Archive for the ‘Outdoor + Environment’ Category
Nature is Balance and Creativity
Nature fuels creativity, as is clear spending time at the Banff Centre forBanff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Our brains need time to disconnect, to readjust to a more natural rhythm, one that begins with a sunrise over the peaks and an afternoon of alpenglow. One where the sound of a raging river is ever present. One where clean air is a given. One where you take in the natural world, not because you choose to go out on an afternoon hike, or take a weekend drive to the country.
Today’s Office View
Cold weather, morning snow dusting, afternoon sunshine. Appreciating today.
Lessons from SXSW Eco: Communication
I’d never been to Texas, and it turns out, all those people that kept saying, “You’ve never been to Austin?? You’d love it!” were, in fact, quite right.
There was two stepping and fried food and cowboy boots. Lots of cowboy boots. But the main takeaway from one week in Austin was something different, and it’s all thanks to the new South By Southwest Eco conference. Three days of listening to the best and brightest on green issues and the main takeaway is that it’s all about communication; how we interact with people and engage.
If we don’t want missed opportunities, we must start with communication. Facts and figures don’t work; relationships are everything.
Well, that and cowboy boots are game changers on the dance floor. Seriously.
BACSAC: Urban Planters
Cool concept for urban gardening, via la France. Of course.
Thoughts from Mountainfilm 2011: Building Community
Almost a week later, and I am still in a Mountainfilm haze. It’s hard to pull all the thoughts together and come up with one coherent conclusion. But somewhere along the way, I wrote this:
Mountainfilm 2011: a whirlwind of old and new friends, inspiration, activism, blue skies, then snow, then blue skies again, and films, films and more films. It’s hard to even try to some it up. But this year the one word that sticks after the four day flurry in Telluride is “community.”
Whether it’s being reminded about the scientific reasons that we really are all connected, or thinking about the things that all of humanity can find solace in, throughout the weekend I kept thinking about the constant connections we have to the people around us and to the greater global community.
We don’t solve bigger problems on our own, we work together to find solutions. When there’s cause for celebration, we don’t rejoice alone, we rally those around us. Happiness, it turns out, is contagious. Every action we take, every emotion that we have, every choice we make, it all effects more than ourselves.
Terry Tempest Williams said something that stuck with me: “Change happens, I believe, through relationships.”
Friday Photo: Canyon Love
A decade ago, I spent an entire month in the backcountry. I refused to go to sleep before seeing a shooting star.
Last weekend I was reminded of that time. There were no shooting stars, but the moon was bright, the night was clear and the red rock perfect for sleeping on.
Oregon is a Beautiful Place
The quiet of a country road. The smell of a property frequented by sheep and cows. Here in the nearly untouched landscape of rolling hills and tree canopies the sun comes out for a brief moment. We all turn towards it, trying to soak up as much as we can, knowing fully well it will disappear in minutes. Rain jackets are thrown to the ground to celebrate the brief moment of spring.
The white, fluffy clouds roll by, bringing darker, more mysterious ones in their wake. We wait for the storm and cross our fingers that it won’t be a deluge. It’s spring after all.
Simple (and Beautiful) Acts of Vandalism
Swedish street artist: “The act is the beauty.”
blog.annabrones.com 
