Disney's Possible Version of the Ecological Indian?

For some reason, this example just came to me as I began my spring break re-watching old-school Disney movies (from the 1990s). It dawned on me that Pocahontas would be a movie that would provide a perfect example of the way Ecological Indians are viewed, especially in the scene where Pocahontas sings to John Smith about the Colors of the Wind. In case people no longer own the video, here's a youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkV-of_eN2w

Molly Maguires

I found this YouTube video on the Molly Maguires. It gives some history and description on the group--didn't realize they were so violent! It's a pretty interesting story.

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRoVTu2izx0

Wanderer

So the other day in class someone asked about the dimensions to the "wanderer above the sea of fog painting." well fortunately the wikipedia page for the painting has them, as well as some very detailed descriptions and commentary. enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog

Thoreau's railroad cut and Japanese landslide

Looking through the horrific images of the destruction in Japan, I came across the photo below on the right. It is an image of a landslide over railroad tracks, which I noticed to be quite similar in composition to the photo on the left of the railroad cut from class the other day.

Youtube of the Tsunami

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXNcENPoAA

I guess with the onset of things such as youtube, it is getting easier by the day to observe how truly awesome and powerful nature is. I was looking for footage after I read an article in the New York Times that mentioned how much video coverage was being posted online.

Here is the NYT article http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/video-of-the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan/?scp=2&sq=japan%20youtube&st=cse

I think that perhaps the most interesting thing is the comments on the youtube clip. I think events like this really open peoples eyes to the devastating power of nature.

Primitive Pursuits

This past Summer I decided to stay in Ithaca. I wanted to find a job that would connect me more with the community and surrounding areas and after some job searching I stumbled upon an outdoor education program for children known as Primitive Pursuits. I have always been interested and active in outdoor activities and knew that working with children to foster this same interest in them was something that appealed to me. I signed on to be an assistant field instructor for eight weeks of Primitive Pursuits Summer Camp. This experience would allow me to see nature and humans as one in the same as opposed to two separate entities.

Throughout the Summer I learned how to make a fire after walking into the woods with just a knife and a piece of rope, how to make a shelter from things found only in the forest that would keep you warm and dry, how to sneak up on animals and how to hunt using various tools such as the atl-atl, bow and arrow and tomahawk. But most importantly I connected with nature in a way that I had never experienced before.

This experience pushed me to see nature in a different light. I began to think of nature as a balancing agent, something that was capable of bringing me back to reality even when all other aspects of my life seemed to be falling apart. I marveled and continue to marvel at this phenomenon. It was exciting to learn so many new and interesting primitive skills, such as those I discussed above, but even more amazing was this newly discovered force that I found to be essential to the life I was living. In conclusion, I challenge those who dismiss pursuits of a primitive way of life as nonsense, folklore and irrelevant to today to rethink their position on this matter. Might it not be the skills and technicalities of such a pursuit that are valuable but rather a simple questioning of your current state of being?

Check out the Primitive Pursuits program here:

http://ccetompkins.org/4h/primitive-pursuits

http://cinema.cornell.edu/EarlySpring2011/legend_of_pale_male.html

Check out this movie at Cornell Cinema!

The fall of the roman empire

J. Donald Hughes in his book ‘Pan’s Travail,’ claims there was an ecological dimension to the fall of the Roman Empire (page 6). I am not denying that Rome had extensive ecological and health problems I am merely insinuating that though these problems afflicted the Roman people it had absolutely nothing to do with the fall of the Empire itself. Some sources claim Rome was basically polluting the citizens to death. Upper class citizens used lead so extensively people were dying of lead poisoning, Romans were not particularly adept at soil conservation, and they experienced their own medieval form of air pollution. They were also known for their sewage filled streets and their extensive timbering.

Yes these environmental issues will seem like that could topple the empire, but the problem with such a theory is that Rome was well accustomed to these problems by the peak of Rome’s power around the middle of the second century. Instead, the fall of the Roman Empire was attributed to an overall military, political and economic breakdown. The economic difficulties were not brought about as a result of trying to stifle environmental problems. On the contrary, it came about due to the military and populace strain of an ever-expanding empire.

The details of the fall cannot be completely documented here but as a synopsis, Rome’s demise or decline was a three century ordeal. The empire got so large that it was eventually split in two. This political system has been seen as staple for the beginning of Rome’s definite end. Eventually, the Western part of the Empire fell to the barbarians hired to protect it (Rome’s military problems progressed so that her son’s no longer protected the state). Even with the fall of the Western Empire the Eastern half persisted until 1453 where it fell to (nothing to do with environmental problems) to the Ottoman Empire.

            The English Empire (the largest empire ever), which basically spanned from 1583 to 1997, too saw its share of environmental difficulties, such that the Roman problems seem trivial in comparison. Yet this empire too persisted until it was destroyed by war (as all empires seem to be). The greatest nations of today are not free of this environmental plague. The strength of a nation is determined on its accumulated resources that in turn dictate waste and consumption. Therefore I suggest, that at least to the present, that history suggests that the most powerful countries, those that truly affect world affairs are not destroyed by environmental degradation but instead rise because of or in spite of it.

just over a week away... Support the people who feed you and care for the environment

Here is a link to the NAtional Ag Day website which helps kick off Ag week which is March 13-19. Stop and think about where your food comes from and try to connect with a farmer near you... You might be surprised by all the things they do to care for the environment and feed the world on a daily basis!

http://www.agday.org/AboutAgDay2011.pdf

A comment about The Ecological Indian

I just wanted to comment on what I thought was one of the most important things Krech did throughout his book -- He consistently named specific tribes, as well as citing the differences between them. I think this is especially important considering his comment about masking cultural diversity; he does a great job of differentiating the various tribes and their cultures. Good job Krech, for avoiding generalizations! (It definitely made me respect him more as an author when I noticed that he had not fallen into a very tempting trap.)

Dairy industry and 2012 farm bill

News today that NY Senator Gillibrand wants to overhaul the milk pricing system prior to the farm bill...

http://www.dairyherd.com/dairy-news/latest/NY-Senator-plans-to-help-dairy-farmers-before-2012-Farm-Bill-117188973.html

The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded

Here is the painting I mentioned in class: Steve Hannock, "The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded":

http://www.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinmagazine/archives/images/oxbow_web_big.jpg

It's exhibited at the MET, not the Guggenheim.

Close up:

What you can't see well are the words written all over the canvas

And here is an excerpt from an article on Hannock:

http://www.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinmagazine/archives/features/003584.shtml

Looking at Hannock's sprawling canvasses, muscular but still studied and restrained, you can see what he means. He's deeply influenced by the great American landscape painters of the 19th century, especially the Hudson River School - George Inness, Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church - whose sweeping vistas of rugged Eastern terrain were imbued with a sense of the romantic and the sublime.

He also takes some cues from painters like the English proto-impressionistJ.M.W. Turner, whose canvasses, bathed in golden glow, treat light almost as a sacrament. Hannock feels the same way. His subjects - the Connecticut River oxbow luxuriating in summer dusk, glinting waterfalls beneath glowing pink skies, flooded plains refracting and amplifying the light of setting sun, a train traversing the horizon at twilight, rockets piercing the dark night with deafening illumination - revel in the transportive aspect of luminosity. He said that when he paints, he's not painting mountains, water, and trees so much as he's painting light itself: they exist only to give it a place on which to play.

Early summer evenings are his favorite. "There's just something about the mood that's created during these short-lived times of day. Whether it makes the viewer or somebody who's witnessing the event more appreciative of what's going on. It just seems to be a time of day where people take pause. The motion of light, whether it's fireworks, or a car that's just gone by where you just see a streak of light, or light coming through a fog bank, it's an unlikely miracle moment that's a detonator for all sorts of stuff in people. It's something different for everybody. But I respect the power of what's going on there. I don't understand it, but I think the more I paint it, the more I'm beginning to understand it. It's the kind of thing where that search, that effort to learn what that's about, is an exciting trip. If anything, it's a reminder that it's the trip that's worthwhile."

His landscapes are unique. "I don't have any foreground," he says, pointing at a canvas in the corner that might as well be the view out a flat window. "You have to break that two-dimensional plane before you get the objects that are holding the light. Water or air. It's a neat way to bring you into the painting." Also, he doesn't tend to lug his canvas and paints out into the wilderness, as many of his 19th century forebears did. Nor does he work from photographs. "It's all imaginary. Sometimes I'll do ink drawings [as studies]. I tend to exaggerate things that are being interpreted. That exaggeration creates these rhythms that disappear with photography. Photography is flat."

Hannock, who's ambidextrous and paints with both hands, achieves his remarkable effects - canvasses that literally seem to glow - with a technique of his own invention: polishing the oil on the canvas with wet-dry sandpaper on a power sander. By painting, sanding, applying more paint and gloss, then sanding them again, it gives his works a texture and luminosity he couldn't achieve with a brush alone. "It creates accents and gives you a surface that really reflects a pure light and allows you to achieve a mood much better than the traditional way of applying paint."

Landscapes, to put it plainly, are not currently in vogue in this world of conceptual art and envelope-pushing provocateurs. Some have called Hannock an anachronism, with his candid affection for "old-fashioned" painters. He doesn't care. And anyway, his aren't exactly "traditional" landscapes. Back in 1990, quite by accident, he discovered what would become another hallmark of his style. "I used to take old envelopes and soak up excess paint," he says. "One day I soaked up the paint and threw it away and missed the wastebasket." He noticed that text on the front of the letter showed through the paint, just a little. Eureka.

Hannock now underlays many of his painting with documents or photographs or handwritten letters that are resonant to him. Sometimes he'll write, subtly, directly into the paint, giving his canvasses an added texture. These personal notes are hard to see - especially in reproduction - but once you get near enough to look closely, to really lean in and inspect them, the effect is profound, giving the sense of a multilayered excavation of history. "I'll just use anecdotes that strike me in certain ways," Hannock says. It makes his paintings exquisitely evocative of a particular space and time.

Not everyone liked the technique at first. Some thought it ruined a perfectly good landscape. "Even these abstract expressionist guys, these guys from the New York School, were saying, 'Oh, why are you writing on them?!' Of all people!"

The Ecological Indian in Pop Culture

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s04e07-cherokee-hair-tampons

To me, this cartoon sums up Krech's purpose perfectly. Western culture was willing to accept outlandish ideas about nature from "Native Americans", or people who resembled Native Americans, because of the stereotype we have developed. Krech simply wanted to instill question into the readers mind on whether or not all Native Americans are environmental gurus. I wonder if Krechs book had any influence on the making of this cartoon.

Make this call in the wild: Should Oregon shoot barred owls to save spotted owls?

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/02/make_this_call_in_the_wild_sho.html

New exhibit at Olin

Info on a new exhibit coming to Olin Library next week:

Animal Legends:
From the Trojan Horse to Godzilla

March 4, 2011 - September 30, 2011
Hirshland Exhibition Gallery
Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

On March 4, 2011 the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections will open the exhibition, “Animal Legends: From the Trojan Horse to Godzilla.” Drawing on the Library’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and other artifacts, “Animal Legends” will explore how and why humans choose to elevate certain individual animals or species to the status of divinities, emblems, mascots, heroes, or celebrities.

Opening lecture, Friday, March 4, 2011:

“Love, Paradise, and the Rise of the Animal in English Literature”
Laura Brown, John Wendell Anderson Professor of English &
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
5 p.m., Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall

Reception immediately following:
6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Hirshland Gallery, Level 2B, Carl A. Kroch Library
Information for visitors

Looks like fun.

Speaking of rivers catching on fire...

I'm sure most people have seen this, but enjoy anyway. If you haven't seen the first Cleveland Tourism video, click that as well when you're on YouTube.

Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video: 2nd Attempt
NSFW. Also, perhaps not the most socially sensitive video, but irreverence seems to be our generation's thing.

Stop global warming

This WWF Finland advertisement is almost exactly like the Keep America Beautiful campaign except with polar bears instead of Iron Eyes Cody. Guilt and sympathy is again the tactic, with nature the clear victim of evil cities . Both ads also end with the same lesson- you can stop pollution/global warming.
Polar bears have become a symbol of the effects of climate change just as Iron Eye's Cody became the face of the anti-pollution campaign. Polar bears are of course not the only species or even the species most affected by global warming, but their cultural significance, likeability, and extreme habitat make them the perfect charismatic mega-fauna for the task.

Hypocrisy in Nature

Before this class, ask me what I thought was involved in a hunt and I would tell you that a hunt simply involves the killing or trapping of an animal. But after attending some of the lectures from this class, I have learned that there is more to hunting than a simple chase and/or kill. Neither did I think that the act of hunting would be more reserved toward the elite than the average commoner. Although after learning all I did from class, the people thought up about almost every aspect of the hunting game, and it surprised me that some of those ideas had not crossed my mind earlier.

The most interesting aspect of the hunt that I learned about was the use of the dogs to hunt the others animals. After learning about it in class, I re-watched Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I noticed in the scene where Gaston chases after the Beast that dogs were released into the woods in order to trap the Beast. Not only did I feel Gaston was cheating (as I was rooting for the welfare for the Beast), I noticed just how much the dogs were incorporated into the hunt, something that should have been a battle between only man and animal, and not man, his animal, and other animals. It surprised me for many reasons, all originally stemming on the hypocrisy of the matter.

In Virgin Huntresses and Bleeding Feasts, hunting is defined as “the deliberate, direct, violent killing of unrestrained wild animals…the hunt is thus by definition an armed confrontation between humanness and wildness” (30). Yet, taking dogs and incorporating them into the hunt is considered okay. How can that work when, according to the same text, “the hunted animal must also be free—that is, able to flee (and to strike back at) its human assailment” (29)? It is something I have yet to grasp, though I am aware there are a lot of instances when people find justifications for what they do so that it fits their agenda. Hunting and using the dogs in order to corner animals that should be “able to flee,” I feel, falls under the category of something that was justified. It must have been, if the use of taking dogs along on hunts was allowed to continue.

A recent Wired.com article on the end of Verizon’s unlimited data plan bore some striking similarities to what one might expect from a Sierra Club article. On current data usage, Chetan Sharma, owner of a telecom consulting agency, had this to say:

"So far, the ecosystem hasn’t paid attention to delivery efficiency. Content developers rarely care how much data is being transferred…. Now there’s room for technology that can help change that….It was unsustainable….It couldn’t have gone on forever."

To see the “tech biz” co-opting “eco” terminology is an incredible testament to the prominence the environmental debate in mainstream culture, and a fascinating example of the evolution of language. Is this a signal that concern over those other ecosystems has reached a critical mass, or is it becoming white noise, just there to expand the “tech biz” lexicon? Is there room for technology that might make our other development sustainable? Or, are we just that much more concerned about the costs of data plans than the unaccounted for costs of living beyond the earth's means?

Deer versus Polar Bears

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exzbRfVcdKQ

Today I stumbled upon this youtube video of a wild white tail deer jumping into a polar bear tank at the zoo. It successfully took on the polar bears and ran away. Once it ran away, the zoo killed the wild deer because it was too aggressive/dangerous. The video had upwards of three million views! I wonder how people felt when they learned that this "heroic" Bambi-esque deer was killed by the zoo. It was kind of a reminder of how mindless deer are (not only do they run in front of cars, yet they jump into polar bear tanks...)