Camera, Beehive Collective, and other things.

I'd like to start with a video I found from this past summer. I believe it was taken the morning after the thunderstorm video/twilight video were taken in this post.


Well, what's on my mind the most right now is my aunt. She has cancer, and recently got another dose of radiation to the brain. She is now not responding to people. This terrifies me. It sucks to think that it's a problem that seems uncontrollable. So I just want to plea to the human race to get over their greed and solve the controllable problems so we can focus on ones like this. Please.

Anyhow... The other day (tuesday and wednesday), I went to a talk/activist workshop with an awesome artist/environmentalist group called the Beehive Collective. On Tuesday, they were presenting a huge mural that represented the coal industry in Appalachia and its effects. The mural is read like a time-line from left to right, starting with the indigenous peoples of America, moving on into colonialism, and then into the whole current problematic system of exploitation (of both workers and the world) that is the coal industry. Then it goes to see a healed future where we progress to clean energy and return to more land-based living.



I absolutely love how the Bees traveled around talking to people, thus coming to the realization that social justice and economic inequality are so very closely tied to environmentalism. I also like how they focused on the importance of a deep connection to the land that our ancestors once had, and how that is part of the solution to live on a sustainable planet.

All of their artwork is Anti-Copyright, meaning it is for non-commercial use. Anyone can use it to raise awareness, add to their artwork, etc. so long as its free and public. That's how the land has to be.

Anyway, I have been reading this book Greed to Green by Charles Derber, and it is pretty great so far. It talks a lot about the intertwining aspects of the economy and the environment. One thing that struck me as unusual, though, was that at one point Derber talks about the problem of suburban sprawl, and how people need to curb their desire to have more open land and just live in cities, where housing is compact.

I get his point, but the problem is not the desire for land, the problem is the reification and privatization of the land. If we could have open, natural land that was available for all to use responsibly and respectfully, then that would by far outdo any sort of city living.

Derber sees more leisure as the solution to becoming less consumptive in our current "work more, consume more, enjoy less" society. But I see nature being the key. I have had free time in the city. I still consume. Granted, I am not near my family in the city, but neither are millions who live in them. Nature is the key.

Nature is one of two fundamental desires (other than needs like food, sleep, etc.), the other being a genuine communal social life.

I like that Beehive Collective understands the importance of returning to a more land-based lifestyle.

Finally, I (and I realize the hypocrisy given what I just said about consumption) recently got a Canon sx30is camera. I am looking forward to capturing nature with it to share. I became an RA for a new dorm here at college, which is why my parents got it. I just hope I can put it to good use to share the beauty and importance of nature.

Peace.