Did you feel a tug, just now?

Better if we don't unravel it . . . 

IMAGE: Many thanks to The Earth Friendly Family, via QuotesGram, for this beautiful image!

What's at stake? How do you see it?

Don't you agree?

IMAGE: Many thanks to Marian16rox on Tumblr.

Sun-Moon Mansion in China: Solar Powerhouse

The solar power sector of the energy market is growing by leaps and bounds--but nowhere faster than in China. Whether you see this as a positive or negative trend, it is changing the face of solar power generation.

The Sun-Moon Mansion is billed as "the biggest solar energy production base in the world," and was conceived as the headquarters of a solar energy production area that could parallel Silicon Valley as a source for development. It's certainly the most visually interesting power plant I've seen in a while. Here are some more views: 

IMAGES: The opening image of the Sun Moon Mansion is from an Eco Friend article, "Sustainable Solutions to Make Cities a Better Place to Live." The others are from the Inhabitat slide show about the place.

How Science Fiction Impacts Environmental Awareness

The first-edition cover of Frank Herbert's
Dune, by John Schoenherr.

I am a member of the Dune generation. 

Yeah, I know: that marks me as Older Than Dirt in 2016. Published in 1965 (I read it in 1973, at age . . . young adult), it changed both science fiction and (along with the 1962 book Silent Spring) the environmental movement. 

This was mostly due to author Frank Herbert's depiction of the complex ecology of the fictional planet Arrakis, a world so complex, fascinating and challenging that it became a "character" in its own right. And yet, as intricate and realistic as the depiction was, we only ever saw ONE environment on Arrakis. It was a "desert planet."

Richard M. Powers created the cover for
the first edition of The Word for World
is Forest, by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Similarly, Athshe, in 1972's The Word For World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, is a tree-covered world. The plot is grounded, once again, in the ecology of the planet--but there's only one kind of ecology. 

It's a common theme in science fiction: a one-ecology planet. Now, sometimes that's not unwarranted: not much difference between poles and equator on Venus, for instance, or on Jupiter's "ice moon" Europa.

But it's a simplistic view, and a very far cry from the true nature the Mother of Us All, which could be described as a "water planet," but also a mountain planet, a plains planet, a desert planet, a forest planet, and many other kinds of ecology. 

Every earth-ish science fictional world, from Hoth to Arrakis, owes its origin and vision to someplace on Earth.

Earthrise: This is the "most influential environmental photograph ever taken" (Galen Rowell), a view of Earth rising over the moon on Dec. 24, 1968 by astronaut William Anders. It changed how many people thought of earth.

To my mind, there's no reason to think any other earth-like planet with an atmosphere humans find breathable will be any less complex and extraordinary in its own way, but few sf authors seem willing to "world-build" to quite that extent.

Partially, I think that's because spending a lot of energy on multiple environmental settings may not serve the story (and that's what comes first). 

The planet Sergyar is almost a character
in the latest book of Lois McMaster
Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.

It also may be because many sf stories are set in sterile, artificial city or space-based environments. These are all too much like many "nature deprived" lives in the contemporary Western world. Not coincidentally, it's that part of the planetary population which produces most of our science fiction. "Nature deficit disorder" leads to nature-divorced book settings? Well, maybe. 

But it's refreshing to me when a book with a more sophisticated ecology for its exoplanets arrives. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is an example of a more scientifically complex vision; indeed, one of Bujold's frequent themes is an exploration of the effects of a given environment on the societies that grow up in it. 

Our view of worlds continues to evolve, in astronomy, but also in contemporary life, and science fiction (one, of course, being the mirror of the others). I only hope that as our own planet changes around us, we in the science fiction community can once again influence thinking about the complexities and beauties of environments, in powerful and constructive ways.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Wikipedia for the first-edition cover art for Dune and The Word for World is Forest, and also for Earthrise. Many thanks to Amazon, for the cover image of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, cover art by Ron Miller, based upon a concept by author Lois McMaster Bujold; cover design by Carol Russo Design. 

If this is true, what does it say about the US?

I'd like to see more people take this to heart.

IMAGE: many thanks to ClipSuper for this quote and image.

Now, THAT's Yard Art!

These are "Supertrees." They are part of the fascinating "Gardens by the Bay" project in Singapore.

Supertrees are vertical gardens. These are filled with ferns, bromeliads, and other exotic species. They're designed to replicate environmental niches, to preserve species from around the world.

The entire project is pretty interesting. Sponsored and funded by the government of Singapore, it shows remarkable foresight (Note: I live in a country where some state planning agencies with hundreds of miles of coastline to manage are not legally allowed to take the effects of global climate change into effect, so the "remarkable" bar may be set pretty low for me).

IMAGE: Many thanks to EcoFriend's "Sustainable solutions to make cities a better place to live," article.

Turn of the Semester, Turn of the Page

Windblown (2010) is one of my first "autumn"
paper sculptures.

Fall semester has begun.  Start of the school year, start of a new cycle: since I was a tiny child, the start of another school year has functionally been my “new year.”

But it’s been several years since I last began a new fall semester as a classroom practitioner.  I will always be a teacher in my heart, but the life of working in the classroom is no longer my life. 

Today I’m most invested in the other major aspects of my life: professionally, as an artist and a writer; personally, as part of a vibrant, multigenerational (and multi-species) family.

Purple Clematis is one of the paper
sculptures I finished in 2013.

So, while my “intuitive cycle” is (probably forever) tuned to the end of summer as the time of “new beginnings,” this particular year’s new beginning marks a change of direction for this blog.

For the past few years I’ve been scattering my attention between two personal blogs—this one, as “Artdog Educator,” and another one that’s been devoted strictly to my visual artwork, titled “Artdog Observations.”  As anyone knows, who’s been following either one, I’ve been posting less and less frequently to both. 

That’s because I have a massive new project in my life, a science fiction/mystery novel with the working title of Dogged Pursuit.  It’s been consuming much of my attention since spring.

At the same time, I have been trying to keep up working on my artwork.  I make fine-art paper sculpture, aimed at juried shows and in hope of gallery representation. 

Nine-Part Herbal Fantasy is my most recent finished
paper sculpture. It was recently accepted into a show!

With so many creative projects now moving forward, however, I need to re-balance the load.  This season of new beginnings seems a good time to combine both of my former blogs under one title, “Jan S. Gephardt’s Artdog Adventures.”   

As all creative people know, it’s hard to compartmentalize—worse, it’s often counter-productive to try.  Things one learns in one sphere inexplicably turn out to relate to others.  My own creative life is like a Venn diagram with about a thousand circles—and they all converge in my art and writing. 

I sometimes foster dogs for
Great Plains SPCA.

"Artdog Adventures" will explore all of it—the artwork, the writing, the background material, the interesting stuff that I discover, books I read, current events, and also my ongoing thoughts about social issues and education reform when it seems appropriate.  

Because they inform my creative work, I also will undoubtedly include thoughts on the environment, animal welfare, and most especially dogs.  Because I am involved in science fiction fandom, you’ll probably also get comments on that sphere, from time to time.

I hope you'll be interested to join me on my creative journey, and share the "Artdog's" adventures.