Dear DAI people,

I received yesterday an e mail form Willemijn Bouman.

Please read it, and check the web site that she send to us about Kozavisual organisation.

dear Ljubica i saw the DAI-blog on Cappadocia and enjoyed it! also want to encourage you to make email contact with Ozge Celikaslan from KozaVisual: http://www.kozavisual.org to exchange ideas. she knows the village of Irahimpasa/Babayan (where i live) also very wel from a Turkish point of view. and you should approach her, because KozaVisual already developed some very interesting video-projects. don’t hesitate to inform yourselves. good luck Willemijn

I have some more news. Please look this web pages:

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/environment.html

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/eurasia.html

Dear DAI people,

Marina, Renaldi and I have contacted Caroline Delan. She replied us today, and I am sending you e mail, and letter which she send me in the attachment. I think  all this information can be quite useful for the beginning of our research.

Dear Ljubica 

I attached you the project concept that we submitted today to a specific funding! We hope the project will be awarded by mid-June and to start it in July or so!

I also invite you to see our website and go to our focus areas to have a clue about what we do and intend to do on water management related to education and research!!!

Let me know also about your art project and your plans for further cooperation with Turkish universities or so!

And here is the letter with all necessary information.

Project Initiation Document

WETKAP – TOWARD AN ALTERNATİVE AND SUSTAİNABLE SOLUTİON FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT İN RURAL AREAS İN CAPPADOCİA: SETTİNG-UP AN ARTİFİCİAL WETLAND İN IBRAHıMPAŞA

Promoter
Contact
Tel
E-mail    NIHAnkara
Caroline DELAN (Project Manager)
+90 312 437 33 47
[email protected]
Applicant
Partners

Expert    NIHAnkara
Cappadocia Rotary Club, Ürgüp
Cappadocia Professional University, Mustafapaşa
Babayan Culture House, Ibrahimpaşa
Dr. Elif Asuman Korkusuz
Motive and needs

Rural areas in Cappadocia still lack wastewater treatment systems to prevent streams in the region and the Kızılırmak river basin from pollution. Some of the municipalities in Cappadocia have started the installation of sewerage systems and the construction of a Wastewater Treatment Plant in Nevşehir – with the support of EU. However, small villages still need wastewater treatment solutions that would respect and protect more the environment and boost the local economy as well. Ibrahimpaşa is a good example of an agricultural village with a population of 1000 PE in the region. Even though the village has the sewerage system to collect the wastewater, the wastewater treatment system is still missing. Thus, all of the collected domestic wastewater discharges without any treatment into the volcanic caves of the valley, which creates odor, insects and health problems especially during the summer time. The already existing creek within the valley is receiving the wastewater of the sewerage outlets of the village as well as the untreated wastewater produced by the neighbour Kavak Municipality with a population of 4000 PE. Local people have already expressed their strong need and willingness for a sustainable treatment system that would preserve their health, the nature and cultural sites.

The constructed wetland treatment technology is an ecological decentralized wastewater treatment system that can be successfully applied in rural areas with a population of less then 2000 PE. Its development and application in Turkey has already started among local authorities due to its lower capital and O/M cost, as well as their low energy consumption when compared to the conventional treatment plants. Moreover these artificial wetlands can enable the re-use of treated wastewater for irrigation and recreation purposes.

To build such a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment in Ibrahimpaşa, where the natural and cultural heritage needs extra care and protection, requires at first an inspection of the current situation by experts. Since awareness about wastewater treatment is lacking among most of the local people, it is believed that young people’s education on the issue and giving them responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the treatment system could guaranty a long term concern on wastewater issues and dissemination of the treatment method. Hence, this project will also involve local people – especially students from the region (Kapadokya Meslek Yüksekokulu in Mustafapaşa) for operation and maintenance of the proposed system and for monitoring purposes. Additionally, voluntary students of the Meslek Yüksekokulu, Organic Agriculture Department, will conduct scientific experiments on the production efficiency of the local organic agricultural products irrigated with treated wastewater. This outcome is also expected to clarify long-term effects of the treated wastewater on the quality and quantity of the local organic food.

Objectives

The project aims at solving the wastewater treatment problem in a pilot village in Cappadocia in an environment and culture-friendly way – to preserve the valley, its cave churches and the Health of its inhabitants. With the involvement of local communities (farmers, students, businesses, civil society, etc.), the project also aims at raising awareness about wastewater management and the re-use of treated wastewater to develop local economy (irrigation for agriculture for instance).
•    Nature and cultural sites preservation
•    Prevention of rivers’ pollution
•    Decreasing contamination risks
•    Rural socio-economic development
•    Promoting the re-use of treated wastewater
•    Disseminating the wetlands innovative technology
•    Raising local awareness about wastewater management
Target groups

The target groups are the 1000 inhabitants in Ibrahimpaşa, about 8 students from the organic agriculture department of Kapadokya Meslek Yüksekokulu in Mustafapaşa, 15 members of the Cappadocia Rotari Club, local authorities in Cappadocia (Nevşehir Governor, Ürgüp District Governors, Mayors of surrounding villages, and the Mukhtar of Ibrahimpaşa), and environmental and agricultural civil society organisations.
•    Farmers and local inhabitants in Cappadocia
•    Students and researchers in Cappadocia
•    Civil society and professional organisations in Cappadocia
•    Local authorities in Cappadocia
Activities

1.    Management and evaluation (10 months): coordinating the project’s activities; networking with the experts, partners and target groups; proposing corrective actions when necessary; getting feedbacks from locals through interviews and from students through their reports; drafting interim and final reports.
2.    Visibility strategy (10 months): filming the steps of the project; advertising the project through partners’ websites, leaflets, exhibition, and publications; inviting guest speakers at the final conference.
3.    Designing the constructed wetland (2 months): field studies to be conducted by the expert in Ibrahimpaşa to determine how and where exactly  to build the artificial wetland; drafting a feasibility study; workshop on the constructed wetland technology given by the Turkish and Dutch expert to some of the local students and in presence of Dutch students.
4.    Pre-construction awareness rising (2 months): preparing and providing lectures about the wastewater issues and the constructed wetland technology for locals; delivering training for local students to assist for the plantation of the wetland and the monitoring of the treatment performance of the wetland.
5.    Building the constructed wetland (4 months): mobilizing the necessary equipment and local human resources; conducting works together with participation of the local communities and with the assistance of local students; organizing a short field-study visit where students from Ankara and the Netherlands will see their peers assisting for the plantation part.
6.    Post-construction awareness rising (1 month): certifying local students for their training and experiments; broadcasting the project documentary; opening ceremony with local communities and authorities, and other students from the region (high schools and universities).

Human resources

1.    The project coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination of the project, for ensuring the effective implementation of activities, and for evaluating the project.
2.    The communication adviser will be in charge of networking with locals and students, and of preparing visibility tools – especially in coordination with the film maker of KozaVisual.
3.    The eco-student group leader will organize at local level awareness raising activities about wastewater management in coordination with the expert of the project.
4.    The project expert on constructed wetland technology for wastewater treatment will lead the feasibility study, the trainings and the works to be conducted in Ibrahimpasa.

Expected results

Expected results according to the previously defined objectives are as follows::
-    Ibrahimpasa wastewater will be treated in an eco-technological and nature-friendly way
-    The constructed wetland system will be an ecological treatment example for other villages
-    The historical valley, the nature and locals’ health will be protected
-    Tourists will not hesitate to come to the village because of bad odors and insects
-    Awareness of young people and their families on environmental issues, especially on wastewater treatment, will be raised
-    Young people will take responsibilty in their local region for environmental problems
-    Young people will gain hope to solve their future environmental problems by themselves starting with small steps

Besides, some concrete outputs will be produced during the project such as booklets of the training curriculum, of the lecture for locals about wastewater, of the reports from students and interviews of locals, and of the developed model for feasibilty and construction of an artificial wetland in Cappadocia’s rural areas. A documentary based on the project will also be a tangible output for further awareness in the region and to motivate local decision-makers to replicate the project.

Social impact

As the project will involve local communities and will target as well local decision-makers, the expected social impact is quite deep. A social change, in mentalities and in habits, has to occur to ensure the full sustainability of the project and the preservation of local environment. Thus, social awareness will be created among all target groups. However, it has to be constantly monitored, deepened and refreshed especially for locals, who were not raised according to an “environmental-based” education.

The main obvious impact will be toward the very specific group of young people – namely the local students. They will have acquired a concrete and visible experience in project management and in local development assistance. The constructed wetland expert, who is a MS. Environmental Engineer and PhD. Biotechnology, will also encourage them to continue their involvement in the project – by being responsible for the monitoring of the constructed wetland. Their motivation will be higher when they will receive their certificate as recognition of a non-formal learning that they also can transfer on their own to their younger peers. They will also get a first glimpse of how collective action and environmental commitment can lead to greater personal skills development. The sharing-knowledge workshop with other students from Ankara and the Netherlands will also broaden their horizon and bring them new ideas and opinions about environmental-solution-based methods and techniques. Kapadokya Meslek Yüksekokulu (KMYO) has to ensure the transmission of these skills and ideas between generations of students by promoting peer-to-peer sessions, eco-student group leaders, and alumni associations.

There will also be an appropriation of the applied methodology and training by Kapadokya Rotary Club to target the local businesses and local authorities, and by the KMYO to be the local centre responsible for the operation, maintenance and monitoring of the performance of constructed wetland. Locals will also gain confidence in the efficiency of the created solution for their wastewater problem thanks to this involvement of civil society. The assumption for a durable quality of life of locals – when the constructed wetland will be maintained to work properly – is also the full support of local authorities and their willingness to trust the work to be done by civil society.

Sustainability

The financial and institutional sustainability will be ensured by the local authorities – including the governorship and municipalities – and by the local partners of the project – namely the Cappadocia Rotary Club and Cappadocia Professional University (KMYO).

The maintenance of the constructed wetland will be conducted by the trained students from KMYO, who will also monitor the treatment performance of the wetland and conduct experiments on organic food production with the treated effluent.

Further works to be conducted will be under the responsability of the District Governorship. The developed model – feasibility study according to the specific feature of the rural area and involvment of local communities in the construction and maintenance – will also be re-used by local partners for other surrounding villages to make sure that this pilot project leads to a wider-spread solution for wastewater treatment in the region. To this respect, environmental and agricultural civil society organisations and the Rotary Club will be the key organisations to ensure sustainability at policy level – to convince local authorities to implement the model.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Ms. Caroline Delan
Project Manager

EU Affairs Counsellor
—
NIHAnkara
Netherlands Institute for Higher Education
Koza Sokak 111, 06700 G.O.P. Ankara , Turkey
Tel:  +90 (312) 437 33 47 - ext: 12

Fax: +90 (312) 437 33 42
E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.nihankara.org 

in the midst of several nuances, i was finally able to check out some of your sites buba…..first…..www.ess.co.at……was very a scientific…..and this intersted me as an artist….however i will return to this…..what i noticed first was the various rivers that had been part of some eco water study or correction……major world rivers…..the Yangtze…..and this made me think of the Nile….and the Ganges……and then thinking of the river as how it has functioned socially and culutrually and politically ….in history as a focal point for civilizations…….a type of dependence….indeed….major cities around the world are located near or at the base of major rivers…..this makes me think of our dependnce on the RIver…..spiritually…..that the river as a constant moving body of water has a different meaning to a lake….which has a different meaning to an ocean……in terms of how we develop a relationship with not only the water….but its form….the river,…the lake the ocean…….( which makes me think of people ….some people say they are water people……however….all  people have some type of relatoinship to water beyond need……water does change people…..some more than others…..) yet to return to this…..and the history of various societies relationshiip to water is interesting in how we open up to the spiritual nature of water……..i beleive sometimes we are very stimulated by it…other times we close our minds to its beauty…….and essentially when i think of lakes and rivers and oceans….there is a permanent constant of beauty……and to be in the presence of a river …a lake ….an ocean…evokes a response in terms of our opennes to its beauty……..perhaps this is related to quantum physics….and the energy from water….in this though….looking at history…every civilization has recongized the power of the river…….that to be near to a great river….is important……obviously for physical needs….yet also just to look at a river is important…….to see water….to be near water….is the spiritual element……also in this site…., in the scientific discourse……i noticed the words ” ranking and benchmarking (objects)”…with visual  art being primarily made of objects……this seemd like the sceintific process, if not art itself, a conceptual stance…..could be translated into an art project quite directly……..however this may be too easy…yet a possible strating point for a more complex approach to benchmarking…..to ritualize it……to give ti artifice………and then ” rainfall- runoff,” were words that excited me because i like rainfall……its fun to be in the rain….if one has the correct mood…….and then ” ground water”, i was thinking of underground water bed….s…or stream…s…..that there is mystic art of find water with sticks…….a metaphysical approach to science…..this is interesting………2. ” marilynarsem.net”….i loved her work and this site was quite bizarre in its formality……i think that addressing water issues with interventions like 1999 clear water….are immense and beautiful……that people need to have alternative ways and more poetic ways of looking at and relating to water…….which brings me back to the ancients…and how they related to water…..were people in these ancient civilization more respectfull of water…say Egypt and the NIle…….CLeopatra…ect……that also the masses…the everyday people… may have.also approached water more spiritually…..that when they drank from it….bathed in it…washed their clothes in it…there was a pshycoilogical and spiritual link….that in Modernist Civilization….there was a seperation from this spirituality…..to water…..that water just became used…and then misused……and this loss is one exploanations for the World Water Crisis…….our loss of sensitiviy to the beauty of water and immense beauty of nature…….abandoned for power and profit …or to it……in this too…i see Marilynarsems  act as simple…and that there is a beauty in the simple….in the small…..act….that it does not have to physically great….to bring great change……that the small is monumental…….in some situations…and context…….or perhaps in all….this is up for question………

however, with this in mind….i have another proposal……i am interested in working with university students……

1. To ask students to measure their water consumption in a diary for two weeks…and then the following three weeks reduce their consumption….and in the difference between the two…the saved water……they can then take this amount and collect it and implement it in some way…..

   My idea was that the students could be divided into two groups……and this be a competition…..where by each individual’s saved water is added to the groups total…..say team a……and team b does the same…….then team a and team b have a competition with this saved water……..1. the fisrt idea….was that it should be fun…..” a water balloon fight” that each team sets up a table with water ballons…..in the center of their univerisy or town in a public place….and they have a water fight….and the dryiest team wins a trophy…..and each team gets their pictures taken in a group…….ect….and this occurs every year…..as a sort of celebration…..festival…..competition…….

2. the second was more serious…..that each team could use their water to grow a small vegetable garden….and then when the vegetables grow…..they make a diner …and feed people in the town or city who would benefit…….like a charitable activity….

in this perhaps there would be a raising of consciousnes of water and its spirituality…..especialy the measureing of their consumption….but also an event they could celebrate with and bond over water…..

i realize this is a Western…and possible Colonial….idea for a nations, Turkey, with completely different customs….yet the world is global and water is global and equally culturally implemented in various similarities and needs……so a post colonial theory perspective  is not relevent in this proposal……they can adopt our customs…and change them…and visa versa…..we can adopt their customs….why not…. and thats the important thing is this proposal is site psecific as much as possible….to their beliefs and values in terms of how they shape the idea…….anyways, if we constantly restrict our self to post colonial dogma and politcal correctness……..nothing creative will happen between cultures…….and now that i am addressing this point……i have to say… the “real” colonizer is not nations or civilizations…..it is technology…….  

IN terms of a ”technology” …..” we should take 14 pairs of socks, 14 underware, and 14 shirts, and enough clothes so that when we are in Cappadocia….we dont need to wash our clothes there and thus reduce the waste of water…..while visiting….”

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just back from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, close to the arctic circle: they also have a lot of problems with water, wastewater and garbage there. Even though there was about 40 cm of snow when we arrived, the amount of annual precipitation is very small and the area is categorized as a desert: water is scarce. Part of the town and most of the smaller communities do not get water through a pipe system. Each house gets it delivered by truck every day into a tank. If there is a snow storm, the truck often cannot ride, and you have to ration your water, very quick showers, or none at all, if the storm lasts another day or two. In the same way, the waste water is collected by truck from the houses and is driven to the sewage lagoon at the end of town. Not such a problem in winter, when this lake of shit is frozen, but in the summer it stinks. And the animals, birds, and in some communities even the bigger animals, Caribou, that are hunted for food, started to feed from the sewage lagoons. Garbage is another big problem: everything that is brought there stays there and ends on the dump (machines, cars, building material, packaging, paper, plastic, beer cans, you name it). Due to the climate, the breakdown even of biological material takes much longer than elsewhere.  And the dump grows and grows. They are thinking of solutions, but until now, they haven’t found any they could afford.  

Hey guys,

Today, I got an contact a Japanese woman who are living in Cappadocia. (She got married with Turkish husband.) I’m gonna make an interview for her when we stay there. I want to know how the inhabitant (maybe she’s not normal??) are thinking about those matter, and life in a Cappadocia.

Next thing to check about some basic information about the water..This site is official site of the International Year of Freshwater 2003! It’s a bit old informations, but you can go inside and see a concept..

http://www.wateryear2003.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1456&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

and this site- OPTIMA, is shorter name for Optimisation for Sustainable
Water Resources Management, and they are dealing with the questions concerning the water in Turkey..

http://www.ess.co.at/OPTIMA/

I still don’t have an idea for the project, and I’m really looking forward for the next meeting, and discussion in May at DAI…
in the meantime I think that Kevin’s idea to call Madonna to pray with us for the water in Cappadocia is really good idea!! Hihi , I would like to see that…

Only thing which is certain until now is that Marina and me have idea for the performance in Cappadocia, and maybe it will be connected with the water…but we are still thinking about this option…

Dear DAI, or should I say dear Cappadocia people!

I find something about this issue, but in South Florida (Water Management District). You can find out more about water quality, flood control, water supply, ecosystem restoration etc..

You can check it on: http://www.sfwmd.gov/portal/page?_pageid=2754,19862620&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

And this also.. I find this about the Turkey and water waste, actually, it was “actions” with schools and kids..maybe we can work something with young people?…I don’t know…

Eco-Schools Competitions: “Eco-Code” and “Eco-Project”
Eco-Schools in Turkey will have two challenging tasks this year, besides the environmental problems they are coping with! FEE Turkey decided to organise two competitions at national level. One of the competitions is the well-known Eco-Code competition, already been implemented in Portugal. The Turkish version of the competition is slightly different from the Portuguese one, requiring one eco-code sentence from each of the themes implemented in Turkey, namely litter & waste, energy, and water. However, we tried to keep the standards similar in order to prevent any difficulties in case the competition is transferred to an international level by the international coordination, as discussed in the Eco-Schools National Programme Managers meeting in Edinburgh. The other so-called “Eco-Project competition” aims to activate schools to develop innovative eco-schools studies against environmental problems they are facing, not only in their schools, but also in their community. The word “project” does not refer to a scientific study, but the whole concept of reporting to the coordination:

* how an action against an environmental problem started?,
* which method(s) are implemented to overcome the problem?,
* and what are the results achieved at the end of the study?.

The project is thought to be beneficial for encouraging pupils to develop innovative tasks against environmental problems and increasing their abilities to work in a project team and to report back their studies. The competition will also activate and revive the studies in the schools, which are not applying for the green flag for the current year. The deadlines for the competitions are determined as the end of March for Eco-Code and mid of May for the Eco-Project competitions. Results of both will be announced at the end of May, and awards will be presented in the National Green Flag Award Ceremony.

(November 2002)

		Eco-Schools Festival in Ankara, Turkey At the end of the 2003-2004 school year, project activities accelerated in Turkey. On 29 May, 2004 an “Eco-Schools Festival” took place in Ankara with the participation of 12 schools! They exhibited their projects, pictures, handworks made of wastes, photographs of activities and children played dramas giving messages about protection of environment, singing and dancing. There were two competitions at the festival, one was among schools and it was the “Stand Competition” and the other one was among children and it was the “Picture Competition” (pictures which were painted by children during the festival were evaluated). As prizes, we gave education technology sets provided from Mobilsoft Mobile Information and Communication Technologies Inc., which was one of our sponsors for the festival. Other supporters were the Ministry of National Education - General Directorate of Primary Education, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, Ankara Cankaya Municipality, Nobel Marketing Inc. and The Chamber of Architects of Turkey. Through the festival, schools had the chance to share all Eco-Schools activities with public and it was a great chance for us to introduce Eco-Schools to the city! Similar festivals will be carried out in Bursa and Eskisehir too in the coming days! All those festivals are done for the first time, and we aim to make them a tradition!

Sorry, now is maybe to much..Ok, all this is just a product of surfing through the internet, and I ‘m not so sure that it can help at all, but, who knows, maybe somebody will have an idea how to “start” this process..

upon looking at the description on WATERTOALL PROJECT, it stated “
It is about art, communication and ethics, not politics.” and what interests me is this idea about “politics”. I recall once talking to someone about the political, and they said ” everything is politics”, because inherently everything we do is either a position connected to first ” economy” or sometype of demarcation that identifies us with “humanity”, and that to avoid this, in the non, is also a political act. Thus, what we believe is not a political act, no matter how small, perhaps an everyday decision, perhaps buying toothpaste, is connected to something political, then immediately becomes political- via the economic, social, environmental…etc…that there is no escape from the political. However, there are those who see levels to the political, and in this, they separate Political Acts specifically designed to address power (voting, demonstrating, writing letters to the state, voicing ideas in the media), as being THE political, and all other acts to that of the everyday or ordinary, somehow out of the reach of the political. However, the everyday is extremely political. ( the amazing 60’s….the personal is political…is true.) Thus, in dealing with the simple notion of water useage, not even waste, distribution, structure, because it is linked to so many human activities, is very political, - or perhaps socio-politcal. Further, it demands, a knowledge, and a stance. iT demands a beleif. IT demands a relations. It demands an opinion- related to, at some point, environmentalism and governmental decisions and the choice, perhaps, between the two, in terms of power. Essentially, the water situation can be seen as….lack of water = looking for water= takes away time from working= less income= poverty= economics= political. Further, when looking at the photographs in
(water reportage) they did seem to be “objective” or analyticial documentations , also poetic photos, artistic, interesting compositions, interesting color and tone and light, yet this focus on the ordinary, a water tap with running water, a stream, begged a question, and in this questioning, it seemed to
drift into the political, of asking, what IS its politcal ( yet, this could be my now, bias conscious knowledge and understanding of what is the notion of water shortage, an unescapble perspective as all water i now see fits into a category of either plentiful water, useful water, water shortage, swimming water, beautiful water, soothing water, refreshing water, in other words the relations of the water to my own needs- thus again political) Beyond this though, my first response to the photographs was that I should turn off the water fawcet in the photo. why is the water running and there are no hands, or a person in the photo. also, my response to the photos was a sensation of the environment, that is seemed dry, pale earth, emptiness……IN this, the context, was equally the meaning of the water, as the water. which brings me to two questions,…… can one look at water without context….and can one document water without out it being political.

i was watching t.v., and there was a program on the water shortage and the crisis in Africa, to paraphrase, many nations in africa suffer from water shortage and unclean water, that (to paraphrase) people spend up to 200 million hours a day looking for water, and that many families, especially children spend many hours walking to wells, or rivers or ponds, often dirty water, which takes away from time spent in education and other activities, however, the positive news is that the situation has improved in africa in the last twenty years from the intervention of the West, and that in twenty to thirty years, they believe the situation will improve dramatically…
( now in this moment is a question of not changing Africans work habits surrounding water- perhaps spending many hours walking to a water source is important,- as this activity of searching for water may be culturally significant, however, clean water, one can suggest is always and universally to each culture a situation which must be available and addressed, as it is foundational) in this .my thoughts in this are that I , and possiblely we,not necessarily take forgranted clean water, rather use it in a type of unconscious way, a relaxed way or casual way ( i am searching for a word, one that you may know from your personal experience with water), which perhaps is different than those who are dealing with in “survivalist” ideology,…..in this i have begun to become more conscious about my water consumption….i spend less time showering…..and will use an alarm clock to time a five minute shower…….and when brushing my teeth and shaving will minimize the running water….in trying to develop a more intimate relations with water……( one idea is that we create a one week water diary to see how we use water….when and how much….and if there are recycle possiblities in the process) also while in a cafe, starbucks actually, there is a bottled water called Ethos, which donates 10 percent of its sale to addressing water crisis’s in the world, and hope to raise in several years 10 million dollars, in this the idea of the ethical consumer is very interesting, …..also a question on my mind is how does dutch society approach water, in a general way, ( including history, which is obvious with dykes and canals, etc, ships, trading, exploration,) yet this may be a question for our respective countries, Japan, Serbia, Holland, Canada, Indonesia, where do our nations stand on water issues…….and the environment and sustainability, first in a general way, and then deeper

Thursday April 17th the Cappadocia-project meeting will be led by Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen).

(…) In 2002, during his professorship for new media art at the State School of Art and Design in Karlsruhe, artist Uwe Laysiepen (Ulay) initiated the multidimensional art project WATERTOALL. At the heart of this project lies Laysiepen’s desire to visualise a range of  aspects connected with drinking water, e.g. the management and use of water, the availability of pure drinking water for people worldwide, alternative methods of collecting and distributing water, and last  but not least cultural values and rituals concerning water. (…)

Read more on: http://www.ulay.net/water_to_all/water_20.html