This is an update to something a wrote about in February (it seemed long ago enough to warrant a new post instead of an addendum). The Minneapolis City Council recently passed a major funding bill that Mayor Hodges signed to fix and update park and recreation center facilities over a 20 year period. It will be funded by a one-time property tax increases and some smaller levies but will provide a designated stream of maintenance funding for two decades. This is a huge deal. While time will tell if the funding is sufficient (and also if the city will now view its duties as fulfilled), locking in funds for parks and ensuring that it isn't an unfunded mandate to be paid for "somehow" or by cuts in services is rare and noteworthy. An alternative method would have been to take advantage of historically low interest rates and pass a bonding bill, but those are more complex and challenging (and potentially even more controversial than property tax changes). Either way, I'm pleased with this development and hope that it is a sign that Minneapolis will be continuing to make commitments to and investments in its world class parks system.
Additional note, this will be my last post in the series for my real estate course, though for any readers I have picked up, I do hope to keep this going now that I've restarted, on a fairly regular basis. I have a number of places I've visited since I left off writing that I'd like to review and am constantly coming up with other little ideas, so hopefully this won't trail off. I don't know what the frequency will be, but I intend to find or make time to do at least a little bit of posting. I'll also probably return to a more explicitly public lands and parks focus, though, this being my personal blog, I reserve the right to talk about whatever else I want (but mostly property, land and environment, because that's what I like). I'm also going to be starting a fellowship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service soon working on wetland acquisitions, so I'm excited to start that, combining my legal, geographic, mapping, and real estate knowledge in the service of environmental preservation and biodiversity. Pretty good stuff.
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellaneous. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
EarthEngine
This post isn't really about parks, land use, property, or any particular story or issue. Rather, it's just a short entry about one of my favorite sites/internet toys: EarthEngine. This site is a Google production, with government and academic collaborators (I believe), that has taken lots of satellite imagery (and other data as well that you can explore) from the almost forty year history of the global imaging program and stitched them together (with other data fusion techniques to smooth, blend, and remove errors, clouds, and missing data) to create time lapse videos of change on the Earth's surface. It might not show the exact state of the land at any given time, but it clearly shows general trends, and in some cases (it provides some highlights/lowlights) the differences can be striking, alarming, amazing, and/or depressing.
While most people use it out of curiosity, it does have significant research and policy-informing uses as well. With it, it is possible to see rapid deforestation, the progression of coal mining, rapid urbanization, and changes in river flow. It does have some pre-loaded time lapse examples that are particularly striking, but after viewing them it's almost addictive to go looking for more areas of personal interest. I haven't personally used any of the other data features it has, but I am certainly intrigued and thought it would be worth mentioning here for anyone else interested in the things I write about.
While most people use it out of curiosity, it does have significant research and policy-informing uses as well. With it, it is possible to see rapid deforestation, the progression of coal mining, rapid urbanization, and changes in river flow. It does have some pre-loaded time lapse examples that are particularly striking, but after viewing them it's almost addictive to go looking for more areas of personal interest. I haven't personally used any of the other data features it has, but I am certainly intrigued and thought it would be worth mentioning here for anyone else interested in the things I write about.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Reboot!
So, it's been a long time since I last published. This is due to a number of personal and professional reasons that I don't really want to get into, but there have been a lot of changes in my life. I got married, bought a house, and returned to school for another graduate degree. This time I am studying GIS (Geographic Information Science) at the University of Minnesota. My goal in this is to develop a strong analytical and technical skill set that I can combine with my legal training and policy knowledge to build a more successful and interesting career in land management/use, natural resources policy, environmental law, consulting, or renewable energy development.
I'm enjoying my return to academia (while also continuing to work). It's good being able to use my brain for things I'm actually interested in and to explore the realm of facts and ideas in a way that isn't just keeping it to myself or a small conversation group. I suppose that's why I initially started this blog, but things happen. I'm back now, though! So that's something.
Picking up on the school theme, that is the primary driver behind my return to active blogging. It hasn't been a lack of interest or ideas, just a combination of time, in person conversations with people substituting for posting on the same topic, and a few other obstacles that are no long relevant. Plus, one of my classes this semester is called Geography and Real Estate and one of the project options for it is to develop a blog about property and land issues in Minnesota. Well, I already have a blog and it is already largely focused on land and environmental issues. Why not discuss property as well? Property issues are really just another type of land use decision and all land use decisions are fundamentally environmental decisions. The built environment is just as much a part of our world and has just as strong an impact on people's health and well-being (possibly more if one never is able to leave the city), so I don't think I need to redirect or rededicate the blog's original purpose. And even if I did, it's my blog, so I can do it if I want to.
So here's a recap/reintroduction/summary of what I hope to accomplish for new users (Hello Professor Squires!), repeat users (Hello Russian Search Engine Redirects, for some reason), and various webcrawling scripts:
I have a background in environmental history and science and have a degree in law with a focus on environmental and natural resources law with a particular interest in land use and resource management policy. This blog is really dedicated to exploring the social, environmental, political, economic, and occasionally philosophical aspects of news items, events, and scientific discoveries/announcements that in some was relate to public lands or the human environment (so, everything). I generally pull post ideas from the national media, though I do sometimes find local stories with a good hook (not hard being based in Minnesota, though they aren't always derived from here) or do research on general themes that I have been pondering for a while and decided to write up. I also like to write up summaries and reviews of parks that I visit, hence the name (there are a few that I've got coming, but I don't think I'll be doing all the ones I've been to since my last posting).
That's enough of an introduction for now. If you want to learn more about my thoughts and interests, please read through my posting history, it's not that long, or wait a few days. I've got more posts coming soon. It's for academic credit, so you know this time the promise has some heft!
I'm enjoying my return to academia (while also continuing to work). It's good being able to use my brain for things I'm actually interested in and to explore the realm of facts and ideas in a way that isn't just keeping it to myself or a small conversation group. I suppose that's why I initially started this blog, but things happen. I'm back now, though! So that's something.
Picking up on the school theme, that is the primary driver behind my return to active blogging. It hasn't been a lack of interest or ideas, just a combination of time, in person conversations with people substituting for posting on the same topic, and a few other obstacles that are no long relevant. Plus, one of my classes this semester is called Geography and Real Estate and one of the project options for it is to develop a blog about property and land issues in Minnesota. Well, I already have a blog and it is already largely focused on land and environmental issues. Why not discuss property as well? Property issues are really just another type of land use decision and all land use decisions are fundamentally environmental decisions. The built environment is just as much a part of our world and has just as strong an impact on people's health and well-being (possibly more if one never is able to leave the city), so I don't think I need to redirect or rededicate the blog's original purpose. And even if I did, it's my blog, so I can do it if I want to.
So here's a recap/reintroduction/summary of what I hope to accomplish for new users (Hello Professor Squires!), repeat users (Hello Russian Search Engine Redirects, for some reason), and various webcrawling scripts:
I have a background in environmental history and science and have a degree in law with a focus on environmental and natural resources law with a particular interest in land use and resource management policy. This blog is really dedicated to exploring the social, environmental, political, economic, and occasionally philosophical aspects of news items, events, and scientific discoveries/announcements that in some was relate to public lands or the human environment (so, everything). I generally pull post ideas from the national media, though I do sometimes find local stories with a good hook (not hard being based in Minnesota, though they aren't always derived from here) or do research on general themes that I have been pondering for a while and decided to write up. I also like to write up summaries and reviews of parks that I visit, hence the name (there are a few that I've got coming, but I don't think I'll be doing all the ones I've been to since my last posting).
That's enough of an introduction for now. If you want to learn more about my thoughts and interests, please read through my posting history, it's not that long, or wait a few days. I've got more posts coming soon. It's for academic credit, so you know this time the promise has some heft!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Sound and Light
Just a short post (and apologies for not posting in a while, it has been a busy month looks to continue being busy for the next few weeks but that really shouldn't be an excuse) on things that are both important and frequently overlooked: sound and darkness. When one thinks of nature, the first things that come to mind are often landscapes, sometimes animals or plants, but the idea is almost always dominated by the visual. In fact, many people probably think of nature as a place where it is silent, only realizing that it is actually filled with myriad noises of its own, from the wind and water to the sound of insects, birds, and other animals, all of which contribute to the soundscape (and not in the cheesy, "sounds of nature" relaxation tape way).
What got me thinking about this topic was a profile I read about a month ago about Davyd Betchkal and other members of the Denali National Park sound capture team. Their goal is to record a month's worth of sound from around the park and despite the remoteness of the location and the fact that they have been at it for six years, they still have only 36 days of audio without combustion engines. Some sites have recorded as many as 78 planes in a 24 hour period. Another captures some kind of motor every 17 minutes. While human activities undoubtedly affect wildlife, it is unclear if there is a minimum level of disturbance that can coexist with a healthy, "natural" ecosystem and soundscape. Part of why it is so difficult to determine is because it is so difficult to record days without disturbance, let alone multiple days at once. It is hard to know what to change when there isn't even a well-defined baseline to use for comparison. Combine that with the inherent uncertainty behind observation (the Observer Effect and the Uncertainty Principle can be particularly pronounced when dealing with sounds and wildlife for obvious reasons) and it can seem like an almost impossible task.
As difficult as the task the Denali recorders have set for themselves may be, it is an important one and when I read about it I immediately was reminded of Maya Lin's beautiful and ambitious, multi-media memorial/exhibit/installation/activism called What is Missing? This piece, at home on the internet but partnered with organizations and individuals worldwide, is meant to draw attention to the disappearance of species from the planet, in part by using audio and video pieces to highlight what is or, more often, isn't there. We don't often think about the world in terms of what used to be or what is absent, but this piece forces us to confront that and urges action to prevent a world where all the sounds (and sights and smells and ecological contributions) are limited to just a handful of the most common, most opportunistic, or most invasive species.
While it isn't exactly the same, I would say that a similar idea relates to darkness. Darkness isn't actually dark, at least not in the open wilderness (caves are different), but it is important. Light pollution, like sound pollution, separates us from the world around us, concentrating our attention on the ground level experience and reducing our awareness of the greater world and universe around us. There is something about being able to look into a truly dark sky and see to incomprehensible distances that changes one's outlook, I would say for the better, and opens the mind to the existence of things and people beyond the immediate experience. While urban areas will always have light pollution, there is much that can be done to reduce it so that safety concerns are still satisfied but the ugly brown glow blotting out the sky and spreading over the horizon is minimized.
So those are my quick thoughts on sound and light. I know I haven't done them justice but I hope that just by talking about them I can help bring them out of the background, where they are often upstaged by the showier, more breathtaking scenery.
What got me thinking about this topic was a profile I read about a month ago about Davyd Betchkal and other members of the Denali National Park sound capture team. Their goal is to record a month's worth of sound from around the park and despite the remoteness of the location and the fact that they have been at it for six years, they still have only 36 days of audio without combustion engines. Some sites have recorded as many as 78 planes in a 24 hour period. Another captures some kind of motor every 17 minutes. While human activities undoubtedly affect wildlife, it is unclear if there is a minimum level of disturbance that can coexist with a healthy, "natural" ecosystem and soundscape. Part of why it is so difficult to determine is because it is so difficult to record days without disturbance, let alone multiple days at once. It is hard to know what to change when there isn't even a well-defined baseline to use for comparison. Combine that with the inherent uncertainty behind observation (the Observer Effect and the Uncertainty Principle can be particularly pronounced when dealing with sounds and wildlife for obvious reasons) and it can seem like an almost impossible task.
As difficult as the task the Denali recorders have set for themselves may be, it is an important one and when I read about it I immediately was reminded of Maya Lin's beautiful and ambitious, multi-media memorial/exhibit/installation/activism called What is Missing? This piece, at home on the internet but partnered with organizations and individuals worldwide, is meant to draw attention to the disappearance of species from the planet, in part by using audio and video pieces to highlight what is or, more often, isn't there. We don't often think about the world in terms of what used to be or what is absent, but this piece forces us to confront that and urges action to prevent a world where all the sounds (and sights and smells and ecological contributions) are limited to just a handful of the most common, most opportunistic, or most invasive species.
While it isn't exactly the same, I would say that a similar idea relates to darkness. Darkness isn't actually dark, at least not in the open wilderness (caves are different), but it is important. Light pollution, like sound pollution, separates us from the world around us, concentrating our attention on the ground level experience and reducing our awareness of the greater world and universe around us. There is something about being able to look into a truly dark sky and see to incomprehensible distances that changes one's outlook, I would say for the better, and opens the mind to the existence of things and people beyond the immediate experience. While urban areas will always have light pollution, there is much that can be done to reduce it so that safety concerns are still satisfied but the ugly brown glow blotting out the sky and spreading over the horizon is minimized.
So those are my quick thoughts on sound and light. I know I haven't done them justice but I hope that just by talking about them I can help bring them out of the background, where they are often upstaged by the showier, more breathtaking scenery.
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