What will YOU bring to the table? On the 22nd of April, EARTH DAY: Appetite for Justice was held with anticipation across the six campuses, presented by the UAL Climate Emergency Network in the collective showcase of work around climate and ecological justice. Important conversations were sparked by the vibrant UAL community of students, staff, and alumni as they paved a way into the dialogue through each of their own performances, workshops, artworks, and more.

London College of Communication hosted a lively array of activities - including a bustling Banquet of the Imagination in the midst of repurposed food installations and discussion around UAL’s new Climate, Social, Racial, and Environmental Justice principles over the buzzing course of lunch. The beauty and horror of food waste was showcased collaboratively in this Upper Gallery space that was as eye-catching as it served an urgent reminder of the food waste that occurs so candidly in our everyday life.

Nested quietly at the same time was a secluded space enclosed in the amphitheatre found in the colourful canteen of the campus - a cosy haven perfect for valuable conversation and exchange of ideas. Here a special collection of books/zines curated by LCC librarian, Eleanor Parker, laid joyfully on the burgundy steps in a welcoming display of writings around climate and food. As an informal drop-in book club, Eleanor, as well as Annika Loebig (BA Journalism), hoped to organise this space to serve as an open area in which anyone can walk over to participate in discussions around the material or use freely as a private moment to hunt for new read in the fight for our Earth’s future.

“What I like about these books is that they are all quite readable,” Eleanor expressed as she continued to contemplate upon our relationship to food, as well as how we address issues around climate change and sustainability. The zines were specially chosen and written from a more personal level - including topics such as planting, veganism, community gardens, and individual relationships to food. “We can’t leave everything to governments and cooperations!” Eleanor exclaimed, “How can we make it more personal and do things ourselves?”

Annika discussed how not everyone has the same access to food and emphasised on the waste that already happens in supply chains before it even reaches the shop where you do your weekly shopping - which you might need to travel for depending on where you live in London. Some people might be working multiple jobs and don’t have the time or money to provide ‘healthy’ options for their family of five, as Eleanor added. With the fast pace of the London city life, it is at times difficult to shop mindfully; however we must talk about food as a subject for investigating climate change as it is a huge part of it.

24% of the global greenhouse emissions, in fact, is made up of the global food industry with food waste as one of the biggest contributors of CO2 - something that people don’t talk enough about. Annika explained through her writing, in collaboration with Scientists for the Future UK, that if you were ranking CO2 emissions, global food waste would come third.

When you talk about food waste, often the responsibility falls on the individual consumer, but most of it actually comes from supply chain on the way, in restaurants and supermarkets. This information on the carbon footprint of food waste during the Climate Emergency as well as the solutions are provided as handy printouts to be readily taken away and digested.

The conversation also fell on the joy of owning and exchanging of books, browsing each other’s bookshelves as active libraries, sparking new dialogues around them, and having visual memories of the books themselves as objects of history. Eleanor expressed that books are beautiful crafts to be cherished and shared meaningfully amongst us.

Below are some selected reads from the collection, easily digestible and from important minds, also linked as a Padlet for easy access.

Important conversations indeed sparked in this little tavern as the day passed, highlighting the fact that we do not have a cut and dry relationship to food - it really is about investigating what is important to you, as you make informed and nuanced decisions around it. It was wonderful to participate in this valuable dialogue with Eleanor and Annika who did amazing work at setting up this welcoming space.

Leaving the cocooned space of the amphitheatre and into to the Upper Gallery space again revealed a table that held many collaged creations that were born meaningfully from the zine-making workshop that took place earlier in the day, organised by Climate Advocate, Deborah Deekae. “We invited people to make a page in response to these prompts placed around the table that dealt with climate change consequences,” Deborah explained, “and these were the outcomes! They will possibly be collated together into a physical zine after digitising the pages so people can look back at these creations,”

The relaxed activity of being hands-on and crafting together naturally created a valuable pause in the day in encouraging people to discuss these crucial prompts together. Deborah agreed that this felt like a very engaging and accessible way to get participants to use these found materials and take part in a collective conversation through the intimate medium of the zine.

Walking through the airy corridors of the LCC building a sense of intrigue spilled out a certain room across the hall. A strange-looking table loomed in the centre of the atrium, covered in lush greens, browns, and stark pink umbilical-cord like instruments on its textured surface, waiting to be investigated by any passerby. Various colourful cushions enclosed it, inviting one to have a seat around the curious structure. It was not only until the pink cords, now revealed to be stethoscopes, glided across the living mass of moss and coco

fibre, that the sizeable speakers spilled itself into the installation - amplifying the sound of life found on this very surface. Table at Terrapolis is a sound art installation by Beth Robertson and Finbar Prior (MA Sound Arts) that celebrates the more-than-human world, encouraging participants to listen closely to the vibrant life in this living material that we see often in everyday life.

“Inspired by Donna Haraway our table is a sound art installation exploring hybrid beings and engaging with collective listening as a form of activism,” The colourful poster stated, “To sit down at a table for dinner is an act of symbiosis whether you’re engaging with other humans or eating alone with the trillions of microbiomes that digest your food. TABLE AT TERRAPOLIS is a celebration of the hybridity of human beings. We could not exist without the more-than-human world that generously provides for us. So come sit at our table! Listen deeply to the living beings within us and the vibrant materials that innervate our skin,”

After an intimate listening session with the more-than-human, aptly located in a quiet wing of the college, the experience felt like a sanctuary in which something divine was being celebrated, being brought down to earth - yet it is the earth that was here! The installation served as an important reminder that life includes the more-than-human, always, and we all have a responsibility to care for it. It was a tender experience in cherishing the living that gives so much for us.

All in all, the Earth Day experience at London College of Communication was a vibrant, welcoming, and intimate collective of works/participatory workshops that certainly inspired those who came across them. Many thanks to all the UAL staff, students, and alumni that made the activities happen - a day of spreading awareness and much celebration!