New paintings and regular art updates.
Oh let’s be Optimistic,
Let’s have a laugh
Let’s not see the real world
Let’s have a blast!
Who cares if the world burns,
If the Elephants are gone
Let’s all have a party,
I’ll bring my gun!
Now the world is hotter
I can leave my home.
Holiday so far away
Maybe go and roam.
The Antarctic is melting
Trees burnt down to the ground,
If we see a single leaf
Optimism and relief?
Think of the environment
Keep it safe, in peace.
©
Day 17 of the challenge on Facebook, today it was an ethical tee shirt design. I said I would like the world to concentrate on finding peace, and supporting nature by cleaning up the environment and taking the climate crisis seriously. I did think of adding flames but that seemed too much. My only concern is the tee shirts would have to be ethically sourced, carbon neutral and any workers paid a living wage. Too much to hope for?
X
Three maps, dated 1970-74, 1997-2001, 2015-19. There were others but I didn’t snap them in time. So we are getting hotter. Life will change, and possibly catastrophically if we don’t do something. I remember doing a collage about population growth in the 1970’s. I did a picture of earth with a line of people snaking away from it towards the moon. I’ve always been conscious of the environment. I was a tree warden in about 1975 and told people off for damaging trees. I think I got carried away once and really told some boys off about their behaviour. Fast forward several decades, and things are only getting worse. X
I have been thinking of friends over in Australia that are being affected by the wild fires. I’m not religious, so I don’t say I pray for them, but I do hope they get rain, even though its the height of summer.
I saw a photo yesterday from the international space station, it showed the extent of the fires. It looked as if the whole country was burning, all at the same time. The photo was a composite over several days and weeks, but people were misunderstanding it. I think that was wrong. If people are going to combat climate change they need accurate data, otherwise reports could be classed as fake news. That would effect the credibility of reporting. The world needs to forget about starting wars and get on with helping the environment.
Soon we may only see Elephants as symbols in pictures or on textiles. They are one of the terribly endangered species in the world that coukd soon be extinct. The problem isn’t just hunting or poaching, but also the threat of climate change. As the land dries up through to drought, or is flooded by seas rising their habitat will be displaced. Only if we really try to do something about the situation do we stand to change things.
I’ve been watching the news about the bush fires in Australia an it is awful and devastating. Not only are there hundreds of fires, but they have spread over a huge area. The started around Sidney which has been smothered in smoke for weeks. But then more have started in the West and South of the continent. The Southern hemisphere is moving into summer and the temperatures are rising. They have measured the highest ever temperature there in the last couple of days. Over 40°C and rising. The fires are being fanned by 40 mile an hour winds. They are burning out of control in some places, and the drought affected land is so parched there isn’t the water to put them out. I have friends out there and I worry for them. Meanwhile their prime minister went away on holiday to Hawaii and is only coming home because of the outcry from its population.
X
Walking round Trentham Gardens yesterday I saw a banana plant in flower, in this country, in mid September?! It is usually 5 or 10 degrees Celsius cooler than this.
The last four years have been the hottest in Britain (and the world?) ever. Climate change is a massive problem, its complex, but people are coming out on strike. Children have been showing today how much it means to them. Everyone needs to push the people in power to take action. To share technologies that reduce the need for power in the form of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Sustainable engineering like wind and wave power need integrating into the worlds power grids. Solar energy should also be exploited. We have got to solve global warming fast if we can.
X
Water is a wonderful compound, and having rain from the sky is great. The only problem is that with the effects of climate change, rain isn’t always easy to live with.
Into each life a little rain must fall is a quote from a song I think . But in this world it falls either too much, or too little in some cases. There are floods in some countries, while others see no rain for years and deserts expand. Micro bursts of rain dump a mass of rain rapidly in a limited area while the surrounding area remain dry causing havock. We have thunderstorms here that are much larger and more violent than in the past and the same is happening all over the world. And rain also causes erosion which destroys cliffs and washes away soil. When man cuts down forests the ability of trees and plants to store water and allow it to be slowly released is diminished. Rain falls in places like the Amazon which help to regulate the weather systems of the world. Now that the goverment of the country is allowing more deforestation the concern is that the weather and rain patterns will be seriously or even catastrophically affected.
Man (and woman) need to take responsibility and keep this world safe for future generations. Rain gives and takes life.
We haven’t had much rain lately but today it bucketed down, rain was falling so heavily it overwhelmed the gutters of the house and was pouring so fast it filled up two empty milk bottles outside the front door. There was hail mixed in with it. Small lumps of ice hitting your windows and bouncing over my tomato plants outside.
Rain storms seem fiercer than the gentle rain of heaven from Portia’s speech in Shakespeareof yesteryear. Now we have cloudbursts, like a sponge being wrung out. All the water dumped like being under a waterfall.
I don’t know about “singing in the rain” more like swimming in the rain!
X
Before sleep spins me into unconsciousness, before dreams tangle my hair and twist my body. Before dark night closes in on me. One last thought. We need more kindness and care. We need to look after the poorest and those with the least resources. We need to see this world as a whole, not in parts. Why should luck determine where we are in the world. Why are people so selfish and unkind?
Dreams could be made real if we cared. Damage to life and the environment is our choice. With climate change we need to change our perspectives. I think we should all consider the future and work to make a better planet. Perhaps then we can all sleep a bit more peacefully in our beds if we have them. At least I hope so and that equality is our future goal. I know I’m naive but I still can dream.
