2003.09.01
***Yosemite and the Invention of Wilderness.
The writer and environmentalist Rebecca Solnit believes that the American idea of pristine wilderness a profoundly mistaken fantasy. By James Gorman. [New York Times: Science]
Not that the generations of Yosemite worshipers that followed venerated mainstream American culture and the exploitation of natural resources. Far from it. On a rock dome overlooking Lake Tenaya, working with Mr. Wolfe on a photograph, with Ms. Solnit observing, Mr. Klett said: “What we saw in the Adams photographs is: `This is nature. And it’s beautiful because you’re not there.’ “
This article describes an interesting and thought-provoking perspective on American wilderness. I’d like to read the books. However, I don’t agree with this flippant dismissal of Ansel Adams’ work. It is wrong on two counts at least. First, I don’t agree that Adams is telling us “this is beautiful because you are not here.” Quite the contrary: I believe that Adams invites us to imagine ourselves in these places having the same experience that he had when capturing the images.. Secondly, I do not think that one can ignore the abstract formal nature of his photographs and simply, as this writer seems to suggest, regard them as pictures of places. They are images of light and shadow and form and in this sense are even somewhat abstract in spite of their seemingly stubborn realism.
***Water Issues Erupt at Central Asia Forum.
Antagonism surrounding water issues in Central Asia erupted at a forum
on the region’s deteriorating environment. By Agence France-presse. [New York Times: Business]
Experts
warn that Central Asia is heading toward a crisis as water
mismanagement has already severely reduced the size of the Aral Sea,
straddling Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, leaving a 154,450-square-mile
toxic wasteland that threatens three million local residents.
Started the new month with
a bike ride. Although some trees are starting to turn to fall colors
and the late-summer haze has come to Santa Clara Valley, I know – after
many years of not believing it – that we have as much as two more
months of warm weather before the season really changes in central California.
Between Lake Townsley and Ireland Lake, Yosemite National Park. October 13, 2002.
September is, in some ways, the
best time for Sierra backpacking. Everything seems to slow down; nearly all of the crowds have left,
the mosquitos have diminished, and meadows are turning golden. I hope
to take two short trips to the Tuolumne area in the next few weeks, and
end the season with a traditional mid-October weekend trip.
—–
September 1, 2003 -
Posted by gdanmitchell |
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Dan's Outside 
2003.09.01
***Yosemite and the Invention of Wilderness.
The writer and environmentalist Rebecca Solnit believes that the American idea of pristine wilderness a profoundly mistaken fantasy. By James Gorman. [New York Times: Science]
This article describes an interesting and thought-provoking perspective on American wilderness. I’d like to read the books. However, I don’t agree with this flippant dismissal of Ansel Adams’ work. It is wrong on two counts at least. First, I don’t agree that Adams is telling us “this is beautiful because you are not here.” Quite the contrary: I believe that Adams invites us to imagine ourselves in these places having the same experience that he had when capturing the images.. Secondly, I do not think that one can ignore the abstract formal nature of his photographs and simply, as this writer seems to suggest, regard them as pictures of places. They are images of light and shadow and form and in this sense are even somewhat abstract in spite of their seemingly stubborn realism.
***Water Issues Erupt at Central Asia Forum.
Antagonism surrounding water issues in Central Asia erupted at a forum
on the region’s deteriorating environment. By Agence France-presse. [New York Times: Business]
Started the new month with
a bike ride. Although some trees are starting to turn to fall colors
and the late-summer haze has come to Santa Clara Valley, I know – after
many years of not believing it – that we have as much as two more
months of warm weather before the season really changes in central California.
Between Lake Townsley and Ireland Lake, Yosemite National Park. October 13, 2002.
September is, in some ways, the
best time for Sierra backpacking. Everything seems to slow down; nearly all of the crowds have left,
the mosquitos have diminished, and meadows are turning golden. I hope
to take two short trips to the Tuolumne area in the next few weeks, and
end the season with a traditional mid-October weekend trip.
—–
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September 1, 2003 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary