Posts I like
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Photo by Daniela Edburg
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New York Times Photographer Kathy Ryan has been documenting the superb lighting in, of all places, her office. She writes about the series:
You...
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Anatomy of a Tumblr Post
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truebluemeandyou: Hand Drawn Gem Chart and DIY Optical Illusion Gems. Reblogging because I just posted a wire diamond ring here, but I’ve...
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INTIMatic
Camera app with filters allows you to pixellate to protect identities. Based on the work of artist Inti Romero whose Facebook photos...
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This book sculpture of baby birds in a nest is by a mysterious, unknown artist who has been sending anonymous creations to libraries, bookshops...
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Polar Bear Duet.Another t-shirt design I entered on threadless.
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Roadside existentialism by Hope Reynolds of Folk Studios.
Tag Results
21 posts tagged environment
NO FILTER The air pollution levels in the sky over Tiananmen Square in Beijing are seen in this combination picture taken on March 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15. (Photo: Wei Yao / Reuters via The Telegraph)
One Cubic Foot
How humans’ choice to grow just one crop can affect nature’s balance.
A typical terrestrial ecosystem is a living mosaic of hundreds or even thousands of species, balanced on one another’s existence like a biological house of cards. From plants and bugs down to microscopic fungi and bacteria, there’s a world of life in just a cubic meter.
That’s what David Liitschwager’s new book One Cubic Foot set out to capture. Anything that came through a plastic cube one foot on each side was photographed and catalogued. It’s stunning just how much life there is right under our feet, or above our heads, at any moment. Move the cube just a few feet away? You may see a completely different slice of the biodiversity pie.
However, there are tales of caution within those pages. See those two photos at top? The top photo shows the biodiversity present in a typical slice of shrub land. Cooperative populations of over 100 plants and insects. The bottom? It’s from an Iowa cornfield, home to less than an actual handful.
That cornfield is the victim of the modern agricultural practice of monoculture.
Where there were once hundreds of species, living together on the richest soil in the midwest, there remain a sparse few. In manipulating nature to grow only one crop on a piece of land, we have created an almost alien world. It’s beyond a debate between organic vs. conventional (neither of which are perfect). It’s a question of simple biology, and I don’t like the answer.
Be sure to read Robert Krulwich’s review of One Cubic Foot. And then check out Michael Pollan talking about the danger of monocultures to nature and our diets.
Illustration by Yann Le Bec, read the related article
![theatlantic:
Sparrows Actually Change Their Tune To Sing Over the Noise Of the City
Well it turns out city-dwellers aren’t the only ones miffed by urban noise pollution. Research has long suggested that wildlife – and birds in particular – may be impacted by the man-made sounds of the city, from car horns to traffic congestion. A new study confirms that sparrows in the Presidio District of San Francisco appear to have changed their tune and raised their voices to be heard over the increasingly noisy racket of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The researchers, George Mason’s David Luther and Louisiana State’s Elizabeth Derryberry, compared modern birdsong in the city to recordings of sparrows in the area taken in 1969. They also looked at historic noise-level data from the Environmental Protection Agency and San Francisco Department of Health, as well as traffic volumes over the Golden Gate Bridge across this time period.
They found that as noise in the city increased, so too did the pitch, or frequency, of the male white-crowned sparrow song. Higher frequencies of song allow the birds to keep twittering at each other over the low-frequency ambient noise of rumbling cars. Even more surprising, the authors write in the journal Animal Behaviour, the birds also seem in the last four decades to have literally changed their repertoire. […]
It’s probably good news for these sparrows that they’ve figured out how to adapt (and good news for urban bird-lovers that this wildlife isn’t simply fleeing the city all together). But there’s also something sort of disturbing about the implication that cities can distort the natural environment right down to birdsong. In some ways, noise matters even more for birds than it does for humans: Birds sing to defend their territory and to attract mates (life’s two most important goals!), and excessive noise threatens that.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ykhhLGWE1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Sparrows Actually Change Their Tune To Sing Over the Noise Of the City
Well it turns out city-dwellers aren’t the only ones miffed by urban noise pollution. Research has long suggested that wildlife – and birds in particular – may be impacted by the man-made sounds of the city, from car horns to traffic congestion. A new study confirms that sparrows in the Presidio District of San Francisco appear to have changed their tune and raised their voices to be heard over the increasingly noisy racket of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The researchers, George Mason’s David Luther and Louisiana State’s Elizabeth Derryberry, compared modern birdsong in the city to recordings of sparrows in the area taken in 1969. They also looked at historic noise-level data from the Environmental Protection Agency and San Francisco Department of Health, as well as traffic volumes over the Golden Gate Bridge across this time period.
They found that as noise in the city increased, so too did the pitch, or frequency, of the male white-crowned sparrow song. Higher frequencies of song allow the birds to keep twittering at each other over the low-frequency ambient noise of rumbling cars. Even more surprising, the authors write in the journal Animal Behaviour, the birds also seem in the last four decades to have literally changed their repertoire. […]
It’s probably good news for these sparrows that they’ve figured out how to adapt (and good news for urban bird-lovers that this wildlife isn’t simply fleeing the city all together). But there’s also something sort of disturbing about the implication that cities can distort the natural environment right down to birdsong. In some ways, noise matters even more for birds than it does for humans: Birds sing to defend their territory and to attract mates (life’s two most important goals!), and excessive noise threatens that.
Read more. [Image: Shutterstock]
Can mushrooms save the world? In a manner of speaking, yes, according to renowned mycologist Paul Stamets. We must first come to understand the language through which fungal networks communicate with their ecosystem.
Mushroom mycelium represents rebirth, rejuvenation, regeneration. Fungi generate soil, that gives life. The task that we face today is to understand the language of nature.
My mission is to discover the language of nature of the fungal networks that communicate with the ecosystem. And I, in particular believe nature is intelligent. The fact that we lack the language skills to communicate with nature does not impugn the concept that nature is intelligent, it speaks to our inadequacy of our skill-set for communication.
We have now learned that there are these languages that are occurring in communication between each organism. If we don’t get our act together and come in commonality and understanding with the organisms that sustain us today, not only will we destroy those organisms, but we will destroy ourselves.
via Ecovative
good:
Last year, Americans spent almost a billion dollars on 27 million Christmas trees, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. It takes eight to 12 years for the average evergreen to grow into fluffy adulthood, at which point it’s typically chopped down and trashed within a month or two. And artificial trees are often made in sweatshops in China and rot for centuries in landfills. (Plus, their plastic leaves aren’t fooling anybody). So where’s the Yuletide greenery enthusiast to turn? Check out these creative and DIY alternatives to the traditional fir or plastic holiday centerpiece that rely on materials you’ve already got around the house.
![OORCI [SHUTTLE ISLANDS] badminton feather shuttles, plastic straps. variable dimension. 2011 - INSTANT HUTONG](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lup5bapr6q1qccpz7o1_500.jpg)
OORCI [SHUTTLE ISLANDS] badminton feather shuttles, plastic straps. variable dimension. 2011 - INSTANT HUTONG
![TOORCI [SHUTTLE ISLANDS] badminton feather shuttles, plastic straps. variable dimension. 2011 - INSTANT HUTONG
Shuttle islands is a set of space devices to play with the elements that make up the city environment. They will pop up on walkways, hide in a park, be on display in a shop, floating in the middle of a lake, to question and influence the perception of spaces from unpredicted points of view.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lup501esd51qccpz7o1_500.jpg)
TOORCI [SHUTTLE ISLANDS] badminton feather shuttles, plastic straps. variable dimension. 2011 - INSTANT HUTONG
Shuttle islands is a set of space devices to play with the elements that make up the city environment. They will pop up on walkways, hide in a park, be on display in a shop, floating in the middle of a lake, to question and influence the perception of spaces from unpredicted points of view.
Famous for exploring the effects of industry on nature, Edward Burtynsky is being honored with twin New York City exhibitions this fall. See more here.
Justin Gignac was looking for a way to prove that packaging design makes a difference when he came up with a trashy idea — sell pieces of litter, creatively packaged, from the streets of New York. And lest you think no one would buy an empty cigarette carton or Snickers wrapper, in the 10 years since he started packaging trash, Gignac has sold more than 1,300 cubes to people in more than 25 countries. The cubes started selling at $10 and now fetch up to $100 for limited-edition special event pieces.
6 examples of pricey, trash-based art
good:
Ojai is just all over the internet lately.
On a divisive dam, a snippy bit of graffiti: An anonymous band of artists paints a huge pair of scissors and a long dotted line on obsolete Matilija Dam near Ojai. The message? Tear the thing down already.
Photo: Matilija Dam near Ojai. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
(via magpiemouse)
There are many foods your family consumes on a regular basis that you could make yourself with minimal effort. It may be convenient to pick up a can of spaghetti sauce or a jar of strawberry jam, but ready-made foods are usually worse for both you and the planet because they contain more fat, salt and sugar and use more packaging.
What kind of foods can you make yourself? A lot. Our list is just the beginning.
