Archive for environment

Sacred Water

I had the honor of getting a person tour of Corwin Bell’s new exhibit, Sacred Water, at the Museum of Outdoor Arts outside of Denver, CO.

The funny thing to know about Corwin’s show is, though it is at the Museum of Outdoor art, his exhibition is all indoors. Which was a relief to me, as it was a brisk winter day when we visited. The museum does have outdoor art installments, and part of the system that makes one of Corwin’s pieces work is located outdoors (on the roof of the museum), but the reason his show is included is because the theme is about water and the significance of this precious outdoor resource.

Corwin is the creator of the Journey to Wild Divine. So, I already knew what a creative digital artist he was, yet I didn’t know he worked in other media, as well.

The collection, on exhibition until February 16th, shows his multimedia artwork: animation, photography, ceramics, woodcarving, bronze work, and glass pieces.

My biggest surprise (other than that it was indoors): The bronze piece. It was stunningly crafted, even though it was the first time he has worked with bronze.

By the way, make sure you watch the DVD of Corwin and the MOA crew taking part of the exhibit to Burning Man. And, well, not to give too much away, what happened when the winds kicked up.

After going through the entire exhibition, make sure you go into the final room and watch the video – it pulls inspirations from individual pieces for you. It also left me with a tremendous feeling of hope and renewed faith that we aren’t going to squander one of our most required resources, water.

Corwin has plans to do a series of workshops around this subject, as well. One, close to his heart, is to provide schools with what I believe he calls the River Way, in which he discusses the importance of clean water, by having the kids build their own River Way using piece of his artwork.

There are so many cool interactive aspects of his show, that kids and adults a like will enjoy it.

I encourage you to visit the gallery, while it is still on display. If you aren’t in Colorado, consider if there is a gallery or museum that might be appropriate to host this important show, in your area.

Also, if you are an educator looking for a fun, informative and interactive way to address environmental issues, you can speak to Corwin about doing an age appropriate talk with you students.

By the way, he also is doing some incredibly important work with Bees and pollenation: http://thepollennation.com

Here is the info about the exhibition:
Sacred Water runs until February 16, 2008
Museum of Outdoor Arts
1000 Englewood Parkway
Suite 2-230
Englewood, Colorado 80110

ph: 303.806.0444

Gallery Hours

Monday – Thursday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Friday: 9:00am – 4:00pm

The indoor gallery is closed Saturdays and Sundays and all public holidays.

Hope you check out the show. And, definitely, commend below with any questions or insights…

I hope to add images of the exhibit to this post, so if there aren’t any on it now, come back later on.

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I don’t think we’re gonna make it…

If you’ve watched Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, or have been meaning to, you may just find the video below even more thought provoking and informative.

John Doerr starts his Ted talk about climate change by stating simply “I’m really scared, I don’t think we’re going to make it.” Yet, he’s not willing to allow that fear to paralyze him and either should we:

Though it starts off with a heavy heart, Doerr’s speech left me with hope.  Find out what companies like Walmart, once thought of as the evil-empire, are doing to make major changes in the world.  After all, even if (like me) you suspect they might have began this shift as a PR move, it still forces others to step up and take action.

Let me know if you agree, disagree or have other questions… post your comment below.

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Story of Stuff

Happy New Year. Have you heard the Story of Stuff?

Someone sent this to me over the holidays – actually a couple of people sent it to me, so you may have seen it, too.  I thought it was a wonderful gift to receive and a pretty appropriate time to show up during the ‘consumer-ccentric’ holiday season.

If you haven’t seen it, take 2 minutes and 37 seconds to watch Chapter 1 here.

It’s an informative and easy to comprehend, but important, video that explores consumerism’s effect on our environment.

If your like most American’s, you probably know the effect of spending on your wallet, but if you haven’t thought about how it effects our planet, then you might be surprised.

The Good News is Annie Leonard (and the people who put this together) offer solutions for Another Way – easy, everyday, attainable solutions to help us change a system in crisis to one that works for all of us.  If you want to watch the full 20 min video try the Story of Stuff website (it was down at the time of this post, but I am sure it will be back up soon, or so I hope).  But you can always catch the individual chapters on YouTube, as well: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=FreeRangeStudios

Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this video, so post a comment below.

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Outlawing bottled water…

Is the Mayor of San Fran penalizing water drinkers?

In a recent Newsweek article, Karen Breslau spoke with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who signed an executive order banning the use of city funds to purchase single-serving plastic water bottles.

I don’t drink anything but water (other than an occasional lemonade) and I prefer filtered or bottled water to Boulder’s ‘less than pristine’ tap water. So, I guess I am not eligible to become a San Fran government worker.

water up the noseBut, really, what does this mean to the Bay area government employees who share my same drinking habits?

Ugh, it’s back to the water fountain for them!

Are government buildings going to have filtered water dispensers available for employees to get a glass of clean water along with the “stainless-steel recyclable containers” the city is offering people?

Or will we see the mayor gracefully trying to avoid water up his nose as he bends over a fountain with too strong a flow? And what about the health risks associated with putting ones mouth on a faucet where the water pressure is too low!?

I can’t believe – once again – it will be easier for someone to get a sugar laden, high calorie soft drink than a refreshing drink of water.

I agree, the environmental footprint needs to be taken into consideration, but why just bottled water, why not all drinks sold in individual plastic bottles?

If the government of San Fran was really looking to reduce the effects, shouldn’t they make any individually sold plastic bottle a no-no?

And has the current mayor forgotten about the Twinkie Defense case of 1978, when a former San Francisco city supervisor killed the then-Mayor and “claimed that he was not responsible for his actions because he had OD’d on Twinkies.” (see Twinkie Abuse) – oh, the terrible things sugar can do!

I’m only half joking here. Obviously there was more to the ‘78 case, but it does make you wonder about the effects of switching over from healthy water to soft drinks. Weight gain, being the least of the problems.

But the real question here is why just water, why not eliminate spending of funds on all individual bottled drinks? If they can save $500,000 from bottled water, imagine what they’d save on all single-serving containers!

Maybe the extra funds could go towards making sure their tap water is really clean as he suggests!

What do you think of all this?

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Is my Home Office emitting more CO2 than my old workplace?

Bummer – And I thought that since I was working at home, I was saving the world.

OK, maybe not the world, but at least some CO2.

Today I read an article on treehugger.com called:

Working from Home May Produce More CO2 than Going to Office

In this article, Lloyd Alter notes a new report done in Britain, which “suggests that while home workers can save carbon emissions by not commuting, the extra heating and power they use during the winter months can outweigh the benefits.”

He goes on to point out that, unlike in Britain, North Americans tend to heat our homes the same whether we are there or not.

Hmmm?

QUESTION: Is he suggesting home offices in North America are OK, because we’d have been heating our homes anyway? Or is he suggesting that this continent needs to readjust our lifestyles? I’ll leave that up to you to discuss…

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