I was sorry not to be able to join y'all in the sunshine @ Harriton on Friday, but today I took my own little eco-trip. It started with the amazed discovery that the Pennsylvania State Constitution has an Environmental Rights Amendment** (who knew?!), and that the  Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled in accord with that amendment, to intervene in the state's legacy of “virtually unrestrained exploitation"-- a potential “game charger,” able to turn state environmental regulation “upside down.”

Feeling happy about this, I wandered over to the Art Alliance, in my neighborhood, to see a few very-related installations of eco-art:  Caroline Lathan-Stiefel's "Frakturing" uses a 1905 stained glass window to invite viewers to think about issues of plant diversity and sustainability in an age of fracking. Another of her installations, called "Greenhouse Mix," is a delightful “jungle in the salon." In a third, called "Noise," my companion, the pomester, made music by changing his grip on a couple of apples.

Well, at least this time we weren't fighting against the weather!

We seem to be challenged constantly and fighting against all these scenarios, yet as the 360 warriors that we are, we flow loosely through possible adventures. I've never been to the Harrington House and I'm kind of thankful our public safety communications skills were lacking because the weather was working in our favor! Our trip was a reflection of how porous we've become and responsive to our environments- flexible to bendable as a group. And if anything our bond with David grew thicker. Not only was it an opportunity for him to spend with us, but also to get to know us as we danced in the sun. 

I used to think a lot about how I would adapt certain books for the screen, so thinking about how I would make a movie based on All Over Creation by Ozeki is pretty fun. I'm pretty sure Yumi would narrate the movie, mostly for herself and her story but sometimes telling the perspectives of others when they needed introduction. I feel strongly that most of the words she narrates should be direct quotes from the text. Similarly, it would be really important to me that certain conversations be entirely preserved, like Geeks descriptions of GMO's to Frankie.

Obviously, since the book is so long, quite a few things would have to be shortened and/or taken out, and the idea of that sounds stressful. Yumi's past could be shown much more quickly and succinctly, and much of the Seed's time in San Fransisco would probably have to be cut. The part I see most clearly is the image of farms in Idaho, of the irrigation birds and the vast, expansive fields. Of country roads and dingy farm houses. I would be excited to represent a (probably romanticized) vision of rural Idaho. I think this could be a really great movie, the type of movie that people really like nowadays.

Walking to Harriton House, I was reminded of the few times I've walked around the neighborhood of Old Field back on Long Island- mansions stategically placed amongst the trees permitted to keep growing, obvious evidence of wealth with every step.  I know that Bryn Mawr (and the Main Line as a whole) is one of the wealthiest communities in the country- along with Old Field, which is only a few miles from where I grew up- but there's nothing quite like taking a stroll through the neighborhood surrounding the college to remind me of that fact.  Harriton House itself also exudes wealth, in the colonial way of times long past that many of the other houses in Bryn Mawr also do, but its wealth is different- it feels older, run down in a way that the still-inhabited houses of the Main Line are not.  Nothing is falling apart or even starting to decay, it's all carefully preserved, but the people who run Harriton House are obviously trying to cultivate a colonial image in a way that's very effective.  Stepping on to the property, if I hadn't heard the constant humming of leaf blowers and other motors I could have been convinced that I had travelled back in time.

This week, as you prepare to share both your own eco-art, and that of other eco-artists, take a look @ this Philadelphia Inquirer article, Changing Skyline: Mural Arts Program's entry into Fairmount Park crosses boundaries, which Ava just shared with us, and which I think raises some really interesting questions about the necessity and effect of placing art (and what kinds of art?) in natural spaces.

Sunday (Mar. 23rd): By 5 p.m., post on-line a one-paragraph description of your Friday experiences in the environment: what happened @ Harriton House (if you were able to join that stroll), and what happened elsewhere if you were not? (Any particular economical, educational, literary and/or artistic dimensions of the experience you'd like to highlight?)

Monday (Mar. 24th):

ECON: Read this excerpt (pp. 43-54) from Cairncross, F. (1992).   Costing the Earth: The Challenge for Governments, the Opportunities for Business. Harvard Business School Press. then read from middle of page 35 to top of page 39 of Tietenberg, T. and L. Lewis (2008).  Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, 8th ed.  Pearson.The remainder of the excerpt contains additional details on valuation methods, if the topic particularly interests you.

EDUC: Read Judson, A New Approach to Ecological Education, pp. 7-63

ENGL: IN DALTON 212A.

ECON 136:  Week 9 Tasks

 Reminder:   I update my office hours by the end of Friday of the previous week.   If  none of those times work for you, then email me with all of the times you might be able to make work and I’m sure we can work something out.

Monday:  Valuing Amenities

Preparing for class:

Read this excerpt (pp. 43-54) from

Cairncross, F. (1992).   Costing the Earth: The Challenge for Governments, the Opportunities for Business. Harvard Business School Press. 

then read from middle of page 35 to top of page 39 of 

Tietenberg, T. and L. Lewis (2008).  Environmental & Natural Resource Economics, 8th ed.  Pearson.

The remainder of the excerpt contains additional details on valuation methods, if the topic particularly interests you.

Wednesday:  Valuing Life

Preparing for class: