Assemblages

 

«Assemblages are open-ended gatherings. They allow us to ask about communal effects without assuming them. They show us potential histories in the making. (…) Assemblages don’t just gather lifeways; they make them. Thinking through assemblages urges us to ask: How do gatherings sometimes become “happenings,” that is, greater than the sum of their parts? If history without progress is indeterminate and multidimensional, might assemblages show us it’s possibilities?» Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2017). The Mushroom at the End of the World: on the Possibility of Life in capitalist Ruins. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

December

"Humans, pines, and fungi make living arrangements simultaneously for themselves and for others: multispecies worlds."  Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2017). The Mushroom at the End of the World: on the Possibility of Life in capitalist Ruins. 

 

20220103 note: pinus pinaster and pinus pinea descriptions in European Atlas of Forest Tree Species (2016): https://ies-ows.jrc.ec.europa.eu/efdac/download/Atlas/pdf/Pinus_pinaster.pdf; https://ies-ows.jrc.ec.europa.eu/efdac/download/Atlas/pdf/Pinus_pinea.pdf .

December

"Patterns of unintentional coordination develop in assemblages. To notice such patterns means watching the interplay of temporal rhythms and scales in the divergent lifeways that gather. (...) This turns out to be a method that might revitalize political economies inside them, and not just for humans. Assemblages cannot hide from capital and the state; they are sites for watching how political economy works." Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2017). The Mushroom at the End of the World: on the Possibility of Life in capitalist Ruins. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

December

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

December

"Don't let the beauty of life escape you." Let Nature be "the temple that is. Marvel at the fact that any of this exists - that you exist." Ryan Holiday (2019). Stillness is the Key. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

December

Phenology: "the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). (...) Examples include the date of emergence of leaves and flowers (...), the date of leaf colouring and fall in deciduous trees (...). In the scientific literature on ecology, the term is used more generally to indicate the time frame for any seasonal biological phenomena, including the dates of last appearance (e.g., the seasonal phenology of a species may be from April through September). (...) In addition to providing a longer historical baseline than instrumental measurements, phenological observations provide high temporal resolution of ongoing changes related to global warming." 

 

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

 

20220105: text was changed from book citation to definition of «phenology», maintaining the photo showing a tree, displaying all 4 seasons at time of capture (December, Cacem, Portugal), with nude parts, white flowers, green leafs, fruits and yellow and red leafs in other parts of the same tree.

December

“Failure is instrumental in success. We need to fail to learn. It’s only through exploring and figuring out the territory, that the fog starts to clear.” Douglas McMaster, owner of Silo restaurant, thoughts about the need to change existing views, implementing zero-waste designed systems, from farm to fork (and beyond), changing paradigms and inspiring future ethical behaviours. in «A Failure of Imagination», directed by Matt Hopkins. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

December

"Make what you can of what you have been given. Live what can be lived. That's what excellence is." Ryan Holiday (2019) Stillness is the Key. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

November

"Think as carefully about what information you feed your mind as you do about the food you feed your body." Rutger Bregman (2021). Humankind: a hopeful history. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

Mobilities

 
Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

Horizon

"The less energy we waste regretting the past and worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what's in front of us." Ryan Holiday (2019). Stillness is the Key. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

November

 

"We use brut force reactions to have elements to bond or break apart. Life uses a small subset of the Periodic Table - the safe elements - and then very, very, elegant recipes. Low temperature. Low pressure. Low toxicity. That's Nature chemistry. A very different paradigm." in Biomimicry video from Biomimicry Institute. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA.

November

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).
 

November

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

November

 

«Data protection in EU: Comparative Study of National Reports» "a document aimed to produce a panoramic vision of the legal and ethical framework both at the national and EU level, complementing PANELFIT Guidelines. (...) The present study includes a comparative analysis of data protection in the 27 countries of the European Union. Offering stakeholders and end users a synthetic and simplified version. The national reports produced by our network of experts, so far, are reproduced as well." See legal data and comments for data protection in Portugal. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

Success

"The Natural World definition of success is not keeping offspring alive in a generation. Success is keeping offspring alive for 10 000 generations or more. This is the magic of Nature." But since "you are not going to be here to take care of 10 000 generations from now, what organisms learned to do, is to take care of the place, that's going to take care of their offspring. (...) Life has learned to create conditions conducive to life (...) that's also the design brief to us. We have to learn to do that." in Biomimicry video from Biomimicry Institute. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA.

November

"Fighting to save our life supporting systems isn't radical at all. Believing that civilization as we know it can survive a 2.7 degree or a three degree hotter world, on the other hand, is not only extremely radical, it's pure madness." Greta Thunberg's speech on COP26. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

November

"Will the Anthropocene then name a geological epoch when no humans will be around to think it?" T. J. Demos (2016). Chapter VII - Gardening against the Apocalypse. in Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

framing Nature

"If life as we know it is at stake (...) the best approach is to ecologize the economy instead of economizing the environment." We can start "by transforming human systems of destruction into ecological repair." T.J. Demos (2016). Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

October

"Trees have many values – and their highest value is not as firewood! Trees provide many tangible benefits in terms of shelter, shade, fruit, timber, pollutant filtering, ecological value, and the enhancement of biodiversity – as well as many contributions to civil society, such as providing screening, a sense of place, and direct contact with Nature for urban dwellers. If we reduce our thoughts about trees to just their value as ‘carbon sinks’, we are missing out on all their other benefits." By Duncan Slater. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

October

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

The choice is (still) ours to make

To form a collective will, a «We», "will require the critical production and sharing of knowledge, resistance to flattening aesthetic diversity, and the invention of sustainable models that don´t threaten the viability of the whole, whether economically or ecologically, socially or institutionally" and "asserting a new biocentric imperative for living, producing, and consuming. (...) The choice is (still) ours to make." T.J. Demos (2016). Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology.  Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

October

"While the transition is eminently doable (...) the truly irresponsible thinking today is accepting the assumption that we can simply continue down the same path forever, or that we can´t do anything to change our direction." T.J. Demos (2016). Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

October

"While liberal climate propaganda argues that ecological collapse is the responsibility of human individuals, rather than extractivist corporations, libertarian climate propaganda considers the climate breakdown as a new resource for geomarketing and interplanetary colonisation. And while conspiracist climate propaganda claims climate change is nothing but a hoax to enforce population control, ecofascist climate propaganda takes it as an opportunity to double down on the question who, in ecosystem collapse, has the racial right to survive and who does not." in Maat, Jonas Staal «Climate Propagandas, Video Study» (2020). Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

September

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

September

 Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

September

"We need to ask (...) not only what sustainability means when employed, but also whose interests it promotes and whose are excluded." T.J. Demos (2016). Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

September

 

Equinox. Equilibrium between night and day. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

micropausa verde

Senão podermos dar um passeio pela Floresta (ou parque mais próximo), senão tivermos uma janela por onde observar àrvores e plantas (e ouvir o som dos pássaros), temos sempre a possibilidade de fazer uma micropausa verde, olhando para imagens da Natureza. "Investigadores do departamento de Psicologia da Universidade do Michigan demonstraram que passar dez minutos a olhar para imagens da Natureza é suficiente para melhorar o desempenho cognitivo." Qing Li (2018). Shinrin-Yoku: Arte Japonesa da Terapia da Floresta. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

September

"(...) art holds the promise of initiating (...) creative percepcional and philosophical shifts, offering new ways of comprehending ourselves and our relation to the world differently than the destructive traditions of colonizing nature." T.J. Demos (2016). Decolonizing Nature. Contemporary Art and the Politics of Ecology. Image by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

strings

It all started with a string (a) and pieces of wasted biomass (b). Then creating little tensions (c), expanding one bit (d) at a time (e), and allowing infrastructure to grow (f) to shape natural (g), negative carbon shading for my home (h). Unlike artificial shading infrastructures (i), nature-based solutions become better with time (j) and go on sequestering carbon dioxide, cooling (k) the environment (l), and greening our cities (m). If they cease to live, they are still precious as colour pallets (n), compost or biomass for energy (o). Thinking (p) how can I expand the platform to this city balcony small forest... Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

September

"There's no denying the progress of the last decades, but at the same time we´re faced with an ecological crisis on an existential scale. The planet is warming, species are dying out and the pressing question now is: how sustainable is our civilised lifestyle?" Rutger Bregman, 2021. Humankind: a Hopeful History. Bloomsbury Publishing. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

September

"Profitez de vos promenades dans la campagne pour vous intéresser à tout ce que vous voyez, non pas superficiellement, mais en vous efforçant, par la reflexion, par la méditation, de pénétrer l´essence même de cette nature." Calouste S. Gulbenkian, n/d.  Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

September

Attitudes to planetary stewardship and transformation among G20 countries: 83% are willing to do more to become better “planetary stewards” and protect and regenerate the global commons. 73% agree their country’s economy should move beyond a singular focus on profit and economic growth (GDP) and focus more on human well being and ecological protection and regeneration. See Gaffney, O., Tcholak-Antitch, Z., et al. (2021). Global Commons Survey: Attitudes to planetary stewardship and transformation among G20 countries. Global Commons Alliance. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

all shades of green

Between «all or nothing» there are thousands of green variations. Green washing, like inaction, is not green. Its a waste of time and resources that could be applied in more green. None of us can do everything, but each of us can do a lot of green different things. And we need more of these different green things to get the Planet back on track. To sustain all life. Our life, also. We must carry on with green and keep on doing whatever more green we can do. Reducing what we can reduce. Reusing, recycling, composting, gardening, planting, trying some veggies of your own, offering plants, and seeds. Slowing down consumption. Exchanging surplus and ideas with neighbours, family, friends, colleagues. All shades of green are beautiful, fun, healthy, fair and good for the environment. 

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

August

 

"(...) what was becoming clear to me was the extent to which humans, in their wish to escape loneliness, made maneuvers that were very complex and hard to fathom (...) at no stage (...) within my control." Kazuo Ishiguro (2021), Klara and the Sun. Faber. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

Adaptation

"The aim of the Adaptation Support Tool (AST) is to assist policy makers and coordinators on the national level in developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating climate change adaptation strategies and plans. The AST was developed as a practical guidance tool for national level actors for all steps needed to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a national adaptation strategy." Climate ADAPT: The Adaptation Support Tool. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

 

European Environment Agency (2021). Nature‑based solutions in Europe: Policy, knowledge and practice for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

More (digital) data about consumers / citizens should be synonym with increased ethical use behaviours, but is it? Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

“People you love become part of you – not just metaphorically, but physically. You absorb people into your internal mental world.” When people get separated “the sudden absence represents a major departure from homeostasis. (…) when someone moves away, rejects you, or dies, your brain struggles with its thwarted expectations.” David Eagleman (2020). Livewired: the inside story of the ever-changing brain. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

"(...) the magic of our brain lies not in it's constituent elements but in the way those elements unceasingly reweave themselves to form a dynamic, electric, living fabric." David Eagleman (2020). Livewired: the inside story of the ever-changing brain. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

"The presumption that only very high profile individuals face threats of this caliber is a myth quickly busted by the numerous cases we found targeted for shockingly banal reasons. (...) [G]overnments need to provide remedy to those who have been unjustly targeted, and accountability to those who conducted and facilitated these attacks." The Pegasus Project, by Claudio Guarnieri. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

 

"In a world without caste, being male or female, light or dark, immigrant or native-born, would have no bearing on what anyone was perceived as being capable of." Isabel Wilkerson (2020). Caste: the lies that divide us. Penguin books. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

"The thrill of life is not about who we are but about who we are in the process of becoming." David Eagleman (2020). Livewired: the inside story of the ever-changing brain. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

August

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

July

 

"[T]he first study to assess oil and gas companies using the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Net Zero Emissions by 2050 scenario (...) found that none of the 100 companies have committed to stopping exploration." World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), Oil and Gas Benchmark (available rankings, methods and data). Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC).

July

"Here it's neither in, nor out. The transition between the inside and the outside is inspired by the traditional Japanese housing. It is called an Engawa." written in Gulbenkian Foundation Extension and Gardens' construction site wall. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA.

July

"Fully integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies, accounts, and assessments of environmental impacts at all levels of government and across all sectors of the economy, ensuring that all activities and financial flows are aligned with biodiversity values." See New Global Framework for Managing Nature Through 2030: 1st Detailed Draft Agreement Debuts. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC )

2021 11 16 Note: follow up on the Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity.