The solutions exhibition Whole Earth? launched at Keele University in North Staffordshire on Thursday 9 February 2012, with the university’s new Chancellor and renowned environmentalist Jonathon Porritt and local MP Joan Walley joining creator Mark Edwards to open the display at 3pm.
It now runs at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh from Wednesday 14 March to Sunday 1 July, before travelling to their regional gardens at Benmore, Dawyck and Logan from July 2012 to November 2013, together with What Scotland Is Doing, a display produced by the Hard Rain team showing some of the sustainable development projects in the country and overseas, and featuring specially commissioned photographs by Chris Steele-Perkins.
A national tour of Sweden kicks off on 12 May with a display at the centre of the Planet Lund Sustainability Festival, which promises two weeks filled with knowledge-sharing activities for schools, businesses and cultural organizations.
Other venues include the University of Aberdeen, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square and Anglia Ruskin University.
Whole Earth? Aligning human systems and natural systems responds to thousands of requests for an exhibition that illustrates solutions to the problems highlighted in Hard Rain. It shows that we have the technology (mostly) to deal with our global problems – the vision has been written out often enough – but governments need grassroots support if they are to scale up these solutions and move towards sustainable development.
It is designed to engage the next generation of decision-makers – students at universities now – as well as the general public, in the campaign for sustainable development.
“The key challenge,” says Edwards, “is to find new ways of showing political and business leaders there is grassroots support for sustainable development. Governments can’t get ahead of their electorates. Our leaders understand the need for sustainable development, but it is not a priority - voters are not urging them loudly enough to act in favour of the future. What’s needed is a new kind of joined-up campaign designed and led by tomorrow's decision-makers - students at universities now."
