News of Canada chipping in $4B to the automakers... has Canada's former UAW honcho Buzz Hargrove worrying that Canada didn't get enough assurances in the deal.
I would think we would want a guarantee of at least an equivalent proportion of the N. American (or world) production as we have been getting up until now...
Left to their own devices the automakers will screw Canada.
Like they discontinued the Camaro just long enough to close the Ste-Therese plant only to revive Camaro a few years later now that Ste. Therese is a shopping centre. So you can't blame Buzz in a way for pushing the envelope - you know full well that there will be forces on the other extreme - saying that they should shut down Canada altogether in order to keep US workers on the job.
Now why can't the government act as quickly to help get some smarter car manufacturing up and running.
Announce one $ billion - half federal half provincial - to be split up among outstanding applicants.
Ensure that a substantial portion of the cash is NOT available to the old line established oil and automotive industry.
Encourage a wide range of related applications - including infrastructure, urban planning, innovative rail, electric and other forms of transport, support for associations, services points, batteries etc...
Bailing out the big 3 is a problem to be pondered. It is the classic lose-lose situation. It is throwing good money after bad in the worst possible way. But, maybe it has to be done in the short term
On the other hand, nurturing new, green, smart, high-tech industry is a no brainer.
Just do it!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
North Pole on Thin Ice
According to an article I read in The Independent, the North Pole could be free of ice this summer for the first time in human history. I won't bother linking to the article because I think it's everywhere!
Amazing! The north pole going ice free for the first time in history and some people say that global warming is "unproven" or "controversial". LMAO
The article says that the usual ice cap, composed of super thick ice built up over many years, has now blown away from the Pole. The ice up there now is only as thick as the amount of ice that freezes in one year - and has a good chance of melting entirely over this summer.
Tatiana has another new glacier abstract and we will be putting it up on eBay soon - maybe today. Not that it's a big deal but I think these glacier paintings do help in some small way to draw attention to the global warming situation.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Getting Off on Gating it Off - No one's sittin' on this dock!
Here's a scary photo that looks an awful lot like what the world feels like lately. And probably it's the direction we're headed in.
Where we are cut off from the natural world and living in the artificial world. Where everything is controlled by powerful unseen forces. Or, more likely even, weak or inert forces who just want to fill the world with gates. A world where even the most mundane passage is barred by a gate.
Say it ain't so!
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Game is up in Greenland
I knew the Giants could win. I thought they might win. But, in my heart of hearts, I knew the Patriots were going to pull it off at the last minute. I knew that, in the end, the Giants were toast.
Just like, when we talk about the Greenland ice cap... I like to hope that we can keep the whole thing from melting into the ocean. I want to believe that it could be possible to arrest the warming of the planet, slow down the melting of the huge ice cap, save the level of the oceans from rising and prevent all the other ecological disasters that await in a world of melted ice caps.
But, alas, in my heart of hearts, I know I have seen the film of huge waterfalls, cascading through fissures in the ice, I accept the logic of scientists who say that the lakes forming on the ice absorb exponentially more heat that the bright reflective snow and ice, and I think the ice cap is toast.
In fact I will not be surprised if the Greenland ice cap slips and slides into the sea a lot faster than anyone predicts. I am just afraid that science errs on the conservative side in its estimates, and fails to take into account the effects of all the simultaneous forces at work in the ice cap equation.
But this Super Bowl Monday, I ask, "can the Greenland ice cap pull off an upset?"
Just like, when we talk about the Greenland ice cap... I like to hope that we can keep the whole thing from melting into the ocean. I want to believe that it could be possible to arrest the warming of the planet, slow down the melting of the huge ice cap, save the level of the oceans from rising and prevent all the other ecological disasters that await in a world of melted ice caps.
But, alas, in my heart of hearts, I know I have seen the film of huge waterfalls, cascading through fissures in the ice, I accept the logic of scientists who say that the lakes forming on the ice absorb exponentially more heat that the bright reflective snow and ice, and I think the ice cap is toast.
In fact I will not be surprised if the Greenland ice cap slips and slides into the sea a lot faster than anyone predicts. I am just afraid that science errs on the conservative side in its estimates, and fails to take into account the effects of all the simultaneous forces at work in the ice cap equation.
But this Super Bowl Monday, I ask, "can the Greenland ice cap pull off an upset?"
Monday, January 28, 2008
New Rainforest Painting
acrylic on canvas 30" x 36
The third and latest painting in the Disappearing Rainforest series.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
7,000 Evergreens: Planting 7,000 good ideas
Planting 7,000 of anything should be a good idea.
It definitely was for the first to do so: The late German artist and early Green Party activist Joseph Beuys, whose project 7,000 Oaks was a landmark in conceptual art and environmentalism. (Did I really describe this guy as early and late in one sentence? sheesh)
Now, I don't even remember what I was surfing around looking for or what I clicked on a few minutes ago - when I came across this interesting project: 7,000 Evergreens.
This project applies the Beuys concept to artificial trees. For $10, anyone can sponsor an artificial tree to be planted somewhere in the U.S. The idea being that you can keep artificial trees that are being discarded, out of landfills and, at the same time, actually beautify the landscape.
The site lacks some explanation about things I would be curious about like: how is it ensured that your "planted" tree does not become just another piece of junk on a beach in a couple of years; and, how would the planting be controlled over the vast territories envisioned?
Anyway, it was more the idea itself that caught my eye, and that is probably more the intention of the creator, than the logistical exercise of actually planting and tending the 7,000 trees of Christmases Past. (The count of trees planted is currently at 142.)
To take Beuys' creation one step further, Why not plant 7,000 of anything else? How about 7,000 projects X 7,000 units included in each one?
as in,
1. 7,000 good ideas
2. 7,000 grass seeds
3. 7,000 art projects
4. 7,000 apple trees
5. 7,000 flowers
6. 7,000 crocuses
7. 7,000 used picture frames
and so forth...
end result - approx. 49 million units of positive energy spread around the world.
The projects could be conceived just about as fast as a person could type them.
It would take a *little* more work generating buy-in...
For starters I will do my little part and buy in to the 7,000 Evergreen project. After that, we'll see...
143 - 6,857 to go
It definitely was for the first to do so: The late German artist and early Green Party activist Joseph Beuys, whose project 7,000 Oaks was a landmark in conceptual art and environmentalism. (Did I really describe this guy as early and late in one sentence? sheesh)
Now, I don't even remember what I was surfing around looking for or what I clicked on a few minutes ago - when I came across this interesting project: 7,000 Evergreens.
This project applies the Beuys concept to artificial trees. For $10, anyone can sponsor an artificial tree to be planted somewhere in the U.S. The idea being that you can keep artificial trees that are being discarded, out of landfills and, at the same time, actually beautify the landscape.
The site lacks some explanation about things I would be curious about like: how is it ensured that your "planted" tree does not become just another piece of junk on a beach in a couple of years; and, how would the planting be controlled over the vast territories envisioned?
Anyway, it was more the idea itself that caught my eye, and that is probably more the intention of the creator, than the logistical exercise of actually planting and tending the 7,000 trees of Christmases Past. (The count of trees planted is currently at 142.)
To take Beuys' creation one step further, Why not plant 7,000 of anything else? How about 7,000 projects X 7,000 units included in each one?
as in,
1. 7,000 good ideas
2. 7,000 grass seeds
3. 7,000 art projects
4. 7,000 apple trees
5. 7,000 flowers
6. 7,000 crocuses
7. 7,000 used picture frames
and so forth...
end result - approx. 49 million units of positive energy spread around the world.
The projects could be conceived just about as fast as a person could type them.
It would take a *little* more work generating buy-in...
For starters I will do my little part and buy in to the 7,000 Evergreen project. After that, we'll see...
143 - 6,857 to go
Thursday, January 17, 2008
New Work: Towra Point Wetlands
Wet Paint * Wet Brush * Wetlands
The painting, newly created for 2008, is the fourth painting by Tatiana in the Wetlands series.
We are featuring wetlands from around the world in these paintings.
The idea is to include important, threatened, or otherwise significant wetland areas from around the world.
I am a little reluctant to include links to eBay from this blog. In the past, this has resulted in the blog "self-destructing". So, for now, I'm just going to post a few things here and there.
The previous three paintings in this series were all sold during the past year: Ust Luga (Russia), Vembanad Wetlands (India) and Sweethall Marsh (Chesapeake Bay, U.S.A.).
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Brief Overview of 2007
2007 was a year of incubation and new life for co2 art.
A lot of interesting stuff was conceived. We had many ideas, some of them good, developed a few to maturity and had concrete results and sales to show for our efforts.
Three projects involving series of abstract paintings have been developed to the point where the finished pieces have been sold to collectors around the world. Thank-you to all the buyers!
These three series are as follows:
1. After the Glacier's Gone (* yesterday * was * all * we * had *)
2. Remains of Rainforest
3. Wet Paint - Wet Brush - Wetlands
The paintings have referenced ecosystems far and wide from India to Alaska and have all been sold to buyers from South Africa to Canada and the U.S.
Other projects are still ripening or are in various stages of development - for one thing, this post could be taken as a re-affirmation that none of these concepts are in danger of going dry on the vine!
I'm looking forward to building on what we have started, and to seeing this all take off this year and to be able to show art taking a role in environmental awareness, conservation and activism.
Happy 2008!
A lot of interesting stuff was conceived. We had many ideas, some of them good, developed a few to maturity and had concrete results and sales to show for our efforts.
Three projects involving series of abstract paintings have been developed to the point where the finished pieces have been sold to collectors around the world. Thank-you to all the buyers!
These three series are as follows:
1. After the Glacier's Gone (* yesterday * was * all * we * had *)
2. Remains of Rainforest
3. Wet Paint - Wet Brush - Wetlands
The paintings have referenced ecosystems far and wide from India to Alaska and have all been sold to buyers from South Africa to Canada and the U.S.
Other projects are still ripening or are in various stages of development - for one thing, this post could be taken as a re-affirmation that none of these concepts are in danger of going dry on the vine!
I'm looking forward to building on what we have started, and to seeing this all take off this year and to be able to show art taking a role in environmental awareness, conservation and activism.
Happy 2008!
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