‘Environmental Resilience’ – Taking the Conversation Forward

Threads

Birds, bumblebees, blossom, 
Distract me now
or confront the wind
and tell it of home
Fair – in case of this thread
and glimmer peace in my sacred bed.

Neil Kitching is a geographer and energy specialist who has witnessed climate change’s creeping effects and whose book Carbon Choices addresses common-sense solutions to our climate and nature crises. Based in Scotland, Neil responded to our theme of ‘resilience’ by suggesting that “Many of us might think that the impacts of climate change will fall primarily on developing countries, but life is more complicated than that.”

In Scotland the main direct risks are rising sea-levels, inland flooding, wild fires and more pests and diseases.This will disrupt transport infrastructure and our lives. Our native forests will be subject to devastating fires and pests. Similarly our precious nature reserves will be in the wrong place in the wrong climate.

Scientists tell us that the climate will continue to warm, and change, even if we meet net zero targets — not a comfortable message. We need to transform our infrastructure and spending commitments. Think of the A83 Rest and be Thankful road, constantly prone to closure by landslips. But, I think of the bare hills rising above the road and wonder if planting trees could be part of the solution? Such nature-based solutions can have multiple benefits. Tree planting can help to stabilise the soil, prevent erosion, capture carbon from the air and helps to restore a habitat for wildlife that has been lost. 

I am a great fan of restoring and rewilding our moorlands, wetlands and rivers. Sheep and deer graze our uplands, preventing the natural forest from regenerating. Uplands are criss-crossed with agricultural drains.A side effect is that peat dries out, and then degrades releasing ancient stores of carbon. Meanwhile, most of our rivers have intensive agriculture right up to their banks, and/or have been straightened or canalised.All of this speeds up the flow of water downstream, leading to more damage from flooding.

Coastal flooding is an even greater risk and is an unstoppable force. We need to take difficult decisions whether to build hard infrastructure defences, invest in soft defences such as planting sea-grass or leave areas to be abandoned to the sea. These choices will be a balance of cost, human priorities and consideration of the impacts on wildlife.

Rosalind Lowry is an artist who works with a range of media to create site-specific land art, installations and sculpture. Offering her image ‘Seedbank’, from an installation on Derrytresk Peat Bog in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland — as part of her residency for Lough Neagh Landscape Partnership and UK Heritage Lottery — Rosalind says:

I’ve long been fascinated with Seed Banks and the process of preserving the historical and cultural value of a seed. Everything from endangered wildflowers to the common tomato seed has been saved in various seed banks, of various scales, around the world.

An action of being resilient, and conserving the future, and the ability to continue to feed the earth’s population, despite threat of flood, bombs, radiation, disease, war and ‘natural disasters.’

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from threats, and to return to a pre-crisis status. To rinse and repeat the whole story over again, or to use our resilience to change what led to the crisis in the first place.

Hayley Harrison is an artist working with people, text, forgotten spaces and abandoned materials (human and non-human) to start unromanticised conversations about our connection to ‘nature’. Here, she offers ‘how did we become so resilient’, work that was developed during her Developing Your Creative Practice project ‘Practicing Outside’, funded by Arts Council England.

‘how did we become so resilient’ is installed in the grounds of Phytology: Bethnal Green Nature Reserve until the end of spring 2022. It was placed in a space I cleared of ivy in August last year.

It is part of a series of interactive questions and ongoing conversations for non-humans. The questions are woven into green and red plastic kindling-sacks placed on the ground or suspended under trees. So far responses have included ivy and plants regrowing up through the question, fallen autumn leaves, and pigeon feathers left from a sparrowhawk’s dinner. These dialogues aim to widen our relationship with ‘nature’ by embodying the spaces between language.

I have interpreted the responses to the question ‘how did we become so resilient’ as follows:

we shat
we fought
they died
we ate
we stood in the rain

and we grew

and the leaves did fall

 

Bill Jackson is a photographer, filmmaker and sound artist for whom issues of climate change are implicit, mapping his surroundings using sound and vision with a variety of approaches. He has shared this photograph he captured of an ancient oak in Suffolk, saying: “A double oak, identified as ‘one tree immeasurable old’. Over 1,000 years old — one has split and fallen at some point. I think it is an excellent example for resilience.” Bill has also provided an additional quote from the owner of the land:

“Oliver Rackham, the country’s expert on ancient trees, when he came to visit said that the double oak was of immeasurable antiquity. He explained that it was over a 1,000 years old. The reason being at the time, which was before the 1987 storm which blew one of the two sides down, he took samples of the acorns and discovered they were the same tree. So that meant that the tree had this enormous girth that had spilt but had continued growing. Other stories about it was that there army camps had been built around it hence the water trough. So yes an example of resilience when half of you has gone and you continue to flourish.”

You can see a video that Bill made from his images of trees during a residency at the Timberyard estate in Suffolk on his site. The film was commissioned by the estate of English singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake as an official video of his song Pink Moon – and was recently featured in this article about that 1972 album and song in The Guardian: ‘I knew this was different’: Nick Drake’s producer on misunderstood classic Pink Moon. 

Jennifer Leach is a poet, writer, performer and storyteller whose wild work, forged in the fantastical reaches of deep imagination, brings to life new stories for our strange times. Here, she shares an original poem, specifically created for our series, adding: “I think this is what I want to say on ‘resilience’. As with all words, it is nuanced, and so context and attitude alter its meaning. A wise, informed, compassionate person speaking about resilience will offer rich insights into the word, many of which I would endorse. However, the aspect of resilience I have chosen to focus on is the shadow side of the word and one which, I believe, needs to be faced.”

           Resilience
(keep on keeping on, keep calm and carry on)
            has coated wounds that needed bleeding,
                               hardened griefs that needed weeping
          offered endlessly 
                     compromised promises 
                     of resolution
                     and a halt-legged future
(never say die, it’ll be alright)
I would like to propose
(put a brave face on)  
                                 that this be a time for non-resilience
      – not to be embarked upon 
(come now)
                        with fingers crossed
                                     and side eyes watching
                                                for what comes after – 
(no worries, no problem, hakuna matata)
I would like to propose
(we’ll get through this) 
                        that this be a time for hope to die, effort to cease,
                                    dreams to fold, 
            and for the last crashing wave of lightlessness
(hey cool it, keep the faith, chin up!) 
                      to swamp the final act of dreaming. 
I would like to propose
(life…goes on)
                       that this be a time for full collapse 
                                   and absolute downfall. 

                                   I am being personal about this.

(but…never say die?)

                                   The death star in the apple
                                   holds the seeds.
                                   Full capitulation alone
                                   allows for their release 

                                    all else is
                                    resistance.

.

















 blossom
and releasing

You can see more of Jennifer’s work at her website and at Outrider Anthems. And her recent contribution for our Creative Showcase is Standing Tall, 2022, a photographic and video work that witnesses creative community resistance to the corporate felling of 112 trees and the sacrifice of a city’s green lung for more concrete.

Don’t forget to Leave a Reply below. Members, do send in your Creative Contributions on environmental resilience.