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Savoy Tea CompanyEdit Company
Popular Teas from Savoy Tea CompanySee All 24 Teas
Recent Tasting Notes
This is my favorite maple tea ever. Tastes like maple pecan brittle, or pecan pancakes. The green tea is just vegetal enough to keep it from being sticky or oily tasting; the other goodies make it feel like dessert.
Temperature is about 10 degrees warmer than it's been all week, but the sky is heavy and gray and threatening snow flurries, which makes the chill penetrate deeper. I am freezing after a traipse out for lunch and a bit of shopping.
Correction: I was freezing. Starting to thaw out with this wonderful flavored green tea. It's warm and creamy in texture, smells like maple walnut brittle, leaves sweetness on your tongue, and disappears from the cup way-y-y-y too fast!
I am trying to justify a run to Arkansas soon to snag more of this while it's in season. Green tea and maple isn't a combination I would have though of on my own, but it's perfect. A little sweetening is built into the dry mix (I still haven't had the packet in hand when the laptop is handy to pop in the ingredients), but it isn't cloying.
Perfect for a warmish coolish afternoon while resting my feet after a wonderful browse in a flea market/antique mall that just kept going and going and going and going…we're on the hunt for a few vintage blue glass medicine and apothecary bottles for the newly updated bathroom. Lost count of the times I caught my breath and said, "Oh! I remember those!" or "Grandma had one just like that…" They even had old Sears print catalogs from the 70's and 80's. Forget Amazon. You haven't lived until you've spent an evening poring over every page of a 900-page catalog.
Have frittered away too much of the morning and I need to get to church before my kiddos do, so I'll edit in the actual ingredients later. Generally, this is a green tea—looks like long sencha leaves—with nuts and maple brittle. It doesn't seem sweet at first, but after several swallows, you have a smile on your face and waffles on your breath :) (Without the buttery, calorie-laden guilt.)
Sometimes you have to jam your hand down to the very bottom of the basket to see what's there. This was.
Sweet 16 is a cheerful, sweet little concoction with a red kool-ade scent that might make you feel nostalgic for church multipurpose rooms and sandwich cookies on napkins. You get "generic fruit" more than you get papaya, but it's good all the same.
I love sunflower (which is in this) and calendula (which isn't) in teas—they just give it a happy taste. Definitely not strong enough for workday mornings, but it's adding a little serendipity to a gray Sunday morning.
This one smells and steeps like fruit punch. I was a little leery, since it contained green tea, of the recommended 4 minute steep time, but it worked well. The sweetness stays on your tongue, but doesn't coat it like licorice. A tasty one for fancy cups and feather boas and sparkly junk jewelry tea parties.
So what were you doing 28 years ago today? We had just washed the Just Married shoe polish off the Buick, jettisoned a few balloons and streamers along Highway 54 and eaten our first meal as a married couple: chili dogs at the Sonic in El Dorado Springs, Missouri.
Our anniversary lunch today was a trifle classier (Italian at Johnny Carino's), but other than that it's been a decadently lazy day puttering at home, ironing, and watching a DVD of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel nabbed cheap at Dollar General. Part of developing a lifetime relationship is learning to love being companionably boring together.
Sorry. Tea.
Heavy lunch needed a nice, light counterpart. This is. A sweet melange of fruitiness. Raspberry really needs equal time in the title, but Pomegranate Grape Raspberry Green is a little long—you can only fit so much on a label.
Congratulations! We will have #27 next month! And now I want to head to our Dollar General and see if they have a copy of that movie! We saw it at the little art house theater downtown.
To answer your question 28 years ago today I was either at a friends house, visiting my grandparents, or possibly my mother and I were out on one of her pick a direction and drive adventure in the countryside. That year I had the infamous 'harridan teacher' of my school. I never had a huge problem with her other than having more homework than I ever had again (including university and high school). A lot of people transferred out of the school early in order to avoid having her again.
Congrats! 28 years ago my wife and I were living in a mobile home in my parents back yard. No kids at the time.
I used to see older married couples sitting silently in a restaurant and I thought that meant they couldn't stand each other. Now I completely understand and better yet I now have a term to describe it!
Savoy, our wonderful little regional (wish I could say local, but it's 70 miles) tea shop does flavored green teas really well.
This one is right up to the mark: a well-rounded blend of several fruits (I'm getting lots of raspberry in this particular cup). Smells wonderful, both dry and steeped. Drinking my inaugural cup according to prep directions, but thinking the next round needs to be chilled.
This one isn't on the Savoy website any longer. It's just one ingredient away (no chocolate chips) from their Chocolate Cream Truffle. It would stand to reason the Savoy folks streamlined it from their product line since the two are so similar.
Enough chitchat. What does this taste like? A Russell Stover chocolate coconut candy, heavy emphasis on the coconut. Sweet, thick, heavy on the tongue.
A little pricey for this cheapskate ($2.50 for a half ounce sample) but it is tasty.
Flipping back through recent notes on this one, it seems to be the subconscious go-to for moments of mild creative frustration: in this case, it was losing a wrestling match with a Cricut mat that is losing its sticky (those of you who know how expensive those confounded mats are understand the need to beat them into submission until they've lost their last iota of tackiness).
At any rate, this lovely orange-almond green is perfect for an afternoon, slightly sweet, easy to steep. One I will chase down next trip to Arkansas.
Be amazed: we did a frivolous and delicious autumn run to NW Arkansas yesterday (primarily Eureka Springs for those of you familiar with the geography), stopped at Savoy on the way home, and I restrained myself to two small packets of tea. This was one of 'em, because I know of no other source for a similar orangey, almondy, cookie-y green tea. This is gooood!
I associate green tea with focus and clarity; need lots. The closest I come these days to algebra and geometry is figuring out the composition of a teacher resource pack: you get X units of Y kind of paper (three different weights) and you have to leave Z units unbespoken for required items, so what's left is like trying to fit 9 shoes in 4 shoeboxes without the lid coming off….oh, my hurtin' head….
We skipped the Eureka Springs trip this year. I was happy with where we went, but I still missed that autumn drive to Arkansas. Maybe I can talk Mom into it in a couple of weeks if the weather holds…
The drive was the best part. We got off 49 at Bella Vista and took little 2-lane back roads the rest of the way.
I love Eureka Springs, but the winding roads between here and there make me crazy. Glad to hear you made it with your sanity intact.
You do know that Misty Meadows is Mistletoe renamed, right?
The name of this one conjures up images of neither mist nor meadow. I don't think any of the ingredients even grow in a meadow, unless it's a safflower, maybe.
Vocabulary and imagery differences aside, this is still mightily tasty. Orange and almond sweetness; not a tart nor a pucker to be found. (I splurged and made sure a dried orange slice made it into my measuring spoon tonight. Hey, it's been a rough week. I needed a little perk.)
"Misty Meadows" sounds so much more refined than "green tea with almond and orange." But orange and almond it is, and an excellent blend at that.
Almonds have this pesky habit of going bitter in a black tea. With the lighter temp and steep time required for green tea, the flavor is just perfect. Not sure the peppercorns are kicking in much kick, maybe a little uptick at the end of each sip.
Enjoying this on a morning when a quick wake-up isn't necessary, but it's definitely not a hurry-up morning tea. Much better for afternoons or "prevenings" when you have time to rock and relax.
Score another one for Savoy's pleasantly-flavored green teas.
This is a decent, lightweight IB. This is not the tea to drink at 6 a.m. when it's the only cup you're going to get all day because your workday is screamingly nonstop from the moment you walk in and then when you get off you have to run screaming in another direction to take an elderly father to the E.R.
Thank you for indulging me in a bit of self-pity :) Surely there is hot water around here somewhere. I have a bag of Twinings on me….
Ever notice you're getting fond of a tea precisely at the time the packet is getting distressingly thin and you can't find it any more?
This is a cheerful, smooth, and bumble-friendly breakfast tea—not heavy work-boots stout; more like a sturdy pair of sneakers to help you stride out the door.
Brrr! First cold snap. We tried to tough it out and forego turning the heat on last night; hubby woke up with a cold looking at he'd been hit by a truck, and my joints were screamingly painful. So WARM trumped any other tea quality this morning.
This is a decent morning cup that takes absentminded steeping well. Smooth, not sharp.
Which is worse: a week with no time to drink tea, or a week so nuts you've been drinking it all along and failed to enjoy it? It's falling somewhat toward the latter here.
So, in keeping with the "brainless" theme, picked a morning cuppa that apparently needs no thought whatsoever. This is good, but awfully mild for an Irish breakfast; just a half-tone shy of a Ceylon, a trifle less sharp than that. Takes long steeps with no problem; I may have to double up on leaf and time and see what happens with the rest of the packet.
Can't find this one on the website to provide a description or picture; no surprise, as it was in a clearance bin at this nice little shop in NW Arkansas.
I wish there were an aftershave with the scent of the dry leaves—dark and peaty and malty. Then I wish I could get my spouse to wear it…but he probably wouldn't like me sniffing him all over :)
Steeped as prescribed at 5 minutes, the flavor isn't as representative of the smell as I had hoped, but it's still a fair breakfast tea, leaning to the strongish side of Assam. Not a thriller, but not a disappointment.
Going to propose the theory that the folks at Savoy do much better at blends and flavored teas then they do straight-up stuff.


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Welcome To Our New Site
Welcome to the new website of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maryland. We hope you like the new look. We will continue to add content over the next several weeks. If there is anything you would like to see added, please let us know.
Email us at firstname.lastname@example.com
Shoot & Feast - Sporting Clay Tournament
The Professional Fire Fighters of Maryland is pleased to announce our inaugural Shoot & Feast Sporting Clay Tournament.
Looking for a fun day outdoors at Pintail Point on the Eastern Shore? Consider entering a five member team in this event.
Click here for details or go to the event webpage.


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Azrou Things to Do
The cedar forests south of Azrou are supposedly great for hiking and if you're lucky you'll come across some of its best know residents, the Barbery Apes. As we were leaving Azrou on the road to Midelt we spotted a few of these apes close to the road - some of them were even walking across it!more
Walking in the hills around Azrou
Azrou is surrounded by hills and many people hike up these hills for great views of the town and the surrounding area. On our first evening we walked through the market and over to one of these hills beyond rue Titahcen. This is one of the poorer areas of town and the higher we climbed the more obvious the poverty. Many of the houses here were...more
The Rock
Azrou is the Berber word for rock and town takes its name from the huge rock mountain near the centre of town. The area around this azrou is a popular spot with local kids while you can also climb to the top of the azrou from where there are great views over the town. It's an easy enough climb though near the top there are a few dangerous spots...more
Azrou Restaurants
Patisserie Azrou
Patisserie Azrou is a nice cafe near the mosque in the centre of Azrou. Inside it's a typical dark, smoky, cafe, with mostly male customers watching Spanish football but it's more friendly on the terrace or upstairs. We had breakfast here one morning and we stopped by for a coffee a couple of times as well. Overall, it's a good value cafe with...more
Restaurant des Cedres
There aren't too many restaurants in Azrou and as it had started raining heavily by dinner time we didn't want to spend too long searching for somewhere to eat. It was a choice between the restaurant in our hotel and the one next door and we chose our hotel as the menu sounded nicer. There were a couple of menus on offer though, strangely, you...more
Azrou Hotels0 Hotels in Azrou
Azrou Transportation
Ferries from Spain & France to Azrou:
Ferries from Spain & France to Azrou:Ferries from SpainTaking your car, or going as a foot passenger, Ferries are available from Algeciras and Tarifa to Tangier. Crossing is about 2.5 hours or fast crossing 1 hour. [No need to book] www.frs.es/ also www.trasmediterranea.es/Ferries from France:Sete to Tangier. Regular sailings from Sete in the...more
Let the train take the strain
If the Big City travel fatigue takes over and you feel the need to chill then why not plan a train trip to Laidback Hassle free Azrou in the middle Atlas Mountains just 1¼ hours from Fez & Meknes.Firstly when you board the train it's time to relax and sightsee out the window for a few hours.There are railway links from all Moroccan Cities to Meknes...more
Ryanair to Azrou via Fez international...
By Air to Fez (Sais) international airport is only 1¼ hours from AzrouAdvance bookings of Direct and Indirect flight from £35 return with Ryanair: www.ryanair.com/ fly direct to Fez from Europe: London Stansted (STN) , Girona (Barcelona) (GRO), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille Provence MP2, Alicante (ALC), Brussels(CRL), Milan (Bergamo)(BDY), and...more
Azrou Shopping
Cooperative Artisnal
The Cooperative Artisnal on the Khenifra road sells rugs, carpets and interesting woodwork, made from the cedar in the forests around Azrou. These Artisnals can be found in many towns in Morocco and, in general, the prices are fixed but often quite high. However, you can be assured of the quality of the goods. We almost bought some of the cedar...more
Tuesday Berber Market
Every Tuesday there is a huge Berber market held on the outskirts of Azrou. The morning of our departure coincided with market-day so we decided to stay around and see the market. It's held about 1.5km south of town. To get here, leave town by Boulevard Moulay Abdelkader and walk for about 20 minutes until you come to the market. It's held in a...more
Flea Market 1
if you need an old brooken tv set, this is the right place to get it. old clothes ,old metal taps, etc...more
Azrou Off The Beaten Path
On the road from Meknes to Azrou, about 18km north of Azrou, there's a roadside lay-by called Paysage Ito which has excellent views over a volcanic plateau. According to my guide book this was used as a backdrop in many sci-fi movies in the 1970s. We had planned to stop here for a picnic but it was very cold and windy so we had to eat in the car. We did get out briefly to take in the spectacular views.
Azrou Sports & Outdoors
Soccer games. Check small soccer games with children playing. Go and play with them they will love it for sure.
Azrou Favorites
Evenings on the Balcony
We had a nice balcony outside our hotel room which overlooked the town and in the evening after climbing one of the hills around Azrou and climbing the large rock, we came back to our balcony have a few glasses of wine, listen to Moroccan radio and play cards before dinner. It was the third day of our trip and we were starting to relax and get into...more
Don't Forget Insurance
If your current health insurance doesn't cover you while your abroad, you should consider getting international travel insurance just in case something should go wrong.
Instant Answers: Azrou
Get an instant answer from local experts and frequent travelers


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The networked sound installation Biotricity No.5 uses a fairly new "green energy" technology called microbial fuel cell to explore the intricate relationship between nature and technology, biologic systems and electronic networks.
The installation consists of neatly aligned bacteria-fuel cells. Once they are connected together, the cells form a mini bio-power plant that turns into sound the process of generating electricity from bacteria living in mud and water.
>BIOTRICITY. Bacteria Battery No 5
Biotricity No.5 was developed by Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits and Martins Ratniks together with sound artist and composer Voldemars Johansons and young biologists from the University of Latvia.
Biotricity No.5 was also the starting point of a workshop organized by Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven during The Dutch Technology week. Participants learnt how to make a cell from bacteria living in soil and waste water and how to assemble a 'bacteria-battery' system. But because the event was as much about art as it was about science, participants were also invited to develope collaborative and conceptual ideas for "bacteria-battery" future design, tools for measuring and modulation that can be used for artistic interpretations, sonifications and visualizations.
Since i was curious about the possibility for 'everyday people' to create energy using mostly muddy water, and how the experimentation could translate into artistic concepts and projects, i asked Rasa Smite to talk to us about her experiments in bacteria energy. Rasa is a media artist-innovator and network researcher based in Riga, Latvia. She is chief-editor of Acoustic Space journal series, and organizer of the Art+Communication festival in Riga. She is also is an Associate Professor of New Media Art Programme and researcher at Art Research Lab (MPLab)/Liepaja University and the director of RIXC, The Center for new media culture in Riga.
Hi Rasa! During the Biotricity workshop at Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven, participants learned how to make a cell from bacteria living in water and to built 'bacteria-battery' system. How easy is this exactly? Do you need to use sophisticated tools and materials hard to find in shops or on the internet?
We are using so called microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology that generates electrical energy from living micro-organisms that can be found in the commonly available resources such as, for instance, waste water, soil or mud. Experimenting with 'bacterial energy', we intend to use readily available components in order to make this technology more accessible and realizable for everyone interested in green energy production. All you need for building these batteries you either can buy in shops or build yourself.
Could you tell us briefly about the kind of experiments participants developed during the workshop? Do you have photos of the process and of what has been made?
A workshop itself is an experiment in terms of how much electrical energy we manage to get from the self-built cells. There are several components behind this process. The most important are the bacteria themselves, who live in water sediments, namely, in mud. We are curious how powerful each time the specific mud will be. Collecting the mud as well as thinking and deciding from which site to do so, usually is also a part of the workshop. In Eindhoven we used our own pre-collected mud from the pond in Genneperpark next to the Dommel river, as it was suggested by local expert - workshop organizer Baltan Laboratories.
For building a cell, participants use 2 plastic containers (in size of about half a liter or one liter) - one with a mud and the other one with a (clean) water. We put inside electrodes in both containers, which consist of stainless steel mesh and carbon material (which participants can make themselves by burning any cotton-based material). Then we build agar or jelly bridge between both cells as we need semi-penetrable 'connector' between those two. In the dirt-container we pump out all oxygen, so the bacteria who are splitting organic matter into smaller substances are now producing hydrogen protons and liberate electrons (which otherwise would be 'taken' by oxygen). The protons are traveling through the jelly bridge to the clean water (towards the oxygen), while we can collect electrons from the dirt-container by using the electrode. Now we can get electricity in outer chain and to connect there LED light or other small-voltage consuming devices.
As the workshop in Baltan was related to our exhibition work, the second part of the workshop was led by sound artist and composer Voldemars Johansons. He introduced workshop participants how to sonify electrical signals and to make sound structures representing and interpreting electricity generation process.
How did you and the other artists you work with familiarize yourself with microbial fuel cells? Self-experimentation? Study with scientists?
We are used to say that we are artists-researchers and cultural innovators, who work with the science and emerging technologies. But as art has different aims then the science, then collaborative work with scientists is more important in the beginning. But then, at the certain stage, art has to fulfill its own tasks and it takes its own path. If we trace back to Renaissance, this path (of art) was not yet separated from the science then. Later, when science became the only mean of determining truth and explaining a 'real' world, art remain in the position of dealing with more uncertain phenomenon, emotional and subjective worlds. Just now, very recently, when our modern society has become even much more complex, it becomes clear that there are no any single discipline which could deal with this complexity. Therefore, art as research with its imaginative, intuitive, emotional and subjective approaches again is getting a recognition as a complimentary discipline to the sciences. More then that we would like to argue, that changing role of art in our society is the one of a catalyst - for social, scientific, and technological transformations.
Baltan will also exhibit an installation you developed together with sound artist Voldemars Johansons and video artist Martins Ratniks: BACTERIA BATTERY No.5. Could you briefly describe the piece and how it works?
For Baltan exhibition we use self-built 12 microbial fuel cells, each of which generates small voltage of electricity - 0,2-0,7 V. Connected together they create mini bio-energy power station. By using micro-electronics, the signals from bacteria electricity generation is being processed and interpreted into multiple channel sound structures. With sonification we also are aimed at exploring interrelation between biology and computing. In order to make visible the micro-environment, where the bacteria live, we also have made a video from images taken with the electronic microscope.
What exactly can artists bring to the discourse of green energy production? How different is their perspective and approach compared to the one of a scientist?
We, artists not necessarily have to make the models for batteries or prototypes for infrastructures - however we are also keen on doing so. More relevant is that artists are questioning and reflecting. Artists are approaching energy technology issues from social, cultural and ecological perspective, thus reaching more diverse levels in social structure of our society. For instance, as a part of our artistic research project on Bacteria Battery last year we organized series of collaborative working sessions titled "Biotricity" together with both scientists and local communities in very different settings. We did first bacteria battery tests in science laboratories at Latvian University.
Later together with artists the scientists participated in our temporary 'rural-labs' in country side of Latvia, where we explored Latvian vast lands and available resources there for future energy infrastructures (global-local, peer-to-peer, information-energy etc.). For instance, we organized "AppleThink" event where along with apple-juice-squizing workshops and an apple-market, young biologists where showing to local village people how to build bacteria battery from apple-waste.
But most exciting was our experiments to install bacteria battery outdoors, in the pond of our cottage. In the pond, one electrode is installed in the bottom in a mud, while the other one is floating on a surface, in clean water. Because of the larger surface in the water of lakes or oceans, it is more easy to get more power then in half a liter containers. For instance, this technology is used in deep ocean research. However, this technology is also used for powering very small medical devices, as these bacteria also are living in human blood. Yet, we think, that this technology is particularly unique because it contains a potential to be used in remote, rural and undeveloped areas, as well as for building autonomous and self-sustainable infrastructures.
While looking at the video of BACTERIA BATTERY No.5. i was surprised by the size and number of batteries. This form of green energy doesn't seem to be efficient. But is it because the research regarding bacteria batteries is still in its infancy or because you didn't have access to more sophisticated tools and materials to build them?
Well, both, in a way. Yet our primary interest with this project was to obtain a knowledge on how to build a mini bio-power station by ourselves. Also, we are not so much interested in 'instrumentalizing' this technology (in terms of how to make it more efficient) as it is rather the engineers' task. For us half a liter or liter big size cells of which the battery was built, seem just a right way to represent the alternative ways of our visions on future energy infrastructures, which can be produced from local resources, and connected as peer-to-peer networks - locally and globally.
For instance, this technology has been used already in rural Africa, where people for the first time could get in their homes could plug-in LED bulbs and and charge cell phones in five-gallon dirt-powered buckets. So, we really like that this technology is so robust, and that it has so minimal requirements such as mud, dirt, waste, water - at least some of which can be found anywhere on this world, even in the most remote and inaccessible sites.
More then that, we feel affected by the fact that the electricity in this technology is produced by living micro-organisms. Building our installations together with biologists, we realized that the bacteria electricity generation process is not so stable and not always predictable. It depends on the environment, for instance the level of heat, and most likely on some more not yet discovered reasons. And then it came to our mind that probably we should negotiate with the bacteria as we did in our Talk to me (2010-2012) project, where we invited people to talk to the plants encouraging them to grow faster, taller and more beautiful.
As bacteria are living organisms, very old ones and very important for global ecosystem, and if we want them to make more energy... may be we should learn to communicate with them? More pragmatically, but also scientists see the potential of this technology, as they are carrying out their research on how exactly the bacteria conduct an electrical charge and this will help them make this technology more efficient sooner or later.
Why is it called BACTERIA BATTERY No.5.? is this the 5th version of it? Are you planning to go further with the Bacteria Battery project? with a version number 6? How would it be like?
It just happened that our first exhibition was the fifth collaborative session with young biologists from the Latvian University. This exhibition, where we showed "Bacteria Battery" installation for the first time was RIXC's Art+Communication festival 2012 which with the title Art of Resilience took place in Riga, in October 2012. The installation was a result of four previous work-sessions, which took place throughout the year 2012 in different settings - in science laboratories as well in rural areas and local villages in Latvia. We still have used number 8 in the title at recent WRO2013 festival exhibition, but we stopped it. More relevant was the number 5 - as it was our first result after longer research process.
Currently we are preparing the installation for a forthcoming exhibition on theme of Synthetic Biology at Ars Electronica center. Organizers already have collected a mud for us from the dirt in the streets of Linz city after the recent flood. This Summer we also will be continuing experiments in pond. We will install several cells, which will be connected to the Internet, streaming live images and data from electricity generation process. Thus we will be monitoring electricity generation process in out-door conditions via the Internet all year long, and it seems, that we are the first ones, who has done something like this. What we experienced in the previous experiments is that the microbes actually prefer being in natural conditions, even in cold winter, under the ice, electricity generated by pond is more stable then one in containers. Minimal fluctuations we only could observe in the mornings and evenings. Live stream from the pond-battery is also a part of the installation in Linz.
We regularly are updating news on bacteria research process and results at Renewable network blog site: http://renewable.rixc.lv, and on Facebook: rixcriga.
Thanks Rasa!
More art projects using microbial fuel cell: Nomadic Plants.
The new episode of #A.I.L - artists in laboratories, the weekly radio programme about art and science i present on ResonanceFM, is aired this Wednesday afternoon at 4pm (London time.)
My guest tomorrow will be Heiko Hansen who, together with Helen Evans, forms the art & design duo Hehe. Heiko is not in the studio with us, alas! I met him last week in Liverpool where FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) was celebrating its first decade of heralding art & technology with a new exhibition called Turning FACT Inside Out.
Part of the anniversary involved commissioning new works to artists such as HeHe. And HeHe took the invitation to turn FACT inside out literally. Their new piece used the exhibition space to extract gas from the ground underneath the gallery and suggest that in the future we might want to bypass big energy companies and extract our own fossil fuels ourselves in our back garden.
The artists have filled the space with heavy machinery that extracts shale gas through a process called fracking. Fracking is short for 'hydraulic fracturing', a process that consists in pumping a highly pressurised mixture of water, sand and chemicals underground to extract gas. The process opens fissures in rocks, releasing the gas trapped beneath the earth's surface. The plan brought forward by the artists is to use the gas to ensure the future operation of FACT and to export the energy directly to the local community.
The experimental drilling site looks like a mini inferno: it's noisy, it is filled with red lights and flames, the furniture is shaking. And there's even a filthy looking water pit.
The objective of the Fracking Future installation is to highlight the relevance of the debates surrounding the fracking process, which are not only significant environmentally, but also economically. Fracking Futures is a fairly ambiguous piece. First of all, because the work does not intend to take a clear stand: it only illustrates the potential dangers of the process. At the same time, it considers the fact that fracking might offer citizens an opportunity to produce their own alternative source of energy. It is also an ambiguous project because the visitor is left to decide whether the fracking experiment at FACT is indeed genuine or whether it is merely a provocation from HeHe.
The show will be aired this Wednesday 19th of June at 16:00. Early risers can catch the repeat next Tuesday at 6.30 am (I know...) If you don't live in London, you can listen to the online stream or wait till we upload the episodes on soundcloud.
The amazing soundtrack & field recordings which we mention in the programme is by Dinah Bird & Jean-Philippe Renoult.
Many stories about or mentioning HeHe's work.
Oil City is a piece of site specific theatre by Platform that interweaves real ecological scandal and fiction to make you better understand the key role that the City of London plays in the operation of the global oil industry.
During one hour approximately, small groups of people are asked to investigate the part that the UK's banking sector -with help from British government officials - is playing in one of the world˙s biggest ecological disasters.
Around you the financial sector shimmers in high-rise office blocks. Behind closed doors deals are being made and oil projects are finding finance with few questions asked. Meanwhile vast swathes of Alberta, Canada, teeter on the brink of ecological disaster, as the struggle to stop tar sands mining of First Nations' Treaty lands fights on.
I took part in one of the performances on Monday. The day before, i received an email from The Lawyer asking participants to 'be dressed to impress, business interview attire' because we will need to 'blend in' as we will be running around London's financial district. He also gives us appointment at the café at Toynbee Studio 'beside the dark flowers and oily black tablecloth.'
Once we've all arrived, he drives us to Liverpool Street Station, while briefing us about our mission, the people we will be meeting or spying on, etc. At the same time, snippets of information emerge about the environmental scandal we have to investigate......
We are given the mission to dig information about the Canadian tar sands ecological scandal. Tar sands, or oil sands, are deposits of sand and clay saturated with bitumen. They lie under 140,000 km2 of forests near Alberta. It is estimated that the tar sands cover a region the size of England. When the bitumen is close to the surface it is excavated in an opencast mine. The process emits four times more carbon dioxide than conventional drilling. It also involves deforestation and heavy use of natural resources: four barrels of water, energy equal to three barrels of oil, and four tons of earth are required to extract one barrel of oil (via Gaia Foundation.)
The extraction process contaminates the Athabasca River and generates enormous toxic tailing ponds. The Tar Sands extraction is having a brutal impact on the wildlife. Each year, thousands of birds die when they migrate and land in waters to rest. As toxins accumulate in the river, mutations, tumours and deformed fish species have begun to appear. Local communities are worried about how the animals they eat and their drinking water are being affected.
"We are seeing a terrifyingly high rate of cancer in Fort Chipewyan where I live. We are convinced that these cancers are linked to the Tar Sands development on our doorstep. It is shortening our lives. That's why we no longer call it 'dirty oil' but 'bloody oil'. The blood of Fort Chipewyan people is on these companies' hands." - George Poitras, former chief of Mikisew Cree First Nation (via Climate camp.)
But back to the Oil City performance. It is an extremely fast-paced and engaging experience. Once our small group is dropped at Liverpool Street Station, we get to meet an investigative journalist who needs tangible proof of wrongdoings otherwise her editor won't run the article about the ecological scandal, she sends us to gather information from whistle blowers, then we have to locate a banker and lawyer in a nearby café and take 'secret' audio recording of their conversation (they are trying to hide the scandal and lobby so that the EU doesn't block the import of oil from Canada.) We also meet an activist from First Nation communities who gives us her side of the story, how the area they live in and their inherent right of self-government are being violated. At some point, we finally get our hands on incriminating evidence from a lady who cleans the offices in The City during the night. She is from Nigeria and tells us how afraid she is afraid that Canada˙s Boreal Forest is becoming the next Niger Delta.
There's a few tickets left for the upcoming performances, i can't recommend the experience enough.
By eavesdropping on business people and seeking out secret documents hidden in dead-drops, you will help piece together a puzzle that interweaves government files with financial deals. But whose truth counts? And what laws apply when lives are on the line but big profits are to be made?
Performances of Oil City take place at 9am, 1pm and 5pm daily on weekdays until 21st June. Bookings this way. The work is part of Artsadmin's Two Degrees festival of arts, climate change, consumerism and community.
La Cosa Radiactiva has brought a group of young engineers, musicians & artists on the roads of Spain to explore sites related with radioactivity.
The team (composed of Sergio Galán, Victor Díaz, Alejandro Pérez, Servando Barreiro, Marcos Carnero, Alvaro Santamaría and Javier Villaroel) is not always welcome in nor around the facilities they investigated but they nevertheless measured radioactivity in locations that range from the Arrocampo artificial lake (which water is used to refrigerate the turbines of the nearby Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant) to a dismantled uranium mine in La Haba (a small town of 1000 inhabitants in the Badajoz province), from the first nuclear power plant (in process of dismantling) in Zorita to a nuclear waste storage facility in El Cabril (Córdoba), etc.
They traveled with their own measurement and visualization system that combines a Geiger counter, an Arduino microcontroller and an app for Android phones. The data gathered is visualized on online maps and in the form of audiovisual performances organized on the public squares of the villages and small towns they visit. The findings collected are also used to trigger discussions with the local population as well as with a broader audience about the social and cultural impact of nuclear energy.
La Cosa Radiactiva is a "research on transparency and nuclear secrets. A performance to demystify radiation while building awareness of its risks. An imagination exercise to reflect on how it would be like to live with radiation and above all this, a call about the importance of citizens having their own tools to be able to verify public health data provided by governmental authorities."
La Cosa Radiactiva / The Radioactive Thing. English trailer
La Cosa Radiactiva / The Radioactive Thing is another brilliant project i discovered during my last visit to MediaLab Prado (i recently wrote about Citizen Cyber Science and the Freedom of Speech Kit.) Because i only had a few minutes to talk about it with Sergio Galán while i was in Madrid, i emailed him to ask him further questions about the project.
Hola Sergio! How much is known, made public in Spain about radioactivity? Was it easy for the team to find information about the location of radioactive sites?
First of all, just to clarify, all places we visited were not radioactive, I mean, with high levels of radioactivity. They were places with some connection with the nuclear industries: mines, factories, centrals, storages... Some of them are still working some are dismantled.
So, answering the question, it is not a secret to find those places. These are mostly old industrial places which are documented in quite a few webs.
But it is tricky. For instance, the ambient sensors provide a measurement of "radiation" around them, so we might think that if those sensors are below certain levels there is no risk.
There is a Geiger counter in many places where old mines or nuclear power plants are. Even if there were a leak or there is underground contamination, the geiger counter won't measure anything alarming unless something quite big is happening.
If you measure ambient radiation in a room where there is radioactively contaminated rice, you won't see a high measurement in your geiger counter, but it doesn't mean you can eat the rice. Counters detect external irradiation not contamination. If you don't know this, sensors can provide a fake "safe" feeling.
Furthermore when something happens, transparency falls down. In Spain during the last 30 years we haven't had a serious incidence, but even the small ones were hidden below the carpet. There was a tiny leak in ASCO - one of the nuclear power plants in Spain - and they didn't inform about the incidence until months later.
So it is a strange policy, always showing off transparency but hiding information when something happens. This is an example that should make us think twice before being too optimistic about the current transparency & open data wave - which of course I stand for - because it can also be used as a smoke curtain to hide things while seeming transparent.
One of the objectives of La Cosa Radiactiva is to 'hold workshops where people can learn about our work and about the radioactive phenomenon in a different way." How different is it from the way radioactivity is presented in mainstream media?
Since it was discovered there has been a strong fascination for radioactivity, thinking about it as a kind of paranormal power like green waves emerging from minerals and mutating all life around. One of our goals when doing our workshops was to teach basic scientific knowledge. We explained that of course it might be dangerous but it is a natural phenomenon, governed by natural laws. And it is actually everywhere, it is on nature in low levels.
Reality is that a lot of people don't have a serious clue about what radioactivity is. I've talked to many people about the project I was doing and quite a few asked me if it had to do with mobile phone waves, which is a totally different issue. So people don't receive scientific education to differentiate electromagnetic waves from nuclear radiation, but we - as a democratic country or society - have decided that we can use it as one of our key energy sources
While on a tour to locate and measure radioactivity around Spain, you met with local communities. How aware (and maybe worried?) are they about the presence of radiation in their environment?
We didn't make any serious poll, but my impression is that there is always a group of people interested and worried, but most of the people don't really care. For instance in a village were there used to be an uranium factory (where most of the workers died or are suffering uranium related illnesses) a guy told us that people don't talk about it. Some of them want to know if there is danger but at the same time they don't want to dig too much, because in case of finding something it might create economic troubles to the region.
So in the places we visited, when there is a nuclear power plant, people live well, they have jobs and so on. And they don't want to know. When there was something in the past, it is an old conflict. It is buried, only ecologists complain from time to time.
The exception is when there is an ongoing conflict. We visited a small village next to where the government plans to build a storage for nuclear waste and in that region people are really engaged, both for and against it.
What is the state of the nuclear energy discourse is in Spain right now? Is the country planing to create new power stations or is it looking for other forms of energy?
It is very ambiguous. On one hand there is a "nuclear moratory". Seven nuclear reactors were under construction in the 80's and then the government stopped them (so they are now just huge empty cement buildings that we are still paying, which is another interesting topic).
On the other hand, the active nuclear power plants, easily get new permissions to keep working for more years. Current government is more pro-nuclear than the old one, but I don't think they'll seriously plan to build more nuclear power plants, basically because they are very expensive, and require many years to start producing energy. Public sector is not investing on anything right now, and private sector won't invest unless they are strongly supported by public money/laws.
The official policy used to be to build more wind and sun powered plants -and Spain is actually among the leaders in both technologies. I think that it is the right thing, but is it enough? People like green energy and don't like carbon or nuclear, but nobody asks the uncomfortable questions like: Can we sustain our energy appetite with green tech only? Are we willing to pay more money for energy to avoid the energy sources with bad reputation? Or are we willing to stop our continuous growth system to consume less energy?
Can you describe briefly the DiY Geiger counters you've made and how members of the public will one day be able to make their own?
Since Fukushima's accident there has been quite a lot of interest for domestic Geiger counters, so they are becoming cheaper and smaller. The one we bought is made by a Spanish company and it is fully open hardware. It works over Arduino, and using the "Android-ready" version of Arduino we could connect it to the mobile phone.
So we don't build it but it is technically possible to build it from scratch. What we developed is a software to use the counter with Android phones. Thanks to the Medialab-Prado's open lab I contacted Alvaro and together with my colleague Victor we did all the Android+Arduino coding.
The goal was to build something more "user centered", a kind of nice interface for geiger counters so people can use it to make explorations and understand what's going on and how good or bad the measurement is.
Does the device show the difference between natural and man-made radioactivity? Sorry for the idiot question but have both forms of radioactivity the same impact on the environment?
Please note that I'm talking as an amateur, not as a scientist, so I might be not very precise. But in essence there are three kinds of radioactive particles: Alpha Beta and Gamma. The three of them can be natural or man-made. A Geiger counter reads the total radiation level so we don't know if the radioactivity we are measuring is natural or not. However if you read an abnormally high level of radiation somewhere, there is probably some human involved there.
Each radioactive element decays into other element emitting different combinations of particles, so scientific equipment can find out if the radiation is coming from natural sources or from other elements which are not usual in nature or directly only exist in nuclear waste or in the nuclear fusion process.
Animals are used to live with low levels of natural radiation in their environment, so if it suddenly increases that is when health problems start to appear.
La Cosa Radiactiva is also about transforming nuclear radiation into image & sound. Can you explain us how?
One of the main goals of the project was to work with radioactivity as a kind of input material for art or performances. So I contacted Servando Barreiro which is a media artist and VJ and also an old acquaintance. He had made a laser projector and with it he generates waves and shapes. For me, the aesthetic of his laser projections, resonates with what popular culture associates with radioactivity: green rays of death. So we agreed on working together. We added an option to the mobile app to stream the measurement levels. So Servando receives the measurement levels and he uses that information to change and modify the shapes of the projections.
My main idea was to have a kind of laser sculpture for villages with nuclear power plants. The laser sculpture will draw day after day the same bored calm shapes. But if there is a radiation leak and the village is in danger, the sculpture would mutate into creepy shapes, and people would admire it before realising that they are in danger.
It sounds poetic but we couldn't talk with the mayor of any place interested on having this. So I just tell it as a kind of design fiction, and in case a mayor of a "radioactive town" wants to build it, he can contact us.
Is the project over or are you planning to work further on it?
I'd love to have some time to finish the app adding a nice visualisation on how dangerous the radiation level that you are measuring is. That will happen probably soon. But the project as it was imagined at the beginning is almost finished. Now I'm thinking on what to do with this. We could make a nice installation for art centres and so on, but we'll see. For now we've just released the documentary a couple of days ago. Marcos Carnero recorded our trip and together with Alejandro we made the script for a series of short films explaining the project and the opinions of the people we found.
For the future I'd like this to be a kind of public service. Like ghostbusters. People would send us an email telling: I think I saw green smoke coming out of the nuclear power plant yesterday. Can you explain us how the geiger counters works or can you come with your counters and tell us what's going on? But besides accidents, I think the main utility for geiger counters is educational. Showing people how it works, explaining that radioactivity is everywhere and using them as a tool to learn & talk (and get fascinated by Servando's figures if they have the chance to.)
Thanks Sergio!
More about the project on its website, blog, facebook page, in a series of short videos with english subtitles.
Today is the last day to witness All Rise, the week-long performance from Liberate Tate at the Tate Modern gallery. Filming devices strapped on to their chest, performers are reading aloud sections of the transcripts of the trial which started in February in New Orleans and sees BP stand accused of gross negligence over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
The performance marks the third anniversary of the disaster but it also questions the sponsorship of Tate by the oil multinational. Each day, three different performers are whispering courtroom transcripts from the BP trial. The videos are streamed live for anyone who can't make it to the Turbine Hall and other exhibition rooms of the institution.
Two years ago Liberate Tate performed Human Cost in the Duveen Gallery in Tate Britain, where a naked man curled up on the floor had oil poured all over him. And last year the group delivered a 16.5 metre wind turbine blade to the gallery, along with documents officially gifting it to the nation as piece of art. '
Strangely enough, Tate itself triggered the artistic protest. Liberate Tate was indeed founded during a workshop in January 2010 on art and activism, commissioned by Tate. When Tate curators tried to censor the workshop from making interventions against Tate sponsors, even though none had been planned, the incensed participants decided to continue their work together beyond the workshop and set up Liberate Tate.
Now the performance interested me for two reasons: the trial against BP isn't receiving the major international coverage i would have expected (even though the damages to human health and the environment are still very much felt, even though the clean-up is far from being finished and even though the local communities are still struggling to recover from the economic devastation.) The second reason is that, like many people working in art, i find it difficult to make up my mind: is it really so bad to take some dirty money to support the art community? Do we really have a choice in these harsh times of cuts in the art funding?
Mel Evans of Liberate Tate has kindly accepted to answer my questions about the performance.
Liberate Tate has been protesting since 2010 but has been achieved so far?
Well, over 300 artists and cultural workers have signed their name to letters calling on Tate to drop BP sponsorship in the press. Over 8000 Tate members and visitors have petitioned Nicholas Serota to end the sponsorship deal with the oil company. And, at the 2012 Tate Members' AGM, a full hour of the session was filled with diverse voices calling for Tate to disclose more information on the sponsorship deal and heed members' perspective on it. For Liberate Tate, their performance interventions are now held in Tate's archive: a mixed response, but a recognition of significance nonetheless. More and more artists have gotten on board with the call for change, including Conrad Atkinson who has numerous works at Tate, and Raoul Martinez, who has been exhibited as part of the National Portrait Award. Beyond this, we regularly hear tell of Tate staff at all levels sharing our concerns with BP sponsorship at Tate.
Because of Liberate Tate, I (and i'm sure many members of the public) am now acutely aware of the sponsorship and entering the exhibition space with a sense of guilt...
Liberate Tate doesn't intend to make anyone or any visitors feel guilty: our slogan is Love Tate Hate Oil.
We want to raise the question, what does a future look like beyond oil? What role does culture have in shaping oil? And what democratic processes are available in a public body such as Tate to question the social legitimacy given to an oil company whose global impacts are devastating lives and livelihoods? We welcome anyone's participation in this questioning, and this gathering of momentum to push for a shift in this cultural sphere. The arts have moved away from tobacco and arms sponsorship; likewise they will shift from oil, we simply insist it is sooner rather than later.
But it is not a sense a guilt we wish to generate, but rather one of possibility - often this is the question the arts often ask, how do we understand the world, how might we understand it differently, and what might we make possible. Just because oil is a feature of our every day lives does not mean we cannot question it - in fact it is when something is so pervasive that we must consider it more.
In these times of cuts in public funding, corporate sponsorship seems to be a reasonable option. What right do we have to judge Tate and decide where they can and cannot take the money to produce and exhibit contemporary art?
Pressure on arts institutions to make deals with corporations is certainly premised by the Tory-Lib Dem government as justification for the cuts. The opportunity for sponsorship and the impact of the cuts is felt very differently according to organisations sizes however: smaller arts organisations have lost everything through the ACE cuts, and have little opportunity for corporate sponsorship, because business is only interested in the notoriety of allegiances with big name institutions. With Tate as the key example, all of their corporate income from events and sponsorship amounts to a minimal percentage of their overall income. Tate has refused to dispose figures on the BP deal, but we estimate it to be £500,000 - a minuscule slice of Tate's budget. From Tate's own figures we know they still receive about 35% state funding, and raise almost half via Tate Enterprises in their shops, cafes and restaurants. The picture of the corporate knight in shining armour saving the flailing arts institutions is a total misnomer. It is in fact the CEO of Tate Enterprises Laura Wright who has led the way in securing Tate's financial stability.
The tip of a turbine blade is carried over the Thames from St Paul's Cathedral by Liberate Tate for the artwork The Gift in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall 7 July 2012 Credit: Martin LeSanto-Smith
Last year, Tate wasn't too pleased about the wind turbine blade that you offered them as a gift. How is Tate reacting to this year's performance?
The Gift was probably our most confrontational performance to date. It was certainly the largest! Over a hundred people and a 16.5 metre wind turbine blade...It feels good to go in absolutely the other direction with All Rise, and make a work that is quiet, small, unobtrusive. All Rise is really about the ripples a performance can make. Over this week we've drawn in audiences from around the world who can watch the three performers move around Tate Modern via live stream every day 3-4pm GMT+1. On the first day Tate staff questioned what we were doing, but now we have been told no-one will interfere. Visitors notice us and ask questions as performers pass them in the gallery, or stop and listen to the legalistic text of the trial whispered by the performers, but we're not obstructing anyone in any way, so I think there's little grounds to ask us to leave. Tate might also be aware that should they eject us, we have news media on speed dial. Overall, allowing this piece to grow into the space has been great, and unlike The Gift, we're able to bring our questions back to the terrible harm still being felt since the BP Gulf of Mexico disaster, at the same time as inviting Tate visitors, members and staff into a conversation with us.
What do you say when people claim that BP has no influence about what is exhibited in the galleries anyway?
It's very hard for us or them to make an absolute measure on BP's curatorial influence. The presence of a sponsor can censor silently even if not directly - any cases of which would be surely fiercely hidden from view. Several artists note numerous cases in which they have seen BP related censorship take place. Liberate Tate was itself founded during a workshop at Tate in which BP sponsorship was raised when staff sent an email to the organiser stating "to be aware that we cannot host any activism directed against Tate and its sponsors". Beyond that. I see the question also being about, what impact does BP have on Tate by its presence and association? What does Tate become, despite presenting itself as a politically savvy, progressive institution, by association with BP?
And what can we, general public, do to help 'liberate Tate'?
Go to Tate and raise the questions. Write to Tate. Make art about BP at Tate. Speak to Tate staff you know and ask them what they think. This is an art movement for change that affects us all as artists on some level - we have a stake in the values that influential contemporary art institutions uphold, and it is for us to shape those values in our work. See you in the gallery, challenging the presence of BP in whatever creative way you see fit, be it on feedback forms or something more adventurous! And get in touch at liberatetate [at] gmail.com or @LiberateTate on Twitter if you want to connect with us and what we're trying to do.
Thanks Mel!
If you've missed All Rise, i'd recommend that you check out Tate à Tate, Liberate Tate's alternative audio tour of the London Tate galleries.
Another project from the Design Interactions work in progress show!
This one is smart and thought-provoking and i'm looking forward to seeing how it will shape up for the graduation show.
Michail Vanis's project suggests that our romantic ideas and ideals regarding nature - a nature that has to be preserved exactly as it is- are holding us back from finding new ways to interact with the world surrounding us. Vanis' Neo-nature project invites us to reconsider our relationship to nature and adopt a more rational but also more daring and more techno-mediated approach to ecological thinking and to conservation.
The first chapter of the work, Animalia, deals with the animal kingdom and proposes three alternative ways to conserve coral reefs. In all three alternatives, the humans speed up the coral's evolution by genetically modifying it to adapt to the new environmental conditions that put the species in danger. The motivation behind why each coral is created illustrates how humans can donate, protect, or exploit.
The first scenario envisions a coral colony, a Stonehenge-like monument, that conservationists have generously financed and donated in order to save the species from extinction. The corals pass plankton efficiently between each other, creating a temple of nature, a celebration of marine life, and a spectacle for visitors to witness.
The second scenario sees a coral species seeded in areas where tsunamis might hit. In case of tsunami, the coral takes 70% of the impact. Most of the colony would die in the process but the humans would be saved.
The third scenario sees coral being exploited for the benefit of corporations. A hydrodynamic coral would be bio engineered to efficiently slipstream and merge water currents into powerful single streams. At the end of the coral colony, a convenient jet of water is exploited by the creators of the coral to harvest electricity.
I asked Michail (who, i should add, means the pandas no harm whatsoever) if he could tell us more about Neo-Nature:
Hi Michail! You wrote an essay that bears the cruel title of "Let the Pandas Die" to accompany or rather introduce the Neo-Nature project. In this text, you suggest that we might have to adopt alternative thinking in ecology and conservation. Could you briefly explain why traditionalist view of ecology and conservation might not be enough to save ourselves and the environment?
There is a lot of paradoxical thinking in ecology and conservation at the moment. Large sums of funding go towards programmes which aim to sustain organisms that are arguably at the end of their lifetime. We accept evolution and the cyclical nature of ecology, yet we try to halt nature from changing, from progressing. In a way, the nature that we are experiencing now is the perfect nature. Any other alternative seems to spoil the romantic, pure nature that we have created in our heads. Slavoj Zizek puts it very nicely: "[Ecology] is a balanced world which is disturbed through human hubris".
The ideology that we have created to define nature as human beings actually stops us ethically from experimenting with new technologies. For example, if we collectively agreed to save a species from extinction, maybe we could genetically modify it to survive the new conditions that we have introduced. This seems far from possible at the moment because you have two parallel schools of thought: the scientists and the romanticists. The scientists are prepared to take risks and talk openly about modifying organisms, the climate, the natural world. On the other hand, the romanticists protect the ideological, paradoxical nature that they believe in truly on ethical, emotional and guilt-driven grounds. This disagreement is a huge problem in conservation.
Has your research been inspired by existing scientific or commercial projects?
One big influence of mine is the Weather Modification Office in China. What I find fascinating is that China provides a cocoon of moral freedom in which scientists can experiment with controlling the weather. Officials regularly seed clouds to combat the draught in Beijing without worrying about the influence that their actions might have on the natural world. A lot of the time they get it right. But sometimes, they get it really really wrong. Recently they accidentally caused a snowstorm that covered Beijing in snow. And in a way, that's okay. They get it right 90% of the time, but when they get it wrong, it doesn't stop them from trying again. This is the kind of experimental practice that has inspired my project.
Another interesting scientific project is the modification of male mosquitoes to combat insect-borne diseases. When these newly modified mosquitoes try to reproduce, their offspring dies immediately. Doing this to insects is acceptable, but try to imagine if you had the same scenario with a more loved animal. It would be completely unethical! Deciding what is okay to modify and what isn't is completely subjective.
And more generally, have you talked to bioengineers and other scientists about the Neo-Nature scenarios?
I've been working with a fluids mechanic to actually shape the corals. He's been very interesting to work with because he doesn't treat the corals as an animal, but he treats it as a material. For the next chapter of Neo-Nature, I'm working with a climate scientist and a mechanical engineer to explore the domestication of weather control. I am also going to an interesting discussion in April, which is titled "The Future of Nature" and is organised by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Half of the audience are synthetic biologists and the other half are conservation scientists and policy makers. I think this project generates its full potential of discussion when it is debated with scientists as well as romanticists. I'm trying to make that collision happen with a series of debates and talks in the coming months.
Why did you chose to illustrate the project with corals? Is it because these marine animals are easier to manage and modify? Or because they are not 'cute' so we might be less concerned by their fate than by the one of the pandas?
The coral is a very fragile animal that is dying quickly, but there is a lot of opportunity to manipulate it. Corals are more important than other endangered animals because they provide a living environment for a plethora of marine life, yet they receive less funding. I also chose the coral because it's not as sacred as the panda. It's an animal that is usually compared to plants, not to other animals. This emotional distance makes it easier for people to consider the possibilities of modifying coral to fulfill human desire, but to also conserve it in a more artificial way.
You showed 3 models of modified corals at the WIP show. Are you planning to push the project further?
This chapter of Neo-Nature is almost complete. I wanted to suggest three new alternative strategies for saving the coral. I'm putting it in the background for now until the other chapters of the project are complete. I will be testing the coral models at the Imperial College wave tanks to test their shapes and record some videos of the water flowing through them. I'm now working on the next two chapters, which are arguably more megalomaniac! I don't want to reveal too much though...
Thank you Michail!


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Dialing In: Effect of Telephonic Wellness Coaching on Weight Loss
Published Online:
February 25, 2014
Min Tao, PhD; Krishna Rangarajan, MS; Michael L. Paustian, PhD, MS; Elizabeth A. Wasilevich, PhD, MPH; and Darline K. El Reda, DrPH, MPH
To estimate the effect of telephonic wellness coaching on weight loss in a commercially insured population.
Study Design:
Pre-post evaluation design.
Self-reported weight was obtained from 2 annual health assessment questionnaires administered during 2008 and 2010. Baseline (T1) information from these questionnaires was used to identify overweight/obese individuals and to determine targets for a 4-call wellness coaching program. Overweight/obese individuals identified at T1 were classified into following groups: (1) targeted for wellness coaching (N = 1448, including 1050 participants and 398 nonparticipants); (2) not targeted for wellness coaching, but targeted for other telephonic wellness care management (WCM) programs (N = 1270); (3) not targeted for any WCM programs (N = 7586). Weight reported on questionnaires a year later (T2) was used to calculate weight change between T1 and T2. Paired t-tests were used to detect significant weight changes over time. Multivariable linear regressions were used to compare weight changes between the groups. Stratified analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of telephonic wellness coaching for subgroups based on participants' selected health goals, intensity of the intervention received and initial stage of change.
The group targeted for wellness coaching reported an average weight change of –0.44 kg (95% confidence interval [CI], –0.76 to –0.16) at T2, significantly more weight loss than reported by the group not targeted for any WCM programs. Participants who started in preparation stage and completed the program reported weight change of –1.43 kg (95% CI, –2.17 to –0.68), highest among program participants.
Small weight loss was observed for obese/individuals targeted for telephonic wellness coaching.
Am J Manag Care. 2014;20(2):e35-e42
Obesity poses a substantial threat to the US health and healthcare system.
Among adults, higher morbidity in association with being overweight or obese has been observed for hypertension,
type 2 diabetes,
coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory problems, and some types of cancers.
Epidemiologic studies have shown that mortality increases with body mass index (BMI) values above 30.
Consequently, obesity has conferred a significant economic burden for the nation.
A wide variety of programs have been developed to address the obesity issue in the United States, including wellness coaching programs.
In wellness coaching programs, wellness coaches assist individuals to establish and work toward health-promoting goals using techniques such as motivational interviewing.
Telephonic wellness coaching offers the personalized focus and discussion, while avoiding common barriers for on-site consultations such as inadequate transportation or lack of childcare. Telephonic coaching programs have been used to address a variety of health behaviors including smoking, nutrition, and weight.
Evidence for the effectiveness of telephonic coaching on weight loss is limited, with only a few studies having demonstrated a small but positive effect.
Previous published studies have largely not provided details on participant or intervention factors that may mediate the outcomes of such coaching programs. The goals of this study are to estimate the effect of telephonic coaching on weight loss in a large, commercially insured population and to evaluate how a participant's initial stage of change, motivation level, and intensity of coaching program received impact weight loss among wellness coaching participants.
Telephonic Wellness Coaching Program
This study assesses a health plan-administered telephonic wellness coaching program that consists of 4 telephone calls designed to help participants reduce risk factors through health education and behaviorchange counseling. During the initial telephone contact, health coaches review the top 3 risk factors identified on each participant's health assessment questionnaire. Health coaches also assess each participant's readiness to change, level of motivation to change, and perceived barriers to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Initial stage of change is determined by asking participants how ready they are to make changes to improve their health on a scale of 1 to 10. If participants respond with a score between 1 and 4 and show characteristics of not considering change, feeling no control, or believing consequences not to be serious, the health coach will classify them as precontemplation. If participants respond with a score between 5 and 7 and have considered the benefits and costs of their health behaviors as well as proposed changes in behaviors, the health coach will classify them as contemplation. For participants who respond with a score between 8 and 10, having experimented with small changes will lead to classification as being in the preparation stage; having demonstrated definitive actions to change will lead to classification as being in the action stage; and having definitive actions over an extended time period will lead to classification as being in the maintenance stage.
After the assessment, health coaches work with each participant to create an action plan that includes personalized health-related goals, actions the person will take, strategies for coping with perceived barriers, and identification of who might support them with their efforts. The action plan is mailed to the program participants. During subsequent calls, the health coach discusses progress, barriers and action items with the participant. The length of each phone call ranges between 10 and 20 minutes.
The health coaches that deliver the intervention can be registered nurses, registered dietitians, exercise physiologists or health educators. Several approaches are taken to ensure quality and consistency of interventions being delivered. First, health coaches are required to have a bachelor's or master's degree with additional training in motivational interviewing and certification such as Chronic Condition Professionals from the Health Sciences Institute. Second, health coaches receive ongoing trainings which utilize cognitive behavioral therapy modules. The trainings include classroom training, 1-on-1 instruction, and mentoring by an established coach. Third, fidelity to the program is assessed through randomly recorded phone conversations between health coaches and participants to ensure that the delivery of the program is consistent across health coaches and follows established policies and procedures.
Program Participants
Employers purchase the wellness coaching program benefit for their employees from the health plan. The eligible employees are required to complete an annual health assessment questionnaire at the beginning of each benefit year in order to receive program-related incentives provided by employer groups. The incentives vary across employers from lower office visit and prescription co-pays to gift cards. Health assessment questionnaire respondents are first prioritized for case management or disease management. Disease management is a nurse-administered, telephonic program that targets patients with 1 of 5 chronic diseases: asthma, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, or chronic heart failure, and focuses on chronic disease selfmanagement. Case management is a nurse-administered, telephonic program that targets patients with complex medical needs and focuses on coordination of care. The prioritizing processes for disease management and case management are separate from the health assessment. For respondents who neither need disease management nor case management but have 3 or more risk factors identified via questionnaire, these respondents will receive outbound calls from an engagement specialist to enroll them in the wellness coaching intervention. Individuals who have few risk factors identified via questionnaire do not receive outreach to participate in the wellness coaching program, but are encouraged to use the health plan's online health tools to maintain good health.
Health Assessment Questionnaires
During the course of the study period, there was a change in the health risk assessment questionnaire administered by the health plan. The University of Michigan Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) was used through May 2009
; afterward the StayWell Health Media Health Assessment (HA) was used.
This change in health assessment questionnaires reflects a business decision of the health plan and not of the authors, who conducted the evaluation retrospectively. The HRA consists of 47 questions while the HA consists of 150 questions. Common health risks assessed by the 2 questionnaires include body weight, existing medical conditions, physical activity, nutrition, alcohol, smoking, stress, safety belt use, skin protection, absenteeism at work, perceived health, and overall life satisfaction. On each instrument, respondents also report their race/ethnicity, gender, level of education, and motivation to lose weight. Although both questionnaires assess similar health risks, the wording of the questions and answers differ markedly. For example, the HRA asks "Do you have heart problems? (Never/Have Currently/In the Past)" while the corresponding HA question is worded as "Have you been diagnosed with coronary heart disease? (Yes/No)." For this evaluation, we only used questions from the 2 questionnaires that could be reconciled to allow consistent measurement over time.
As shown in the
, 40,222 individuals responded to 2 questionnaires at least 6 months apart from 2008 to 2010 for our pre-post evaluation. The average time between baseline (T1) and follow-up (T2) questionnaires was 385 days (approximately 1.05 years) with a standard deviation of 70 days. BMI was calculated from responses to height and weight questions on these surveys. Overweight was defined as a BMI between 25 kg/m
and 29.9 kg/m
and obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 kg/m
or greater. Among respondents, 16,178 (40%) were considered overweight or obese at baseline. Of the overweight and obese respondents, 5653 (35%) were referred for a wellness care management (WCM) program during the study period between baseline and follow-up; 8922 (55%) did not receive any referral during the study period, and 1603 (10%) received a referral, but outside of the period, and thus were excluded from the analysis. Two percent (2%) of the adults who reported a more than 2-inch difference in their height across the 2 time periods were excluded from study population due to potential data quality concern. Respondents with complete data on weight, height, age, gender, race/ethnicity, level of education, motivation to lose weight, smoking status, and comorbidities were used for the analysis. The final study population was divided into 3 groups. The intervention group consisted of obese or overweight respondents targeted for the telephonic wellness coaching program (N = 1448, including 1050 participants and 398 nonparticipants). The 2 comparison groups were overweight or obese respondents: (1) not targeted for any telephonic WCM program (N = 7586) and (2) not targeted for telephonic wellness coaching, but targeted for other WCM programs, primarily disease management (N = 1270).
Statistical Analysis
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Issue: February 2014
Physician Financial Incentives and Care for the Underserved in the United States
Alyna T. Chien, MD, MS; Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH; G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS; Hui Tang, MS; and Monica E. Peek, MD, MPH
Financial incentives alter the quality and quantity of care that physicians provide. Understanding physicians' recent experience with incentives may help shape current payment reform efforts.
Connecting the Dots: Examining the Link Between Workforce Health and Business Performance
Bruce W. Sherman, MD; and Wendy D. Lynch, PhD
Organizations can better understand the link between workforce health and business performance by thoughtful integration of relevant metrics from both HR and business operations.
Patient Attitudes About Specialty Follow-up Care by Telephone
Jessica A. Eng, MD; Cecily J. Hunter, BA; Margaret A. Handley, PhD; Christy K. Boscardin, PhD; Ralph Gonzales, MD; and Sara L. Ackerman, PhD
Click for Full Issue
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Lee University graduate student and violist Ruben Marcelo Jiménez Aguilar debuted this fall as a soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Asunción, Paraguay. He was honored for his outstanding artistic work in the community.
Mr. Jiménez was born in Paraguarí, Paraguay in 1988. He is a graduate of the Herminio Giménez Conservatory in Itá (Paraguay). He earned a Bachelor of Music from the School of Music of the Evangelical University of Paraguay and was distinguished by the Municipal Board of Paraguarí as Beloved Son of the City. Mr. Jiménez is currently working on his Master's in Music Performance at Lee.
He has represented Paraguay in the Ibero-American Youth Orchestra in Pilas, Seville, and Madrid (Spain), Estonia, and Lisbon (Portugal).
Mr. Jiménez was selected to participate in the Youth Orchestra CAF in Caracas, Venezuela, and was a member of the Bicentennial Orchestra in Spain, Portugal and England. He has also participated in several national and international seminars on instrumental technique.
For more information about Lee's graduate studies in music visit: http://leeuniversity.edu/academics/graduate/music.
March 31, 2015
Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) held a graduation ceremony for the Paralegal Certificate program at the auditorium on the Gordon County Campus in Calhoun. Paralegals are crucial ... (click for more)
Douglas Hale, head of school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pa., announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Mr. Hale has served ... (click for more)
Berry College in Rome, Ga., is now accepting applications for its summer program, Preparing Leaders for Ultimate Success (PLUS . ) The application deadline is April 20 . Berry ... (click for more)
Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) held a graduation ceremony for the Paralegal Certificate program at the auditorium on the Gordon County Campus in Calhoun. Paralegals are crucial members of a law firm's team. They also have job opportunities in the legal departments of large corporations, government offices, and as independent contractors. Paralegals specialize ... (click for more)
Douglas Hale, head of school at Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pa., announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the 2015-2016 school year. Mr. Hale has served as Mercersburg's head of school since his appointment in 1997. He went to Mercersburg after 24 years at Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he had been a teacher, associate headmaster, ... (click for more)
Advocates for broadband expansion in Tennessee, including Chattanooga's EPB, announced Tuesday that efforts to extend community-based fiber optic networks are being placed on hold for now "because there is not enough support among state lawmakers to change a state regulation that prevents the expansion of municipal fiber optic systems." EPB earlier won a ruling from the Federal ... (click for more)
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam on Tuesday unveiled additions to the FY 2015-2016 budget that will be considered by the General Assembly in the coming weeks, including added funding for K-12. The governor last week met with school superintendents from the largest systems in the state over the issue of state funding for K-12. The next day, the Hamilton County Schools joined ... (click for more)
March 30 has been set aside as National Doctors' Day since 1933 as a time to recognize the contributions made by our physicians. While the recognition is appreciated, our greatest satisfaction comes from caring for our patients. For 132 years, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society has been the physicians' voice as we worked together to improve health of our community. ... (click for more)
On this April Fool's Day, as I take my monthly stroll through my virtual garden, there are gorgeous flowers and there are weeds, which appear to be trying harder than the flowers. So let's see what we find before searching for "The Prize Egg" on Sunday. A FLOWER to the New York cab driver who told a young writer, "Always remember that everyone you meet knows something that you ... (click for more)


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Is Golden Celebration a slow starter?
Hi, just popping in for a beginner's question.
I planted a GC about a month and a half ago. it's flanked by 2 Pierre de Ronsards (Eden climber) which were planted a couple of weeks after the GC.
The Edens are leafing out like crazy & look very vigorous.
The GC has put out about 7-6 tiny puny leaves - kind of waxy pale green.
I also planted 2 Pat Austins, which leafed out very fast and are already growing new canes. They're in a different corner & they're flanking a Comte de Chambord, which is also growing new canes.
Is GC just a slow kind of rose? Has anyone had the same experience with GC?
Any feedback will be most welcome. These are my first-ever roses.
A "slower starter", yes. Think about it. This thing is a larger shrub in Britain. Here, it is a climber. Climbers take up to three years to do their thing: first year sleeps; second year creeps; third year leaps! The plant wants to be large. It needs a large root system to push the nutrients to produce the size and quantity of flowers you expect. So, compared to HTs, floribundas and other smaller English roses, yes, GC is a "slower starter". Kim
High Country Roses and another vendor specified that Golden Cel. needs constant moisture to be established. I planted mine in a partial shade, really wet clay bed and it was vigorous with 49" rain. I kept chopping it to make it into a bush but I gave up. I watered it often during my zone 5a winter and it's green to the tip.
It was annoying to water it often in the 1st month. If I had to do it all over again, I would had planted it 3" deep as own-root, rather than at ground level.
We have 6 plants of 'Golden Celebration' -- a WONDERFUL rose for us here in coastal Ventura County.
Ours are all large shrubs. The biggest, on Multiflora, is a good 6 ft. tall, but a shrub, not a climber.
The other 3 are on Huey, and are a tad smaller.
One replacement plant, on its own roots, is much smaller, and only really taking off now after perhaps 4 years.
I have heard such good things about this rose but mine has been in the ground 3 - 5 years, cant remember. It never changes - same size, has some pretty blooms, but no real growth and healthy looking folliage. I use Mills Magic Rose Mix, epsom salts, alfalfa pellets. It is out in full, all day sun. This year I also used Microlife. Maybe I should put some liquid fertilizer on it, like Miracle Gro or other liquid rose food? Any suggestions for jump starting this rose?
Many many thanks! This is very reassuring. GC does get rave reviews everywhere. He's definitely worth the wait till he leaps.
Strawberryhill - My GC is in partial shade & has been kept moist since I put him in the ground. Except for when it rained, I watered every 2-3 days in the past couple of months (winter is quite warm & dry in Israel, though this year was relatively rainy). I just LOVE watering so it was real fun.
Jeri - after reading your post I contacted the nursery. They said all their bare roots are budded to what they described as wild rose stock. They wouldn't specify which & I didn't want to press them. On their website they describe GC as a climber of up to 3 metres (which is why he got to be in the company of the Edens).
WinterCat -- sounds like Canina? Multiflora?
They really SHOULD be able to tell you. It does affect how the plant will grow.
All I can tell you is that in our part of Southern California, Golden Celebration makes a generously-sized, arching BUSH.
This hedge is made up of about a half-dozen 'Golden Celebration,' closely-planted.
Individual plants are from 5 to 6 ft tall and perhaps 5 ft across. This is a relatively steep bit of hill, and the woman is standing downhill from the plants.
What a merry riotous hedge! So lovely.
What happened yesterday was I asked the nursery whether GC was budded or own root. Reply was: All our bare roots are budded to wild rose stock. I asked back whether it was budded to Rosa Canina. Reply was: No, it's not Canina.
I didn't press further because I figure when a person comes out with a laconic "no" without volunteering more details it means he's simply not willing to offer more details. Perhaps it's a trade secret?
Anyway, it's not that crucial to me. GC and the two Edens form quite a large triangle (wider than 90 degrees - perhaps 110). Each of the Edens is at a 1.5 metre distance from the GC, which I hope gives all three of them enough room to gambol as they please.
Hmm, mine has been in the ground about a year and a half. Pretty thing, though it actually got a bit of BS last year, something I do not see very often. I am assuming it will grow out of it. In fact I am counting on it!
I want to see it grow, but I have not placed it to be a climber. and don't really have that in mind.
Mine was slow to start, then the 2nd year took off. It would bloom, then get blackspot, which would leave after a while. It's been there about 3 years, and this year the flowers are huge and gorgeous. I didn't prune this year, don't know if that was the difference; maybe our drought last summer? :) As long as I deadhead and give plenty of water it will try to bloom somewhat during our summer, where it gets plenty of our west Texas sun!
I think Golden Celebration's growth rate might be determined by soil? I have several of the plant, and they're slow to take off in my heavy clay soil. They do nicely, but slow. I have a friend who has an own-root Golden Celebration that is HUGE. After pruning this winter, it was probably 6 x 6? but I am guessing. Point is, it's in a contained bed that is possibly filled with very good topsoil and mulch on a hillside. I wonder if a rich loamy soil that the roots can go very deep (plus lots of water) is what makes the difference. I don't know - just thought I'd share. My friend's Golden Celebration is my dream.
For us at the coast, G.C. began to be really spectacular when we quit pruning it. In our conditions, it did not tolerate having canes shortened. They inevitably died-back.
Left alone, and deadheaded lightly as needed, it succeeds wonderfully for us.


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Publishers WeeklyMuir and Osborne (Knit Your Own Dog) have followed up their popular book of knitted canines with a purr-fect sequel for cat-lovers. These cute creatures are surprisingly fast to knit, and the patterns run the gamut from the delicate, sophisticated Persian, to the stealthy, spotted Bengal, to the striped, loveable Tabby, among others. The book's sixteen patterns are divided into four sections: Long-haired, Short-haired, Exotic, and Street. Each pattern has a handful of fun tidbits about its featured feline, and offers lovely pictures of the finished project. The book also details options for knitting standing, sitting, lying down, or curled-up cats, as well as individualizing each cat with added accents like bells, bows, and collars. From fast-knit solo cats to full-blown menageries, these projects are a great way to turn yarn scraps into tiny cuddly companions.
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While pretty much everybody agrees that the U.S. tax code is a mess, nobody does anything about it. Oh, politicians talk about doing something, but mainly what they do is make it worse. There's a reason for this. You. You're the reason. People, alas, tend to be greedy and selfish and their attitude toward taxation …
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Aug 16 2013
The devil is in the taxes-My foolproof plan will rescue our society from the sleazy grasp of special-interest politics.
Tags: Apple, business lunch, business lunches, code, Congress, conservative, corporate income tax, corporations, deductions, devil, dishonest, dollar, don't tax me, don't tax you, Donald Kaul, dummy corporations, economic, employ, employmeny, fancy, fix taxes, government, income, income-tax, interest, interests, investment expenses, legislators, liberal, liberals, Lobby, lobbying, lobbyist, middle class, middleclass, money, pay, politicians, run the government, Satan, skyboxes, solve, solved, special interests, subsidize, success, tax, tax code, tax lawyers, tax shelter, tax shelters, tax that fellow behind the tree, tax the poor, tax the rich, taxes, the devil is in the taxes, travel expense, u.s. tax code, us tax, us tax code
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Vicar: Let's count our blessings! FESTIVAL: Thanksgiving for city.
THE Rev David Mayhew was shocked by the reaction he got when he moved to take up a position at Coventry's historic Holy Trinity Church.
Trying to get a feel for his new home, the vicar started asking people what the city was like - and said he faced a wall of negativity with people having nothing nice to say about the place.
He said: "I was surprised.
I think it's quite common for people in Coventry to be apologetic and make excuses for the city - a slight inferiority complex. "A lot of people want to turn the attitude round.
"Before, I worked in NewcastS eS - a wonderful city, and a good contrast.
It too has loads of issues, but great confi-dence.
"As a city it deserves its repu tS ation as somewhere for the future - Coventry is (a wonderful city) too, but not enough people know it." Now he is planning thanksgiving with a difference this weekend.
As well as giving thanks at a usual harvest festival at the Broadgate church, he is asking people to "give thanks" for Coventry as well.
He said: "People will bring flowers and fruit for the harvest festival, but we've also asked them to bring what speaks to them as good about Coventry - pictures, poems - one person is bringing a blanket she's making that will be sent to Africa.
"Before I came I didn't know much about the city. I hadn't realised all the positives.
"The high-end automotive engineering, the high amount of creativity, the reputation of the universities, the gaming industry, the watch-making and bicycle industries, and the reputation for forgiveness and reconciliation."
Holy Trinity will host its celebration of Coventry tomorrow from 4:30pm to 8:30pm. Harvest festival thanksgiving will also take place on Sunday.
GIVING THANKS ... Reverend David Mayhew prepares for this year's harvest festival
Reader Opinion
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The Maid and the Queen
The Secret History of Joan of Arc
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So interesting! An in-depth look at Joan's life and the political atmosphere that shaped her life, as well as those figures that controlled her level of influence during that time.
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