Last week, the Sidmouth School of Art were putting on free half-term workshops: where art and nature meet, and that included their COP 30 | Sidmouth School Of Art poster design session – which will be happening again on Saturday 8th and Saturday 15th November:
This project inspired and coordinated by Brazilian Sidmouth Resident and artist Lucia Cooper with the support of her family and Maureen and Mike Hawkridge, aligns with the gathering of world leaders for their annual meeting to tackle climate change. This unique project unites artists from the UK and Brazil in responding to COP 30. The work of 20 artists, 18 from Sidmouth including 3 Brazilians and and 2 Brazilian artists who live in Sao Paulo and Santos, are brought together to create a new collaborative artwork for Sidmouth.
Coinciding with COP 30 which will take place in Belem, Para – the gateway to the Amazon Rainforest, the artwork will be exhibited on Sidmouth Wallspace in November, raising awareness of climate change and how we can protect our common home.
Sidmouth School of Art is bringing the voices of young and older people into the project through a series of ink poster art workshops , where the community is invited to create a poster about the environment, experimenting with new skills, using inks and foam brushes to ‘have their say’ creating campaign posters expressing hopes and fears about climate change, adding their voices to pressure to accelerate actions and implement commitments made at previous COPs.
Well, as reported in the latest Herald, Hurricane Melissa has shown the need for climate action at the Cop30 summit.
And elsewhere in Devon we are also looking to the event.
In the summer, at the Exeter Climate Forum looking ahead to COP30, we learnt that Eco hubs are ‘catalysts for positive tipping points’.
From next Monday 10th November, the start of the big event, the Plymouth Marine Laboratory will be at the UN’s climate change meeting – showcasing their work at the COP30 Virtual Ocean Pavilion.
And this month, Transition Towns will be putting on eco-minded events – including from the likes of Sustainable Crediton and Transition Exmouth.
Plus TT member the Vision Group for Sidmouth will be be celebrating Eco Hub Sidmouth on Friday 21st November, by giving out this year’s Sustainable Sidmouth Champion Awards 2025 to all those groups which have been involved in this new project, which has been all about community and sustainability.
Finally, here’s a BBC guide on what it’s all about: What is the COP30 climate meeting, and where and when is it taking place?
…