Pennies for thoughts, thoughts for peanuts.

I was cleaning out a big bowl, the kind that has collected in its belly a dusty mix of rocks, buttons, marbles, and coins. Since I am trying to quiet my mind and do one thing at a time, finish that thing, and not get frustrated that I am not doing other things in the meantime, I deliberately fished out each item and sorted them into new soon-to-be dusty, but seemingly organized collections. As I plunked the coins, mostly pennies, into a new jar, I wondered how many other little piles of coins are sitting in jugs, jars, bowls, pockets, and forgotten boxes all over the world. How much money is lying dormant, out of circulation, in drips and drabs of copper-plated zinc in each of our homes?
I have yet to find the answer, but in the meantime, I did discover the surprisingly large fluctuations in US coin production (minting) each year.
Here is a complete list, year by year, denomination by denomination
Amazingly, the number of coins produced in 2008 (10,141,580,000) was three times greater than in 2009 (3,548,000,000). Yes, putting more/less money into circulation is how inflation/deflation is adjusted, but I failed to remember that coins would play such a large part in the balancing act.
Should you discover more information, please send it our way!

Elsewhere Collective

Another fine project supporting art and social engagement: Elsewhere Collective

Remembering Why Urban Agriculture Is Important...

In case you needed a solid intro, pep-talking, or reminding, here's a good summary:
RUAF (Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security)

Making Babies Work For You...

Baby Mop from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Dekochari: UFO Bicycles

Rolling through the night like visions from 1980's outer space, these beautiful and mysterious contraptions are handmade pimped-out bicycles from Japan. For decades, dekotara fans (especially those too young to drive) have been making all manner of dekochari. Modeled after Japan's celebrated art trucks, dekochari (deko means "decoration" and chari is slang for "bicycle") typically feature large front bumpers, ornate luggage racks, rear-mounted boxes that resemble truck trailers, colorful paint jobs, lots of chrome, and sophisticated electric light displays.

The video below pieces together random night scenes from Dekochari Yarou, a documentary that profiles a few dekochari enthusiasts and their custom rides. The soundtrack is "Ichiban-boshi Blues" (sung by Bunta Sugawara and Kinya Aikawa), the theme song from the Torakku Yarou movie series that sparked Japan's dekotora craze in the '70s.

Scraper Bikes!

They've been around for awhile, but it seems that scraper bikes have recently had a great moment in the sun (they're even on NPR!). The image below is a peek at what Google serves up for "scraper bike"...

Lumninescent Defense

The smooth nylon shrimp (Heterocarpus laevigatus), which inhabits the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean, employs a brilliant method of defense: when threatened, the creature spits out a cloud of bioluminescent blue fluid from its mouth, temporarily blinding its predator and allowing it escape. The video below also includes a great melodramatic soundtrack and features the perfectly timed reactions of Japanese viewers, hovering in a little frame-within-a-frame, in some voyeuristic anonymous space decidedly not in the depths of the Pacific or under any water.



And more biolumninescence... Giant comb squid:

Shopping cart revisited

Some inspiration from Make magazine

When We Have Time

We're going to build an orchestra of theremins... Below is a little solar-powered one (a heliophone).

Mindfield

The guy who built this - The Mindfield - just rolled into town on his elaborately decorated motorcycle (see below) with tribute to many people including, Least Heat-Moon, who happens to live around these parts. It was a great end to a day, the last part of which was spent riding out to our friend's apple orchard and machine shop to get advice about our hand-cranked ice shaver (for snowcones, of course!).

Sincerity

There is no real etymological evidence it seems, but I have read in several places that "sincere" derives from the Latin words "sine" (without) and "cera" (wax). Unscrupulous Roman stoneworkers, the story goes, would sometimes cut corners by applying a thick coating of shiny wax to marble rather than taking the time to polish or sculpt the stone properly. So widespread was this practice, that honest sculptors had to advertise their wares as being "sine cera" (without wax) to reassure their customers. "Sincere" eventually came to be used more generally to mean "honest" and "straightforward."

You already know that sitting is death...

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/phys-ed-the-men-who-stare-at-screens/
Watch little children who sit for no more than 15 minutes at a time... and then consider how much time adults sit - in cars, in front of computers, and watching TV's.

Frozen Spree

What is this beautiful monster?
Why it is a small part of the glorious, abandoned, and ill-fated Spreepark in Berlin...
Tell you more?
Well, the infamous Spreepark (or Kulturpark Plänterwald) was an entertainment park in the north of the Plänterwald in the Berlin district of Treptow-Köpenick (formerly East Berlin). The park opened in 1969 on a gigantic stretch of land covering an area of over 70 acres next to the river Spree. It was the only permanent entertainment park in the East Germany, and the only such park in all of Berlin - East or West - attracting millions of visitors per year. In the late 90's, the park faced large debts and shrinking numbers of visitors. Finally, in 2001, the directors declared the park insolvent. The park was declared bankrupt and has been closed since 2002.
The director of the park, Norbert Witte, together with his family and closest coworkers moved to Peru. Witte left taking with them six large attractions (Fliegender Teppich, Butterfly, Spider, Baby-Flug, Wild River and Jet Star) having convinced German authorities that they were being sent for repair. In Lima, Norbert Witte failed in his attempt to run a "Lunapark" and in 2004, he was sentenced to seven years in jail for attempting to smuggle 180 kg of cocaine (valued at about $22 million from Peru to Germany in the masts of - ironically - the "Flying Carpet Ride"). In October 2006, a Peruvian court sentenced Wittes' son, Marcel Witte, to 20 years for drug smuggling.

Little City Food Coast to Coast

Friends of friends on both coasts are growing food on small patches of city land with great results...
Little City Growers Coop in Providence, RI and Little City Gardens in San Francisco, CA.

We are re-inspired to make good use of the precious (though poor) land in our backyard!
Serious tilling, planning, shoveling, composting, and planting might have to wait for the next season though. For now, we are happy with our glorious sunflowers, midget tomato plants, mint, nasturtiums, and rosemary.

Fancy Hammer: Art, Authenticity, Masculinity, Object Fetishism, and Good Design

Peter Buchanan-Smith and the Urban Ax (New York Times)

Design for Good

This is inspiring: Project H Design

A photo from one of their projects...

Huge Mirrors

To whom do we tell what happened on the
Earth, for whom do we place everywhere huge
Mirrors in the hope that they will be filled up
And will stay so?

- excerpt from "Annalena" by Czeslaw Milosz

What is really dangerous...?

While we may fret over dirt or fallen food that young children put in their mouth, it seems that the real dangers are the human-made things that most of us are exposed to on a daily basis: plastics, radiation, and batteries. See this latest article about the dangers of lithium cell batteries.

While we might notice the trash on the sidewalk and tisk about littering, the real pollution is happening on a grander scale all around us.

Jacob's New Project

Mothers News
(Mothers as in...)
We want to make one too. Hmmm.

My Head Is Bursting With Ideas...

A common occurrence: Too many (seemingly) good ideas and not enough time, energy, human power, or money to do them all. Perhaps writing them out will either make them magically happen, give them life and allow others to expand/improve/rebuff them, and most immediately, make me feel less crazy!
Here is the list from this week, geared towards Columbia, Missouri (where we are currently based):

Supporting Local Farming...
Restaurant-Supported Agriculture: Create a hub that coordinates the ordering and transport (and education about) fresh, local, and preferably organic/pesticide-free produce for local restaurants and businesses.
Locally-made corn and flour tortillas & chips: People got so excited about artisanal, local, fresh bread. Maybe they can get excited about this instead of buying plastic bags of half-filled air and GMO corn shipped from all over the country.
Fresh, local food in the schools!

Tool Library

Recycle-A-Bike


Printmaking workshop, studio, educational center, and artist residency

Public art everywhere...
Murals on all the blank, depressing walls downtown

Gardening better...
Education, subsidies, and support for rain gardens, native plants, and turning lawns into sustainable green spaces
City-wide an on toxic and environmentally-damaging chemicals for gardening
Edible plants all over
Free soil testing and help with remediation
City-wide composting or private composting business

Homemade Rooting Compound

We're trying to grow some bamboo from cuttings, so here is our latest research on rooting compounds.

Although store bought rooting compound isn't too expensive, it can exact a heavy price on the environment and can be toxic due to the fungicide included to protect plant cuttings from disease.
Rooting compounds use plant hormones to stimulate growth - the first such hormone to be discovered is auxin. The synthetic version of auxin is what is in commercially sold compounds today. The willow tree is a natural source of auxin and can be used to make your very own all-natural, homemade rooting compound whenever you need to plant some new cuttings.

Willow Tree Tea:
Gather a handful of willow branch tips and chop or mash them into smaller pieces
Put the willow tree pieces into a small container (e.g. a mason jar) and fill it with enough water to submerge all the pieces
Let it sit 24 hours (or at least overnight)
Remove the willow pieces and dip your cuttings into the water
Put your cutting into your potting mix
(You might want to cover your cutting with a plastic bag to retain moisture)
After the roots form, transplant (into the garden or a larger pot)

Don't spill out the remaining willow water when you're done with your cuttings. Save it to water your plants or store it in the fridge/freezer for the future.

I have also read that if you don't have access to willow, you can dissolve a few aspirins in a jar of water. Aspirin is made from willow bark, so it can have the same effect as the willow water. Crazy!

Yes! Celebrating Idle Parenting!

The Manifesto of the Idle Parent

We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
We pledge to leave our children alone
We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
We drink alcohol without guilt
We reject the inner Puritan
We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
An idle parent is a thrifty parent
An idle parent is a creative parent
We lie in bed for as long as possible
We try not to interfere
We play in the fields and forests
We push them into the garden and shut the door so we can clean the house
We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
Time is more important than money
Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
Down with school
We fill the house with music and merriment
We reject health and safety guidelines
We embrace responsibility
There are many paths
More play, less work

Céleste Boursier Mougenot

Variations:



The Curve:

Your fears confirmed...

THE PLASTIC PANIC: Toxic chemicals and their effects on the body 
A well-researched, thorough article in the latest New Yorker magazine:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/31/100531fa_fact_groopman

Your face is a camera, in the camera...

A lens cap that says "CAMERA" on it. What could be better?

Looking from a Bomb-Proof

The back reads: "This picture, taken from one of the bomb-proofs in the rear of the fighting line of the Japanese, gives a very good idea of the heights of Port Arthur on which the frowning forts were erected...."
The text ends with an enigmatic "A8833". Hmmm.
And what are "frowning forts"?

This stereoscope was found at a flea market in Columbia, Missouri amidst antique cracked tea cups, photographs of other people's ancestors, and bird feathers. Strange and amazing in its simultaneous banality and poignancy, the photograph on the front shows a blurry and oddly framed landscape partly obscured on the top by what appears to be a clumsy photographer's equipment. Actually, the photograph was taken below ground level from inside a bomb-proof shelter. The The back recounts a story of war on the frontlines of the Battle of Port Arthur - the hazy mountains in the background. An oddly calm and bucolic image for the bloody skirmishes. The awkward composition - seemingly made in an attempt to place the viewer "in the thick of battle" inside the bomb-proof - has the effect of inspiring strange narratives: What spy is looking out on the range? Are we seeing the world from the eyes of aliens crawling out from their space ship? Who else would photograph this seemingly unexceptional scene? Is this a glimpse at the apocalyptic future? And for whom was this stereoscope made for and what did they glean from it?

About the Battle of Port Arthur:
The Battle of Port Arthur (February 8-9, 1904) is considered the starting battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It began with a surprise night attack by a squadron of Japanese destroyers on the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur, Manchuria, and continued with further skirmishing until May 1904. Losing at Port Arthur for the Russians — and especially for Tsar Nicholas II — was fraught with dire circumstances for the Imperial Russian regime as the Russian people lost confidence in the military and government. The Russo-Japanese War is believed to have been a direct causal factor for the Russian Revolution of 1905.

Kindred Spirits!!!

PieLab was originally conceived during a 2009 session of Project M in Belfast, Maine. Project M is John Bielenberg’s design-for-good movement, intended to inspire young creatives that their work can have a positive and significant impact on the world. Since 2003, Project M has been bringing young people together in various places all around the globe to develop projects and initiatives that contribute to the greater good at a local level. During this 2-week M session, the group came to understand the importance of healthy and supportive communities. Free Pie was a response to this discovery. On March 14th, (Pi Day) the designers set up a pop-up pie stand on a central corner in downtown Belfast, serving over 200 slices to hungry locals. Each slice was served on a real ceramic plate and eaten with a real fork, encouraging citizens to hang around and interact with their neighbors while enjoying their dessert. The message was simple: Sometimes life is bad; free pie isn’t.

The success of this inaugural event encouraged the designers to develop the Free Pie Movement as a way of motivating others to offer the same simple gestures within their own community. Again, the approach was uncomplicated and direct: make a pie, choose a spot, give it away, bring people together. The idea was eventually explored in several cities across the U.S. including Atlanta, Brooklyn, Richmond, Columbus, and Washington DC. What developed not long thereafter is today called PieLab, a multifaceted approach to small business that addresses this need for united and empowered communities in a way that is self-perpetual and fun.

In May of 2009, a handful of designers from the March Project M session relocated to Greensboro, Alabama and brought PieLab to life. Located within the Black Belt Region of Alabama, and situated within Hale County, Greensboro is a quaint Southern town restrained from substantial progress and economic growth. Since 2007, Project M has been working to develop projects in Greensboro, through a strong collaboration with HERO* (Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization), a non-profit housing resource center. Within three weeks time, the crew transformed one-half of the Project M Lab (an old home converted to a permanent studio space by the 2008 Project M team) into a real, live, functioning pie shop. They built tables and signs from salvaged wood and purchased plates and jars from the local flea market, keeping up-front investment costs very low. Then they opened. And the people came. Visitors of all ages and backgrounds could enjoy a slice of pie ($2), a cup of coffee or lemonade ($1), and some good conversation (free!). All revenue generated from pie sales went right back into the pot to make more pies. Still the concept was simple: pie brings people together, conversation happens, ideas are created, and the result is positive change through design. Moreover, what PieLab provided during this preliminary stage was an interface for the people of Hale County and the designers to interact, share stories and get acquainted, allowing for an accurate look into the community’s assets and needs.

Read more at the PieLab site. Amazing!

And, this too!

Our friend who is an artist but also a gallery. Really.
Ben Russell

And... ACRE Project (The Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions Project) is a non-profit based in Chicago devoted to developing new systems of support for emerging artists and to creating a regenerative community of cultural producers. ACRE investigates and institutes models designed to help artists develop, present, and discuss their practices by providing forums for idea exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental projects.

More Chicago Goodies...

After learning about InCUBATE, we found a whole host of other interesting and experimental cultural projects based in that fine Midwestern metropolis... There are surely others, but here is a start.

AREA Chicago
Artiscycle
Backstory Cafe and Social Center
Baltimore Development Cooperative
Chicago Underground Library
Devening Projects & Editions
FEAST Brooklyn
G Rad
Groups & Spaces
Harold Arts
Hideous Beast
Joe Post
Marc Moscato
Mess Hall
Portland Stock
Red76
Saturday Soup
Spring Break: Publishers/Curators
Sweet Tooth of the Tiger
Tanda Foundation
The Artist Run Credit League
The Department of Aesthetics
The Stockyard Institute
threewalls
W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy)

InCUBATE

From their website:
InCUBATE (Institute for Community Understanding Between Art and The Everyday) is a research group dedicated to exploring new approaches to arts administration and arts funding. We at InCUBATE act as curators, researchers and co-producers of artists projects.  These activities have manifested in a series traveling exhibitions called Other Options, an artist residency program, and various other projects such as Sunday Soup (a monthly meal that generates funding for a creative project grant). We don’t have non-profit status, instead we are interested in what kinds of organizational strategies could provide more direct support to critical and socially-engaged art and culture beyond for-profit or non-profit structures.  Our core organizational principle is to treat art administration as a creative practice.  By doing so, we hope to generate and share a new vocabulary of practical solutions to the everyday problems of producing under-the-radar culture.  Currently we do not have a physical location and we work together on an ongoing project basis.

Lost in the supermarket

An experiment conducted in 1954 by the Kroger Food Foundation set 50 children loose in a Kroger supermarket to buy what they wanted without any supervision. 

Photography by Francis Miller (Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images)

LA Ladies Choir

http://www.myspace.com/laladieschoir
Hooray for this project!

Bless This Mess!

Columbia, Missouri, USA / February 2009 / The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association

The Beginning of the Misfortune

Inspired by today's article in the New York Times about strange and sometimes poetic translated signs from non-English-speaking countries. The article is here and readers' submissions of similar photos is here.

Sanqing Mountain, China / May 2007 / Image by The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association

For Mother's Day

From http://www.printervention.org

Dreaming of bakfiets... (i.e. hauling things by bike!)

Bakfiets?! Wait, it's a good thing. It is what Dutch cargo bikes (usually front-loading) are called. They're generically called "freight bicycles" or "cargo bicycles" and have capacious seating/transport rigs. A great list with photos can be found here. There are similar bikes made in Denmark by Christiania. (There are also others: Nihola, Sorte Jernhest [Black Iron Horse], Bellabike, Triobike, Esimex, Larry vs. Harry, Long John, Short John and Kangaroo Bike). Here's the Cargo Cycling website if you want to go deep.

Sadly, all these bikes/trikes are quite expensive (although if you consider the cost of cars and gasoline...) and very hard to get in the USA. Though there are importers (see this list).

There is at least one US manufacturer: Human Powered Machines (photo below).

And a Boston-based group that devoted  to exclusively human-powered (bicycle-driven) transport: Metro Pedal Power. And back in Copenhagen, IKEA has created a program for customers to use cargo bikes for free to bring home their purchases. Read here. I have big dreams for more human-powered non-polluting locomotion!

World Bike is one non-profit that designs and distributes low-cost bicycles for programs that increase economic opportunity, improve health outcomes and boost enrollment and gender equity in secondary school among the rural poor. The bikes are configured to be not only affordable, but also maintained and repaired locally.

Hauling things on bikes is actually quite normal in many countries and communities (and can be very safe). Here's a furniture seller in China and a school bus bicycle in India.

Or you can make our own...

Other links: 
Family Bicycles
Bakfiets.nl
Velorbis
Cargo bike restoration (in Dutch)

Supporting Young Farmers in the USA

http://www.thegreenhorns.net/
http://serveyourcountryfood.net/

And another good project: http://nativeharvest.com/

Man's Companions

Joanna Ruocco - dear friend, gifted writer, remarkable woman, hilarious adventurer - has just published her latest book, Man's Companions. Hooray!
About: http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/Press/Ruocco/
Look inside: http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/Press/Ruocco/issuu/ruocco-companions-issuu.html

(See what I mean about the birds...?)

Polaroid Film Reinvented

Dry your eyes and dig up your old Polaroid land cameras, a new film stock has been created: The Impossible Project

Sustainable House for the 21st century

BrightBuilt Barn is the product of a collaboration among a team of some of the Northeast’s top green professionals, who decided to create a prototype for the sustainable house of the 21st century. The result is an award-winning, practical, affordable, beautiful structure that is one of the only buildings in the world to be designed to be truly carbon neutral: by making more clean energy than it consumes, over its lifespan, BrightBuilt Barn will actually offset all the atmospheric greenhouse gases produced by its construction.

This is the morning, full of hope and yearning...

Photograph by The Archaeology of the Recent Future Association

Olneyville flooding

If you're buying/ordering seeds...

Please consider investing in organic, non-GMO and/or heirloom seeds. Actually, a majority of seed companies use GMO (genetically modified) seeds and supporting their businesses only adds to environmental pollution (GMO plants require pesticides, drain the soil, etc), disinvestment from small and local farms (farmers have to keep rebuying these seeds), and is generally a move towards unsafe and unsustainable practices. With this in mind, it is really easy to order great seeds from lots of local and national distributors.

The Safe Seed Pledge lists all the companies that have signed on.
The Organic Seed Alliance is another good resource.
Organic Cosumers Association lists seed suppliers by state.
So far, we've only tried Seeds of Change and Baker Creek. Yes, they're a little more expensive than the 99 cent packets at your local hardware store, but it is well worth the investment in terms of taste, beauty, and responsibility.

To learn more about the importance of heirloom seeds and non-GMO plants, please look at some of the resources below. This is not just an issue of personal taste or about the few plants in your particular patch, it is really a global issue that concerns the safety of our food, ecological biodiversity, the health of our environment, and the empowerment and well-being of millions of farmers. Spend the extra buck and buy good seeds!

Vandana Shiva is an eloquent, informed, and passionate activist and scholar who has fought for more sustainable, traditional, and local practices and paradigms of agriculture and food. She has assisted grassroots campaigns against genetic engineering all over the world. Here is one video to look at.

Seed Savers Exchange
SSE is a non-profit, member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. Our loyal SSE members have distributed an estimated 1 million samples of rare garden seeds since our founding nearly 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike.

Tents!

A small sampling of the incredible world of tents:

Children in a home-made circus tent (1922)

Moroccon wedding tents

Yurt from Uzbekistan

SUMMER PASTURE

We are so excited... our friends Nelson and Lynn will have the world premiere of their film at the Full Frame Film Fest.

Summer Pasture
2010, 98 min. USA | China | Tibet
True Walker Productions
www.summerpasturefilm.com

Summer Pasture is a feature-length documentary about a young nomadic couple living with their infant daughter in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet. Filmed during the summer of 2007 with rare access to an area seldom visited by outsiders, Summer Pasture offers an unprecedented window into a highly insular community and a sensitive portrait of a family at a time of great transition. Locho and his wife Yama live in Dzachukha, eastern Tibet - nicknamed "5-most" by the Chinese for being the highest, coldest, poorest, largest, and most remote area in Sichuan Province, China. They depend on their herd of yaks for survival, just as their ancestors have for generations. In recent years however, Dzachukha has undergone rapid development, which poses unprecedented challenges to nomadic life.

Summer Pasture evolves as an intimate exploration of Locho and Yama's personalities, relationship, and the complicated web of circumstances that surrounds them. Over its course we witness their travails with illness, infidelity, and the dissolution of their community. In the face of mounting obstacles, Locho and Yama gradually reveal the personal sacrifice they will make to ensure their daughter's future. Through its subtle observation of Locho and Yama's character, Summer Pasture provides a deeply personal account of what it means to be a nomad in a swiftly modernizing world, and a universal story of family survival.

DIY Pedialyte

Instead of getting crappy chemicals, make your own electrolyte tea for relief after diarrhea or vomiting (with stuff you probably already have in your cupboard):

Into 4 cups of warm water, stir in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 2-3 tablespoons sugar or honey. (Honey shouldn't be used for little babies).

Another recipe for an electrolyte replacement fluid from kellymom.com
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 teaspoons sugar
8 ounces orange juice
Dilute to 1 liter with water

You can add a little flavor by mixing in a little ginger brew (water boiled with grated ginger root or store-bought tea) since ginger helps settle stomachs and helps with nauseau.
Also, you can add some peppermint tea or a tiny drop of peppermint oil as it also helps with stomach pain. But, be aware, nursing moms: peppermint is associated with diminishing breastmilk.
Chamomile is generally calming and soothing.

Wood Pallet Architecture

Great use of recycled wood pallets... make a shed, fence, chicken coop, or something else altogether:
http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletWoodShed/

And a whole book of projects: Build It With Pallets

New art projects in Milwaukee

Two exciting projects that have recently come into existence:
The Parachute Project
RedLine Milwaukee

Sad but ingenious

Due to the high rate of drinks getting spiked, someone has finally come up with a quick and easy way to test whether your drink is safe or not: Drink Safe USA

Adolf Wolfli

 

A Mysterious and Philosophical Baby

From Alison Gopnik's book, The Philosophical Baby:

It's possible that babies literally don't see a difference between their own pain and the pain of others. Maybe babies want to end all suffering, no matter where it happens to be located. For them, pain is pain and joy is joy. Moral thinkers from Buddha to David Hume to Martin Buber have suggested that erasing the boundaries between yourself and others in this way can underpin morality. We know that children's conception of a continuous separate self develops slowly in the first five years.

There's a good review of  the book here. And a few quotes from it below.


Gopnik speculates that early childhood prepares us for both the appreciation and creation of art: imaginary play among children hones the ability to entertain counterfactuals—the alternative worlds out of which art, and invention of any sort, are primarily made. ... Imaginary play is a rehearsal for understanding the minds and intentions of others, a basic survival skill.

Almost all of the 100 billion neurons in a human being's nervous system are in place at birth, and in early childhood the synapses—the points of contact between neurons that fire memory and sensation—are vastly overproduced. To a large extent, maturity is a neural pruning process, an uncluttering of consciousness so that what is most useful for getting through a day—driving to work, for instance, or negotiating the supermarket—is readily, and unconsciously, available. Our lives are far more organized around repetition than novelty. Less useful neurons weaken and die, a form of forgetting.

Gopnik offers the captivating idea that children are more conscious than adults but also less unconscious, because they have fewer automatic behaviors.

A Love Letter For You

A beautiful and inspiring project straight outta Philly (one the best cities in the USA for amazing murals):
The Love Letter For You project

This Week In History...

Historical acts of courage and determination for every day of the week:
http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm

True/False Film Fest 2010...

was wonderful. Wish you could have been here. Here is a video postcard.

Museums Cont'd: Peace Museums

As a starting point, here are some of the institutions in this world that are uniquely dedicated to peace
(source: International Network of Museums for Peace)

AFRICOM International Council of African Museums
Albert Schweitzer House
Antikriegshaus Sieverhausen
Anti-Kriegs Museum
Battambang Peace Museum (project) in Cambodia
BOCS Foundation
Article 9 Society
CEGESOMA
Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies Coventry University
Centro Documentazione Manifesto Pacifista Internaz
Center for Peace Museum, Seoul Korea
Centre Mondial de la Paix (World Center for Peace)
Comenius Museum
Dayton International Peace Museum
Display House of the Fifth Lucky Dragon
Envision Peace Museum (planned opening 2013)
Europäisches Museum für Frieden
First Austrian Peace Museum
Flanders Fields
Franz Jägerstätter Haus (Franz Jägerstätter House)
Friedensbibliothek - Antikriegmuseum
Friedensbibliothek-Antikriegsmuseum ( Berlin , Germany )
Friedenshistorisches Museum (Peace History Museum)
Friedensraeume Lindau
Friedensmuseum Meeder
Friedensmuseum Nürnberg
Friedensmuseum Remagen
Friends of Peace
Gandhi Durshan Gandhi Smitri
Gandhi Memorial Museum
Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya
GandhiServe Foundation
Gernika Gogoratuz
Gernika Peace Museum Foundation
Ghent University
Global Peace Pioneers
Grassroots House
Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park
Gustavus Adolphus College, Peace Studies Program
Halabja Monument and Peace Museum
The Herbert
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Historical Museum of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery
The Children’s Museum for Peace and Human Rights
Ijzertoren
Imperial War Museum
Indian Institute for Peace
Interfaith Peace Museum of Pakistan
International Exhibition Centre
International Museum of Peace and Solidarity
International Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum
Kochi University Peace Studies
Kurdistan, Save the Children Fund
Kyoto Museum for World Peace
Kyoto University of Education
La Paix Herb Farm Interactive Museum
Le Mémorial de Caen
The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center of Bluffton University
Lucerne Initiative for Peace and Security
Maria Stein Heritage Museum and the National Marian Shrine of the Holy Relics
Missing Peace Art Space
Musée Albert Schweitzer à Kaysersberg
Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
Museo della Pace Piccoli Martiri di Gorla
Museum de la Paz (Museum for Peace)

Museum voor Vrede en Geweldloosheid
Muzeum Brnenska
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum
National Gandhi Museum  
National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement
National Peace Museum of Conscientious Objection and Anti-war Activism
Nederlands Instituut voor Oorlogsdocumentatie
No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki: Peace Museum
Nobel Peace Center
Nobel Institute
Nova centre per a la Innovacio Social
Oka Masaharu Memorial Peace Museum
PASOS: A Museum and Center for Peacebuilding
Peace Museum Bradford
Peace Museum Chicago
Peace Museum of Delaware Valley
Peace Museum of Saitama
Peace Philosophy Centre
Robben Island Museum
Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support
Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig / Völkerschlachtdenkmal
The Swedish Museums Association
Traveling Museum Project History of Conscientious Objection
Tehran Peace Museum
University of Bradford Peace Studies
Vall d'Uxio Peace Museum
Yi Jun Peace Museum
Vredespaleis Den Haag
Vredescentrum Antwerpen (Peace Centre Antwerp)

Museum-ification

There is a long history to humans creating shrines and displays - special ways to store, protect, fetisize, contextualize (or re-contextualize) objects. From the paintings at Lascaux to African reliquaries to European wunderkammer to Native American burial mounds to Egyptian mummies and pyramids... perhaps this is painting with too broad of a stroke... (more here)
Today, however, there are countless museums dedicated to all sorts of research, narratives, and types of objects. These "institutions" celebrate art and ideas as much as they write and re-write our history, knowledge, and perception. Here is one example: The Museum of Phallology in Iceland
More to come as the research continues...

symbol-using beings

According to theorist and writer Kenneth Burke, humans are "the symbol using, making, and mis-using animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection." 

Some more (superficial, but exciting) tidbits from Burke... (more here)

The rhetorical function of language as "a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols." For Burke, some of the most significant problems in human behavior resulted from instances of symbols using human beings rather than human beings using symbols. Another key concept for Burke is the terministic screen - a set of symbols that becomes a kind of screen or grid of intelligibility through which the world makes sense to us. Language, according to Burke, doesn't simply "reflect" reality; it also helps select reality as well as deflect reality. In his book Language as Symbolic Action (1966), Burke defined humankind as a "symbol using animal" so that our "reality" has actually "been built up for us through nothing but our symbol system". What we call "reality," Burke stated, is actually a "clutter of symbols about the past combined with whatever things we know mainly through maps, magazines, newspapers, and the like about the present . . . a construct of our symbol systems".

(But then, I sometimes go outside and stick my hands in the cold mud and breastfeed my child and feel otherwise... or at least try to...)

The cost of non-organic cotton

While considering the higher price tag on organic cotton materials, I try to keep in mind the invisible costs of non-organic cotton - the costs that are externalized, such as chemical pollution (and associated health risks), environmental degradation (poisoned air, water, soil, and food), greater dependence on bio-tech companies, and more toxic exposure for flora and fauna. 

Cotton is considered the world's 'dirtiest' crop due to its heavy use of insecticides, the most hazardous pesticide to human and animal health. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world's cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world's insecticides, more than any other single major crop. (Source: The deadly chemicals in cotton. Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN No. 1-904523-10-2). The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as "possible," "likely," "probable," or "known" human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (EPA) 

Here are some more reasons why organic cotton production is important (follow link or read below):

Aldicarb, parathion, and methamidopho, three of the most acutely hazardous insecticides to human health as determined by the World Health Organization, rank in the top ten most commonly used in cotton production. All but one of the remaining seven most commonly used are classified as moderately to highly hazardous (1). 

Aldicarb, cotton's second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US, where 16 states have reported it in their groundwater (1).

Insecticide use has decreased in the last 10 years with the introduction of Biotechnology (BT), the fastest adapted yet most controversial new technology in the history of agriculture. As of 2007, Bt cotton already commands 34% of total cotton cropland and 45% of world cotton production. In Bt cotton, the insecticide is always present in the plant rather than applied in periodic spraying sessions which will lead to rapid rates of pest immunities and possibly produce superpests (3). 

It can take almost a 1/3 pound of synthetic fertilizers to grow one pound of raw cotton in the US, and it takes just under one pound of raw cotton to make one t-shirt (4).

Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are considered the most detrimental to the environment, causing leaching and runoff that freshwater habitats and wells (5).

Nitrogen synthetic fertilizers are a major contributor to increased N2O emissions, which are 300 times more potent than CO2 as greenhouse gas (5), which is ominous for global warming as synthetic fertilizer use is forecasted to increase roughly 2.5 times by mid-century (6). 

Organic farming methods use natural fertilizers, like compost and animal manure, that recycles the nitrogen already in the soil rather than adding more, which reduces both pollution and N2O emissions (5).

The cottonseed hull, where many pesticide residues have been detected, is a secondary crop sold as a food commodity. It is estimated that as much as 65% of cotton production ends up in our food chain, whether directly through food oil or indirectly through the milk and meat of animals (1).

Cottonseed and field trash is usually sold for animal feed. Studies in Brazil and Nicaragua have show traces of common cotton pesticides in cow milk, fueling concerns about chemical residues on the cottonseed (1). 

The developing world is home to 99% of all cotton farmers and produces 75% of the world's total cotton, so it bears the brunt of cotton's environmental and health concerns (1).

Rural farmers lack the necessary safety equipment, protective clothing, and training for handling hazardous pesticides. In India, one in ten pesticide applications results in three or more reported health symptoms related to pesticide exposure (1).

Surveys show that rural cotton farmers often store pesticides in their bedrooms or in close proximity to their food and some even reuse pesticide containers for drinking water. These farmers and their families are at highest risk for acute pesticide poisoning as well as chronic effects (1)

US cotton subsidies artificially lower cotton prices while production costs for Biotech (Bt) seeds and pesticides are rising, causing financial stress in the rest of the world's cotton-producing areas. India's once prestigious cotton belt is now referred to as the "suicide belt" due to farmers unable to accept growing debts. Since 2003, the suicide rate has averaged one every eight hours in Vidarba, India (7). 

During the conversion of cotton into conventional clothing, many hazardous materials are used and added to the product, including silicone waxes, harsh petroleum scours, softeners, heavy metals, flame and soil retardants, ammonia, and formaldehyde-just to name a few (8).

Many processing stages result in large amounts of toxic wastewater that carry away residues from chemical cleaning, dyeing, and finishing. This waste depletes the oxygen out of the water, killing aquatic animals and disrupting aquatic ecosystems (8). 

Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.). (Allan Woodburn)

Approximately 10% of all pesticides sold for use in U. S. agriculture were applied to cotton in 1997, the most recent year for which such data is publicly available. (ACPA)

Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA)

Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton in 2000 (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. (USDA)

Sources
1) EJF. (2007). The deadly chemicals in cotton. Environmental Justice Foundation in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network UK: London, UK. ISBN No. 1-904523-10-2.
(2) Whitford, F., Pike, D., Burroughs, F., Hanger, G. Johnson, B., & Brassard, D. (2006). The pesticide marketplace: Discovering and developing new products. Purdue University Extension, report # PPP-71.
(3) Chaudhry, M.R., (2007, March 6-8). Biotech applications in cotton: Concerns and challenges. Paper presented at the Regional Consultation on Biotech Cotton for Risk Assessment and Opportunities for Small Scale Cotton Growers (CFC/ICAC 34FT), Faisalabad, Pakistan.
(4) Lauresn, S. E., Hansen, J., Knudsen, H. H., Wenzel, H., Larsen, H. F., & Kristensen, F. M. (2007). EDIPTEX: Environmental assessment of textiles. Danish Environmental Protection Agency, working report 24.
(5) Kramer, S. B., Reganold, J. P., Glover, J. D., Bohannan, B. J. M., & Mooney, H. A. (2006). Reduced nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrifier activity and efficiency in organically fertilized soils. PNAS, 103 (12), 4522-4527.
(6) Tilman, D., Cassman, K., Matson, P., Naylor, R., & Polasky, S. (2002). Nature (418), 71-677.
(7) de Sam Lazaro, F. (2007). The dying fields: India's forgotten farmers [Television series episode]. In WNET (producer), Wide Angle. New York: Public Broadcasting Station.
(8) Kadolph, S. J., & Langford, A. L. (2002). Textiles (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 
OTA's "2006 U.S. Organic Production & Marketing Trends" report.
Allen Woodburn Associates Ltd./Managing Resources Ltd., "Cotton: The Crop and its Agrochemicals Market," 1995.

American Crop Protection Association, "1997 Total U. S. Sales by Crop Protection Product Type and Market," 1998 ACPA Industry Profile.

California Department of Pesticide Regulation, "DPR Releases Data on 1999 Pesticide Injuries," 2001.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, "Agricultural Chemical Usage: 2003 Field Crop Summary."

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, "List of Chemicals Evaluated for Carcinogenic Potential," 2001.

©2009, Organic Trade Association

Restaurant Supported Agriculture

I've been thinking about how restaurants can work to support local farms and buy local... Here is one example, Braise RSA, who are doing it using the CSA (community supported agriculture) model. Read more here.

The effort is modeled after popular community supported agriculture programs – now numbering in the thousands – in which families buy shares of local farmers’ harvests in advance, then get weekly deliveries of produce during the growing season.

And this too is procrastination...

And it feels so good.

Found on Spike Jonze's very nice blog.

How Many People Use ... ?

Twitter: How Many People Actually Use Twitter?
Facebook: A Look At Facebook’s Reach Worldwide
The internet: World Internet Users and Population Stats

If we’re not careful, we’re going to develop the psychological equivalent of obesity. We’ll find ourselves consuming content that is least beneficial for ourselves or society as a whole.
— Danah Boyd

We don't plan to go mob rules any more than a single transistor on your computer intends to download porn. We participate in localized stimulus and response. Macro digital collectivism from local interaction. ... Anyway, maybe Twitter is just God's way of making sure we never manage to finish creating our future oppressor.
— Jim Stogdill

Eli Pariser's Super Great Blog

http://elip.tumblr.com