Tag Archives: dream

2012 has been an amazing year – will 2013 be green?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Healthy Planet Team

We have had a whirlwind year and we wanted to say thank you to all our volunteers, partners and supporters as we cannot do any of it without you!

Instead of sending a card we wanted to celebrate and share all the best bits from 2012 with you! We’ve created this clickable, interactive, zoomable presentation for you created using Prezi. Check it out online.

prezi1

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Our prezi includes:

  • Infographics about Stuff for Free & Books for Free in 2012
  • Celebrating our amazing volunteers who help all over the U.K – with a video message from our Founder Shaylesh
  • Links and videos for Conservation Community
  • Updates on the year Healthy Planet went International!
  • New partnerships with MyHotels & BodyMe
  • Plus the obligatory team photo with staff and interns all dressed in cheesy Xmas jumpers! (Richard won the competition)
Healthy Planet staff & interns Xmas style

Healthy Planet staff & interns Xmas style

New stuff!

There are lots of surprises planned for 2013 including new health & art projects – if you would like to get involved please do get in touch.

Conservation Community – coming soon

If you get any spare time of the festive period please do take some time to visit our Conservation Community preview site with animated video & signup for latest news conservationcommunity.org .

Conservation Community launch video

Conservation Community launch video

The video from our Conservation Community launch event at Google campus is now on YouTube – it’s an uplifting summary of our event which brought together all of our supporters, conservation organisations, local & national charities, businesses and our whole team to a melting pot of ideas and discussion of how we can all help the planet and it’s habitats and wildlife.

Share your green plans for 2013!

Looking forward to 2013 we are really interested in what you plan to do to help the planet so we have created a poll – please share your thoughts with us!

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There is no planet B: Can Art inspire change?

Stitch Calendar Competition 2012 - There is not planet B

Stitch Calendar Competition 2012 – There is not planet B
http://www.stitchproject.com

Stitch Calendar Competition 2012 – There is no planet B

We are bombarded with so many different ways in which we could be greener and help look after our planet. Car adverts stress the importance of reducing your carbon footprint; magazine covers brag they have the top ten answers to living a greener life. We can’t escape it. Although we can’t walk anywhere without tripping up on the words “recycle”, some of us still manage to forget there is still so much more that can be done.

Stitch are hosting a competition inviting artists and photographers of all walks of life, to submit artwork with the theme “There is no planet B.” Stitch is a not-for-profit organisation that raises environmental awareness through the arts.

The twelve winning images will be used for a calendar to remind you, each and every day, that this planet we live in has a limit. The artwork will inspire you to be proactive about looking after the planet, reminding you that making small changes can make a huge impact. As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive, the winners will also receive a cut of the profit from sales of the calendar. (for more information see Stitch Calendar Competition 2012 PDF )

Art has been used for many years as  a way to express the conversations of the time- so what better way to express the desire to educate ourselves on the way to keep Earth a great place to live?

Inspirational eco art

We have picked out pieces of art which captured our imaginations with their eco-friendly approach to materials and inventive work:

Images courtesy of crosshatchling.co.uk

Images courtesy of crosshatchling.co.uk

Images courtesy of crosshatchling.co.uk

Images courtesy of crosshatchling.co.uk

Artist Anna Garforth is an incredible artist whose approach to recyclable materials is fascinating. Her experimental artwork is pushing the boundaries of eco art, with pieces such as edible posters, typography using reusable materials such as paper of old yellow pages. The idea of an installation made of moss, may sound peculiar to the rest of us, but Garforth’s work transforms something which is often overlooked (unless you are a gardener) into something solid and relevant. The Moss Cross is an example and was produced for the temporary project for The Urban Physic Garden.  In July Garforth also displayed her moss art work at a vacant wall in Kings cross. The moss formed a beautiful symmetrical pattern, standing out against the dullness of the city concrete. Fascinating and original.

Photographs by Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters (via hungeree.com)

Photographs by Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters (via hungeree.com)

On a more international front, we were also very intrigued by the use of plastic bottles for an incredible sculpture of fish, on Botafogo Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The piece was an inspiring form of protest which coincided with the Earth summit for United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which took place in the city in June. Accompanied by the slogan “Recycle your attitude”, it was a perfect example of art being a way to highlight an important cause. These spectacular giant fish were made up of tens of thousands of discarded water bottles, masterfully lit with internal and external lights, giving off the effect of shimmering scales. A powerful and thoughtful message about the ocean and our attitude’s to waste.

Photographs by Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters (via hungeree.com)

Photographs by Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters (via hungeree.com)

As you’ve seen many artists have used materials to make art and bring attention to greener causes; this is what the Stitch competition is about. Inspiring and educate simultaneously with images which are unavoidable and predict a future which is entirely in our hands.

Quick,  get your entries in as the competition ends on the 21st of October (extended deadline) ! We are really looking forward to seeing the end result. If you want to get your hands on a copy of the calendar follow Stitch on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TheStitchProject or any questions of queries, get in touch by emailing calendar@stitchproject.com

Visit the Stich website for more information on the competition www.stitchproject.com

A labyrinth of a library

Books waiting to be added to the maze

Books waiting to be added to the maze

If you were to stop by Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall this past weekend, you would have observed quite a strange sight—over 250,000 books in boxes, eclectic piles, orderly stacks, or even just strewn across the floor. Over the next 4 days, though, the books were arranged into something much more recognizable (though perhaps not at all less bewildering)—walls.

The project is called aMAZEme, and indeed, the art display is essentially a giant maze made out of second hand books, as part of a larger poetic celebration of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The maze (or, more accurately, labyrinth) is to be formed in the shape of Borges’ fingerprint and is intended to confront the audience with “new textures, images, and emotions… [to] stimulate their curiosity, knowledge, and creativity.” The books used are all secondhand donations from charities and publishing houses throughout the UK, which is why Healthy Planet got involved in the project and became a supporting partner.

Go team!

Go team! My badge

All of the above was enough to interest me in volunteering for aMAZEme, so last Friday I found myself at the Royal Festival Hall ready to help the cause. Along with the other volunteers, I helped sort books into hardcover piles and paperback piles, and then began stacking these books strategically in order to form the walls of the maze. Although progress seemed slow that early on in the project, these thousands of books now tower up to 3 meters high.

What I find most moving about this project is how differently each member of the audience will perceive or experience it. Children and adults alike will enjoy meandering through the maze of books, whether or not they actually have a particular love of reading (but hopefully they do!). The celebration of Jorge Borges delivers a more profound implication for those who have an affinity for this famous writer or for Argentine literature in general.

Leaf found in book from 1908!

Leaf found in book from 1908!

Environmentalists might, like Healthy Planet, appreciate the fun and unique way books have been reused in the construction. Art lovers will surely comprehend some deeper meaning behind it than I was able to pick up, and lovers of mythology will have a field day if the Minotaur head that I saw on the sidelines makes any appearance. Personally, as a lover of reading, I was constantly distracted by the books themselves. I even came across a small hymnal gifted to someone in 1908, which had a remarkably preserved pressed leaf inside. See the rest of my photos on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/healthyplanetorg/sets/72157630819923620/

Who knows what else is hiding within those walls? If you get the chance, check out the display at the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank Centre!

To learn more about the aMAZEme project, visit their event website at http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000965121.

Ps: Here’s what the maze looked like when it was finished!

Completed maze

Completed maze