overpopulation, the effects in images

Trash wave - Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya catches a wave in a remote but garbage-covered bay on Java, Indonesia, the world’s most populated island 

'Overdevelopment, overpopulation, overshoot' is a project by a group of talented and enrivonmentally-oriented people who decided that the best way to show awareness of the great problem that is overpopulation and its consumption was through photography.

You know me, I am a bugger for great pictures. I also have got a few very strong feelings about a few causes, being them environmental or social. Although, for the sake of good and impartial blogging, and without any intention to take any sort of political view (much less cram into you a fully formed opinion), please take a look at these wonders as they are.

Feedlot - Industrial livestock production in Brazil

Oil wells - Depleting oil fields as seen at the Kern River Oil Field in California

Waves of humanity - Sprawling Mexico City rolls across the landscape 

Greenhouses grow greenhouses - As far as the eye can see, greenhouses cover the landscape in Almeria, Spain

Hill-side slum - Slum-dwelling residents of Port-au-Prince, Haiti 

British Columbia clear-cut - Sometimes called the Brazil of the North, clear-cut logging on Vancouver Island

  

To get more information about this project and to order the book just follow the link (here).

leo tolstoy... quotes

via :: the art of hard lettering

'In the name of God, 

stop a moment,

cease your work,

look around you.'

'The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.'

'Everyone thinks of changing the world, 

but no one thinks of changing himself.'

'He stepped down,

trying not to look long at her,

as if she were the sun, yet

he saw her like the sun,

even without looking.'

'Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.'

'Only people who are capable of loving strongly

can also suffer great sorrow, 

but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract

their grief and heals them.'

"Rest. Nature. Books. Music. Such is my idea of happiness."

'He felt now that he was

not simply close to her,

but he did not know

where he ended and she began.'

“I’ve always loved you, and when you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.” 



“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.” 

New Year's Resolutions

The time of year is prone to the resolution - promises we make ourselves on ways to improve our lives a little this year better than it was last year.

I no longer make the usual ‘more exercise’, ‘cut bad habits’, ‘eat, drink, do, think healthier’… well, at my age I suppose I know now those will fall on empty promises by mid-February… besides, I should also know better that if these are with intent I should keep to them all year long and not just realise them in January.

image source

So this year I will go for simple changes, easy to stick with AND small enough to actually make a big impact!

So these are the main two ones… hmm, actually, to be honest they were originally three and nr.3 was to blog only once or twice {at most} a day… but, my friends, as you know, I need my blog more than it needs me, and I can’t really cut something that makes me happy, can I?… that’s the whole point of the resolution, right?!

So number one: Draw More.

This will be the hardest {maybe?} as I don’t know how to fit it in my day but I will do my upmost to draw more, which is something I love to do {and really need to keep practicing – as it’s one of those where practice makes perfect!}

The second is to: Read More.

I love reading, I absolutely do! And I have a vast collection of never-read books in my bookcase {and an even vaster collection noted down on a pad!} But unfortunately lately I found myself not reading at all due to lack of time.

Would you believe if I told you that I have been reading ONE single book the whole of last year? Yes, 2011 was solely dedicated to Perfume by Patrick Suskind. And, it’s still dragging into 2012 as I’m only 2 thirds down. Maybe because I haven’t enjoyed it as much as I should {do you also find it overrated?}, maybe I left it too long to read it – I’m sure I would love it at 17. Whatever the reason, it has just been dragging, full stop.

{I could also just put it to one side, you may suggest, but I can’t do ‘quit’… unfortunately}

So my plan is to finish it a.s.a.p. and start with my lovely, very welcome and soul feeding little bundle for 2012.

If you want to know, here they are:

one. One Day by David Nicholls
two. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
three. Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann
four. Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
five. 2666 by Roberto Bolãno
six. Viagem a Portugal {Journey to Portugal} by José Saramago
seven. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen


Only seven books you say? Well, if I read only a FULL ONE it'll be more than I did last year already!

So what about you, what are YOUR 2012 resolutions?

If you have read any of these books, or are planning to read them this year too {or any others} then leave some love/leave your comments.