planted city

Seen around town: Bird houses and trees on False Creek’s Habitat Island

Seen around town: a bird’s eye view of the Stanley Park seawall this past weekend. The seawall is grade separated with lanes for folks on bikes and foot.

here are some recent reflections from around town

I’ve got some more pics here if you’re interested in checking ‘em out.

Seen around town:

The clouds may be grey and the rain heavy, but the trees and plants here in Vancouver are putting on a light show right now. Call me a fan of decaying chlorophyll.

Seen around town: An old bike repurposed into a mini street side garden on the 10th avenue bikeway here in Vancouver

Seen around town: A flock of Canada Geese flying (mostly) in V-formation

Ideas for the Future | ‘It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future’ (Video)

From SFU Continuing Studies via Youtube:

Although climate change is a scientific and technological issue, it is also fundamentally a moral issue, and it calls for a moral response. 

In the spring of 2012, Kathleen Dean Moore of Oregon State University joined us at SFU Vancouver to deliver a lecture called It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future. 

She addressed several questions: Why has climate-change science elicited such stunning indifference? What calls us to act? How can we respond to the crisis in ways that honor duties of compassion, justice, and respect for human rights? How can we discuss these values across differences? How do we live when we truly understand that we live in complete dependence on an Earth that is interconnected, interdependent, finite, resilient, and heartbreakingly beautiful?

Source: Cottage Country & The David Suzuki Foundation

Neil deGrasse Tyson: ‘The Most Astounding Fact’ (Video)

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer. (Vimeo)

Awe-inspiring. Definitely a video deserving of a full screen treatment. The Cinematic Orchestra track in the background is a nice touch as well.  

Earlier in the summer we hiked the Ripple Rock Trail near Campbell River on Vancouver Island. It’s a short, 3-hour hike that ends on a rocky bluff overlooking Seymour Narrows. In 1958, it was the site of the largest non-nuclear human generated explosion of all time. It’s a beautiful place to eat a sandwich, feel the breeze, and watch birds of prey flying overhead. We were lucky enough to see a pod of transient orcas swimming up the Narrows while we were there.