Ecocide's day in court

Wallace Heim writes:

Today, the theatre of a mock trial plays out in the UK Supreme Court, live online (download the software at the top left of the panel).

The Ecocide Trial has Michael Mansfield QC as prosecuting barrister and Nigel Lickley QC as defence barrister leading a case for and against two fictional CEO’s, and is complete with expert witnesses, jury and judge.

The crimes chosen by the court this morning are the extraction of oil from Canada’s Tar Sands and the Deepwater disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is no script. It is up to a jury to decide whether the case for Ecocide crime is made.

Follow the case on twitter and on Sky News/home/supreme-court.

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Culture and Climate Change: Recordings

A pdf of Culture and Climate Change: Recordings is now available.

See four podcasts on culture and climate change
Download the podcasts

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A final posting from Cape Farewell expedition

Shiants - watercolor by John Cumming

Kellie Gutman writes:

The artist, sculptor and writer John Cumming took part in the fourth and final week of Cape Farewell's expedition to the Shetland Islands this summer.  John was born and raised in Burra Isle, Shetland. He writes:

What draws me to these places is hard to define.  The journey is part of the magic.  The sea is endlessly, and wonderfully alive; unlike concrete, unlike tarmacadam.  No two sea journeys are ever the same.  On the trip to North Rona, we met families of dolphin, Risso’s, basking sharks and minke whales.  The sea was calm, the swell long and leaden.  The night-time journey back was before a north-easterly gale, sailing only on the jib.   Driving southwards at eight to ten knots, we listened to the clicking of a school of pilot whales some three miles away.

Next day the sheer sculptural magnificence of the Shiants was a revelation.  I have a personal lexicography of island profiles; the Kame of Hoy; the Kame of Foula; the Drongs of Eshaness; each place uniquely powerful and awe inspiring, yet even now, weeks later the basalt columns and screes of the shiants are etched on the back of my eyelids.

For his complete posting, including additional sketches, as well as postings of others on the expedition, see the Cape Farewell blog here.

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Sustainable production award: Allotment

Kellie Gutman writes:

The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts has awarded their 2011 Sustainable Production Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  The prize goes to Allotment, by Jules Horne and directed by Kate Nelson.  The show is set in an actual allotment and follows two sisters, Dora and Maddy, who work out their rivalries among the plants.  The show was chosen for successfully integrating its location into the drama.  See here for the full story.

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