Bit of a rush, on this rather fresh Wednesday morning, but l managed to turn up at the start of a press preview of the “Sinking House’ sculpture which has been anchored just below the weir-facing side of Pulteney Bridge.
Led by Bristol and Bath-based architecture firm Stride Treglown and Format Engineers, a red 5.5m by 3.5m sized house appears to be submerged in the Pulteney Weir, with a human-like figure on the roof holding on to a lifeline which reads ‘COP26’.
Inspired by Greta Thunberg’s ‘Our house is on fire’ speech at the 2019 World Economic Forum and influenced by the devastating floods in Europe this year, the installation represents how COP26 offers the world hope and a lifeline to avert disaster.
I asked Rob Delius – who is Head of Sustainability at Stride Treglown – to tell us more about the message this Bath-based installation is helping to put across.
Soon 25,000 delegates (including Ms Thunberg) will be descending on Glasgow, stamping their carbon footprints on an unsuspecting world and tarnishing their green pretensions in the process. And the leaders of the world’s 2 biggest polluters (both with no intentions of doing anything to reduce their vast levels of pollution) won’t be there. Hypocrisy on a global scale. COP 26? COP-OUT 26 more like! Nothing of any substance will come from it and there can be no real improvements until India and China are made to toe the line..
Personally I think it’s a brilliant installation. I have my own misgivings about how seriously many governments and industry are treating climate change, so maybe unfortunately things may have to get a lot worse before people power forces the issue. Nonetheless, there are things we can do in our own personal lives which can make some contribution such as not wasting food, consuming less (especially stuff made in China), being more active and using the car less often, having fewer children, eating less meat, etc, etc.