On the route I see so many good bumper stickers in Portland and the metro area. I've got a lot scribbled down on various bits of paper... I'll get around to typing them up to share with you one of these days. In the meantime,
love these two.Driving this route really fires my brain up about humanity, housing, food, what it is to be alive as a human - to be this funny animal we all are.
And I see so many versions of houses. Houses, houses, houses. They stretch on and on... Variations on the form of what we think our basic needs are - ideas actually based on the major building industries' decisions about 'standard' materials and the building departments which follow on the industry's coattails and set the regulations for your hut.
So many strict structures, with sharp lines. Many staring blandly out like impersonal hotels. The photo is from Forest Heights, neighborhood of perched megabuildings, looking out on views of each other while vying for the mountain sunsets. I've got some more thoughts and photos to come on the Heights in the future...These materials we can not make with our own two hands. Without far away factories we never set foot in, heavy machinery, un-thought about toxic chemicals and the laborers.
These materials form what our ingrained imaginations see a 'home' to be.
Granted many around Portland and in the woods are quite cute to me and I'll take more photos of those in the future, too. Same building materials, though, just different imaginations and skill interpreting them.
Drywall, the 2x4 stud/stick, cement, glass, you know - imagine all the parts to your house and what it would be like if the parts weren't manufactured for you. So interesting (not even available at the dump or neat rebuilding center to reuse).
Regardless of income - What would it be like if everyone had to build their own shelter in this country, themselves. What would that look like? What would the food people eat now look like if they were responsible for growing their own and bartering with each other for what else they needed?
Right now those basic needs, food and shelter, are shaped by the income generated through other tangled lines on our corporate driven, consumer society. Each person is literally a cog in the overall machine. Or an ongoing play with a huge array of characters playing their roles. You generate a certain amount of money and then choose to place it back out in exchange for housing, food, vehicles, clothing, trips - all work done and income earned by other people who then go on and place their money out in exchange for their versions of the same needs and wants.
The income your cog generates, determines and often displays whether your house is truly basic with minimal square footage or if it has been frilled out and elaborated on often to a grand square footage scale. And whether your food is as good as you'd like it to be or if it's the most caloric value you can get while stretching your dollars. It is generally not that affordable to make choices that are as local, organic and supportive for food or as green, environmental and humane as a person would like for housing, clothing, vehicles and other goods.
There are an amazing number of Prius cars in this area, but if everyone who needed to save on gas and/or wanted to try to make a better environmental choice, could afford a hybrid car, they would really be everywhere. There would also be a lot more well insulated, low-e windows and efficient appliances, solar panels and lots of other neat energy conserving technologies that can be expensive up front, but do save people money in the long run if they can afford it initially.
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Okay, this is the area my brain goes in when it's not deeply listening to OPB/NPR.Speaking of which, I heard today that it is National Pollinator Week. The website is really neat.
Here are some photos from home and some of the flowers we hope help the pollination go 'round (Banti is looking out from the window above the cosmos):
We would have very little to eat without pollination! In case you don't make it to their website, this is text describing important pollination info:
"Pollination is vital to our survival and the existence of nearly all ecosystems on earth. 80% of the world's crop plants depend on pollination. Pollinators, almost all of which are insects, are indispensable partners for an estimated 1 out of every 3 mouthfuls of food, spices and condiments we eat, and the beverages we drink. They are essential to the fibers we use, the medicines that keep us healthy, and more than half of the world's diet of fats and oils. Insect pollinators, including honey bees, pollinate products amounting to $20 billion annually in the U.S. alone.
What is pollination and who are pollinators?
Pollination occurs when pollen is moved within flowers or carried from one flower to another of the same species by birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, beetles or other animals, or by the wind. This transfer of leads to fertilization and successful seed and fruit production. Pollination ensures that a plant will produce full-bodied fruit and a complete set of fertile seeds, capable of germinating.
