“There is a war going on, my friends… and I’m not referring to the armed conflicts raging throughout parts of the Middle East and Africa. This battle is raging around the world, from the Amazon River basin to Kruger Nat’l Park, from the polar ice caps in the Arctic to the rainforests of Indonesia. It’s a war between those who would exploit Mother Nature’s natural resources for their own profit, and the indigenous people and wildlife that call these areas home, who need those resources for their very survival.
This conflict is nothing new: Dr. Suess (a.k.a. Theodore Geisel) wrote about the importance of environmental awareness back in 1971 in his prescient book, The Lorax. The book tells the story of the Once-ler, who saw economic opportunity upon his first visit to an Eden-like environmental haven. What begins as a charming tale quickly turns dark, however, as the Once-ler harvests Truffula Trees to create a product called Thneeds. Their mass production leads to the extinction of Truffula Trees, leaving the area a barren wasteland completely devoid of life.
Through his clever storytelling, Dr. Seuss, in the voice of the outspoken advocate known as the Lorax, issues both a warning about the inherent dangers of rampant environmental exploitation and no-nonsense lessons about what we, as individuals, can do to help foster a more eco-friendly Green Economy”
Excessive Human carbon dioxide emissions are killing coral reefs…
Carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for about three-quarters of (the warming impact) of current human greenhouse-gas emissions. The key source of CO2 is the burning of fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. Deforestation is also a very significant contributor.
In very-much ‘layman’s terms,’ oceans absorb carbon and as a result, invasive algae suffocates coral by growing seaweed that is not good for the coral’s survival. Take away places like The Great Barrier Reef and great underwater sea life big and small, disappears too. By 2100 (as some scientists predict) could coral reefs be a thing of the past?
I think back to a blog I wrote about repurposing the litter found on beaches. The most amazing art sculptures made from this waste, used art to draw attention. Incidentally, I love the phrase “Art Draws Attention” because it is a pun. And it’s a pun with powerful meaning.
I remember when (a few Presidents ago), the topic was raised about switching the USA over completely to electric cars. And this wasn’t an overnight venture. Fuel cell charging stations need to exist to make this possible. I’m beginning to see them more and more but there aren’t nearly enough. When we make the switchover more fully, certainly gas powered cars can finally become a thing of the past and electric cars will go down in price. Don’t get me started on universal health care.
Switzerland is 100% fossil free! (And has the aforementioned ‘health care as a right, health care for all’) Why aren’t we?
Here is an example of an art sculpture which raises awareness to the plastic and other debris, discarded by humans, which pollutes, floats in massive miles of trash in oceans; strangles, chokes, poisons, maims, kills sea life:
Look at the actual salvaged JUNK that makes up this seal.
Are we destined as a human race to flourish for a few thousand years, destroy the world, have an actual Ice Age and die out, only to begin again without having learned anything about respecting the planet (as is spoken about in great Hindu holy text and described as the Cosmic Cycle)? These are rhetorical questions of course, meant for pondering. I think of earthquakes, sinkholes (everything the great psychic Edgar Cayce prophesized), and even the melting of polar caps- as the Earth, quite literally having a violent … ‘meltdown’ of phenomenal scale! Pun intended.
Incidentally if anyone reading this is connected with the traveling Ocean Refuse exhibit, I would be very interested in starting art sculptures to raise awareness, even if we have to start locally, gather the refuse from local beaches (that’s easy) and begin sculpting… If human error creates problems, then it is intuitive thinking to assume that only human intervention can take steps to remedy the problem.
French bulldogs are a human creation. They exist because someone had the idea to take the bulldog and crossbreed it with terriers and pugs. As a result, French Bulldogs (Frenchies) aren’t even physically capable of mating. French Bulldogs have very slim hips, making the male unable to mount the female to reproduce naturally. Typically, breeders must undertake artificial insemination of female dogs. The females often need cesareans. Just one example of the things we humans do.
In a self absorbed culture, does humankind care? Are they aware? Self absorption is nothing new. There are countless “funny” videos that are more tragic than comic – about people staring into phones and tripping, falling… crashing. Dying, because they are self-absorbed. I suppose this is nothing new. Victorians carried ‘beauty spots’ in ‘patch boxes…’ While this is not exactly narcissism which exists on a monumental scale today, it is an example of carrying around an object which is important and which correlates with fixation on how one is perceived by others (think selfies, duckfacing).
I am under good authority, that there is a certain antiquities shop in London with an extensive collection of little ceramic ‘patch boxes’ in which women would carry their spots around in deep pockets or purses…
Brain imaging tests of people undergoing prayerful thinking, meditation, positivity– show activity in unexpected parts of the brain. These activities change the brain. Some people claim or have claimed divine messages come through (Leonardo DaVinci, Oppelheim, Tesla, Einstein, etc.) To me, the internet is collective connectivity, a network that is so similar to the neural network of the brain’s circuitry. We can’t see our brain working. We can’t see the internet so to speak. But both have myriad connections. Both have so many ways to go wrong but also to do good.
I believe in people being able to hear the dead speak. Edison himself was working on a voice recorder before he died. He was certain it was possible to pick up frequencies the human ear cannot. He believed in Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) becoming possible, but died before he could invent an EVP device. I have a voice recorder which picks up and plays spirit voices. My adult children have an investigational group which tracks paranormal activity. Often times, spirits answer in very intelligent ways. I often think, since spirits don’t have brains in which to recall facts in stored lobes, where and how do the dead access the memories, info, intelligence, if not through the help of a physical brain? There is a spirit-collective-consciousness which is very real, as yet misunderstood, and that field is called Pneumatology.
I’m an introvert. I am prone to being in my head. I need alone time for recharging. I also believe people can ‘plug into’ collective consciousness. And I believe that while it is especially hard for people with say, depression or anxiety, to practice positivity sessions (even if it’s only ten minutes as you’re falling asleep), I do believe it’s necessary and important now more than ever to at least try. Part of ‘hope’ (for the earth, for the generations to follow) means sending out energy that all really ‘will be okay.’ Maybe this will effect changes in some positive forward motion. It is worth trying. What happens when people are consumed with the opposite of hope (apathy)? Urban and psychological decay. The growing horror stories which is today’s news … certainly is an example of that.
I will never become accustomed to, I will never accept, nor will I become desensitized to or jaded by this culture of self absorption and violence, racism, and cruelty. Doing nothing means nothing changes.
Sustainability
I believe there’s hope. There are newspapers that carry seeds for example. In Japan, one of the most famous national dailies invented a one hundred percent sustainable newspaper. If you plant it, it will bloom. There are biodegradable ‘burial pods’ which turn your body into a live, growing tree.
There is art of course and in a small way it does bring attention to important issues. It always has. I’ve been reading this:
It’s an illustrated autobiography of the late Maurice Sendak, whose Book “Where The Wild Things Are” was banned years ago. I have to admit, I never appreciated this man’s genius before reading this overview of his life. He’s gay, but hesitated to ‘come out’ because he was a children’s illustrator in different times. I am glad he was finally able to do so before his death. His book ‘In The Night Kitchen’ had a naked baby swimming in milk. That didn’t go over well, and upon reading this autobiography it’s fascinating to see the ‘hidden’ meanings in his children’s books which tackle all the inner childhood traumas and confusions he dealt with himself. His masterpiece “Outside Over There” has drawings of unmistakable labias in the folds of a yellow raincoat. This symbolizes many things for Maurice.
Art is always more than meets the eye. He wasn’t a ‘perv.’ He used a series of three books to delve into what made himself tick, the birth process, the suffering of being a the sickly child that Maurice was, and watching through the window as siblings played and he was left in the care of an older sister. That window symbolized something he couldn’t cross. There is a moment in one of the books about falling through a window. I highly recommend this autobiographical book on Sendak’s masterpieces by Jonathon Cott; for an insight into the way that art is more than we think, it does more than illustrate, it is complex.
There is graffiti downtown under a bridge with the following phrases and I believe wholeheartedly in them (and enjoy immensely the puns!):
ART IS NOT A CRIME!
DRAWING ATTENTION!
I’ve been drawn to the Lorax as seen here (a gift from my son, this Lorax guides all I do from a position that faces me as I work at home painting, writing, or doing other technical work-at-home work)
for as long as I remember, his moral of course being that
(quoted from an article by Green Global Travel – link following blogpost):
Do you remember some time ago I mentioned I was making an “art installation” piece? I am almost finished with it. I use a process whereby I glue puzzle pieces into “puzzle paintings” of my design. You see, I have sorted numerous sized puzzle pieces into boxes based on hue, color, etc. Here is an overview of the piece, which will be on display spring 2018, details to follow, most likely in Boston, Lee, Mass. or both.
As an aside I hold dear that snowflakes are pretty, soft, and disappear easily.
Together though, they have power
and make storms of blizzard proportions!
More Info:
Coral reefs dying off: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/03/rising-carbon-emissions-could-kill-off-vital-corals-by-2100-study-warns
Switzerland fossil free: https://gofossilfree.org/ch/
Trash in our oceans into Art: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/7177680634210752/
Prayer affects Brain: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/how-does-prayer-meditation-affect-brain-activity_n_1974621.html
Japan newspaper with seeds: http://www.lifegate.com/people/lifestyle/newspaper-becomes-a-plant
Your body into a tree, CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/world/eco-solutions-capsula-mundi/index.html
Lorax lessons: https://greenglobaltravel.com/10-eco-lessons-we-can-learn-from-the-lorax/
Filed under: apathy, art, lorax, reflection Tagged: art and awareness, collective consciousness, environment issues, hope, sustainability
This post first appeared on Ravenambition's Aspergers Blog | Life's Idiosyncra, please read the originial post: here
