Language Lost

Neolithic Objects: Ancient Language, Engraved Stones found in Glozel (8000-10,000 BC)

10,000 years ago the population was between 5 and 10 million
Leading anthropologists estimate that nearly 12,000 languages (or more) were spoken at that time.

Today our population is 6.5 billion
Approximately 7,000 languages are spoken today

At this rate in 100 years from now, in the year 2108, only 2,500 languages may be spoken.

One language goes extinct every month.

In lecture you may have heard me comment on these facts: "While it is important, for the sake of biodiversity to have a variety of languages spoken, what about the fact that more people are communicating?" This may not be a fact at all- sadly, we are loosing many indigenous cultures.

What does this mean?
What do you think about this data and the potential future of lost languages?

Restoring Animal Corridors: The Importance of Biodiversity

1. A stream corridor connecting forest and native grass habitats
2. The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, crucial to the long-term recovery of grizzly bears and other wildlife labeled as one of the most endangered wild lands in the U.S.

Today in Professor Trumpey's lecture we heard about the importance of biodiversity and efforts to restore corridors for animals.

Groups around the world are working to establish "wildlife highways" with varying degrees of success. "In North America, the Wildlands Project is pushing for a huge "Yellowstone-to-Yukon" wildlife corridor. In Central America, conservationists are slowly and sporadically working on the Meso-American Biological Corridor. The dream: A monkey should be able to go up a tree in Panama and not have to climb down till it reaches Mexico," (Windstar Wildlife Garden Weekly)

"The corridor idea is relatively new: conservationists once thought that [preserves were enough. But groups of animals isolated from their species become genetically homogeneous, and don't develop the diversity necessary to adapt to threats- especially that of climate change," (Brandon Keim in Corridors Help Animals Flee From Climate Change).

What are your thoughts on these animal corridors?
They appear in our landscape as green, peaceful and graceful efforts to restore the natural environment and a natural way of life (migration) for animals... what else?

How might artists be a part of these efforts?

How do you imagine these corridors expanding into our world?

How might they extend into our urban spaces?

Also feel free to use this space to respond to the lecture as a whole, focusing on the importance of biodiversity.

Read More:
Corridors for a Healthier Environment
Article: Earth Times, San Diego
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
North Carolina State University Corridor Research

Updated Reading Schedule

Leaders Sec. 002:
12/01
Nature at the Mall: Linsday Balfour

12/08
Collapse: Chap. 16 "The World as a Polder: What does it all mean to us today?" (p. 486-525): Dani Battaglia
How Sustainable Agriculture can Address...: Shali Das & Megan Sawyer

Leaders Sec. 003:
12/01
Nature at the Mall: Anastassia Fulmer

12/08
Collapse: Chap. 16 "The World as a Polder: What does it all mean to us today?" (p. 486-525): Letao Zhang
How Sustainable Agriculture can Address...: Alexis Newton & Jim Christian

Action & Hope: A Durable Future

I'll admit that the data and material we have seen can be a bit of a downer. What we humans have we done to the planet, intentionally and unintentionally, has inevitably caused some major ecosystem disruption and irreversible change.

Is this all bad though? Can we "fix" it? Create a cleaner and more eco-friendly world?

What about The Green Revolution?

We are at the dawn of what some are calling the largest revolution on the planet. There are more people waging for change than ever. We don't have to live in a dirty dystopian future! What gives you hope about our future here on planet earth? What have you learned, seen, experienced, that has made you take action is some way, however small... however big...?
________________________________________________________

Image from Fritz Lang's 1927 silent, 'Metropolis'

Bill McKibben, Activist, researcher, and author of the National Bestseller 'Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future' and creator of 350.org, refers to himself as "a professional bummer outer", though his bestseller is anything but. A must read.

What is dystopia?

Top 50 Dystopian Movies of All Time

Technology & Time

What do allow in your life, in terms of technology? Is it a technology free for all? Do you limit your computer, cell phone, or "media" time, and why?

Has taking this course encouraged you to reconsidered the amount of technology and media in our every day lives? From the ipod, to the cell phone, televisions, facebook, emails, indeed, sometimes it just feels like too much.

What can we do to be sure to include/integrate technology, but not let it over run our lives or take too much of our time?

What about being sure to include more organic experiences in nature? Is this component essential to you in any way? What do you think about the notion that we have created a world that makes us feel excluded/separate from nature, when indeed, we are nature?

CULTURE JAM! "Autumn"

Malaise (n.) 1. an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of or accompanying the onset of illness. 2. a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being

There is "the idea of consumerism and the media making us more detached and less considerate towards nature. Technology has detached us from nature." -Laura Gillmore

Commentary and Questions by Laura Gillmore

The reading begins by describing how our generation is made of culture jammers. But what are culture jammers? Pg.xi “we’re a loose global network of media activists who see ourselves as the advance shock troops of the most significant social movement of the next twenty years”. In other words culture jammers are people who observe our culture, analyze it, and creates solutions of adjusting to the how we will survive in this 21st century. Culture jamming will change the way we interact with the mass media by finding sincere meanings in our lives as oppose to what the media tells us is our meaning.
Basically the book discusses why we need culture jamming in our American culture. This is because America is no longer considered a country but a “multi-million dollar brand”. It explains that decades in the past had certain events which triggered social movements such as the civil rights was in the 60’s, feminism in the 70’s, and environmental activism blossomed in the 80’s – but now our country has become almost entirely focused on selling products, music, television and other commercial items. Lasn goes on to explain that we no longer have an authentic culture, ritual, or tradition because America has been branded. This branding has prevented our culture being created by the people. Overall, we are hypnotized by the media.

Quotes/Interesting Pages
“If the self is expanded to include the natural world, behavior leading to destruction of this world will be experience as self-destruction.”- An interesting idea which was brought up in A Sand County Almanac yet at the same time Lasn doesn’t necessarily agree because he describes consumption as a sickness. – We have this “seperation anxiety” from nature “when you cut the flow of nature into people’s lives, their spirit dies” – so consumerism, media etc. is causing this anxiety (pg 6).

“The US has a higher rate of depression than almost every other country etc..” – see core point (stuff doesn’t necessarily mean happiness and America has the most). But at the same time Lasn says we could be “suffering “ not because of scarcity or deprivation but because of plentitude.- nothing ever hardwon when everything is at hand (pg 10).

An example of the media hypnotizing us (see core points) is using Jolts (different camera angles, abruptness,), shock, and selling fear causes us to be in fight or flight mode which keeps us alert.

The way institutions use their power and televisions stations run are similar. They allow certain commercials to be on TV. British Columbia being told that their forests are being taken care of but the industry was balatanly lying and the environmentalists had the money to buy the airtime but couldn’t so they were basically censored. This is because the sponsor is the “king” and can make choices of what is on TV and what is not (pg 30).

QUESTIONS
•This book was written 10 years ago and this maybe an obvious question but has our culture worsened in terms of buying into commercialism and the media? How?
•Read quote on XVI: Follow up question: It has been 10 years since the book, and culture jamming still hasn’t “begun” as Lasn says it would. When do you think this will happen and what kind of events would cause us to change/start culture jamming?
•What do you think of this idea of America suffering because of plentitude?
•Do you agree with all that Lasn has to say? If not, what?

Discussion Template: ADBUSTERS

Hey class, sorry I had to canceled today. Here are some notes from your colleague, Natalie Freilich, which we would have gone over together today. Feel free to comment or add your own response, for sake of participation.

"Major Companies are trying to keep their multi-billion dollar industry afloat and prospering by subconsciously brain washing us into this media/advertisement/consumption culture cycle that we cannot get out of. It is time to stop and take a step back to see how we are being manipulated." -Natalie Freilich

Key Tensions/Questions Generated by the Reading
•The range of Adbusters’ readers vary from high schoolers to people in their middle ages. Who do you think will take the most action to change their lives? The cynical youth or the tired adults?
•What can we each do to diminish major corporations and brandings hold over our lives?
•Is branding and monopoly the same thing? If one is removed will it diminish the other or will one continue to flourish on its own?
•The youth controls what is “cool.” How did we psychologically make branding the most important things in our lives?
•Do you seek the truth behind what your professors say? Or simply write down your notes to pass the class? Do seek further information?
•Have you made some change lately? Step out of the box and take a look at your life – do you want the American Dream or your own?

Definitions/New Terminology
•Mental Detox: The act of stepping away as much as possible from technology and proceeding to live your life for a period of time without it. To stop living virtually and begin to experience life in real time and the real world around you.
•Neocon: A liberal who has turned conservative. Usually from an intellectual community. Modern liberalism has not turned out the way they wanted so they switch to neoconservatism. Some have dropped out of the government and gone into colleges and the media futher influencing others.
•Heterodox: not conforming with accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.
•Branding: the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.

Notes
•Major corporations have led to major consumption, which in turn has led to increased destructiveness of our environment. As we learned at the beginning of the year, more people know of the Mercedes Benz car logo than what poison ivy looks like.
•Wanting to become a graphic designer with advertisement, that would perhaps entail me working for one of these large corporations. AdBusters has made me aware since last year of the negative effects of large scale branding. If possible, I would like to work on a smaller scale with smaller and local companies, improving their design and logos.
•Declutter, declutter, declutter. Declutter information, stuff, and propaganda.
•Anyone can do this, it is not limited to the youth or the old.

Adbusters Articles, take a look (links below):

Neocon Indoctrinataion
A Textbook Insurgency
McCrriage of Justice

Adbusters & Kalle Lasn's 'Culture Jam'

"Dreams, be definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. Its a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities." -Kalle Lasn

“Face the absurdity of the human condition, not to master the chaos, but to create within it.” —Simone De Beauvoir

Manufactured Landscapes

Responses to the film by Ed Burtynsky

Plastic Mass: Bottled Water

Hopefully you are well aware of the alternatives to using disposable bottles and recycle the ones you do use (consume). The advent of bottled water sent our already wasteful consumer culture into pollution overdrive and it’s a tremendous task to put the brakes on the momentum of this waste. Here is a list of plastic bottle facts that put the magnitude of this pollution into scope.

* Plastic bottles take 700 years to begin composting
* 90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself
* 80% of plastic bottles are not recycled
* 38 million plastic bottles go to the dump per year in America from bottled water (not including soda)
* 24 million gallons of oil are needed to produce a billion plastic bottles
* The average American consumes 167 bottles of water a year
* Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water
* Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the United States

Although it can be easy and convenient to pick up bottle beverage products the end cost to the environment is staggering. So be mindful when you drink…and remember, friends don’t let friends drink from disposables!

The Water Cycle

This video is great for grasping a basic understanding of the water cycle and how we, as humans, affect it.

In case the video gets clipped, which I suspect it will, link (here)

Climate Change

Climate change doesn't need to be a political matter, though it seemingly becomes one. Data collected from leading scientific institutions from all over the world points to climate change on planet earth, that has already begun to effect our ecosystems. When you can watch Antarctic ice shelves melt and fall off live on the internet, it makes you wonder what is up for debate. Yes, drastic climate change has happened on this planet before (e.g. in the time of the dinosaurs), but there is no doubt that industry and deforestation has caused CO2 levels to rise in the atmosphere.

What do you think about this? Climate change is something we can't really feel or see (at least right here right now in MI), but that doesn't hold true for others all over the globe.

Check out some climate change stories (here)
On October 24, people around the world are taking a stand for a safer global climate.

People are taking what action they can to help! "Leading global warming author Bill McKibben's 350.org is asking activists who want to highlight the need to reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million - the highest level that scientists tell us is safe - to participate in an International Day of Climate Action. All you have to do is make a statement, whether you're at a rally with a digital camera or at home with your friends and a cell phone, incorporating the number '350' in a very visible way," (Whit Jones, PowerShift 2009, University of Michigan).

Check out Bill McKibben's 350.org

Check out these cool and calm NASA scientists explaining some aspects of climate change:

Group Projects

Please use this space to converse about your group projects.

1. Share your idea.

2. Discuss.

3. Communicate to me who is in your group.

4. Search out group members if you do not have one(s).


My Best,
Ashley

All About Water

This posting is all about water, our most precious and dwindling natural resource.

I have commonly heard the argument "I don't see how water is of issue, the water that is on the planet now, is the same amount that has been and will always be on the planet."

True, the water table remains the same. The earth is a closed ecosystem.

The problem arises when we consume water at unsustainable rates, which we have been. Think about it like this: you live in a house with 4 people who all depend on a well for fresh water. The ecosystem is able to replenish the well (via rain and groundwater) to sustain the water needs of these people. If an entire village starts using the same well and it is then depended upon for a large scale farming operation, the well will be depleted before it can naturally be replenished. Now apply this same scenario on a global scale. Now add in the rise of the middle class on a global scale, population growth, industrial agricultural methods, and global climate change (rising CO2 levels and hotter temperatures)... Houston, we have a problem.

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to safe water, and experts expect this number to rise within this century.

Less than 1% of the worlds fresh water is readily accessible for direct human use (World Health Organization, 2008).

We need to be (re)thinking about how we use water now.

GET SOME FACTS (HERE)

Video about water contamination, NY TIMES (HERE)

Beautiful photos about world water, TIME (HERE)

About Geo-Engineering, BBC News (HERE)

Bag the Bag!

Americans throw away one hundred billion polyethlene bags a year: They choke thousands of marine animals annually; the inks used to print all those smiley faces break down in landfills and create a toxic seep. Though plastic bags take up less than 4% of all landfill space (they're easily compressed), estimates on how long they take to decompose range from a hundred years to a thousand.

Clean up in aisle A2...

-From onearth. "It's Not My Bag, Baby!" by L.J. Williamson.

Treehugger: "Ban or No Ban: The Debate over Plastic Bags in LA" by Jeremy Elton Jacquot

World Is Green: "...Is there an Alternate Solution?" (Green Economics)

Aldo Leopold & 'A Sand County Almanac'

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

Tin Ore Extraction: Congo, Africa

This is a short video, with beautiful photography, from a New York Times reporter about tin ore extraction, take a look.

Weekly Statements: OPEN SPACE

Feel free to post any of your weekly statements here.

This Steer's Life

What do you think about Pollan's article 'This Steer's Life'? (here)

What do you think about our current industrial agricultural system?

Perhaps we should start questioning the systems in which make cheap and mass produced food available to us... that is if we are in take into account environmental and personal health. Many scholars are doing research on why adopting sustainable agricultural practices are essential to the future of this planet.

Interested in sustainable agriculture and/or human or environmental health? Check out this article from John Hopkins School of Public Health, 'How Sustainable Agriculture Can Address the Environmental and Human Health Harms of Industrial Agriculture' (here)

WORLD CHANGING

'World Changing: A User's Guide for the 21st Century' responses here. You will need a min. of 7 posts for the semester.

Check out the book website, which has a daily blog (here)

First Weekly Statement: A Course Introductory

It was a pleasure meeting you today! Welcome to your final Art & Design Perspectives course and our discussion section.

This week and last we have been introduced to various technological and environmental issues, such as our current population, dwindling natural resources, our carbon impact on the environment (rising CO2 levels) and the carbon footprints we leave, lack of sustainability in our current global systems (e.g. "closing the loop" of consumer goods), and the overall North American hyper consumer culture. In addition, a lot of great points were brought up by Derrick Jensen in the article "Beyond Hope" (here)... that being said, what are you still thinking about?

This is an open space for your first weekly statement.

(Image: Man-made "trees" The Getty Museum)

Welcome

This is our space for sharing ideas and expanding concepts related to course material. I'm so very happy to welcome you here.

Enjoy!