Global Warming and Ecological Art Strategies for Communities
NEWSSC, April 19-23, 2006
Aviva Rahmani for greenmuseum.org
CONTEXT:
When I first got the call for participation in the New England Workshop for Science and Social Change at Woods Hole, I was very excited about the possibilities of working theoretically with a small international group of scientist on dynamic problems in restoration issues. Early Spring of this year, by the time we were about to meet however, I was also very troubled by evidence in working groups, of how easily fears and polarizations can torpedo right action in response to crises like global warming, as with Katrina. I was looking forward to exploring a whole new range of tools and strategies to broach differences when that happens.
The renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Woods Hole, is the largest private research and educational facility of its kind in the world. It is grounded in a nineteenth century reverence for institutionalized knowledge http://www.stv.umb.edu/newsscimages/n06k43.JPG (Photo of library in the building we worked in, by Kurt Jax).At th time of the visit, the library was exhibiting the exquisite teaching wall charts of Rudolf Leuckart, marine parasitologist
Woods Hole is on Cape Cod http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img20.htm or http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img15.htm (Photo of beach by Marina Santos Matias), the mainland peninsular end that culminates off shore with Nantucket Island. That defines the southern end of the Gulf of Maine, along with Long Island Sound, just below it. As a resident of a fishing island half way up the coast in the same gulf, Vinalhaven, I was somewhat familiar with the facility. Some years ago, I attended another dynamic workshop there, as a member of the Gulf of Maine Information Exchange (GOMINFOEX),.
At the request of the workshop leader, Peter Taylor, I came to the event prepared to make a short presentation of my work and generally introduce others to the genre of ecological art. The investigations in my project, “The Cities and Oceans of If”, explore “trigger points” on the global body. These are places that could catalyze macrocosmic global landscape change. Scientifically, my exploration of this idea parallels disturbance theory research. That area of work investigates the degree of systemic resilience before an ecology collapses into an alternate stable state. As, the many systems scientists and others have recently observed imperiled by global warming, for example, arctic Polar Bear habitat.
In preparation for that presentation, at Peter’s suggestion, I suggested that participants use maps to track the hydrological and geomorphic relationships between their point of origin and Woods Hole, Upon arrival at the site, I wanted them to identify one factor in the building where we would be working, that could mitigate the effects of global warming on Woods Hole.
Purpose: daylight relationships to water and global warming and define a personal connection between actions/choices and global effects.
I arrived at the NEWSSC workshop with two physical handicaps I hadn’t anticipated. One was a recurrence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the other was a ballet fracture in my right foot that made walking difficult. I knew this would limit my ability to stay focused and participate. It was also an opportunity. Limitations are as educational. The opportunity was to think about strategies to include marginalized stakeholders, “outsiders”.
Outsiders,as Indigenous Peoples (IP)world wide were already on my mind. They are often disproportionately impacted by global warming. That was evidenced most movingly for me at the IP presentations on global warming at the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) International conference in Zaragoza, Spain in 2005. The impact then was heightened because Katrina had just left.thousands of mostly poor black coastal residents dead in New Orleans.
NEWSSC 2006 FOCUS:
Our stated common goal at NEWSSC was to discuss teaching methods and ideas about social change pertinent to ecological restoration. In line with that, our task before we arrived was to read ten pertinent scholarly papers. Each of these papers referenced entire fields of inquiry that were new to me, as those of Kurt Jax, Univ Leipzig, pub. Orion, on function and identity in ecological analysis and another exploring controversies surrounding the Rosgen stream restoration training programs1. Although all the work was geared towards creating academic curricula, most of the participants were activists as well as academics and had a strong social/green agenda. Although I am not academically affiliated, I do routinely give academic talks about my work as part of residencies. I felt this would help me communicate with my audiences.
It was a rainy April day when fourteen scientists and one ecological artist (moi), from eight countries convened. Upon arrival, the first question Peter Taylor asked us to articulate to ourselves in a five min., ”guided free writing” exercize, was what our goals were for the time ahead. I wrote that I wanted to find new people to work with. I wanted to expand my modeling templates. I wanted more ways to address stakeholder conflicts. I would find several.
Taylor is the Australian author of Unruly Complexity (Univ Chicago Press 2005), a book about how can "science deal with situations that lack definite boundaries, where what goes on "outside" continually restructures what is "inside," and where diverse processes come together to produce change?"
What fascinated me most, throughout the weekend, was how science is now applying iterative modeling and virtual systems analysis to social dynamics and cultural constructs. This addresses the human face of why restoration is often so hard.
I found the group was equally receptive to and interested in the field of ecological art, a new idea for most of them. Many are as engaged in creative work as they are in their scientific practice, as scientist and writer, Pat Munday, U Montana, who has done a beautiful book on his region, Montana's Last Best River: The Big Hole and Its People.
WORKSHOP STRUCTURE:
Our time was structured in tight frames from about 9:AM to 10:PM. Each day was organized into specific tasks, each of which built upon eachother and required preparation. That preparation in situ included additional scholarly readings and discussion. Passionate discourse was encouraged by Peter and his assistants but rigorously monitored for peer review standards, verification of statements and consistent attributions.
The workshop assistants and their interests were essential towards guiding our discussions. Steve Fifield of U Delaware, described his interest as an investigation of, “how... science curricula are shaped by broader culture(s), and how science education, in turn, mediates the ways we understand ourselves in relation to science.” Jan Coe, U Mass, Boston (& reference librarian, Rio Hondo College) has an interest in Bioethics, consensus conferences, problem-based learning. Activist and politician Marisa Santos Matias of Coimbra, Portugal has an interest in relations between health, environment and sustainability. Santos Matias had recently run for mayor of her small town and had first hand experience of the conventional socio-political dynamics that impede change. Joνo Arriscado Nunes, was also from Coimbra, Portugal, U Coimbra. He works on training courses for environmental protection staff, activists and members of the Civil Protection Agency. Their collective experience was a spectrum of resources and framing for our work.
DAY ONE:
We began with brief personal introductions. I was aware that to introduce myself was to introduce the entire genre of ecological art, which would be new to the rest of the group. Relying on the axiom that one picture is worth one thousand words, I passed around and described the concepts behind prints from my recent installation at Exit Art, New York City, as part of The Drop show on water. My work there had explored how global warming might affect that building and what dramatic steps had to be taken immediately to mitigate that threat, as replacing thoroughfares with green zones. The work I did demonstrated radical architectural design elements, transport modifications and integrated bio-regional landscaping to withstand flooding (insert: Exit Art 1A.jpg, Exit Art 1 Building mural detail.jpg shot by Alys Kenny) from global warming scale hurricanes. These were all based on applying available technologies. But I recounted a conversation with a viewer to the effect that the obstacle to enacting accessible but radical change is that “people are paralyzed by fear”. It was that fear that I wanted to find strategies to address from the NEWSSC meetings.
During the introductions, Leonora Milan Fe, student of Bioethics, U NAM, Mexico commented in detail on the problems she encountered in her Native country, educating people to basic environmental concerns. Her passionate concern stuck in my mind.
An afternoon activity described “Song Lines”,individual “sense of place” drawings, mapping autobiographical areas of interest, as “ where am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?” http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img10.htm (Photo by Marisa Santos Matias of map of concerns by author as part of the “Song Lines” activity explored in workshop) After wall mounting the pages, we connected the common concerns we saw with yarn. This initiated a playful attitude. It could be give insight into identity and difference. It was also a way to discover common interests http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img13.htmhttp://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img7.htm (Photo by Marina Santos Matias).
After lunch, we proceeded to a series of problem-based learning exercizes: Knowledge Action Question (KAQ). We used wikis and referenced the Rosgen debate. The controversy over the Rosgen approach is that many scientists question the apparent “one-size-fits-all” approach to what are often complex variables. It is an aggressively marketed managerial approach that seems to crowd out more considered University based research practice. Because it is becoming a ubiquitous option, it is also more accessible for funding. That creates fierce competition with more meticulous approaches. Research based practice becomes less accessible. That concern was a recurrent theme throughout the workshop.
Personally, I got a little stuck on learning how to use the wiki. Nonetheless, one of the concepts that emerged and stuck in my mind along with Leonora Milan Fe’s comments, was that we cannot act or even propose action (in the scientific world), without accepting the base assumptions. The inquiry process doesn’t permit commitment until reifications are examined and trust in the foundational premises is satisfied . This succinctly describes why the conclusions of scientists, over global warming in the past two decades, could be overtaken by politicians and corporations. Refutation and delay became excuses for procrastinating on precautioanry actions. Perhaps, I thought, that is also why and even how artists can bridge such differences. We are even less constrained than politicians
At the end of the day, there was a summarizing discussion. After dinner, we resumed with informal presentations and discussions of media material pertinent to our concerns. This would be our routine for the five days of the workshop.
DAY TWO:
We began with a presentation by geologist Yen-Chu Weng, U Wisconsin, exploring role-playing in adversarial relationships over the Rosgen stream restoration approach and building on KAQ techniques. In retrospect, I found this persistent building upon knowledge bases and experimentation with negotiating skills in response to a particular problem one of the most durable values of the entire workshop.
TRIGGER POINT ACTIVITY
Identifying Trigger Points and Applying Visualization to the problem example of Global Warming
SETTING:
After a casual lunch together, I opened the afternoon with my “activity”, designed for the workshop. It was based on the pre-workshop preparation I had suggested. I had some misgivings about diving into the activity phase without a chance to show more examples of ecological art thinking but the workshop format for activities was too loose to allow a lecture mode.
Before we began, I crudely drew the world in, in chalk on the blackboard, indicating Woods Hole at the center. The sketch included Mexico in preparation for extrapolating from the exercize to Leonora’s concern.
On either side of the drawing, I mounted paper with headings. On the right was the heading: ACTIONS. On the left was a rough diagram of the relationships between fuel, politics, denial and information.
ACTIONS:
1. Each workshop participant was invited in sequence to correct the geographies of their respective points of origin on the map, draw in the lines of approach they took to Woods Hole and indicate some of the hydrological features in between.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY:
What began to quickly emerge was a collaborative spiderweb of contrails over the oceans and coastlines- the very areas we know are so fragile, so vulnerable to global warming and pollution and yet the same areas we depend upon to protect the fisheries, coastlines and water supplies from global warming.
2. The next step was to go around the room and write in the specific suggestions for what could mitigate the effects of global warming on this important coastal institution. The many suggestions, as recyclable cups for beverages, were relatively mundane.
CONFIRMED DISCOVERY:
It was the contrail spiderweb that stayed with me and seemed to affect us all.
3. In the next phase, I selected two people from the group to go first, Brendon Larson and Kurt Jax. I asked them, based on the first art of the activity, to try to identify a trigger point in Mexico that might affect some of the change Leonora had addressed earlier. http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img56.htm (Author inviting participation Photo by Marisa Santos Matias).
Brendon, UC Davis and University of Waterloo, Canada had written one of the preliminary papers we read, on the use of militaristic language about “invasive” species (and the neutralization of language about war). I selected him because of his interest in metaphors. Kurt had also written papers we read and my interest was piqued by his, in schematic representations. The night before I had given them each a heads up that I would call on them. I had also diagramed my own schematic of the trigger point relationship: where the Colorado River intersects the border between the United States and Mexico.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRIGGER POINT BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES:
The Colorado River is interrupted in it’s free flow across the border into Mexico by diversion primarily for American agricultural use, but also to slake the thirst of American urban centers and suburban lawns. Land-disenfranchised Mexicans and other impoverished, mostly indigenous origins Central Americans then Illegally cross the border, desperate to survive. The work they find is in the farms, cities and suburbs “watered” by that same Colorado River. The diagram I made for that was a cross imposed over a circle, similar to what is called “Woden’s Cross2” but I did not share it until after the contributions of others.
When Brendan analyzed the situation, he commented extensively on the role of the Catholic church, which encouraged the population explosion South of the border. That insight lent poignancy to the cross overlaying a circle I had drawn earlier.
Finally, I asked the group to consider the relationship between the macro trigger point on the border and the micro trigger point at Woods Hole. Arguably, this is where we came back to the problem I started with, of the intransigence of human nature at it’s short-sighted worst. How do we go from protecting or restoring a small area to protecting immense regions with diverse populations?
ASSESSING THE ACTIVITY:
I found there was not enough time to fully develop each participants observations and insights and in fact, the aftermath discussion was delayed until our last day together. In retrospect, I can see it might have been at least a full semester course rather than a two hour exercize.
The workshop discussion at the time was an in depth critique of what worked, what didn’t and why. The most difficult aspect of this was stylistic for me. I found that my language and manner as an artist was hard to translate into the rigor of a scientific classroom, even when grounded in scientific research and observation. It was equally difficult to bring scientists into a complex, innovative art practice demonstration with relatively little preparation. In the critique, what emerged was simply that they needed more time and information to do more with less: less is more still works for art, with or without scientists. The problem I had was how to do that without over-simplification. In retrospect, I might have curbed my enthusiasm to investigate Leonoar’s problem. But as an artist, it was inevitable that my interest would go there.
AFTER THOUGHTS & ARTIFACTS:
Thoughts provoked by this experience built in my mind for months afterwards: the spiderweb of contrails, the value of a playful attitude, polarizations between nations and the options artists can take. In July, they culminated and led to a very serious decision for me. It would also lead to an ambitious new project.
DAYS THREE AND FOUR:
We continued to propose activities to engage the participants in our practice and focus in on curriculum development. All activities continued to be two-hour presentations, including engagement in process and discussions of hypothetical issues evoked. As we had begun to know each other better, sometimes these discussions got more heated but the structure and tools we had accepted and built upon allowed us to consistently revert to playful and respectful modes.
We explored the role playing techniques of the Forum Theatre under the direction of Marisa and Joao http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img36.htm. (Photo Marisa Santos Matias seen against backdrop of blackboard activity), in which stakeholders played out roles and had the options of interceding and changing the roles and therefore the trajectory of the outcome of scenarios.
In another activity, we paired up to ask eachother for help on our original goals. We identified individuals for input on particular problems in our practice. These were consecutive structured interviews. I worked with Steve and Peter. My questions were about expanding my modeling to include people who are the most resistant to change.
At lunchtime, we visited the beach for more informal discussions. My foot handicapped me from walking with everyone and everyone was slowed down by the chill wind but not from enjoying the deserted beach. http://www.stv.umb.edu/newsscimages/JoaoLeonora.jpg (Photo by Jan Coe). Nonetheless, this was one of my reminders that even the best structured plan is vulnerable to circumstances.
COURSE DEVELOPMENT:
Curriculae development took place in small groups with several sessions. Our task was to develop a science course session on topic.
This was an easier process for me than my own presentation had been. It allowed a more casual and fluid development of the structure of presentation. Again, we got to choose whom we wanted to work with. My group included Brendan and Joνo. The “Activity” we worked on was based on analyzing the social implications of (scientific) metaphors.
Brendan had references to the new technique of "barcoding" life on his laptop. Barcoding is now being applied to taxonomy. Barcoding life has some similar controversies surrounding it as the Rosgen stream restoration technique. Barcoding life depends upon identifying one gene in a sequence which can then be technologically "read". The process is being widely accepted because, as with Rosgen techniques, it is easier and cheaper to do. I was fascinated by the implications.
Barcoding taxonomy has been created by the same scientist who developed the commercial barcoding system we see in every supermarket. It is now being applied, controversially, to all life, supplanting the old Linnaeus system. There is more than a 3% margin of error on 10 million species. The process is suspiciously large corporate support. The promotion for the technique is a well-funded campaign, based on the slickness of the website. As with Rosgen, an entire industry promoting one training technique is developing.
We discussed several problems. Both Rosgen and barcoding techniques appear to ignore some serious scientific concerns about variabilities. In both cases there are long range concerns. As with the criticism of Rosgen’s approach, it is a one-size-fits-all money maker at worst, driven by an intellectually charismatic originator and good ad design. Both succeed, however, in simplifying difficult, time-consuming procedures. But as HL Mencken remarked, “for every complex problem there sia simple solution and it si the wrong one”.
The specific ideas we generated together to guide the discussion were organized into a series of classroom style sub-activities. That allowed us to investigate the implications of this approach to taxonomy. After we had developed our talking points and the conceptual framework, we made our presentation.
CURRICULAE PRESENTATION:
There were several presentations for curriculae. Our group opened with evocative slides on topic from the covers of two science journals. One was a zebra with a bar code on it’s hide. Both were examples of using art to provoke.
This exercize explored how to cope with massive data and breadth of problems and yet “get it right”. The problem was related to some earlier questions I had about how to make translations between ecological art practice and the rigors of science language. The question was how to make complex ideas accessible. The need was to avoid degrading the integrity of that very complexity: Disturbance to Collapse. Our whole group discussion pooled informational resources and discourse techniques to prevent that from happening. Our discussions were an example of pooling informational resources and discourse techniques.
We explored the reservations of scientists over “barcoding life”. It lumps various species together that are now separate. That could facilitate dismissing individual species going extinct. It seems a short step removed from the process of patenting strains, as basmati rice, out of the control of indigenous peoples. There are many examples we discussed of how these species are"stolen" from the cultures that have developed them. Some were fresh in my mind from SER in Zaragoza, Spain.
Reductivism, as essentialism can be a dangerous discursive practice. It invites untested reifications. As Nunes pointed out about barcoding, such an approach could allow a drug company, to patent synthesized elements of medicinal plants (which biota corporations have also patented along with the synthesized elements). He gave the example of quinone for malaria. The missing elements were the indigenous practices of gathering & rendering the medicine, embedded in cultural/religious practices. As a result, the drug was inconsistently effective. Those traditional practicesstabilized the biological elements.
This exercize was an opportunity to explore models to resolve discursive difficulties about these controversial issues. The model could then be used within a class format.
**
TANGENTIAL DISCUSSIONS & WRAP UP; SAFETY:
One of the most provocative points came up spontaneously and emotionally in one of the last evening meetings. Steve Fifield mentioned that a recurrent theme he had heard in all the workshops he had facilitated was the "safety" all felt in this workshop format. The sense of contrast to the "unsafe" world we were all coming from and expected to return to was remarkable. It was moving for me to consider the idea that most participants do not feel “safe” in their professional lives. It was a sad thought and one I also identified with. I commented later that the nature of building-in boundaried social exchanges into the research/action process was what had allowed that experience. Therefore that feeling of safety was replicable, presumably the purpose of the workshop.
The final day we were invited to respond to our experiences. I did a short analysis of what factors had made the workshop uniquely applicable to the kinds of politics that arise in most restoration work and specifically my own practice. I had in mind how to welcome the “outsider” who may bea critical stakeholder.
First I listed the human factors that cause problems in going from Theory to Practice and developing an ecological model for work: fear, rage, denial, exhaustion (potential for). Then I tried to list what might systematize safety, based on what we had done in the workshop:
1.Work in periodic input from participants
2.Structure for the unfamiliar or unexpected, ie from stakeholders
3. Encourage input, inc discomfort
4. Organize Experience & observation of internal dynamics as part of an ACTIVE process.
Finally I tried to synopsize my observation of the value and consequences of this approach. It eliminates implicit judgements between differences of: you/they blaming, competing or whom is the only one as sick as/dysfunctional as/ impacted by you/our secrets in stakeholder discussions. It maximizes transparency. It actively creates room for generosity, kindness and listening. This cumulatively maximizes efficiency with a higher probability of project success.
AFTERLIFE:
The implications of barcoding endured as an area of on-going interest in the afterlife of the conference between attendees. Dan Perry, Bar Ilan U, Israel, with an interest in animal rights and species equalities later sent us the following link from Molecular Ecology Notes <journals@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com>.
Among the many other issues that were discussed in some formal depth were animal rights, how to engage stakeholders with very different agendas and the elitism of scientists. Fabio di Sio, U Naples, comically took the role of the beaver in a discussion of invasive species, the role was reprised in the Forum theatre exercize and continued to recur as the polemical outsider in various exercizes. Pat later took the theme up again in a poem he circulated after the workshop.
The general value of this workshop to my practice was the chance to interface my practice in process with current scientific thinking on the issues that concern me. The specific value was the systemmatic exploration of boundaries between disciplines. The grounding was in complexity theory. The application is to the agenda I arrived with: how to bridge differences towards more successful restoration work as an ecological artist.
ACTION IN RESPONSE:
It was the spiderweb contrails that did it. Based on considering those contrails, I decided there was a serious disconnect between jetting all over the world to venues to practice ecological art, spewing jet fuel into the waters and accelerating global warming. I turned down three wonderful, fascinating, important opportunities for residencies this summer, including in India and Italy.
Instead, I have designed a project for a virtual residency in August. Participating agencies so far include, Anke Mellin, of Germany and the Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, South Korea 2006, the Khoj International Workshop in New Delhi, India and Verdearte in Pescia, Italy. The venue will be my website. I will stay home and not use any jet fuel at all. Here, I can work carefully and endeavor to apply what I learned at NEWSSC.. (Cities and Oceans of If <www.ghostnets.com>).
Funding for the 2006 NEWSSC workshop has been provided by the National Science Foundation (SES-0551843) and, to assist graduate student participation, by the International Society for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (as one of their off-year workshops). Support has also been received from the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Science and Mathematics and the Programs in Public Policy and Critical & Creative Thinking at Univ. Mass Boston.
Global Warming and Ecological Art Strategies for Communities
NEWSSC, April 19-23, 2006
Aviva Rahmani for greenmuseum.org
CONTEXT:
When I first got the call for participation in the New England Workshop for Science and Social Change at Woods Hole, I was very excited about the possibilities of working theoretically with a small international group of scientist on dynamic problems in restoration issues. Early Spring of this year, by the time we were about to meet however, I was also very troubled by evidence in working groups, of how easily fears and polarizations can torpedo right action in response to crises like global warming, as with Katrina. I was looking forward to exploring a whole new range of tools and strategies to broach differences when that happens.
The renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Woods Hole, is the largest private research and educational facility of its kind in the world. It is grounded in a nineteenth century reverence for institutionalized knowledge http://www.stv.umb.edu/newsscimages/n06k43.JPG (Photo of library in the building we worked in, by Kurt Jax).At th time of the visit, the library was exhibiting the exquisite teaching wall charts of Rudolf Leuckart, marine parasitologist
Woods Hole is on Cape Cod http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img20.htm or http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img15.htm (Photo of beach by Marina Santos Matias), the mainland peninsular end that culminates off shore with Nantucket Island. That defines the southern end of the Gulf of Maine, along with Long Island Sound, just below it. As a resident of a fishing island half way up the coast in the same gulf, Vinalhaven, I was somewhat familiar with the facility. Some years ago, I attended another dynamic workshop there, as a member of the Gulf of Maine Information Exchange (GOMINFOEX),.
At the request of the workshop leader, Peter Taylor, I came to the event prepared to make a short presentation of my work and generally introduce others to the genre of ecological art. The investigations in my project, “The Cities and Oceans of If”, explore “trigger points” on the global body. These are places that could catalyze macrocosmic global landscape change. Scientifically, my exploration of this idea parallels disturbance theory research. That area of work investigates the degree of systemic resilience before an ecology collapses into an alternate stable state. As, the many systems scientists and others have recently observed imperiled by global warming, for example, arctic Polar Bear habitat.
In preparation for that presentation, at Peter’s suggestion, I suggested that participants use maps to track the hydrological and geomorphic relationships between their point of origin and Woods Hole, Upon arrival at the site, I wanted them to identify one factor in the building where we would be working, that could mitigate the effects of global warming on Woods Hole.
Purpose: daylight relationships to water and global warming and define a personal connection between actions/choices and global effects.
I arrived at the NEWSSC workshop with two physical handicaps I hadn’t anticipated. One was a recurrence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the other was a ballet fracture in my right foot that made walking difficult. I knew this would limit my ability to stay focused and participate. It was also an opportunity. Limitations are as educational. The opportunity was to think about strategies to include marginalized stakeholders, “outsiders”.
Outsiders,as Indigenous Peoples (IP)world wide were already on my mind. They are often disproportionately impacted by global warming. That was evidenced most movingly for me at the IP presentations on global warming at the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) International conference in Zaragoza, Spain in 2005. The impact then was heightened because Katrina had just left.thousands of mostly poor black coastal residents dead in New Orleans.
NEWSSC 2006 FOCUS:
Our stated common goal at NEWSSC was to discuss teaching methods and ideas about social change pertinent to ecological restoration. In line with that, our task before we arrived was to read ten pertinent scholarly papers. Each of these papers referenced entire fields of inquiry that were new to me, as those of Kurt Jax, Univ Leipzig, pub. Orion, on function and identity in ecological analysis and another exploring controversies surrounding the Rosgen stream restoration training programs1. Although all the work was geared towards creating academic curricula, most of the participants were activists as well as academics and had a strong social/green agenda. Although I am not academically affiliated, I do routinely give academic talks about my work as part of residencies. I felt this would help me communicate with my audiences.
It was a rainy April day when fourteen scientists and one ecological artist (moi), from eight countries convened. Upon arrival, the first question Peter Taylor asked us to articulate to ourselves in a five min., ”guided free writing” exercize, was what our goals were for the time ahead. I wrote that I wanted to find new people to work with. I wanted to expand my modeling templates. I wanted more ways to address stakeholder conflicts. I would find several.
Taylor is the Australian author of Unruly Complexity (Univ Chicago Press 2005), a book about how can "science deal with situations that lack definite boundaries, where what goes on "outside" continually restructures what is "inside," and where diverse processes come together to produce change?"
What fascinated me most, throughout the weekend, was how science is now applying iterative modeling and virtual systems analysis to social dynamics and cultural constructs. This addresses the human face of why restoration is often so hard.
I found the group was equally receptive to and interested in the field of ecological art, a new idea for most of them. Many are as engaged in creative work as they are in their scientific practice, as scientist and writer, Pat Munday, U Montana, who has done a beautiful book on his region, Montana's Last Best River: The Big Hole and Its People.
WORKSHOP STRUCTURE:
Our time was structured in tight frames from about 9:AM to 10:PM. Each day was organized into specific tasks, each of which built upon eachother and required preparation. That preparation in situ included additional scholarly readings and discussion. Passionate discourse was encouraged by Peter and his assistants but rigorously monitored for peer review standards, verification of statements and consistent attributions.
The workshop assistants and their interests were essential towards guiding our discussions. Steve Fifield of U Delaware, described his interest as an investigation of, “how... science curricula are shaped by broader culture(s), and how science education, in turn, mediates the ways we understand ourselves in relation to science.” Jan Coe, U Mass, Boston (& reference librarian, Rio Hondo College) has an interest in Bioethics, consensus conferences, problem-based learning. Activist and politician Marisa Santos Matias of Coimbra, Portugal has an interest in relations between health, environment and sustainability. Santos Matias had recently run for mayor of her small town and had first hand experience of the conventional socio-political dynamics that impede change. Joνo Arriscado Nunes, was also from Coimbra, Portugal, U Coimbra. He works on training courses for environmental protection staff, activists and members of the Civil Protection Agency. Their collective experience was a spectrum of resources and framing for our work.
DAY ONE:
We began with brief personal introductions. I was aware that to introduce myself was to introduce the entire genre of ecological art, which would be new to the rest of the group. Relying on the axiom that one picture is worth one thousand words, I passed around and described the concepts behind prints from my recent installation at Exit Art, New York City, as part of The Drop show on water. My work there had explored how global warming might affect that building and what dramatic steps had to be taken immediately to mitigate that threat, as replacing thoroughfares with green zones. The work I did demonstrated radical architectural design elements, transport modifications and integrated bio-regional landscaping to withstand flooding (insert: Exit Art 1A.jpg, Exit Art 1 Building mural detail.jpg shot by Alys Kenny) from global warming scale hurricanes. These were all based on applying available technologies. But I recounted a conversation with a viewer to the effect that the obstacle to enacting accessible but radical change is that “people are paralyzed by fear”. It was that fear that I wanted to find strategies to address from the NEWSSC meetings.
During the introductions, Leonora Milan Fe, student of Bioethics, U NAM, Mexico commented in detail on the problems she encountered in her Native country, educating people to basic environmental concerns. Her passionate concern stuck in my mind.
An afternoon activity described “Song Lines”,individual “sense of place” drawings, mapping autobiographical areas of interest, as “ where am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going?” http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img10.htm (Photo by Marisa Santos Matias of map of concerns by author as part of the “Song Lines” activity explored in workshop) After wall mounting the pages, we connected the common concerns we saw with yarn. This initiated a playful attitude. It could be give insight into identity and difference. It was also a way to discover common interests http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img13.htmhttp://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img7.htm (Photo by Marina Santos Matias).
After lunch, we proceeded to a series of problem-based learning exercizes: Knowledge Action Question (KAQ). We used wikis and referenced the Rosgen debate. The controversy over the Rosgen approach is that many scientists question the apparent “one-size-fits-all” approach to what are often complex variables. It is an aggressively marketed managerial approach that seems to crowd out more considered University based research practice. Because it is becoming a ubiquitous option, it is also more accessible for funding. That creates fierce competition with more meticulous approaches. Research based practice becomes less accessible. That concern was a recurrent theme throughout the workshop.
Personally, I got a little stuck on learning how to use the wiki. Nonetheless, one of the concepts that emerged and stuck in my mind along with Leonora Milan Fe’s comments, was that we cannot act or even propose action (in the scientific world), without accepting the base assumptions. The inquiry process doesn’t permit commitment until reifications are examined and trust in the foundational premises is satisfied . This succinctly describes why the conclusions of scientists, over global warming in the past two decades, could be overtaken by politicians and corporations. Refutation and delay became excuses for procrastinating on precautioanry actions. Perhaps, I thought, that is also why and even how artists can bridge such differences. We are even less constrained than politicians
At the end of the day, there was a summarizing discussion. After dinner, we resumed with informal presentations and discussions of media material pertinent to our concerns. This would be our routine for the five days of the workshop.
DAY TWO:
We began with a presentation by geologist Yen-Chu Weng, U Wisconsin, exploring role-playing in adversarial relationships over the Rosgen stream restoration approach and building on KAQ techniques. In retrospect, I found this persistent building upon knowledge bases and experimentation with negotiating skills in response to a particular problem one of the most durable values of the entire workshop.
TRIGGER POINT ACTIVITY
Identifying Trigger Points and Applying Visualization to the problem example of Global Warming
SETTING:
After a casual lunch together, I opened the afternoon with my “activity”, designed for the workshop. It was based on the pre-workshop preparation I had suggested. I had some misgivings about diving into the activity phase without a chance to show more examples of ecological art thinking but the workshop format for activities was too loose to allow a lecture mode.
Before we began, I crudely drew the world in, in chalk on the blackboard, indicating Woods Hole at the center. The sketch included Mexico in preparation for extrapolating from the exercize to Leonora’s concern.
On either side of the drawing, I mounted paper with headings. On the right was the heading: ACTIONS. On the left was a rough diagram of the relationships between fuel, politics, denial and information.
ACTIONS:
1. Each workshop participant was invited in sequence to correct the geographies of their respective points of origin on the map, draw in the lines of approach they took to Woods Hole and indicate some of the hydrological features in between.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY:
What began to quickly emerge was a collaborative spiderweb of contrails over the oceans and coastlines- the very areas we know are so fragile, so vulnerable to global warming and pollution and yet the same areas we depend upon to protect the fisheries, coastlines and water supplies from global warming.
2. The next step was to go around the room and write in the specific suggestions for what could mitigate the effects of global warming on this important coastal institution. The many suggestions, as recyclable cups for beverages, were relatively mundane.
CONFIRMED DISCOVERY:
It was the contrail spiderweb that stayed with me and seemed to affect us all.
3. In the next phase, I selected two people from the group to go first, Brendon Larson and Kurt Jax. I asked them, based on the first art of the activity, to try to identify a trigger point in Mexico that might affect some of the change Leonora had addressed earlier. http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img56.htm (Author inviting participation Photo by Marisa Santos Matias).
Brendon, UC Davis and University of Waterloo, Canada had written one of the preliminary papers we read, on the use of militaristic language about “invasive” species (and the neutralization of language about war). I selected him because of his interest in metaphors. Kurt had also written papers we read and my interest was piqued by his, in schematic representations. The night before I had given them each a heads up that I would call on them. I had also diagramed my own schematic of the trigger point relationship: where the Colorado River intersects the border between the United States and Mexico.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TRIGGER POINT BETWEEN MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES:
The Colorado River is interrupted in it’s free flow across the border into Mexico by diversion primarily for American agricultural use, but also to slake the thirst of American urban centers and suburban lawns. Land-disenfranchised Mexicans and other impoverished, mostly indigenous origins Central Americans then Illegally cross the border, desperate to survive. The work they find is in the farms, cities and suburbs “watered” by that same Colorado River. The diagram I made for that was a cross imposed over a circle, similar to what is called “Woden’s Cross2” but I did not share it until after the contributions of others.
When Brendan analyzed the situation, he commented extensively on the role of the Catholic church, which encouraged the population explosion South of the border. That insight lent poignancy to the cross overlaying a circle I had drawn earlier.
Finally, I asked the group to consider the relationship between the macro trigger point on the border and the micro trigger point at Woods Hole. Arguably, this is where we came back to the problem I started with, of the intransigence of human nature at it’s short-sighted worst. How do we go from protecting or restoring a small area to protecting immense regions with diverse populations?
ASSESSING THE ACTIVITY:
I found there was not enough time to fully develop each participants observations and insights and in fact, the aftermath discussion was delayed until our last day together. In retrospect, I can see it might have been at least a full semester course rather than a two hour exercize.
The workshop discussion at the time was an in depth critique of what worked, what didn’t and why. The most difficult aspect of this was stylistic for me. I found that my language and manner as an artist was hard to translate into the rigor of a scientific classroom, even when grounded in scientific research and observation. It was equally difficult to bring scientists into a complex, innovative art practice demonstration with relatively little preparation. In the critique, what emerged was simply that they needed more time and information to do more with less: less is more still works for art, with or without scientists. The problem I had was how to do that without over-simplification. In retrospect, I might have curbed my enthusiasm to investigate Leonoar’s problem. But as an artist, it was inevitable that my interest would go there.
AFTER THOUGHTS & ARTIFACTS:
Thoughts provoked by this experience built in my mind for months afterwards: the spiderweb of contrails, the value of a playful attitude, polarizations between nations and the options artists can take. In July, they culminated and led to a very serious decision for me. It would also lead to an ambitious new project.
DAYS THREE AND FOUR:
We continued to propose activities to engage the participants in our practice and focus in on curriculum development. All activities continued to be two-hour presentations, including engagement in process and discussions of hypothetical issues evoked. As we had begun to know each other better, sometimes these discussions got more heated but the structure and tools we had accepted and built upon allowed us to consistently revert to playful and respectful modes.
We explored the role playing techniques of the Forum Theatre under the direction of Marisa and Joao http://www.ces.uc.pt/ces/NEWSSC/img36.htm. (Photo Marisa Santos Matias seen against backdrop of blackboard activity), in which stakeholders played out roles and had the options of interceding and changing the roles and therefore the trajectory of the outcome of scenarios.
In another activity, we paired up to ask eachother for help on our original goals. We identified individuals for input on particular problems in our practice. These were consecutive structured interviews. I worked with Steve and Peter. My questions were about expanding my modeling to include people who are the most resistant to change.
At lunchtime, we visited the beach for more informal discussions. My foot handicapped me from walking with everyone and everyone was slowed down by the chill wind but not from enjoying the deserted beach. http://www.stv.umb.edu/newsscimages/JoaoLeonora.jpg (Photo by Jan Coe). Nonetheless, this was one of my reminders that even the best structured plan is vulnerable to circumstances.
COURSE DEVELOPMENT:
Curriculae development took place in small groups with several sessions. Our task was to develop a science course session on topic.
This was an easier process for me than my own presentation had been. It allowed a more casual and fluid development of the structure of presentation. Again, we got to choose whom we wanted to work with. My group included Brendan and Joνo. The “Activity” we worked on was based on analyzing the social implications of (scientific) metaphors.
Brendan had references to the new technique of "barcoding" life on his laptop. Barcoding is now being applied to taxonomy. Barcoding life has some similar controversies surrounding it as the Rosgen stream restoration technique. Barcoding life depends upon identifying one gene in a sequence which can then be technologically "read". The process is being widely accepted because, as with Rosgen techniques, it is easier and cheaper to do. I was fascinated by the implications.
Barcoding taxonomy has been created by the same scientist who developed the commercial barcoding system we see in every supermarket. It is now being applied, controversially, to all life, supplanting the old Linnaeus system. There is more than a 3% margin of error on 10 million species. The process is suspiciously large corporate support. The promotion for the technique is a well-funded campaign, based on the slickness of the website. As with Rosgen, an entire industry promoting one training technique is developing.
We discussed several problems. Both Rosgen and barcoding techniques appear to ignore some serious scientific concerns about variabilities. In both cases there are long range concerns. As with the criticism of Rosgen’s approach, it is a one-size-fits-all money maker at worst, driven by an intellectually charismatic originator and good ad design. Both succeed, however, in simplifying difficult, time-consuming procedures. But as HL Mencken remarked, “for every complex problem there sia simple solution and it si the wrong one”.
The specific ideas we generated together to guide the discussion were organized into a series of classroom style sub-activities. That allowed us to investigate the implications of this approach to taxonomy. After we had developed our talking points and the conceptual framework, we made our presentation.
CURRICULAE PRESENTATION:
There were several presentations for curriculae. Our group opened with evocative slides on topic from the covers of two science journals. One was a zebra with a bar code on it’s hide. Both were examples of using art to provoke.
This exercize explored how to cope with massive data and breadth of problems and yet “get it right”. The problem was related to some earlier questions I had about how to make translations between ecological art practice and the rigors of science language. The question was how to make complex ideas accessible. The need was to avoid degrading the integrity of that very complexity: Disturbance to Collapse. Our whole group discussion pooled informational resources and discourse techniques to prevent that from happening. Our discussions were an example of pooling informational resources and discourse techniques.
We explored the reservations of scientists over “barcoding life”. It lumps various species together that are now separate. That could facilitate dismissing individual species going extinct. It seems a short step removed from the process of patenting strains, as basmati rice, out of the control of indigenous peoples. There are many examples we discussed of how these species are"stolen" from the cultures that have developed them. Some were fresh in my mind from SER in Zaragoza, Spain.
Reductivism, as essentialism can be a dangerous discursive practice. It invites untested reifications. As Nunes pointed out about barcoding, such an approach could allow a drug company, to patent synthesized elements of medicinal plants (which biota corporations have also patented along with the synthesized elements). He gave the example of quinone for malaria. The missing elements were the indigenous practices of gathering & rendering the medicine, embedded in cultural/religious practices. As a result, the drug was inconsistently effective. Those traditional practicesstabilized the biological elements.
This exercize was an opportunity to explore models to resolve discursive difficulties about these controversial issues. The model could then be used within a class format.
**
TANGENTIAL DISCUSSIONS & WRAP UP; SAFETY:
One of the most provocative points came up spontaneously and emotionally in one of the last evening meetings. Steve Fifield mentioned that a recurrent theme he had heard in all the workshops he had facilitated was the "safety" all felt in this workshop format. The sense of contrast to the "unsafe" world we were all coming from and expected to return to was remarkable. It was moving for me to consider the idea that most participants do not feel “safe” in their professional lives. It was a sad thought and one I also identified with. I commented later that the nature of building-in boundaried social exchanges into the research/action process was what had allowed that experience. Therefore that feeling of safety was replicable, presumably the purpose of the workshop.
The final day we were invited to respond to our experiences. I did a short analysis of what factors had made the workshop uniquely applicable to the kinds of politics that arise in most restoration work and specifically my own practice. I had in mind how to welcome the “outsider” who may bea critical stakeholder.
First I listed the human factors that cause problems in going from Theory to Practice and developing an ecological model for work: fear, rage, denial, exhaustion (potential for). Then I tried to list what might systematize safety, based on what we had done in the workshop:
1.Work in periodic input from participants
2.Structure for the unfamiliar or unexpected, ie from stakeholders
3. Encourage input, inc discomfort
4. Organize Experience & observation of internal dynamics as part of an ACTIVE process.
Finally I tried to synopsize my observation of the value and consequences of this approach. It eliminates implicit judgements between differences of: you/they blaming, competing or whom is the only one as sick as/dysfunctional as/ impacted by you/our secrets in stakeholder discussions. It maximizes transparency. It actively creates room for generosity, kindness and listening. This cumulatively maximizes efficiency with a higher probability of project success.
AFTERLIFE:
The implications of barcoding endured as an area of on-going interest in the afterlife of the conference between attendees. Dan Perry, Bar Ilan U, Israel, with an interest in animal rights and species equalities later sent us the following link from Molecular Ecology Notes <journals@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com>.
Among the many other issues that were discussed in some formal depth were animal rights, how to engage stakeholders with very different agendas and the elitism of scientists. Fabio di Sio, U Naples, comically took the role of the beaver in a discussion of invasive species, the role was reprised in the Forum theatre exercize and continued to recur as the polemical outsider in various exercizes. Pat later took the theme up again in a poem he circulated after the workshop.
The general value of this workshop to my practice was the chance to interface my practice in process with current scientific thinking on the issues that concern me. The specific value was the systemmatic exploration of boundaries between disciplines. The grounding was in complexity theory. The application is to the agenda I arrived with: how to bridge differences towards more successful restoration work as an ecological artist.
ACTION IN RESPONSE:
It was the spiderweb contrails that did it. Based on considering those contrails, I decided there was a serious disconnect between jetting all over the world to venues to practice ecological art, spewing jet fuel into the waters and accelerating global warming. I turned down three wonderful, fascinating, important opportunities for residencies this summer, including in India and Italy.
Instead, I have designed a project for a virtual residency in August. Participating agencies so far include, Anke Mellin, of Germany and the Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, South Korea 2006, the Khoj International Workshop in New Delhi, India and Verdearte in Pescia, Italy. The venue will be my website. I will stay home and not use any jet fuel at all. Here, I can work carefully and endeavor to apply what I learned at NEWSSC.. (Cities and Oceans of If <www.ghostnets.com>).
Further contact info for Peter Taylor and for key links regarding the programs in Critical & Creative Thinking and Science, Technology & Values, visit http://www.faculty.umb.edu/pjt/authoridentification.html.
Funding for the 2006 NEWSSC workshop has been provided by the National Science Foundation (SES-0551843) and, to assist graduate student participation, by the International Society for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology (as one of their off-year workshops). Support has also been received from the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Science and Mathematics and the Programs in Public Policy and Critical & Creative Thinking at Univ. Mass Boston.
4495 wds.