Rosa Whitely - CLIMAVORE

Media Evolution

What does a climavore eat? More than a diet, it’s a call to address the manmade seasons created by pollution, soil exhaustion, and fertiliser runoff. How we structure our food systems in turn structures the environment, directly impacting the climate.

Rosa Whiteley is Director of Material Research at CLIMAVORE, a research platform and agency who ask the question of how to eat in the anthropocene. She describes their activities on the Isle of Skye, where the cascading effects of intensive salmon farming are felt along the coastline. They advocate divestment from salmon farming and explore alternative ingredients such as seaweeds, sea vegetables, and bivalve shellfish.

Through their rebuilding practice, CLIMAVORE investigate historical ties between food systems and architectural typologies. Rosa mentions how in 15th century Edinburgh oyster shells were used to pack a hole in the Royal Mile. This symbiotic connection has been severed by carbon intensive building practices and food production which wipe out local knowledge. Using lime, mortar, and tabby cement made from shells, CLIMAVORE create materials for building and art installations.

Moving beyond materiality, CLIMAVORE sow the seeds for societal change through community managed growing areas and meeting spaces, reinvestment of funds within Skye, and collective ownership of goods. They point the way towards new ways of living in coastal regions and beyond.