|
The Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida presents: Timucua-Mocama Art Contest Winners Selected!!! After careful deliberation our expert panel has chosen the 10 winners of our Timucua-Mocama Art Contest! The 10 winners have received a $2,500 commission to complete a painting (oil, acrylic or water color on a canvas of 24" by 30") reinterpreting an original Le Moyne/de Bry work. These new paintings will be shown with the original Le Moyne/de Bry works at two premier art galleries in Jacksonville. Their art work will also be featured in a full color, descriptive book to be published about this project to enhance the artistic history of the Timucua. The Top 10 winners of the contest included one participant from both the High School and College categories and are, in no particular order: Aimee Denault (also first place in our College competition) Brett Pigon Celeste Nagy Gary Whitley James Jeffries John Robak Matthew Tito Cuenca Paul Melecky Rob Hough Stephanie Morales (also first place in our High School competition). Please visit our “Winners of the Timucua-Mocama Art Contest” tab for biographies and photos of our contest winners. Now that our winners have been chosen and their final paintings have been submitted and framed, we are collaborating with local galleries to plan our showings. Please check back here for updates on dates, times, and locations. Thank you to all who participated in our contest and congratulations to all our winners!
Integral Ecology (a primer)
How do I see and experience the world? Well, if we think about it for a minute, we'll realize that we routinely access at least three different perspectives when we engage the natural world, when we think about, observe, and experience being out in nature. Come with me while I take a walk in the woods one afternoon and try to explain how I see and experience the world. 1st Person Perspective
If I'm lucky, I might have a strong feeling of spirit, a kind of "religious experience" while out in nature. These are subjective, internal experiences that arise in my interior - my "I experience" while walking in the woods. Spirit 2nd Person Perspective -- I am walking with you, talking with you, seeing your expression when we discover something new. We also, during our walk, share the woods "community" with the abundant non-human life there. Birds chirp to signal our approach, squirrels scatter, a deer stares at us from afar. I wonder what you think of all this -- and you tell me your thoughts. I wonder how the deer is responding to all of this -- does the deer have curiosity or just fear when he sees us approaching? This woods experience involves our resonating with life which is in the community we enter. I remember how hard local citizens fought to keep these particular woods preserved rather than turned into another housing development -- these woods have a great deal of internal, cultural meaning to the families that live in the area, as well as to me personally (and certainly to the wildlife who live here 24/7). I think about how my religious tradition values nature experiences -- Moses and the burning bush, Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, stars over the manger, so many of the parables dealing with nature (mustard seed, birds, etc.). During my walk this afternoon I am relating to others, communing with others, contemplating our internal values, sharing subjectivity -- having a "we" experience. 2nd Person Perspective The We Experience-Mutual Resonance
I also note that we se patterns within this majestic web of life -- there are trails which so the way other humans have walked here before you and I. I notice the weather pattern which governs how long we can stay outside this afternoon; I observe the trees that have grown in wildly different directions over the years to try and capture the sunlight. I see a gopher tortoise hole and think about how many different species live down in that hole with the gopher tortoise -- there are so many interconnections. I am observing objects, patterns, systems -- observing and studying objects, the "its" in nature. Practicing These Perspectives When I walk in the woods -- realizing and mindfully practicing these different perspectives -- I can expand my awareness and have a richer, fuller nature experience. I am more intimate with nature. I will also be able to better understand different people who speak from different perspectives. For example, during the debate before the city council over whether a development should replace these same woods, some people spoke of how much they loved the woods, how they grew up playing in these woods as children; others emphasized how desperately the wildlife needed this protected habitat to continue to reproduce and how to clear-cut the area would devastate an entire eco-system -- they had great debates with the folks who argued we needed the economic boost such development would cause and that we needed to protect the legal property rights of those who sought the development. Others testified that the water quality of our nearby streams would be measurably affected if we increased stormwater runoff by adding impermeable parking lots here; and some members of the Sierra Club spoke of how our community needed these woods as a place to quietly be in the midst of nature given that these woods are otherwise completely surrounded by development, highways, and strip malls. Interestingly, the Sierra Club was joined by the pastor of a local protestant church who eloquently spoke of our biblical duty to "care for creation." When different people approach an environmental problem they often approach it from quite different perspectives -- from different worldviews. This is one reason there are over 200 separate schools of ecology, fields of environmental studies and ecological philosophies.  Below is an illustration often used to visualize the different perspectives discussed earlier: 4 quadrant charts -- showing --- the "I" ....... "We" ....... "It" ..... and "Its" dimensions of reality/nature..... Four Quadrants
So, these notes have set out a little of Integral Ecology's teaching about perspectives and quadrants of reality -- the irreducible perspectives -- "I, We, Its" -- that should be consulted when attempting to experience and understand the natural world (or any aspect of reality). Hopefully, this framework helps us to expand our awareness.....our awareness is a large part of who we are. Integral Ecology gives us a third-person map of reality that can guide us on our multi-perspective journey, a second-person framework to assist us to work within and across various disciplines and perspectives, and a first-person practice for helping us develop our own embodied awareness. **************************** Future on-line discussions: •Next session -- animal perspectives -- umwelts -- and how we are able to consider the perspectives of those members of the natural world. •Third session -- a little bit about how levels of development and states of consciousness fit into the integral ecology framework....revisiting the 4 quadrants which help us understand depths and states. •Fourth session -- methods used to study nature in the 4 quadrants -- different "lenses," different methodologies for each quadrant. •Fifth session -- the who/how/what of experiencing and studying nature. •Sixth session -- how we "widen our identity" through nature. ******************************************** If you want to jump ahead of our sessions, see an overview of integral ecology: http://integralecology.org/sites/default/files/IE_3-2-2009.pdf an overview of integral theory: http://integralecology.org/sites/default/files/IT_3-2-2009.pdf or just google Ken Wilber and/or Sean Esbjorn-Hargens. Esbjorn-Hargens and Michael Zimmerman authored the text Integral Ecology, available at Amazon.com. ~ Warren K. Anderson, Jr. ~ Artwork by Jennifer Anderson, Asheville, N.C. What is the Public Trust? The "Public Trust Doctrine" is an ancient legal doctrine dating back to the Roman Code of Justinian in 539 A.D. and holds that public lands and waters are held in trust for the use of all people. The doctrine has withstood the test of time and even became codified in the Florida Constitution in 1970. The primary focus of the Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida is to uphold this doctrine through the zealous protection of the City of Jacksonville's Preservation Project and other federal and state protected lands and waters. Commonly known as the "Public Trust," we pursue legal means, including litigation if necessary, to protect and preserve the public lands and waters. Additionally, we support the education of political leaders, government officials and citizens by participating in speaking engagements and writing articles and letters. The Public Trust also promotes the use and enjoyment of land and waters within the public trust. Current Projects include: • Our second paddling guide featuring the waterways between the St. Johns & Nassau Rivers. • Our Timucuan Art Contest. • A Clean Water Act enforcement project. • A review of mercury testing proposals for Duval County. • Mayport Cruise Ship Terminal Case. • A petition to end the use of bunker-c fuel.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida, Inc
2029 North Third Street
Jacksonville Beach
Florida 32250
(904) 247-1972 x418
Copyright © 2008 - Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute Of Florida - Designed by Ocean Web Design
