Taking place 9th – 18th June, the Festival of Nature is the UK’s largest free celebration of the natural world. This year several academics will be sharing their research in various ways as part of the festival’s 20th anniversary.
Our academics will be taking part in the Festival of Nature’s Wild Weekend on Saturday 17 – Sunday 18 June. The Wild Weekend includes two huge outdoor days of free nature activities, stalls and screenings, food and drink, and special guest talks at the harbourside.
Highlights from UWE Bristol include:
Climate Change Book Club with Dr Sarah Robertson and Dr Ann Alston
Interested in climate, nature and stories? Then come and have a chat with Ann Alston and Sarah Robertson who will be running their Climate Change Book Stall at the Festival of Nature weekend. Passionate about how literature can help tell the story of climate change, Sarah and Ann who specialise in climate fiction in UWE Bristol’s English Literature department, will be on hand to recommend and talk about books. Sarah and Ann will have a selection of books on the climate available for you to browse, from children’s books, to young adult books and to adult books. So, if you’re looking for book gifts or something to read while sat in your garden, or simply a chat about climate literature and the book groups Sarah runs, then they would love to see you. Follow Sarah’s climate book group on Instagram to find out more (@climate_change_book_club)
Voices in a Pandemic Project
The Arts & Humanities Research Council Voices in a Pandemic (VIP-CLEAR) project is taking its Tree of Hope and Ambition, created by Bristol artist Luci Gorell Barnes, to the Festival of Nature. Children will have an opportunity to draw their hopes on coins and add their voices to the tree. This arts activity supports ‘looking forward’ during times where threats are difficult to navigate and often invisible (such as climate change, austerity, war) and mirrors the creative research activities carried out by VIP-CLEAR with Bristol primary schools. The research informed children’s book ‘Learning to Live with Fog Monsters’ will also be available.
Access the project’s free e-book.
Wild Carbon & UWE Bristol research
UWE Bristol staff and students from the School of Applied Sciences have teamed up with Wild Carbon to develop cost-effective methods and techniques to monitor and validate improvements in carbon sequestration and biodiversity in rewilding and restoration projects. At the Festival of Nature, we will be showcasing our research on the spatial and temporal variation of greenhouse gas emissions from rewilding sites and the potential use of sound recording technology (bioacoustics) as a means to monitor soil health, quality and biodiversity.
Reverse Graffiti
In collaboration with Stop Ecocide, Dr Suwita Hani Randhawa will be hosting an art installation project on ‘reverse graffiti’, which aims to inspire collective creative responses to global environmental issues. Drawing on her research on international crimes, she will also be showcasing the importance of recognizing ecocide as an international crime through an interactive activity that encourages reflection on the question of who should be held accountable for crimes against the environment.