April 15, 2015 by suzannesmom
After work yesterday, I went with a colleague to observe a parent-engagement program organized by Lawrence Community Works (LCW) at the Oliver Partnership School, in Lawrence, Mass. I had long been interested in LCW’s use of circles to build a sense of community among strangers of very different backgrounds.
Lawrence is what is sometimes called a Gateway City, meaning it’s always been a gateway to the U.S. culture and experience for new waves of immigrants. It currently has a large Spanish-speaking Dominican population and foreign-born and native-born residents from all over.
The parent night was the third in a series. In the first two, facilitators had helped the participants to come up with agreed-upon ground rules (come on time, no cellphones, respectful attention to one another) and to choose an “obstacle” that they would like to address related to their children’s life at the school. They had selected recess, which is only 10 minutes. (Lunch is 15 minutes.)
Everything was conducted in both Spanish and English.
As the evening was getting going, Tony told me his children love school. He believes a good education is vital. He wishes he had more. He did learn Spanish and English in addition to his native Portuguese. The languages help him in his job working with troubled youth, a job he loves to go to every day.
In a warm-up exercise, we stood in a circle and stated our name, followed by our favorite fruit and the name and favorite fruit of everyone who spoke previously. It was fun and a great equalizing experience as anyone can be good at that and anyone can struggle with it. The people who went last had about 20 names and fruits to report and did really well despite language differences.
To discuss the recess issue, we separated into two groups — those who felt comfortable speaking English (which included the two teachers in attendance) and those who felt comfortable speaking Spanish. At the end we came together with the results of our investigation of three questions: why having a longer recess is important, why it might have been set up that way, and what parents themselves could do about it. (Asking the administration’s help was to wait for a joint meeting in June.)
I won’t make this post much longer, but I do want to say that I thought the way this was handled was very good. Parents appeared to feel that their opinions were welcome and that they could accomplish something. Continued engagement with them will be important as the work is a piece of a much bigger project by LCW that aims to help parents get skills for jobs. Unemployment is a serious issue in a city where many of the people are poor, have not had good educational opportunities, and are still learning English.
Photo: Family literacy night at the Oliver Partnership School in Lawrence, Mass.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged circles, dominican, education, empowerment, equalizing, gateway, immigrant, jobs, lawrence, lawrence community works, lcw, leveling, massachusetts, oliver partnership school, parent engagement, spanish | 4 Comments »
April 14, 2015 by suzannesmom
Photo: Wikimedia
You know how in spring you start noticing things that winter’s sense of being closed up even when you’re driving around outside hides from you? When we lived in Pittsford, New York, for example, after going by the same spot for months, I suddenly noticed several unusual fruits or nuts lying on the side of the road. I had to go back, park, get out of the car, and pick one up. It was an Osage orange, a weird, bumpy gift of nature that the Works Progress Administration planted all over the Dust Bowl to counteract soil erosion.
Well, last weekend I saw with new eyes a tree I’ve driven past thousands of times. Suddenly on Saturday it made me think of illustrations of the naiad Daphne turning into a laurel to escape Apollo. (Definitely a case of limited options: give in or be a tree.)
Here’s a refresher from Wikipedia:
“Daphne (//; Greek: Δάφνη, meaning ‘laurel’) is a minor figure in Greek mythology known as a naiad—a type of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth, but the general narrative is that because of her beauty, Daphne attracted the attention and ardor of the god Apollo (Phoebus). Apollo pursued her and just before being overtaken, Daphne pleaded to her father, the rivergod Ladon and Ge for help. So he then transformed Daphne into a laurel tree.”
More here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged apollo, daphne, dust bowl, laurel, osage orange, postaday, river god, works progress administration, wpa | 4 Comments »
April 13, 2015 by suzannesmom
I really enjoyed what Siddhartha Mitter wrote in the Boston Globe recently about a collaboration among musicians from several different African countries.
The countries themselves tend to be focused on their own internal issues, Mitter says, and the cultural activities mostly stay within national borders as well. “This makes the Nile Project, a collective of musicians from 11 Nile basin countries (from Egypt to Burundi) … more than a fusion project. It’s an intervention, aimed not just at making music, but also at driving concrete work on shared issues like water rights, food security, education, social empowerment, and climate change.
“A tall order for mere artists, maybe. But Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis, who founded the project in 2011 with Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero, sees a natural fit. ‘We’re finding ways to use music to solve challenges beyond music,’ Girgis says. ‘Music can play a role in the sustainability of the basin.’ …
“The Nile Project’s music-making is an equally deliberate process. The traditions of the region share instruments — flutes, lyres, percussion — that are related but used in very different systems of scales, rhythms, and song. At the Nile Gatherings, musicians find themselves on turf at once familiar and foreign. ‘We are so close, as African neighbors, and yet there is not much sharing,’ says Ethiopian saxophonist Jorga Mesfin.
“Using a modified version of Theory U, a group collaboration model devised by MIT professor Otto Scharmer, Girgis says the gatherings begin by putting musicians in small groups, then gradually merging their ideas through composition and arrangement. Most of the artists are bandleaders themselves; here, they must check their egos.”
Read more at the Globe.
Photo: Matjaz Kacicnik
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged africa, burundi, collaboration, egypt, ethnomusicologist, Jorga Mesfin, Matjaz Kacicnik, Meklit Hadero, Mina Girgis, musicians, nile project, Otto Scharmer, postaday, Siddhartha Mitter, theory u | Leave a Comment »
April 12, 2015 by suzannesmom
Not me. It’s a story about a man in Detroit who was so determined to get to work after his car gave up the ghost that he walked 21 miles — and attracted some unexpected blessings for doing it.
I learned about him by way of The Guardian.
“The Detroit Free Press reports that James Robertson rides buses part of the way to and from his factory job in suburban Rochester Hills. But because they don’t cover the whole route, he ends up walking about eight miles (13 kms) before his shift starts at 2 pm and 13 miles (21 kms) more when it’s over at 10 pm. …
“After the newspaper wrote about the 56-year-old’s situation … multiple people started crowdfunding efforts to help him buy a car and pay for insurance. Some have offered to drive him for free and others have offered to buy or give him cars.
“Robertson began making the daily trek to the factory where he molds parts after his car stopped working ten years ago and bus service was cut back. He’s had perfect attendance for more than 12 years.
“ ‘I set our attendance standard by this man,’ said Todd Wilson, plant manager at Schain Mold & Engineering. …
“Evan Leedy, a 19-year-old student at Wayne State University, read the story and started a GoFundMe site with the goal of raising $5,000. [In no time,] he had raised more than $90,000. …
“Asked about a federal program newly available through Detroit’s bus system that might pick him up at home and drop him off at his job, Robertson said, ‘I’d rather they spent that money on a 24-hour bus system, not on some little bus for me. This city needs buses going 24/7. You can tell the city council and mayor I said that.’ ”
More here.
Photo: Ryan Garza/AP
James Robertson, 56, of Detroit, walked 21 miles every day until a well-wisher’s fundraiser helped him get an apartment closer to the job.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 21 miles, crowd, detroit, Detroit Free Press, evan leedy, funding, guardian, james robertson, postaday, schain mold & engineering, todd wilson, walk to work | 4 Comments »
April 11, 2015 by suzannesmom
According to Frank Carini at EcoRI, the humble quahog clam is keeping Rhode Island running. Carini waxed poetic about the quahog after a shellfish-focused event last fall meant to help the state manage its hardest-working resource more efficiently.
Speaker Bob Rheault “noted that the farming and harvesting of shellfish doesn’t require antibiotics and fertilizers. He referred to them as a healthy ‘super food,’ and called bivalves the ‘vacuum cleaners of our oceans.’ …
“The shellfish that inhabit Rhode Island waters are part of the Ocean State’s social and cultural fabric,” adds Carini, “and are integral pieces of a marine ecosystem that provides economic, employment, recreational and environmental benefits. …
“ Despite the obvious economic and environmental benefits provided by the state’s shellfish industry, it has long been, for the most part, operating as a collection of individual parts. …
“To get a better handle on the state’s shellfish industry and to make sure it remains sustainable, [several] agencies have invested more than a million dollars and teamed up with an array of individuals and organizations to develop the Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan. … Quahoggers are collaborating with scientists to resolve some of the doubts about the biology of the resource. A cooperative study funded by the Southern New England Collaborative Research Initiative enrolls commercial quahoggers to pull bullrakes alongside the hydraulic clam dredge utilized by DEM to measure the density of quahogs on the bottom — a measurement that is then used to inform stock assessment calculations.”
Questions remain. “For example, should aquaculture be recognized as agriculture to clarify ownership and rights to harvest? What does Rhode Island gain in terms of economic value by restoring shellfish populations? How will restoration success be measured? …
“Among Rhode Island’s diverse collection of shellfish, the quahog is the most economically important resource harvested from Narragansett Bay. In fact, Ocean State quahogs once supported the largest outboard-motor fishing fleet in the world. But the price of quahogs hasn’t changed much over the years, making it increasingly difficult for quahoggers to stay in business.
“In Rhode Island, the state’s aquaculture industry, which is largely oysters, is approaching $3 million in annual sales. In fact, this sector of the local shellfish industry is one of the few growth industries in the state, growing by about 15 percent annually during the past decade.”
In 2013, “the number of farms in Rhode Island increased from 43 to 50, and oysters remained the top aquaculture product, with 4,303,886 sold for consumption, according to the CRMC’s 2012 report. …
“ ‘We have to understand the system to manage it and achieve the proper balance,’ [Coastal Resource Management Council] director Grover Fugate said. ‘We have to balance the uses while protecting the resource. We need to develop a better management regime, and because of climate change we will always be adjusting this regime.’ ”
More here.
This morning my two-year-old granddaughter woke up and told her parents she wanted clams. (But that’s another story.)
Photo: Wikimedia
Quahogs
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aquaculture, Bob Rheault, frank carini, Grover Fugate, postaday.art, quahog, Rhode Island Shellfish Management Plan, sea grant, shellfish, Southern New England Collaborative Research | Leave a Comment »
April 10, 2015 by suzannesmom
Here’s a funny lead I got from @smallercitiesu (SmallerCitiesUnite!) on twitter today. It’s about tapping the body heat of cows in India and other poor countries to create electricity. And as you might guess, there are a couple of designing Finns behind it.
Caroline Pham writes at the magazine Good that Finnish design students Liva Kallite and Netta Korhonen created a bovine wearable that could help out some of “the approximately 1.3 billion people around the world who live without electricity. …
“Introducing the Cowolt, a two-piece ‘energy harvesting blanket’ outfitted with thermoelectric modules that essentially harness an animal’s body heat, turning it into charge for batteries. According to CityLab: ‘The difference between the creatures’ internal temperature of about 102 degrees and cooler, ambient air would then create electricity via the Seebeck effect. They estimate a vest could charge a 12-volt battery in 26 hours on the power of one robo-cow.’
“Creators Kallite and Korhonen, both students at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture in Helsinki, point out the deficiencies in alternate means of electricity like kerosene (inefficient, expensive, health risks), solar energy (high maintenance and high up-front costs), diesel power generators (too large scale for personal use), and micro hydro power (negative effects on natural surroundings). Essentially, these aren’t efficient options for those without electricity, and harnessing what these people might have on-hand, like farm animals, is a more realistic mode.
“Who knows whether it will actually catch on, but the hope is that Cowolt would provide enough charge to power smaller devices such as lamps, telephones, and radios, and thus provide those without stable sources of electricity with opportunities to be a little more self-sustaining in their everyday lives.” More here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aalto University, caroline pham, citylab, cowolt, finn, good magaznie, helsinki, Liva Kallite, Netta Korhonen, postaday, robo-cow, smaller cities unite, thermoelectric | Leave a Comment »
April 9, 2015 by suzannesmom
There’s been a lot in the news lately about water shortages in the West. In the search for any help they can get, some concerned citizens are turning to the oft-maligned beaver.
Living on Earth‘s Steve Curwood gets to the bottom of the story with Sarah Koenigsberg, the filmmaker behind The Beaver Believers.
“In the drought-ridden West, some people are partnering with beavers to restore watersheds, where, before trappers arrived, the large rodents once numbered in the millions. Filmmaker Sarah Koenigsberg captures various efforts to reintroduce beavers to their former habitat in her documentary The Beaver Believers and tells host Steve Curwood why beavers are essential for a healthy ecosystem. …
“Koenigsberg: We feature the stories of a biologist, a hydrologist, a botanist, an activist, a psychologist and a hairdresser. So these are all very different people who share the common passion of restoring beaver to the west. Some work within the federal agencies, the forest service, others are just average citizens who stumbled upon to the cause accidentally …
“What struck me with all of these beaver believers is that they are working on the problem of water, which is one of the biggest problems of climate change, but is very tangible. They’re working at the level of their own watershed. And while they do work very hard, they’re finding great joy and satisfaction in this work. …
“Curwood: There’s a finite supply of water in the drought-ridden American west. Beaver can’t increase that water supply. What can beaver do to help the water situation? …
“Koenigsberg: What they do is they redistribute the water that does fall down onto the landscape, so if you picture spring floods — all that water that comes rushing down in March or April just goes straight through the channels and out to the ocean — what beavers do is they almost act like another snowpack reserve, whether it’s rain or snow runoff, all of that water can slow way down behind a beaver pond and then it slowly starts to sink into the ground. It stretches outward making a big recharge of the aquifer and then that water ever so slowly seeps back into the stream throughout the rest of the spring and summer as it’s needed so that we end up with water in our stream systems in July and August when there is no longer rainfall in much of the west.” More here.
Photo: Sarah Koenigsberg
The Beaver Believers live-trapped a beaver family including this kit in Aurora, CO, and relocated them into the forest on a private ranch.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged beaver believers, beavers, drought, ecosystem, living on earth, loe, postaday, Sarah Koenigsberg, steve curwood, water, west | 6 Comments »
April 8, 2015 by suzannesmom
I saw another recommendation at Brain Pickings for an intriguing-sounding book and bought it to have around for my grandchildren. It doesn’t have words, and when I tried to talk through the pictures to my second grandson, he said, “Read it.” He could tell I wasn’t using the read-a-story-book-voice.
But it’s a thoroughly charming book, and I’m sure he’ll catch on.
Maria Popova writes, “Half a century after Ruth Krauss wrote, and Maurice Sendak illustrated, one of the loveliest lines in the history of children’s books — “Everybody should be quiet near a little stream and listen.” — poet JonArno Lawson and illustrator Sydney Smith team up on a magnificent modern manifesto for the everyday art of noticing in a culture that rips the soul asunder with the dual demands of distraction and efficiency.
“Sidewalk Flowers (public library) tells the wordless story of a little girl on her way home with her device-distracted father, a contemporary Little Red Riding Hood walking through the urban forest. Along the way, she collects wildflowers and leaves them as silent gifts for her fellow participants in this pulsating mystery we call life — the homeless man sleeping on a park bench, the sparrow having completed its earthly hours, the neighbor’s dog and, finally, her mother’s and brothers’ hair. …
“Sidewalk Flowers, which is immeasurably wonderful in its analog totality, comes from Canadian independent children’s-book publisher Groundwood Books.” More thoughtful description and more of the pictures may be found here.
I think Popova’s Brain Pickings blog is amazing, even if her prose is sometimes a little purple. I myself wouldn’t say that the demands of our always-on-the-job culture “rips the soul asunder.” Those demands are mostly pointless and should be ignored.
Art: Sydney Smith
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, be quiet near a little stream and listen, brain pickings, children's books, graphic, groundwood books, JonArno lawson, maurice sendak, postaday, ruth krauss, sydney smith | 12 Comments »
April 7, 2015 by suzannesmom
We all have ambitions, and it seems that there are people in Providence whose ambition it is to hold the tree-hugging record. If you can help, the date is April 25.
According to Tim Faulkner at EcoRi, the goal is to be greener than Portland, Oregon.
“In an effort to establish its green cred and presumably give a big thanks to the environment, the city will attempt to wrest a unique world record from the undisputed champion of green cities: Portland, Ore.
“What’s the record? The largest tree hug. Portland set the benchmark in 2013, with 936 people hugging trees at one time.
“Providence and the Rhode Island Tree Council will host the group hug during its Earth Day Spring Cleaning on April 25. The record attempt will take place at Roger Williams Park, after some 40 neighborhood cleanups across the city. Last year’s cleanups drew about 2,200 volunteers, and organizers hope the Portland record will fall if at least half of them join the after party in the park.
“Registration for the after-cleanup party at Roger Williams Park will be held from 1-2:30 p.m. All tree huggers must register, and early registration is recommended. To register, click here. The event begins at 3 p.m., and all participants must hug a tree for a minute.”
More here on solar power, composting, bike sharing, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza’s sustainability proposals, and plans for energy-saving streetlights.
Photo: Momma on the Move
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged earth day, ecology, ecori, environment, jorge elorza, momma on the move, portland, postaday, providence, rhode island, Roger Williams Park, tim faulkner, tree hugging | Leave a Comment »
April 6, 2015 by suzannesmom
Art: Van Gogh
Moulin d’Alphonse, painted in Arles in southern France.
Once again, a master’s work has been rediscovered. This time the master is Van Gogh, and the work’s identification is all thanks to a sister-in-law who knew a great artist when she saw one.
Dalya Alberge at the Guardian has the story. “A landscape by Vincent van Gogh is to be exhibited for the first time in more than 100 years following the discovery of crucial evidence that firmly traces back its history directly to the artist.
“The significance of two handwritten numbers scribbled almost imperceptibly on the back had been overlooked until now. They have been found to correspond precisely with those on two separate lists of Van Gogh’s works drawn up by Johanna, wife of the artist’s brother, Theo.
“Johanna, who was widowed in 1891 – months after Vincent’s death – singlehandedly generated interest in his art. She brought it to the attention of critics and dealers, organising exhibitions, although she obviously could never have envisaged the millions that his works would fetch today.
“Le Moulin d’Alphonse Daudet à Fontvieille, which depicts vivid green grapevines leading up to a windmill with broken wings in the distance, is a work on paper that he created with graphite, reed pen and ink and watercolour shortly after he reached Arles, in the south of France. It dates from 1888, two years before his untimely death.” More here.
When I was sixteen, I passed through Arles on a kind of tour. I am sorry to say the only thing I remember clearly is that the teacher said you had to translate “to Arles” as “en Arles” instead of “à Arles,” as you would say for other cities. Only guess what! A quick Google search informs me “en Arles” is only for people stuck in the 19th century.
On me pose très souvent la question de savoir si je me suis trompé en disant à Arles (vs. en Arles). Et bien non, à part si vous êtes resté au IXème siècle …
David Larlet is the source, and I have no idea if he is an expert. I assure you I wasn’t 16 in the 19th century, but my teacher was rather old fashioned.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, dalya alberge, david larlet, impressionist, johanna, painting, rediscover, theo, Van Gogh, watercolor | Leave a Comment »
April 5, 2015 by suzannesmom
Getting everyone together at a holiday doesn’t always work out the way you think, but whoever shows up makes for a fun time.
My youngest granddaughter, four months old, can’t handle the car seat or a long drive these days, so she and Erik bowed out a week ago. My older granddaughter got a stomach bug at the last minute, so she and her mom stayed home the night before instead of staying over with us. In spite of my daughter-in-law’s unexpected sickroom duty, she sent along a beautiful fruit salad and muffins.
John and my oldest grandson spent the night at our house. My husband and I had dug up a few of our bunny storybooks. The one that my brother wore out 60 years ago — and that has a pop-up illustration with my replacement bunny head on it — was a hit. Funny Bunny, by Alice and Martin Provensen, is about a solution-oriented little guy who was called “funny” because he had no tail. After admiring everyone else’s tail, he agrees he is not quite complete and sets off for a distant cotton patch in a great hurry, not stopping to say good morning to any of his woodland friends. “Funny Bunny had a plan. And he was in a hurry to see if it would work.” Hoping to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say that Funny Bunny’s solution involves sticky pine pitch.
Another hit was Suzanne’s all-time favorite Easter book, The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, written by Dubose Heyward, with illustrations by Marjorie Flack. It’s quite a long story, and I was impressed that my grandson followed it all the way through. It is full of wisdom about what it takes to be a true star. (Super heroes, listen up!)
Suzanne and my younger grandson arrived with latkes and tulips for the egg-and-candy hunt and lunch. More gatherings are on the horizon, with both grandsons celebrating birthdays within the next few weeks. Whoever turns up, it will be fun.
Art: Albrecht Dürer
Borrowed from artyfactory
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged albrecht durer, alice provensen, country bunny, DuBose Heyward, Easter, funny bunny, hare, little gold shoes, Marjorie Flack, martin provensen, postaday, rabbit | 4 Comments »
April 4, 2015 by suzannesmom
Photo: Breaktime Bowl and Bar
Suzanne and Erik’s little boy (soon to turn 3) has one friend who, like him, can speak both Swedish and English. It’s a special bond. The other day they had a bowling date. With parents.
I wondered where they went bowling and was very surprised to learn that it was upstairs in the winter farmers market building, a rabbit warren for food vendors and artisans in one of the old mills so common in small postindustrial cities like Pawtucket.
Ethan Shorey had an article about it at the Breeze Online.
“They thought a throwback bowling alley would be a popular spot, but nothing like this. Breaktime Bowl & Bar has been a magnet for those seeking an old-fashioned good time since it opened just after Christmas, says Manager Jay Santos …
“Perhaps it’s the novelty of having workers manually setting up your pins, or perhaps it’s the raw, uncluttered interior free of dancing turkeys or black lights, but people seem to love Pawtucket’s newest — and oldest — bowling alley, said Santos.
“Michael Gazdacko, director of development and operations at the Hope Artiste Village, where Breaktime Bowl & Bar is located … said it was the intention from the time Urban Smart Growth bought the old mill in 2005 to restore the six-lane duckpin bowling alley on the third floor. …
“The restoration of an alley first built back in the 1920s for the workers of the Hope Webbing Mill has been everything he and others thought it would be, he said.
“The entire facility is full of reclaimed lumber, original exposed brick, and painting in the same color scheme that the bowlers of the 1920s would have seen. The bar top was made of reclaimed flooring from another mill. The original lanes were sanded smooth and stained to play much like modern lanes. Balls and pins meant to be as much like the original ones as possible were purchased from Paramount Industries in Medway, Mass.” Read more at the Breeze Online, here.
Photo: Ethan Shorey/Valley Breeze
Cecily Russo, of Cranston, prepares to let loose on her duckpin lane at the new Breaktime Bowl & Bar. For more information, visit www.breaktimebowlandbar.com.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bowling alley, breaktime, duckpin, ethan shorey, Hope Artiste Village, hope webbing, jay santos, manual, medway, michael gazdacko, mill, paramount industries, Pawtucket, pins, postaday, postindustrial, urban smart growth, winter farmers market | Leave a Comment »
April 3, 2015 by suzannesmom
Fred Pearce of Yale Environment 360 (a publication of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies) had a post on some positive change in Kenya recently. It came to me by way of the Christian Science Monitor Change Agent e-mail.
“In Kenya, local farmers are replacing state officials and forest wardens …
“Kenya’s five main ‘water towers’ — the Aberdare Mountains, the Mau forest complex, Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon, and the Cherangani Hills — cover just 2 percent of the country. But their elevation means that they intercept clouds blowing off the Indian Ocean, capturing most of the country’s rains. These places are the sources of all but one of Kenya’s major rivers. …
“Emilio Mugo, the acting director of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) … says an important factor in [the process of reclamation] was the popularizing of the phrase ‘water towers.’ It unlocked a recognition about the nation’s precarious ecosystems and water supplies, and their link to forests.
“ ‘The new terminology galvanized public attention,’ he says. Calls to revive the towers became a national priority, culminating in the creation in 2012 of the Kenya Water Towers Agency to coordinate government activity.
“We are now looking at the towers as national assets,” says Francis Nkako, the CEO of the new agency. In the past five years, 81 square miles of the Mau forest system have been repossessed from illegal settlers for ecological rehabilitation …
“Control of the forests is being systematically given to democratically elected community forest associations (CFAs) that manage the forests under agreements with the KFS. …
“Under the agreements, CFAs are tasked with ensuring sustainable use of the forests, preventing illegal activity in them, managing and raising fees for grazing of livestock and firewood cutting in the forests, and starting new economic activities based on forest resources. No members of the community are allowed to live in the protected forests, but they can use them.” More here.
Photo: Fred Pearce
Sarah Karungari shows beehives set up by the community forest association (CFA) in Kimunye village in Kenya. Management of mountain forests is being systematically given over to democratically elected CFAs.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aberdare Mountains, cfa, Cherangani Hills, communities, community forest association, conservation, ecology, emilion Mugo, environment, forestry and environmental studies, francis nkako, Fred Pearce, galana, kenya, Mau forest complex, Mount Elgon, Mount Kenya, postaday, Sarah Karungari, water, water tower, Yale Environment 360 | Leave a Comment »
April 2, 2015 by suzannesmom
Over at TreeHugger, Kimberley Mok has a post on an Italian filmmaker’s study of breathtakingly beautiful marine life.
“The ocean is a mysterious place,” she writes, “full of wondrous creatures and hidden delights, waiting to be discovered. The very nature of this massive body of fluid is primordial and seen as a symbol of the subconscious in many cultures. Italian filmmaker Sandro Bocci, also known as Bolidesottomarino, recently released a sneak peak at a ‘non-verbal’ film he’s working on, titled ‘Porgrave.’ Showing captivating scenes of vibrantly coloured underwater organisms, it’s a close-up look at a ‘microworld’ that many of us never get to see — or may never get to see, if ocean acidification, pollution and habitat loss continues at today’s alarming rate.
“According to Bocci’s website, Julia Set Collection, the film is influenced by thinkers like Alan Moore, Jan Hanlo, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfred Van Vogt, and is
an experimental film orbiting scientific and philosophical reflections on time and space, and that through various shooting techniques, fields of magnification, and an exciting soundtrack, weaves a web between science and magic.”
Please click here. The photos are extraordinary.
Photo: Sandro Bocci
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bolidesottomarino, ecology, environment, julia set collection, kimberley mok, marine life, nature, photography, porgrave, postaday, Sandro Bocci, science, treehugger, undersea, underwater | 1 Comment »
April 1, 2015 by suzannesmom
It’s April 1st, and I have been looking for spring. There was a nice little surprise in my front yard — snowdrops next to the snow (still not melted). But when I went looking for spring in Fort Point at lunch, there were no flowers or even leaf buds. I’m happy with the blue sky, anyway, and the angle of light. Here are a few photos.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boston, fort point, photos, postaday, snowdrops, spring | 2 Comments »
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