Spring & Summer Photos

“Rise above the storm and you will find the sunshine.”

 -Mario Fernandez 

 

PFAS Awareness

- photo from Food & Water Watch

"PFAS (including PFOA and PFOS) are man-made chemicals used in non-stick pans, food packaging, fire suppressants and stain-resistant fabrics. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they stay in the soil and water for long periods of time — and do not break down naturally. Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been associated with health problems, including thyroid disease, weakened immunity and certain cancers." -Food & Water Watch

43 states (at least) have been affected by these dangerous chemicals that don't break down over time. PFAS are detrimental to human health, wildlife, & agriculture. Improved EPA standards are being blocked by the GOP in our House of Representatives and Congress. It has taken the Attorney General's of some states to bring forth a real effort to combat the corruption of the EPA exasperated by the Trump Administration.

 Remediation efforts are slow to address this problem due to lack of legislation and funding. Public education has been virtually non-existent until recent months via TV & in newspapers on the health effects of PFAS, but lots of scientific research has been popping up online. Activists have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to raise awareness. 

Below is an interactive map to see if your watershed or town in affected:

Link: PFAS Contamination in the U.S.- Interactive Map

More detailed information on PFAS, including their origination, what products they are found in, & their health effects are in this document from Food and Water Watch, published in February 2019:

Link: These Chemicals Are Forever: Water Contamination from PFOA, PFOS and other PFASs

Earth Poems

I have never been much of a poet... 

but the time to act on our climate crisis is now, not later.

"Untitled"

Wildfires & Earthquakes.

We cannot easily put out the flames.

The fracking makes the earth shake.

It sets our water on fire.

We drink oil & fracking chemicals.

We are not allowed to know what those chemicals are.

This is the new normal. 

People just look away.

Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

A Melting North Pole.

Our crops are drowning in floods & roasting in drought.

Plastic flows through our water from garbage. 

In the smallest streams from our oceans.

Bits & pieces too small to see, but small enough to drink.

Our seas are a graveyard for creatures.

This is the new normal. 

People just look away.

Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

When the sunsets are all gone,

 & replaced with a nuclear winter haze-

will it be another new normal?

Will you look away?

The Global Polluter Money will no longer matter. 

Their profits will not be as self serving as they had hoped.

Harvesting the earth & humans was their business.

Property Damage, Starvation, & Death.

Profits. Immorality. Mortality.

This is the new normal. 

People just look away.

Disbelief, indifference, helplessness.

Capitalism and Crime: Governmental Control Over Resources; the Oppression Over People: Part 2

-Photo from depositphotos.com

The People's Fight for Water and Other Resources:

 The Human Response to Government Race for Fossil Fuels

The people's fight for water and other resources, due to the harvesting of fossil fuels and the global crisis it has caused for our environment, gives rise to all levels of human survivalist instinct. The necessary means to survive has become a diminished prospect or all together unobtainable. Globally, the conditions which humans live in are complicated by lack of housing, lack of economic opportunity, extreme temperatures, increased natural disasters, and lack of food and/or water. 

When the Oppressed Class Seeks Social Justice: 

Those in countries where freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are legal and socially acceptable, often bring their grievances to their government officials in this way. But, the oppressed sometimes have their civil rights violated by the very government that instituted those universal rights as a part of the democracy. This is because when the ruling class feel their interests are threatened, abuse of governmental power has usually followed. This premise is demonstrated by both history and by Richard Quinney's 'Social Reality Theory of Crime': the idea that "criminal law is used by the state and ruling class to secure survival of the capitalist system, and, as capitalist society is further threatened by it's own contradictions, criminal law will be increasingly used in the attempt to maintain domestic order." Capitalism tends to favor the ruling class, which is controlled by money and their special self-serving interests. Oil drilling in the Arctic is a good example. Despite the will of the people to break free from fossil fuels and our votes in a "democracy" against it, our voices and votes are ignored. In America, our basic environmental legislation was repealed by executive order by President Trump. 

Link: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Agreement

Greed also controls his most powerful supporters, leaving punishment for these governmental crimes against humanity and the planet less likely to occur. While the government itself makes the laws, law enforcement is much more likely to be aimed at those on the lower end of the socio-economic scale. This leaves basic democratic values and social movements in accountability, justice reform, and humanitarianism out of reach for social justice advocates and the oppressed class.

Link: "Moscow's Lone Climate Protester: We Need To Talk About It Now"

"People generally do not have the same justice system as those in places of political and monetary power."- J.K. Lieberman, 1973

The bi-lateral control of the natural resources in the Arctic Circle by Russia & the United States, combined with the human response to the climate crisis and ecocide it's causing is a disaster. Totalitarianism throughout history has never worked. Governments that are mismanaged, become corrupted, do not follow their own laws, lack democracy, and partake in mass incarceration or genocide are repeatedly overthrown by the people or taken down by foreign military. Government, while an entity in itself, is made up of 2 basic things: humans and money. The humanity and morality of people is lost when their thoughts and actions are solely controlled by money and the need to exert power and dominance over the people. Militarized police, in combination with a militarized police force allowed to constantly violate the oppressed class and their civil and constitutional rights, creates a fascist government. Until there can be a moral compass installed in governmental policy, focused on human empathy rather than instant gratification, our earth and people will continue to suffer. 

Winter Solstice Inspired

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Deep peace of the winter solstice to you, 

Deep peace of the falling snow to you,

Deep peace of the love of friends to you,

Deep peace of the gentle deer to you,  

Deep peace of the moon and stars to you.

-Author Unknown

"Solstice Blessings"
Prints as large as 30x40 available at my Deviant Art shop!

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Fall is Here

Fall Equinox is September 21st!

 

Mother nature somewhat stays alive through winter,
through plants like evergreens.
 Others die a beautiful death;
Rebirth in the Spring. 

The Last Day of May

Blooming roses and flowering trees.

...But still fascinated by the unconventional beauty found in certain insects and weeds.

 Click Here To View Gallery

Magnets, Prints, & Postcards Available.

Spring Life

Cherry Blossoms & Mossy Branches & Things

Spring in a new backyard full of whimsical looking trees and plants that are now budding. The mystery is what they will become. Cutting back flowering vines is revealing bricks and stepping stones buried underneath layers of sod. These buried treasures are fun to find.

New Year, New Calendars

Calendars for sale for $23.99 plus tax. 

Limited Time Offer: Spend $25 ($25.00) or more on Prints products, Get 20% off !

Go To Deviant Art Shop

Attracting Backyard Birds and DIY Winter Feeders

Bird feeders for backyard birds are easy to make and an economical solution to help birds stay fed this winter. Birds such as Purple and Gold Finches are attracted to Thistle Seed. Nuthatches and Woodpeckers are attracted to sunflower seeds and peanut butter, among other things. Those two ingredients are sure to make them frequent flyers. My seed mix includes an economical seed that sparrows and chickadees eat together in small flocks, which has grains such as corn, millet, and sunflower seeds mixed in. I added thistle seed, then mixed in a good amount of peanut butter to make it all stick together. For the ball feeder below, I just rolled the seed mix into a ball by hand, then took twine and wrapped it around several times with tight knots, and added a string to hook it to my porch hook. The long feeder is 1/2 of a wrapping paper tube covered in peanut butter with a spatula, then rolled in the seed mix. A toilet paper roll will also work. The hanger is twine that I strung through the top by carefully punching holes with scissors. Bamboo sticks were popped through the feeder the same way to make perches. Ribbons can be tied to make them more attractive, but I chose to save those for feeders that will last a long time. Over time these feeders will deteriorate from rain, snow, and cold, but since they cost so little to make, they can be thrown away and replaced!

- Photo from birdfeedersnmore.com

-Photo from oakmossed.wordpress.com

More Colors of Autumn; Dark & Cool Nights

Freezing garden veggies for winter, canning, and planning for the first freeze is quiet servitude. A busy summer has unexpectedly continued into a hectic fall, and I am in readiness for the big simmer down. 

“A hibernating snail is not necessarily dead” 
― Messaoud Mohammed

The Neverending Summer

 21 Summer Memories:

 http://angiestaft.deviantart.com/

Photography Realism Project

My photography realism project, "Urban Decay":

The concept of finding beauty in our crumbling infrastructures. These photos were taken at a public park, due to a sudden fascination. Peeling paint, rusted metal, and plants growing out of old cracked concrete have an elegance about them. 

Prints, coffee mugs, mousepads, magnets, and coasters available at my Deviant Art Shop {link}

Clocks available at my Zazzle Shop {link}

Autumn Fae and Inspirational Objects

Summer is starting to taper. Soon my 2016 summer photo memory series will be complete. My latest drawing is inspired by the leaves that are beginning to fall, while vegetation is still growing rapidly. Summer and Fall are overlapped, and the environment is beautiful. The colors I am choosing are based on a palette of autumn colors.

"Harvest Fae" Black & White Sketch

Summer Solstice and the Journey From Spring

Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year for those in the Northern Hemisphere and the Arctic Circle has sunlight 24 hours of the day. Plants are most vigorous and lively, and earth has completely passed from it's dormant phase from winter, leaving no traces. Spring's delicate signs of life have turned into full blooms. I am still reminded of this spring, when I visited one of the most ethereal places I have ever seen in the early spring, along with spring's humble beginnings. 

Most may not know this, but Illinois isn't all just a flat prairie of cornfields. Most of it is of course- besides Chicago! There is a canyon system in the middle of the state: 

Starved Rock State Park

This natural anomaly was formed from a melting glacier over 10,000 years ago. It became a home for tribes of Native Americans. It was then, and still is considered to be a sacred place.  It's preservation is very important to nature lovers and environmentalists.  Nature's historical record can be seen within the canyons of all shapes, colors, and sizes. Sandstone, caves, forests, and waterfalls are abundant. 

In the early spring my little family and I went to visit after a long, cold winter to enjoy the outdoors and discover what we could find along it's miles and miles of trails. My camera became

 infiltrated by pictures, because every few steps it seemed something new would appear that I didn't want to miss and felt compelled to capture. The moss forming and the chilly mist of the waterfalls tucked behind sandstone and along caves were a pleasant start to welcoming our springtime. Now that summertime has officially arrived, I am curious about what a difference I would find in the plant life if I visit. Herbs, flowers, and plants native to the region would be both surprising and lovely. The Ents alone would bring me inner peace and be visually intoxicating.

In folklore and certain cultural circles Ents are defined as "tree-like creatures, having become more and more like the trees that they herded. They vary in traits, from everything to height and size, colouring, and the number of fingers and toes. An individual Ent more or less resembles the specific species of tree that they typically guard":

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Ents

The search for "Ents" is very easy there if you are a believer in them. They are everywhere to see, both on guard and welcoming. I have included some of my favorites and given them corresponding names with the traits/body parts that I recognized.

 Have a blessed Summer Solstice. Remember: keep your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds whenever possible!

 "The Ents"

"Tiny and Friendly" Ent

"Waving Hello" Ent  (or "Male Genitalia" Ent)

"Whistling" Ent

"Get Out of My Woods Now!" Ent