8 Issue
continue the voice Conservation 30/05/21
Conservatio 2
on
A letter to our Readers M
ay has a been a month of hope in some ways but upset in others. Here in Scotland, we are having warmer days and our COVID-19 restrictions are slowly but surely relaxing in places. However, I personally have been at a complete loss for words when watching the treatment of Palestinians. Here at Continue The Voice we are advocating for change and freedom for Palestinians. We encourage you to take the time to educate yourself on what is going on in Palestine and how you can create change. I would personally recommend by starting with the resources in this Carrd.
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his month’s issue is all about conservation and includes some of my favourite pieces of visual art we’ve featured so far, such as Mark Nobel’s driftwood collection (p40/41) and Ryan Mostert’s stunning Mossel Bay photographs. Conservation is something very near and dear to our hearts at Continue The Voice, so as you read and gaze at the wonder of the world through this issue and your everyday life, remember how important it is that we conserve that wonder. Whether it’s switching off lights, cycling instead of driving or turning off the tap. A drop in a pond always creates a ripple. So, grab a snack and a beverage of your choice, cosy up or bask in the sunshine and enjoy!
Front cover by Mark Nobel Magazine Design by Anna McFarlane
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CONTENTS
Save the Reefs!- 6 Old Gods Assemble - 7 Poetry Corner 1 - 8 Poetry Corner 2 - 10 Interview with an Author: Kate Moore - 12 The Gallery: Amelia Brooks - 14 Life Got in the Way - 22 Mossel Bay - 24 Andrena Zawinski’s Photographs - 25 One Year After Tiger King- 26 Bengal Tigers - 27 Elephant Aware Maasai Mara - 28 Sultan, Pretty and Me: Part Three - 34 Driftwood Collection - 38 Restaurant Highlight - 40 Fade to Black - 41 Things We’re Loving - 42 Playlist - 44 Sustainable Art: Reasons to be Wild - 46 Sturmaz - 48 Slow Death of Earth - 49 Small Business Spotlight - 50 Coorie Moments - 52 What does conservation mean to you? - 54 Next Issue Ad - 56 Call for Submissions - 57
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SAVE THE REEFS! her skincare routine, and has incredibly fair skin that can burn even on a cloudy day in Scotland, SPF has been a must-have inclusion to my daily skincare. Sun damage to your skin is permanent, so using a daily high SPF is essential to help prevent skin cancer, and less importantly, signs of aging. But skincare brands’ new element to their skincare line is coral reef friendly SPF – is this something that you need to be thinking about? There are two types of sunscreen, mineral and chemical. Mineral sunscreen physically creates a barrier between your skin and the sun’s rays by is made up of chemicals that form a barrier on your before they’re absorbed. But, if you swim in the sea, or wash it all in the shower or sink at night, these ecosystem. For a sunscreen to be reef-friendly, it must be free of chemicals and small particles that are known to cause damage and death to coral reefs in the sea. These small particles need to be what is known as ‘non-nano’, which is below 100 nanometres. If they are below 100 nanometres, then the coral reefs can still absorb the particles in the sunscreen, regardless of ingredients. This is one area where mineral sunscreens have an advantage over chemical sunscreens – they are made with ‘bigger, ‘naturalsized’ particles which are better for marine life and coral reefs’, according to Caspar Ohm, a marine biologist senior research writer at Water Pollution. And to be reef friendly, the sunscreen must be free from the following chemicals, to date, oxybenzone, octinoxate and octocrylene. According to WWF, coral reef bleaching is when the normally vibrant coral reefs lose their colours and turn white – but coral is actually naturally white, so where are these colours coming from? It is an algae called zooxanthellae that forms a symbiotic relationship with the coral that helps them both survive. But if the coral gets stressed, or the environment surrounding the coral changes quickly, the coral expels the algae, and that is what gives it the ‘bleaching’ like effect. If this stress or environmental change doesn’t go back to normal, the coral won’t let the algae back in and both will die. Healthy coral reefs are
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so important to marine life as they provide shelter, food and protection of predators for thousands of marine species in the world, and if the coral dies, the ecosystem cannot recover or build itself up again. Coral reefs also provide help to humans by providing barriers to protect from waves and storm surges, as well as providing industry and food to anyone who relies on marine life for their income or food source. So losing the coral reefs is incredibly important to the planet as a whole. In Britain, the majority of us only wear it on holiday (despite it being recommended by experts that you wear it everyday regardless of it being sunny or not). This means that SPF in bodies of water tends to be are particularly concerned about sunscreen in the seas because as isolated communities, their livelihoods are tied to the health of the ecosystem. If coral reefs start the bleaching process, it will devastate their ecosystems and natural environment. As a result, some of these communities have legally banned all of some of the ingredients used in chemical sunscreens from being used while there, like Hawaii,
While the amount of SPF one person wears on one day will be so incredibly diluted in the vast amounts of water in the sea, these minute amounts build up in the sea as there are very few ways of breaking down the chemicals quickly and safely. And if every single person wears SPF everyday as is recommended, those amounts will build up much faster, without time to break down. As well as coral bleaching, according to the National Ocean Service (as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in sunscreen have been shown to affect the repair and photosynthesis of green algae, cause defects in the young of mussels, damage the immune and reproductive systems as well as deform the young of sea urchins, and can accumulate in the tissue of dolphins, which can be transferred to their future young. So it affects many aspects of marine life beyond coral bleaching. However, you future Greta Thunbergs, don’t forget, while every little helps, the majority of coral reef bleaching comes from rising sea temperatures and
general global warming symptoms, which is caused by big businesses not changing their working practices to help stop climate change in its tracks. Changing your daily SPF to one that is coral reef friendly is a great step forwards, as well as properly recycling your rubbish and turning off your lights when you leave the room, but the lens and responsibility of climate change and global warming needs to be shifted back to those who have control over the majority of the global industrial pollution. Coral bleaching is primarily caused by rising sea temperatures – and there needs to be structural and decisive action to stop, and perhaps, even reverse these problems before it is too late. Companies and governments shifting to renewable energy, away from deforestation, reducing their emissions and moving to a ‘climate-smart’ policy is the only way that this could ever potentially happen. By Grace Balfour-Hale. After graduating with an undergraduate in English and Legal Studies and then a Master’s in Publishing, Grace started to work as an editorial assistant in children’s magazines. She loves to dance, and teaches dance regularly. Working in the magazine industry has given her a passion for writing and publishing, and she volunteers for the SYP Scotland committee and the SYP Scotland Spring Conference 2021 Committee to help other young publishers begin their career, as well as writing about dance in her spare time. She’s also a keen baker and loves to read.
He’s risen from the depths to summon the old gods in an attempt to save humanity from its impending peril. He’s made from driftwood and weighs over 100kg.
By Brendan Rawlings from Zen Wood Design.
Old Gods Assemble
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Poetry Corner 1 The Art of Bird Feeding
back and forth, then go on selecting, or sit content watching me, watching them.
‘In Safe So, I take my time approaching, and wait. The feeder may be down a bit, empty, or on some days, missing. This is the art of bird feeding (I’m learning) knowing when to come, when to go, when to rest and watch.
Our hom our marb Made of what hav
A blue d merely a With us soon to
Revolvin around a for millio it’s come
Origin u People h We have but we h
We know that muc Planet E we will s
writer. Well-known for his abstract expressionist art, Antoni now adds his voice to poetry. Reading and studying the works of many poets has opened another means of self-expression. His recent poems have been published in Amethyst Review, The BeZine, Green Ink Poetry, The Poet Magazine, Brown Bag Online, The Wild Word, and many journals and anthologies. He lives and works in upstate New York with his wife poet/storyteller, Judy DeCroce.
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By Kit Williams. Management Le bility Skills Tuto
photography, cr ther Education compassed the including globa
Crests of the hills ablaze Crests of the hills ablaze. Our days have turned orange, The in-between congealed. We struggle to breathe in The immobility
e Hands’
The microscopic shards
me, our planet, ble of blue. f land and oceans, ve we done to you?
Our masks, our cavities –
dot amongst black, a speck. as her passengers, be a wreck.
ng and orbiting a bright star ons of years, e so far.
Nasal, buccal. We breathe Through plaster, an imprint Of what used to be space. It must be how it feels
The work of men, slashing And burning their own hands. Their hope: that death will wait
unknown. have guessed. e tried to look after it, haven’t done our best.
w we’ve some work to do, ch is true. Earth, do not worry, save you.
. Kit has worked as a Parrot Keeper and an Animal ecturer in the past, and now works as an Employaor. He has worked with animals and students for the
By Lorelei Bacht (she/they). Lorelei is a European poet living in Asia. When she is not carrying little children around or encouraging them to discover the paintings of Edvard Munch, she can be found col-
rafting and creative writing. Whilst working with Furstudents aged 16+, Kit taught many subjects which e diverse and intriguing detail of the animal world, al ecology, conservation, and British wildlife.
known to befriend orb weavers and millipedes. Her recent work can be found and/or is forthcoming in OpenDoor Poetry, Litehouse, Visitant, Quail Bell and The Wondrous Real. She is also on Instagram.
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Ignoring The Humble-Brag Of Emphasis Both fought well, the elder and the minor, knocking over chairs ricocheting like punitives. Defraying dependence. Any painting containing crockery would be passed on. Perhaps a withering coastal region justifying erosion not even, global warming is for real.
By Colin James
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Thunder Hope pounds heavenward like hooves of horses at a crossroad, or as light measures emptiness an arc of lightning, so high to the summit where moments wake. At last there is rain, to move away, to deepen. Pollution Every morning I open my eyes I step outside Swallowing a world of pollution Acid rain from the exhaustion. Not only me and my human friends Put to jeopardy but also A sea of pollution Endanger of sea creatures. So much plastic It really is drastic It really is unfair So much killing of the water and air This really is not a drop in the ocean. Not forgetting other animals of the world Where they have to stand Where they have to lie In the past, we closed our eyes Now we have to pay.
or walking me, breathless, the longest w home.
By Judy DeCroce. Judy is an internawriter, educator, and avid reader whose recent works have been published by The BeZine, Brown Bag Online, North of Oxford, The Poet Magazine, Amethyst Review, The Wild Word, OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters, and many journals and anthologies. As a professional storyteller and teacher of that genre, she also offers workshops for all ages in upstate New York with her husband poet/artist, Antoni Ooto.
All the rubbish All the plastic All the pollution Some we see Some we swallow. It really is the hour To enforce our power Stop killing our nature Stop killing our world. If we reject Death is the price We will sadly pay.
By Amanda Jane Bayliss (West Yorkshire, England). Amanda is offering the poetry world a fresh new voice. This voice has been welcomed by editors of the following online publications, Ambrosial Literary Garland, OpenDoor Magazine, Journey of the Heart, and Trouvaille Review. Amanda Jane likes to experiment with different genres and her published work can be found here.
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INTERview with aN AUthor
his month, we spoke to Kate Moore, author of ‘The Radium Girls’ : The Dark Story of America’s posed to radium and its devastating effects on the human body, and took on the companies who employed them despite knowing the dangers it posed to their health and lives. What got you into writing? I have always loved writing, ever since I was a little girl. I love the imagination, empathy and escape involved, as well as the craft of conjuring a striking sentence. I maintained my passion throughout adulthood, too, so that when I worked in publishing as an editor, I would volunteer to write books whenever the opportunity arose – such as gift and humour books. To my delight, when I went freelance in 2014 – initially thinking that most of my work would come from freelance editing – in fact I was able to support myself as a writer. My books now tend to focus on helping people to have a voice, whether that’s ghostwriting for people with extraordinary stories or capturing forgotten stories from the past and putting them front and centre again. What inspired you to write The Radium Girls? Why was it a story that you needed to tell? directing a play about them. As I conducted historic research for my theatre production – which I did indepth, because I knew the play was based on a true story and I wanted to do justice to the real people we were portraying onstage – I realised no book existed which focused on the women themselves. I thought that was shocking, because these women were so book that celebrated and honoured them, but it did not exist. In the end, I thought: if no-one else has done it, why don’t I? I felt passionately about championing these women – so strong, so courageous, so special – and ensuring their memory survived. How did you go about writing it - and how long did the research take (as there was so much of it!)? I write a word of any book. For The Radium Girls, States. I wanted to walk the same streets the women had and to visit their homes and graves, and the sites of the dial-painting studios, so that I could bring them vividly to life for my readers. I was also searching for letters, diaries, newspaper interviews and courtroom evidence, the radium girls had left their own record behind, telling me in their own words what had happened to them. If you read the book, you will hear from the women themselves because those intimate accounts are threaded throughout. I also interviewed family members of the women – sisters, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren – who shared personal memories to enable me
truly to get to know my heroines. I spent a month in America, but months longer at home in London going through the thousands of pages of research I had unearthed. As to how I wrote it, the book is that readers can walk in step with the women on their journey and get to know them as friends. People have told me it’s a page-turner, and also a very emotional book. I cried many times while writing it as this is such a tragic true story. The girls’ stories are so tragic, especially considering what we know now – which girl’s story touched you the most or found the most inspiring? That is such a hard question to answer! I was moved many times by the stories I uncovered – the radium girl who suffered miscarriages and stillbirths; the husband who was stopped for speeding on his way to see his wife in hospital and therefore got there too late to see her before she died. However, two women stand out in particular: Grace Fryer, who led hold to account the companies that had killed them, and Catherine Donohue, who gave evidence on her deathbed, literally using her last breaths to make a difference in the world. What message do you think people will take from reading The Radium Girls? I hope they will be inspired by the women’s courage and shocked by the companies’ greed and callous commercialism. Sadly, too often we see history repeating itself. I hope the radium girls’ story also makes people think again about the parallels still happening in our own time too. As this issue is all about conservation – a question we’re asking all our contributors is what does conservation mean to you? I think primarily of wildlife conservation when I think about conservation – something that could not be more important at the moment, when scientists estimate that wildlife populations have decreased by more than two-thirds in less than 50 years. Believe it or not, a shocking one million species are currently under threat of extinction. The global pandemic shows how closely the human and animal worlds are connected – and how we all need to do more to address the impact we humans are having on our planet.
By Grace Balfour-Harle
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THE GALLERY This week’s Gallery features work by Amelia Brooks. Amelia is an illustrator and designer who is currently based in Oxford. With a 1st class degree from leading arts university Falmouth under her belt, she has taken illustrated picture book titled: Cornwall An Alphabetical Adventure, written by Ben Roswell, was hailed by Dawn French as ‘a Cornish Delight’. Since its release, the talented young artist has illustrated a second book, with the same author, all about the sea which is set for release later this year. You can buy Amelia’s prints from her online Etsy shop here and her book can be found here.
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Flavour
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Dinosaurs Galore
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Animals
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Lockdown 11
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Images From Amelia’s new book
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Spring Print
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Whale
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Life got i
I wanted to Save and But life go What’s m I was told to be m But life go I want to ride
My intentio I didn’t mea But life go
Now it Throw it away an I didn’t intend t But life go I had plans to be p Instead I became p I became wasteful like Farms in
There will alw
I was too busy with w Instead of paying atten I littered the background and t I didn’t realise how I listened to the peopl I failed to hear the screams from fu
By Steven Kish. Steven has b assistant, lifeguard, father, childhood trauma, and is a of suicide, Steve is an advo
express their feelings in a con believes his poetry can bring heal a community he has live working on four projects: Th Marcus Aurelius inspiration) (short story/novel), Road Trip Hurt (a collection of 50 poem
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in the way
o be altruistic. d conserve. ot in the way. my excuse? mindful of the future. ot in the way. a bike to work.
ons were pure an any harm. ot in the way.
t’s cold. nd order take-out. to overconsume. ot in the way. part of the solution. part of the problem. e an American pioneer. nto malls.
ways be more.
what is in front of me. ntion to the background. took Mother Nature for granted. w destructive I was. le who said, ‘who cares’. uture generations yelling... ‘we do!’
been a high school coach, nursing and writer. He has endured survivor of suicide. As a survivor ocate for people who suffer from
nstructive way through writing. He g awareness to mental health and ed in since 1984. He is currently he Path For A Flawed Person (a ), How Covid Killed My Father p (a novel), and Rising Above The ms).
Photograph by Ryan Mostert
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Mossel Bay
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By Ryan Mostert. Ryan is a photographer and zine maker from South Africa. He has been doing photography for twenty plus years and his main focus is creating abstract images of everyday things most people don’t notice – be it on the streets or on the beach at sunwhere. He also recently started creating his own photo zines. He is a lover of nature, good conversations and is a coffee addict. here.
Andrena Zawinski’s Photography
By Andrena Zawinski. Andrena is a poet and shutterbug with photos appearing as covers and on the pages of many literary journals in print and online including Evening Street Review, Along These Rivers: Poetry & Photography from Pittsburgh, Digital Paper, Caesura, California Quarterly, Copper Nickel, Levure Littéraire, and others.
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One Year After Tiger King: What Have We Lear It has now been a little over a year since Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness took the internet by storm. The seven-part docu-series explores the world of tiger breeding and the intensely dramatic, twisted feud between collector, Joe Exotic, and big cat sanctuary owner, Carole Baskin. As I look back on my time watching the series last March in record speed (as many of us did), the only scenes I can recall include Baskin and Exotic. The context of big cats and conservation are hazy to me as these two unbelievably outlandish characters clawed my attention away. There is Nicholas Cage starring as Joe Exotic and competition series Dancing with the Stars. Amongst this roaring success, now I wonder: what have I learnt about tiger conservation in the series and how much attention did we all pay towards these and forth between Exotic and Baskin’s victim in the narrative is, the ultimate victims are the tigers restricted in unsafe and unviable living conditions. The owners have attracted the internet’s attention as the tigers are a backdrop to noted that the tigers are metaphorical But this should not be the sole setting for the drama, it should demand more attention, especially when seeing the park points to a wider issue of big cat case of negligent treatment of tigers including some owning tigers as pets without registering them, or entrapping these big cats in cages for roadside zoos. Tigers that breed cubs in cages will not be able to reintegrate into their natural wildlife habitat where they belong. These cramped conditions hinders their ability 26
to trek in the wide ex habitats that they shoul to. Although tigers are
the population – numbe across Asia. A dwindli 3,000 in the wild has p support the livelihoods In India, tigers are pro India, an organisation the government which
number of tigers from number across India’s preventing threats tow as poaching. All becau efforts people have ta these creatures in their
Tigers are sacred b many other species, ha mistreated by humans. exploited as enterta brazenly displayed in series has unintentiona how tigers are looked take it as a lesson o when they are not nu conservationists such a for Project India that ha tiger to save the planet
By Nuha Zulkernain Publishing student She graduated fro Napier with a degr literature in 2020. Sh
committee 2021/202 reviewing books by writers on Instagram literary space. Nuha
and making playlists fo
rnt About Tiger Conservation?
xpanse of natural ld be accustomed categorised as
ers have stabilised ing population of pushed people to s of these big cats. otected by Project n established by has been a major
its worryingly low s reserves, whilst wards them such use of the heroic aken to conserve r natural habitats.
beings that, like ave been brutally . They have been ainers, which is Tiger King. The ally cast a light on after. We should on what happens urtured. It is the as those working ave the eye of the t.
n. Nuha is a in Edinburgh. om Edinburgh ree in English he volunteers as
22 and enjoys y marginalised to expand the loves reading
or any mood.
Bengal Tiger Photographs By Katherine Abraham. Katherine is the author of Yesterday Once More, Silenced by Love and Some Days are Forever. An Adventist, Katherine is a teacher by profession, who has studied Law, Literature and Journalism. She writes poetry and prose for various online publications and international anthologies. She is the host of the International Podcast Series for Christians entitled Chasing Hope where she talks of the various aspects of a principled Christian life. Website : www.chasinghopewithkatherine.com Her fourth novel, Every Sunset Has a Story, has won her a book series contract with a popular
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Elephant Aware Maasai Mara Gini’s Story
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live in a tent in the African wilderness. In the Mara ecosystem in Kenya to be precise. My family also live in tents and our camp forms the base of operations for our conservation work. Our camp does not have running water and our water has to be collected from a communal borehole a few kilometres away twice a week. This lifestyle has taught me a precious lesson of the value of water growing up, and learning exactly how valuable every drop is. Most of our neighbours – the Maasai people – live the same way. We buy food supplies for our entire team from the nearest large town about a two and a half hour drive away and we mostly use solar and a generator for our electricity. We have many night-time visitors in the camp, sometimes it is an elephant plucking grass just outside my tent or a giraffe delicately nibbling from the tree over my tent. Recently, two male lions decided to chase each other all over the camp accompanied by a thunderous cacophony of roars as they competed over a female. This is the only life I know and I love it. I have lived in a tent most of my life and I remember how thrilled I was as a child when went we spent our school holidays together on safari, sleeping in tents with lions roaring outside, hyenas in the distance, and all manner of small creatures going about their natural routines just beyond the thin wall of canvas. Waking up in a tent and listening to all the glorious sounds of a waking wild world and spending the day playing with Maasai warriors in rivers, knowing full well that there could be likely encounters with lions, buffaloes, and elephants! Spending hours at night and listening to wondrous tales about this mesmerising place I call home. This was what I considered great fun when I was a child. Like most kids, I dreaded returning to boarding school – away from all that I loved. But looking back now, I am immensely grateful for my education – both within the classroom and in the wilderness. I wouldn’t be the person I am if not for the most amazing upbringing my parents provided for my brother and I. Because of this, I will be forever grateful for the passion they instilled in me from a young age to love wildlife, but also to seek a Now, we work as a family to help protect these wild places that have had such a deep impression on me as an individual.
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Today, I am part of an amazing team of conservationists, which includes my parents and my brother, working to secure a future for elephants and other wildlife in the Mara ecosystem. The name of our project is Elephant Aware and it was founded over a decade ago by my parents who, between them, have a vast wealth of knowledge and experience as conservationists in Kenya. We have a team of 25 passionate individuals; 15 rangers and 10 support staff, myself included. We prioritise locally driven conservation and almost all of our team is made up of Maasai people who are from this area. Because of this, we have been able to establish a strong relationship with the community of Maasai landowners that is crucial to the effectiveness of our work. Because the rangers are Maasai themselves, they understand the cultural values of their communities and this is a truly essential foundation for the project.
Th th st – an bo de
th co co 40 re th Th ou w
th
he reason why we focus on elephants is because hey face many challenges to their survival, and the tate of their future in the wild is greatly threatened mostly by humans. Elephants are also considered n ‘ambassador species’ and a ‘keystone species’, oth meaning that many other wildlife species epend on elephants to survive because elephants
project this way in order to have minimal overheads so that all the funding we receive goes directly into our efforts on the ground. We work in an area called Siana that is located on the eastern side of the Mara ecosystem. Siana is a large area of thousands of acres comprising wild habitat from large hills, valleys, woodlands to rivers and open grasslands
hey inhabit. Within only a few years, elephants can onvert woodland forest into open savannahs and, ontrariwise, because elephants only digest around 0% of their food intake, they provide vegetation egrowth through the seed dissemination in heir dung that eventually becomes new forests. hrough our emphasis on protecting elephants, ur efforts also help protect other wildlife and the wild habitat they all depend upon for survival. Our
settlements are interspersed throughout Siana as well and all the land is owned by the Maasai people. Parts of Siana are protected as wildlife conservancies that are managed by different local groups but so much of the wildlife population still exists outside of protected areas and therefore, species like
when competing for resources such as water and also space. Apart from the widespread transnational danger of poaching that is driven by the demand for hroughout the year, and we purposely designed the ivory, one of the biggest threats African elephants 31
face today is the loss of their historic to human development that is encroa habitats and is causing them to be s smaller areas and ultimately, closer to
it inevitably leaves a trail of loss and tra because people can be killed by elep close encounters and elephants are ve in retribution. So many traditional mig used by elephants have been cut o structures such as roads, fences and b this has had a devastating effect on to access important areas. Elephant huge amount of vegetation on a dail than 180kg in fact! But given the freed they are constantly on the move to av resources in areas that they depend o times of the year. One of Elephant Aw goals is to promote a peaceful coexiste
work in close collaboration with the Sia
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cal range due aching on their squeezed into humans.
agedy for both phants during ery often killed gratory routes off by human buildings, and their freedom ts consume a ly basis, more dom to do so, void depleting on at different ware’s biggest ence between
ana community
and species like elephants everyday, and by implementing different solutions with the help of our donors and partners, such as protecting natural wildlife corridors. We hope to reduce the area. Through our years of dedicated efforts, there has been a tremendous positive change in the general attitude towards wildlife and in the overall security of endangered species. So why are elephants important? Elephants are the largest land mammals on earth and almost everyone has some idea of what an elephant looks like. They are charismatic in their ability to create a fascination and a strong sense of compassion among many around the world. There have been and so much more dedicated to elephants. If you ask a child anywhere in the world what an elephant is, chances are that they could describe an elephant quite accurately. Additionally, from an economic standpoint, elephants also generate huge revenue to the countries they live in through tourism and employment stability. Millions of jobs, from those working in the culinary industry to safari guides and rangers, to airport employees and travel agencies rely, in great part, on wildlife destinations, especially in countries like Kenya. But if we put aside their economic value and simply view elephants as the sentient creatures that they are, then perhaps we will take on a more personal perspective towards their plight. Elephants are individuals and this becomes incredibly apparent after years of studying them. Elephants embody all of our good human qualities such as empathy, love, courage and intelligence with almost none of the opposite. I have witnessed mother elephants being so attentive to their calves. Whenever a young elephant so much as trips, there is usually a big commotion and the entire herd rushes over to comfort them. I have seen elephants mourn and grieve in such a deeply moving way that it leaves me with no words. There are instances where elephants have displayed amazing trust towards us despite having had traumatic experiences with humans in their lifetime. I have also seen elephants celebrate births and express obvious joy during social gatherings. I have shared all of the amazing experiences with our team and it has helped us gain invaluable insight into the lives of elephants. It has been discovered through past research of different populations
in Kenya and elsewhere that elephants have an evolved language that they use to communicate with one another. They are each very different in appearance. For example, we are able to distinguish different elephants based on their ear notches, their tusks and other facial features. Many of the elephants in this area are named by community members through an online database and this is not only important for recognition purposes but it also enables us to learn more about where these elephants go and which areas they prefer which helps us to better protect them. Speaking from experience I can say that the more you understand them and the world they must navigate through, the more powerful your dedication is to secure a future where elephants can roam freely in precious wild places like the Mara ecosystem. or to make a donation to help the conservation of elephants in the Maasai Mara, visit their website or follow them on social media. Website, Facebook & Instagram By Gini Cowell
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SHORT STORY
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Sultan, Pretty and Me Part 3
Issue 5 for part one and Issue 6 for part 2.
The sound of another tearing scratch reminded me I had duties in the present. ‘I’m not as young as I used to be, Pretty – now that is an understatement – you’ll have to wait a minute. Come on, Sult, let’s go outside.’ Sultan’s ears perked at his name. I could remember a day when the sharp edges of his ears cut the air when he moved my sleeves’ cuffs. I made for the front door, taking care not to displace the area rug. Leticia and I had brought it back from Arizona. The still-vivid pattern recalled our too-short vacation in California. We had scrimped and saved for three years, living on carbohydrates, meat extenders, and conversation. ‘Look! An Indian rug!’ She had turned her shining eyes on me. ‘Oh, let’s buy it. It would go so perfectly by the living-room window.’ An ancient Hopi woman with obsidian in her eyes, the proprietress of the roadside shop had stood mute before Leticia’s enthusiasm. The hardship of her life was written in the thousands of lines on her face, stored within the hump on her back. I had felt almost guilty buying the gorgeous, hand-woven rug. Though not enough to pay more than the asking price. As usual, Leticia had been right: its deep earth tones and natural pattern suited our I kept forgetting to pick up a set of those little rubber thingies to prevent its sliding. Leticia, a natural decorator, could have done so much if I had ever had as much that murky past. She had married once before. To a rich American man holidaying in Puerto Rico. I say man, but Leticia’s few descriptions of him made me think boy; his wealth had been his grandfather’s doing. The tempestuous relationship had, in Leticia’s words, ended tragically. Full stop. wedding. She was waiting tables in a Thai restaurant in Greenwich Village, trying to earn enough money to return to her island home. Wedding reception catered by the Improbable. ‘You enchant me.’ I had said. Her dark eyes lit, sparked by the instant attraction she felt as strongly as I. ‘Not now.’ My heart sank: I must have read my desires into her smiles rather than reality. Then she added, ‘But call me.’ She wrote her number on a napkin, giggling at – I decided – her own forward behaviour. ‘Ouch!’ Claws to knee; past to present. ‘Sorry!’ I opened the door and watched Pretty
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the open door, enjoying the breeze and the fresh smell of someone’s newly mown lawn. The two of them disappeared around the low hedge separating our yard from The Beekins’s. Only their tails were visible over the sculpted greenery. Hers bobbed and switched – a feather dancing in the breeze; Sult’s stood stiff and proud as a soldier. Except the very tip which drooped to the side due to some long past tailitic trauma. Returning to the couch, I sat – thankfully – trying to ignore the protestings of my body’s various worn and irreplaceable parts. It is a shame God couldn’t have been a more progressive inventor. Like Henry Ford: Henry’s Body Parts, All Models and Years. I picked up a book by and about someone young enough to care and tried to read. The night’s sounds took over the day’s as children – protesting and busy – were shooed in commenced singing – a familiar chorale on a well-worn record. The breeze picked up its pace, making the trees hiss and crackle in the background. The overall effect was that of an old seventy-eight played on a single-horn gramophone. The soothing song and the beckoning of the peaceful dark behind my eyes gradually won over the alleged attractions of the book. I awakened with a shout, soon realising my waking bellow had only been part of some larger, more tragic noise. my open window: ‘Goddamn cat. Oughta be a law.’ The slurred words carried with them the face of any drunk: bloated, red-nosed, dull-eyed; a pale blob without individual features. A car engine roared. Wheels squealed on the wet pavement. The car zoomed away, its cargo loved ones. It took me little time to get down to the street. Sultan had been getting slower and deafer as time made its irreversible changes... how quickly my body moved; how young it acted, and without complaint. Once at the level of the street, my eyes raced frantically up and down – wanting to see/not wanting to discover. The Nast boy had left his bicycle out again. It stood in the middle of the her Pekingese, careful to stay on the other side of the street: Sultan had attacked and nearly killed the tiny thing once. An act for which I did not punish him overmuch as the rat-sized beast had the annoying habit of barking randomly – and at great length – in the middle of the night. My eyes rested on a vague shape in the gutter. They strained to make out anything, but the over-washing torrent of muddy water and old leaves from someone’s spotless lawn made it almost impossible. I moved closer on legs stiff with dread, careful not to step down too hard fur. Her blue eyes, always the most incredible pink in the moonlight, were dull. A patter of steps approached. Sultan. He nosed Pretty once and again – ‘Come on, let’s play.’ He looked up, bleakly, I thought, demanding I do something. When I picked her up, her body was limp. It seemed boneless in fact. I held her to my face. She still retained a touch of the dark, slow trickle at her breast, something white glistened wetly in the soft light of the moon. She had come washed by the cleansing waters of a spring rain; she departed soaked in the detritus of run-off. None but Luna, silent satellite, saw the tears coursing down my face, following the gullies,
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my inclined head fell on one gnarled hand and bounced, lightly spattering the bundle I carried so carefully. As if I could do it harm. Sultan and I struggled up the stairs; the door creaked when I opened it – sympathetic vibrations – with my knees. We heard the bed call our names. Propped up beside the reading lamp that I couldn’t make myself turn on, I cradled the Pretty’s bloody body. Sultan arranged himself on my lap, for once not settling his considerable bulk on my genitals. As he stared at me, at my armful of the past, it seemed that the blame drained from his eyes. Whether it was because he could feel my pain to be the equal of his own or for some constant. Together we cried in our own ways, until we could no longer feel grief with mere tears. Leticia materialised at the foot of the bed. She was surrounded by a crystal lattice of light and photonic joy. It was a nimbus, a halo. Sultan turned at the soft whisper of her rustling skirt (the light blue cotton one that she always wore around the house: her ‘sloppy skirt’). She smiled at him, while nuzzling a tiny, radiantly white body next to her cheek. Sultan let out a hopeful ‘yip’ when he heard the wee mew of contentment. I started as if prodded by a sharp stick. I lifted my hand to her. She smiled and made as if to speak, then, thinking better of it, shook her head, smiling her secret smile. My memory, having its own desires, persisted in hearing her light and lovely Spanish-accented English: My love. A current of air struck her face and hair. She turned into it and, with the passing wind, the straightening of her shoulders, she was young. She began to pivot slowly on her heel. Before the full force of her lively brown eyes could pass over me, she turned insubstantial, blowing away a strip at a time. Soon the moon disappeared behind ponderous clouds and the last light left the room. I lay on my back. Sultan had moved up to his favorite night position: draped across my right arm and half my chest. Pretty – whose weight I couldn’t even feel – rose and fell as my abdomen drew the tired life into my body. The morning was bright. No-one awoke. By Bob Ritchie. Hailing from California, Bob Ritchie now lives on the lovely island of Puerto Rico, where he discovered, among other things, that wet heat is better than dry. Bob (as he calls himself) is a writer of stories and Triangle Writers Magazine, and others; two of his stories were nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Neither won. Oh well. Go well. Photograph by Kanashi
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Driftwood Collectio I
want to do my bit to protect the enviro and I want to show people that you
disposal to create something special. about making the most of what you being creative, and putting your hea soul into your work.
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on
onment u don’t
. It’s all u have, art and
to put his own spin on things. As a dyslexic and autistic artist, he wants to make it clear that you should never let a disability get in the way of achieving your dreams. As he struggles to communicate with words, art is the perfect medium for expressing himself. He hopes one day, his grandchildren can live in a world where people respect the environment and each other.
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Resturaunt Highlight: Chicken and chorizo Paella (adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe)
T
his restaurant highlight is a little bit different, as this is our conservation issue, the restaurant is your own house! Eating out is a lovely luxury, but restaurants are known for adding to the food waste problem in this country. By making your own food at home, and adapting recipes depending on what you have in the fridge, you can reduce your food waste and save your money in the long run. As well as making a tasty and healthy dinner. This recipe is great because you can easily adapt it depending on what you have in the fridge - if you don’t have chorizo, breakfast sausages or even beef or lamb can work. Bacon is also great for adding a smoky to. And if you have leftover chicken from a Sunday roast - use that instead of the chicken have any chicken, or as well as! Add more veggies - things like celery, mushrooms, and different colours of peppers, as well as fresh tomatoes make a great addition to this. Frozen or fresh spinach can be great too if you don’t have frozen peas. And if you want to make it veggie, use a vegetable stock cube and leave out the meat, or add something like tofu. By Grace Balfour-Harle
Ingredients
• 2-4 cloves of garlic depending on your taste • 1 onion, or a couple of shallots • 1-2 carrots • Flat leaf parsley, or dried parsley will work just as well • 70g of chorizo • 2 deboned chicken thighs • • 1 tsp paprika • Tomato puree • 1 chicken stock cube • 300g rice (you should use paella rice, but it can be just as tasty with any type of rice you • 100g frozen peas • • Lemon juice
Method 1. Chop all the veggies - but keep them in separate piles, ready for use. 2. Chop the chorizo and chicken thighs. 3. Add all the garlic, onion, carrot, chicken and chorizo to a medium heat pan with some olive oil, plus the paprika and parsley. Fry for about 5 mins. 4. Add the pepper (or any soft veggies you’re continue to cook for another 5 mins. 5. Add the rice, tomato puree and crumble in the stock cube - stirring all the time. 6. Add 750ml of boiling water. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. continue to cook for 5 minutes. 7. Add salt and pepper and a little squeeze of lemon juice, and serve.
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Fade to Black
The beauty of the Lesser Chameleon’s vibrant spectrum of colour contrasts against the black void, highlighting the notion of the animal’s vulnerability. The gradual fading out from the tail represents the stark reality of the endangered species’ decline as it is gradually becoming the void that surrounds it. By Paul Scott from Black Heart Creative. Black Heart focuses on alternative culture and the macabre; using inks, spray paint, acrylic and 3D material.
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Things We’re Loving!
Honestly, with my university deadlines hitting time to watch much. I tend to re-watch shows I’ve already seen and know I enjoy (basic, I know). As someone with an extremely short attention span, I tend to stick to quick comedies. I have recently watched What We Do In The Shadows and This Country and found them both hilarious. I do enjoy the odd, intense cop-show drama such as a personal favourite of mine, Law and Order: SVU and, of course, Line Of Duty. But I have to say, the season’s ending just did not live up to my expectations.
This month our social media coordinator, Hannah Matheson is sharing some things she’s been loving. I’m a full time Master’s student and have been a key worker throughout the entire pandemic so, needless to say, I enjoy my downtime. Living on my own through lockdown has been my evenings with video calls from friends and walks to the beach, as well as a good book or a true crime documentary. I’ve recently been practising a bit more ‘self-care’, whether it’s simply painting my nails, putting on a face mask, or lighting a candle and putting on some good music. Here are some of the other things I’ve been loving lately. By Hannah Matheson
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Watc h
My music taste is so varied but right now, I can’t stop listening to anything by Dermot Kennedy. In particular, ‘Killer Was A Coward’ and ‘After Rain and Rome. His concert was the last concert I went to before the pandemic and I can’t explain it but I can just FEEL his music in my soul. So good. I’ve also recently been letting my inner wild child free with Alanis Morrissette, Bleachers and Betty Who as well as the country girl within me with old-school Taylor Swift. I’m also an absolute sucker for the Hamilton soundtrack and always go back to it. In terms of podcasts, I’ve never been the biggest fan as I’ve just struggled However, now that we’re allowed to travel again (and the fact that I struggle with long journeys), I needed journeys to visit my hometown. I’ve recently found Crime Junkie and Killer Queens: A True Crime Podcast, and they
One of my 2021 New Year’s resolutions was to get more into reading. I’ve never been what you would call a “bookworm”, but I did somehow manage to read three books in January before my one I read was The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and, although I read it three months ago, I still tell my friends to read it. Insane plot twist. I also enjoyed The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and on top of my reading list is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.
REA D
Listen 43
PLAY The Killer Was a CowardDermot Kennedy
Wild
Bleac
Ablaze-
Alanis Morissette
Wom
Kesha
Wanna BeBetty Who
Stan
Cynth
Pynk-
Janelle Monáe ft Grimes
What’
4 Non B
Chinatown-
Bleachers, Bruce Springsteen
The
Taylor
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Listen o
YLIST
n Spoti
fy
d Heart -
chers, Sara Bareilles
man -
a ft The Dap-Kings Horns
nd Up-
hia Erivo
’s Up?-
Blondes
Story of us-
r Swift
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Sustainable Art: Reasons to be wild T
his month, we spoke to Molly Crookshank, who is one of the three sisters of Reasons to be Wild. Reasons to be Wild are dedicated to raising awareness of British wildlife through art and engagement.
What inspired you to start Reasons to be Wild? I was studying wildlife conservation at university and realised how many positive projects there are everywhere that people might not be aware of. This, combined with Emily’s impressive artistic talents – especially with charcoal, made us realise we could make a difference and bring awareness to some of these projects. If we could also help people discover and get involved with wildlife projects on their doorstep, no matter where they live, then this would be another bonus. Why is raising awareness about British wildlife so important to you? It’s so important because not only does it help save and restore some wonderful habitats and species, but we feel that encouraging people into nature is fantastic for mental wellbeing as well. What is it like working with your sisters? How do you separate your personal lives and the business? We were very close before starting Reasons to be Wild, so it’s been great building this together and has even brought us closer which is lovely. Yes, we’ve had some heated discussions about some things, but the joy of being family is that you can move on very quickly. How do you ensure your art is always sustainable? We take our time before we do anything to make sure it’s sustainable. We don’t just read the label, we ask the company and we do our research. We’ve made sure that all the packaging materials we use to as possible. It took us over four months of research and we will always look to improve it. What is your favourite piece you’ve made/sold so far? That is a hard question as I think we would all choose a different piece. They are all impressive in their own way and the journey in their creation, and the projects each one supports resonates differently with each of the pieces so far and has been very popular so maybe the current favourite, but if you asked the others, I’m sure they’d tell you something different.
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We’ve had so much joy from nature through our childhoods and our adult lives that we want to make sure these wonderful plants and animals are still around for future generations to enjoy.
Is there anything right now you want to continue the voice on? One of the projects we support is The Conservation to create healthier and happier communities by connecting people with green spaces. It’s such a great group and offers so many opportunities for people to get involved, helping not only with conservation in their local areas but themselves and their mental health through the community it creates. This issue is all about conservation, what does conservation mean to you? Conservation means everything to us, we have always spent a lot of time outside surrounded by nature, so we feel very strongly about helping to conserve the precious places and species. We’ve had so much joy from nature through our childhoods and our adult lives that we want to make sure these wonderful plants and animals are still around for future generations to enjoy.
@reasonstobewild
website and also social media
Interview by Kirsty Taylor
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Sturmaz Storm: a disturbed state. Something that passes by, leaving destruction in its wake. But in the centre, there is a calm. Finding the calm is the hard bit. You have to push through the destruction and the mess and the chaos to Living with anxious behaviour is a little like living with a self through. It keeps moving, so you restart the search every day. Noise. Tumult. Thoughts swirling through your head with unfettered power. Trying to catch one is impossible; for as soon as one is formed, it is swept away by the wind in your head to be replaced by another, and another, and another. Quicker. Twisting and twirling. A cacophony of thoughts getting louder and louder. Soaring upwards; so fast you can’t stop. Roaring and reverberating unsomething brings you back down, you’re pulled up into this hurricane, like Dorothy and Toto. Except you’re not coming back down to Oz. But it isn’t a perfect metaphor. Nothing is. A storm is caused by opposing air waves and will always peter out eventually. Living with anxiety or anxious behaviour can some never do. A storm causes more destruction to those outside than those in the centre of it. Anxiety is a singularly insular problem, and often overlooked or unseen by those around the sufferers. So the destruction remains internal, until it builds to a crescendo where it can’t be hidden anymore. Exploding outwards in a rage of fury, the results are devastating, crippling. They can take a lifetime to rebuild, and life can be forever changed. But periods of still will come and go. It is not always a natural storm. Reacting and dealing with its waves is something that the sufferer develops over time. Just as people who live in storm-prone places have coping mechanisms to live with the storms and survive, so too do you learn to live with the storm inside of you. And even if you are knocked down, again and again and again, you will rebuild. The eye of the storm is a place of calm and healing, but also of disassociation. You can watch things being caught up in devastation and change; unable to do anything about it. At some point, you have to come through strong. For you are its equal. By Grace Balfour-Harle
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Slow Death of Earth Where I live, there are extremely high levels of pollution. When we hear the word ‘conservation’, the only thing that comes to mind is global warming, pollution – the fact that our home planet is in all over the world, nature had developed in many ways but it became even worse. Conserving our planet must be top priority. As an artist, I’m personally practising the art of zero waste where I challenge myself to use recycled or non-recyclable products in the form of art, whether it’s a painting or a sculpture. To me, this is a creative and very powerful message to the world as I can contribute by showing that you can use a lot of things instead of just throwing them away. These hidden messages are important and inspiring to young and adult minds alike.
Instagram.
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Small Business Spotlight: Derven Designs
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For this issue, we spoke to Abigail Robertson who is the brains and talent behind small business, Derven Designs. What inspired you to start Derven Designs? Absolute boredom. Just like everyone else when the pandemic hit my very busy life just stood still. I managed to entertain the summer lockdown with no problem, but once we went into one in winter, I just found myself in a
have seen them be used as a trinket tray, candle holder, soap dispenser holder and more. I think my favourite one I have made is the “Shoot to the Moon” tray. However, my customer favourite have been the space coasters and they’re great fun to make.
videos and this led to me looking into it a bit more, and then just having one of those moments going “what’s the worst that could happen?”. So I bought a starter kit and instantly, I was hooked! I ended up having a pile-up of various items I had made and I thought I’d see if anyone would be interested in buying them, and they were. I then started looking into what was involved in running a small business and now here we are.
What advice would you give to people considering starting a small business right now? You have to love what you’re doing or there is no point in doing it. So many people have started small businesses during lockdown so it is really competitive. One week you will have lots of sales, and the next you don’t, and you just need to be ready to ride the wave. The feeling you get when someone absolutely loves something you have
Where does the name Derven Designs come from? I think many businesses have gone through the struggle of deciding a name and I had a notepad full of various names, but it was my mother who came up with the idea. Derven Designs is named after my family home – Derven is the name of the house, it was built by my Nana and Papa and named after my father and uncle; Derek and Steven. How do you ensure your products are as sustainable as possible? I pride myself on making products for customers that are for life, this being because the majority of my products are custom-made, meaning that it is personalised to the individual. This helps ensure that the products don’t end up in the bin and are part of their home/life for a long time. The products are made durable enough to support this long life span as well. The resin I use is non-toxic and chemical resistant, as I previously mentioned, I mainly make custom-made products, however I do have a small store of ready-made items, these are made from any left-over resin from my orders. This reduces any waste. All my moulds are reusable so the only thing I need to restock is the resin which keeps delivery emission low. When it comes to packaging the products, I use gift bags for jewellery and keyrings that can be reused by the customer and for anything larger, I wrap it in 100% recyclable tissue paper. If posting any products, I keep any boxes and bubble wrap from deliveries to my house and I reuse them. I now make my own stickers as well. I am still learning and still developing Derven Designs to be as ethical and sustainable as possible, especially as I am branching out into vinyl printing and pyrography. I spend a lot of time researching how I can produce sustainable way of creating products that help improve sustainability – I am right on it.
Is there anything right now you want to continue the voice on? Sounds cheesy, but working with teenagers. I always encourage them to do what makes them happy. Too many they appear on social media or fake friendships just to keep the friend number count high. No matter what you do, someone will have an opinion, so you might as well do something that puts a smile on your face. Even better, if it leads to being the reason someone else ends up smiling. As this issue is all about conservation, we are asking everyone what conservation means to them. What does it mean to you? Straight away, conservation takes me to the great outdoors. Conservation is actually something I have become very active with during lockdown, I am an Army Cadet Instructor and I introduced the John Muir Discovery Award to the cadets. This found the teenagers going out different ways to conserve it. They were given tasks that got them researching various things about the outdoors that otherwise wouldn’t be considered by them – these would then follow with a practical aspect. I found this gave these teenagers a better appreciation for what can impact positively and negatively to the great outdoors. I am an outdoor enthusiast with all my various hobbies and jobs and I encourage discussion and actions by all I work with to ensure the outdoors is treated the way it should be. I can be found on the following: Instagram, Facebook, Etsy and TikTok: @Derven_Designs Interview by Kirsty Taylor
What is your favourite thing you’ve made so far? I love the trinket trays, I get to add sparkle, paint and vinyl into the same product and it is so versatile in its use. I
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Coorie M
As the world opens a little more, we want to in life so we are including a monthly feature editor and illustrated by our team’s illustrat Being surrounded by untouched nature
Watching the sunrise roll in over the hills
Reaching the top of a hill and being able to see green for miles 52
appropriated and positioned as a ‘lifestyle tr of hygge, which involves ideas such as cosin
Swimming in a loch and watching the birds dive do for their dinner
Feeling the sand between your toes and the wind in your hair
Moments
remind you to appreciate the little things e of Coorie moments written by our head tor. For anyone who may not know here,
rend’, similar to the Scandinavian concept ness.
own
e
Seeing a group of saplings grow to a forest of towering trees
Drinking from a running stream and feeling instantly refreshed Hugging a tree and feeling protected by it
Watching waves roll in and out for hours on end
Walking through a park to discover a patch of crocuses Words by Kirsty Taylor & Illustrations by Sophie Freestone.
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What does co mean to
‘Conservation means to me what it means to many conscientious individuals who in our everyday lives try to be caretakers respecting the landscape of our lives through preservation, recycling, repurposing. As an artist it means something more to me – to document, to praise, to create a love for the natural world through poetry and in idea photography because we tend to protect tion is n what we love and revere. Mary Oliver’s on 11½ acr words come to me: ‘Love yourself. land. The tr ‘The Then forget it. Then love the careful they a more we interfere with world’’ cessity warran nature, animals, and the environAndrena Zawinski have always be ment, the chances increase we will pay for as they please it down the road. The pursuit of more, probably barriers to t will be the downfall to our world; more doesn’t always tion is resp ers we give to loved ones, it makes delicious honey that we Ju ‘Conservation is consume and yet, most people stay away from the bee. If we our future, the mediinterfere with it, there is a chance to get stung. So, we leave it cine of our survival. If we and our future generations around a hive, they know they are in a dangerous situation becau se are going to survive we all there are more bees. I thought more was better? More bees mean s need deeper education about this subject, which at the we just want to continue their efforts. Our mentality is to pick more moment we know very little about.’ ey, the bees can work overtime. No, we need to value the honful c Jane Bayliss ey, save it, savour it, and conserve it. Easier said than done, Here, we I am guilty of it too. We tend to see the wastefulness of trees, p in other people, but not in ourselves. We need to ning coastal a remember what seems like a good idea today, ture the wonde doesn’t mean it’s good for tomorrow.’ my Romantic p Steven Kish acknowledging th ‘The history of nature reduce the impact conservation as a movement is ing future generati long and complex, but simply put: as will inherit. I’ve star an incredibly smart and powerful species dium for my paintin – so much so that we are able to destroy our possible. My ‘Driftw environment and undermine our own living contiles, window frame ditions – we have a practical and moral obligation If one of my paint to preserve habitats and species. In a former career, to trigger a chang I helped governments and companies internalise the ‘Conservation to ly I can get them ‘hidden’ environmental costs of their activities – which me is conserving someconsider how requires a lot of work. I also have a particular interest thing from the natural world such gestures in ecofeminism, which explores the parallels between for future generations to enjoy, to the jigsa the oppression of nature and the oppression of bit, tog women, both historically perceived as dark, neb- appreciate and cultivate into something we can all enjoy, treasure and ulous matters that can be appropriated and used – a very problematic way of thinking, ment in mind, body and soul.’ indeed.’ Ryan Mostert Lorelei Bacht 54
onservation o you?
‘My idea of conservation is the continuous, concentrated and collaborative effort of the individual and the society at large to create a visible difference to the lives of
fauna, but a holistic observation of the planet with all its elements, human and wild, nature and soil so as to craft a secure blueprint for a balanced world. We need to remember that conservation is an effort ‘My to connect, coordinate and deliver ourselves out a of conservaof the clutches of indifference, imbalance and not extreme. I live ineptitude when it comes to leaving behind a res of mostly wooded better and brighter tomorrow for our future am rees, I nurture, and generations.’ ‘Conservation are not cut unless a neKatherine Abraham to me starts within nts it. On this land, deer myself, realising that I’m just een free to come and go one tiny spec on the planet and no e and I don’t put up any more important than anything else in the their haunts. Conservapect, and that’s what’s natural world. It’s about not being an invasive, ‘Conservation is not parasitic species but one that lives symbiotically given.’ a general word but a personwith all nature and that now some serious damage udy DeCroce al one with me. The terrain and has been done, taking responsibility for it by wildlife here on my wooded acreage educating myself and my children on how to live sustainably, protect the planet and the awe- guide its fate. Animals, especially deer inspiring nature that inhabits it. Conservation and Canada geese, roam and rest without interruption. Close to the house, I keep is a global responsibility that has to start birds well-fed and watered during all with all of us as individuals.’ ‘I live seasons. And, the trees are monitored, Brendan Rawlings in Somerset, a beautithinned, or replanted when necessary. county in South West England. Conservation is just a natural teme are blessed with a diverse range po and routine here.’ plants, animals, landscapes and stunAntoni Ooto areas. As a creative artist, I love to caperful and majestic natural world through ‘I worked in Energy paintings. To me, conservation is all about Conservation doing energy audits, he beauty around you and actively trying to amongst other things, for over 30 years. you have on your surroundings, while ensurWe only started doing air sealing by pressurisions are able to enjoy living in the world they rted using more recycled materials as the meyears of my working life. What conservation means to ngs and have been promoting this as much as me is how much time and knowledge I wasted by not being wood Collection’ features paintings on bark, es, broken fences, and even old coffee tables! pressure zone testing. I realize you may be thinking on a largtings touches a person’s soul, then I am able er scale than residential homes but that is where my familiarity ge in the way they think and feel. Hopefulbegins. What is convenient to some is inconvenient to others. I m to fall in love with the natural world and am referring to clothes dryers. Nobody hangs their clothes out w they might be able to protect it. While anymore. I have a painting and it is such a beautiful painting, of s may seem small, there are many parts some colorful clothes drying in what is assumed to be a warm aw puzzle and if everyone does their breeze. The artist, from the African continent, achieved most gether we can make a real differof this with acquired objects gluing them to the wooden ence.’ board. Oil paints and the like may have not been availMark Noble able or affordable but the artist adapted. So when I look at this painting I still think of conservation and beauty.’ 55 Colin James
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Cont
The Team at Con The driving force
Head Editor: Editor: Grace Balfour-H Graphic Designer Illustrator and Edito Secretary and Wri Social Media Coordina
Published twelve times a ye Get in
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tacts:
ntinue The Voice es behind issue 8
: Kirsty Taylor Harle & Nuha Zulkernain r: Anna McFarlane or: Sophie Freestone iter: Hannah Scott ator: Hannah Matheson
ear by Continue The Voice. Touch
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Issue 8 Conservation Follow Continue The Voice
