7 stones layout

Went to Marenakos today to examine the 7 selected stones laid out...

eco-art resource

The Curating Cities Database maps the increasingly important and emerging field of eco-sustainable public art. It is developed as a resource for researchers, academics, artists, curators, educators, commissioning agencies and sponsors working in the field as well as those interested in promoting sustainability via public art. In addition to descriptive information, the database evaluates the aims and outcomes of each project as well as the external constraints (and subsequent negotiations) that influence the production of public artworks.



http://eco-publicart.org

selecting stones

Ella and I went to Marenakos today and selected the 7 stones for cutting.  Since we had a 20-ton limit and igneous river rock weighs 165# per cubic foot, we needed to be conscious of size.  To accommodate the overall weight limit while maintaining sufficient sculptural scale in relation to the site, we chose a range of sizes from 7' x 4' x 3' to 4' x 3' x 2' (6 tons to 2 tons).  We also looked for 'cool-hued' blue-green stones that would help reinforce the water theme we're developing throughout the overall project.

I'll return Wednesday to mark cutting lines and locate fossils.

  

scientists discover plants can hear

"When you go out into the forest, into an estuary, or a different ecosystem, where you're going to be harvesting a plant, food, or medicine, is you want to get yourself into a space of respect and understanding that we are interacting with the plants who are considered our second oldest ancestors that we have after the rocks, which are called the grandfathers and the plants are referred to as the grandmothers. Those offerings are meant for the plant and meant also for the ancestors who walk beside us when we go out and harvest on the land."

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/hearing-plants-awkward-bees-arctic-gems-farting-fish-and-chicken-bones-1.4234437/indigenous-stories-lead-scientist-to-discover-plants-can-hear-1.4234449

elemental haiku

A review of the Periodic Table composed of 119 science haiku, one for each element, plus a closing haiku for element 119 (not yet synthesized). The haiku encompass astronomy, biology, chemistry, history, physics, and a bit of whimsical flair.

http://vis.sciencemag.org/chemhaiku/

Is our environmental future better than we think?

If the political world is divided between the globalisers and the localisers, so too is environmental thinking. And never more so than in these two compelling tracts.

In Inheritors of the Earth, ecologist Chris Thomas says that we are witnessing a virtual recreation of the single continent that dominated the planet until 175 million years ago. The subtitle to his book invites us to celebrate how “nature is thriving”, rather than buckling under the strain, with extinctions more than compensated for by a sudden upsurge in evolution, driven by globetrotting migrant species.

On the other side of the environmental aisle is Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist, a series of touchingly written, but deeply pessimistic essays. Here, former eco-activist Paul Kingsnorth retreats into a world of nativist angst, offering an extreme version of the environmental longing to protect what is local, whether it is an endangered species or a traditional way of living. He mourns “the breaking of the link between people and places”.

Both authors have been on a long road. In 2004, as a young ecologist, Thomas made front-page news for a prediction that up to a third of species would die out due to climate change. He stands by that apocalyptic forecast, but now reckons the plus side is even bigger. While most ecologists bemoan the sixth great extinction in the planet’s history, Thomas says we are also “on the brink of a sixth major genesis of new life”.

we should never have called it earth

Before we existed, and after we are gone, the ocean will continue to whisper to the atmosphere. Weather patterns will change back and forth with the natural oscillations of air and water. But we do exist, and we are treating the atmosphere as a limitless dumping ground. A signal of our handiwork is emerging against this cacophony of noise. Things are changing.

https://onbeing.org/blog/kate-marvel-we-should-never-have-called-it-earth/