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The Value of Nature

2/19/2015

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I just listened to a program from Radiolab about the value of nature. At the end (pull red bar to minutes 19:21- 20:16) Canadian writer, J. B. MacKinnon, author of The Once and Future World responds to the question posed by the host: Is there another way to think about the value of nature other than putting a monetary or beauty value on it?

J.B. MacKinnon responded: "In a way, all this biodiversity that's out there, all this biological diversity, all these wonderful and amazing and alien things that other species can do is like an extension of our own brains. There's so much imagination out there that we simply could not come up with on our own that we can think of it as, as a pool of imagination and creativity from which we as humans are able to draw and that when we draw down on that pool of creativity and imagination, we deeply impoverish ourselves. In a sense we are doing harm to our own ability to think and to dream."

This is the heart of Watershed Arts...that our well-being, our imagination, is intricately connected to the well-being of the natural world.  Watershed Arts is a way of living in the world that brings together the ecological understanding of the earth's systems and the need for The Arts to take central stage in our culture and society and work creatively with and for the natural world. See more about Watershed Arts at the Bioregional Imagination tab to the left.
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Painting the San Clemente Dam from the West Tributary

2/17/2015

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Picture
First pass of this view.  The depth of water at the dam is approximately eighty feet.  Moving further up stream to the right of and beyond the image, the water gets more shallow to finally meet up with the original Carmel River Drainage. Next year there will be no lake effect caused by the dam as the dam will be coming down in the coming months!  I plan to do a painting from this location after the dam is taken out.

Soon I will be creating a painting from the dam itself...here is a view of three photos stitched together that I may use to get the composition down before painting onsite. Quite a complex view! in the middle is the fish ladder that the steelhead have to use to make their way to the top of the dam and into the reservoir. The dam is 106 feet tall.
Picture
Photo © Paola Berthoin
Picture
Photo © Paola Berthoin
Fish ladder to the left, 
Carmel River flowing in the center. 
Shadow of the dam and
partial rainbow created by the afternoon light
streaming through the water spray.

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Art and Watershed Education

2/6/2015

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Picture
Photo © Mary Cunningham-Welsh
PicturePhoto © Mary Cunningham-Welsh
Educating about watershed health using stories of dedication to the watershed through art and action.

Mary Cunningham-Welsh and Tod Spedding of the International School of Monterey have created
a  diverse and rich program for their 5th grade students about various water issues affecting the Carmel River Watershed and Peninsula as well as global water issues. The students go on various field trips to learn first hand from experts on a variety of water issues including: the importance of the Carmel River Steelhead, water flow and distribution, water treatment and conservation, desal, lagoon issues, storm water runoff, issues affecting the Salinas River, San Clemente Dam Removal Project, drought in California and waterborne pathogens. The students then give presentations in April. The past two years of presentations attest to the high level of learning the students engage in. 

Here are more photos taken by Vern Fisher of the Monterey County Herald. The article by the Herald's Claudia Melendez is here. 

(Click on the green links to learn more.)


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Water at the Los Padres Dam is all the way to the top! Thankful for the rain this weekend and hope that this Spring is not dry!
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Sharing paintings that document the San Clemente Dam Removal and Carmel River Reroute project with the International School of Monterey students.
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    Author
    Paola Berthoin is the designer/creator/publisher of  Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed. Her focus is inspiring and educating people about the natural world through the arts. She is available to design your book, create (illustrate and write) interpretive materials for your watershed community, consult for healthy gardens, paint a commissioned painting of your favorite place in the Carmel River Watershed and beyond!


    When we allow wildness, our own spirit, to flourish within, we can also respect and allow nature’s spirit, the wild outside, to exist.
             - Paola Fiorelle Berthoin
                                                                                                                                                               

    Blog photographs, land art, and text © Paola Berthoin, unless otherwise noted. 
    All Rights Reserved.

    Picture
    Photograph © Marie Butcher

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