#WeAreHere
GoCreate have been collaborating with Rights:Community:Action and Climate Action Taunton on a two year climate project ~#WeAreHere
We are facing increasing climate change impacts – through flooding, heatwaves and sea level rise – we’re being directly affected in the places we live. Small changes and ‘business as usual’ are not going to be enough to keep our communities safe. We need to think about the future and how we can plan to face that change together.
We have been collaborating with regional organisation Rights Community Action for a second year to create artwork focused on climate change using community voices.
Supporting people take actions in their own communities on climate change is what local Charity Climate Action Taunton do. They hold talks, workshops, connect communities and groups to inspire hope and actions.
Rotunda Art
GoCreate held free community arts workshops at The Arts Hub to create posters for the advertising rotunda’s in the Town Centre.
The posters showcase climate stories visually from a wide cross-section of the community and all age groups from primary school to retired.
Liz Biron created this text to go alongside her climate poster:
Everyone can help limit climate change. From the way we travel, to the electricity we use and the food we eat, we can make a difference.
But, it’s not ALL down to us individuals; the world needs governments, industry and business to do the right things. As Kurt Vonnegut said ‘We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost-effective’
We need to put pressure on our politicians to ensure the right things are done and we need to make changes in our own lives.
Leave fossil fuels in the ground.
Reduce your personal carbon footprint by:
Eating less meat and avoiding other foods that destroy the most important carbon stores, (such as king prawns which – almost all from fish farms where there were once mangroves)
Reduce the energy you use to heat and cool your house.
BUY LESS and mend things. Recycling makes us feel better, but isn’t really the answer.
Do your own homework. EDUCATE YOURSELF. Don’t be be taken in by greenwash. There’s lots about. And there are no simple, instant solutions, with many seemingly obvious ones not being all they’re cracked up to be. Unfortunately much tree planting in the UK is like this and is simply not capable of offsetting much carbon.
Keep the ecosystems that store and actively lock up the most carbon intact. The very most important ones worldwide are peat deposits in permafrost, and under rain forests. Mangrove swamps and Sea grass beds – the subject of my poster are really important too.
And if you want to offset eg a crucial plane flight, don’t blindly buy carbon credits. Support projects that restore/project carbon in the SW these include peat restoration projects on the Levels, Exmoor and Dartmoor, and seagrass restoration https://www.oceanconservationtrust.org
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Climate Benches on the High Street
GoCreate hosted a number of free creative workshops and invited members of the public come along and share their climate design ideas for the concrete benches on the High Street.
The designs are all inspired by Climate Change, and how climate action now, could change our futures.
These visual community voices were painted on the benches alongside designs by local artists to produce an educational and visual response in Taunton.
Huge thanks to Rights : Community : Action and Somerset Council for funding the project.
For more information and Photographs click here.
Climate Mural at Taunton Library
GoCreate hosted free creative workshops in the community to help put ideas forward for a climate mural originally for Taunton Bus Station, after discussions with Somerset Council it was later decided to use the space above Taunton Library. The community designs were pulled together by Jenny and Liz from GoCreate and local graffiti artist Sam Gaden from Aerosol Art.
rightscommunityaction.co.uk
NorthTown Bridge Climate Art
