Book Launch: The Way of Coyote

Public welcome!

 

How cities are driving animal evolution

Reposted from WHYY

 

Guest: Menno Schilthuizen

Our fast-paced crowded cities aren’t just impacting our lives, they are shaping animal evolution, even accelerating it. To survive the noise, smog, traffic, light and heat of our urban jungles, wildlife has had to quickly adapt. In his new book, Darwin Comes to Town, evolutionary biologist MENNO SCHILTHUIZEN explains how cities are driving natural selection in animals all around the world, including in mosquitoes in London, spiders in Vienna, and mice in New York.

Thanks again and always to Dirk Felleman at Synthetic Zero

This was I-10 before Harvey. Now it looks like an ocean

By Paul P. Murphy, CNN
Updated 3:30 PM ET, Wed August 30, 2017

(CNN)Logan Wheat went out on a small boat to check on cattle and ended up capturing one of the most startling photos of flooding from Harvey.

See article here.

The Vertigo of Power: A Review of Stephen Graham’s “Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers”

Posted on November 29, 2016 by edmundberger

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: The Vertigo of Power: A Review of Stephen Graham’s “Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers”

Strange Fungus Seen in Chicago

Kay Read perplexed Liam Heneghan and frightened Christine Skolnik when she shared this photo at a Chicago Climate Festival meeting today.  Randall Honold remained uncharacteristically calm and philosophical.

The fungus was discovered and photographed by Kay’s husband, Edward Read, who manages the strip garden on Carmen Avenue and Marine Drive, in Lincoln Park (where this creature was found), as well as the nearby native plants garden.  Mr. Read is curious to know what kind of fungus we are dealing with, so please share and/or comment.

Note: The black object to the right is a baseball cap, for reference.

Re-Imagining Ecology

From CBC Radio: Ideas with Paul Kennedy
Thursday August 25, 2016

“Three experts in urban and environmental conservation discuss an ecological approach to the restoration and preservation of both wilderness and cityscapes. Sophia Rabliauskas of Manitoba’s Poplar River First Nation worked to protect 43,000 square kilometres of Boreal forest. Glen Murray supported urban sustainability, first as Mayor of Winnipeg and now as Minister of Environment in Ontario. And Julian Smith is Dean of Faculty at the Willowbank School of Restoration Arts.”

Hear here.

Related websites:

• Willowbank

The Weaving: Artwork Consumes Waste Materials

Angela Guest

The Weaving is a processual, impulsive, lifelong work with no set out design. I add to it when I can and with whatever fabric I can get my hands on, from friends and from myself. An addition to contemporary textile work, it is experimental and expressive, lacking any sense of tradition or control. With my roots as a painter, I attempt to treat fabric like paint; a strip of fabric is not too different from a stroke of paint, and an oil painting can become part of a weaving.

Through the large consumption of unwanted clothing and all the memories attached, The Weaving has evolved into a looping, folding monster and odd character in my life. It is adaptable. Wherever it goes it shape shifts to its setting and finds a home there. Splayed on my apartment floor, draped over a wall divider at the IAMI Showcase, placed on hooks in the capstone classroom, and nailed to the wall everywhere else. The goal is for The Weaving to get shown in as many settings as possible so that the public can keep track of its progress in size, in complexity, and in accumulation of memory.

How you’re seeing The Weaving now is only a step in its life, it is a project in flux with the potential to keep growing even after my death.

Bio

Angela is a oil painter living and working in Chicago, IL and is studying art with minors in Anthropology and Art History at DePaul University. She is a gallery monitor at DePaul Art Museum, an intern at Defibrillator Gallery, and the student curator at the DePaul Art Department for the 2015-2016 school year.

Angela has shown her work three times in the DePaul annual group show, IAMI, and has also had the honor to show two of her paintings in a 2015 juried show, hosted by the University Club of Chicago. Her work has recently been published in the 35th and 36th edition of Crook & Folly.

Photos by Angela Guest.

May 9th: Judy Natal

 

 

Please join the Institute for Nature & Culture in welcoming the internationally-acclaimed photographer whose work explores our environmental future.

 

Monday, May 9

6:00-8:00 pm

McGowan South, 204

 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Email rhonold@depaul.edu for more information.

See Natal’s work here.

Scientists Slowly Reintroducing Small Group Of Normal, Well-Adjusted Humans Into Society

ITHACA, NY—In an ambitious attempt to revive a population long considered to be on the brink of extinction, scientists announced Friday they have slowly begun to reintroduce normal, well-adjusted human beings back into society.

According to officials at Cornell University, where for the past 18 years conservation researchers have operated an enclosed sanctuary for humans who are levelheaded and make it a habit to think before they speak, the endangered group is being cautiously reintegrated into select locations nationwide in hopes that they can reestablish permanent communities and one day thrive again.

Continue reading here.

Q&A: What Really Happened to the Water in Flint, Michigan?

from Scientific American (March 2, 2016)

After Flint, Mich., switched from purchasing water via Detroit to sourcing locally from the Flint River, residents began noticing a change in water quality. One resident—Lee Anne Walters—suspected the water might be toxic, and had her water tested for lead. She brought samples to Marc Edwards, an environmental engineer at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a world-renowned expert on water treatment. He found lead levels in her tap water at 13,200 parts per billion; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sounds the alarm at 15 ppb. She subsequently discovered her three-year-old son had blood lead levels so high that he was considered lead poisoned. In fact, researchers estimated 4 percent of all Flint’s children five and under had elevated blood lead–a percentage almost double that seen before the switch to the Flint River water.

Keep reading here.