October 6 Lectures

Janine Benyus gives a talk on Monday October 6, 2008 at 7PM titled “What Life Knows: New ideas from biology that could change the world” at Great Sage in Clarksville.

Biomimicry seeks to emulate the time-tested adaptive strategies of many species of plants, animals and microorganisms to transform how we live on this planet. Janine Benyus of the Biomimicry Guild celebrates the newest ancient ideas bubbling up in the natural sciences, illuminating how evolution’s wisdom can help us design benign, life enhancing technologies while inspiring us to protect Earth’s biodiversity.

This talk is free and open to the public. Great Sage is located at 5809 Clarksville Square Drive, Clarksville, MD 21029.

Benyus has authored several books including:

• Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature
• The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States
• Nature’s 100 Best: World-Changing Innovations Inspired By Nature
• The Secret Language & Remarkable Behavior of Animals, Northwoods Wildlife: A Watcher’s Guide to Habitats
  
• Beastly Behaviors: A Watcher’s Guide to How Animals Act and Why

Click here to view the table of contents of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature or click here to read an excerpt.

Two related lectures are also scheduled for 7PM on Monday, October 6, 2008 so you can’t go to all of them.

• Jay Harman “Designing the Next Golden Age: A Progress Report” @ The Waldorf School of Baltimore/Music Room, 4801 Tamarind Rd., Baltimore
• Charlotte Brody “How Chemicals are Changing What it Means to Be a Woman (or a Man)” @ Breathe Books, 810 W 36th St, Baltimore

Read on below…

Jay Harman “Designing the Next Golden Age: A Progress Report”
This isn’t a live talk, instead it is a DVD screening ( 30 minutes) and discussion of Jay Harman’s keynote from last year’s Bioneers conference. Award-winning inventor, entrepreneur and CEO of PAX Scientific, Jay Harman shows examples of streamlined geometries and biomimetic approaches to the design of energy efficient, quiet, and ecologically friendly technology. Designs include fans, boats, and water pumps, all based on nature’s efficient, beautiful spiral geometry and rigorous engineering analysis.
7 PM  at The Waldorf School of Baltimore/Music Room, 4801 Tamarind Rd., Baltimore; free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Charlotte Brody “How Chemicals are Changing What it Means to Be a Woman (or a Man)” …and what women and men can do to change chemicals.
Commonweal’s Charlotte Brody, an organizer for civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, peace and environmental health since 1964, explores how chemicals are creating disease and disorders and how solutions are being created to regain health and democracy.
7 PM at Breathe Books, 810 W 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211; free and open to the public.

All of these lectures are part of Baltimore Bioneers.

David Orr Lecture

Yet another lecture by a fascinating author scheduled for Baltimore this fall!

David Orr, professor of environmental science and politics at Oberlin College and one of the leading proponents of environmental literacy in higher education speaks at Roland Park Country School at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday October 1, 2008 in a talk titled “Some like it Hot, But Lots Don’t: The Changing Climate of U.S. Politics.”

David Orr is the author of many books including:

• Design on the Edge: The Making of a High-Performance Building
• Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect
• Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World
• The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention

Free and open to the public.

Roland Park Country School is located at 5204 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210 and directions can be found here.

Art Exhibition: The Collector by Shu-Yun Chang (張書芸)

I just heard about an art exhibition inspired by a book — The Collector by John Fowles — and I had to post it:

The Collector
Shu-Yun Chang’s 1st Solo Exhibition in London
29. September – 12. October
Lazy Gramophone Gallery
Upstairs at The Macbeth
70 Hoxton Street, London N1 6LP (MAP)

Inspired by Fowles’ novel, Shu-Yun Chang has produced her new collection of illustrations to explore the unrequited love leading to destructions. In order to collect, the subject views the loved one as an object. Gaze, stalk, collecting, possessiveness and despair in her works show a series of obsessive actions that are generally considered to be dangerous. Due to her strong interest in popular culture, it is easy to find the influence of manga, anime or rock music in her works. For example, the dual-piece of work “You’re A Star in Nobody’s Eyes but Mine”, named after a line of the band The Killers’ song, is the start of this journey toward the ideal love of a twisted mind and shows the wishful thinking derived from gaze. As the exhibition title suggests, the audiences are invited to the collection of a collector’s inner thoughts.

Click here to view a PDF of the exhibition flyer.