Isostatic Rebound: Earthquake & Volcano Activity

Merapi Volcano Eruption.  Photograph Courtesy AFP.

For some time now I have tracked earthquake and volcano activity in this Climate Change portion of my blog. I do this because NASA data suggests that both Greenland and Antarctica are "moving" (known as isostatic rebound) as the ice weight melts off of them, and if it is true that one of the largest islands in the world, and THE largest continent start to flex, they will shift tectonic plates worldwide setting off earthquakes and increasing volcanic activity. Clearly, this has just been personal speculation on my part, and part of the beauty of being able to blog.

Now it seems the science community may be taking more notice of this possibility. I await their conclusions, but I am buying earthquake preparedness kits for my whole family now and not expecting the empirical evidence any time soon.

This summer when I was teaching in Jackson Hole, WY, we were rocked by a large swarm of quakes of small quakes (40 or more/4.0 magnitude) at a time when no local I spoke with can ever remember experiencing a quake. On September 26, Nebraska was rattled by a small 3.0+ in an area earthquake activity is considered extremely rare.

Unfortunately, these may just be "awakening" signs. In the winter of 1811-1812, The New Madrid fault zone in SE Missouri produced three of the strongest earthquakes to ever strike the continental U.S. And, more ominously, scientists have discussed for years the danger of the Yellowstone Basin "waking up" because Yellowstone IS an ancient volcano, and a prehistoric Yellowstone produced the largest and most cataclysmic volcanic eruption in the evolution of North America.

If a changing climate triggers these kinds of activities and events, I would like us all to consider the concept of keeping the climate as stable as possible, as soon as possible, please! I don't give a damn about whose fault these changes are, we need to address these changes.

The philosopher, Thomas Huxley, said, "Human existence is a race between intelligence and extinction".

Darwin's theory has also been misstated. He actually said that it is not the smartest, nor the fittest, but those that will adapt the most quickly that will survive.

The race is on. I hope those in the human population that don't think it is, wake up and start running. We need everybody thinking about this, and for human creativity to rise to the occasion and address these changes in our environment or humanity will no longer be a relevant species.

~ Robert Glenn Ketchum

#rgk

#lbp

Midway Geyser Basin and the Grand Prismatic Spring, a hot spring located in Yellowstone National Park. Photo credit: Mila Zinkova

FotoWeek DC 2010: NightGallery, November 6-13

"MORPHIC FORMS #2, WOOD-TIKCHIK", 2001.  Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

If you're in the Washington, D.C. area November 6-13, 2010, be sure to take-in the "FotoWeek DC 2010 Festival".  Myself and several of my Fellows of the International League of Conservation Photgraphers (iLCP) will be showcased in the NightGallery.  Our select group includes myself, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Daniel Beltrá, Amy Gulick, Thomas P. Peschak, Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen, Thomas D. Mangelsen, Garth Lenz, and Brian Skerry.  Click on their names to view their websites, and see below for photos from the NightGallery.

NightGallery welcomes a world-renowned team of curators: James Wellford, the senior photo editor at Newsweek magazine, will curate the special documentary program entitled 'Projections of Reality'; Andy Adams, editor of flakphoto, and curator Larissa Leclair will shape the fine art projections entitled '100 Portraits / 100 Photographers'; and Cristina Mittermeier, founder and president of the International League of Conservation Photographers will curate 'Life Lives Here.' *

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ABOUT NIGHTGALLERY:

To reach the greatest range of viewers, the curated photographs will rotate through various projection locations. Viewers can obtain a program guide to the themes, times, and sites for each projection series.

NightGallery projections can be enjoyed at many locations throughout Washington, including the exteriors of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design, Newseum, Holocaust Museum, American Red Cross, National Museum of the American Indian, Human Rights Campaign Dupont Circle, House of Sweden, and the FotoWeek DC Satellite on 3333 M Street. 

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ABOUT FOTOWEEK DC:

Over the past three years, FotoWeek DC has skyrocketed as one of the world’s premier photography festivals. Tens of thousands of fans have come to expect the unexpected: colossal photo projections on the walls of the city’s famed architecture..., all-night photo experiences..., evocative exhibitions of award-winning images..., lectures and workshops by internationally renowned photographers.

Innovation. Creativity. Expansion. Transformation!  That’s the power of photography.  That’s the point of FotoWeek DC.  And it’s Everywhere You See.

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* LIFE LIVES HERE, curated by Cristina Mittermeier

Statement:

"Life Lives Here... and nowhere else in the universe. These projections by Fellows of the International League of Conservation Photographers will shine a light on some of our planet's most beautiful and precious natural resources... and the threats facing them. We hope they will help connect-the-dots between cause and consequence on all our environmental decisions, and lead us to understand how every action has an effect on our planet, and all life on it."

~Cristina Mittermeier

Robert Glenn Ketchum:  "No Pebble Mine:  Wild Salmon of Bristol Bay Forever":

Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

Daniel Beltrá:  "Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill":

Photograph © 2010 Daniel Beltrá for Greenpeace.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

Amy Gulick:  "Salmon in the Trees:  Life in Alaska's Tongass Rain Forest":

Photograph © 2010 Amy Gulick.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

 Thomas P. Peschak:  "Sharks:  Apex Predator, Human Prey":

Photograph © 2010 Thomas P. Peschak.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.
CLICK HERE to See More Photos and Learn About the Save Our Seas Foundation

Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier:  "Kayapo:  Amazon River People on the Edge":

Photograph © 2010 Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

Paul Nicklen:  "Bipolar Disorder:  Why Ice Matters":

Photograph © 2010 Paul Nicklen / National Geographic.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.  CLICK HERE to See More of Paul Nicklen's Polar Obsession Photos in this NPR Feature

Thomas D. Mangelsen:  "American West:  A Disappearing Landscape":

"Song Dogs".  Photograph © 2010 Thomas D. Mangelsen.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form

Garth Lenz:  "The Alberta Tar Sands:  A New Addiction to the Most Toxic Oil":

Photograph © 2010 Garth Lenz.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

 Brian Skerry:  "3 Degrees of Japan's Seas":

Photograph © 2010 Brian Skerry.  For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.   
Yello Goby living inside a discarded soda can in Suruga Bay, Japan.
CLICK HERE to See More of Brian Skerry's Photos in this Month's National Geographic Magazine, November 2010

 

FOTOfusion 2011 and New Website Launch

FOTOfusion®2011 Palm Beach Photographic Center January 11-15, 2011 PHOTOGRAPH, "OCTOBER 24 1983 / 2:10 p.m.", 1983 In 2010, American Photo magazine featured Robert Glenn Ketchum in their Masters series making him only the fifth photographer they have recognized this way in 20-years of publishing. Of the five honored, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Annie Liebovitz, Ketchum is unique because his imagery is based almost exclusively in the natural world. For 45-years Ketchum's fine prints, and bookmaking, have addressed critical national environmental issues while at the same time helped to define contemporary color photography. His advocate use of photographs and the media has inspired successive generations of artists to work on behalf of social and environmental justice, and led to the creation of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), of which Ketchum is a Founding Fellow. It has also resulted in Audubon naming Ketchum one of the 100 people "who shaped the conservation movement of the 20th Century." Ketchum has been a longtime friend of The Palm Beach Photographic Centre, and so it is with great pleasure that the Centre will acknowledge this designation from American Photo magazine by hosting a retrospective exhibit of Ketchum's career, January 2-April 3, 2010. The exhibit is timed to open during , a weeklong celebration of photography that the Centre has been hosting for twenty years. EMBROIDERY, "YK DELTA FROM 1,500", 2003 While an undergraduate at UCLA in the mid-1960's Ketchum studied with Edmund Teske, Robert Heinecken and Robert Fichter, three very groundbreaking, non-traditional image-makers. Their influence clearly defines a whole other aspect to Ketchum's work far more experimental than those images he has produced on behalf of conservation. In the early '80's, Ketchum entered China through the UCLA-China Exchange Program, and began to collaborate with some of the historic embroidery guilds of Suzhou to develop complex textiles based on his photographs. Some of the most recent examples of this embroidery and loom weaving, many of which took years to complete, will be included in this exhibit, as will new designs from the digital darkroom that Ketchum has recently developed for the embroiderers. Ketchum's distinctive, dimensional prints are in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the National Museum of American Art (DC), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY). Significant archives (more than 100 images) have been acquired by the Amon Carter Museum (TX) and the Huntington Library and Gardens (CA), and substantial bodies of work can be found at the High Museum (GA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Akron Art Museum (OH), Stanford University Art Museum (CA), the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Cornell University (NY), and the National Museum of American Art. PHOTOGRAPHIC PANELS, "CHOOSE JOY", 2007 It is seldom that The Centre has the opportunity to feature a photographer that embraces such a diverse approach to photographic image making. In appreciation of Ketchum's long friendship with PBPC and his well-earned reputation as an inspiring teacher, during FOTOfusion The Centre will present Ketchum with their annual Mentors Award. In turn, Ketchum will honor a relatively unknown photographer with the Rising Star Award. Ketchum has selected Miguel Ángel de la Cueva, a young Fellow from the International League of Conservation Photographers who is doing remarkable work in Mexico and Baja. Ketchum would also like iLCP photographers to become regular attendees and contributors to FOTOfusion, so he is introducing several iLCP Fellows at this year's festival and they will be lecturing, exhibiting, and signing recent books. Get out of the cold of winter. Come to FOTOfusion in West Palm Beach, take in a little sun... and some great photography!

One final bit of news is that my social media team and I have spent the past few months redesigning my website and today it's finally ready to be revealed! A couple of things I like most about my new site are that while it showcases my art nicely, it also coordinates my social media network, and even has video capability!  In addition, my new site now hosts an online store... just in time for the holidays. It would mean the world to me if you'd stop by the new site at some point and check it out:  www.robertglennketchum.com. Sincerely, Robert Glenn Ketchum

Think before you vote.

"John Hopkins Inlet, Glacier Bay", From the book: "The Tongass: Alaska's Vanishing Rain Forest". Photograph © 2010 Robert Glenn Ketchum. For Display Use Only, No Permission to Reproduce in Any Form.

Before you vote, you might consider what my Chinese friends think of this election. As most of you know, I have been creating textiles in China since the early 1980's. This long working relationship with these Suzhou guild artists has also become an unusual friendship that is remarkably frank and honest considering the difference in our cultures. It may be worth noting what they perceive about this forthcoming election.

Basically there are two points: the lesser point is that the Chinese are amazed that so many people that know nothing about how the government is run have succeeded in getting on the ballot. This amazes them, but in its own weird way, it is proof to them of how democracy works. As they see it, our democracy has succeeded and failed simultaneously. Because it has succeeded, our country is now perfectly divided down the middle (a perfect democracy/the promise of the dao) and now nothing will ever be accomplished because of that division.

Point two is that the rise of the Tea Party is seen as a GREAT boon to the Chinese who predict that once the Tea Party candidates and similarly sympathetic Republicans are elected, they will throw our government systems into complete chaos, choking off any hope we may have for an economic recovery and retarding our industrial output, ALL TO THEIR ADVANTAGE. As one of my friends pointed out, after the election the "new" politicians will try to stifle global warming investments, so this leaves China with NO manufacturing competition in this market and lets them take TOTAL control of much of the future market technology directed at climate change. As our political body continues to deny climate change, events related to climate change will continue to get worse. When we finally wake up, it will be to late to invent anything, so we will just buy it from the Chinese.

It was pointed out to me that this will be a HUGE change in the world market. My friends feel the US has always led the world with its inventions. China may have manufactured for us, but the US invented most of the necessary products. Now they see themselves as inventing AND manufacturing the products, cutting us entirely out of the production market and reducing us to being dependent on technology they bring to us.

Think before you vote. The outcome may change life as we know it in the US.

~Robert Glenn Ketchum

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I find it curious sometimes how some things dove-tail. A new ad was just brought to my attention that depicts a less-than-subtle approach to America's growing debt obligation to China.

The ad is produced by the conservative group, 'Citizens Against Government Waste', and it has attracted much attention already. In fact, Wang Baodong, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said that it's "unreasonable" to blame America's economic woes on China and "despicable" to incite anti-China sentiment.

Watch the video here:

And just in case the video is pulled from online, for whatever reasons, here is the synopsis:

The ad called "Chinese Professor," is set in "Beijing, China 2030 AD." It shows a lecture hall with a professor speaking in Chinese. The students carry futuristic tablets that make the iPad look clunky. The ad contains subtitles and starts with the professor asking, in Chinese, "Why do great nations fail? The Ancient Greeks...the Roman Empire...the British Empire...and the United States of America." Students gaze up at a holographic screen that shows images of the four superpowers. "They all make the same mistakes, turning their back on the principles that made them great," continues the professor. He goes on to say that America tried to "tax and spend" its way out of a recession, including a health-care overhaul -- all of which led to massive debt. "Of course, we owned most of their debt," he says with a laugh, "so now they work for us." Cue audience laughter.

THINK BEFORE YOU VOTE!

#rgk