If You Happen To Be In Brooklyn

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In anticipation of Raxa Collective’s collaboration with colleagues in Ghana starting this month (more on which soon), we are particularly susceptible to any mention of Ghana in the news and El Anatsui has been on our radar recently.  There is plenty to make us optimistic about Ghana’s future, not least its contributions to fine arts.  This show just opening at Brooklyn Museum looks worthy of a visit:

The first solo exhibition in a New York museum by the globally renowned contemporary artist El Anatsui, this show will feature over 30 works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into site-specific sculptures. Anatsui converts found materials into a new type of media that lies between sculpture and painting, combining aesthetic traditions from his birth country, Ghana; his home in Nsukka, Nigeria; and the global history of abstraction. Continue reading →

Thought For Food

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Since the launch of this site in 2011 we have made a commitment to point out as many news stories, analyses and other documentation as possible with positive, proactive examples of how we can best deal with issues that matter to us.  However, some of the less pleasant information we find is essential reading or viewing. Case in point here with the BBC segment in a series from last year about food. Disturbing. Important. Worth an hour of our time:

In the past year, we have seen food riots on three continents, food inflation has rocketed and experts predict that by 2050, if things don’t change, we will see mass starvation across the world. Continue reading →

Badami Cave Temple, Karnataka

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

The Badami Cave Temple in Karnataka was the capital of the early Chalukyas, who ruled much of that area of India during the 6th and 7th centuries. Badami is a treasure trove of Indian rock-cut architecture and sculpture. It is set in a picturesque countryside at the mouth of a sandstone ravine . The caves overlook a large lake known as Agasythya Teertha.

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Coffee Rust

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John Vandermeer. A mild infection of coffee rust on a tree in Mexico.

John Vandermeer. A mild infection of coffee rust on a tree in Mexico.

Several contributors to this blog live(d) and work(ed) in Central America and know exactly what you mean. Those of us based in south India–where there is high quality arabica growing in the Coorg-Chikmagalur corridor–are hopeful that this “rust” is contained quickly.  So, Dear John, please succeed:

Until this year, John Vandermeer, an ecologist and coffee researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, had never lost a tree to fungus. Continue reading →

Collaboratively Clean City

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Jose Beceiro, the Director of Clean Energy Initiatives eat the Chamber of Commerce in Austin, Texas notes the role of collaboration in his city’s remarkable economic development:

As one of the first smart-grid-powered communities, a revolutionary technology incubator, and the host of a conference promoting clean energy investment; Austin, TX has proven itself a leader in the clean technology sector, and the region is poised to continue making significant strides in building a strong clean  Continue reading →

Mammals, Emotions And Human Intelligence

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Close cousins: a gorilla family in Rwanda. Photo by Charles L Harris/Gallery Stock

Close cousins: a gorilla family in Rwanda. Photo by Charles L Harris/Gallery Stock

Another great item in a publication we recently started following:

‘If he grabs you, just go limp and let him throw you around. If you tense up, he’ll take it as a dominance challenge.’

‘Um. Okay.’ Continue reading →

If Green Is The New Black, Perhaps Polar Bear Is The New Panda

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Some polar bears may have to be placed in temporary holding compounds until it is cold enough for them to go back on to the sea ice, say scientists. Photograph: Paul Souders/Corbis

Some polar bears may have to be placed in temporary holding compounds until it is cold enough for them to go back on to the sea ice, say scientists. Photograph: Paul Souders/Corbis

This story in the Guardian‘s Environment section, one of the longest stories that section has ever run, is worth the time to read.  It raises a kind of semi-doomsday scenario, and in the process heightens sensitivity to this particular magnificent charismatic megafauna.  Decades back, WWF leveraged the Panda into a strong iconic hot-button for the need of donations to conservation NGOs.  This article got us thinking whether the polar bear is now the hot button icon for increasing the sense of urgency needed to do something about climate change:

The day may soon come when some of the 19 polar bear populations in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway, and Russia will have to be fed by humans in order to keep them alive during an extended ice-free season or prevent them from roaming into northern communities. Some bears may have to be placed in temporary holding compounds until it is cold enough for them to go back onto the sea ice. In worst-case scenarios, polar bears from southern regions may have to be relocated to more northerly climes that have sufficient sea ice cover. Continue reading →

More On Internal Compasses

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Tom Quinn/University of Washington. Sockeye salmon migrating from saltwater to fresh water.

Tom Quinn/University of Washington. Sockeye salmon migrating from saltwater to fresh water.

More and more stories addressing the understanding scientists are developing about internal guidance systems:

Every summer, millions of sockeye salmon flood into the Fraser River in British Columbia, clogging its shivering waters with their brilliant blushing bodies.

Scientists and spectators alike have long been awed by the sockeye’s audacious struggle to swim upstream to spawn. And while it has been known for years that a salmon can smell its way up the river to find its natal stream, no one has been able to explain just how these beautiful and economically vital fish find their way back from the open ocean, 4,000 or 5,000 miles away, to the right river mouth. Continue reading →

Kerala Temple Festival – Ettumanoor

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Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

The Siva Temple at Ettumanoor has a unique festival called Ezhara ponnana — meaning “seven-and-a-half golden elephants”. Each of the statues in the procession contain nearly 13 kg of gold.  Seven of the elephants are two feet high, only the eighth is one foot, giving the festival its unique name.  Continue reading →

Really, Nevada?

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In the spirit of enthusiasm with which we welcomed the news of one politician’s move in an interesting direction, we grouse with equal enthusiasm about the actions of another politician, this one inclined in the opposite direction of entrepreneurial conservation (click the image to go to the story):

The ouster of a Nevada wildlife official has fanned a debate over whether the sage grouse can best be kept off the Endangered Species List by protecting its habitat or by killing more of its predators.

Kenneth Mayer, who had been the director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife and serves on regional and national committees that deal with sage grouse conservation, startled environmentalists and many Nevadans last week by announcing that Gov. Brian Sandoval had demanded his resignation. Continue reading →

Pansy Flowers

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Pansy flowers belong to the Viola species, a group of hybrid flowers found in gardens worldwide. With their enchanting wildflower charm and numerous color combinations these flowers are probably the most popularly grown and most recognizable cool season plant growing above 1500 meters in the Western Ghats of India. Continue reading →

If You Happen To Be In Chennai (Or These Other South Indian Cities)

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Recently the New Yorker posted news that was music to the ears of all banjo-lovers.  Most baby boom-aged Americans know who Steve Martin is, but many did/do not know he is a seriously talented banjoist–he does not just use the instrument as a comedic prop. A smaller subset of Americans know who Edie Brickell is (not just that she is Mrs. Paul Simon), but they remember her music with the New Bohemians with intense affection.  She disappeared for a while, but she is back, and back with Steve Martin of all people:

Of the rushing river of records heading toward us, there are two I’d like to mention, one imminent and one on the horizon: “Love Has Come for You,” by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, which arrives in April…Brickell and Martin’s record is a banjo-and-singer collaboration, a form without many footprints…

Anyone who loves banjo is almost by definition a lover of collaboration, which is why we pay attention to this particular instrument more than most. This got us thinking: What is Béla Fleck up to these days?  If you do not know who he is, and you at least like the banjo, you should find out by clicking the banner above. And to our delighted surprise, he is playing gigs near us in south India over the next few weeks.  After the jump below, you can see the schedule, and also you will get a sense of what we mean by banjo collaboration. Continue reading →

Obelisks in Rome

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The Obelisk at Piazza Navona

Rome is renowned for (among many other, er, more important things) its vast “collection” of obelisks. These obelisks, most featuring hieroglyphics running their length, typically came to Rome through conquests in Egypt. Victorious generals and emperors Continue reading →

Entrepreneurial Conservation In The Cabinet

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Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) CEO Sally Jewell climbs the 65-foot rock climbing pinnacle at REI’s Seattle flagship store. Photographer: Scott Cohen/AP Photo

We stay out of politics, for the most part, but point to interesting events when we notice them. This news qualifies, because it seems the leader of one big country has captured the spirit of entrepreneurial conservation in a rather visible way, choosing a business leader to run the largest conservation component of the federal government. Oddly, she appeals to both environmentalists and industrialists, but that is the point. This choice is outside the box, and seems to tap into some of our favorite “c” words. As the article below notes, this business person has led some important collective action initiatives, building a community to ensure that this political leader gives conservation the attention it deserves. We laud both of them for cooperating in such a creative manner:

President Barack Obama said he has selected Sally Jewell, chief executive officer of Recreational Equipment Inc., to be secretary of the U.S. Interior Department in his second-term Cabinet.

Jewell’s background as an engineer and experience in the banking, energy and retail industries give her the skills needed to run a department that oversees 500 million acres of public land, Obama said as he introduced her at the White House. Continue reading →