The Way In Which We're Changing Our World

I spend a lot of time thinking about how our world is changing and what we, as the human race and dominant animal on our planet, are doing to our environment and ourselves. My mind goes round and round wondering how it is that we can continue in behavior that clearly does us harm. There are all sorts of examples of this, both obvious ones and not so obvious ones. We can become addicted to all sorts of behavior, substances and even emotional circumstances. The question is why?

Most people are well-meaning, considerate and wouldn't intentionally hurt others. But it seems the truth is, we're not being alerted to certain conditions quickly enough to trigger a healthy response to ensure ourselves a better future. Today someone sent me a video entitled: "Why haven’t we rallied our collective power to solve global warming?", and it happens to cover this very question and seems to provide an answer to this query.

I don't usually link to videos because they can often take more time than a person might want to give. Here is the choice of listening to the well-prepared talk by Dan Gilbert in video format, or a shorter summary in print. (The print version includes a reference in the title which I would not personally use as an example in today's world as something offensive to the general public's morality and I don't wish to offend anyone by linking to this. But if taken as simply an illustration that can be replaced by something that is offensive to the reader, then the point being made remains apparent.) I do recommend watching the video talk if you can spare the time - it's about 14 minutes long.

If I understood it correctly, Dan Gilbert, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is saying that because our brains aren't wired to pick up gradual, impersonal changes we don't vividly compute such changes as an immediate threat even though they may be tremendously dangerous to us in the future.

I've always thought that if every breath I take didn't hurt (it doesn't hurt when I'm in pristine country air) I too would completely forget about global warming, pollution, the overuse of chemicals, cleaning products, laundry products, fabric softeners and perfumes. But each breath racks the lungs with burning pain and the brain with the continual question: why?

I remember how vibrantly blue the sky looked against a beautifully crisp green tree when I looked up as a teenager. I remember specifically telling myself to always remember that snapshot view because it was so fantastic. And today these truly brilliant colors of nature around us can still be seen, but only rarely and on especially clear days. And I wonder how we can forget what our world was not so very long ago and how we can tolerate it...and I'm not that old!

And then when I watch a beautiful bird, an African Grey, scratch and fleece herself of her feathers in very specific spots and become lethargic and dull, as a result of being poisoned in that same chemically poisonous atmosphere, my cry of anguish and the question "why?" becomes even more excruciating. Previous post "Jasmine and Her Continuing Tousle With Air Quality" gives the background to this, if you're not familiar with Jasmine.

Somehow I feel better with the understanding that Dan Gilbert's talk gives. I knew it wasn't malice on our part as human beings, but it seemed so inexplicable and has been perplexing me for some time. Hopefully soon we can show our intelligence on a large scale, to save the beauty of our planet, ourselves and the other living beings we share it with, both microscopically tiny and large. I hope it answers something for you too. Cheers.

Living Mountains, Jura, France

Mountains are made up of a myriad of living entities. It's only reasonable that as a conglomerate they would appear to be living, almost breathing beings themselves. Every time you look at them, they appear slightly different.

Sometimes the moon adorns their hillsides in the morning hours.

Clouds appear to play with the trees, dipping down to touch them.

They lay down gently covering them like a blanket.










And in the evening, the cloud can look like it's bubbling over the edge of the peaks......like a chemistry experiment with froth slipping over the edge of a beaker.


Or maybe it's like a duvet, covering all the mountain and its inhabitants softly and safely for the night.

Portrait of a Horse In Egg Tempera

On our many walks this summer Jasmine (our African Grey parrot) and I met a very nice horse. At the beginning of summer she was out in a field close to the road and that's when we met. I took a photo and it resulted in this 12 x 16 " portrait egg tempera painting.
During the heat of the summer the horse literally had a house all to herself so far as I could tell. In this photo she's standing in the doorway, but could retreat inside to stay cool and away from the flies. Jazzy and I would call and whistle from the road just to say hello as we walked by.A couple of weeks ago, when it got cooler, our friend was back out in the field near the road. She rushed over to say hello and be petted. It was so nice finally to be able to say hello properly. And of course, another photo session was in order.
Even Jazzy liked her and was saying hello and chatting. When the horse turned away for a moment Jazzy did her hawk call imperso- nation (for the first time outdoors). Hearing this, the horse jerked up her head and looked round, not suspecting that it could be that little prankster Jasmine.

She's absolutely beautiful, and huge!
But even though the horse towers over me, she's extremely gentle and very sweet. This delicacy and sweetness is so striking that I think of her as 'Daisy'.

Summer Clouds in the Geneva Valley

The cloud scenery in the Geneva valley is totally spectacular and ever-changing. Sometimes it looks like the clouds have exploded.








On the way into Geneva I took this photograph from inside the bus.About an hour or two later I returned to find the cloud like this.Clouds like these can be seen bubbling on hot summer afternoons. They either develop into dramatic thunder and lightning rainstorms or evaporate in a quiet puff.

The clouds seem to come over the Jura mountains in waves.



Sometimes the cloud wave is big and seems completely continuous; it feels like it's going to keep flowing until it has engulfed everything below it.

At other times the clouds appear in discontinuous strips, popping over the mountains one by one.



The most impressive funneling effect I've seen was looking out the window one evening recently to see this.

Jasmine Chomping Vegies In The Kitchen

The weekend before last Jasmine decided to help herself to the cucumber that was sitting on the counter. She often gets cucumber in her 'vegie bowl' in her cage and she likes it very much. But she decided she'd like to chomp right into the whole thing.
So then we gave her a large piece of fennel to chew on. She likes fennel very much too and so this was great fun for her.
















I took a number of shots to show Jazzy holding the fennel in her hand, but every time I took the photo she had put it down again.








The photos that came out look almost like Jazzy's having a yoga stretching session or something.


















Here she is holding the fennel up.


And now she looks like she's waiting for a bus, just leaning over, but as you can see she has fennel in her beak.
Jazzy also loves carrot, she especially likes cooked carrot that's still slightly crisp to the bite. This however, is raw carrot, which she also gets regularly in her vegie bowl.
And now, well, who knows what she was up to... perhaps she was thinking: 'Anyone fancy some chips?' (This is a famous line in our family. It's from the movie "Calendar Girls" - one of the girls during an exercising stretching session says this in perfect timing and everyone immediately abandons the stretching to go get some chips. If you haven't seen this movie I thoroughly recommend it for a really good laugh and good time - based on a true story.)
Oh yes, Jazzy does watch movies and she has seen this one!

Amazing Geneva Flowerbeds, Switzerland

The flowerbeds in Geneva are incredible displays.












You can see row after row of flowers walking down the promenade along the Lac Leman.






There are many colors: yellow...













...red...













and even purple.



Looking closer at the flowers shows the detail in arrangement is carefully considered.










Each individual flower gives an even greater sense of wonder.

At first sight just an overall stream of the primary color in the flowerbed is seen. But in fact there are many other colors dotted around in them.













The insides of flowers also offer an amazing variety of colors and patterns.










It's like looking at a flower arrangement you might see on a magnificent, luxurious dinner table - well, maybe that'd be more convincing if you can imagine these in a vase.The texture and color variations seen in the flowers close up is exquisite. On perhaps a more practical note: it's very striking that there aren't any insects to be seen on these flowers. In the mountains I've been fascinated to see hordes of insects everywhere and it's almost impossible to take a photo of a flower without at least finding one insect, if not many.
This flower looks like it's made out of crepe paper. The minute details in every flower shows how much wonder there is to be found in even a small object.

In the background is the promenade and in the distance can be seen moored yachts and the Geneva town-front.














Mixed in with the taller flowers are arrays of small and yet very beautiful flowers.
















Landscape artists must have so much to think about when they arrange their plants - height, color, patterns, variation. And then I guess they have to consider how it will change with time of its own accord.




Looking out over the tops of the flowerbeds...


















...there is the expanse of the lake.
Looking back towards the street hotels and apartments can be seen.







The flowers stand proudly against a backdrop of the town...
...drawing the eye along the lines of their beauty.

Walking in the Pays de Gex, France

The Pays de Gex is an extraordinarily beautiful place. Walking, almost anywhere you care to choose will lead you to something exciting to see. Even when walking the same places repeatedly there is always something new and breathtaking. On clear days it's possible to look across the valley to see the majesty of Mont Blanc.There are quaint villages nestled in the hills, visible across picturesque fields.

Large numbers of hawks have come down from the mountains to hunt among the harvested fields.





I love to hear their high pitched cries as they circle above. Jazzy (our African Grey parrot) has learned how to imitate these cries perfectly and she does them at home.

Very often their presence causes consternation among the smaller birds, who take it in turns to circle their nests in an attempt to ward off these predators.

Sometimes they circle the same area in pairs and they perform all sorts of mutual manouevres, but it's not clear to me whether they are friendly or in competition.

The public county flowerbeds are very colorful and often elaborate arrangements. Here's one out on a country road.



There are so many critters to meet out along the road - all sorts of characters. This horse has been named "Woofy" by our family, and we call the road he lives on "Woofy Way".
There are loads of pretty flowers too. Here are a pair of so-called weeds, but they sure are lovely.




The cows almost always stare and sometimes glare as you pass by. They're always accompanied by the tinkling sound of the bells hanging round their necks.














This fella, or gal, looks so cute and fuzzy.
There are so many insects - too many to count. And many of them are surprisingly beautiful and even colorful. Some aren't to my liking at all - I'm not big on being close and personal with buglife, even though I know they're vitally important to have around.Here's a bee going about his business. It's great to see bees out and about.







A horse lives in this house. We met while he was in a field close to the road when it was cooler back in the Spring. I'm actually currently working on painting his portrait. But now he's staying cool in his house as far away from the flies as he can get.
Here are some geese that were hanging out under this tractor. Just after I took this photo a couple of them went and stuck their heads in the bucket you can see on the right, splashing water everywhere and making a great honking racket.
There are huge fields of sunflowers all around the Pays de Gex, and so here and there are stray sunflowers brightening the landscape even more. This is one I found in a cleared lot - a place where very likely soon will be built a new house.




Everywhere there are amazing scenes and things to look at.