We Are Weather

Alarmingly it was discovered that on average each New Zealand household contributes 10,000kg CO2e per year to the atmosphere, adding to a growing disturbance in weather patterns. In We Are Weather Professor Anthony Fowler and artist Brydee Rood analysed what CO2e measurements actually mean, representing CO2e physically with tonnes of coal, alongside other weather focused pieces.

Artist Brydee Rood responds to the compelling scientific evidence that the actions by humans on our environment over the long term influences the weather. °TEMP collaborated with Professor Anthony Fowler to analyze what CO2e measurements actually mean. Evidence indicates that each New Zealander on average contributes 3,600kg CO2e per year, (one bag of rubbish averages at 4.6k CO2e). This figure can be represented by a mountainous pile of coal!

“CO2e allows other greenhouse gas emissions to be expressed in terms of CO2 based on their relative global warming potential (GWP).CO2 has a GWP of 1, methane has a GWP of approximately 25 (on a 100 year time horizon). In other words, for every 1 tonne of methane (CH4) emitted, an equivalent of 25 tonnes of CO2 would be emitted. In this way we can express greenhouse gas emissions as an equivalent of CO2 using the GWP principle.So next time you see a carbon footprint expressed in terms of CO2e, you can know for sure that all greenhouse gases have been included for each activity under scope, and therefore a fuller picture of an organisations impact has been captured. To take into account the emission of other greenhouse gases when calculating the level of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists have devised an equivalent measure – CO2e (which literally means carbon dioxide equivalent).” Wikipedia

We are Weather will feature Rood’s bold, enigmatic and ritualized installations to draw visitors together like a great panel of weather makers, thinkers and changers. Ranging from a large-scale windsock from collected recycled plastic bags, to workshops and performance, this socially engaging work invites people together to collectively experience temperature and wind through the acts of adorning fans and shovelling coal. We Are Weather explores the impact of climate change by visualising and interacting with the average New Zealand household’s collective carbon footprint and the energy of wind as reflected in the increased storms in our region.

Team
Dr Anthony Fowler (Associate Professor Environmental Studies, University of Auckland) focused his research on future climate change and its potential impacts on hydrology and water resources during the late 1980s through to the mid- 1990s. His emphasis then shifted to palaeoclimatology, associated with several major FRST-funded research projects. Fowler is now currently merging these two field into new research endeavours that use our understanding of past climate to test climate models used to project future climate change and to improve scenarios of future climate (particularly in the context of hydrology and water resources).

Brydee Rood holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland where she focussed on installation and sculptural practice. She has lived and worked in New Zealand, Germany, India, USA, Japan, The Netherlands and Mexico; these places and their inherent attitudes and patterns of consumption and materiality have greatly influenced her visual practice. Successive installation, performance and action based projects including For A World Without Waste and The Waste Whisperer Series navigated material lines of waste and value in a changing world environment. Her work has been selected for exhibition in environments ranging from urban canals and coastal national parks to desert villages; to the exterior of a working rubbish truck; to a solo project artist booth at PULSE Contemporary Art Fair; from one night installations in New York and into the underbellies and back street alleys of Wellington, Melbourne and Berlin