The climate is changing and we need to cope with it. The one-day Orkney Climate COP has four sessions – on Energy, Food from the Land, Housing, and Transport. Speakers set out actions that can be taken Orkney-wide, or by communities. The day is opened by Prof. Tim Lang whose report on the UK's food security earlier this year highlighted the need for national and local action.
Should Orkney export all its energy or use it to create new local industries? How can we produce cheaper electricity for local homes and businesses? For offshore wind, have we missed the boat? Could direct carbon capture from air or sea, using local energy, be the industry of the future? How do we get the benefits of industry without further industrialising the landscape? Neil Kermode of EMEC and Dr Gareth Davies of Aquatera examine the options and put forward a list of proposals for you to assess.
Could Orkney, today so dependent on the supermarket distribution system, become more self-reliant in food? UHI Agronomy and Agriculture Institute director Dr Henry Creissen highlights a range of possible new crops for humans and livestock. Gardener Ed Bollom describes the range of vegetables and fruit that can grow in exposed situations elsewhere, and the potential for expanding food-growing in all situations, from fields and gardens to pots and polycrubs.
Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. Come in good time for the best choice of food and for the One O’Clock Toast. Today it's to the Deerness Mermaid, and given by Ria Leslie of Orkney Sea Shanty Society.
Houses in Orkney have quadrupled in price in little more than 20 years, with young people unable to find a home. School rolls are falling, with the population slowly becoming an ageing one. How many houses are needed? Luke Fraser draws on many years’ experience in Orkney’s housing sector to set out the figures. And in practical terms, how can Orkney gear up to build what’s needed? Stephen Kemp of Orkney Builders, a former president of the Scottish Building Federation, responds.
In September 2022 Maarten de Vries got Covid, and he found some of the symptoms didn’t go away, including muscular pain, brain fog and fatigue. After several months he was diagnosed with long Covid. A keen synthesizer player, he had found that even this took too much energy, but he had a particular commitment to a monthly online jamming session with a fellow enthusiast. He tells the story of what happened in the weeks and months that followed, and shows some of the instruments that he plays.
Data can help in the care of people with chronic conditions, says Prof. Stephen Friend. It can be gathered in by smartphones or wearable technology. When augmented by an AI approach, this data could able the forecasting of symptom changes, and offer health guidance based on empowerment. These methods, he says, can be used for a wide range of conditions, from diabetes and arthritis to Parkinson’s and dementia.
Are there better options to current ro-ro routes? True ro-ro with more terminals and shorter and more frequent inter-island links? Expanded air freight to augment the inter-island air passenger service? Fixed links? Or a carefully-integrated mix? Howie Firth summarises the story of today's pattern and sets out questions. Prof. Aseem Kinra of Heriot-Watt University shows how transport is a system, with each element chosen to help the whole overall flow. A speaker from the Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) outlines new air freight options.
From the Arctic to Antarctica – the Belgian documentary photographer and explorer Christian Clauwers takes us on a planetary journey to see stunningly beautiful landscapes, to highlight their fragility in the face of melting glaciers and rising sea levels. He shows us small Pacific island states whose survival is now at risk: atolls and coral reefs with blue lagoons and white sands, lying low in the water – Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu. We hear of the impact of melting sea ice on biodiversity, including food crops and species like polar bears and penguins.
The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss open up massive land use issues which need to be tackled urgently, says Prof. Roger Crofts. Land, he says, is needed for so many purposes – which can conflict: to expand food production for local consumption and export; to plant trees for carbon offsetting and supplying the timber industry; for restoring nature, protecting soils and recovering wetlands; for producing renewable energy; and for housing and economic development.
The robots are coming! And here’s an opportunity to meet four of them on their expedition north from the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, each with different skills. Pepper recognises faces and basic human emotions. Spot is agile, with jointed legs, able to navigate carefully across all sorts of terrain. G1 didn't manage to get a name but can walk and react with human dexterity. And then there's Ameca ... who can laugh and shrug as well, and even dance!
The Mearns Singers round off their visit with songs from north and south. There are songs and music too from Twa Folk (Irene Watt and Graham White).