Adopted on the fifteenth anniversary of resolution 1325, Security Council resolution 2242 has recognized for the first time the substantial link between climate change and the “Women, Peace and Security” (WPS) framework. Despite this landmark resolution, the intersections of environmental factors, conflict and violence against women remain largely absent from the Security Council's WPS agenda. Competition over natural resources is generally understood as a driver of conflict. The risk of insecurity and conflict are further increased by environmental degradation and climate change. It is therefore clear that the environment and natural resources must be integrated into the WPS agenda. This should necessarily include a discussion of indigenous rights to land and the gender-related dimensions of environmental factors. Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation, caused by resource extraction and increasingly compounded by climatic changes. This in turn exacerbates other vulnerabilities, including sexual and gender-based violence and other forms of marginalization. This article argues, by reference to the situation in West Papua, that unfettered resource extraction not only amplifies vulnerabilities and exacerbates preexisting inequalities stemming from colonial times, it also gives rise to gendered consequences flowing from the damage wreaked on the natural environment and thus poses a danger to international peace and security. As such, the Security Council's failure to recognize the continuous struggle of women in indigenous and rural communities against extractive economies and climate change impact as a security risk forms a serious lacuna within its WPS agenda. Originally published by Oxford University Press in Global Studies Quarterly, Volume 1, Issue 3, September 2021, ksab018, https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksab018
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This paper introduces and contextualises Climate Futures, an experiment in which AI was repurposed as a ‘co-author’ of climate stories and a co-designer of climate-related images that facilitate reflections on present and future(s) of living with climate change. It converses with histories of writing and computation, including surrealistic ‘algorithmic writing’, recombinatory poems and ‘electronic literature’. At the core lies a reflection about how machine learning’s associative, predictive and regenerative capacities can be employed in playful, critical and contemplative goals. Our goal is not automating writing (as in product-oriented applications of AI). Instead, as poet Charles Hartman argues, ‘the question isn’t exactly whether a poet or a computer writes the poem, but what kinds of collaboration might be interesting’ (1996, p. 5). STS scholars critique labs as future-making sites and machine learning modelling practices and, for example, describe them also as fictions. Building on these critiques and in line with ‘critical technical practice’ (Agre, 1997), we embed our critique of ‘making the future’ in how we employ machine learning to design a tool for looking ahead and telling stories on life with climate change. This has involved engaging with climate narratives and machine learning from the critical and practical perspectives of artistic research. We trained machine learning algorithms (i.e. GPT-2 and AttnGAN) using climate fiction novels (as a dataset of cultural imaginaries of the future). We prompted them to produce new climate fiction stories and images, which we edited to create a tarot-like deck and a story-book, thus also playfully engaging with machine learning’s predictive associations. The tarot deck is designed to facilitate conversations about climate change. How to imagine the future beyond scenarios of resilience and the dystopian? How to aid our transition into different ways of caring for the planet and each other?
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The SUSTainable Artistic INnovation (SUSTAIN) project is a collaborative project between The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Avans University of Applied Sciences. The research was conducted by Jacco van Uden (professor Change Management) and Kim Caarls of The Hague University of Applied Sciences; and Godelieve Spaas (professor Common Economics), Olga Mink and Marga Rotteveel of Avans University of Applied Sciences. We also worked closely with six Spacemakers: Art Partner, Circus Andersom, Future of Work, In4Art, V2_ and Waag. SUSTAIN explores the role of Spacemakers: parties that want to contribute to systemic change by creating space for art in unusual places, such as within the economy, science or technology. The aim: to use art to work towards a sustainable and just society - ecologically, economically and socially. Expectations of what art can do in spheres other than the art world itself are sometimes high. For example, when we claim that art can be the engine of innovation and reflection. But experience shows: art is no panacea. Not everyone sees or recognises the added value of art in transition issues. And when art does come to the table, we do not always manage to make the disruption work. Artists explore the unknown, question what seems logical and connect seemingly disparate elements. It is precisely these qualities that are key to achieving systemic transitions. However, it is not always easy to access the spaces where artists want to make an impact. With this practical research, SUSTAIN offers more insight into the exact role, method and added value of Spacemakers in the transition to be made. The research and results contribute to the further professionalisation of this emerging sector. Just how Spacemaking practices are shaped by different organisations was examined: - Why do Spacemakers do what they do? - What do they see as the promise of art outside the arts? - How do they specifically go about making space for art? - How do Spacemakers deal with the tensions that arise when art gets involved in non-art matters and vice versa? - How do Spacemakers deal with the complicated question of the added value or impact of art and of themselves as space makers? SUSTAIN has produced two key outcomes: 1) The Spacemaker Toolbox, a practical tool for Spacemakers to explore and professionalise their work internally. It involves four models with instructions for use. 2) The Spacemaker Stories, a series of cahiers in which we look at Spacemaker practice from a distance and help Spacemakers articulate more clearly what they do, why they do it, how they do it and what value they create. The five cahiers are: The Calling (38 p.), The Promise of Art (39 p.), The Tension (49 p.), The Help (44 p.) and The Gift (30 p.).
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The primary objective of the project is to identify policies for the transformation of the Norwegian tourism sector to become resilient to climate change and carbon risks; to maintain and develop its economic benefits; and to significantly reduce its emissions-intensity per unit of economic output. Collaborative partnersStiftinga Vestlandforsking, Stiftelsen Handelshoyskolen, Stat Sentralbyra, Norges Handelshoyskole, Stiftelsen Nordlandsforskning, Fjord Norge, Hurtigruten, Neroyfjorden Verdsarvpark, Uni Waterloo, Uni Queensland, Desinasjon Voss, Stift Geirangerfjorden Verdsarv, Hogskulen Pa Vestlandet.
This PD project aims to gather new knowledge through artistic and participatory design research within neighbourhoods for possible ways of addressing and understanding the avoidance and numbness caused by feelings of vulnerability, discomfort and pain associated with eco-anxiety and chronic fear of environmental doom. The project will include artistic production and suitable forms of fieldwork. The objectives of the PD are to find answers to the practice problem of society which call for art that sensitises, makes aware and helps initiate behavioural change around the consequences of climate change. Rather than visualize future sea levels directly, it will seek to engage with climate change in a metaphorical and poetic way. Neither a doom nor an overly techno-optimistic scenario seem useful to understand the complexity of flood risk management or the dangers of flooding. By challenging both perspectives with artistic means, this research hopes to counter eco-anxiety and create a sense of open thought and susceptibility to new ideas, feelings and chains of thought. Animation and humour, are possible ingredients. The objective is to find and create multiple Dutch water stories, not just one. To achieve this, it is necessary to develop new methods for selecting and repurposing existing impactful stories and strong images. Citizens and students will be included to do so via fieldwork. In addition, archival materials will be used. Archives serve as a repository for memory recollection and reuse, selecting material from the audiovisual archive of the Institute of Sound & Vision will be a crucial part of the creative work which will include two films and accompanying music.
Recent research by the renowned Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows that more than 2/3 of all CO2 is emitted during the building process and less than 1/3 during use to heat the building and the tap water. Lightweight, local and biobased materials such as biocomposites to replace concrete and fossil based cladding are in the framework of climate change, a necessity for future building. Using plant fiber in polymer composites is especially interesting for construction since natural fibers exhibit comparative good mechanical properties with small specific weight, which defines the potential for lightweight constructions. The use of renewable resources, will affect the ecosystem favorably and the production costs of construction materials could also decrease. However, one disadvantage of natural fibers in plastics is their hydrophilic properties. In construction the materials need to meet special requirements like the resistance against fluctuating weather conditions (Ticoalu et al., 2010). In contrast to synthetic fibers, the natural ones are more moisture- and UV-radiation-sensitive. That may lead to degradation of these materials and a decreasing in quality of products. (Lopez et al., 2006; Mokhothu und John, 2017) Tanatex and NPSP have approached CoE BBE/Avans to assist in a study where fibres impregnated with the (modified) Tanatex products will be used for reinforcement of thermoset biopolymers. The influence of the different Tanatex products on the moisture absorption of natural/cellulosic fibers and the adhesion on the fibers on main composite matrix will be measured. The effect of Tantex products can optimize the bonding reaction between the resin and the fibers in the (bio) composite and result to improved strength and physico-chemical properties of the biocomposite materials. (word count: 270)
Lectorate, part of NHL Stenden Hogeschool
