Eco-Literacy 2014

I had an amazing time on our trip to Harriton House on Friday. It started out really frustrating, not having the vans to go to Wissahickon, and knowing that we were going to miss out on a beautiful weather day. As it turned out though, I truly believe that our Plan B was exactly what needed to happen. I was recalling so much of what happened a few weeks ago when our trip to Audubon transformed into a bittersweet series of events. We had fought against the weather with a determination that as humans, we have the ability to 'outsmart' Nature and go on as best as possible, limiting our losses caused by the snow. We all agreed afterward that perhaps we should have 'read the weather' and instead should have given in to our limitations set by the environment. I think whomever made the scheduling conflict with the vans (or whatever ended up being the problem) was reading the weather for us on Friday. The sun and warmth, the crispness in the air, was begging us not to spend so much as a second in a van driving through traffic, navigating our way through Philly. We were meant not to vacate our current location, traveling to find a truly 'natural environment'. (Don't get me wrong, I look forward so much to going to Wissahickon this Friday!) We were, however, meant to read the weather and maximize our time spend outside, walking together, greeting animals, welcoming spring, soaking in the beautiful day. It was amazing to stand in a field of freshly opening crocuses and realize that the ground is literally buzzing with life.

A lot was going through my head on Friday as we went on our walk. Transitions between seasons have always made me emotional. I get utterly homesick and nostalgic, not towards any one home or time in particular; I get homesick and nostalgic for all the places and times in which I've been homesick and nostalgic during seasonal transitions. Change means something is ending, and the next thing is coming, and I dislike endings. Seasons, though - they seem to be telling me that I haven't changed at all and that everything's still okay because I'm still reacting emotionally to the seasons.

And Friday, I felt Spring.

I also felt Nairobi. This naturally luscious and socially wealthy setting with huge, old trees, rich hedges, and walking on asphalt roads with no sidewalks - this was like Muthaiga, an old and wealthy neighbourhood in Nairobi, where I lived for about two years. Of course it wasn’t identical, but I sensed a similar climate.

When we got to Harriton House, I walked around, looked at the house, at the sheep, the horse, the chickens, and then spent a while watching two adolescent-sized cows. Of course, I know nothing about the maturing process of cows, so I don’t know in which stage of life they were, but they seemed like they still had room to grow. I watched them and thought.

Then I sat on the grass with my little notebook and scribbled thoughts. I lay down and scribbled some more. I wrote some flashy phrases and images, but nothing was hitting me in the throat.

I was sorry not to be able to join y'all in the sunshine @ Harriton on Friday, but today I took my own little eco-trip. It started with the amazed discovery that the Pennsylvania State Constitution has an Environmental Rights Amendment** (who knew?!), and that the  Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled in accord with that amendment, to intervene in the state's legacy of “virtually unrestrained exploitation"-- a potential “game charger,” able to turn state environmental regulation “upside down.”

Feeling happy about this, I wandered over to the Art Alliance, in my neighborhood, to see a few very-related installations of eco-art:  Caroline Lathan-Stiefel's "Frakturing" uses a 1905 stained glass window to invite viewers to think about issues of plant diversity and sustainability in an age of fracking. Another of her installations, called "Greenhouse Mix," is a delightful “jungle in the salon." In a third, called "Noise," my companion, the pomester, made music by changing his grip on a couple of apples.

I used to think a lot about how I would adapt certain books for the screen, so thinking about how I would make a movie based on All Over Creation by Ozeki is pretty fun. I'm pretty sure Yumi would narrate the movie, mostly for herself and her story but sometimes telling the perspectives of others when they needed introduction. I feel strongly that most of the words she narrates should be direct quotes from the text. Similarly, it would be really important to me that certain conversations be entirely preserved, like Geeks descriptions of GMO's to Frankie.

Obviously, since the book is so long, quite a few things would have to be shortened and/or taken out, and the idea of that sounds stressful. Yumi's past could be shown much more quickly and succinctly, and much of the Seed's time in San Fransisco would probably have to be cut. The part I see most clearly is the image of farms in Idaho, of the irrigation birds and the vast, expansive fields. Of country roads and dingy farm houses. I would be excited to represent a (probably romanticized) vision of rural Idaho. I think this could be a really great movie, the type of movie that people really like nowadays.

This week, as you prepare to share both your own eco-art, and that of other eco-artists, take a look @ this Philadelphia Inquirer article, Changing Skyline: Mural Arts Program's entry into Fairmount Park crosses boundaries, which Ava just shared with us, and which I think raises some really interesting questions about the necessity and effect of placing art (and what kinds of art?) in natural spaces.

ECON 136:  Week 9 Tasks

 Reminder:   I update my office hours by the end of Friday of the previous week.   If  none of those times work for you, then email me with all of the times you might be able to make work and I’m sure we can work something out.

Monday:  Valuing Amenities

Preparing for class:

Read this excerpt (pp. 43-54) from

Cairncross, F. (1992).   Costing the Earth: The Challenge for Governments, the Opportunities for Business. Harvard Business School Press. 

then read from middle of page 35 to top of page 39 of 

Tietenberg, T. and L. Lewis (2008).  Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, 8th ed.  Pearson.

The remainder of the excerpt contains additional details on valuation methods, if the topic particularly interests you.

Wednesday:  Valuing Life

Preparing for class: