1) This is pure awesome: Namibia has designated its entire coastline as a national park. “The Namib-Skeleton Coast National Park covers 26.6 million acres, making it larger than Portugal” and “stretches for 976 miles (1,570km), from the Kunene River, at the northern border with Angola, to the Orange River, on the border with South Africa, and is expected to be promoted as a unified destination. The protected coastline consolidates three national parks: Skeleton Coast, Namib-Naukluft and Sperrgebiet. The last is the site of Namibia’s diamond mines, which have long been closed to the public.” The U.S. should do the same with its coastline. Evict all squatters!
2) The Times asks: Can you disappear in surveillance Britain? “Back in January last year, David Bond packed a rucksack, kissed his pregnant wife Katie and toddler Ivy, climbed into his Toyota Prius and drove away from home. Nobody knew where he was going – he didn’t even know himself. One thing he was sure about was ‘I’m going to leave my life behind and disappear,’ he said.”
3) Can't live with them, can't eat salad without them: The Guardian on salad slaves.
4) On Tuesday, February 15, the Arid Lands Institute will present the next speakers of their lecture series, Excavating Innovation: The History and Future of Drylands Design. They are Vinjayak Bharne and Pruned hero Dilip da Cunha. See the poster below for the title of their talks. If you can't make it, videos of the event will be posted on the institute's website.
5) Another SoCal event is Made Up at the Art Center College of Design. “MADE UP: Design's Fictions presents the work of major and emerging international practices that forecast, hypothesize, muse, skylark, role-play, put-on-airs, freak-out or otherwise fake-it to produce work that is relevant to our increasingly confusing and accelerated world.”
6) Check out Canalscape: “The Phoenix Metro region has a vast network of canals, initially constructed by early inhabitants of this region two millennia ago and rebuilt during modern times. These canals are our lifeline, supporting farming and providing a good portion of our drinking water. We have yet to leverage this amazing asset, however, to produce a distinctive and more sustainable desert urbanism. At this critical juncture, canalscape seizes this opportunity by: a) Creating vital hubs of urban activity where canals meet major streets; b) Enhancing the canals to offer more comfortable recreational corridors, non-motorized transportation options, and alterative energy generation.”
7) Excess for excess: “A local authority in England has given the go ahead for a swimming pool to use energy created by the next-door crematorium to heat its water. The plan, the first of its kind in Britain, will see waste heat from the incinerator chimney used to warm up the neighboring leisure center and its new pool.”
8) Peeling Back the Bark on “what forestry and logging were supposed to look like today as predicted by the best minds of the mid-20th century.”
9) With gold prices soaring, old mines in California are reopening.
10) From March 4 to April 1, 2011, “media-artists, speculative designers, avant-garde businesses and bleeding edge researchers working between life and technology” will gather together in Amsterdam for the second TransNatural event.
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