Entries Tagged 'creative' ↓

Recently I have been more aware of my carbon footprint, energy consumption and the all-around sustainability of my actions. Many books, articles, documentaries have stimulated thought and offered solutions, and through this gathering of information I have become acutely aware that “saving the planet” must start with me and my sphere of influence.  One interesting thing I have found is an article on the Pacific Garbage Patch, a amalgamation of floating plastic (polymer based material that is non-biodegradable).  This floating patch of waste is no small matter as it is currently the size of the continent of Africa. What!

Finding out about these ecological disaster areas motivates me to reduce my plastic intake. In lue of this, I have taken two steps towards reducing my plastic consumption… they are relatively easy, albeit sometimes hard to implement, and are in-line with a pledge I took to Rise Above Plastic, through the Surfrider Foundation (of which I’ve been a member of since 2006).

Using reusable bottles for water and other drinks, you will keep 167 single-use plastic bottles from entering the environment.

Using cloth bags for groceries and other purchases you will save approximately 400 plastics from being used and discarded.

I challenge you to take the pledge and help lessen your carbon footprint on the earth. It is a small, but important step in changing your behavior towards the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle).  Hardest part about it is remembering the clothe bags before you go in the grocery store (I keep them in my truck and then when I’m done unloading I put them by the door to take back out to my truck.  Also I keep my Sigg water bottle in the side pocket of my messenger bag, so I always have it handy.

creative, lyrically driven, political, rebellious spouting… Find him here.

This Sunday I am traveling about as far away from Oklahoma as I can… All the way across the globe to Indonesia, with most of our two weeks spent on an island west of Sumatera.  I am going with a great friend of mine, Joe Hall, who lived there for the past 3 years and will be the tour guide for the trip.  From what I know, we are going to be doing some disaster relief with an International NGO, which includes teaching some farming techniques, some ESL, some construction and some repairs.  It is a mixture of traveling for travelings sake while also doing some good.  A mixture I think I am preferring, rather than just traveling for the exotic food and beers…  While in Trinidad last year I helped build an addition to a building, mixing mortar, stacking cinder blocks, carrying cement, and other labor intensive tasks.  It was a way to soak in the culture, be around the locals and do good.

I leave on Sunday, May 11 and will be gone till the 25th.  I don’t think I will have computer access, though I will be journaling and taking mad photos… so be on the look out for a random entry and then a dumping when I get back.  I can honestly say that I am looking forward to the experience and am getting incredibly anxious for the 30 hour travel day… blah.

matthew chapter five verses sixteen thru twenty:

“But you will recognize them by their fruits. You don’t find sweet, delicious grapes growing on thorny bushes, do you? You don’t find delectable figs growing in the midst of prickly thistles. People and communities and lives are like trees. Good trees bear beautiful, tasty fruit, but bad trees bear ugly, bitter fruit. A good tree cannot bear ugly, bitter fruit; nor can a bad tree bear fruit that is beautiful and tasty. And what happens to the rotten trees? They are cut down. They are used for firewood.”

I am working on a triptych, for the brand new mountain speeches art show on May 3rd, using 3 doors, I am collaborating with other artists to create a revolving door piece. With each door representing a chapter of the sermon on the mount. I have been working on chapter seven, and have been responding on the above excerpt. Right now I seem to be obsessing about trees. I did a talk seven times last year to various audiences using a visual of a tree and the concept of “Up, In and Out.” That as followers of the Way, we are nourished by the roots, which are Jesus and his teachings (Up); and then as we internalize his words, we become regenerated from the inside (In); and begin to grow outward, our branches stretch to the Sun and we begin to produce fruit for nourishment and shade for protection (Out). Using Jesus’ words and the words of Paul in Romans eleven thru twelve, we get a glimpse of what it looks like to be a follower of the Way, an incarnation of the Truth (read: Jesus), in the here and now of our day.

Hopefully, the idea in my head of what the final project is will come to fruition… as two others are working on chapter five and six doors. I have already had the help of two artists on the chapter seven door (it is after all a work of collaboration, a community response), Emily Curley has helped me with some sketches of Trees that I will have to carve out, and Samantha Lamb has contributed some pictures for the depiction of fruit. Go to brandnewmountainspeeches.com for more information and click on the link to the blog for some other artists ideas. Cool.