaster and journalist, is now Senior Editor of the BBC International News.

Lord Adair Turner, formerly Director-General of the CBI, is a Trustee of WWF and Chairman of the Pensions Commission.

Richard Ottaway MP is Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Hearings on the impact of population increase. A report on these Hearings is imminent and already gaining worldwide attention.

This will be a lively and highly significant event. At a time when government policy is still evolving, we encourage you to attend and make your views known.

Doors Open 6.30pm
Presentation starts 7.00pm
Reception 8.30pm

Venue: Royal Geographical Society
1, Kensington Gore. LONDON SW7 2AR
(8 minutes from Kensington High Street tube station, near the Royal Albert Hall)

It is essential to book for this event:
Tickets: FREE entry to the presentation with voluntary £5 contribution on the door
£20 for presentation and reception
Please send ticket requirements and a stamped addressed envelope, with cheque if relevant payable to “MPMT/PSN Account”, to:

Toby Aykroyd, Population & Sustainability Network, Stag House, 37 Pembridge Villas
London W11 3EP Tel: 0207 792 9776
Email: tobyaykroyd@btconnect.com
For more information, visit: http://www.populationandsustainability.org/