Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
The natural environment, w/o any help from homo saps, has managed to
conjure up some truly amazing disasters in the past.  

The one we're working so hard to create will go into the list, but
probably not too close to the top.  The effects on our very complex
and delicate civilization will be rather dire.
  

    
I like this year's EFF tshirt...Cute cat reading 1984 while its tail
covers a surveillance camera. The stricker "FIGHT DYSTOPIA" struck
me as a bit weird and negative, until this SOTW..

http://www.eff.org   consider donating and/or taking part if you
have any more bandwidth left. 

Heck of a finish guys and girls...Jon, thank you for the playlist!
:)
Now I shall continue to do my housework and spring, I live in
Phoenix, Spring cleaning.
  

    
Re: climate....like it or not, Gaia will have the last word...we may
well want to start listening, stop talking and start doing.
  

    
>National Resources Defense Council has a list of actions you can
take to stop global warming. "Healing the planet starts in your
garage, in your kitchen, and at your dining-room table."
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-you-can-stop-global-warming

>How many of those actions are you taking in your own life?


Let's see, for me, 6 yes, 1 partial yes, 2 with the help of
government, 1 working on it, 1 learning about it, 1 no.


>Anthropogenic climate change isn't going to cause "*the extinction
of life as we've known it*". It's going to bring humans close to
extinction or worse, it's going to cause many species to disappear.
Life will go on.

Ultimately it doesn't depend on the heat, it depends on if the air
is still breathable. What I learned about climate this year was
getting the sense of how the cascade of events could take a path
toward various sorts of unbreathably different atmospheres and toxic
oceans.

Those individual actions have to become like the wheeling turns of a
flock of birds to have a chance of catching up in counterbalance and
inventiveness to the already locked in change coming to us from the
future effects of the carbon already there, triggering sink
overloads and runaway feedback amplifications.

And the image I'm going away with from this year's conversation is
the bumbling around individual ants, and their role in social
intelligence and how we think about artificial intelligence.
  

    
"Nine Reasons to be Optimistic about Climate Change in 2018":
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k5k8y/nine-reasons-to-be-optimistic-about-
climate-change-in-2018

"Why 2018 must be a pivotal year for climate action":
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/why-2018-must-be-a-pivotal-year-for-cli
mate-action/

"The World Economic Forum will release its Global Risk Report ahead
of the Annual Meeting in Davos at the end of January. The climate
remains high on the agenda for the fifth year running, with
recognition that we are reaching crisis point in many parts of the
world. Government, business and civil society leaders will meet at
the event to discuss the unintended but dire environmental
consequences of continuing to rely on old economic growth models and
assumptions about wealth creation that are hindering investment in
low-carbon and climate-smart solutions. More holistic thinking will
be encouraged to reduce emissions, build resilience and plan for a
structured transition to a low-carbon economy."

Meanwhile the Trump government is digging its head into the sand:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/climate/climate-change-trump.html?_r=0

"Why are these federal agencies putting so much effort into ‘science
cleansing’ instead of using time and resources to fulfill agency
responsibilities, such as protecting the environment and advancing
energy security? Removing information regarding climate change from
federal websites does not affect the reality of climate change, but
may serve to obfuscate the subject and inject doubt regarding the
scientific consensus that climate change is happening and that it is
caused by human activity."
  

    
Thanks to Shebar for posting that.

I was surprised how many of those NRDC suggestions I can check, too.
I also think that those of us educated enough and with funds enough
to do these things are not going to be the sufficient solution. Of
course we (individuals) should do them. But we (societies) also have
to change a whole lot beyond individual purchase and remediation
choices.

(Despite the surreal juxtaposition, thanks for making up that
playlist.)
  

    
Yes, thanks for the playlist! I intended irony, not criticism.
  

    
Yesterday was the official end date for this discussion, however it
is still open for posting for anyone interested in making additional
contributions. Thanks to my friend and SOTW colleague <bruces>, and
to all others who contributed here. Still hopeful about 2018!
Onward, as they say, through the fog.
  

    
I don't go out of my way seeking electronic music I didn't make, but
I think it was early last year when I heard this piece on the radio
and sat in the car outside the theater performance I was attending
waiting to hear who made it.  Katie Gately, from Los Angeles. I'm
her great audience. 

https://soundcloud.com/katiegately/sets/pivot-excerpt-from-fat-cat-uk
  

    
<demaris> That's pretty great. I found more of her stuff on Google
Music. Pivot is included in an album called Split Series #23.
  

    
I couldn't find the "1984" tee shirt on the EFF site. Direct link?

I have to self promote a little by including the link to my one
electronic banjo recording. It's from 2010, but the guy I recorded
it with seemed pretty cutting edge at the time: Wes Forehand being
the  person who introduced me to circuit bending.

<https://lawrenceforehand.bandcamp.com/track/jocelyn-street>

Send him a dollar: I'm sure it'll make his day!
  

    
It's the shirt with the cat reading 1984...you get it automatically
with a $25.00 donation
  

    
self-promote away John :)
  

    
If only this had been published earlier!

<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/sponsors/zurich/the-global-risks--risks-trends-
interconnections-map-2018/?adv=6712&prx_t=Kl4DAAAAAAFEANA>
  

    
Yes Charles, saw that this morning...should be an interesting track
to follow for the next few days.
  

    
Here's the full report from which the risks map comes.

<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/sponsors/zurich/the-global-risks--risks-trends-
interconnections-map-2018/?adv=6712&prx_t=Kl4DAAAAAAFEANA>
  

    
Thx for the pointer
  

    
Looking forward to the 2019 edition coming any day now...
  

    
moi aussi, <keta>
  

    
We launch January 2...
  

    
yeah that's today