The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 50 No 2 July 2011

Wedge
Steve Harrison
Smoke and Mirrors: Reflections on one aspect of the
Woodfire TAS 2011 Conference
I attended the recent Tasmanian wood-fire conference and it was, as I
expected, a fantastic event. I really enjoyed it. However, I want to reflect on the
environmental side of wood-firing and please, this is not criticism of the past
event, rather a way of looking forward to the next one, as everyone worked so
hard to make this one the incredible and enjoyable success that it was.
I noticed that there wasn't a panel on the issue of susta inability, although a few
potters mentioned it in their presentations. Paul Davis concentrated on the nonsustainable
nature of coal mining, while Owen Rye advised wood-firers to start
thinking about owning their own wood lot and Stewart Scambler mentioned that
he has planted his own forest on degraded, salt-affected, former wheat country.
Arthur Rosser has spoken on this in the past, as has Ian Jones. Instead of these
very important issues being offered-up piecemeal and in a fragmented way, in the
future I'd like to see a specific panel dedicated to it.
I must say that I felt a touch of guilt in travelling all that way for such a short
time. When I mentioned that I had purchased carbon credits to off-set my carbon
debt created by flying to Tasmania, most didn't comment, some ho-hummed, one
asked why and another asked "how does that work"? I realise that in the scale of
things, it isn't much, but surely we have to start somewhere in reducing carbon
emissions; I don't think we should leave it up to someone else. We ought to start
at home.
There was a conference recently on sustainability in Europe. I didn't go.
I couldn't justify it. I offered to send a paper on sustainability accompanied
by a short DVD presentation, so I wouldn't have to travel (which would be
unsustainable). My offer was not accepted. I thought not going would be
an appropriate way to support a conference on sustainability. As one of the
presentations in the mix, it could have been a starting point for discussion
amongst those locals who were present. But no, it wasn't to be.
I would like to see a panel that addresses these all-important issues of how
we are going to cope in a low-carbon future at every conference - perhaps a
combination of personal stories, research experiments and theoretical approaches;
even a remotely presented paper from overseas via Skype! Why noP
I can see a time when it could be difficult to fire a smoky wood kiln, except
in remote areas. Even travelling to conferences may become difficult when
airfares rise due to escalating fuel costs. Shouldn't we be thinking about this and
discussing it now before it's too late? I feel we should be preparing ourselves,
making changes, theorising, testing ideas, experimenting and sharing the results of
our research with each other, before change is forced on us.
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