Haiku and Artwork by Gregory C. Johnson
This year the Black Gully Festival (BGF) occurs in the middle of COP27 to be held from the 6th to the 18th of November in Egypt , this is the 27th International gathering of countries from around the world with the purported commitment to paving the way to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. The Paris Agreement embodied a global commitment to limiting our collective emissions to 1.5 degrees – but how far have we acted on that?
The Climate Action Network International has stated that this year will be a tough COP. Many excuses are being put forward by wealthy nations for slowing down their work on existing commitments. There appears to be little appetite for strong ambition from the rich. Meanwhile, developing nations are being ravaged by the impacts of climate change and are demanding greater action. This COP is being called the “COP of the vulnerables”, and all of us need to emphasise that nations like Australia need to act responsibly and equitably.
SLA and Climate Action Armidale are running two Haiku workshops one at 11:15am and one at 2:15pm to give festival goers an opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about the environment and the future through Haiku, art or any other form of writing.
Throughout the day we hope that people will take the opportunity to add their thoughts about our future either in writing or drawing. These will be collected and displayed at a community space (yet to be determined) in the weeks following the festival.
Haiku is an ancient Japanese poetic medium for describing a moment of immersion. It is the AH! moment before too much censorship of thought takes place and most often involves deep nature observation and connection.
We are having a big AH moment in exploration of the significance of the Black Gully Festival being held right in the middle of the COP27 this year. At the start of each workshop, COP27 and goals and vision will be introduced, followed by a short Nature and Haiku workshop. Participants will be given the opportunity to wander the Black Gully nature space and free range these connections before returning to the tent to write their Haiku and artfully express.
An opportunity will also be provided for those who wish to explore other climate actions in their own lives and through engagement with policies and systemic change. As COP27 opened on Sunday, one official after another called for participants to move from talks to implementation, warning that the window for meaningful action was closing.
Sometimes everything seems so complex and overwhelming and yet we can and do continue, breath by breath often without noticing. It will be interesting and enlivening to see what people come up with in their Haiku and artwork next Saturday and for sharing back with our community.
In addition a full program of events is available at the NERAM event website
