WALL-E

I was going to do a post on bananas (don't worry, it'll happen), but I saw WALL-E tonight and had to share. Let's just say I cried...multiple times*, both because it was adorable/touching and dealt with ecological themes. Basically, people consume and throw away so much stuff that Earth becomes uninhabitable and they have to escape in a spaceship. They're only supposed to be gone for five years while the mega-company that controls everything is cleaning everything up. Of course, they can't, and the spaceship remains in exile for 700 years. All the people on the ship are sedentary, glued to phones or TVs, and don't interact face to face. Being 700 years removed from Earth, they have no idea what farming or dancing are. Without ruining the whole thing, I'll just say that a lot of things I think about constantly were in this movie. If you have the chance, definitely go see it.


*probably not typical.

Wesleying loves the Everglades

So I totally didn't know about this, but thankfully Wesleying is around to keep us updated. Apparently, Florida made a deal with U.S. Sugar to buy their land and restore marshes, etc. Yay! Read the Wesleying post here (regarding the kegger, I guess we'll have to postpone it for a few months; meanwhile, I urge you to celebrate heartily in your respective homes/summer residences).

Also:
Associated Press article

And an alligator:

"Bones" on compost

Last night I had some free time and nothing to do (ahhh, it felt so wonderful), so I decided to watch Bones (a CSI-type show on Fox). Much to my amusement, the episode last night was about a murder involving compost. Needless to say, it was excellent.

Most interesting to me, though, were the stereotypes perpetuated by the show. If TV shows reflect as well as shape culture, maybe this show is a good example of how some people perceive what it is to be "green" (and by some people I mean skeptics/non-believers). David Boreanaz's character (Booth), is decidedly anti-green. Other characters (like Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, from whom the show takes its name) advocate environmentally-friendly practices but don't really do a good job arguing for them. Characters also say painfully ignorant things about the environment. Booth and Bones have a conversation in the car in which Booth actually says something to the effect of "if pesticides are so bad why do we put them on our food?" as an argument for them, to which Bones responds with some weak objections before citing a study about alligators in pesticide-contaminated waters having tiny testicles. The main suspects in the case are chilled out organic farmer types who go on yoga retreats and drink a lot of tea.

Before ruining it any further, I'll just say that I enjoyed the episode. You can, too, because the episode is online and there's also a synopsis on the show website.

"Green Noise"

hey, i took this picture! it's a plant that resides in one of the music buildings in the cfa. i'm sure it was kindof weird that the first and probably only time i've walked in there, i took pictures of their potted plants. oh well!

Oooooopsies, it's been a month! Rest assured, this blog will not fade (also known as I refuse to let it die, haha). Anyway, after a brief hiatus, we/I/you have returned.

Though I don't want to make it a habit to just repost stuff I've read elsewhere, I wanted to point you in the direction of this NYT article and this Dot Earth post. Both are about information overload and its effect on interest in enviromental issues. I've definitely felt the effects of too much information about environmental issues (particularly all that stuff about what I should do to have the least impact), and probably contributed to other peoples' disinterest by being too forceful or whatever with my messages. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting article that really resonated with my experiences.

Also, as I was looking for a graphic for this post (because really, a pretty picture makes the thing ten times better), I found this blog post about dealing with green noise. Here are the three Green Noise Reduction Principles put forth in the post:

Principle one: Do it as simply as possible. The idea: Green doesn’t necessarily have to be a new car; you can get pretty far with a new mindset.
Principle two: Some is better than none. The idea: Green is something that anyone can do by being proactive and becoming aware of their impact on the planet.
Principle three: More is better than less. The idea: Green can be incremental; if you’ve got one earth saving principle down why not add another. Baby steps add up.

As always, thoughts are welcome.

Waste Not! (formerly known as Westuff, formerly known as Dump-and-Run)

If you read the EON blog chances are you already know about Waste Not, but here's one version of the flyer for posterity:If you click on the image, you might actually be able to read it..! Anyway, spread the word if you haven't already, or leave a suggestion to improve the program if you have one.

Just in case you're interested, here's the website and here's the facebook group.

Feet to the Fire!!

Here's the schedule of events:

Sky Stage
12noon-12:30pm Electric Junkyard Gamelan
12:45-1:15pm Tom Callinan
1:30-2pm Middletown High School Jazz Ensemble
2:15-2:45pm Mixashawn
3-3:30pm Noah Baerman Trio
3:45-4:15pm Sirius Coyote
4:30-5pm Toussaint Liberator

Earth Stage
12:15-12:45pm Geoff Kaufman
12:45-1pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
1-1:30pm Adam Tinkle
1:30-1:45pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
1:45-2:15pm Mattabesset Pickers Collective
2:15-2:30pm Independent Day School Poetry--Poems for Two Voices
2:50-3:15pm Poetry Readings by Stephanie Elliot and Colin Haskins
3:30-4pm Being Collective
4:15-4:50pm Collective Implosions

Water Stage
12:30-1:30pm "RJ" and the On-the-Spot Jug Band
2-2:20pm The BX Is Burning (Green Street Arts Center and Oddfellows Playhouse)
2:30-3:30pm ARTFARM's Circus for a Fragile Planet
3:45-4pm Kalimba Liberian Dance and Drum (CANCELLED)

Vendor/Exhibitor Tent
1:15-1:30pm Middletuners
2-2:15pm Middletuners

Video Tent
12noon-5pm Video Exhibition

There will also be a sculpture garden (which features installation works by local artists as well as Wesleyan students!) Also, there will be yummy food...and a GIANT inflatable Earth (I'm pumped about that).

The festival is taking place at Veterans Memorial Park. Where's that, you ask? The google answer:
Hmm, hopefully you can tell that the park is really close and you can totally walk. If that's not your thing, though, there will be a shuttle service and a group biking to the festival:

• Transportation Alternatives Middletown will lead a family bicycle ride to the Festival, starting at Union Park (South Green) at 11:30 am.

• Shuttle buses will be making stops at the following locations throughout the Festival:
• Green St. Arts Center (51 Green Street, Middletown, CT 06457)
• Wesleyan University Admission Office parking Lot (Lot E)
• Main Street between the police station and Amici’s restaurant (100 Riverview Ctr, Middletown CT 06457). (Entrance to Riverview parking deck on Court St.)
  

The festival will happen rain or shine! See the website for more information/fun times.

Art and Environment (again!)

miwa koizumi, plastic water bottles, 2005
installation view at sawaguzo at Redux
(see number 3 below)

Sorry for the extreme lack of posts lately, but school's winding down, blah blah blah. Anyway, in honor of this week's Feet to the Fire Festival (happening this coming Saturday, May 10), I wanted to post a few different examples of "environmental art":

1. Here is a Dot Earth post about poetry and photography; the post also links to some paintings about biodiversity and cartoons about global warming.
2. Here's a link to Chris Jordan's photographs. I've been meaning to post about his work for a while, as per requests by various people (specifically ones named Jacob). Anyway, his work is great because it allows you to see the part and the whole at the same time. It helps you to better understand statistics (usually huge numbers) that can be hard to relate to. I actually went to a workshop (a Tuesday Lab with Eiko) on understanding numbers and statistics using art, and the thing I came away with is that you really need to come up with a way to personalize numbers and experience them bodily. Eiko's example was that at a 9-11 memorial, they read all the names of those who died (something like 3000 names) and it took 2 or 3 hours (I can't remember which). Then, every time she encountered a similar statistic, she was able to divide that number by 3000 and figure out how many hours it would take to recite the names. Anyway, I think an understanding numbers and other abstract concepts (which often go along with discussions of climate change and sustainability) is important, and art can help facilitate that understanding.
3. Here's a link to a post about Miwa Koizumi, an NYC-based artist who makes jellyfish and other sea creatures out of plastic bottles (she calls them PETs). The post is from the blog for the student forum I co-led this semester about Environmental Artwork. I would encourage you to check it out if you're interested in ways artists have engaged with the concepts of nature, environment, and sustainability. I'm hoping to continue contributing to the blog, but hey, obviously I'm not that great at updating.
4. If you're not too swamped with finals (or are staying around for Senior Week and have some free time...?) I strongly encourage you to check out Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art. I went last weekend and it was really great. It's at the Joseloff Gallery at the University of Hartford. The exhibition will be up until June 10. Also, fun fact: the exhibition announcement doubles as a pot for starter seeds...like, you can fold it up and grow some stuff in it. Free Soil's F.R.U.I.T. project is on display; it's an urban education campaign of sorts. Using fruit wrappers that explain where foods come from, "for Beyond Green, Free Soil will use oranges as a vehicle to explore the complex relationships that make up the worlds Food Systems." (that's from their website). My other favorite piece was a video by Allora & Calzadilla, called "Under Discussion." You can find it here. In it, a man rides a table with a motor affixed to it through various bays/other watery areas near Puerto Rico. The other video shown was of a man riding a motorcycle with a trumpet attached to the exhaust pipe. Though the situations sound somewhat ridiculous now that I've typed them, they're really lovely to watch. Both take the viewer on a journey through the Puerto Rican landscape and highlight (subtly) different aspects of the place. Anyway, I hope you get a chance to check it out.