A June Solstice Celebration

It has been a different, yet meaningful June solstice celebration, marking the beginning of summer north of the Equator and winter in the southern hemisphere, or the longest night becoming the shortest, whatever...

Thanks Phillipa and Mike for hosting such a wonderful gathering! Although it felt unusual for me celebrating the June solstice by a fire, I felt home.

camminando | M~M 2014: from Earth to Water and Fire

The second day of the M~M 2014 took to places where the land intersects with water. The 9 km walk on the beach connecting Point Lonsdale to Ocean Grove was particularly challenging, for the walking on wet soft sand. But the views of the Bass Strait were stunning and calming was the sound of the surf. The walk  headed west offering views of the sun setting behind the dunes.

 

From the Ocean Grove Beach 3 relaxing km of paths took to the final destination: the Barwon Heads River Mouth -the second M of the M to M. In the final ceremony the water from the You Yangs, carried in the canoe was poured into the ocean, and the canoe was set on fire.
The canoe on fire and its disappearing into the water was particularly moving: I have just heard a few hours earlier of the passing of the art curator and friend Rinaldo Funari,who pioneered computer and video art in Italy.
Good bye Rinaldo!

Post Sandy Thoughts | Cities and Nature

The first sunlight in NYC after the storm

This morning I witnessed the first sunlight from the almost apocalyptic storm which hit New York City. The sun, going in and out of clouds, was shining on the trees outside my bedroom and brought reassurance, calm and joy. Yet the memories of the past days were daunting together with many questions about how much of the storm was due to abuse of nature in human activities. The use of nature by human interventions can be harmoniously achieved in respect with the environment creating a symbiotic relationship between man and nature. But in the past century use of nature as been transformed into abuse, causing alterations in the environment harmonious functioning such as climate changes.

New York can be considered a city of extremes: the city which never sleeps, were bright lights are on 24 hours a day, creating a waste of electrical and human power in pure entertainment based activities. People functioning is based on circadian rhythms of wake and sleep patterns, and sleep requires darkness.  New York is also a city of extreme economical inequality where a minority of extremely wealthy individuals from the main financial institutions controls the economy and policy. So extreme are the height of its building and the density brought by the ratio of height over square footage of urban land. Extreme density brings congestion in transportation. The extremes in building demolitions and constructions are also characteristics of New York city streets. Relentless unregulated construction creates excessive waste and air pollution generated by both demolition and new construction itself. Coming from Rome, a city where buildings have been used often for hundred of years, I am shocked about the short life and building cycles in New York neighborhoods. As a pedestrian — I use walking as my main transportation means— I am constantly exposed to debris, dust and poor air quality. The impact of Sandy on the city infrastructure has shown how lack of common sense and abuse in building construction is having disastrous consequences in the urban life.

Water, air, fire and earth were considered the primary elements constituents of the universe in many different cultures from both Eastern and Western traditions. Quite ironically all of the four elements were the agents of the destruction of the built environment brought by Sandy. The encounter between earth and water —in geographic terms the coast where the ocean meets the land— was considered a sacred place by many ancient cultures; contemporary human arrogance has been erecting building on the furthermost limits of the coastland often for only private use. Beachfront property comes with a high price tag attached, now this real estate economic valued has been challenged and often destroyed by nature itself.

Is Sandy teaching a lesson of how the respect of mother nature cannot be ignored for any human settlement and use of land?

"The Sun Also Rises"

Sandy, the Morning After | Water Wind Earth Fire

A fallen tree by the American Museum of Natural History

It is a gloomy day dominated by a plumbeous sky in NYC. It is the morning after Hurricane Sandy path crossed the city going over the already high disaster expectations:

• a record storm surge of 13 feet, aided by full moon
• winds gusts to over 70 mph in the Rockaways and other areas in the Five Boroughs
• Power outage for at least 650,000 households in New York and Westchester by early am this morning — 250,000 in only Manhattan at the pick of the storm.
• Forced evacuations for up to 375,000 people in the New York City's Zone A

The world looks different; even the Upper West Side, which is one the Manhattan neighborhoods least effected by the storm, seems to be out of a scene from a science fiction movie, where empty streets covered by leaves, fallen brunches and even trees.

Fallen trees are nature casualties from yesterday a battle between water, wind, earth and fire, in the city where human greed dominates and money. And sadly, fallen trees are the main cause of human casualties. Quite ironically and almost iconically the dandling crane at 157 West 57th Street, was one of the most visible announcement of Sandy's arrival: the crane was aiding in the construction of one the most expensive residential real estate in the world.  Al Gore stated in his blog how Hurricane Sandy is related to global warming: “Scientists tell us that by continually dumping 90 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every single day, we are altering the environment in which all storms develop. As the oceans and atmosphere continue to warm, storms are becoming more energetic and powerful. Hurricane Sandy, and the Nashville flood, were reminders of just that.” So many other natural disasters are related to global warming and other human caused environmental decay; perhaps the devastation brought by Sandy should remind us that money can buy almost everything but for nature.

Unseasonal leaves on trees (global warming?) caused branches to fall for the strong winds

A deserted Central Park West

Another tree casualty in Central Park, still closed

A tree is a symbol of strength, life and harmony, extending from the earth to the sky