27 June 2015

Golf and tennis? Forest succession and water tables? - it's a matter of time horizon


Looking toward the outdoor seating of the clubhouse at the golf and tennis country club with a view of the long narrow Lake Leelanau, there is a certain feeling of contrast between the business of leisure sport on carefully tended grounds and the therapeutic separation from one's working routines on the one hand, and the rhythms and structures that organize the rest of the plants and animals that share these spaces on land and water. The humans live one golf or tennis season to the next, concerned with providing a level of service and model for business that keeps things solvent from one generation of owners and members to the next. But in the much longer sweep of time, in geological or glacial age time frame of 10,000 years, the daily business decisions and the weekly grooming of grounds and buildings have little impact on the shape of the land and the flow of water, the action of freeze-thaw cycles and the prevailing pattern of winds that deposit the next generation of seed in shade or sun, leading to another cycle of birth and decay. And so, when looking at the pleasing care of the grass and pavement, as well as savoring what is offered on the menu, it is salutatory to zoom out to a wider point of reference and see that the life cycle of the trees and the generations of fish and frogs operate by entirely different directions, all the while intersecting the concerns of the people who keep the golf and tennis facilities in tip-top shape each outdoor season.

15 June 2015

Sign of the times? Call up the experts - consultants for bankruptcy

As seen at the intersection this evening, heading east.

The public discourse, popular culture, peer to peer conversations all contribute to reproduce the dominant worldview of consuming goods and services; the more the better. But the results of easy credit (short term indebtedness in fact) can confuse or disorient a person into the self-image of unlimited means to satisfy desires for more stuff. This roadside advertisement is a symptom of "Affluenza," as the documentary named this sickness of consumer society that has run amok.

11 June 2015

thar she blows - wind turbines of Gratiot County, Michigan

As seen Wednesday, June 10, driving north on US-127 (click image for full size view with turbines on horizon, above the road line.
towering wind turbines on the horizon






















In this flat landscape of steady winds the renewable source of wind power makes sense, although for local and migrating birds the moving blades are a worry. And for residents downwind the sound carries. One person spoke of wintertime ice building up under certain conditions and then potentially launching off the swinging propeller to land like some sort of modern-day catapult projectile.