February 8, 2010 at 3:12 pm (Green Man Project, Nautilus Project)
Of all the books I read in 2009, “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh was amongst the most uplifting, and I very much look forward to further installments of “The Ibis Trilogy”.
Not only is “Sea of Poppies” a gripping story, its is also a book full of historical and linguistic interest, set during the time of “The Opium Wars”. One of the heroines is also a keen botanist, and the rich “green heritage” of the Indian sub-continent is an important theme.
However, notwithstanding this exotic and distant setting, the character portraits have an immediacy which draws the reader into their collective fates, or karma.
Like “Journeys through the Black Atlantic”, the subject matter of “Sea of Poppies” reflects the shadow side of Britain’s maritime heritage, but difficult and often disturbing material is transmuted along the way through the genius of the writer.
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February 4, 2010 at 10:46 am (Nautilus Project)
An exhibition has recently opened at the Tate Liverpool art gallery entitled “Journeys through the Black Atlantic”.
This theme reflects the area of interest – ie the British Maritime Diaspora – explored in the Nautilus Project, from challenging historical and contemporary perspectives. For more information please see :
www.tate.org.uk/liverpool
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February 4, 2010 at 10:24 am (Green New Deal, News & Updates)
The following information is taken from www.regen.net :
Birmingham City Council has launched a scheme it hopes will create around 270 new jobs and apprenticeships and help the council meet its target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 per cent by 2026.
The Green New Deal, which is being piloted in four districts of the city, aims to make homes and businesses more energy efficient by fitting solar panels, new boilers and insulation. Local strategic partnership Be Birmingham and the Government’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund are backing the scheme with £1.19 million in funding.
Up to 25,000 homeowners and 1,000 businesses in Aston, Lozells, Northfield and Newtown will be offered the retrofitting work. The council says the scheme will create an estimated 170 apprenticeships and a further 111 jobs if 5,000 homeowners sign up to it.
Eligible homeowners, such as those over sixty years old and those with young children, will be able to apply for grants and subsidies to carry out the work, while others will be able to take out loans repayable over an agreed number of years using savings made on energy bills or profit made from selling excess energy back to the national grid.
The council said it will consider expanding the scheme across the city if it is successful.
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October 31, 2009 at 3:34 pm (Lady of the Waters, Land of Britain, Nautilus Project)
I couldn’t resist including this beautiful painting of a mermaid by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse from the Wikipedia Commons. British folklore generally regards sighting of a mermaid to be unlucky and this one certainly has something of the femme fatal about her. I hope people don’t feel she’s too ominous a presence in the light of my previous post on the threat of coastal flooding !
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October 30, 2009 at 3:37 pm (Nautilus Project)
Source : David Williamson, Western Mail 29 October 2009
A “COMPLACENT” attitude to protecting Wales’ coastal defences has left them neglected at a time when the danger of flooding is expected to rise, a major report from the Wales Audit Office warns.
A report published today by In it the Auditor General claims that in the future it may not be possible to protect all communities from the threat of floods and residents may have to leave their homes.
Today’s report, Coastal Erosion and Tidal Flooding Risks in Wales, advises that severe storms will become more common as a result of climate change and sea levels are predicted to rise by around one metre over the next 100 years.
Six out of 10 people live on coastal plains in Wales today and flood risk is predicted to increase by up to 20 times in the next 80 years.
Areas in high risk include:
The Gwent Levels in South Wales;
Aberaeron, Aberystwyth, Tywyn and Borth in Mid Wales;
Kinmel Bay and the stretch from Towyn to Llandudno in North Wales
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October 30, 2009 at 3:26 pm (Nautilus Project)
The Nautilus Project is a further addition to the Green Man portfolio and will explore the environment of coastal Britain, and the wider heritage of the British maritime diaspora, including the importance of the sea in defining national identity and our multi-cultural legacy.
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June 12, 2009 at 10:23 am (Land of Britain)
After listening to an excellent “From Fact to Fiction” programme on BBC Radio 4 the other week about a “Parliament of Rooks” – an entertaining satire on MPs expenses – I found this interesting account :
“Rooks are common European members of the genus ‘Corvus’, and the commonest species of the genus in Britain. They nest and roost communally. Their sexual displays are fantastic, with tumbling falls in the air and complex aerobatics. In late winter, just before the breeding season (and at other times of the year too) it is common to see groups of rooks rising above leafless roosting trees, cawing away noisily. Such a group is known as a parliament of rooks, but “parliament” here does not just mean group (like “pride of lions). A medieval belief that is still current in some places is that a parliament of rooks is judging the souls of the recently dead, or that it is enacting laws for the natural kingdom for the coming year. Rooks, by the way, are scavengers….” David Brez Carlisle Carleton.CA
Also see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook
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June 6, 2009 at 2:09 pm (Lady of the Waters, News & Updates)
Boris Johnson embraces the Lady of the Waters
The London Mayor’s adventures in South East London waters this week prompts me to update the profile for Lady of the Waters as follows :
This project is concerned with the well-being of the freshwater environment, and habitats connected to lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, together with the biodiversity and health of life which depends upon these, including human’s “Taking the Waters”.
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January 30, 2009 at 4:22 pm (Uncategorized)
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Of all the books I read in 2009, “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh was amongst the most uplifting, and I very much look forward to further installments of “The Ibis Trilogy”.
