Franke James: Artist, Writer, Environmentalist

One of the great things about writing for this blog has been making connections with like-minded individuals – people with whom we might never have interacted otherwise.

We received a cool email this morning from Toronto artist Franke James, saying hello and encouraging us to take a look at one of her essays (which has been featured in the Toronto Star and WorldChanging).

To be honest, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I tend to have a negative association with the word ‘essay’ (and I somehow missed the adjective ‘visual’ when I first read the email), but I figured if WorldChanging had written about it, it must be pretty interesting.

Franke James’ visual essay is called “A Green Winter: Will Global Warming Be Good For Canada?” and I must say it really put a smile on my face when I read it.
As mentioned, I missed the word “visual” in Franke’s email, so I was somewhat taken aback when I found a series of cartoonish images and photos with writing all over them, but the presentation totally sucked me in. I was completely hooked until the very end (can’t remember the last time I said that about an ‘essay’).

There is something utterly ‘human’ about James’ presentation – it had an innocent, child-like quality that reminded me of the journals we used to keep in public school, combined with a more serious adult perspective on global climate change. I also really enjoyed the dry humour throughout.

I’ve included the first couple slides below, but be sure to check out Franke’s site (follow the link above) for the full piece.

In case you’re interested in learning a little more about Franke James, here is an exerpt from her bio page:

Working at the intersection of art, technology and advertising, Franke James, is a Canadian artist and writer committed to bringing awareness to global warming. She has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University. James interactive artwork has won numerous awards and been featured on CBC, CTV, Global News, iVillage, USA Today, AOL, Yahoo and others.

Technorati Tags: global warming, worldchanging, franke james, toronto, visual essays, climate change, greenhouse gases, el nino, environtmentalist

Written by Bentley on February 12th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Green Commentary and Interesting & Notable.

Green Headlines – Feb. 12, 2007

Only a handful of headlines for you today.
The first story is a follow-up to our post about the ‘City of the Future’ design contest. I’m happy to report that Chicago’s UrbanLab won (landslide victory apparently) with their ‘Growing Water’ design. I’m very pleased to hear this, and like I said, I hope we see these sorts of designs becoming a reality much sooner than 100 years from now!

On the green power front, it sounds as though the UK’s wind power industry is growing nicely – with their latest commisioned wind farm they will be able to provide power for 1.1 million homes! I thought it was also pretty cool that a city in Illinois has taken it upon themselves to offset 20% of their energy with wind power, and a school district in New York state has installed a fuel cell capable of providing 50% of the districts energy requirements during peak periods (100% during off hours).

Finally, I couldn’t resist sharing an interesting article about the potential use of sterilized manure as a building material (judging by the number of times the headline popped up, I’d say a lot of other people couldn’t resist the story either!)

1) UrbanLab Wins! IIT is Proud.

2) Britain’s wind farm energy passes new milestone

3) City Purchases Wind To Offset 20% Of Its Energy

4) Fuel cell in E. Rochester hoped to cut bills, gases

5) Manure: It’s not just for compost anymore, researchers say

Technorati Tags: green news, eco news, environmental news

Written by Bentley on February 12th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on News.