neighborhood walkability

For those of you working on walkng/bodega etc. projects, check out this tool...

walking

proof

nurdling from swerve of shore to bend of bay

Do you think we'll be missed when we're gone?

Weisman and Roston readings

The first reading by Weisman made me very depressed. I had no idea there was floating masses of plastics in the ocean. That is truly disgusting. I am planning to be more vigilant about what I buy and where I dispose of it. While I am not a news fanatic, it is astounding that I have never heard of this before. There is so much wrong with our world out there that it is overwhelming - how does a person know where to start? With this kind of information readily available, is it possible that the administration is unaware or is it simply a matter of critical priorities? It seems unlikely that government would be unaware. This certainly seems to be an extremely critical issue, although if the global warming issue is not addressed immediately, it will simply be too late for most people. The mental vision of all those organisms out there that have ingested bits, or in some cases large chunks, of plastic is repulsive. It certainly makes the science fiction notion of mutants more plausible.

The Roston writing, while sobering, at least offers a bit of hope. As with any research, it is through the doing that researchers expand their knowledge and understanding. While I am a believer in technology, technology alone will not save us. And it really is not fair to be environmentally lazy with our lives and expect the science community to "fix" things for us. I'm going to go to bed an pull the covers over my head for a while while my brain is reeling...

Artisode

well said, Janess!

Post for Oct. 30 - Scott Collins presentation

Scott Collins gave a terrific presentation. For once, I felt like I was listening to a scientist who was presenting the facts...not a convenient version of selected data, but facts. The most compelling persuasion (for me) tends to be when facts are presented without bias and without any overt conversion-to-my-side sermon.

While driving home this evening, I tuned into a local talk-radio show and heard person after person slamming both those who would talk about global warming and vegetarians. What a ridiculous bit of propaganda. At the same time, the vegetarians who called in to protest were just as out of line as the naysayers. There has to be a middle ground somewhere.

While digesting this information, I am beginning to wonder if I should not be planning to retire a bit further north than I intended. If we, as a world, do not actively begin to address these issues, New Mexico may not be the healthiest place to be.

more interesting points.... from across the pond

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/oct/27/climate-change-contraception-women-feminism

NYTimes link of interest

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/arts/design/22currents.html?ref=design

City of Albuquerque Climate Action Plan

I am very interested in the City Action Plan, particularly since we now have a new mayor entering the city political arena. With the global international economic turmoil, it is my worry that environmental issues will be put on the back burner. I don't think we can afford to delay action any further. The question will then be, how much damage continues to happen as other issues cloud the ADD-esque attention span pervasive to New Mexico.

I agree with Jennifer Valdez in that most of us would love to have alternatives that are user-friendly. Albuquerque is much improved - a person truly took their life in their own hands while trying to bike to anywhere in the city 20 years ago. My husband used to bike to work from the East Mountains, dodging cars that deliberately tried to hit him, jumping over glass and debris, and working his way back through neighborhoods to avoid Central Avenue. He finally gave up after breaking his collarbone in a wreck while rounding a corner and hitting a pile of cement left to harden on a city street. Everyone in this city will have to be both aware and educated on what they can do to make a difference.

To that end, I think it would be very prudent for the mayor and governor to push for the early education of our children in the area of good stewardship. New Mexico has a very widely dispersed population. That does not mean that New Mexico cannot do anything about our effect on the environment. There may not be the infrastructure or funds to develop an efficient subway such as in Washington DC, but the small steps the city is taking can be expanded on.

There are a couple of issues I see with the Transportation Plan, however. I Do not like the idea of constraining parking supply. When people are driving anyway, you are contributing to the greenhouse effect by encouraging continual circling, waiting for a spot to open. Perhaps expanding park-and-ride options might be a more effective solution. I also think that Strategy Three can be misleading. Biodiesel and ethanol both impact global food supply and can be fossil-fuel costly. It takes nearly as much fossil fuel to produce biodiesel as the biodiesel produces in volume. While our electricity production is more "clean" than it used to be, the roughly 48% our plants that produce electricity are still coal-fired and coal-firing does not tend to be "clean". So before we jump on the electric-biodiesel-ethanol bandwagon, we need to understand the true cost of each.

possibility for either 10/24 expression or mapping project

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/10/20/mud-stencils-create-environmentally-conscious-graffiti/

interview with Fallen Fruit folks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pcdeZCmK4&feature=player_embedded

check out the land arts site

http://landarts.unm.edu/

for jennifer valdez

Transportation by the City of Albuquerque Climate action Plan (Aug.09) gives a working framework to reduce greenhouse emissions. I liked some of the alternatives to automobiles such as cycling networks, car-pooling, pedestrian trails, and transit systems. None of these alternatives would work for my family I have to drive my son to the East mountains for middle school, my daughter drives to Manzano each day while my boyfriend drives to the airport and I to UNM.. While I think that these ideas are great I don’t feel that they are realistic for the common family. I also liked the targets which include cycling networks but I feel that the city would have to work hard to make these safe to use. I have moved her e from Santa Fe where they also tried to incorporate these sort of trails. None of the trails were safe and often women were targeted on these trails. I feel that the transit system is helpful and I would use it if I lived closer to a bus stop. To be honest my family is from Albuquerque and I am positive that not one of them would give up their cars to reduce emissions gases. Nor, would they use any sort of alternative transit system. I just don’t feel that enough people are aware of the pollution problems and even if they knew they do not care. It is very sad.

350.org

Should we do a 350.org project for October 24th? Its the International Day of Climage Change Awareness. Any ideas? Check out their website.

best,

Catherine

Mapping Global Warming - a distributable project

Catherine Harris

Intro to Art and Ecology

Fall 2009, Project Three

Mapping global warming – a distributable project:

Final Due November 13, 2009

Guidelines:

1. Identify an issue/idea about global warming that you’d like to map based in the city of Albuquerque. (Due October 23, in class)

2. Create a mapping of that issue. This can be two or three-dimensional. You can base it on a literal physical map of the city. You could work with a different map, such as a mental map, or a map of the wind directions, or a map of food consumption…. While you are mapping, you will be researching the parameters of your issue. As you understand it, your map may change. Does a light rail on Central help with car commuters and thus emissions? Would the light rail need another line? Another location? How far do we go to make it helpful? Quantify your data. Make your map flexible.

3. Make your map helpful, as well as visually compelling. You are pointing out a possibility for change. How will change be effected? How are you suggesting change happen? Include this on your map presentation.

4. Decide how you will distribute your map. Would you like to have it as a hand out? Will it be a youtube video? Will it be a button, a business card, a foldout, a rubber bouncy ball with a map embedded in it? Whatever you choose, make sure you can actually make at least 26 copies. We will have time in class to distribute them and I want one and I’d like you to be able to give away at least 25. (without breaking the bank….)

5. Options for reproduction: Moo and Rocket both make postcards and business cards cheaply. You need to plan ahead, as both are internet services. Look around in town for who might print cheaply for you. You could make your own ink stamps, potato or otherwise. You could do lino cuts or some other easy to reproduce printing method. You could Xerox or print from a laser printer. You could make a jig and make small reproducible three-dimensional objects out of wood, fabric, cardboard, wire or wax, for example. You could make buttons, zines….

LA 503 DESIGN STUDIO 3 DISCOVERING THE SENSE OF A REGION

WEDNESDAY PM OCTOBER 14 IN THE COURTYARD
A N I N S T A L L A T I O N P R O J E C T
Martineztown / Santa Barbara
Wells Park / Sawmill
Los Duranes
NEIIGHBORHOOD NARRATIIVES

for laurie lange

Transportation: this task force report seems fine as far as it goes. I don't think it is as thorough as the one on local foodsheds though by a long shot. Pretty much they are suggesting that mitigation of air pollution etc in our transportation sector is solved by bicycles. Yes, biking works. But the problem here is the same larger problem we so often have of not putting ALL the pieces together for a comprehensive whole; this task force has just looked at some small parts of the whole. To reduce automotive emissions, how about addressing the problem of decent grocery stores not being available in a place like the south valley? That would reduce the amount of miles driven in cars that likely are some of the heaviest polluters. There are many related things like this I believe need to be added to the strategies for a reduction of transportation greenhouse gases.

Computer Infrastructure: This paper opened my eyes to some things I wasn't aware of, like the server buildings. I don't know how we can mitigate the amount of electrical energy the whole process of cyber connection requires, but perhaps we'll be forced to come up with ways to reduce the amount of lead that gets disposed of in the environment. The rate at which new models of electronics comes out is a large cause of this. It is driven by corporate desires to keep us buying and buying, rather than supporting models for even 3 or 5 years. If laws were enacted to shift the market dynamics here, some of the waste and environmental poisoning could be alleviated.

Awsome

matters of scale, art, & bulleted lists

With these readings of Silicon Valley culture and Albuquerque transportation policy, we again face matters of increasing scale that result in the destruction of landscapes and ecosystems. This large-scale destruction is obviously in conflict with sustainable employment of landscapes and their resources to benefit society at large. And the idea of society has become a matter of scale, too, with what we refer to as civilization or culture now superceding national identities and boundaries.

So what is art's role in the globalized destruction of orchards for laptops or the writing of transportation policy papers? Record, react, intervene, design....?

hummmmm... "dewatering" plants?

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/business/2009/10/11/D9B92CRO1_us_hudson_pcbs/index.html

map thoughts....

http://www.papress.com/html/book.details.page.tpl?isbn=9781568987620

sticks and stones or just sticks

I only have a few things, ok maybe just one thing, I find his work interesting. It's amazing how large his works are and how he put them together. Its cool the movement he gets out of the sculptures. The placement and how everything comes together is great. Its very overwhelming and aah inspiring.

Speaking of Climate Change

Has anyone seen the new TV commercial campaign from a nonprofit called "C02 is Green"?

Check out http://co2isgreen.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/137/MenuGroup/Home.htm for an entirely different perspective on climate change. After some research, I found that some coal and oil industry execs put it together and are targeting certain states (like NM) because of some recent US EPA legislation, but you'd never know that from looking at the website. Scary stuff!

useful

http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/pubhub/pubhub_item.jhtml?id=fdc90700008

Response: The City of Albuquerque Climate Task Force: Transportation & Me. Myself and Infrastructure

Transportation

First off this is really depressing to read this knowing that we no longer have Mayor Chavez but a REPUBLICAN mayor, scary!  

It sounded so great till all this "by 2030 stuff."  It seems so very far away, I want to see change now!  I am very surprised at the initiative albuquerque is taking. I would love to see these changes take place. If more people rode their bikes I would feel much safer out on the rode.  I think the down-sizing of parking spaces is crucial for this to work.  Although I totally disagree with the free parking for those with electric vehicles, if you can afford that car you can afford parking.  The lower class family that can't afford an electric vehicle probably cannot afford parking.  Its disgusting that those with money can in turn receive privileges.

"Me, Myself and Infrastructure"

I must say I love my computer and most certainly need it, it disgust me that children in third world countries don't have nowhere near as clean water as my computer had at one point.  This was such a great article, I knew that computers obviously created lots of waste, but when the numbers are thrown in your face it is just mind blowing.  As a consumer I feel sad at the lack of control we have over companies and the government to effect change.  

All I can say is i hope this Berry guy/mayor is not a typical republican.  Sad, very sad Albuquerque....

-Victoria  

so much depends upon density

PLANNING BLURT

I am very glad to read The City of Albuquerque’s Climate Task Force recommendations to Mayor Chavez. I get almost comatose with despair that critical changes will not happen in time for our children to inhabit anything remotely livable. These all sound like very progressive strategies. Bravo!

I would like to see a moratorium on new road construction that would make sprawling new development the dinosaur it deserves to be- (i.e. dead).

If we as taxpayers and citizens of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County, and Santa Fe County developed joint initiatives to limit new road construction this would basically increase density and therefore over time precipitate the following:
• increase existing land value by limiting the supply of cheap developable land
• emphasize profitable construction technologies that deal with infill,toxic remediation and adaptive reuse projects
• rezone existing neighborhoods to accept increased density
• increase walkable radii (see Doug Kelbaugh Noli diagrams regarding permeability of old cities versus new cities) His statement in Repairing the American Metropolis: Common Place Revisited is that if you build more roads (like Seoul South Korea) you will always need more roads. If you build infrastructure (like Tokyo) you will have build public permeability.
• make alternative transportation more attractive by increasing perceivable ‘nearness’ factor
• allow for public stewardship of habitat corridors that rely on large land mentoring like Dave Foreman's ReWilding initiatives. How do the bears get to the mountains if a road cuts their path? The answer is they don’t. They die on the highway.

This is supposed to be an ART class. Sorry it turned into a planning statement.

-Will submit NOLI diagrams to graphically support this thinking.

ahh infrastrucutre.....

I was just watching the History Channel the other night on a program about the US’s aging infrastructure and the current challenges to it. In the program they made note of the electrical junction boxes on transformer poles that have been known to melt in the hot sun, the storm sewers that are being overwhelmed with the current rising levels of rainfall in certain regions and the 100 year old levee systems in California that were created by farmers and are now eroding from beneath. A whole new layer to the concept of ‘burning up the wires’, which originated with telegraphs is now in the colloquial lexicon of computer geeks everywhere.

Perhaps it is meant to be? Perhaps if we are as interwoven into the natural fabric as ants then our structural creations, however hubridistically we envisioned them lasting forever and congratulating our advancing civilization, are destined to be folded back into the earth like ingredients in a batter. Maybe the dawn of the electronic age is in fact a new phase for our outmoded construction methodologies and our imagination needs to be freed from the speed at which we progressed and take a breather, look around and say: What the hell can we do with all these bits and pieces we cut off and defined as trash simply because they were attached to, but not primary to our understanding, of something valuable? I mean plastic leeches toxic stuff but we did not create it out of thin air now did we? We reassembled ingredients.

Maybe I am being a Pollyanna; all optimism and hope in the face of a crushing end. Perhaps it is my lazy human spirit that says, “we’ll figure something out! We must!” If not then I best get training like that woman in Terminator who has those lovely biceps and wields a gun ‘cause the end is neigh. At least I’ll be able to forage a few more decades if I train for a marathon now and stop playing Solitaire until the wee hours while fretting over how to visually express the components of a neighborhood within the confines of an 8’ X 8’ X 8’ volume.

I think we as humans are endlessly interesting and that is our blessing and curse if one is to value judge that I try not to do often, but I fear it is an ingrained knee-jerk reaction. Imagination and curiosity and a desire to have a happy bottom have lead to cars, computers and fancy toilets that respond to our approach. It is what, I believe, sits at the base chakra of all creative endeavors and I value creativity highly. I love reading poetry and looking at art and watching people dance around one another. And music! It brings me joy and that is why I continue to live.

Maybe our next phase as a people and a civilization, after the infrastructure meltdown that we will have to actually look at instead of pretending our shiny happy electric friends are magic, will include a more aged and weathered outlook on our inevitable deaths and will let us then enjoy our lives more in the here and now, knowing for certain that whatever we build to try to outlast our mortal coil is really simply another ay to spend out tie and maybe, just maybe, it might be better to be dancing instead.

An interesting aside: not sure about these, will have to actually look at the built version, but I liked the idea: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/10/06/brad-pitt-unveils-floating-house-for-make-it-right-foundation/

Also, I loved the layout and graphic quality of the ‘me, myself and Infrastructure’ piece, not to mention the content. And the tiny tips on fingers on the Xerox machine utterly charmed me, given the content.

Patrick Dougherty work day

Please meet at Yale and Central, if you are taking the bus on Friday, in time to catch the 8:28 aka sometime around 8:25. This bus will get us to the Bosque School by 8:55, just in time to walk down the hill and be on time.

Noteworthy blogs

Hi Class,

I've been meaning to share some blogs I read with you. They are mostly eco-art/design/environmental.

http://blog.greenmuseum.org/blog/

http://www.sustainablepractice.org/

http://ecoartspace.blogspot.com/

http://abigaildoan.blogspot.com/

http://smudgestudio.blogspot.com/

There are LOTS more and you can find them linked from these in a sort of vir(tu)al eco-art community. Enjoy!

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Education comes at a cost. Technology is slated a “clean” industry however as it has grown we have seen the downside of this clean industry. Saving the planet will always take 2nd or 3rd or more place to the advancement of mankind. Making as many people aware that the planet is being affected due to man; scare tactics and yes scientific data; something is happening to the planet we are just not sure what it is. The change has had an affect, however, due to the damage placed upon the earth and the rape of its resources it is only a “band aid”. Our way of life has changed greatly in the past 50 years. At one time computers were going to be the savior of the trees. Yet at every turn I am filling in paper forms or printing a part of a book that I would have at one time borrowed from the library! Yes, I set at one of the items that has increases the pace of life now; my computer. A gateway to the world I inhabit at this time. The “small” things I can do; I am very aware that unless I can get others to participate . . . well it is like taking a small shovel to a big pile of>>>>. One thing I feel is that man will adapt, what is beauty to us now maybe nothing but trash to the people that come after us.
TRANSPORTATION
On to the transportation issues; does anybody in government read these things? I love the Rapid Ride unless I need to go to Montgomery and Juan Tabo. I drive my car to the closest parking lot I can find – passing several bus stops on the way to go to UNM! Bike to bus is limited as well. However, I should be a little more patient in this area, as Albuquerque has made great strides in public transit in the last two years andl we have voted to provide more money in this area as a city!

readings

"Me, Myself and Infastructure" was powerfully informative. I actually went on an emotional roller coaster while reading it, feeling extremely grateful to raise my awareness with real numbers and hard facts, to absolute depression thinking about how we have to respond to it on a computer, and finally,inspiration by the quote: "In the end, garbage is just a lack of imagination." I am amazed at the process of making ultrapure water. I have always felt our greatest concern on this planet is water. It's something I wish we could learn how to make. I think that anyone buying a computer, should read this. I was a bit disappointed in the fact that buybacks, in some cases, are limited only to companies. There is a very skewed logic in our system, that allows for enough cynicism that motivates me beyond my ability to articulate how I might execute that motivation. At times I feel overwhelmed by these facts and figures, and would like to choose, as most do, to allow this alarm to only make my reach for the blanket and press the snooze all the more sincere. However, it is like a nagging awareness that wakes you in the deepest slumber and follow you around every corner.Once you get on the path of truth, there is no turning back. I am just trying to bridge the gap between understanding and action.
As far as the Action Plan is concerned, are we the only ones reading them? I'm just sayin'.....

Al Gore's video

I have to admit it...I had not watched Al Gore's video, An Inconvenient Truth, until this week. At the time it was released, I was still disgusted with the political turmoil that had occurred six years prior (the Florida vote debacle and the way the candidates had handled themselves). There is no question that global warming is a fact. There is also no arguing that humans have contributed (and will continue) to that process. The earth has cyclical heating/cooling and it is accelerating. Whether we like it or not, we have to try to mitigate the problem because doing nothing cannot be an option.

I wish that Gore had been able to let go of the past political disappointments and leave them out of the film. References to the Florida incident detracted from his message. The constant references to himself were also distracting. If he had been able to leave that part behind and focus solely on climate change and its ramifications, he would have persuaded a larger audience. Despite those idiosyncrasies, he raised awareness of global warming and deserved the Nobel Prize he received.

Education will play a critical role in all of the strategies proposed by the City of Albuquerque Climate Action Plan. In order for any of these goals to be realized, it will be critical to educate the children of New Mexico. If you look at the state profile at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/profile.asp, you will see that nearly 61% of children in the schools of New Mexico qualify for free/reduced lunches. And while the testing scores are improving, they are still below the national average in nearly every category. I wish the policy makers in New Mexico were as interested in trying to address climate and education issues as they are in attracting the movie industry to this state. This would be an investment for the future social and economic health of New Mexico But until then, I will continue to recycle, to combine my necessary car trips, to use my bicycle whenever I am able and to shop locally whenever I can. And I will talk about it to the children in my sphere of influence.

Nature by many views is the very essence of chaos. However once you in tune yourself with nature you will find a rhyme and reason to it all. Raw nature to me is the ultimate form that all artists should look to for guidance. That Patrick Dougherty has such a sharp vision of this is outstanding. Taking what others would say is “yard” trash and using these elements to create is a strong inspiration to me. Mass structures that are placed in the open are created for many reasons, one of the reasons that I have noted is to remember the artist, made of stone or metal they will stand forever. I have no need to be remembered like this. The most touching of items that have affected me are the ones that are fleeing; a flowers bloom, a warm sunny day, the smile on a person’s face. Patrick Dougherty creates sculpture in the same manner; they will leave us to return to the earth. During the time that they are here they are constantly changing from the nature course of the item. I agree with him on the attitude of “art civilizing our view of the wilderness”. How or why would we want to civilize something that all ready has great beauty in it creation? Creating a connection to wilderness is; working in the designs of the earth; nothing is lasting; it is a constant cycle.