LIST: Books I read in 2010 (and recommend)
Happy new year! I am ready for 2011 (“twenty-eleven!”), but for right now I’m going to give 2010 some respect and create a year-end list of my choosing to cap off the year (everyone’s doing it). Here, I share the books I’ve read this past year that I enjoyed and that had some influence on me. If you’re looking for a book to read maybe you’ll find one here. If not, then let this be a detour which may otherwise point you in the direction of a new idea or resource. The list likely will show where my interests have taken me during this past year. I offer my summary for each title…
Art’s Nature
Holonic Fusion - Gordon Wood
Nature plays a central role in both Gordon Wood‘s art and in his practice as an artist. Within his work are themes we see in the environment. Dendritic patterns and geologic formations play off each other in balanced organization, yet seemingly border on cacophony. Humanity, as part of nature, is integrated into the scene through forms such as finger and footprints, illuminating our influence as a force in nature. Gordon Wood is the current featured artist over at Integral Life, and as with all of IL’s content I recommend getting over there and checking it out. Michael Schwartz has a good write-up on Wood’s expression of artistic truth in addressing Nature & Culture. I want to share some of the images here because I think they resonate with my blog’s themes and other material I post.
Winter Wonderland
The winter weather this year has been very eventful, with record snowfalls and cold temperature anomalies. There are a couple main reasons we can see to be a cause: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Hot Arctic-Cold Continents Effect – two abnormal climate patterns affecting the US and Europe this winter (same with last year’s record-setting “snowpocalypse” and “snowmageddon” in the Eastern US). The active winter weather is not direct proof that global warming is or is not occurring. However, as meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters and NOAA’s Dr. Overlong point out, the loss of Arctic sea ice and record warming of that region is being seen to significantly influence one of the oldest known climate oscillations, the NAO, which is bringing cold air down to the continents. As Masters puts it: “it’s like leaving the refrigerator door ajar–the refrigerator warms up, but all of the cold air spills out into the house.”
Everything That Can Happen In A Day
NY based artist David Horvitz has a new book out documenting a year-long project in which he posted daily instructions on his Tumblr blog and through an e-mail list-serve, encouraging participation from readers. The book is filled not only with the initiatives, but also of the collected images of people carrying out the various actions in their part of the globe. I took on some of these assignments and submitted my photos to David for the book (but now part of the fun for me is that I don’t know yet whether I made it in or not because I haven’t seen the book yet). Go check it out and be inspired yourself to partake in the fun. Trust me, there’s some good stuff in there. Maybe you’ll see me, too.
<— [Click the image on the left for a link to the original newsprint poster.]
From the publisher:
Artist David Horvitz knows how to transform the mundane details of everyday life into unexpected quirks that inspire people to action. Over the course of 2009 he posted a new initiative on his blog every single day, enjoining readers to follow his lead and insert some art into everyday life. The popular blog not only inspired people to act; they also documented their actions. Everything That Can Happen In A Day features some of Horvitz’s favorite ideas as well as an astonishing array of images that document people following Horvitz’s cues.
From accompanying mail carriers on their routes to fast food restaurant Tai Chi, poetry readings in ATM kiosks and sticking your head in a freezer and photographing it, this book serves as an excellent source for making sure that on any given day nothing feels ordinary.
Happy 40th Birthday U.S. Environmental Protection Agency!!!
Today, we celebrate forty years of the EPA’s service to the health of our communities and the protection of our air, water, and land from pollution. The agency was founded December 2, 1970 by President Richard Nixon, a Republican, and represents a historic and truly bi-partisan effort. The US has taken great strides for modern environmentalism: we created the world’s first national parks and were the first to enact clean air legislation. This is a source of great pride for our country.
In honor of the day, the Aspen Institute held a conference with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and released “10 Ways the EPA has Strengthened America”. The EPA’s website is also worth a visit: a slide show of images captures the essence of the past, present, and future of our country’s environmental challenges and solutions. A timeline charts 40 years of milestones for the agency.
The EPA holds great potential for helping to solve the climate crisis. They have the right to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which is confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. This is not as effective as it would be to have had Congressional legislation passing this year, but is important nonetheless. The Clean Air Act has created tremendous benefits for the environment, our health, and even for our economy. However, industry always overestimates these costs. The EPA’s comprehensive work in cost-benefit analysis illustrates how effective their work is. The EPA deserves our support more than ever, as it is under increasing attack by industry-funded neoconservatives and deniers in Washington. Update: Fortunately, their false charges are failing: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals has turned down a case attempting to block the EPA and the court continues to give the green light to carbon pollution standards. As polls show time and time again, the public trusts the EPA, loves the Clean Air Act, and wants Congress to butt out from blocking it.
Dharma Bumz: Tour de Fourth/Force!
I just returned home from a tour with the Dharma Bums — a group of musicians who travel together down the east coast each year after finishing a season working together at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY. We organized the dates around where we could visit other campuses and communities similar to Omega: with missions revolving around holistic studies and sustainability. The music we played consisted mainly of traditional folk songs (Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan), as well as some of the band members’ own originals mixed in. Playing was how we earned our stay and meals from place to place, as well as through the occasional work exchange.
Although I wasn’t usually a regular player with the Bumz while working at our stomping grounds of Omega, I felt called to join the tour because I resonated with the group’s interest in environmental and social activism. Izzy, the group leader, is always sure to spread the word about 350 when given the opportunity, and wanted to use the tour as a way to raise awareness around the greenhouse gas issue and climate change. We knew it would be an interesting tour with the combination of music, environmental message, and people and places we planned to visit.
The Punk Monk
After browsing a YouTube search of Stuart Davis (musician, TV host, “twisted mystic”) and his awesome show Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll, I found one of my favorite episodes “A Foothill in the Mouth”. This is from Stuart’s earlier stuff, when his shows were very DIY (set in his house, usually) and when he really went off and had fun on the concept of the Stuart Davises (yeah, that’s plural) to illustrate the multiple and seemingly contradictory voices within. He’s called his material “spiritual comedy” and I’d say that fits in the most rowdy way possible. In this clip I have selected and embedded below for you, dear blogosphere, Stuart’s Light and Dark sides muse on a dialogue of environmentalism, while sitting on a mountainside in Colarado at sunrise. There is so much I could say about this clip, but for now I’ll let it speak for itself.
“Paradox rocks” is the motto, and we get a good picture of that here. Part of this clip’s charm is that the Dark Stu is the star, really. I would have balanced out the sequence by giving the White/Light Stuart some more strength, though. What would also be interesting is if there were a third Stu. A witnessing Stuart that could skillfully hold both of these perspectives with discernment. I plan to write more here in the future about the topics the Stuarts discussed, and what it’s like to integrate these different views. I think one takeaway message is that we are at our most effective when we take everything into account, including seemingly disparate interpretations of the Mystery.
Emperor X – Sleepover Shows
The good folks at Sleepover Shows just put up some songs I did with Emperor X. We recorded these in Boston, while I was on my stint with Chad’s ongoing tour. Three songs, two of which are totally new. Look for Caricom and Compressor Repair on the new Emperor X release(s) due out later this year! Chad is touring in Australia right now.
Go, go, go —-> sleepovershows.com I play a cereal box.
Update: Emperor X was just on NPR. See the story HERE.
350
Check out this new video of graffiti artist Hans Hansen using his art to display a message scientists and environmentalists everywhere know to be an important one.
350 by Hans Hansen on Vimeo.
Getting atmospheric levels of CO2 back down to 350ppm is important for the planet’s natural balance. 350ppm is the safe upper-limit to which life and civilization on earth has developed, and which we are currently exceeding at 390ppm, and going up about 2 every year. This negatively impacts us by putting the climate into chaos, and has real implications for our economic and national well-being, as much as for the environment. CO2 isn’t a problem in and of itself, but it can become one when it’s emitted at unsustainable rates at which the earth cannot absorb it all. The “greenhouse” effect is like an insulating blanket in the atmosphere. It’s a principle of balance, honoring the natural processes of the Earth by not pushing it too far in one direction. An excess of carbon emissions have reached the point of fitting under the definition of “pollution” because the physical capacities of the planet, and our well-being, can potentially be put in jeopardy.
Carbon can go back down and our atmosphere balanced again. It will take burning less fossil fuels, which is something we’re gonna have to get used to in the future anyway, since fossil fuel is a finite resource. This entails becoming less consumptive and more effective in our economies. Solutions are also in maintaining and regenerating our natural areas, gardens, and state parks – all of which filter our air. However, it will also take more than a simple swap from fossil fuels to clean, renewable resources…
The direction for improvement is in stronger, more localized economies, as well as creativity, vision, and widespread innovation. And these are all things that we want anyway in a brighter, greener future – hence the term, bright green, coined by Alex Steffen of Worldchanging. Through their website, and an awesome book, Worldchanging is a media organization reporting on innovative solutions to building a better, more inspiring future. Building carbon-neutral cities is an effective strategy and opportunity they write on, and one which has elevated my interest and hope in how great cities can be.
With help from these great thinkers and designers, I know that the problem we face of having to retool and remodel can be a very beneficial thing for our culture, economy, health, and prosperity. Being good to the environment is being good to ourselves, and vice versa. We don’t need to sacrifice one for the other — and, really, we can’t.
This just came in the mail!
I am really psyched on this new edition of Toby Hemenway’s awesome book on ecological gardening. This is my favorite book I have yet encountered that applies ecological and permaculture design to the home landscape. It shows that by understanding and working with nature’s principles, we can better design and build in a way that really benefits both people and the environment. And it’s a guide to sustainability whose scope is at the level of whole systems thinking that is much needed in the world today. One thing that is so cool about this work is that it integrates new concepts and research (permaculture and ecological design) with time-tested techniques used by indigenous cultures, organic farmers, and restoration ecologists.
This book is very useful for the suburbanite, but the urban dweller would also find a lot to apply here. Between the first two editions, the author moved from his rural property in Oregon to a new home in Portland, and added a chapter on urban permaculture. Also, Toby Hemenway’s website, Pattern Literacy, is a good place to find out more about these ideas of sustainable design. Buy this book and get inspired to create a backyard ecosystem that is connected to natural cycles and yields edibles, medicinals, and crafts, while doing much of the work for you!
“They are more than the sum of their parts. An ecological garden feels like a living being, with a character and essence that is unique to each.” Imagine this innovative landscaping applied to our yards, city parks, curb sides, and even parking lots and office courtyards! Our streets, communities, and cities would become powerfully unique places that are more attractive, productive, and beneficial to us and nature than the grassy voids they tend to be.
For a quick look at what is possible, check out this before-and-after image of some land in New Mexico (500 species on about 1/8 acre!).
