Monday, July 23, 2007
Get a Hobby, But Make It Ancient
After Live Earth, I was going to suggest that everyone in the over-developed world get rid of a hobby - just one. Hobbies use resources and most of us start hobbies with good intentions of keeping them up. We purchase all the proper stuff to take part in our chosen hobby, plus a bunch of storage containers to keep everything organized. After a short while, the hobby is forgotten. We're too busy; it was too hard, etc. etc. And the stuff for our hobby sits - wasted resources. Better it sit than go to a landfill, however it's even better that it go to someone who will use it.
The other trouble with hobbies from a resources standpoint is that most of them involve making things - turning one thing, or a variety of things, into another. Behold! CREATION!
Being an artist, I understand the thrill of creation. It's addictive. It's also caused no end of introspection along the lines of: How many wall hangings & paintings & useless knick-knacks does this planet need? I've long been attracted to the idea of the art of utility - making useful things beautiful. I also like small art, which uses fewer resources because of size. Many artists in general are scavengers, turning junk into art and building the concept of recycling into their work. My husband's motorcycle table is a great example. Then, there's slow art - where it might take years to complete one work. Think of all of these suggestions as the RUSS method of artistic resource conservation. R - ecycled art, U - seful art, S - mall art, S - low art.
On a personal level, this use of resources issue has caused me to cut back on my artistic creation and contributed somewhat to my increase in writing. The creativity has to come out somehow and writing, at its most essential (read: without computer), is not more than pen to paper, which results in an infinite number of potential creative outcomes.
Lose a hobby was my suggestion after Live Earth. Better yet, don't start one unless you're darn sure it's one you're going to stick with or you're sure you'll die if you don't have this outlet. (Don't, however, let this stop you from taking a class or several in order to try something out. Just don't spend money on resources you're not going to use.)
After reading Terry Glavin's "The Sixth Extinction," I've changed my mind. Get a hobby, but make it an ancient one. According to Pat Mooney, who is quoted in Glavin's book, "Our generation may be the first in the history of the world to lose more knowledge than we gain." (pg. 222)
Not only are we losing biological diversity in the form of plants and animals, we are also losing cultural diversity, which includes language and ways of life. The only way we're going to keep some of these things alive is to learn what our forebears knew and keep transmitting it to interested youngsters.
Show of hands. How many people tat anymore? How many of you speak Ojibwe? Can you turn flax into linen? Brew a batch of beer? Play a children's game from two generations ago? These are things that were still commonly being done only a very short while ago. Think of all the cultural activities we've already lost that are from before that time.
If you're interested in finding an ancient hobby, check out your local museum. Small museums are a great repository of books and other information that can lead you to what came before. Sometimes, they'll even contain artifacts that relate to that old hobby, so you can see what tools were used. If you decide to adopt an ancient hobby, make sure to share what you learn, either by writing or teaching. We've got information to save.
The other trouble with hobbies from a resources standpoint is that most of them involve making things - turning one thing, or a variety of things, into another. Behold! CREATION!
Being an artist, I understand the thrill of creation. It's addictive. It's also caused no end of introspection along the lines of: How many wall hangings & paintings & useless knick-knacks does this planet need? I've long been attracted to the idea of the art of utility - making useful things beautiful. I also like small art, which uses fewer resources because of size. Many artists in general are scavengers, turning junk into art and building the concept of recycling into their work. My husband's motorcycle table is a great example. Then, there's slow art - where it might take years to complete one work. Think of all of these suggestions as the RUSS method of artistic resource conservation. R - ecycled art, U - seful art, S - mall art, S - low art.
On a personal level, this use of resources issue has caused me to cut back on my artistic creation and contributed somewhat to my increase in writing. The creativity has to come out somehow and writing, at its most essential (read: without computer), is not more than pen to paper, which results in an infinite number of potential creative outcomes.
Lose a hobby was my suggestion after Live Earth. Better yet, don't start one unless you're darn sure it's one you're going to stick with or you're sure you'll die if you don't have this outlet. (Don't, however, let this stop you from taking a class or several in order to try something out. Just don't spend money on resources you're not going to use.)
After reading Terry Glavin's "The Sixth Extinction," I've changed my mind. Get a hobby, but make it an ancient one. According to Pat Mooney, who is quoted in Glavin's book, "Our generation may be the first in the history of the world to lose more knowledge than we gain." (pg. 222)
Not only are we losing biological diversity in the form of plants and animals, we are also losing cultural diversity, which includes language and ways of life. The only way we're going to keep some of these things alive is to learn what our forebears knew and keep transmitting it to interested youngsters.
Show of hands. How many people tat anymore? How many of you speak Ojibwe? Can you turn flax into linen? Brew a batch of beer? Play a children's game from two generations ago? These are things that were still commonly being done only a very short while ago. Think of all the cultural activities we've already lost that are from before that time.
If you're interested in finding an ancient hobby, check out your local museum. Small museums are a great repository of books and other information that can lead you to what came before. Sometimes, they'll even contain artifacts that relate to that old hobby, so you can see what tools were used. If you decide to adopt an ancient hobby, make sure to share what you learn, either by writing or teaching. We've got information to save.
Labels: album art, biology, creation, extinction, hobbies, live earth, museum, ojibwe, terry glavin
Monday, July 09, 2007
Sniping
Let the sniping begin. Aside from the fact that sniping is a great word sound-wise, the intent behind it isn't so nice. Petty, petty, petty.
I was coasting around in the blogosphere seeing what people had to say about Live Earth. A couple of people (Sierra Faith & Rick from LiveJournal) reminded the entire world about the dumping of sewage from a Dave Matthews Band tour bus onto a boat full of tourists and into the Chicago River in 2004. They suggested that because of the incident, Dave Matthews Band should not have been allowed to perform at Live Earth. Hmm.
Well, it certainly was a dramatic incident, what with poop and all, and people do love to point fingers and snipe at others, especially when those others are rich and famous. However, neither poster bothered to mentioned the eventual outcome of the investigation. First and foremost, none of the five members of Dave Matthews Band was on the bus at the time, so they didn't do the flushing. Their bus driver did and he was convicted of the act. The band took responsibility for the incident, ponying up at least $100,000 in order to clean up the river. I tried to find the result of the Illinois Attorney General's lawsuit against the band, but couldn't. That $100,000, which was certainly warranted, was given before legal proceedings began. How many giganto polluting corporations can you point to who willingly clean up their waste? So, then, we have an unfortunate incident, made even more unfortunate by the fact that the Dave Matthews Band has a conscience, as is evidenced by their other charitable and environmental works. (Apparently people like to hold that whole conscience thing against them. For shame!) If we leaned on other polluters so mightily, our world would be a much cleaner place.
For their attempt to quickly rectify the Chicago River incident, I think Dave Matthews Band was a perfect choice for Live Earth. Do we have conscience enough to quickly remedy our personal roles in global warming?
For the full story, here are some other links that refer to the Chicago River incident:
The Scout Report
Local6.com
NBC5.com
BBC
abc7Chicago.com (linked above - sentencing of driver)
I was coasting around in the blogosphere seeing what people had to say about Live Earth. A couple of people (Sierra Faith & Rick from LiveJournal) reminded the entire world about the dumping of sewage from a Dave Matthews Band tour bus onto a boat full of tourists and into the Chicago River in 2004. They suggested that because of the incident, Dave Matthews Band should not have been allowed to perform at Live Earth. Hmm.
Well, it certainly was a dramatic incident, what with poop and all, and people do love to point fingers and snipe at others, especially when those others are rich and famous. However, neither poster bothered to mentioned the eventual outcome of the investigation. First and foremost, none of the five members of Dave Matthews Band was on the bus at the time, so they didn't do the flushing. Their bus driver did and he was convicted of the act. The band took responsibility for the incident, ponying up at least $100,000 in order to clean up the river. I tried to find the result of the Illinois Attorney General's lawsuit against the band, but couldn't. That $100,000, which was certainly warranted, was given before legal proceedings began. How many giganto polluting corporations can you point to who willingly clean up their waste? So, then, we have an unfortunate incident, made even more unfortunate by the fact that the Dave Matthews Band has a conscience, as is evidenced by their other charitable and environmental works. (Apparently people like to hold that whole conscience thing against them. For shame!) If we leaned on other polluters so mightily, our world would be a much cleaner place.
For their attempt to quickly rectify the Chicago River incident, I think Dave Matthews Band was a perfect choice for Live Earth. Do we have conscience enough to quickly remedy our personal roles in global warming?
For the full story, here are some other links that refer to the Chicago River incident:
The Scout Report
Local6.com
NBC5.com
BBC
abc7Chicago.com (linked above - sentencing of driver)
Labels: chicago river, dave matthews band, environment, global warming, live earth, livejournal, sewage, sniping
Saturday, July 07, 2007
7/7/07
A fortuitous day, numbers-wise, seven being considered so lucky and all, although I'm not quite sure why. I do know that there were lots of weddings planned for today. I figured it was so that couples could easily remember their wedding day. That's the only reason I'd ever plan a wedding for this day anyway.
It was also Live Earth day. We've been half-watching the concert most of the day, really concentrating when someone interesting to us comes on. It doesn't seem to have much of the flavor of other cause concerts, perhaps because they're not raising any money, but I think it goes deeper than that. Maybe people are burned out by all these mass concerts and they just don't have the effect they once had. Not too many fire-and-brimstone preachers among the performers either. In my opinion, the only one who captured the essence of the cause was Melissa Etheridge. When that woman spoke, I really wanted to do something.
Al Gore came on directly after Melissa and quickly ran down the Live Earth pledge. I'm not holding out any hope that Kanye West is going to live up to that pledge. Something about that Gold Digger song might just be affecting my judgment, though.
Madonna performed in London, looking quite matronly in her black dress with all the British school children singing with her dressed in their school uniforms. During her performance of Ray of Light, she played the electric guitar in an uncomfortable fashion. It's obvious that she hasn't had that much practice with the instrument, although her action in the matter is understandable. From what I've heard, she likes to have total control over her performances and is a stickler for perfection. She has a personality that will insist that she try the guitar.
We saw Duran Duran this morning, playing from London. Very good form, that group. They played a couple of oldies - from my day oldies - Planet Earth and Girls on Film. I was surprised to see Simon LeBon chewing gum. In fact, there were a few other singers that were also chewing gum. Does this help keep the mouth moist?
Kelly Clarkson did a great set. She seems so natural and down-to-earth, as did her back-up singers. Solid performance.
Two great little surprises were Blue Man Group, with their funny earth-is-an-airplane-on-a-collision-course video, and Nanatuk, the group of scientists on Antarctica who got together to play specifically for Live Earth. They did a great job, although we wondered if they pre-taped their session. There were no cords leading from their instruments to any power source that we could see. They played outside, so doing a non-plugged-in version is understandable (unless they buried their cords under the snow?).
The band I was waiting for was Dave Matthews Band. They played One Sweet World, Don't Drink the Water (one of my personal favorites) and Too Much. Quite fitting, actually. We were all a little worried about Dave's voice on Don't Drink the Water, at the point where he does this scream-yell. My daughter said, "Get that man a cough drop." That, or a piece of gum. Really, it was that serious. I'm not sure how any of these singers get up night after night to perform without getting permanent laryngitis. I do three school tours in a row at work and I'm frogging up like mad. I have every confidence that the Dave Matthews Band, along with Melissa Etheridge, will live up to the Live Earth pledge, as they are already doing so to a great extent. Dave even said something along the lines of hoping that everyone would walk home from the concert. Nice touch.
It remains to be seen how all this shakes out. But, hey, it's 7/7/07. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?
Correction (7/8/07): Well, then . . . it seems I've spelled the Antarctic group's name wrong. According to a Reuters article, it's Nunatak. Whoops. Sorry.
It was also Live Earth day. We've been half-watching the concert most of the day, really concentrating when someone interesting to us comes on. It doesn't seem to have much of the flavor of other cause concerts, perhaps because they're not raising any money, but I think it goes deeper than that. Maybe people are burned out by all these mass concerts and they just don't have the effect they once had. Not too many fire-and-brimstone preachers among the performers either. In my opinion, the only one who captured the essence of the cause was Melissa Etheridge. When that woman spoke, I really wanted to do something.
Al Gore came on directly after Melissa and quickly ran down the Live Earth pledge. I'm not holding out any hope that Kanye West is going to live up to that pledge. Something about that Gold Digger song might just be affecting my judgment, though.
Madonna performed in London, looking quite matronly in her black dress with all the British school children singing with her dressed in their school uniforms. During her performance of Ray of Light, she played the electric guitar in an uncomfortable fashion. It's obvious that she hasn't had that much practice with the instrument, although her action in the matter is understandable. From what I've heard, she likes to have total control over her performances and is a stickler for perfection. She has a personality that will insist that she try the guitar.
We saw Duran Duran this morning, playing from London. Very good form, that group. They played a couple of oldies - from my day oldies - Planet Earth and Girls on Film. I was surprised to see Simon LeBon chewing gum. In fact, there were a few other singers that were also chewing gum. Does this help keep the mouth moist?
Kelly Clarkson did a great set. She seems so natural and down-to-earth, as did her back-up singers. Solid performance.
Two great little surprises were Blue Man Group, with their funny earth-is-an-airplane-on-a-collision-course video, and Nanatuk, the group of scientists on Antarctica who got together to play specifically for Live Earth. They did a great job, although we wondered if they pre-taped their session. There were no cords leading from their instruments to any power source that we could see. They played outside, so doing a non-plugged-in version is understandable (unless they buried their cords under the snow?).
The band I was waiting for was Dave Matthews Band. They played One Sweet World, Don't Drink the Water (one of my personal favorites) and Too Much. Quite fitting, actually. We were all a little worried about Dave's voice on Don't Drink the Water, at the point where he does this scream-yell. My daughter said, "Get that man a cough drop." That, or a piece of gum. Really, it was that serious. I'm not sure how any of these singers get up night after night to perform without getting permanent laryngitis. I do three school tours in a row at work and I'm frogging up like mad. I have every confidence that the Dave Matthews Band, along with Melissa Etheridge, will live up to the Live Earth pledge, as they are already doing so to a great extent. Dave even said something along the lines of hoping that everyone would walk home from the concert. Nice touch.
It remains to be seen how all this shakes out. But, hey, it's 7/7/07. That's gotta count for something, doesn't it?
Correction (7/8/07): Well, then . . . it seems I've spelled the Antarctic group's name wrong. According to a Reuters article, it's Nunatak. Whoops. Sorry.
Labels: al gore, blue man group, dave matthews band, duran duran, global warming, guitar, kanye west, kelly clarkson, live earth, luck, madonna, melissa etheridge, music, nunatak, wedding
