Patrick Dougherty Installation in Brooklyn

This month at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden artist Patrick Dougherty is installing a unique sculpture made natural material.  If you have seen the movie Where the Wild Things Are you may have recognized Dougherty's sculpture as the massive spheres of twigs made into their hideout (above image). For the Brooklyn Botanical Garden installation Dougherty has collected nonnative woody material, mainly Salix atrocinerea, from the Ocean Breeze Park on Staten Island.  This was part of a larger effort to remove invasive species as outlined in the PlaNYC Sustainability Initiative. Dougherty started his installation last week at the garden and is scheduled to be finished by August 21st.  Visit the BBG before August 21st to see the actual installation or the completed installation will remain up for the following year.

Art Goes Organic...*sellouts*

Salad for lunch? You got a little something on your lip there...I think it's the G train.


I'm not an art guy. But even my void of artistic appreciation was drawn in by the New York Times article about recent "organic art" trends. This stuff is fantastic. Mosaics of cockroach carapaces and sardines, a bicycle made out of cow bones, and some Dutch guy with moss glued to his face. I will be honest though, when the times article mentioned Levi van Veluw using his flesh as soil, I got really excited. But he isn't. It's just glue.

Probably better for his skin in all honesty.

Pigweed for Everyone

The New York Times today has an article on the spread of Roundup-resistant weeds. Those who are familiar with the issue of the evolution of resistant pest species won't find too much additional information in the article, although it does point out some evidence that despite Monsanto's claims that the problem is manageable, they apparently are concerned enough to subsidize certain farmers' purchases of other herbicides to target resistant weeds.

On a whim, I looked up one spectacular-sounding weed highlighted in the article. According to the article, Pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri) "can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment. In an attempt to kill the pest before it becomes that big, Mr. Anderson and his neighbors are plowing their fields and mixing herbicides into the soil."

It turns out that this terrifying giant pigweed actually isn't so evil, and maybe even its resistance to glyphosate could be a benefit.

Mapping Environmental Change - The Past 70 Years

I find it interesting how so many people in recent days have questioned the world's track record with handling oil drilling due to the recent disaster in the Gulf. I hate to break it to you people, but we have a terrible track record of existing...

70 Years of Environmental Change

TD Bank Five Borough Bike Tour This Sunday!

Can you feel the excitement?! I can't, because it's only Thursday, but it's there, lurking just beneath the subconscious.



For all your bike tour needs make sure to check out the official website here. Everyone should make an effort and get out to experience it. Especially the festival at the end of the ride in Staten Island where I hear free beef jerky samples will be available.

Follow GEE's very own Sarah Welch and Zachary Lehmann while they bike from your smart phone! Text "where are zak and sarah" to 617-512-0145 and you will get a link to a google map showing their exact position along the ride!

Hope to see everyone there!

Digi-scoping: Glimpse of a Peregrine Falcon

Monday I took this shot of a female peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) on Long Island.  This was my first attempt at the technique called digi-scoping.  "Digi-scoping" generally refers to using a digital camera to take photos through the eyepiece of a telescope.  I used my inexpensive Sony Cyber-shot 7.2 mega pixels through the eyepiece of a Kowa scope.  My camera was set to auto adjustment which sometimes causes a delay in the shot.  As you can see it is a bit out of focus.  Next time I will try to adjust the settings to get a clearer shot.

Her feathers are ruffled from the wind and she is perched on her left foot.

Stay tuned for more digi-scoping photos and news on peregrine falcons.

Deodorant Guns

China is planning to install 100 deodorant guns. 

I found this interesting and disgusting info reading METRO this morning. They are going to shoot fresh air over dump sites. Machines will spray chemical fragrance and industrial fans will spread it up to 160 feet.

The amount of trash that Beijing produces is bigger than they can handle. Instead perfuming it, maybe they should clean it. Other cities have had this problem at some point too, but they did their homework and figured out how to motivate people to make less garbage. What if our government organized a little operation: "STINKY GONE." Can you imagine how awful and confusing that would be for our sense of smell?? Rotten food mixed with “clean linen” deodorant. It's similar to when you are too lazy to clean your house so you just spray some Febreze.

New York is not the cleanest city in the world, but it is trying hard to maximize recycling and minimize garbage production. Like every other city in the world, it is very important for citizens to be on the same page as the city government. Cities should develop marketing strategies to inform citizens of the importance of waste reduction and recycling on individual and community levels. This would allow city officials to create a good cleaning plan. So Beijing -- it is cleaning time!

Find out more here.