Greener Orkney are pleased to welcome attendees to their talk ‘Starting Conversations about Climate Change’ which is open to everyone.

An opportunity to hear more from Daniel Kenning over tea/coffee/biscuits about further aspects of the concept of Transition Engineering and the new approaches it opens up to solve challenges globally and locally. Today he describes the crash test – how to look at the consequences of staying on a path that’s unsustainable.

Numbers limited: booking essential. Tickets £8.

Book now using this link.

This event flows naturally from the Tea for Transition on Friday 2nd, and on to the event tomorrow (Tuesday 6th).

Orkney Climate Action Critical Mass Cycling Picnic will be a community celebration of cycling. Critical Mass is a movement where a large group of people aged 0-99+ take to the streets to cycle, wheel and scoot safely. Our motto for the day is: ‘Cycling for climate, happiness and health’.

We are hoping to bring together community members to promote cycling and encourage more local journeys on bikes. We want everyone on Orkney to have the opportunity to cycle, walk or wheel to get around. Getting active is great for physical and mental health and puts a smile on people’s faces!

Orkney Climate Action Critical Mass Cycling Picnic will highlight the way cycling connects people with nature, has a positive impact on climate and environment, and builds community resilience. The event will be a fun afternoon full of cycling related activities, including a bike ride and picnic, a free Dr Bike clinic, and family drop in sessions where folk will be able to try out Cycling UK Orkney bikes (including electric assisted bikes), ask questions and even have their bikes checked & serviced by a professional bike mechanic. The event will end with a friendly picnic at the Market Green, Stromness.

All ages are welcome to participate (at their own risk). Children under 16 only with a responsible adult. Competent cyclists only on the ride.

The event will take place in Stromness, on Sunday 4th September 2022.

Participants will meet at 2:30pm outside George Mackay Brown Park, on Ness Road, from where we will all cycle at a slow pace through Stromness town via the Travel Centre, to Market Green (playing field).

Cyclists will be able to join us at any stage of the ride.

The picnic at Market Green will be from 3:30pm until 5:30pm, where participants will be able to take part in various cycling and fun activities, try out bikes and have their bikes serviced by a bike mechanic.

A walk along the Stromness shoreline from the museum to Ness. Learning about the historic Natural History Collection in the museum and how it can contribute to research into climate change. Starts with a short behind-the-scenes look at the collection and then heads outdoors to see what we can find on the shoreline and how it links to the collection.

Please bring warm/waterproof clothing and sturdy outdoor footwear.

This is an Orkney International Science Festival event.

Book using this link.

'The Bog Blanket' is a dance and puppetry solo inspired by the landscape and wildlife of the Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland. Featuring original music by Quee MacArthur and an eclectic costume by eco-designer Mona Kastell, the solo was created & performed in Summer 2021 by Tain based dancer, Julia McGhee for What Moves You? project. Julia subsequently performed outdoors at WE Want Health Festival, Thurso (April 2022) and at Belladrum (July 2022). She will perform in Thurso at the Flow Country Research Conference in October 2022.

The engaging and absorbing performance explores the natural environment of the Flow Country: tussocky hummocks of grasses, heather and moss found in bog pools; the rivulets of water trickling through peatland; land shifting, changing and vibrating. Children and adults alike have given positive feedback, inspired by Julia’s physical interpretation of the natural elements to the poignant musical score. Conversation with audiences led to this proposed offer as an ideal opportunity to further embed learning and encourage curiosity about the peat bog lands. In researching the work, Julia has connected with Professor Roxane Anderson, research fellow at North Highland College UHI, who is leading a research project on bog breathing – or peatland surface motion – in order to monitor peatland condition and restoration. In the future, this research will have the potential to monitor carbon emissions.

Julia wants to bring “The Bog Blanket” to the Orkney Climate Festival to engage people through art which serves to highlight the crucial role Scotland’s peat bog lands play in capturing and storing carbon, as well as being important habitats for many rare species of wildlife.

Through presenting the 15-minute outdoor dance performance followed by a 30-minute community workshop, local people and visitors will explore the concept of ‘bog breathing’ with Julia, sparking conversations about the vital role the peat bog lands play in our climate.

Join artist Louise Barrington and the team from Stromness Museum for environmental-themed arts and crafts, relating to climate change, conservation and landscape. Make an origami whale or a windsock.

Included with normal museum entry (£5 for adults, £4 for concessions, £1 for children) although children must be accompanied by an adult.

Come and join the Orkney Native Wildlife Project at the Ring of Brodgar and explore every part of the world’s largest stoat eradication project.

“You will have the opportunity to explore the beautiful Brodgar site looking for our native Orkney vole, make nature journals, as well as meet members of the project who can tell you all about who we are and what we are doing. This family-friendly open day is your opportunity to experience hands-on conservation and wildlife management.”

There is no charge for this event, no need to book.

A walk along the Stromness shoreline from the museum to Ness. Learning about the historic Natural History Collection in the museum and how it can contribute to research into climate change. Starts with a short behind-the-scenes look at the collection and then heads outdoors to see what we can find on the shoreline and how it links to the collection.

Please bring warm/waterproof clothing and sturdy outdoor footwear.

This is an Orkney International Science Festival event.

Book using this link.

Come out to the West Shore for four family-friendly activities. Learn to identify seaweeds and make your own seaweed artwork. Forage for pigments and mark-making materials – and for seaweeds and plants, and build a beach fire to cook a foraged lunch. Search for fire flints and clays, and make your own Orkney shell farm game. Hosted by artists and foragers Katherine Diaper, Rebecca Marr and Fiona Sanderson, and marine ecologist Dr Andrew Want.

Numbers limited, booking essential. Tickets £12 & £8.

Use this link to book

Weather check the night before: phone Fiona Sanderson, 01856 850427

Community Climate Cafe with activities for kids, community engagement and food.

What Moves You CIC invites you to The Bog Blanket.

The Bog Blanket is a solo performance by dance artist, Julia McGhee, inspired by the peat bog and wildlife of the Flow Country.

The Bog Blanket will be performed outdoors at the Pier Arts Centre.

More marine energy technologies have been tested in Orkney than anywhere else in the world, and news has been coming in recent months of a series of further developments. At sea there are new wave and tidal devices on site, from Orbital Marine, Magallanes and AWS Ocean Energy. On shore there is the coming online of vanadium flow batteries to smooth out the tidal-powered production of hydrogen on Eday.

The European Marine Energy Centre EMEC brings together four speakers to report on the latest developments. From EMEC itself, Amy Sutcliffe describes marine energy impacts on the environment, and Jerry Gibson tells of the progress with vanadium flow batteries.

They’re joined for a wave energy update by Simon Grey, Chief Executive of AWS who currently have a wave device being tested, and for tidal progress by Calum Miller, Principal Engineer & Hydrodynamics Manager at Orbital Marine whose O2 tidal turbine is currently at EMEC’s Fall of Warness tidal test site, the third of their devices to go through the EMEC process.

Tickets £5/£3

Book now using this link.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) hosts an Open Day at its Billia Croo wave energy site, out to the west of Stromness. It’s an opportunity to learn about Orkney’s waves and tides and the technology being developed to harness their energy. You’ll be able to meet some of the EMEC team, tour the site and see some of the environmental monitoring equipment.

Admission free.