Time and Tide Bell
A Continuing Arts Programme facing Lincolnshire's Coast
Cartoon showing Greta Thunberg, circulating on social media in 2019.
Cartoon showing Greta Thunberg, circulating on social media in 2019.
We are a group of artists and arts promoters who recognize the potential existential threat of global warming and are determined to use the arts to communicate our concerns to our audiences. Our art exhibitions emerge from the conceptual basis of Marcus Vergette's Time and Tide Bells, stimulating conversations about human relationships with the sea, past, present and future, mindful of the global warming and the social stresses that climate change and sea level rise may bring.
This project attempts to record through portraiture the key players in our understanding of global warming, the scientists, campaigners and politicians who should be honoured as heroes of our time.
“The “Faces of Climate” exhibition will be really interesting. Many congratulations on doing it all! Using art and creativity to highlight what is happening to our planet is so important. Thank you.” - Lord Chris Smith. Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier. Line engraving by A. F. B. Geille after J. Boilly. Credit: Wellcome Collection
Joseph Fourier, 1768 -1830, was a French mathematician and physicist. He created mathematical tools which have been essential to the development of climate science and his study of the physics of heat led him to conclude that the Earth should be a colder planet, were it not for the effects of our atmosphere.
George Perkins Marsh
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John Tyndall
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Svante Arrhenius
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Here is a list of subjects that artists have picked (there's no harm in having more than one portrait of the same person).
On the Shoulders Of Giants - Steve Cook
50 x 30 cm
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England. His works are credited with developing the scientific method and remained influential through the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. His works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued science could be achieved by use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. The general idea of the importance and possibility of a sceptical methodology makes Bacon the father of the scientific method. This method was a new rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, the practical details of which are still central in debates about science and methodology. (From Bacon's entry in Wikipedia.)
Francis Bacon published his main work under the title; Franciscus de Verulamii Summi Angliae Canellasis Instauratio Magna , during the early 1600’s. His thinking underpinned the growth of ‘natural philosophy’ ( to be replaced by the term ‘science’ in the 18th century). Ideas became more accessible to the reading public due to the rapid expansion of print technology around 1700. In the book he sets out the state of current ideas of the time. These are followed by outlining the need for new structures for scientific investigations. He was calling for a "great fresh start" based on the logic of research or the recording of natural events and not relying on known facts or intellectual winning the argument. Today we are faced with the destruction of entire eco-systems. The present political movers and shakers could do worse than follow his thinking today.
Alexander von Humboldt - Jo Mortimer
Robert FitzRoy - Chris Rolph
Oil on canvas board 30 x 40 cm
Robert FitzRoy rose to fame as the young Captain of HMS Beagle, carrying Charles Darwin around the continent of South America. The primary reason for the voyage was to survey and map the Patagonian coast and islands, and to carry out a series of hydrographic measurements of ocean depths, currents and temperatures - though FitzRoy’s meticulous and precise measurements have since been overshadowed by his companion’s evolutionary theories. FitzRoy also measured air pressure and windspeed, and on return to Britain proposed a system of “forecasting” the weather - initially ridiculed, his ideas eventually led to the establishment of today’s Met Office. FitzRoy’s scientific measurements and theories challenged not only the prevailing cultural views of the time, but also his own deeply held beliefs; unable to reconcile the two he committed suicide at the age of 59.
FitzRoy is often shown in his later years, tall and gaunt as he wrestled with personal and political troubles. I wanted to picture him as a younger man: intense and focused, a supremely competent sailor, most at home in the wild waters of the south Atlantic. He paved the way for our understanding of weather systems and climate, and was properly recognised when the shipping forecast area north-west of Spain was renamed in his honour.
Eunice Foote ~ Andrea D'Aquino
Eunice Newton Foote (July 17, 1819 - September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner from Seneca Falls, New York. She was the first to suggest that changing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would change its temperature, in her paper 'Circumstances affecting the heat of the sun's rays' at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in 1856. Wikipedia
"An atmosphere of that gas [CO2] would give to our earth a high temperature and if as some suppose, at one period of its history the air had mixed with it a larger proportion than at present, an increased temperature from its own action as well as from increased weight must have necessarily resulted."
She suggested that changing the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would change its temperature, having conducted experimental measurements of temperature of containers filled with various gasses and left in the sunshine to warm up. Eunice Foote had the misfortune to be an amateur scientist, an American and a woman, all of which seem to have contributed to her small place in history, while John Tyndall, professional, male and British took the credit in the history of climate science, though his discovery of the role of CO2 came three years later.
A good account of her work and the context in which it was done is found in Roland Jackson's paper, Eunice Foote, John Tyndall and a question of priority, Published:13 February 2019 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2018.0066
Another account, by Amara Huddleston, celebrated her 200th anniversay in NOAA's Climate Watch Magazine.It includes this drawing by Carlyn Iverson
Tara Santora wrote an article in Audubon Magazine, The Female Scientist Who Discovered the Basics of Climate Science - and Was Forgotten By History, published on July 17, 2019 to celebrate Eunice Foote's 200th birthday, describing how she predicted the effect of greenhouse gases. It was for this article in Audubon Magazine that Andrea D'Aquino created her artistic representation of Eunice Foote, no known photographs of Foote existing
John Tyndall - Maxim Griffin
Svante Arrhenius - Glyn Goodwin
Bucolic Bliss - One of the Innocent Faces of Climate Change
Four colour reduction lino print - Beverley Nel
Living on a dairy farm provides inspiration and opportunities to draw and paint scenes often interpreted as Romantic Rural Idylls or Bucolic Bliss. However, moving to and now living on a farm has made me realise how much hard and challenging work goes into the production of dairy milk. Definitely all food for thought.
I love the challenge of drawing portraits direct from life. When Biff announced this planned exhibition I struggled to think of a famous or important person to draw/paint. Knowing that we all are important players in climate change I decided to create a space at the exhibition for some fun PORTRAIT DRAWING ACTIVITY.
Come and join in; be drawn, draw, dates to be announced.
Don Sutherland - Chris Walshaw.
Don Sutherland, our favourite centurion, has respected the environment and as a lifelong pacifist spread words of peace and sympathy for nature to whomever would listen. As my oldest friend he has been a constant source of inspiration. Chris Walshaw.
Julia Butterfly Hill - Iris Merrifield
Julia 'Butterfly' Hill is a climate activist and author. She lived in a 180ft redwood tree for two years to stop it from being chopped down.
Climate Saints Tryptich ~ Lynn Bates
Silent Spring
Rachel Carson - Angelina Dove
When I was seventeen I left for the big city in the South and have spent most of my adult life working creatively, writing music for film and television in London. I would think often of The Fens with a sense of fond nostalgia, visiting always felt like going home. But I occasionally wondered if I had imagined the sounds; if I'd somehow made up the amplified brilliance of the wildlife in my mind via a sort of exaggerated memory. Where were all the butterflies? Where were the annoying bees that would sizzle around fizzy drinks on a summer's garden party table, where were the thunderbugs all over the windscreen after a ten minute car ride to the beach? Why hadn't I swallowed a mosquito on a bike ride since 1988? It wasn't until years later that I read a book called Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson (published several decades before I was even born!) that I realised that the memories weren't false and many of the sounds I'd remembered had simply quieted, forever. In 2015 I included her portrait in a series of paintings I entered for a self titled exhibition 'Rebels and Revolutionaries'. I believe she was a trailblazer of her time, making sombre predictions about the future environment and humankind's relationship with our beloved planet long before the words 'climate' and 'change' had even been used together in a sentence. She highlighted, raised concerns and predicted the harmful effects of synthetic pesticides and made the connections between the use of such chemicals and the death of bees.
While the reality of the global decline in wildlife is alarming and a damning reality, places like the North Sea nature reserves are our real chances for reversal and, I believe, our true rebellion! - Keeping these places alive with the music of nature is our hope for the future.
So I submit 'Silent Spring' for hopeful inclusion in your exhibition - portrait of the late Rachel Carson, marine biologist, author, environmentalist and climate activist..... lest we forget!
Rachel Carson - Chris Hurford
Ink drawing printed on cotton.
Rachel Carson 1907 - 1964 was an American marine biologist, whose book Silent Spring triggered a global environmental movement. She worked for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries before writing her best-selling sea trilogy, Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea.
In recent years, with an interest in insects and other small creatures, I read “Silent Spring” which made shock waves when published in 1962. She wrote on how unthinking we had been and about the environmental impact of chemicals put on the soil and what happens to the land and creatures by the indiscriminate use of pesticides and fertilisers. This was the early days of people waking up to what we are all doing to our world in so many different ways. She was one of many who could alert others and start the environmental movement today.
James Lovelock - Rachel Rolph
Pencil on paper 42 x 30 cm
James Lovelock is a scientist, author and inventor. After spending the early part of his career in medical research, Lovelock branched out into other scientific fields to create an electron-capture device in 1957. The invention could identify traces of toxic particles in the atmosphere and was used in studies exploring the ozone layer. It caught the attention of NASA, and for a few years Lovelock worked on a soil-analysing project which investigated the possibility of life on Mars. However, wanting more freedom to explore his own ideas - he viewed scientists as akin to artists, and felt that working in an institution could stifle creativity - Lovelock left NASA in 1964 to become a freelance scientist in his own lab.
It was his work at NASA, alongside conversations with biologist Lynn Margulis, which inspired Lovelock's Gaia theory. This sees the world as a self-regulating system in which everything inhabiting it works together to maintain conditions suitable for life. First published in 1975 in the New Scientist, Lovelock's theory came into public consciousness at a time when awareness of environmental issues was on the rise, and his work generated a huge response. Some scientists dismissed the theory for being too spiritual but for Lovelock, the idea of the planet being a conscious organism is simply a metaphor which recognises life and the environment being inseparably intertwined. The Gaia theory encouraged people to consider how the actions of humanity affect the delicate balance of life on earth, an issue which grows increasingly important in today's modern world.
Now over 100 years old, Lovelock has not lost his enthusiasm for science, and his most recent work considers the impact of artificial intelligence on the world's climate and ecology. He continues to inspire many into environmental activism, and his work is likely to do so for years to come.
Sir David Attenborough - Tony Baxter
Acrylic on paper 32 x 26cm
The Revenge of Boaty - Tony Baxter
Mixed media on canvas 40 x 30cm
I imagined that Boaty McBoatface was rather disgruntled after only getting a submarine named after him rather than the polar exploration ship, so wanted some retribution.
The ‘Grandfather of Climate Change’ - Lynn Baker
Sand Carved Recycled Glass
‘I have been described as the grandfather of climate change. In fact, I am just a grandfather and I do not want my grandchildren to say that grandpa understood what was happening but didn’t make it clear’ ‘Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening’. James Hansen
David Suzuki Born Vancouver, Canada, 1936 David Suzuki is an eminent Canadian science broadcaster and environmental activist. Conservation, according to him, is a necessity for humankind’s own survival. Through his radio and television programmes he has tried to educate the layperson and, thanks to him, people all over the world began to realise the need to co-exist with nature. David has also used the print media to espouse the need to maintain a balance between technological progress and sustainable ecology. A winner of many awards and honours the David Suzuki Foundation has been championing many of the issues that are close to his heart and include the Blue Dot Movement that he started in 2014. ‘The David Suzuki Foundation’ is a nonprofit organisation founded by him in 1991 to work for balancing human needs with the earth’s ability to sustain life. The quotes I have used on the art work are attributed to him.
“We are nature.
All people and all species.
We are interconnected with nature, and with each other.
What we do to the planet and it’s living creatures, we do to ourselves.”
I've chosen Winona LaDuke as a subject to sculpt in clay because I'm drawn to the strength and resilience I can see in her face. For me Winona's strong features tell her story.
Winona LaDuke is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy and food systems.
She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a two-time vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the American Green Party.
As Program Director of the Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities.
In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation based non-profit organizations in the country and a leader in the issues of
culturally based sustainable development strategies, renewable energy, and food systems. In this work, she also continues national and international work to protect Indigenous plants and
heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering.
In 2007 LaDuke was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, recognizing her leadership and community commitment. In 1994 she was nominated by Time magazine as one of America’s fifty
most promising leaders under forty years of age. She has been awarded the Thomas Merton Award in 1996, Ms. Woman of the Year (with the Indigo Girls in 1997), and the Reebok Human Rights Award.
The White Earth Land Recovery Project has won many awards including the prestigious 2003 International Slow Food Award for Biodiversity, recognizing the organization’s work to protect wild rice
from patenting and genetic engineering.
A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is a former board member of Greenpeace USA and is presently an
advisory board member for the Trust for Public Lands Native Lands Program as well as a board-member of the Christensen Fund. The author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred,
All our Relations and a novel, Last Standing Woman, she is widely recognized for her work on environmental and human rights issues.
Kevin Anderson - Stig au D'ump
Acrylic on salvaged hardboard, 30 x 48cm
Kevin Anderson is one of the world's best scientists communicating climate change. He has helped explain the urgency and the injustice of the climate crisis. He has also helped expose the con that is offsetting.
"Come on baby, read 'ON FIRE': Emissions mustn't get much higher"
Portrait of Naomi Klein as Jim Morrison from 1991 movie poster The Doors
Stig au D'ump
Acrylic on salvaged hardboard 42 x 35 cm
Portrait of my favourite writer, Naomi Klein, journalist and author of many great books including This Change Everything and The Shock Doctrine. Her latest book is called On Fire: The burning case for the Green New Deal.
Trump - a hero for the climate? No. But sadly he is a hero to many people, especially those who deny climate change. We include this mocking portrait of Donald here as his words and deeds are a big part of the climate story, unfortunately. But we can use him to learn about denial, power and ignorance.
A few highlights of Trumps words and actions on climate:
2010 - Trump said Al Gore should be stripped of the Nobel Prize because it was cold outside.
2012 - He says "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
2015 - Trump said President Obama worries too much about "the carbon footprint" and climate change, which he then erroneously attributed to the ozone layer.
2017 - At a Heritage Foundation dinner he stated: "We have taken action to repeal the EPA's so-called 'Clean Power Plan' and we have ended, finally, the war on clean, beautiful coal."
2017 - Trump opened up more federal land for oil drilling and fracking.
2017 - Trump announces he will pull the US out of the Paris Agreement.
2019 - Trump relaxed fuel-efficiency standards, un-doing one of Obama's few climate successes.
2019 - He loosens restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas processing sites.
2019 - He said: “The United States right now has among the cleanest climates there are, based on all statistics, and it's even getting better.”
Trump consistently backs big business over communities and nature, he blocks the UN and increases spending on the military - with the Pentagon being one of the world's largest carbon emitters. While much of the world is trying to reduce emissions, under Trump's leadership the US continues to increase the damage done to the environment and the global climate.
Stig au D'ump is an illustrator, printer and designer. He lives and works in Oxford UK. See: shtiggy.wordpress.com
Alex Smith - Ali Monk
Ink on paper 42 x 30 cm
Alex Smith, founder and host of 'Radio Ecoshock', interviews people from around the world on climate change. The podcasts are fascinating - sometimes depressing but sometimes hopeful. His weekly podcast can be found at Radio Ecoshock
Leonardo DiCaprio - Mali Boyce
Leonardo DiCaprio
"As a kid, I was going to be a marine biologist or an actor. When I became successful as an actor, I said, 'Well, maybe I can lend a voice to this with an equal passion.' You realize how lucky we are and how destructive we've been and what little regard we have for the natural world Raising awareness on the most pressing environmental issues of our time is more important than ever."
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio established his foundation with the mission of protecting the world's last wild places. LDF implements solutions that help restore balance to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth's inhabitants. Since that time the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) has worked on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our day.
Leonardo's website and social media platforms are also dedicated to inspiring the public to take action on key environmental issues. Growing in reach from just 500,000 followers in 2007 to over 50 million today, Leonardo's fans have engaged on an array of issues protecting key species - sharks in California, tigers in Asia, elephants in Africa - and calling on world leaders to address the global climate crisis.
In acknowledgement of LDF's impactful work over the last two decades, Leonardo was designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and received the 2014 Clinton Global Citizen Award. In addition to founding LDF, Leonardo also serves on the board of several environmental organizations, World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defence Council, National Geographic's Pristine Seas, Oceans 5, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
The diverse range of projects supported by LDF - from efforts to create and expand protected areas on land and in our oceans, to supporting grassroots and indigenous organizations working to secure important environmental protections and implement sustainable solutions at the local level - is a direct reflection of the array of efforts that are needed to turn the tide. LDF believes that it is possible create a world where both nature and humanity coexist in harmony. Not only does the Foundation believe this can be done, it knows it must be done in order to ensure the long-term survival of vital species and ecosystems.
The Foundation has gradually built a significant grant making operation, awarding over $80 million in grants since 2010, funding 200+ high-impact projects in 50 countries across Asia, the Americas, Africa, the Arctic, Antarctica, and all five oceans. Through active collaboration with a broad network of environmental leaders and experts, effective organizations, and committed philanthropists, the foundation is able to find and support the best, results-driven projects in the world's most wild and threatened ecosystems. Our work is divided into six main program areas - Wildlands Conservation, Oceans Conservation, Climate Change, Indigenous Rights, Transforming California, and Innovative Solutions. Several successful fundraising events have enabled LDF to scale up our grant making strategy, driving support for vitally important projects around the globe.
The young Chris Packham with his Owl - Barbara Eger
Watercolour 50 x 65 cm
Based on a well-known photograph of a younger Chris Packham, this picture seeks to portray the intimacy between the naturalist and his owl. It pays homage to a man who stands by his environmental convictions; not only by what he proclaims, but also by what he is having to endure in consequence.
Packham not only advocates the protection of cute and cuddly animals, but also speaks up for crows and foxes; species likened to vermin by their detractors.
This stance, and the fact that he has Asperger's syndrome, have made him a target of numerous hostile gestures. Yet Packham refuses to be cowed by attacks, personal and on his home, which have involved the depositing of dead wild animals at his door.
Among the more high profile environmentalists, Chris Packham warrants a special place not only because of his vision, but also because of his determination not to give in to attacks and threats of violence.
Joe Duplantier of Gojira; Plastic Bag in The Sea - Varjavan K. Dastoor
Mario Duplantier of Gojira; The World Is on Her Way - Varjavan K. Dastoor
Christian Andreu of Gojira; We Will See the Children Growing - Varjavan K. Dastoor
Jean-Michel Labadie of Gojira; The Ocean Planet is on Burn - Varjavan K. Dastoor
Due to its predominantly loud, fast and aggressive nature, Heavy Metal music evokes visceral and overwhelming emotions in listeners who enjoy the genre.
Gojira are a four-member Heavy Metal band from France who frequently use their music to express dismay, frustration and anger at the damage done by the human species on fragile ecosystems that have evolved over millennia. While it would be inaccurate to call the members of Gojira climate activists, they have significantly contributed to spreading awareness on climate change through their music. Their atmospheric intros and outros, brutal riffs and technically virtuosic drumming often vividly depicts the devastation of the natural world. Their poignant lyrical themes often underline the strong connection between nature and humans and highlight that the destruction of the natural world inescapably leads to our own destruction.
But rather than simply acting as harbingers of doom, their music serves as the voice of human conscience to inspire hope and introspection.
This collection of artworks pay tribute to the musicians of Gojira using the lyrics of four of their songs.
1. "Plastic Bag in The Sea", a calligram of Joe Duplantier (vocals and rhythm guitar) created using lyrics to the song “Toxic Garbage Island”
2. "The World Is on Her Way", a calligram of Mario Duplantier (drums) created using lyrics to the song "In the wilderness"
3. "We Will See Our Children Growing", a calligram of Christian Andreu (lead guitar) created using lyrics to the song “Global Warming”
4. "The Ocean Planet Is on Burn", a calligram of Jean-Michel Labadie (bass) created using lyrics to the song “Ocean Planet”
The Climate Activist - David Dennis
Oil on canvas
What's the Cost; Melting or Burning? Eleni Christoforou
36.5 x 44 x 2.5cm
Thousands of scientists are dedicating their lives in studying the impacts of Climate Change and there is a great knowledge on how it will affect individual organisms but, the big question still remains: How will the EARTH look like decades from now? We are already witnessing some of the effects of climate changes around the globe. Will these persist and aggravate?
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In 2019 members of the Scotter Textile Group completed the three centre panels of our Planet Earth project. |
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Janet Swift
Peter Swift - oil on canvas
The idea that we as individuals by our own action can halt or reverse the effects of global climate change following one hundred and fifty years of industrialisation is probably at best a fanciful notion.
However in 2002 Sheffield University embarked on a research project which became a survey report known by the acronym B.U.G.S. ‘ Biodiversity in Urban Gardens.’ The survey mapped and calculated the total land area of urban gardens from a variety of dwelling types within the city of Sheffield. The survey revealed that gardens within the city, represented 33km2, 23%f the total urban area.
Biodiversity studies were undertaken and the results formulated and extrapolated in an attempt to reach an understanding of the contribution that urban gardens might make to conservation and regeneration of the environment throughout England. Residential gardens represent 5% of the English land area i.e. 6,750 sq km. or twice the size of Cornwall.
This painting of Janet, a passionate environmentalist and gardener, who kindly sat in her usual attire is an attempt to draw attention to both the project for further reading and to the valuable contribution that individuals and their gardens might make to our environment.
Further reading. Biodiversity in Urban Gardens - University of Sheffield
Local Heroes shows how Grimsby has grown from a fishing town into the UK's foremost hub for operations and maintenance of offshore wind. SInce 2008 when the earliest wind farms seen off Skegness became fully operational to farms of 2020 and beyond, so far from land that the maintenance teams live offshore for two weeks at a time and so large that it would take over 4 hours to sail from top to bottom.
Kurt Christensen championed the entry of a new industry to the area and was instrumental in ensuring that companies chose Grimsby as a base. He was seen by many as the face of offshore wind in Grimsby in the early years.
Lauren Little has taken on Kurt's mantle in her community engagement role for Orsted, a company that has made a rapid shift from black to green generation and is a significant employer and investor in offshore wind in the Humber, the UK and internationally.
Courtney Doughty and Jayden Donnelly are the next generation of turbine technicians, in the early days of their apprenticeships.
Melanie Onn was a vocal supporter of offshore wind during her time as MP for Great Grimsby, willing to challenge the owners and operators to ensure they give back to the community that hosts them.
Rob Walsh, Chief Executive of North East Lincolnshire Council, was a key influencer behind establishing the offshore wind industry in the Grimsby area.
Dennis Avery was a fisherman, representing Grimsby's roots and heritage.
All of the above featured in the Tide of Change video produced by Orsted to share the tremendous story of the rise of offshore wind and the steady transformation of Grimsby.
Compelled to Rebel - James Pocklington
960mm x 420mm a triptych of digital prints
The photo was taken at 11am on the 7th October 2019 shortly after Extinction Rebellion protesters from the East Midlands had blocked Horse Guards Road at the rear of Downing Street, London. The building in the background is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The "Declaration of Rebellion" was read out loud by a thousand rebel voices on the 24th November 2018 at the gates of Buckingham Palace.
No one can be sure what the future holds for movements like Extinction Rebellion but we can be sure that without concerted pressure to bring about rapid global decarbonisation the future for life on earth is bleak.
Tell me how
Don't tell me lies
Don't tell me that there's something more important
Don't tell me that it'll all be ok
Don't tell me that it's not our problem
Don't tell me that it's impossible
Don't tell me that's the way things are.
Tell me the truth
Tell me you understand
Tell me this is vital
Tell me how change happens
Tell me how you will act
Tell me how things will be.
Now show me.
James Pocklington
Ostrich, Where is Your Head? - Doreen Moore
Acrylic on recycled canvass 57 x 57 cm
'Plant a tree in '73' Do you remember that slogan? 'Plant some more in '74'
Tickhill Brownie Pack did just that, planting trees around the village mill pond. They are still flourishing 47 years later. To finance the project they collected old newspapers selling them on to a local man who was just starting a paper recycling business.
During this project, together with Tawny Owl and Brown Owl (me), they made up a list of things that could be easily recycled :- silver foil, stamps, glass bottles, egg boxes back to the shop, etc. etc.. This was well before the days of wheelie bins, car boot sales and charity shops. I took the list to the editor of the local magazine for them to publish but was rebuffed. "No one is interested in that sort of thing Doreen." was his response.
The gentleman concerned is long since dead and did not live to see the result of all the lack of concern for the state of the earth, but those Brownies are now grown up and I hope that they take pride in the fact that they did something, however small, to show that they cared for their surroundings.
This 'portrait' represents all the people who in the past have buried there heads in the sand and those who still, to this day, prefer at best to do nothing and at worst campaign against all the known scientific facts.
Where is your head?
Jamie Clarke is Executive Director of Climate Outreach, guiding the organisation to become Europe's leading climate communication body. Passionate about addressing climate change, he champions the role that effective public engagement has in underpinning the necessary shifts in policy and practice. Jamie is motivated by the importance of enabling climate change to be something everyone cares about rather than backs away from. He is the co-author, with Adam Corner, of Talking Climate: From Research to Practice in Public Engagement, published in November 2016.
Greta has autism, like me. I can't talk but she can and I think she is very brave. The environment is very important and people should try to look after it and listen to Greta as she is working so hard.
The title reflects the experience and sanctuary of nature. It was painted in Germany and based on a walk in the beautiful beech woods near Heidelberg in 2015.
If nature is the art of god
and maths the art of nature,
may beauty be the nature of art
and love then beauty feeling...
as love is god.
Alfie and Lola are cousins, both of whom are aware of the very real threat to our planet from climate change. Their work expresses a desire to recognize and acknowledge their mother’s and aunt’s dedicated role in this sphere as a journalist working for Thompson Reuters Foundation.
Ailun Yang - Lee Coneybeare
Paper collage on card
I chose to do a portrait of Ailun Yang because I was interested to find out more about the work done by individuals to address climate change in countries such as China and India.
Ailun Yang is an expert on China's climate policies and emissions. She previously headed the climate and energy campaign at Greenpeace China, working closely with Chinese renewable energy industries. She has also worked as a China Strategist for ClimateWorks and as a Senior Associate for the World Resources Institute, leading their work on low-carbon development in countries such as China and India. She is an active non-governmental spokesperson on these issues.
Since 2016 she has been working with the environment team at Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York on initiatives such as supporting India’s National Clean Air Program.
Climate Scientist Polyptych
Naomi Oreskes, Kevin Anderson,
Gavin Schmidt, Corinne Le Quere,
Erica Thompson,
James Hansen, Michael E. Mann, Alison Green,,
Gail Bradbrook, Warren Washington, Hans Schellenhuber, Ndoni Mcunu, Megan Rowling,
Stefan Rahmstorf, Farhana Yamin, Luisa Neubauer, Johan Rockstrom,
Julia Steinberger, Chris Packham,
Mari Foroutan
Biff Vernon Oil on canvas each piece 23 x 23 cm
Naomi Oreskes started her career as a mining geologist and then turned to the history and philosophy of science. Her research looked into the strength of the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the climate science community and led her to uncovering the extent that the fossil fuel industry has supported climate denialsm. Her book Merchants of Doubt, co-written with Erik Conway, produced a turning point in the way vested interests influence policy, from tobacco to the coal and oil industries.
Kevin Anderson is Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester and at Uppsala University, Sweden. He has been Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He has consistently demonstrated that there is little chance of keeping warming below 2° and that the consequence is worse than appears to be recognised by governments. He calls for radical changes in policy and personal behaviour and refuses to fly himself and has been supportive of Greta Thunberg.
Gavin Schmidt was born in Barnet, London, went to school Corsham in Wiltshire and then studied maths at Oxford and London. He applied his mathematics to climate modelling being amongst the first to develop global system models. He is now and Englishman in New York, having succeeded James Hansen as Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) the USA’s leading climate science institute. He co-founded the climate science blog RealClimate and his work on the public communication of climate science has made him well known.
Corinne Le Quéré FRS CBE, is Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia and former Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. She conducts research on the interactions between climate change and the carbon cycle. She is Chair of France's High Council on climate and a member of the UK Committee on Climate Change. In 2016 she was listed among the 20 "women making waves in the climate change debate" on the Road to Paris by the International Council for Science.
Erica Thompson, a climate modeller, is a Senior Policy Fellow at the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series at the London School of Economics and a Fellow of the London Mathematical Laboratory, where she leads the research programme on Inference from Models. She is interested in statistics, uncertainty, climate change, and the appropriate use of mathematical modelling to support real-world decisions, as well as all aspects of the transition to genuinely sustainable ways of living and working and is secretary of the One Planet Council. She is the originator of the Hawkmoth Effect, dark sibling to the Butterfly effect.
James Hansen, born 1941, trained in astrophysics and became Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. His work on the development of the atmosphere of Venus led him to look at Earth’s atmosphere and realise the significance of anthropogenic global warming. His 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change and later climate activism raised awareness of the climate emergency. He has been arrested during demonstrations.
Michael Mann is a climate scientist and geophysicist with degrees in maths, physics and geology. He is director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University. His work on paleoclimate and reconstruction of the historic temperature record led to the ‘hockey stick graph’ that proved a valuable tool in communicating ideas of global warming. He is author of a prodigious number of scientific papers and a co-founder of the climate science blog RealClimate and an active communicator of the subject to a wide audience, attracting opprobrium from the worst of the climate denial forces.
Alison Green has a PhD is in psychology and is an academic leader who swapped academia (she was Deputy Dean at the Open University and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Arden University) for environmental activism as a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. She is National Director UK of Scientists Warning and acts as an independent witness on psychological aspects of climate breakdown. She has played a key academic role in Extinction Rebellion and co-edited the hugely successful XR book, 'This is not a Drill'.
Gail Bradbrook is one of the co-founders of Extinction Rebellion. Her PhD is in molecular biology and she has devoted much of her life to social and environmental activism. She has said that climate change requires civil disobedience: “Given the scale of the ecological crisis we are facing … Only this kind of large-scale economic disruption can rapidly bring the government to the table to discuss our demands. We are prepared to risk it all for our futures.”
Warren Washington, born 1936, joined the American National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1963. Specializing in computer modelling the Earth's climate, he worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and chaired the National Science Board. He led the development and application of advanced coupled atmospheric-ocean general circulation models (GCMs) to study the impacts of human activities on future climate. At age 83 he is senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
As an African-American, Washington has served as a role model for generations of young researchers from many backgrounds. In 1999, he was awarded by the American Meteorological Society "for pioneering efforts as a mentor and passionate support of individuals, educational programs, and outreach initiatives designed to foster a diverse population of atmospheric scientists."
Hans Joachim Schellnhüber is a German atmospheric physicist, climatologist and founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and former chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change. In 1995 he proposed the 2 °C guardrail for global warming that eventually became a global target by governments worldwide. 25 years on, he is pessimistic, saying “We don’t want to see the truth. As Greta Thunberg would say, I would like people to panic and take action according to the state of emergency we are in.”
Ndoni Mcunu has an MSc in Applied Environmental Science, is a PhD student at Witwatersrand University’s Global Change Institute. She is the Founder & CEO of Black Women in Science, which aims to provide knowledge and awareness of science and research for university students and rural women. She is also a Greenmatter Fellow for her academic research in climate change and agriculture. Ndoni Mcunu has been listed as the Top 50 most Inspiring Women in Tech in South Africa in 2017, which is an award issued by the Netherlands and South Africa.
Here's Ndoni Mcunu talking in January 2020. Here she write about her work for The Conversation.
She is passionate about women’s development, education and poverty alleviation in Africa, improving the lives of our youth, specifically young women. "I believe that education is a tool to enable improved and informed personal and professional decisions. It could also be a tool to empowering rural and disadvantaged young women to improve their livelihood."
Megan Rowling, Welsh born but now based in Barcelona, is a journalist with Thomson Reuters Foundation, specialising in humanitarian and development issues, including climate change and disaster risk. She describes herself as a feminist who cares about climate change, aid, sustainable development and resilience. She initiated Reuters’ climate change coverage, growing it into an award-winning news service focused on the developing world. She attends the big climate conferences, distilling the interminable hours of statements and discussions into articles that feed the worlds news media.
Farhana Yamin is an international environmental lawyer who played a key role in drawing up the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015 and was lead author for assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on adaptation and mitigation issues. She has published numerous books and articles on the nexus of climate change and development and as a climate change and development policy expert, Farhana has advised leaders and countries for 20 years.
She is an associate fellow at Chatham House and visiting professor at UCL and a member of the Global Agenda Council on Climate Change at the World Economic Forum. and served as an adviser to the European Commission on emissions trading directive and as special adviser to Connie Hedegaard, EU commissioner for climate action.
She founded Track 0 and in April 2019 as an Extinction Rebellion activist Farhana Yamin glued herself to Shell's London headquarters in protest at the oil firm's climate impact.
Johan Rockström researched the building of resilience in water scarce tropical regions. He pent 12 years as director of Stockholm Resilience Centre and then in 2018 became joint director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. His work focusses on global sustainability under climate change and in 2009 he led the team that published the 'nine planetary boundaries', a framework for maintaining a 'safe operating space for humanity' as an approach to sustainable development. There are Earth system processes on the planet that have boundaries or thresholds which should not be crossed. The extent to which these boundaries are not crossed marks what Rockström's group calls the safe operating space for humanity.
Luisa-Marie Neubauer is a German climate activist, one of the leaders of the School strike for climate movement in Germany. She has brought the climate emergency to the attention of public, through protests, discussion, speaches and writing. With Alexander Repenning she co-wrote a book, Vom Ende der Klimakrise: Eine Geschichte unserer Zukunft or From the end of the climate crisis: a story of our future. They pose the question of whether we can avoid the climate crisis or whether it will overwhelm us. Here is her TED Talk.
Stefan Rahmstorf is a German oceanographer and climatologist. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University. His work focuses on the role of ocean currents in climate change. He was one of the lead authors of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. He is a leading communicator of climate science, a co-founder of RealClimate and KlimaLounge and frequently writes and broadcasts on climate science for a general audience. He wrote a 224-page children’s book ‘Wolken, Wind und Wetter’ on climate cience. Video: The Art and Science of Stefan Rahmstorf
Julia Steinberger, Swiss-American economist, Professor at Leeds University, researches and teaches in the interdisciplinary areas of Ecological Economics and Industrial Ecology. Her research examines the connections between resource use (energy and materials, greenhouse gas emissions) and societal performance (economic activity and human wellbeing). She is interested in quantifying the linkages between resource use and socioeconomic parameters, and identifying alternative development pathways to guide the necessary transition to a low carbon society. Research focus on living well within planetary limits.
Chris Packham took a degree in zoology and then pursued his childhood passion for nature as a wildlife photographer and then in 1986 joined the team presenting the BBC children’s series, The Really Wild Show, which he did for the next ten years. Since 2009 he has presented the BBC's Spring Watch series. By his own account, told in his autobiography, 'Fingers in the Sparkle Jar', Chris Packham had a difficult childhood, often bullied by his peers, but it was only as an adult that he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. He has become a leading campaigner for all aspects of nature conservation, making films, giving lectures and working with several of the leading wildlife organisations. He has recently been speaking out about the climate emergency, promoting Extinction Rebellion and joining XR actions.
Mari Foroutan was a PhD student at Waterloo University, Canada.
"My research focuses on the application of new algorithms and technologies in remote sensing to study climate change. I also research planetary extremes from hyper-arid hot deserts to freezing worlds."
A scientist and an artist, she created the TED-ED cartoon 'Could we actually live on Mars?' Her last published paper, in the Journal of Glaciology, was titled 'Automatic mapping and geomorphometry extraction technique for crevasses in geodetic mass-balance calculations at Haig Glacier, Canadian Rockies'
Returning to Canada after visiting her family in Iran, Mari died in the Tehran plane crash of January 2020, accidentally shot down, a consequence of military tension between the USA and Iran.
Greta meets Jane
Biff Vernon Oil on canvas 45 x 60 cm
This was painted in January 2019 when Greata Thunberg and Jane Goodall met in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. Since then Greta's face has become one of the most reproduced images of that year.
Doug Francis a Red Rebel
Biff Vernon Oil on canvas 34 x 28 cm
Jason Carlisle
Oil on canvas 60 x 90 cm
The project was about the people connected to two nature reserves. Farr Ings and Blacktoft Sands, are areas that are both dependant on sea levels and the stability of the environment. I created two portraits of wardens involved within these areas.
Ted Green - Dina J Mysko
Watercolour & Ink on paper
Ted Green MBE is the Founder President of the Ancient Tree Forum (ATF) and Conservation Consultant to the Crown Estate in Windsor. He is an advocate of modern arboriculture who demonstrates that ancient trees have greatly increased our understanding of the ageing process of trees and the co-evolutionary relationships between trees, fungi and other micro-organisms. Ted is one of founders of the ATF, a group of multi-disciplinary experts and specialists who come together to discuss ancient trees and their management. The ATF has pioneered the conservation of ancient trees for over 25 years and is the only UK organisation focused solely on safeguarding ancient and other veteran trees, their wildlife, and their heritage and cultural values now and for the future.
Jane Goodall - Fiona McKinnell
Pencil on paper
Chris Packham - Alison McKinnell
Watercolour, collage, pencil-crayon & ink
Snowy and his humans, some of our own homegrown activists, beavering away on behalf of the planet - Joy Pitt
Handpainted on upcycled porcelain
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman - Elaine Gorton
Painted porcelain 30 cm
Chris Packham, Rebel for Life - Pam Withers
White stoneware with screen printed and hand painted glazes, incorporating quotes from Chris Packham Diameter 25 cm
Chris Packham, Wild Justice - Pam Withers
White stoneware with screen printed and hand painted glazes, incorporating quotes from Chris Packham Height 25 cm
George Monbiot - Pat Hickson
Pencil
Jean and Biff Vernon and the Time and Tide Bell - Carter Harrison
In 2007 I moved to Horncastle Lincolnshire to be near my daughter and her family. I soon became acquainted with the very healthy far-flung community of like-minded "save the environment" movers and groovers. When I first heard about the big bell project I was ever so touched by the idea. I had grown up swimming the cold Atlantic in New ENgland, battling the high waves. I became an ever so fond and frequent visitor to the North Sea beaches of Anderby Creek, Chapel St. Leonards with my daughter and grandaughters. There I taught them how to swim and not be afraid of the big waves. We learned to read the tide tables so we came when the tide was high. And then when we forgot we would walk way way out stomping in the sand pools when the tide was low.
Meeting Biff and Jeanie brought more interesting things into our lives: their ground heat exchanger, spiral walking in the fields, Jeanie's special education experience helped my worries, their vegetable garden that was allowed to be wild. They brought so much richness into my life. I love the tide bell and all it represents so I dedicate this painting to them with gratitude everlasting.
Banner - Cilla Eisner
Featuring text of Greta Thunberg's public speaking together with an image of the Mablethorpe Time and Tide Bell and the words 'Can you hear me'.
Banner detail
First step to get involved: send us an email.
Lincolnshire Time and Tide Bell Community Interest Company is a not-for profit organisation, registered at Companies House. Company Number 10934941
