I returned to Maine and was immediately overcome by the rich fragrances, flourishing azaleas & rhodeodendrons. It is alarming to see how dry the soil is however. But today has been a perfect spring day of cerulean blue sky line against the ultramarine ocean. In the garden my orange and magenta wild tulips from Iran are still blooming alongside the blue muscari but a rabbit got every last crocus. In my kitchen, there are ants. That used to be a sure sign in California that rain was coming but I rarely see ants here at all. In August, the level of the aquifer will tell the tale of the rainfall tally for the year.
This is the best thing I’ve heard in years: polar bears declared a threatened species in the US. This at least opens the door to closing the door on some of the worst exploitation ever projected for the Arctic and consequently, the whole world.
Tuesday will be the occasion of my 100th podcast of the Virtual Concerts. It is fitting that my guest at this milestone, will be Dr. Michele Dionne, wetlands expert from the Wells NERR in Wells, Maine. We will discuss the accelerated pace of erosion and storm damage from loss of wetlands as global warming accelerates. We have collaborated formally & informally since 1993. The goal of this episode will be to explore how such relationships can contribute towards and be models for solving problems in coastal regions.
Last night I had dinner with my best friend, still thinking about the symposium on "Unlearning Intolerance" I had attended at the United Nations Thursday, got to bed late and woke at least five times in the night. This morning, I didn't ask myself how tired I was. I responded to several emails, did my singing practice, attended an on-line meeting, had a nourishing breakfast and set off for a ballet class. People think if you have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, you are too tired to function. Altho that's often true, other times it's possible to act as if you feel like a normal person. Then the fatigue sets in afterwards, lingering for days.
Sort of like using energy & resources we don't have in the larger human community relying on fossil fuels.
At 12:30, on my way home, I did some food shopping, lingering over possibilities of lavendar aromatherapy spray and settiling for Calm tea and salad dressing made with artichokes and had it all delivered, for which I paid $4. I was determined to have a normal day, like a normally healthy person, regardless of how much I might collapse afterwards.
After a sumptuous & leisurely lunch, over a half hour, of salad with the artichoke dressing I had bought, salmon and turkey slices, crackers and completed with a 1 oz square of dark chocolate, I went to a Chinese medicinal massagist who worked hard on me for one hour. I did not think about the fossil fuels to deliver any of the ingedients of my lunch. On the massage table, I thought about how I might solve some work problems I was considering since the United Nations events and tried to relax, even after having seen the chart with the prices on it. He charged me $120. He told me that I am weak and have a chronic condition. Apparently, the only remedy he had was for me to come as many days as possible a week, perhaps for the rest of life, for $120. each time. At that rate, I had better have a short life. Sort of like human culture, as Jim Hanson says, in the face of global warming?
I am considering how 350.org, composed entirely of young people fighting to get emissions standards to 350 parts, could work with more jaded & experienced people, as myself.
At home, I did a deep conditioning on my hair, ignored the drawn and pale woman in the mirror, put on a face mask, studied some work that is due next week for a book out of Germany: how can I condense all I know, think and have done onto one page that reads clearly (?) and tried not to think about what it might cost me out of my spending plan to feel normal after a normal day for more than one day. Then I washed my clothes and cleaned the bathtub.
It is 4:45 PM. Perhaps $124. and bed rest to follow, is not a bad price for a vacation. Tomorrow is another day.
Recently, an arts adminsitrative colleague posed the question of why it's so hard to engage artists in the conceptual process, early in the team prrocess of public art. She knows the reason isn't the interest of artists but the attachment of others to commodified objects from artists.
As an artist very committed to the conceptual & intellectual process I find her efforts important.
As an artist with CFS, I find it tiresome and discouraging that so far down the line of the kinds of ideas that she's referencing, the battle is still up such a steep slope.
The reasons it's hard to get across new ideas about public, ecological art are simple. The attachment of the powers to be, funders, officials to the enshrined but undemanding object is sentimental. It keeps artists in cages, where we can't do damage to the status quo.
Rosylynn Deutsche said it best, a while back: the culture will support what supports the status quo.
The past few days, I've been in touch with some young people who've started a new site, 350.org, to address global warming internationally. I offered my help and advice as an ecological artist. I have been very moved by the freshness and enthusiasm of their vision. Bill McKibben is guiding them and he is in touch with Jim Hansen. McKibben writes of the mission of this site:
"350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth."
It is now at 383 parts. Their immediate target is coal. They expect to virtually mobilize young people globally to engage in activism and want input from artists: a good thing. Previously, the same group initiated "step it up 2007" which mobilized 1500 actions nationally.
This past week, my stamina has steadily dwindled as I've struggled to show up for professional & personal obligations. Tonight, a busy neighbor called and offered to help me do my laundry tomorrow morning. I am very grateful for her kind generosity.
The connection between 350.org, these personal events, my CFS and global warming, is that we might just make it, with a little help from our friends.
