The Material Presence of Absence: a dialogue between museums and cemeteries

This is an exploratory paper that aims to stimulate a dialogue between those interested in two particular spaces in society: the museum and the cemetery. Using empirical evidence from two research projects, the paper considers similarities and differences between the two sites, which are further explored through theoretical ideas about the social life of things and the agency of absence. Examining the materiality of these spaces, the paper addresses the role of objects in these two spaces and their respective associations with death, either through the dead themselves or the representation of those who have once lived. In particular, it explores the 'presence of absence' through three key points: its spatiality, its materiality, and its agency. Museums and cemeteries are, in this sense, directly comparable, as both spaces are shaped by and built upon the practice of making the absent present. Called 'heterotopic' by Foucault (1986) in that they are layered with multiple meanings, this paper will also argue for an understanding of museums and cemeteries as being able to transcend absence. Underpinning this is the belief that there remains much scope for future connections to be made between these two sites, theoretically, politically and practically

Broken Ground: Plowing and America's Cultural Landscape in the 1930s

This dissertation considers the significance of images related to plowing from the 1930s and their connection to humanity's relationship with the land. Environmental history, agricultural history, and the cultural geography of the plains are used in the analysis of these images to suggest the pervasiveness of the plow as a cultural symbol of man's relationship to the earth. My investigation begins with a chapter devoted to a chronological survey of European and American art depicting agricultural landscape imagery. My second chapter considers Grant Wood's 1931 painting "Fall Plowing," a depiction of a steel walking plow, to focus on the function, history, and impact of the implement itself. The next two chapters focus on artistic products of the Dust Bowl that expose problems inherent in American treatment of the land. The third chapter examines Pare Lorentz's 1936 documentary film "The Plow that Broke the Plains," which charts a history of soil exploitation. Alexandre Hogue's "Mother Earth Laid Bare" from 1938 and "Crucified Land" from 1939, the subjects of my fourth chapter, respond to the Dust Bowl through landscapes that have been ravished and sacrificed as a consequence of man's exploitative tendencies. My fifth chapter considers artists who identified and advocated practical solutions to the agricultural crisis. This tendency is best demonstrated by John Steuart Curry's work as artist-in-residence for the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin. This investigation of human cultural engagement with the landscape concludes with an epilogue that contemplates the ways in which artists have explored the earth as a subject and medium amidst increasingly intensive systems of agriculture since the 1930s

The Value of ‘Planetary Facts’: science-based product data and disclosures beyond carbon

A system that enables businesses to quantify the environmental impacts of products, contextualise this data with scientifically determined limits (planetary boundaries), and communicate it with buyers in a way that is easy to understand has the potential to drive significant pro-environmental decision making and outcomes. An immense proportion of global decisions occur through a product lens. There is evidence of both business and purchaser demand for a system that supports easy-to-understand environmental data about products with scientific context. Governments and policymakers have a pivotal role to play in the successful implementation of such a system

Trees, a new partner in the fight against urban crime

Crime is a persistent problem in many urban areas, both large and small. In new research, Kate Gilstad-Hayden and Spencer R. Meyer examine the effects of tree cover on this crime. They find that for every 10 percent increase in tree canopy cover, there was a 15 percent decrease in the violent crime, and a 14 percent fall in the property crime rate. Trees, they write, can help to increase ‘eyes on the street’ through recreational use, reduce mental the fatigue which can lead to crime, and offer landscaping opportunities which act as a ‘cue to care’

Curve Number Approach to Estimate Monthly and Annual Direct Runoff

This paper establishes a novel approach to estimate monthly and annual direct runoff by combining the curve number method of the Natural Resources Conservation Service with an exponential distribution of rainfall depths. The approach was tested against observed rainfall and runoff for 544 watersheds throughout the contiguous United States. For more than half of the watersheds, the performance of the new approach is indistinguishable from the application of the method to daily rainfall when curve numbers are determined via calibration. For all watersheds, the uncertainty introduced by the approximation of the distribution of rainfall depths is far less than the uncertainty associated with the use of tabulated curve numbers based on soil and land-cover characteristics. The new approach does not appreciably increase the overall uncertainty associated with the application of the curve number method in ungauged watersheds. The approach provides reasonable estimates of monthly and annual direct runoff that can inform land-management decisions when daily rainfall records are unavailable

The Tectonics of the Double Skin:: Green Building or Just more Hi-Tech Hi-Jinx? NORTH AMERICAN CASE STUDIES:

North American Double Façade Buildings: 1980 to 2001 Where over the past ten years, Europe and the Pacific Rim have seen the construction of a number of vanguard double skin façade buildings, very few have been either proposed or constructed in North America. The first to be constructed was the Occidental Chemical Center (also known as the Hooker Building) in Niagara Falls, New York. It was designed by Cannon Design Inc. and completed in 1980. Occidental Chemical has achieved historic status in texts on building systems as the first of its kind to be constructed in North America. In spite of much press and notoriety, its skin system was not widely adopted in commercial building types to follow. SOM designed a double skin envelope for the Prudential Life Insurance Company in Princeton, N.J. in the late 1980's.3 Following few built examples in the 1980's, it would appear that the double skin façade system continued without influence in North America during the 1990's. The next building of note is the double skin façade for the Seattle Justice Center designed by Arup Associates in 2000/ 2001.4 The European offices of Arup Associates have been responsible for many of the double façade buildings constructed to date in Europe and Asia. A double skin, referred to in this case as "une façade intelligente”, is being used on the "Caisse de Depots et de Placements du Quebec” in Montreal. Façade erection commenced during Winter 2002. They chose to use the system for its thermal, visual and acoustical properties. The double skin used, is a Twin-Face type and integrates an operable window. In designing for the severity of the Quebec climate they used double glazing on the outside and single glazing on the inside skin. Standard recommendations for Twin-Face systems would provide single glazing on the outside buffering skin and double glazing on the interior layer. This approach might work in more temperate climates, but is not suitable to a cold climate installation. Ongoing construction information on the CDP may be found at http://www2.destinationcdp.com/index.asp?version=3 The Telus Building in Vancouver, British Columbia, designed by Busby and Associates has been recently completed. This building varies from most other examples in that it uses the second skin to encapsulate an existing concrete masonry building, to prevent its destruction, extend its life and create an improved interior work environment

An Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Landscape Patterns for Protected Areas in Northern New England: 1099-2010

Context: Landscape ecology theory provides insight about how large assemblages of protected areas (PAs) should be configured to protect biodiversity. We adapted these theories to evaluate whether the emergence of decentralized land protection in a largely private landscape followed the principles of reserve design. Objectives: Our objectives were to determine: (1) Are there distinct clusters of PAs in time and space? (2) Are PAs becoming more spatially clustered through time? and (3) Does the resulting PA portfolio have traits characteristic of ideal reserve design? Methods: We developed an historical dataset of the PAs enacted since 1900 in the northern New England region of the US. We conducted spatio-temporal clustering, landscape pattern, and aggregation analyses at both the landscape scale and for specific classes of land ownership, conservation method, and degree of protection. Results: We found the frequency of PAs increased through time, and that area-weighted clusters of PAs were heavily influenced by a few recent large PAs. PA clustering around preexisting PAs was driven primarily by establishment of large PAs focused on natural resource management, rather than strict reserves. Since 1990, the complete portfolio has increased in aggregation, but reserve patches have become less aggregated and smaller, while patches that allow extractive uses have become more aggregated and larger. Conclusions: Our extension of landscape ecology theory to a diverse portfolio of PAs underscores the importance of prioritizing conservation choices in the context of existing PAs, and elucidates the landscape scale effects of individual actions within a portfolio of protected areas

An Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Landscape Patterns for Protected Areas in Northern New England: 1099-2010

Context: Landscape ecology theory provides insight about how large assemblages of protected areas (PAs) should be configured to protect biodiversity. We adapted these theories to evaluate whether the emergence of decentralized land protection in a largely private landscape followed the principles of reserve design. Objectives: Our objectives were to determine: (1) Are there distinct clusters of PAs in time and space? (2) Are PAs becoming more spatially clustered through time? and (3) Does the resulting PA portfolio have traits characteristic of ideal reserve design? Methods: We developed an historical dataset of the PAs enacted since 1900 in the northern New England region of the US. We conducted spatio-temporal clustering, landscape pattern, and aggregation analyses at both the landscape scale and for specific classes of land ownership, conservation method, and degree of protection. Results: We found the frequency of PAs increased through time, and that area-weighted clusters of PAs were heavily influenced by a few recent large PAs. PA clustering around preexisting PAs was driven primarily by establishment of large PAs focused on natural resource management, rather than strict reserves. Since 1990, the complete portfolio has increased in aggregation, but reserve patches have become less aggregated and smaller, while patches that allow extractive uses have become more aggregated and larger. Conclusions: Our extension of landscape ecology theory to a diverse portfolio of PAs underscores the importance of prioritizing conservation choices in the context of existing PAs, and elucidates the landscape scale effects of individual actions within a portfolio of protected areas