Yesterday (Sunday, US time) we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim in New York - such a treat.
In the special exhibition "The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City" (see http://www.metmuseum.org/special/index.asp for more about it) we saw amazing artworks from the 1700s collected for the 2-acre private retreat built inside the Forbidden City in 1771 as the retirement residence of the Qianlong Emperor who reigned from 1736–95, presiding over China's last dynasty. Of course the amazing landscapes painted in much Chinese art is tower karst, unreal-looking remnant landscapes of deeply eroded limestone.
Part of the exhibition included an extraordinarily detailed painting on a long scroll of the Emperor inspecting river works. These involved diverting part of a nearby river into the Yellow River to dilute its silt-laden waters, with enormous levees and stacks of materials laid by for repairs to the banks. Also shown were large numbers of coolies with their yokes and panniers, building these huge civil engineering works by hand.
We also strolled up the road to the Guggenheim (http://www.guggenheim.org/) which was far tinier than I'd imagined but delightful. Favourite picture? By far the best was in our opinion Egon Schiele's Portrait of an Old Man - see it at http://www.egon-schiele.net/Portrait-Of-An-Old-Man-Aka-Johann-Harms.html - but then I adore Schiele.
A stroll along the lake in Central Part was a real treat - the ice is just breaking up and there were flocks of birds - and I adored the low-key Parisian-style buildings in this gorgeous part of the city. Just blocks away from some of the tallest buildings in America is this fascinatingly liveable area that is walkable, human and welcoming.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Erosion control - the international conference EC-11
The February 2011 conference of the International Erosion Control Association, or IECA http://www.ieca.org/, was a wonderful experience. Held in Orlando, Florida, it started off with a whole day of technical training workshops on Sunday 20th, followed by three days of a half-day workshops and papers from Monday to Wednesday. It concluded on Thursday 24 February with a half-day of tests for people seeking accreditation for the erosion control training they have done. There was also a great Expo of nearly 150 technical services over the Tuesday and Wednesday.
Light entertainment included the hydrodeo, a lunchtime competition involving expert use of a hydro-seeding sprayer hose to wrangle large exercise balls out of and back into a corral and then of the cannon mounted on the back of a spray truck to knock over a series of plastic bales. There was also some really very good country and western music performed by 'The Suspended solids', aka some of the IECA staff and committee!
Technical topics covered preventing and controlling soil erosion, removing sediment from construction site runoff, testing water quality, site inspection techniques, low impact urban design and development, meeting the many stringent controls under the Clean Water Act and integrated catchment / watershed management.
One of the topics of most interest to me was on branding. Judith Guido was the highest-ranking female executive in the US Green Directory and has a strong association with the IECA. Her half-day workshop was on 'Your brand as a powerful business asset', focusing on brand integrity with specific reference to companies working in the environmental area. It was marvellous! Find out more about Judith and her work at http://www.guidoassoc.com/. Other topics of interest related to training, compliance and risk.
My own paper went down very well and I look forward very much to attending future IECA conferences.
I was very touched by the number of people at the conference who asked about the devastating earthquake in central Christchurch, New Zealand. Many of them had been to New Zealand and many more people told me they had always wanted to visit. It is not the first time I have noted the courtesy and kindness of Americans, but this was particularly heart-warming.There were many expressions of sympathy and goodwill to those in New Zealand affected by this disaster.
On a more cheerful note, wait for my next alligator in storm drain story.... coming up in my next blog - with live footage!
Light entertainment included the hydrodeo, a lunchtime competition involving expert use of a hydro-seeding sprayer hose to wrangle large exercise balls out of and back into a corral and then of the cannon mounted on the back of a spray truck to knock over a series of plastic bales. There was also some really very good country and western music performed by 'The Suspended solids', aka some of the IECA staff and committee!
Technical topics covered preventing and controlling soil erosion, removing sediment from construction site runoff, testing water quality, site inspection techniques, low impact urban design and development, meeting the many stringent controls under the Clean Water Act and integrated catchment / watershed management.
One of the topics of most interest to me was on branding. Judith Guido was the highest-ranking female executive in the US Green Directory and has a strong association with the IECA. Her half-day workshop was on 'Your brand as a powerful business asset', focusing on brand integrity with specific reference to companies working in the environmental area. It was marvellous! Find out more about Judith and her work at http://www.guidoassoc.com/. Other topics of interest related to training, compliance and risk.
My own paper went down very well and I look forward very much to attending future IECA conferences.
I was very touched by the number of people at the conference who asked about the devastating earthquake in central Christchurch, New Zealand. Many of them had been to New Zealand and many more people told me they had always wanted to visit. It is not the first time I have noted the courtesy and kindness of Americans, but this was particularly heart-warming.There were many expressions of sympathy and goodwill to those in New Zealand affected by this disaster.
On a more cheerful note, wait for my next alligator in storm drain story.... coming up in my next blog - with live footage!
Monday, February 21, 2011
World's sweetest birdsong - and it's frogs!
The wildlife in Florida is something else - the sweetest evening chirruping in the trees turned out to be tiny little tree frogs called Spring Peepers! Gorgeous. Apparently there are about 4 species of tree frog that call like birds from the top of the trees, including Green tree frogs and Squirrel tree frogs. When we went out to see the tiny bats hunting mosquitoes on the lake, we could also hear the ordinary sort of frog, though with all the other animal noises, I couldn't make out the soft chittering of the bats. And of course the squirrels (tiny ones) are extraordinarily cute.
I was lucky enough to be shown around Paynes Prairie by my wildlife ecologist host, where we heard the hauntingly pretty call of the Sandhill Cranes (big, beautiful birds - not large pieces of construction machinery...!) as they were 'staging' overhead - swirling in ever higher circles, practising their V-formations and heading out and coming back as they prepare to migrate up to Wisconsin for the summer. Meryl described their song as the sound birds would make if they could purr, and she's exactly right. There were clouds and clouds of them overhead, and on the following day, they flew out over the town, circling up on the thermals with their song filling the air even from their great height - then they were off on their long journey the length of the US. How marvelous to see these great animal migrations marking the seasons for us.
This is the sort of thing that Richard Louv talks about in his wonderful and recently updated book 'Last child in the woods - saving our children from nature deficit disorder'. A must-read, it is a paean to the vanishing contact that we and our children, urban and rural, have with natural surroundings and free play. So this is what urban design and renewal and sustainable agriculture are really about!
I was lucky enough to be shown around Paynes Prairie by my wildlife ecologist host, where we heard the hauntingly pretty call of the Sandhill Cranes (big, beautiful birds - not large pieces of construction machinery...!) as they were 'staging' overhead - swirling in ever higher circles, practising their V-formations and heading out and coming back as they prepare to migrate up to Wisconsin for the summer. Meryl described their song as the sound birds would make if they could purr, and she's exactly right. There were clouds and clouds of them overhead, and on the following day, they flew out over the town, circling up on the thermals with their song filling the air even from their great height - then they were off on their long journey the length of the US. How marvelous to see these great animal migrations marking the seasons for us.
This is the sort of thing that Richard Louv talks about in his wonderful and recently updated book 'Last child in the woods - saving our children from nature deficit disorder'. A must-read, it is a paean to the vanishing contact that we and our children, urban and rural, have with natural surroundings and free play. So this is what urban design and renewal and sustainable agriculture are really about!
Greening Florida - sponsor a highway...??!!??
I saw several billboards along the highway between Orlando and Gainesville, with only the top line ('Greening Florida') coming to my attention as we flashed by. After seeing several, I resolved to look at the foot of the billboard, and was astounded to see it say 'Sponsor a highway'. Not normally something one would associate with a greening program!
Apparently - and I couldn't find any more information than this, but will keep looking - the aim is to help fund the building of a turnpike (a highway paid for by tolls) - and you can have your logo put up in the blank space in the centre of the billboard as a sponsor. How this makes Florida greener, I'm not sure...
That said, I have noticed a lot of very new and well-maintained plantings and stormwater treatment ponds along the main highways. Are they related? I'll see if I can find out.
This is different from Florida's 'Adopt-A-Highway Program' http://www.dot.state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/aah.shtm in which schools, communities and organizations adopt a 2-mile stretch of a highway for 2 years and get involved in litter removal - a good idea to educate future drivers (if there are any after peak oil) to keep a recycling and compost bag in the cab.
I've been reading the US newspapers here and one listed Exxon Mobil as the world's biggest company, while the Wall Street Journal noted on the front page that the company, like all its peers, is only discovering 95 barrels of oil for every 100 it sells and is now, also like the rest, focusing on exploration and exploitation of the much less energy-dense gas fields.
Apparently - and I couldn't find any more information than this, but will keep looking - the aim is to help fund the building of a turnpike (a highway paid for by tolls) - and you can have your logo put up in the blank space in the centre of the billboard as a sponsor. How this makes Florida greener, I'm not sure...
That said, I have noticed a lot of very new and well-maintained plantings and stormwater treatment ponds along the main highways. Are they related? I'll see if I can find out.
This is different from Florida's 'Adopt-A-Highway Program' http://www.dot.state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/aah.shtm in which schools, communities and organizations adopt a 2-mile stretch of a highway for 2 years and get involved in litter removal - a good idea to educate future drivers (if there are any after peak oil) to keep a recycling and compost bag in the cab.
I've been reading the US newspapers here and one listed Exxon Mobil as the world's biggest company, while the Wall Street Journal noted on the front page that the company, like all its peers, is only discovering 95 barrels of oil for every 100 it sells and is now, also like the rest, focusing on exploration and exploitation of the much less energy-dense gas fields.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
That sinking feeling….
Paynes Prairie, a big park on the edge of Gainesville, used to be a huge lake, covering over 21,000 acres (8,500 hectares), with big paddle steamers crossing it and coming up to the town itself. Then one day in 1891, an entry opened up to a huge sinkhole underneath it, and the entire lake drained away underground in two days, as if someone had pulled out the bathplug. Apparently there were dead fish for miles and the stench was something awful. Thank goodness for Nature's tidier-uppers, the vultures.
Now Paynes Prairie is a huge park with wild horses and bison, as well as alligators, snakes and birds - find out more at http://www.floridastateparks.org/paynesprairie.
Knowing my obsession with limestone, Mark and Meryl took me and their two delightful children to the Devil's Millhopper, a giant sinkhole in Florida's only Geological State Park. This sinkhole opened up 10-15,000 years ago, and is 120 feet deep and 500 across (about 37 by 150 metres). It's a lovely walk and very manageable climb down and back up an attractive stairway. The 12 springs that continue to flow out of the surrounding limestone form a series of small streams that meander across the sinkhole base then disappear down through deeper layers of limestone before entering the waters of the Ocala aquifer many meters below.
Houses do occasionally get swallowed up by new sinkholes, fortunately on a much smaller scale than Paynes and Millhopper - and sinkhole insurance is available, except in areas where the underlying cave systems are too close to the surface, making collapses more likely. An interesting land use planning issue to have to grapple with!
Now Paynes Prairie is a huge park with wild horses and bison, as well as alligators, snakes and birds - find out more at http://www.floridastateparks.org/paynesprairie.
Knowing my obsession with limestone, Mark and Meryl took me and their two delightful children to the Devil's Millhopper, a giant sinkhole in Florida's only Geological State Park. This sinkhole opened up 10-15,000 years ago, and is 120 feet deep and 500 across (about 37 by 150 metres). It's a lovely walk and very manageable climb down and back up an attractive stairway. The 12 springs that continue to flow out of the surrounding limestone form a series of small streams that meander across the sinkhole base then disappear down through deeper layers of limestone before entering the waters of the Ocala aquifer many meters below.
Houses do occasionally get swallowed up by new sinkholes, fortunately on a much smaller scale than Paynes and Millhopper - and sinkhole insurance is available, except in areas where the underlying cave systems are too close to the surface, making collapses more likely. An interesting land use planning issue to have to grapple with!
Alligator vectors
With five small ponds around their house, Jeanette Hostetler, my host’s mother, was telling me how they hear the alligators calling in the mating season. The bull alligators make an extremely loud sound that she was only able to describe as something between a deep bark and a roar. Mark describes it as a lawnmower trying to start up. Then the female will respond and they find each other. Jeanette kept hearing these sounds very nearby as she went out walking but was at a loss to see where they were coming from, as there were no gators in sight. One day, she happened to be passing a stormwater grate and heard the gator mating calls issuing forth – followed by the unmistakable sounds of the animal heading off down the sewer towards its potential mate! Apparently they normally make their way to each other and from pond to pond by walking overland – something I find rather startling in a suburban context... Fortunately for infrastructure maintenance staff, it is comparatively rare for alligators to use the storm sewers as a transit system. Other animals do use them a lot, though – so you’re much more likely to see the friendly face of a cute raccoon poking out of the outfall.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Alligators in the stormwater treatment pond…..
Health and Safety in the workplace took on a whole new meaning for me when Mark Hostetler said there are so many alligators in pond-filled Florida that they quickly take up residence in any new watery real estate that becomes available as part of low impact urban design! A major complicating factor for stormwater pond maintenance.
And I thought pukeko pulling out newly planted ponds and wetland were a pain in the butt...!
Speaking of pukeko, apparently they are an invasive pest in the Florida Everglades. When Hurricane Andrew (or one of them round 2004 or so) hit the State a few years ago, it blew down the fences around one of the southern zoos, and a lot of animals escaped. Most were recovered, but the enterprising pukeko quickly adapted to the Everglades and are going about their usual activities, eating everything and reproducing to the point where locals are calling for a cull. As we have world-beating expertise in plant and animal pest eradication, well – call in the New Zealanders, I say!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Limestone *rocks*!
How did I, a certified limestone nut, not realize that Florida is mostly limestone! This explains the many lakes – apparently sinkholes open up regularly as the underground systems cave in, sometimes swallowing entire buildings. Then the holes fill up with water from the underlying limestone aquifers. The state as a whole has quite low topography, being not much above sea level, so the underground water is often close to the surface. The climate and rocks make for thin, dry, sandy soils, which I can’t help feeling is a funny mix with the wetland vegetation, swamp cypresses and live oaks (so-called because they are not 100% deciduous, and have green leaves all year round) draped with spooky-looking Spanish moss. The open nature of the forest reminds me very much of the Australian bush, though there are no eucalypts.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Florida - state of lakes
Orlando is full of lakes, as is the whole of Florida - I remember Lake Okeechobee from 5th Form Geography - but forget the geological reasons for there being so many. I won't have time to see the (Kingston Trio / Tony Joe White) Everglades this trip, alas - but just looking at the maps (I'm a geographer, remember! - we like them!) reminds me of being in Europe and the UK - hardly a place name I don't recognise. Have obviously read far too many Jack Reacher novels!
4 stretch hummers in the hotel's service park and another in the carpark for the rest of us. No wonder the Gulf of Mexico is full of oil - not all of it from well-head spills! As for carparks - those between the airport and the hotel were mile after mile of massive four-storey things. Amazing.Toll freeways everywhere - 2 in the 12-mile stretch to the hotel.
I'll have my camera at the ready during the 2-hour trip to Gainesville where my colleague Mark Hostetler lectures in the Dept of Wildlife and Ecology at the University (that's where I'll be first giving my presentation as a lecture to some of his students ). Mark and his wife will be taking me and their two children to see crocodiles and sand cranes over the weekend - looks like the wildlife here is significantly wilder than ours in New Zealand!
Find out more about Mark and his work at:
4 stretch hummers in the hotel's service park and another in the carpark for the rest of us. No wonder the Gulf of Mexico is full of oil - not all of it from well-head spills! As for carparks - those between the airport and the hotel were mile after mile of massive four-storey things. Amazing.Toll freeways everywhere - 2 in the 12-mile stretch to the hotel.
I'll have my camera at the ready during the 2-hour trip to Gainesville where my colleague Mark Hostetler lectures in the Dept of Wildlife and Ecology at the University (that's where I'll be first giving my presentation as a lecture to some of his students ). Mark and his wife will be taking me and their two children to see crocodiles and sand cranes over the weekend - looks like the wildlife here is significantly wilder than ours in New Zealand!
Find out more about Mark and his work at:
- Wildlife Information - http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/
- Living Green - http://livinggreen.ifas.ufl.edu
- Program for Resource Efficient Communities - http://www.buildgreen.ufl.edu
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
San Franciso - the city and the sea
It seems such a shame to only transit through San Francisco on my way to Orlando - on my next visit to the US, I'll make sure I spend some time in this beautiful city. But even flying over the harbour was amazing - the waters are very intensively used in what looks like the inner harbour - a big salt farm, and many partitions that may be marine farms or more salt capturing areas - so the harbour earms money for this city in many ways. Also saw the most magnificent thundercloud forming as we flew in - a marvelous anvil-shaped upper layer forming, and fast.
And it was wonderful so see a huge Hollywood-style sign on the hill above the airport saying "South San Francisco - the industrial city". So proud! Not hiding away where no-one can see their productive areas! I'd love to see what they are doing to protect the water quality of their fabulous harbor. *Sigh* - next time!
And it was wonderful so see a huge Hollywood-style sign on the hill above the airport saying "South San Francisco - the industrial city". So proud! Not hiding away where no-one can see their productive areas! I'd love to see what they are doing to protect the water quality of their fabulous harbor. *Sigh* - next time!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
I'm off to the USA today for 3 weeks, presenting a paper on the topic of my 1st book (only 1 chapter away from completion!) at the International Erosion Control Association Environmental Connection Conference in Florida. Find out more at http://www.ieca.org/conference/annual/ec.asp.
Also presenting the paper at the University of Florida (before going to see local ecology like crocodiles and sand cranes!) and hopefully, at Princeton University, too.
Meeting civil engineering contractors associations in New York - and seeing lots of art galleries, the Observatory and other great parts of that wonderful City. EXCITING!
Also presenting the paper at the University of Florida (before going to see local ecology like crocodiles and sand cranes!) and hopefully, at Princeton University, too.
Meeting civil engineering contractors associations in New York - and seeing lots of art galleries, the Observatory and other great parts of that wonderful City. EXCITING!
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