LotW

This week: Burning Man.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the festival, albeit through word of mouth, or maybe some strange article on bunny suits in the middle of nowhere. For me, the introduction was in The Onion, when there was a satirical article proclaiming that everyone was "too busy" to attend, either because of work or parents. I thought, "ha ha. What a funny article on a fake festival!"

Several months later, I was shocked to read an article about a woman being crushed by a giant mechanical bird. It was quite upsetting, and I'm sure extremely traumatic for everyone involved with the festival. This was the true awakening I had to the festival.

Venturing onto their website, I encourage everyone to check out several things:

1. What IS Burning Man? This simply (or not so simply) answers the question; the terms radical, self-expression, and self-reliance crop up. Art and participation is highly common; and of course, there's a history.
2. 2007 Art Theme. This answers why this week. As the material has been about conservation/sustainability, I thought Burning Man's "Green Man" Theme would work well between a transition from Sustainability to Arts. Of course, the convergence of 30,000+ people to the middle of the desert is never truly sustainable (in terms of energy consumption - they do have an amazing track record of "leave no trace"), it's good to seem them try and create an awareness that even the most adherent among us still pollute.
3. Photos! This is where you want to go to find out what Burning Man looks like (you obviously can't get the entire experience, but it's a start). The architecture that develops is really incredible. The cars are both hideous and endearing. And of course, if you ARE looking for bunny suits, than I suppose they're there too.

I have yet to get to Burning Man (shoot, I haven't even been to Aura Man!), but I figure I'll keep it on my to-do list. For now, though, income and transportation aside, it will have to be an ideal, a utopia of art and economy and collective individuality springing up from the desert.

Of course, didn't they say that about Las Vegas?

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LotW

I rarely like to post links that are broken or outdated. Personally, I experience a lot of frustration clicking on link after link, only to find how incomplete a site actually is. This is especially true when you see something that strikes you as particularly fascinating.

[When I eventually see the photos from Rome, you will find that this doesn't hold for the real world. I do love visiting "ruins" - the name being a bit of a misnomer as what is left is a testament to their endurance and age. However, websites generally don't contain that sort of panache. Even sci-films taking a post-apocalyptic view of the world, with abandoned/run Las Vegas's, New York's et. al. have better scenery than "Page Not Found"]

This is why I was tentative to post Mr. Wendell Berry of Kentucky. As you scroll down, you will find quite a few of the links don't work, or lead to dead ends. This is truly sad; however, if you happen upon a hidden gem written by or about Mr. Berry, I am sure you will be struck by his ability to describe, in plain terms, the conflicting issues between man and nature he has witnessed during his life.

Truly a man of the earth, Wendell Berry, more than any other contemporary writer, is gifted and articulate enough to truly talk about issues such as strip-mining, mono cultures, plundering earth's resources, and scores of issues that rarely make the headlines or the hearts of the American people. Furthermore, he is respectable enough not to only highlight issues, but present feasible solutions (there is a wonderful essay in "Another Turn of the Crank" where he describes the business model of a Northern Michigan/Wisconsin Native American Tribe, who are able to log their reservation without diminishing the amount of wood. They've been doing this for 150 years!)

I say "gifted" not because he is imbued with a talent; but rather a perspective. He is a farmer. He subscribes to low energy use (he doesn't even use a tractor!), as well as the local economy (something evidently shunned by "The Economist"). He gained notoriety for his essay "Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer". He has weeded through the abstraction of the information age; and finds reality of the firm, fertile ground of his farm.

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LotW

Sorry, it's a bit tardy (update on Why coming soon)

Michael Pollan

If you ever feel the urge to learn the fullest history of potatoes, I would recommend reading Michael Pollan. I learned of him in my Dance Class last year when we heard him lecture (via cassette tape) about corn and the corn industry. It was one of those truly moving events when you start off thinking "I can't believe I'm actually going to listen to someone lecture about corn", and eventually finding out why on earth someone would, to passionately understanding and changing your ways.

Since then, I have consumed two of his books ("Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Botany of Desire"), and have begun to appreciate the ground, the food we eat, its intelligence, and its necessity. Soon I will have "A Place of My Own" which follows a similar experience, but he helps us see and ask about where we live, how it is constructed, and the implications.

Along with his books, he has written extensively on the food industry, as well as gardening, bringing to the front much that we may take for granted (an early paper "Why Mow?" proclaims "For however democratic a lawn may be with respect to one's neighbors, with respect to nature it is authoritarian. Under the mower's brutal indiscriminate rotor, the landscape is subdued, homogenized, dominated utterly" Now isn't that pretty sweet, or what?!) BTW, due to a little HTML glitch, the articles cannot be seen except for small white marks on the right side of the "Writing" page.

Finally, the links. Oh, the links! As much as Google talks about putting all the information in the world online, I think a more important facet of contemporary communications is the chance to share and expand that information. (another facet being individual and group identity) Pollan maintains thorough lists, alphabetically(!), serving the agricultural community a real treat.

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A little factoid

from The Oil Drum:

The cumulative production for crude oil through 2006 is about 1,000 Gb=
38.13 CMO or enough to fill up one third of Lake Erie (~115
CMO).

If you keep reading, you find out:

1. Some more interesting factoids
2. How James Kunstler is correct in saying alternative energy isn't enough to solve the impending oil crisis.

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