Original article by Asher Minns. View the results of a meeting between Oxford University scientists and sixth form art students, as they sought to interpret climate change by bridging the art and science divide.

Introducing...the science and art divide

In 1959, C.P. Snow wrote about the growing chasm between the world of the arts and science. In The Two Cultures he described why the lack of mutual understanding between science and the humanities was a major hindrance in solving the world's problems. He combined this with some criticism of the British education system and how it might be changed. Since then, The Two Cultures is a phrase that is commonly used to describe the perceived divide between the traditional faculties - I certainly had to choose either technology or art subjects when I was at school.

This year we tested the two cultures divide when Oxford University scientists and sixth form art students met at the Rutherford Appleton Physics Laboratories to look for artistic inspiration in science. We discussed carbon - the chemical element that both makes life on earth possible yet is also causing climate change. Below is some of the science that we discussed, and the resulting Carbon Earth artworks.

Sam Macmillan, Age 16, Banbury School

Sections in this article

Carbon life forms

The Carbon cycle

Climate change

Carbon sinks

Energy

Acknowledgements and Where Next?

Carbon life forms

You are a carbon-based life form. Up to 23% of your weight is carbon, or 12% of the atoms in your body. Buckyballs, or Buckminster Fullerenes, are man-made forms of carbon, discovered in 1985. They form football shapes of 60 atoms and are used as lubricants, semiconductors and superconductors.

Hailey Wright, Age 17, Larkmead School

Jo Blunden, Age 16, Banbury School

Seed pods, Shaun Brion, Age 17, Banbury School

Natural forms sketchbook, Tanya Cameron, Banbury School

The Carbon cycle

Carbon is continually cycling between the oceans, the atmosphere and the diversity of life that the Earth supports. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into living tissue. Animals eat the plants. The animals and plants die, and the carbon is recycled.

Artist unknown

Lizzie Hall, Age 17, Larkmead School

Laura Issac, Banbury School

Artist unknown

Climate change

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere creates a greenhouse effect that keeps the planet warm enough for life. We are producing vast amounts of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels to meet our insatiable demand for energy and transport. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means a warmer planet, changing weather patterns, and sea level rise.

Clare Wilson, Year 12, Banbury School

Bones, Sam Macmillan, Age 17, Banbury School  

Natural forms, Teena Bowes, Age 17, Banbury School

Carbon sinks

Carbon sinks accumulate and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Oceans and peat bogs also accumulate carbon dioxide.

Nathan Daran, Age 17, Larkmead School

Khiran Dhillon, Age 17, Larkmead School

Dr Claire Rowland uses Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and satellite technology to investigate the carbon sequestration of forests.

Prints, Stonesfield School

Energy

Domestic energy is responsible for a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK; personal transport is responsible for another quarter. The photo is by Dr Louise Rickard. She and her colleagues research energy use in the home, renewable energy, and the consumer markets for electricity.

Acknowledgements

Carbon Earth was a cross-curricula science and art collaboration involving Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics; Department of Physics; the Events Office; the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory; and Oxfordshire School's Education Service. The artists that worked with Oxfordshire Sixth Form pupils to produce the art works are Graham Woodall (sculptor) and Andrew Mockett (prints).

Carbon Earth was a small part of the Oxfordshire schools WildArt show, in which over 200 of the county's schools took part. The final show of artwork filled two massive marquees at Burford Wildlife Park in the Cotswolds.

Where next?

On ClimateX.org

The Climate-X-Change project will be welcoming submissions of art relating to climate change and Oxfordshire. More details check the http://www.climatex.org/articles/resources/ page.

External links

If you are interested in the perceived cultural divide between the arts and science, the so-called 'Two Cultures Controversy' then the introduction to C.P. Snow's book is an interesting read, particularly if you have an interest in the history of ideas and the philosophy of science. Alternatively, Polly Toynbee wrote an interesting overview and opinion piece on CP Snow for the Radio Times.

The tension between the two cultures has more recently come to the fore in the mid 1990's with the US 'Science Wars' featuring Paul Gross and Norman Levitt, authors of 'Higher Superstition: The academic left and its quarrels with science' and physicist Alan Sokal, author of the Social Text hoax, where the leading peer-reviewed social science journal published Sokal's spoof article that was written to make very little scientific sense, but was constructed with appropriate sociological jargon and buzzwords.