Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category
Saturday, February 6th, 2010
Waterfalls, Baker River, Rio Baker, Patagonia, Chile. Click the thumbnail to see a larger version.
Hey Folks
“How many rivers do we have to cross, Before we can talk to the boss, eh?” – Bob Marley, “Burnin and Lootin’”.
Today, Feb 6th, 2010, is the 65th anniversary of Bob Marley’s birthday. Bob is one of my highest musical heroes, and this tune, of all his great songs, is probably the one that I love the most. So, in honor of the great Bob Marley, here’s a version of his classic ‘Redemption Song‘ that I recorded a few years back with my friend Steve on vocals.
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I thought this photo would be a fitting accompaniment. This photo is of the waterfall on the Baker River, beginning of a series of Class 5 and Class 6 rapids through an unbelievable canyon. (more…)
Tags: Baker River, Bob Marley, Chile, conservation, dams, environment, Patagonia, Rivers, Skolai Images
Posted in Adventures, Chile, Environmental Issues, Landscapes, Musings, News, Rants | 6 Comments »
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
Beaver, (Castor canadensis), hauling willow back to his lodge for the winter, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
You undoubtedly heard the news; today’s bling is Social Networking. You need to be on Facebook and you need to Tweet (loud and often). You need people to Digg your Flickrworld, you need to be Linked In, Hooked Up and Decked Out. You need to do this because you can’t afford not to, because everyone else is doing it, and because if you want to get ahead in life, to succeed, you need to do what everyone else is doing. Right?
It’s true, so I jumped right in. In the last few months I’ve opened the pages of Facebook and Tweeted my first Tweet, and just this week started a Flickr photo account. Additionally, my guiding business, Alaskan Alpine Treks, is now Linked In. Social networking, I’ve been instructed, is the key to my future success and now, after wrapping up a summer of hiking and backpacking in the mountains, I’m giving it a shot.
It’s an interesting and somewhat challenging process. You don’t need me to write about the ways in which successful folks engage this ‘social networking’, as this has been covered elsewhere far more effectively than I might manage. The topic here is the pervasive, engulfing nature of such sites as Twitter and Facebook, etc. According to their stats page Facebook has more than 300 million active users (irony of the term ‘users’ duly noted). (more…)
Tags: animals, beaver, corporations, corporatization, facebook, flickr, mammals, social networking, transnational, twitter, Walmart, Wildlife
Posted in Musings, News, Photo business, Photography, Rants, Small Mammals, Tech Stuff, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 14 Comments »
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Trash bottles and construction equipment on construction site, Marietta, Atlanta, Georgia
Hey Folks,
A word (or rant) about ‘pragmatists’.
How often do we hear people cloak their position in this language, smother their position and use the veil of ‘realism’ as a cover for rationale? The phrase “well, sure, that’s too bad, but we need to be pragmatic .. “ is so often merely an attempt to preserve the status quo. Rather than reach a little further, push a little harder, get a little creative, or honestly examine ourselves and the lives we lead, we fall back on language like “realistic” and “pragmatic” – neither of which solve a problem, and, ironically, express a position often seated on neither pragmatism or realism.
Conversations around environmental issues seem to invoke this veil all too often; “we’d love to leave the caribou alone, and let them roam on the coastal plain, but we need to be practical – realistically, we need oil.” An entire platform was built around this excuse for an unwillingness to change that supporters labelled “Wise Use” – it’s nonsense. (more…)
Tags: Art, artists, environment, Environmental Issues, Thoreau
Posted in Environmental Issues, Georgia, Rants | 12 Comments »
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Mt. Blackburn stands tall to catch the sun’s first rays of alpenglow, high above the Kennicott Valley, early fall, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
I just visited my friend Mark Graf’s great blog, and read with interest his commentary on mountains and the import and grandeur of nature, the role it can play in our lives. Mark prefaces his post with the legendary John Muir, so I’ll do the same:
“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail. – John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901”
While I think it’s a fantastic photo Mark posted, and a great post, (I’d ask that you read it and the comments that follow) I have to be the lone opponent in the discussion here; (more…)
Tags: Alaska, alpenglow, color, Fall, John Muir, Mount Blackburn, Mountains, Mt Blackburn, sunrise, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Environmental Issues, Fall, Landscapes, Musings, People, Rants, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 10 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Hey Folks,
Here’s an interesting thought; there’s been a lot of discussion in Alaska on wolf and other wildlife management, particularly ‘predator management’ (aren’t ALL animals not predators of some creatures, and prey of others?), and this raises the issue of orcas (Orcinus orca) and northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni). In more recent times, for various reasons, it appears that orcas have begun preying more heavily on northern sea otters in the Southwestern part of the otters’ range – South Central Alaska out across the Aleutian Islands. Orcas, “Wolves of the Sea”, appear to be extirpating the sea otter within this Distinct Population Segment (DPS), and this sea otter DPS is now listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act. So, what of it? Should the ‘wildlife authorities’ fire up the choppers, Cessnas and Supercubs, hire a sniper or 2, and begin an aerial ‘predator control’ program? (more…)
Tags: Alaska, endangered species, endangered species act, killer whales, mammals, orcas, sea otters, Wildlife, Wolves
Posted in Alaska, Cool stories, Environmental Issues, Musings, News, Rants, Wildlife | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Photo above extracted via Nikon Capture NX2.2.2 (more…)
Tags: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Alaska, animals, Apple, bears, Brown bears, CS4, customer service, customer support, Grizzly Bears, Katmai, Katmai National Park, mammals, Nikon, Nikon Capture NX2, NX2, Photography, photoshop, software, Ursus arctos, Wildlife
Posted in Alaska, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Miscellaneous, Musings, News, Photo business, Photography, Rants, Reviews, Tech Stuff, Wildlife | 19 Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
Hey Folks,
Here’s another photo I took on my most recent sojoun to Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska. I’d been hoping to find some scenes like this, but they’re hard to come by. Fresh snow still sitting on a spruce tree, in nice warm sunshine. Usually, after a nice dump of snow, wind blows it off the trees before the weather clears up enough for this kind of photo. One calm evening I went up on this ridge, not a breath of air was stirring down in the forest at the cabin. But up high, the wind was blowing like crazy .. (more…)
Tags: Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Abstract Photos, Alaska, Landscapes, Rants, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 4 Comments »
Monday, November 10th, 2008
Hey Folks,
I can’t overstate the import of what the world saw this past week. For the first time ever the people of the US elected an African American president, Barack Obama, and the value that such a moment carries is immeasurable. A bare 40 years have past since Bill Russell became the first African American head coach in the NBA. 10 years ago the world saw the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 company (how ironic is it that Franklin Raines became CEO of — wait for it — Fannie Mae!!!!) There are innumerable examples of things like this all highlighting the magnitude of this moment. But perhaps none more than this one; (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Art, aurora, aurora borealis, National Park, Northern Lights, Winter, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Art, Cool stories, News, Northern Lights, Rants, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 7 Comments »
Friday, July 18th, 2008
Hey Folks,
By now, you’ve all heard the rumors, I’m sure. How the massive oil fields, despoiling the pristine earth lying deep beneath the frozen, barren tundra of the lonely coastal plains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (known by its acronym ANWR), could save our planet. How, if only those whacko enviro-freaks, who are bent on ruining the lives of countless hard-working patriotic Americans, have consistently and ruthlessly undertaken to bully the American Congress and the oil industry into submission, and not allow the oil and natural gas that is currently being wasted underground to be extracted and delivered to gas stations across America.
I’m sure you’ve read the facts, and seen how, if the estimated 10 billion barrels of ANWR oil could be drilled and refined, gasoline prices at the pump would plummet; but not just the gas prices, (more…)
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, ANWR, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Environmental Issues, News, Rants, Travel | 22 Comments »
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
Hey Folks,
I just saw this article on CNN’s website. From the first paragraph, ‘President Bush said Saturday that the Saudis’ modest increase in oil production “doesn’t solve our problem,” ‘ – The whole tone of the article is an acknowledgement that such a relatively small increase in oil supply, for the US, is meaningless. This increase could bring gas online to the American market almost immediately. At the same time, the current US administration is arguing for the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas extraction. The US Govt’s own studies yield a mean peak in oil supply from the Refuge of under 900 000 barrels a day. That peak would arrive about 10-12 years AFTER the oil supply came online – and the oil is expected to take 10-15 years to come online after any legislation allowing drilling their might be passed. In other words, it is expected, under optimal conditions, to be 25 years before that peak in supply is reached. So if the Govt decides next year to open the Refuge to drilling (fortunately the US Senate just voted it down, again, for this year), we could hope for fewer than 900 000 barrels a day to come forth in the year 2033.
The second point about this is that one of the lines being touted most strongly for drilling in the Wildlife Refuge (ANWR): (more…)
Posted in Alaska, ANWR, Environmental Issues, News, Rants, Travel, Wildlife | 5 Comments »
