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Climate change is a global problem. However, its effects are felt differently on a regional scale: in some areas, an increased number of droughts is experienced, in other areas the result of the changing climate are more frequent floodings. Specifically, people living in the vicinity of rivers have to cope with the immediate consequences and are at the core of experiencing these effects of the changing climate. In the beginning of 2008, the publisher, artist, and poet Brian Lewis (Pontefract Press) has initiated this project for creating awareness of the effects of climate change, by means of art and poetry. Through his contacts to India, he has realised the similarity of these effects on regional communities worldwide. The idea was born to involve artists in two regional communities across the globe, Yorkshire and Gujarat, to create works which illustrate these effects and build a virtual link between these communities. In November 2008 he travelled to India with a group of Yorkshire academics, to organise workshops and visits sites in the region Gujarat, around Ahmadabad. The participants besides him were: Jane Weatherby (Northern College Barnsley), Beccy Stirrup (University Leeds), Ruth Dass (Interculture), Jenny Marsden (Pontefract Press), and Reinhold Behringer (Leeds Metropolitan University). Participation of Leeds Metropolitan UniversityMost participants in the project are writers, artists, poets. This expertise is complemented by technical expertise on digital data capture and dissemination, provided by Reinhold Behringer. He was invited to join the group to India, and he explored during this travel several techniques of immersive capturing experiences: in-ear microphones for capturing the audioscape of places and a head-worn camera for subjective view-dependent video capture. In addition, he captured all travel with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, to obtain a complete time-and-space record of the activities. This will be used for creating a web site which will link the two regions Gujarat and Yorkshire through a geo-centric interface portal. Climate Change Award by Yorkshire Post (7.May 2009)On 7.May 2009, the Yorkshire Post presented this project with an award in the category "Climate Change" at their Inaugural Environmentat Awards 2009. Brian Lewis and Jane Weatherby accepted the trophy on behalf of the project group. Next PlansIn June 2009, our partners from India will visit Yorkshire for a series of workshops and site visits, to complement the mutual travel. A further visit to India is envisioned for November 2009. The final deliverables of this project will be a collection of the created works, documenting the climate change effects in two distant regions of the world. This documentation will be print-based, but will be complemented by online multimedia (images, video, audio, geo-tracks) for demonstrating a technology dimension. |