NPR: interview about contaminated water and its cause Dairy Farming

New Mexico's trails and tribulations with the water crisis: THE MANUAR WARS.

  Factory farms produces runoff that is poison in to locals water wells. There has been increased criticism towards big dairy corporations and the pollution that is part of the business.

This article highlights Herbie Rodriguez and his family and how they have been hit by the problem of factor farm pollution.

It also speaks on the topic of what to do and government mandates that are be imposed on dairy farmers to help to control with the problem of discharge there polutants

N.P.R interview

House of Cards, Influence for my last project

This particular artist does not have a connection to sustainability per say; it does however remind me of part of the inspiration for my project.  

I made a a "house of cards" by useing old cardboard boxes, (i.e. beer, and ice-cream ) 52+ playing card size pieces of cardboard  to make a house of card.

In created the recycled piece I was commenting on the instability of packing materials that are used once and then discarded. Although cardboard is recycle material it is more often than not thrown away. 

Like a house of card this practice is not sustainable. Soon it will crash and burn. The items chose for the project also related to this thought on cultural waste and abundance. Cheap beer and ice-cream. These are two items of food that we do not need but that we consume and throw away without really knowing or most of the time caring where it comes from. 

Do get me wrong I love ice-cream, beer is ok, I appreciate its complex quality. 

Coral Bleaching

Coral Bleaching

When corals lose their color, it is known as "coral bleaching". Coral bleaching became an issue when it was first observed on coral reefs in the South Pacific in the 1990's. Coral bleaching also occurs in saltwater reef aquariums. So what exactly is coral bleaching?

The skeletal structure of hard corals are normally white, but due to zooxanthellae algae, which are tiny plants called dinoflagellates (single-celled microscopic organisms which belong to the Protista kingdom) that reside within the soft tissues of corals, they have color. These microalgae are photosynthetic, and their relationship with some corals, as well as other marine life such as Tridanid clams, nudibranchs, some sponges and even jellyfishes, is an example of endosymbiosis (symbiosis - the intimate living together of two dissimilar organisms in a mutually beneficial relationship; endo - within).

 

Although long term bleaching can cause the partial or total death of coral colonies, if the situation is not too severe and stressful conditions are changed, it is possible for affected colonies to recover their symbiotic microalgae and start growing again.

Since stress seems to be the key to this problem occurring, let's evaluate what events are reported to be the cause of bleaching on coral reefs around the world.

                  The effects of el Nino and La Nina events.

What impact can these events have on marine ecosystems?

                  A change in ocean currents, which relates to changes in phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, as well the amount of other nutrients present in the water.

                  Increase/decrease in water temperatures.

                  Increase/decrease in water salinity.

                  Increase/decrease in air temperatures.

                  Build up of carbon dioxide and methane gases.

                  Exposure to increased ultraviolet radiation.

                  Exposure to high light levels.

                  Increased or high water turbulence.

                  Decrease in light levels.

                  Sedimentation, which relates to a decrease in light levels, as well as suffocation of sessile marine life.

Show at 21C Museum

 Images from the show at the 21C Museum. 

Mary Carothers work about immigration done for the day of the dead.

(1st and 4th Image)

Image of work inside the 21C, these works surrounds the issue of factor work in third world or improvised countries. These pieces spoke to the Asian computer manufacturing market. This reminded me of the video that Ying Kit showed us in class. These works deal with the issue of how we trow are electronic trash away and it ends up in someones back yard. These are miniature 3-D models 

(Images 2 and 3)

Leticia Bajuyo

Artist Leticia Bajuyo

Show at the Cressman Center Runs from 10/8-11/8

Ms. Bajuyo came and lectured for our class here are the photos from my visit to the Cressman Center.

Cressman Center Link:  http://louisville.edu/art/galleries/copy_of_nineveh-a-sculptural-installation-by-ezra.html

Artist Site: http://www.leticiabajuyo.com/iWeb/bajuyo/home.html

Crafty Art With A Purpose

http://www.disk-art.com/gallery.htm

 

The work is crafty, but its for a good cause and I have to be honest I didnt think of it and its a good way to turn these objects into art. These objects have a second life thanks to this creative thinker.

Artist Statement

My name is Diana Ritter. All my life I’ve loved music and art which I have truly enjoyed as my creative outlets. My career as an Engineer, however took me on a more technical path. My art created with floppy disks reflect the paradox between my two worlds of technology and art.

With the continuous advancement of computers and technology, floppy disks have become obsolete. In the wake of Green Awareness, I realized there is nothing that can be done with them – except load our landfills and destroy our environment. So, I gathered up all my old disks, rescued thousands more, and used them as the “canvas” for my artwork. Now, instead of adding to these disks have become art that can last a lifetime.destruction of our environment these disks have become art that can last a lifetime.  

Like artist Leaticia Banjo, Diana Ritter takes donations and as a consolation she gives you a piece of her artwork.  

Food Not Bomb

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/story.html

Food Not Bombs is one of the fastest growing revolutionary movements and is gaining momentum throughout the world. There are hundreds of autonomous chapters sharing free vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. This energetic grassroots movement is active throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Food Not Bombs is organizing for peace and an end to the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. For nearly 30 years the movement has worked to end hunger and has supported actions to stop the globalization of the economy, restrictions to the movements of people, end exploitation and the destruction of the earth. 

The first group was formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980 by anti-nuclear activists. Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to nonviolent social change.

Food Not Bombs is often the first to provide food and supplies to the survivors of disasters. During the first three days after the 1989 Earthquake, Food Not Bombs was the only organization in San Francisco providing hot meals to the survivors. Food Not Bombs was also the first to provide hot meals to the rescue workers responding to September 11th World Trade Center attacks. Food Not Bombs volunteers were among the first to provide food and help to the survivors of the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Our volunteers organized a national collection program and delivered bus and truckloads of food and supplies to the gulf region. We were one of the only organizations sharing daily meals in New Orleans after Katrina. Food Not Bombs is now preparing for the economic crash organizing Food Not Lawns community gardens, housing the homeless with Homes Not Jails, organizing additional meals each week and starting new Food Not Bombs chapters. 

Food Not Bombs activists are currently making plans to celebrate our 30th year of cooking for peace. Along with organizing the celebration each local chapter collects and distributes food every week and there are several other projects that support the Food Not Bombs movement. One collective called "A Food Not Bombs Menu." helps people find or start local chapters. They also maintain the website www.foodnotbombs.net, organize tours and support Food Not Bombs gatherings.

REcycled Art of Jen Grant

Jen Grant is an artist who works with recycled materials manly from found objects like clothes and jewelry. Grants work speaks on aspects of sustainability in that places the objects of everyday where along side of disregarded objects. Grant also makes a claim about social injustice in that she makes items of leisure out of unsustainable or disregarded objects, an example is her hammock made of old pearl and beads hung adjacent to a dumpster.

Artist Statement:

Artist Statement:

"SWING was created from discarded items of clothing collected from the back alleys and bin areas of tenements in Glasgow. The clothes were then laundered and dried, cut into strips, and woven together to fashion ropes, to which parts of chairs (also found on the streets) were attached to form swings. These were hung from the guardrails on the Botanic Gardens Bridge that crosses the river Kelvin and forms part of the busy Kelvin Walkway.

The clothes that were collected and used for this project were imbued with a personality and invoked very powerfully notions of the abject, each piece telling a story of sorts, albeit ambiguously, about its previous owners and their lives and experiences. The cutting and braiding together of these items seemed almost like weaving together small fragments of narratives from the lives of a myriad of unknown people, creating an object that at once juxtaposes these fragments while creating a new narrative of its own."

http://jen-grant.blogspot.com/

Ephemeral Art : Sand Mandala

http://www.artbabble.org/video/creation-sand-mandala

Lama Karma Tenzin created a sand mandala in the theater gallery of the Rubin Museum of Art in NYC. The mandala took over two weeks to create out of millions of grains of crushed marble and under two minutes to destroy. Lama Karma visited the Rubin Museum of Art in conjunction with The Dragon's Gift - The Sacred Arts of Bhutan exhibition.

This video struck me because it reminded me of topics discussed early in the year. I think Lexie did a sand mandala. This is a great video because the mandala is well executed, but also the removal is just as artfully done and respectful as the addition process.   

Tree Hugger Blog

http://www.treehugger.com/design_architecture/?dtc=th_nav_design

this blog was on the list handed out during the mountain top removal lecture. 

This site is nice because there are various different topics and daily blurbs. 

The aesthetic are a bit message but really interesting stuff. 

example:

Artists and Gadgets Help Slow Down Fast Food

So the slow food movement isn't necessarily about literally slowing down...but in a way, it is. When we slow down, actually stopping to eat, we spend more time considering what it is we're putting in our bodies and might make better food choices. Not that it's the motive behind the Pop Up Lunch project, but it's certainly a potential green side effect. The art project props up street food eaters, so those grabbing a quick meal have a place to enjoy what they're eating. That, combined with another cool gadget could help fast food slow down and green up.

New Cardbaord ARt

Inspired by nature, Alex Uribe creates sculptures exclusively from recycled,corrugated cardboard, both in large and small scale.  figurative,organic shapes, exploring abstract ideas rather than realism. 

Robert Rauschenberg: Cardbird...Recycled Art

I decided that my recycled project five art piece with recycled cardboard.  

After doing a project for my museum methods class I learned about a series of work by artist

Robert Rauschenberg did in the early seventies.  I always have old cardboard boxes around. I am planning on doing a cardboard sculptures based on Rauschenberg's  pieces. I find the simplicity of the object the everyday quality of the material. Also there fact that cardboard is not an archival material is of entrance. 

When Rauschenberg first displayed this work there was not positive feedback. Critics taught that the work was mundane, and found that cardboard was just too normal and everyday to be really interesting. Also critics found it had to spend 25,000 on a piece that would not be sustainable.

The way that Rauschenberg found his cardboard, from garbage dumps, streets, and personal boxes that he used when he had moved. Originally these works were nailed into the walls. 

Lecture November 12th with Avery Kolers

Justice, Rights and the Environment.

Here some quick notes that I took at the lecture: Damn he talks fast 

Justice as goal: benefits and burdens are distributed fairly  

*There are certain kinds of injustices no mater what you philosophical view there are some things that we all considered wrong.

example forceable inequality, the culture that has set up that situation because 

where is justice:  example of different categories of justice            

domestic. family, social, but  intragenerational diachronical justice, global justice, intergenerational

What does justice require?

International Justice and Intergenerational Justice- what does this require. Everything that we do will effect those unborn.  Also America is a country that effects alot of third world countries in things that the y can not 

Outcomes:are they mal-distributed , pollution are delivered fairly. also it is not just the outcome it is the risk as well. an example could be seen in a nuclear power-plant in your neighborhood.

ecological holism-the environment is important in itself.

anthropocentrism-humans are what is solely important.

precautionary principle: when dealing with harms and risk, factor in the worry that the expected harm is worst that the actual risk involved. It should not only be the benefits and actual risk but the fears as well.

Contraction and Convergence: the idea is that we put way to much C02 into the environment, there are certain places that need to go up, in order to better there living situation,i.e. third world vs first world country.

2 dollars a day=poverty

20 dollars a day=standard living daily income 

Garbage Warrior

Earthship n. 1. passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3. renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.

Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability. 2. A combination of biology and architecture.

For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony. However, these experimental structures that defy state standards create conflict between Reynolds and the authorities, who are backed by big business. Frustrated by antiquated legislation, Reynolds lobbies for the right to create a sustainable living test site. While politicians hum and ha, Mother Nature strikes, leaving communities devastated by tsunamis and hurricanes. Reynolds and his crew seize the opportunity to lend their pioneering skills to those who need it most. Shot over three years and in four countries, Garbage Warrior is a timely portrait of a determined visionary, a hero of the 21st century.

Click on the link to watch trailer for movie.  Learn more about the film.

http://www.garbagewarrior.com/index.php

Water Crisis

Since my environmental justice project is about groundwater quality, aquifer, and the world water budget. I found this page on the National Geographic website. 

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/freshwater/freshwater-crisis.html

Freshwater makes up a very small fraction of all water on the planet. While nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Even then, just 1 percent of our freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields. In essence, only 0.007 percent of the planet's water is available to fuel and feed its 6.8 billion people.

Unfortunately, humans have proved to be inefficient water users. (The average hamburger takes 2,400 liters, or 630 gallons, of water to produce, and many water-intensive crops, such as cotton, are grown in arid regions.)

According to the United Nations, water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.

(information found on site)

EPA Ready to Dole Out 'Environmental Justice" Grant for Budding Activists.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56934

CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting grant applications for projects aimed at addressing environmental and public health issues in “communities with environmental justice concerns.”

The EPA said it expects to award approximately 40 grants of up to $25,000 each in Fiscal 2010. It will accept applications until January 8, 2010.

Local governments and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply. (Ineligible institutions include hospitals, colleges and universities, state governments, quasi-governmental entities, nonprofits that engage in lobbying, and national, multi-state, or statewide organizations with chapters.)

Mountain Justice Website

http://mountainjusticesummer.org/

http://www.mjsb.org/

* Kentucky, Virginia , West Virginia, and Tennessee  

This is an active group that stages protest and are very active in themes of action. This group would probable be considered more radical; think people ting themselves to trees.

But the actions of this group are not merely for shock value. They also do volunteer work.

This website has alot of information about environment issues in Kentucky and the world at large.

 quick facts about kentucky coal industry:

#97% of Kentucky’s electricity comes from coal. Of that amount, 55 million tons (38.2%) were extracted using surface mining methods and 89 million tons (69.1%) were extracted using underground methods

#Sixty-three percent of the coal burned for electricity in Kentucky was mined in Kentucky[2]. Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia provide the rest, with West Virginia supplying the bulk of out-of-state coal

Eco Art Blog

http://www.ecofriend.org

Blog all about Eco Art check it out. Great with the Green Museum Link

Tire Art buddha

Ying Kit was passing around the book about recycled tire art.

I found this when I googled tire art and this was just  eye catching.

Trip to Bernheim Forest

I took a trip to Bernheim Forest last weekend.

Here are some picture of my experience.

An important fact about Bernheim is that the visitor's center is a LEED platinum certified green building.

This is a beautiful building and it is environmentally friendly 

They explain that the building is like a tree, this building is also made of recycled materials.

The installation is made of recycled newspaper.

Link to web page about the visitors center: http://www.bernheim.org/news_old.html

PIctures of the Alter KMAC Native Americans of the Ohio Valley Region: story of the Beaver Clan Family

Here is the finished results.

Really great!

I feel that this was a really great way to honor those that have passed through this land before us. 

Thank You Ying Kit's Media, Issues and Sustainability class 

Great Blog spot

http://atangledbank.blogspot.com

This blog spot that I stumbled upon. The writer is Anre Levy a researcher in evolutionary biology. He also considered himself a political activist. It does not seem as those he has blogged in a while, but the information on this site is really informative, and just cool here are some pictures from the blog.

Picture 1: Rafflesianceae. world's largest flower, reaching a full meter across and weight close to 7kg.

Picture 2: Blanket Octopuss dorsal arms much larger then ventral arms.

Interested in growing an organic garden?

http://www.thegreenguide.com/home-garden/garden/natural-seeds-garden

I have often though about begin my own garden via the seed route, but then how do I know about the quality of the plant inside? Am I fooling my self in thinking that gardening would be a better route? Well I came across an article about natural seeds, just what I was looking for. 

Summary:

A lot of the seeds that we purchase through department and hardware store are already tainted with insecticides or fungicides prior to there trip to these locations.

the best way to get "natural" seed are organic and heirloom sources

the link provided will contacts for safe,natural seeds.

Whales misfortune becomes a researcher's laboratory

October 22, 2009

The apparent victim of a ship collision, a dead 70-foot (20-meter) blue whale (pictured) washed ashore in a forbidding northern California cove this week.

Though unable to move the blue whale, scientists and students are leaping at the research opportunity, scrambling down rock faces to take tissue samples and eventually one of the 11-foot-long (3.5-meter-long) flippers.

Though relatively infrequent off California until recent years, ship collisions are "the number one human threat to blue whales," according to marine biologist Joe Cordaro of the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service.

This week's collision, he said, marks the second time this year that a ship off California has fatally wounded a blue whale.

The world's largest animals, blue whales can grow to about a hundred feet (30 meters) long—about the length of a space shuttle. Listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the whales are said to face a very high risk of extinction in the wild, largely due to heavy hunting prior to a 1966 ban.

It is thought that the because of the fresh propeller wound  that a ship was the culprit of this whales demise. Blue Whale Tragedy Turned Scientific Windfall

"I'm as sorry as anybody that that animal perished," said Humboldt State University mammologist Thor Holmes (pictured above atop the whale). But to find "a fresh, female blue whale in a place that's accessible—that is amazing."

On Tuesday, Holmes and two students drove several hours to study the blue whale.

On the shore, the researchers took blubber samples, which Holmes expects will shed light on the whale's pre-collision health.

"Just the fact that the whale has a good, thick blubber layer," he said, "shows it was a really, really healthy animal."

Blue Whale to Be Left in Place

The blue whale will be left on the Fort Bragg beach, the National Marine Fisheries Service's Cordaro said. Given the cove's inaccessibility to vehicles, he added, "That whale ain't going anywhere."

But researchers are planning more tests, including an amputation of one of the blue whale's flippers this week—a potential windfall for an ongoing Humboldt For Holmes, the specimen holds great scientific promise, but also serves as a painful reminder of humanity's role in the blue whale's rarity.

"The presence of that animal on the beach," he said, "is another sign that we're malefactors on this planet."

—Ted Chamberlain

Whale photograph by Larry Wager, AP

EPA's Definition of Sustainability

What is sustainability?

The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 declared as its goal a national policy to "create and maintain conditions under which [humans] and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans."

The most widely quoted definition internationally is the "Brundtland definition" of the 1987 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development – that sustainability means "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (EPA's Region 10 Sustainability Web site provides more information on definitions and history of "Sustainability.")

Region 10 website: http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/oi.nsf/sustainability/sustainability/

National Biofuels Action Plan

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/nbap.pdf

Made by the efforts of the Biomass Research and Development Board

its one year old but this document is fairly easy to read plus it reminded me of Lori Beck lecture with the class.

It starts out by outlining the current problem with fossil fuel production shows a couple of graphs and then the petroleum supply and demand. It follows with the topic of sustainability. Graphs of the target of biofuel supply change. It ends with hope for the future of environment, health and safety  and a timeline for biofuels commercialization all and all it was a fairly easy article to read and there is a link to contact information for the Office of the Assistant Secretary Energy Effciency and Renewable Energy, the USDA and The Biomass research and development Initiative.

International conference on Sustainable cities

http://www.iiaf.umich.mx/ciudadessustentables/enindex.html

Is it plausible that the future cities of the world would be green? 

Could  all the all of the Lower Ninth ward be built to house average americans with modest incomes?

The International Conference on sustainable Cities to be held on Sunday October 25, 2009 till Thursday October 29th 2009 will discuss issues and will have many workshops and lectures. 

Location: Latin University of America Campus Morelia Michoacan Mexico 

Downside for us is that it is in Mexico, and that it does cost quite a bit of money, but the fact that it is happening is a really good sign, plus there are many corporations with funding involved.

Sustainability a definition

When Lori Beck came she mentioned that we did not really have a definition of sustainability. Hopefully as the semster progress I will have a better understanding of this term.Here is one definition from Wikipedia.

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources.

the full article is longer than this introductory paragraph 

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

Artist I am digging

This is just one example of  artwork by Mara Adamtz Scrupe, this is a solar powered sculpture made from resin tree, it also has a solar powered irrigation system built into it. Why you would need to water it I have no idea, but this and the others projects  on here website where beautiful, formal and conceptually.

This particular piece is located in Savannah Georgia at the College of Art and Design. 

PLATFORM- Oil & Poverty

This is a link to an article by the group PLATFORM. There goal is reducing the impact of oil corporation. As has been mentioned in class in the past several weeks the impoverished are the ones that suffer the brunt of others profit. This site explains clearly the local,national,regional, and global impact of mining for fossil fuels

http://www.carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=64&parent=61

"World Climate Bank" could manage CO2 emissions

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4616955,00.html

A "world climate bank," the WBGU suggested, could help manage "accounts" and emissions reduction targets. The scientists hope the German government will take the proposal to the international climate summit in Copenhagen in December.