E.B. White

This from E. B. White, renown American writer and author of The Elements of Style (1959), Stuart Little (1945), and Charlotte's Web (1952) [NOTE: I love all three of these books]: 

"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority".

I would, too. 

Happy Birthday, Susan

My root teacher, Tokudo Ji-on Susan Postal, would have celebrated her 75th birthday today. She continues to teach and inspire me, and I will continue to celebrate her life. Happy Birthday, Susan. [NOTE: Lovely photo by S. Bernstein]. 

Buddhist Art of Myanmar

Saw a beautiful exhibition of Buddist art from Myanmar this weekend at the Asia Society. Seventy pieces, including stone, bronze and wood sculptures, textiles, paintings, and lacquer ritual implements, from the 5th through the early 20th century. Was the first time that most of the objects had been outside of Myanmar. Go here for a nice video of the restoration process involved in getting the pieces ready for travel to the exhibition. [NOTE: Photos weren't allowed, but I purchased the exhibition catalogue and will try to scan and post some images at some point. Really amazing stuff]. 

Keep It In The Ground

First The Guardian Media Group pulled out of fossil fuels, and now they have started an initiative to encourage other organizations to move toward fossil fuel divestment. Their Keep it in the Ground campaign, done in collaboration with 350.org, makes a simple argument:

"Fossil fuel companies cannot go on prospecting for more coal, oil and gas reserves when the proven reserves already owned by governments and corporations are three to five times higher than we can safely burn without risking dangerous climate change".

Gulp. Hard to argue with this. And it is way past time. Go here to sign the petition to urge two of the world's biggest charitable funds, i.e. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wellcome Trust, to move their money out of fossil fuels. And have a nice weekend. 

Wu Kang and the Katsura Trees

This, from the Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Entitled "Wu Kang on His Way to Fell the Katsura Trees on the Moon", a beautiful color woodcut by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, (1839 - 1892) from the Meiji Period in Japan. [NOTE: Just a thought, but this woodcut would make a terrific t-shirt. I mean, really, what forester wouldn't love this].   

Head Over Heels

Beautifully realized stop-motion animation from Timothy Reckart. A student project that went on to be nominated for an Academy Award. For those days when you and your partner seem to be occupying completely different gravitational spaces. It happens. And can be resolved. Love this little movie. Level of detail is amazing.     

Three Years Ago Today

Three years ago today I was standing in front of this exquisite pagoda-like structure at the Royal Palace complex in Phnom Penh. [NOTE: I remember that there was a delicious, cool breeze in the shade where I took the picture]. 

Thoughts on Science and Nature (From the Archive)

This from C.S. Lewis in English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, Oxford, 1954, pp.3-4:

What was fruitful in the thought of the new scientists was the bold use of mathematics in the construction of hypotheses, tested not by observation simply but by controlled observation of phenomena that could be precisely measured. On the practical side, it was this that delivered Nature into our hands (emphasis mine). By reducing Nature to her mathematical elements it substituted a mechanical for a genial or animistic conception of the universe. The world was emptied, first of her indwelling spirits, then of her occult sympathies and antipathies, finally of her colors, smells, and tastes. 

Man with his new powers became rich like Midas but all that he touched had gone dead and cold. This process, slowly working, ensured during the next century the loss of the old mythical imagination: the conceit, and later the personified abstraction, takes its place.

This passage rewards re-reading slowly. In spite of what I do for a living (see What I Do), there is much, very much, that I agree with here.

[NOTE: These thoughts go well with several of my recent post, e.g. A Song of the Rolling Earth, Planetary, Zen and the Art of Planetary Crisis]. 

Office Bulletin Board

A small section of the bulletin board behind the computer in my office. Selected items:

1. The Indonesian license plate from our Land Rover in West Kalimantan

2. Arrival card from my first trip to Myanmar in 2005

3. Trading card of Son Goku in his Super Saiyan form 

4. Ticket to 2007 Farm Aid concert on Randall's Island. Row B (second row), Seat 5.

5. Mr. Yu's handwritten list of plant species from our transects in Guizhou

6. Pamphlet from the USDA Plant Pathogen and Quarantine Program about how to set up an appointment to have your shipments from overseas inspected. We had just moved back from Indonesia and had lots of boxes. 

[NOTE: It's amazing that I get anything done with all of this to look at].

Planetary

Trailer for an upcoming documentary about the planet, the universe, humans, plants, animals, mountains, and rivers, and that each and every thing is interconnected and inseparable from the other. Interesting premise, no? It's  time. Includes contributions from astronauts, ecologists, poets, teachers, environmental activists, indigenous elders, Zen priests, philosophers, and storytellers. Go here for more infomation about the film.