Michell Joachim- fantastical vision for ecological supercities POP SCI MAG

"If the same people who design the roads also design the cars, he says, and the same people who create the suburbs also plan for ways to feed and transport residents, our cities will become healthier, friendlier and more sustainable."

In his vision, individual cars would be replaced by car-share systems that function like luggage carts at an airport. Pay, step into a smart car that communicates with the city grid, drive to your destination, and leave the car there. The cars would have soft, springy exteriors, inflatable protective bladders and transparent foil, which would enable them to bump together as they traveled in flocks. “The idea of sharp metal boxes is just done,” Joachim says. “We design cars with the principle that no one would ever die in a car accident again.”

I found Michell Joachim on the sputnik observatory a little while ago along with a lot of other very interesting, intelligent, and progressive people, whom I have been trying to look further into to investigate individual projects or ideas of theirs. Joachim is one who seems to be doing a lot. He is a co-founder of the group Terraform ONE, a non-profit design collective that works to explore fully-integrated urban planning. I looked at his blog today and found this article from Popular Science about Joachim's vision of his future ecological supercities. His energy and enthusiasm for creating spaces that he may not even live to see is very positive for me, along with his sense of taking responsibility for design decisions and every implications of each. I think for these types of visions to fulfill themselves there are going to need to be many other structural changes within how our culture functions and thrives but that there are people who are working so hard on this is exciting...

Mother Jones is sneaking around the oil spill.

Great work BP...

"Not that keeping a cleanup job necessarily equals getting paid: Elmer says the contractors continue to lose workers' paychecks, a problem he told me about the last time we talked and that has since been confirmed by the local papers."

Elmer said he'd recently come upon a dead crab and, knowing no one was going to come to examine it, decided to slice it open himself. Black oil poured out.

This is a page of a lovely history book that I'm cutting apart for an installation. Read the wonderful wisdom that they are feeding to the Young Americans...

Mother Jones+The Last Taboo

"One of every two underfed people on Earth lives here. Forty percent of Indian children under the age of five are underweight and stunted. More than 4 percent of the 26 million babies born here every year die within their first month of life, a neonatal mortality rate surpassing even India's war-torn neighbor, Sri Lanka."

SPTNK

Here's an example:

SPTNKOBSRVTRY

So I am writing a paper about this art piece/website. It's designed and created by Jonathan Harris for a not-for-profit educational organization called the Sputnik Observatory. The organization focuses on connecting ideas from art, science, and technology together and encouraging life long learning. The interface is really great and full of compelling information and ideas. Dive in and get lost! Their slogan:

Ideas are energy.
Your brain is a satellite.
Out there is your mind.

Show at the Bean!

So I'm having an exhibition of my artwork at the Sentient Bean on May 3rd. Everyone should come!! :) It will be up all month