These seven bloggers plus Team SuperForest equals 17 bloggers and more than 20 blogs.
20 blogs joined, 30 to go.
Join the fun!
If you're a true "modern environmentalist," then you thrive on fun, and this is heaps of it.
And the second thing is that none other than SuperForester Christine (!) is going to give our little Save-A-Seed logo the once over. This is truly exciting news. Christine is the most amazingly talented artist. Check out Christine's site.
Hmmmmm. Maybe we can convince Christine to mention Save-A-Seed on spookoo.com? And, if she'd post on spookoo, would she also post on her two other sites?
And what a fine morning it is. I just want to begin by saying "Thank you" for reading this blog, commenting on our posts, and especially for encouraging Team SuperForest.
Okay, the Peace Alphabet...
This project began several months ago when I wrote a post about the lack of cool iconography to communicate Peace. Peace has the Peace Symbol, the dove, and..... that's about it. Right about that time I saw this:
In this amazing short film, John Lennon speaks about how everything you do should be done for Peace. Smile for Peace, kiss for Peace, go to school for Peace, don't go to school for Peace, piss for Peace...
That last one really stuck with me. Piss for Peace. I love that idea. Wanting only to make some folks and myself laugh, I quickly drew up what would become the first letter:
P is for Peace.
"P" lead to "A", which lead to "B", and so on... I drew them out of order, doing whatever letter I felt inspired to do at the time.
For me, this project has very little to do with the creation of the 26 images, and everything to do with the spread of the idea that Peace is a brand, and as a brand, needs attention, nurturing and support in order to succeed.
The Peace Alphabet idea is a very good one (IMHO) as it gives anyone willing to undertake their own version twenty six chances to get one thing right. Even if I fail 25 times, perhaps that 26th image might just be one that sticks. 26 chances means you can fail a great deal while conversely increasing your chances of succeeding.
The Peace Alphabet idea also put SF and myself in a new position, as now that the series is completed, we have for the first time created a product. A product that we would be proud to offer to the world, in whatever form the world wanted it in.
If you would like a poster with every letter on it, I'd love for you to have it. If you'd like a book, ditto. A print, ditto. Whatever form you desire, we'd like to offer you.
So, we SuperForesters have been discussing how exactly we can make the move from producing ideas to producing "things" in as clean and responsible a way as is possible.
For the future, we plan on creating a site for the PA exclusively, a nice little cyber-home for it online, to develop as it will. What really excites me is the idea of other artists and makers doing their own versions of it. Hopefully, like a tomato plant, the Peace Alphabet will grow and produce fruit and spread, and in the end we will have a deluge of clever new images to represent Peace. Images that everyone can experience and use via the magic connecting power of the inter-cyber-web.
I'd would love some feedback, any feedback, positive or negative on the execution of the idea, the idea itself, and what we could best be doing to spread the "Brand Peace" meme.
Without further ado, the Peace Alphabet:
There you have them. 26 new images for Peace, for your consideration.
I would like to dedicate this to Andrew Zuckerman, whose support of me, SuperForest and the Peace Alphabet have been unflagging.
To Christine Norrie, who taught me to draw in the first place, and who gave me the confidence to start making my own images.
The incredibly talented Christine Norrie whipped this sweet baby up!
If you like this image and want to tell her how good it is, or what an amazing woman she is, why not do just that. Emails, images and more await you at Spookoo.
So, the spectacular SuperForester Christine emailed me her thoughts regarding my post about Organic vs. Local food with 2 enthusiastic thumbs up to supporting our farmers and to "always go local if you can!"
Ok...so if it seems too hard to get to your local green market every week, here are 3 ways to get locally grown produce (and even local organic produce) into your kitchen, if you live in New York City:
They are a home delivery service of strictly Organic produce that is 80% local. Here is how they work: "We bulk-buy our produce, groceries and dairy goods from organic farmers' cooperatives, distributors and individual farmers. Eighty percent of our products are from the local farmers market; we try to give our local farmers as much of our business as possible. All of our supplies are certified organic by the USDA, whose stringent standards ensure that no chemicals have been used in the production process. All of our produce is Certified Organic!"
They offer 3 size boxes (ranging in price from $24.99-$44.99) so you can get a small amount if you live alone or enough to feed a family.
2. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). A CSA is a partnership between a city group and a local farmer. During the winter and spring months, the farmer sells shares of their upcoming harvest to families, groups or institutions in the area. The money goes towards the farmers costs for growing and delivering the upcoming seasons produce to the CSA members. There is then, typically, a neighborhood drop off/pickup location where you go to pick up your fruits and vegetables, once a week (Although some CSA groups offer delivery service).
There are a lot of CSA's all over the city. Here is a map to find your local CSA:
CSA's aren't necessarily organic, but some are. Check your local area and find out the farming practices of the farm they work with, if that is important to you. For example, Roxbury Farm is a CSA that drops off in Harlem that practices biodynamic farming.
3. Good Ol' Fresh Direct: Fresh Direct, another food delivery service has a section dedicated to local produce, meat, fish, cheese and wine. They also have a strictly organic section. If your next question is what about all the gas they are using to deliver this local produce to your home, doesn't that kinda go against the idea of buying local? Well, they are on their way to dealing with that issue: "FreshDirect has partnered with Tri-State Biodiesel, a NYC-based company dedicated to providing the region with clean, renewable biodiesel sources. Tri-State uses cooking oil donated from our kitchen for use in non-toxic diesel fuel. We're now fueling half our fleet with a 5% biodiesel blend, and in the next year, we plan to fuel 100% of our delivery fleet with biodiesel. This action will both reduce our emissions and cut back our use of fossil fuel products. " I love that they use the oil from their own kitchen. How very SuperForest.
So, there are some options for that Localvore inside of you that don't necessitate running upstate to get that scrumptious apple.
I don't know how, I don't know why. I don't care, I love it!
In Nantes, France.
"The Machines of Ile de Nantes are located in the former shipyard, and will open to the public in July 2007. The Machine Gallery is both a laboratory and an exhibition hall where the artist-machinists tell the story and bring to life the fabulous dream machines . The Giant Elephant weighing 40 tons and measuring 12 metres high, it can carry up to 30 passengers for trips along the river and in the town. The Workshop is where the Machines are created. This is the dream factory where, from the gangway, you'll see them come to life right before your very eyes."
Oh man... I'd love a ride on this wonderful creation.
Pure inspiration.
They've got some great "making of" photos here, (under "sa construction"): nantes.fr
Here's a cool movie of the Elephant in action, from Googlevideo:
Many thanks to the luminous Christine Norrie for bringing the beast to my attention. Check out Christine's amazing art at: spookoo.com
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