From my friend Marc in Santa Fe... or as I've heard some call it on the Hopi Reservation.. Fanta Se ;-) peace,d

“No culture has yet solved the dilemma each has faced with the growth of a conscious mind: how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in all life, when one finds darkness not only in ones own culture, but also within oneself. If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction because if all contradiction were eliminated at once, life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.”
- Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

Monday July 27, 2009
Location: Gallup, New Mexico

I left Flagstaff finally and headed east to Meteor Crater where I did some filming and thought about how fragile life really is on this ball of rock hurtling around the sun. The imagery was less spectacular than I had expected but I captured a lightning storm moving along the horizon behind the crater.

From Meteor Crater I continued east towards Zuni. I'm doing a large loop east through Zuni, up through Canyon de Chelly then west through Hopi to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. From there I'll likely head west past Hoover Dam, through the Mojave Desert and finally to LA for the 5th. Once in LA I'll drop the dog off at day care then fly up to Alberta for Sun Dance for ten days. Then back to LA for some filming and finally into Mexico in the fall.

I've been pretty isolated out here the past few days, with the exception of a nice Zuni gentleman named Destry who upon meeting him on a dirt road, invited me over to his place for a shower and lunch with him and his wife. When he's not at his day job Destry takes people out horse back riding into the Zuni Reservation providing a solid history of the landscape.

In Zuni I also took the time to make an offering, in the way I was taught by the Blackfoot, to an elder medicine man. It's always intimidating to come into a reservation in search of someone ot make an offering to. In Zuni it wasn't so bad as when I asked about it, no one really looked at me sideways, but instead gave me directions with a smile. After following directions that were made up of go to this corner by the tree, turn across from the water tanks, then drive a ways... I finally found his home. His family was sitting outside giggling at this strange white bird walking up to them, I introduced myself, told of my wish, and they called on the old man. He came out to greet me and there with his grandaughter translating, I made him an offering for all the people of the Zuni, Navajo and Hopi Reservations. He smiled and said something, which I can only assume was wonderful, while motioning his hands to my chest. I explained a little about the offering I had prepared and my connection to the Blackfoot and was off back into the desert heat heading towards Gallup.

I arrived in Gallup yesterday and it was dead quiet, I assume because most are off to chuch...

I spent the night at Walmart for lack of a better place to camp and took the dog for a hike on the ranchlands behind the big box store. It's amazing to sit in nature and look out over big box stores and McDonalds and see everyone coming and going bound to the world of concrete. I found myself finding peace out there on those ranchlands, since I know my place is in nature and true beauty isn't to be found in the Walmart down below, but in the lightning storm moving across the horizon. Although I'm grateful for the bathroom and a place to sleep.

peace,
d

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

I drove out of Flagstaff tonight around 5pm. I had just got the front upper ball joints in Veronica replaced and still had time to make it to Meteor Crater before sunset.

It wasn’t long into the drive that I came upon what remained of a small mountain range. Mostly it had been removed by men in dozers and dump trucks, and what remained was a tracked up and excavated shell of its former self. I pulled over off the highway onto a side road and set up my gear, the light was magical. Just as I was set to film, the light changed, and the clouds rolled in overhead carrying lightning and thunder… and like an invisible lightening bolt it stuck me, and although I felt it, I didn’t know what it was.

The rain started in large drops hitting the pavement and cameras here and there, and then in an instant came the deluge. I raced to grab the camera and gear and jumped into the van where Moses, annoyed and scared of the thunder, sat in the driver’s seat being pelted by the rain coming through the open window.

I set the gear aside and made room for him on the bed and we traded places, the window quickly sealing off the elements. Then I sat there for a moment looking east into the horizon towards Meteor Crater, nothing but grayness.

I turned on my CB and listened to the weather for the area then decided to head back to Flag. The rain continued to pour as I ate a three dollar slice of pizza, and as I pulled into Walmart to sleep. I decided against the national forest since I’m pretty broke these days and every drop of fuel counts.

After walking the dog and listening to some NPR, I headed into Wally World for some dog treats for my sulking and damp pooch. I found some milk bones and was on my way out when I saw her… this old overweight woman looking at me over the edge of her national enquirer. She had this look of broken dreams, a broken life, and a broken mind. As I looked around me I saw she mostly fit in with those around us. The degree to which the people around me were overweight, seemingly sad and broken was staggering. They hobbled around unconscious feeding this corporate giant with themselves and being fed in return, a symbiotic nightmare.

And that’s when I realized what I had been feeling since the mountain made hill-of-dirt… Our world is ending.

I’ve been really down lately and somewhat racked by anxiety and I think this is the core of it. I think I’m starting to truly believe that our world is ending. Not only on an intellectual level but for the first time on an empathetic and emotional level.

Day in and day out I travel through this world, watching us all consume (myself included). I find myself interviewing brilliant minds with clear visions of what needs to be done and of the future. But these minds are in the minority and even then, they are mostly living within the same status quo their speaking to change. Most of them have jobs, make money, live in houses, drive cars, and likely spend their money buying things that invariably feed into the system they are trying to fight against. I know this isn’t always the case, and I’m not placing blame or expressing disappointment, but instead getting at the crux of it…

Right now I feel we’re living in an inescapable paradigm of paradox. Even as individuals and governments are working towards global environmental stability, we are also working to repair an economy hinged on consumer spending. We are still expanding highways, leveling mountains, emptying Walmart of its merchandise, bombing other nations, and basically continuing business as usual.

My intuition tells me it wont last.

I spend a lot of time on the road in self reflection and I spend a lot of time working as an eternal optimist, but there was something about seeing that mountain today that challenged my faith in humanity. It probably could have been anything that triggered it, and I actually think this has been at the gates for some time.

I know I’ll continue on, and I know I’ll make this film, but there’s this increasing feeling that I’m not making a film to change the world but rather that I’m simply bearing witness to the tragedy of our humanity.
What a downer… hehe…

But maybe that’s all there really is we can do. Maybe we can fight to change things as hard as we can, but in the end all we’re really doing is bearing witness so that in the future, if there is one, we can better understand where it was we went wrong. Or maybe we just can’t operate such a large system, maybe in our overpopulation we’ve arrived at over-complexity, and now the system has to die back a bit to regenerate itself. Maybe it’s all part of a larger natural process to be this stupid.

I know I’ll be fine, I know I’ll get my optimism back in check since it’s the only way to survive.. but there again.. I’ve caught myself. I do so many interviews and in all my interviews I ask people if they’re optimistic. Often they say yes it’s the only way to move forward. But what if the answer lies in all these great minds finally giving up, and standing on the street corner with signs proclaiming ‘THE END IS NEAR’… what would people do then… if the nobel peace prize winners, authors, all threw up their hands and said they give up. I’m being facetious but it brings up an interesting point about how in our optimism maybe we all refuse to acknowledge how much trouble we’re really in.

I like what Tony Brown said when I asked him if he was optimistic, and I’m paraphrasing, “My reason limits my ability to be optimistic, but I am hopeful.”

I’m struggling with my hope these days. Since it seems despite all our efforts to change ourselves, we still continue unconsciously towards our own eventual demise…

How do we change such ingrained patterns of behavior… how do we really change business as usual. At this point I’d say we don’t, unless we find ourselves in that wake of such a major calamity that we all finally pay attention to what’s really happening.

I can’t imagine what such an event would be, nor do I wish to… but I fear it’s on its way. Notice I didn’t say, I fear, unless we change, it’s on its way.

Thanks for allowing me to open the vent on my darkness. Now go think of puppies and solar energy and happy thoughts. I’m sure it’ll all be fine ;-)

peace,
d

I've been thinking critically about my process lately. I've been roaming around the continent for over three years now capturing dialogs, landscapes and some still photography. I've come to a point now where the echoes of the voices I'm capturing is telling me one of two things.. either I'm done with interviews and have captured the content.. or my content needs to shift a little in it's direction.

As I was entering the southwest I blogged about how I was heading away from the ecological and environmental and into the spiritual and ethereal.. it began to happen but then there was a reversion back to what seems to be convenient subject matter these days.

Yesterday I interviewed Nat White up at the Lowell Observatory in an effort to change the dialog a little. I wanted to get some perspective on the universe and the infinity that surrounds us. Nat and I had a wonderful dialog and at one point he tossed out this example, "If you take an orange as a scale model of earth, and cover it in a piece of wet tissue paper, that's our entire natural environment, our entire biosphere.. and that's all we have."

Our discussion then went into the nature of humanity and how you'd think that in the realization of this above fact... we'd be working harder together... working together.. period. It's mind boggling to see how little humanity has evolved recently and the fact that in U.S. politics we're still fighting about the cost of fighter jets and bombers. I always wonder what our world would look like if we had invested the trillions of dollars we're spent on the military industrial complex instead on food, community development, and peace-making.

Anyways.. back to my original point.. or process. I think I really have to shift gears away from what we're not doing, and what we need to do on practical levels, into the broader questions of who we are and the commonalities that bind us.

On a purely filmic level I think I need to move away from shooting vast landscapes and doign interviews and focus more on filming people and the built human environment. I need to get macro in terms of my interview subjects and micro in terms of my images.. that's what I 'm feeling these days. And I think following my heart is all I can do...

peace,
d

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict -- alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence. - Dorothy Thompson

This morning in meditation high on a hillside of Thorpe Park in Flagstaff, AZ, I was thinking (my first problem;-) of how it's commonly said that the only true conflict is conflict within. This then leads to the idea that all the conflict we see in the world is simply a reflection of ourselves.

Taking the above quote into consideration, we find that perhaps the only solution to conflict is to find creative alternatives to not only our responses, but also to the way in which we view ourselves. Perhaps it becomes about rejigging the viewshed to not see ourselves as victims, nor to see ourselves as responsible for anything beyond our own soul. The outer world of things and people is just that, the outer world, it is outside of us and although we may be able to dance with it, we will never be in control of what is. We will never be able to lock our expectations into any one outcome or reality since reality is in constant change, in constant motion, or constant e-motion.

I think in realizing the paradox that we have real power while truly having no real power, we may find ourselves again returning to the only dance there really is.. which is the dance of letting go and letting things just be. I'm personally finding that if I can simply sit with myself and let go of not only outside influences, but also of any rigid views of that self itself.. then perhaps I can finally arrive at a place of fluidity with all things around me.

... but this all leads me to cause and effect.. and action reaction...

"If you don't want the effects, don't produce the cause,
what we live by are natural laws." - Granola Funk

peace,
d

I interviewed Tony Brown of the Ecosa Institute the other day in Prescott, Arizona. Tony used to be heavily involved with Arcosanti but has since created an education center called The Ecosa Institute. I sat down with Tony is his humble office that is responsible for the paradigm shifts within som many young minds.

He spoke about how he felt he had a choice a few years back on how to use his energy to work towards true sustainability. He came to the conclusion that the answer was in education on the principles and benefits of truly sustainable design.

The word sustainability is being tossed about so much these days that most of the people I speak with have developed a growing disdain for the phrase. Tony and others have pointed out that we see the touting of sustainability everywhere these days, whether it be on political billboards, landscaping company signs, or solar and wind energy companies. The fact is that sustainable design, thinking and life is about more about you vote, getting your lawn redone, or even slapping some nice solar panels on your personal dwelling. This is not to say that these things are not steps in the right direction, but it is to say we have to recognize that we've diluted the phrase to such an extent that we no longer understand the extent of change that's required of us all. Frankly we need to do more and we need to do it yesterday.

We need to look at our lifestyles and patterns of living from a truly holistic viewpoint and take drastics steps to address what sustainability really means. People have lost touch with the definition of the word,

Sustainable
1: capable of being sustained
2 a: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture> b: of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>

At this point maybe it's important to adopt new phrasing to carry us forward.. what that word would be I'm not entirely sure. But I have always like holistic since it speaks to the true reality of what we need to work towards.

Tony and I had a great on-camera dialog, it's always hard to remember the substance after the fact, but basically we talked about how we all need to educate ourselves towards a way of thinking and being that doesn't simply push the conventions but establishes new conventions altogether.

peace,
d

From my friend Lance in Moab, Utah.
peace,
d

In the United Kingdom, George Monbiot editorialized in the Guardian on July 2: "Why do we allow the US to act like a failed state on climate change? The Waxman-Markey climate bill is the best we will get from America until the corruption of public life is addressed." Monbiot points out that Waxman-Markey proposes much lower cuts than those being pursued in the UK or most other developed nations, because it uses 2005 as the base from with 80% cuts by 2050 are measured. Other countries use 1990 as the base year. From 1990 to 2005, US carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose from 5.8 to 7 billion tonnes per annum. The U.S. cut in cumulative emissions by 2020 over a business-as-usual scenario of emissions increases is only 17%, which means far greater cumulative emissions from the U.S. into the atmosphere than cuts based on a 1990 emissions base would achieve. “Worse still, it is riddled with so many loopholes and concessions that the bill’s measures might not offset the emissions from the paper it’s printed on. You can judge the effectiveness of a US bill by its length: the shorter it is, the more potent it will be. This one is some 1,200 pages long, which is what happens when lobbyists have been at work.”

“There are mind-boggling concessions to the biofuels industry, including a promise not to investigate its wider environmental impacts. There’s a provision to allow industry to use 2bn tonnes of carbon offsets a year, which include highly unstable carbon sinks like crop residues left in the soil (another concession won by the powerful farm lobby). These offsets are so generous that if all of them are used, US industry will have to make no carbon cuts at all until 2026.”

In addition, Waxman-Markey would oblige companies to buy only a small proportion of their carbon permits (15%), the rest being given away. Thus, the more pollution companies have produced, the greater their free allocation of carbon credits, thus rewarding the worst emitters. Waxman-Markey also waters down current US legislation by removing the EPA's power to regulate coal-burning power stations.

What Monbiot does not mention is that the American Clean Energy and Security Act, H.R. 2454, sponsored by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA), would establish a new scientific panel to consider how to enhance the ability of natural resources to adapt to climate change and would require federal agencies to develop natural resource adaptation plans for dealing with climate change impacts.

As an example of the corruption to which he refers, Monbiot points to the ranking Republican on the House energy and commerce committee, Joe Barton, "the man who in 2005 launched a congressional investigation of three US scientists whose work reveals the historical pattern of climate change. Like those of many of his peers, his political career is kept on life support by the fossil fuel and electricity companies. He returns the favor by vociferously denying that manmade climate change exists."

To get a little personal, I've been pretty deep into the darkness lately, it happens out on the road. Sometimes I'm overtaken by the immensity of the project that I've created.. the endless nature of the content that seemingly spreads in all direction. From there I travel into lonliness and isolation, concerns over my dwindling money supply which gets tighter by the day. I'm well into my personal savings and it's difficult to see the money I had set aside disappearing faster than expected. So in light of all the darkness I thought the best thing to do was get back in touch with the light ;-)

So I've been meditating for a half hour every morning and night working to build a personal practice. It's amazing to see how much B.S. is floating/rushing through my mind. It's nice to let it be there while working to connect with the breath... and slowly but surely.. the light, the peace, and the balance is coming back.

Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is our inability to escape conflict.. whether it's conflict with ourselves or others it simply seems to exist in this magical universe of ours. Animals torn to shreds to feed others, trees fighting infestation, traffic jams, barking dogs, mircobes, viruses, nationstates, urban sprawl, environmental degradation... and the list goes on. But out of this conflict there is often fruit to be harvest or dirt to be planted in. Things just break down, but that's how we and the rest of the living ecology around us live, learn and grow.

I'm realizing that for whatever reason I've built my life upon a strict aversion to conflict.. I just refuse to do it... there's a trauma response in me that resembles fight or flight... and that's fine when it's escapable, but what about when it comes from within, or from a source you are unable to escape from... then things become a little more tricky.

So I guess it all goes back to acceptance and allowing things to be perfect in their imperfection. It becomes about allowing unconditional love to really shine, not just of others, but of ourselves and of this whole damn big picture show we're living in. This is afterall the only dance there is.

I think I have to make peace with conflict... and although I don't think my path lies in promoting or fostering this dark spirit of growth through struggle... I do think that sometimes she needs to do her dance and all we can do is marvel at the show.

Some quotes I stole from the Upaya Newsletter this week...

You must practice without finding fault with the present.
- Zen Master Keizan

Soil that is dirty grows the countless things. Water that is clear has no fish. Thus as a mature person you properly include and retain a measure of grime. You can’t just go along enjoying your own private purity and restraint.
- Vegetable Root Sutra

peace & conflict ;-)
d

After my noon meeting at GIOS I spent a few hours in a park with Mojangles hiding in the shade of a small tree, him occasionally bounding into the lake chasing ducks while I sat and read.

I then headed over to meet with Vern Swaback of Swaback Partners who is one of the last proteges of the great Frank Lloyd Wright. I was welcomed into his beautiful architecture office and informed that Vern is a great lover of dogs and there was a space out back for Moses to hang in the shade and drink water to his hearts content.

Vern and I sat down in his office surrounded by drawings, designs, maps and models and I told him of how when I was back studying film I spent most of my time between classes in the school of architecture sitting in on drawing crits and having dialogs about design. I've always loved architecture since like film it's one of the few disciplines that incorporates a wide range of creative aspects.

Vern and I launched into your dialog and he spoke of his insights on humanity, design and nature. We stumbled into the realm of the ethereal talking about the larger picture before finally returning to what it is that Vern deems fundamental.

Beauty.
"It is the relatedness of all things that creates value... Invest wisely in beauty. It will serve you all the days of your life." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Vern spoke to me about how if we persue beauty we invariably will sove most of the worlds problems. Now what's important is to define beauty as Vern is speaking about it. He is not talking about purly aesthetic beauty but true beauty. True beauty as it is found in nature is the beauty that is found in nature's ability to create highly complex magical forms yet not waste a single element. True beauty is found in nature's efficiency and and use of materials while also in it's aesthetic form. Vern spoke to how if we design with nature we find ourselves building not just buildings but whole systems of living, thinking, and being in which all the component parts feed one another and the surrounding landscape. Nothing is wasted and true beauty reigns supreme above personal ego, developers, and the endless capitalistic drive.

Although Vern also points to the inescapable importance of ego since it also serves to drive us towards a higher ideal for ourselves and for the world around us. Perhaps in this pursuit of ourselves, we may also pursue pure beauty, and arrive in a world where our spirit and the reflected built environments in which we live, both speak to the perfect wholeness of the universe.

peace,
d

Pics
Leaving Pheonix by sunset.... gasp
Campspot up in Flagstaff
Moses.. Hunter.

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, AZ

I love monsoons... I love the hot day that transitions into deep humidity only to be followed by thunder and cleansing downpours. Moses doesn't like the thunder so much. Last week I stood out in a monsoon and actually let it pour down over me.. I wore nothing but shorts and laughed as the rain washed the sweat off my back tickling me so kindly.

After leaving Arcosanti I spent the night at the rest area nine miles south. It was the only place high enough to catch the breeze. Moses lay panting deep into the night as I slept blanketless, all the windows outstretched and open. It was a pretty loud and sleepless night but restful in comparison of what was to come.

the next morning I had a nice chat with Terry who works on the nightime road crew in the area and he told me of another place to camp just down the hill where I could find silence and still catch a desert breeze.

I headed down into Tempe for my interview with Charles Redman of the Global Institure of Sustainability. I had been told to park in underground parking which was great until I realized my van was too tall. My van measures 9 and a half feet in height in case you want to know. So there I am the meeting pushed back until noon in the hot desert sun temperatures steadily increasing to 110F and a dog in a van... I spend a good 100 minutes covering all the windows with my reflectors and sitting in the van checking the airflow before I head in. there's no shade and although I know the van is cool enough it still leaves me feeling worried and less than relaxed.

I head into the cool airconditioning of the GIOS building and immediatly find Charles and his assistant Liz. they both tell me I could have brought the dog in, but at this point I'm certain he's ok and I just want to get back to him asap.

It all seems to work out as my interview with Charles is cut short by half an hour as he has to give a speach out of nowhere on his definition of sustainability. In the half hour we did have we covered a lot of ground and I captured some good content, and it seems the universe was looking out for Moses as I made it back to the van in record time.

The air inside the van was warm but nothing compared to the heat of outside and moses was laying comfortably on the bed a bowl of icewater still glistening on the floor in front of him.

peace,d

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, AZ

It's been a really hot week since I last check in here. After my interview with Ron Hubert I caught one more night of cool air in the mountains outside Flagstaff before heading back into the heat of Arizona desert.

Driving down form the mountains you can feel the moisture dissipate as your ears pop and the dogs panting grows louder. By the time Moses and I arrive back at Arcosanti I'm drenched in sweat and he's laying almost dead in the back. Before facing the desert again I went ot Home Depot and bought some windshield sun reflectors and have positioned them on all Veronica's windows. From the feel of it at twelve noon as we sit in direct sunlight, it seems to be working. The warm breeze blows through the van but the sunlight stays out reducing the solar over effect.

I arrive at Arcosanti at 2:30 and head in to School of Thought with Paolo Soleri. this time I'm better prepared as I have my full camera bag with cables to patch into the soundboard. The discussion is a bit more disjointed than last time and Paolo's age is really showing. There are some good moments in the discourse but overall it's a waste of tape until the end, when after people have dispersed I'm able to get ten minutes with Paolo alone to ask some fundamental questions that have been on my mind.

Paolo speaks a lot about this idea of reformation and so I ask him if he feels society is about to undergo a significant reformation at the hands of not only man but nature. In a way it's not the best question since I know he will say without a doubt, but given the unexpected nature of the interview it's the thing I most want to ask.

Paolo expresses that he thinks the world is about to changes drastically at the hands of nature.. he says the human has a choice in all of this .. and we should act rather than let nature do the work for us since she tends to be a bit more cruel.

It's pretty much the same old same old.. there are hidden gems in these dialogs and moments.. but in general the content is lost in an echo effect. It has left me thinking that maybe it's time to formulate new questions.

peace,
d

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality, to change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Buckminster Fuller

Also my assistant filmmaker Forbes sent me this site from Toronto. It's pretty amazing and resonates with me on a profound level.

David Lynch: The Interview Project

peace,d

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, AZ

Had an on-camera dialog this morning with Ron Hubert of Hozho International, and professor at Northern Arizona University. It was a great session and we covered the future of cities and what needs to be done to create the shift in thinking necessary to carry our urban spaces into the future.

We talked about why cities are so important and the fact that up to 75 percent of the developed world lives in cities and thus they play a significant role in our environmental, social, and economic well-being.

You can read more about Ron's work on the future of cities by reading the PDF document found HERE.

It's interesting to think of cities as nothing more but systems built of individual yet interconnected components. The question becomes how do we change certain aspects while understanding the extent of the unintended consequences.

Ron at one point was mentioning Jevon's Paradox and how oftentimes when cities have traffic issues, they widen their highways. The result is often that people who had to sit in traffic before and weren't willing to wait were then able to get places better. They then take jobs further away and consume more fuel in the process, not to mention that before they may have considered public transit as a solution to the traffic issues. People who were riding public transit in the wake of a new highway decide to drive. With fewer riders the cost of the public transit goes up.. and people who rely on its use have increased costs thus again making the car more of a viable option.

Sometimes in trying to fix things we only make things worse... and trying to evaluate what decisions to make and when and how to make them can be a very difficult road to walk. This holds true not only in the planning of cities and a sustainable future but also in our immediate and personal lives.

It's this complexity that makes life interesting and furthers our learning and spiritual growth.. if life were simple, it'd also be quite boring. And again it's important to note that while there are no simple answers, there are also no mistakes... only things we learn from.

peace,d

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, AZ

So I've been relaxing up in the National Forest outside of Flagstaff preparing for an action packed week filled with interviews.

This morning I did the usual self-hair cut, van barrel shower, and shave and I'm ready to keep shooting despite a choppy looking back head. But hey, as Liz says, you can't be hung up on vanity when you live in a van.

Going back to the week before last, I'm including some photos of Liz and my hike down to Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Reservation just south of the Grand Canyon. We hiked in ten miles down the canyon carrying our own packs. Liz waz a trooper carrying roughly half her wait in gear. We had head that the horses were mistreated and thats the main reason we packed in but I'll set the record straight in saying the horse were healthy, happy and well fed. On the way out which is mostly up hill we didn't have our packs since we were able to fly them out for 20$ apiece, which sounds like a great deal in 110F.

Havasu Falls is an extraordinary place as you can see by the pictures. I spent some time shooting medium format stills but not too much else as packing gear in and out is not ideal. Other than that the days were filled with games of gin rummy, swimming, and reading some research I haven't had time to get to while out on the road.

Last year a major flash flood worked Havasu Falls and most of the town was airlifted out by national guard. The flood took most of the campground with it and left the falls forever changed. It's good to have mother nature remind us of her awesome power every once in a while and there's no doubt that the place is still a magical oasis in the desert.

peace,
d

Thursday, July 9, 2009
Location: Flagstaff, Arizona

Spent the last couple of weeks touring around Arizona with Liz and I have some blogs to catch up on and some pics to post. I'll get to it asap.

Dropped Liz at the Phoenix airport this past Tuesday and then slept in Agua Fria National Monument before heading into Arcosanti the following day. Arcosanti is the life's work of Paolo Soleri. You can read more about it on their site but here is an except from their website explaining the overall concept.

"Arcology is Paolo Soleri's concept of cities which embody the fusion of architecture with ecology. The arcology concept proposes a highly integrated and compact three-dimensional urban form that is the opposite of urban sprawl with its inherently wasteful consumption of land, energy and time, tending to isolate people from each other and the community. The complexification and miniaturization of the city enables radical conservation of land, energy and resources.

An arcology would need about two percent as much land as a typical city of similar population. Today’s typical city devotes more than sixty percent of its land to roads and automobile services. Arcology eliminates the automobile from within the city. The multi-use nature of arcology design would put living, working and public spaces within easy reach of each other and walking would be the main form of transportation within the city.

An arcology’s direct proximity to uninhabited wilderness would provide the city dweller with constant immediate and low-impact access to rural space as well as allowing agriculture to be situated near the city, maximizing the logistical efficiency of food distribution systems. Arcology would use passive solar architectural techniques such as the apse effect, greenhouse architecture and garment architecture to reduce the energy usage of the city, especially in terms of heating, lighting and cooling. Overall, arcology seeks to embody a “Lean Alternative” to hyper consumption and wastefulness through more frugal, efficient and intelligent city design.

Arcology theory holds that this leanness is obtainable only via the miniaturization intrinsic to the Urban Effect, the complex interaction between diverse entities and organisms which mark healthy systems both in the natural world and in every successful and culturally significant city in history."

My first impressions of Arcosanti leaves me with one word... beautiful. This entire place exudes a sense of being art... being a place made up of process, thoughtfulness, patience, and beautiful craftsmanship.

I met with Erin Jefferies Arcosanti's PR person who did an on-camera dialog with me and gave me a tour of the site itself. I then left and headed back into Agua Fria to wait out the midday heat before returning to Arcosanti for an afternoon School of Thought discussion with Paolo Soleri himself.

I filmed the discussion which contained some great content for the film regarding the power of the human imagination, endless human sprawl, and the capacity of the universe for reformulation.

In the heat of Arizona I almost didn't go back to the site to hear Paolo talk, but in the end I'm glad I did. I have another interview in Phoenix next week and I'll likely be back to spend more time with a man whose vision resonates with me deeply.

peace,d