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My Green New Deal, Part 3

3/15/2019

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Say 'Yes' to The Mess

Picture
Paris Lights, Spring 2012 By E.R.Swett
OK. So
I was really
inspired by last week's
Global Student Strikes for Climate.
If the Pope, Paris & thousands of scientists aren't
convincing enough, listen to the kids.
They speak truth.
Picture
Sunrise in Maine, 2014 By E.R.Swett

'I don't want 
your hope. I don't want
you to be hopeful. I want you to panic...
and act as if the house
is on fire."
-Greta Thunberg, World Economic Forum

Picture
Storm in Mexico, 2018 By E.R.Swett
OK Greta.
I'll try. But when
the winds blow and my heart
races, I run for shelter to protect myself and
my children. I think, "my children are
watching, I must stay calm."
Isn't it my job to
​protect?
Picture
Footprints in the Sand, 2010 By E.R.Swett
I think,
though, that you're
asking me to stop protecting by
running away. You're telling me that we,
mothers and fathers across the planet, have to protect
not by seeking shelter from the storm, but
by facing the wind, rain and fear
and calling them what
they are. 
Picture
"Yield" by Roxy Paine. Crystal Bridges Museum, Arkansas. Photo by E.R. Swett
This, 
for example,
is a work of art that
looks like a tree and this is
a tree that looks like
a work of
art.
Picture
Is this a real tree? Which will yield first? Photo by E. R. Swett
My Green 
New Deal Part 1
:
Celebrate FDR's Creativity.
My Green New Deal Part 2: Beware
window dressing. One of these trees is not real.
Do not be deceived
. My Green New
Deal Part 3: Say yes, Greta,
I will embrace the
truth.
Picture
Sunrise in Maine, 2014 Photo By E.R.Swett
But to 
embrace the truth,
I must name it. We have a
problem that frightens me. Those fires
in California and floods in the Midwest are daunting.
Then, I listen to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
and remember that "the only
thing we have to fear
​is fear itself." 
Picture
OK. Here I am. By E.R.Swett, 2015
Got it Greta.
Got it President Roosevelt.
I'm on it.

Picture
A Tree in Bloom, Anytime. By E.R.Swett

"Jazz
improvisors
focus on discovery
in times of stress...They interpret
challenging situations so that
fear does not limit
​choices..."
-Frank Barrett, Yes to the Mess

Picture
Hanover Neighborhood Action Group 4th of July Parade, 2018 Photo By E.R.Swett
I am not
a jazz musician,
but I love the energy that
comes from a group ​of people working
together to find solutions to real problems. With our
Neighborhood Action Group (the NAGs),
we've walked in a parade and 
organized neighborhood
conversations. 
Picture
Hanover Energy Forum "Sneak Peek" 2019 Photo By E.R.Swett
For ongoing
inspiration, I've started
listening to podcasts hosted by women
(it is Women's History month, after all)

who say yes to this mess with
humor, compassion
​and joy.
Picture
Neighborhood Action Group Planning, 2017 Photo By E.R.Swett
Here are three that I currently following:

Mothers of Invention
(With former Irish President Mary Robinson and comedian Maeve Higgins)

No Place Like Home
(Anna Jane Joyner & Mary Anne Hitt; Sponsored by The Sierra Club)
​

Cultivating Place
(
With Jeniffer Jewell - Focus on gardening, but really about the human spirit)
Picture
Big Green Machine & The Parade, 2018 Photo By E.R.Swett
Greta -
This is how we 
express our panic in New
Hampshire. I know we look silly,
but we're listening - - to you and to each
other. Personally, I'm grateful to you for keeping
us honest and 
inspiring us to say 'No'
by saying  'Yes' to
this mess.
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My Green New Deal, Part 2

3/8/2019

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Picture
Vintage 1992 handmade bathroom curtains - - still in use.
Let
the light shine!
It's daylight savings time.
And maybe, just maybe, the snow 
will melt by April and the
morning temperature
will be above
zero.

Picture
Bathroom blinds with a view.
In this
Green New Deal, Part 2,
I get real about our energy conservation
at home. And since we're talking
about light, I thought I'd
explore windows.
Fun, right?
Picture
Cheap shade in the kid's bathroom.
We have lots
of them - 67 in fact -
that are essential sources of
light and stunning ways to frame
views of our garden and Vermont. But
in terms of energy, even our 15
year old double-paned 
'new' windows
leak heat.
Picture
The 'translucent' kitchen shimmering shade.
Over the years,
we have slowly added
insulated and other shades to
help keep the house warm in winter
and cool in summer. Some are even color
coordinated, while others are thin,
cheap roll-ups. We even 
have plastic in the
​livingroom...

Picture
High tech insulating shades with custom color to match the room.
Clearly, we
have a hodge-podge.
Of course, my favorites are the
​ones I made when first married in 1992 and
the re-used ones from my grandmother's house that
I found in her attic when she died and then
hung in our living room a decade
ago - - just to try
​the colors...
Picture
Gram's old curtains, hung with thumb tacks and a ribbon.
This week
I've been thinking
about  the idea of 'window
dressing
,' of giving a superficial, but
misleading impression. Most of the 1930's New
Deal murals
I studied in college (see last week's blog
​post, My Green New Deal, Part 1) were colorful
celebrations of the American Dream,
a dream that for millions of
people at that time
was a broken
​promise. 
Picture
These stayed down till 10am when the outside temperature finally reached 15 degrees.
Sometimes, 
I feel surrounded by 
broken promises - - The dream
of a house, but no one tells you how much
money it takes to maintain it; The dream of filling the
house with things you need and love, but no advertisement
reveals the true cost and impact of those objects.
So now we have ten years to adapt to
the realities caused by our
​own behavior...
Picture
High tech insulating shades that keep things warm in winter and cool in summer.
Ok. That is way
too heavy and way too
guilt-ridden for my tastes. So
let's go back to light, color, texture
and the glorious convergence of creativity
and climate action. I love this time of year. It's still
cold and inside projects still beckon, like
making the curtains in my studio
warmer by sewing old linen
napkins onto them... 
Picture
Plastic on a window or cool light, texture and tone?
So I'm
excited about 
our family's Green New
Deal.  We have a decade to make
the rest of our 67 windows as energy efficient
as they can be.  To achieve that goal, we will take stock
of what needs to be done, prioritize and make a
plan.  For now, though, I will continue to
appreciate this crazy mix of window
'dressings' that 
continue to
keep us warm and 
I will
keep noticing 
the
afternoon
play of
​light.
Picture
Ikea curtains in my studio - ready for adaptation.
Explore Energy at Home Playbook
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My Green New Deal, Part 1

2/28/2019

2 Comments

 
Picture
Trainwork USA, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett
What happens
when you clean out your studio
and come upon a project that is more than 30 years old?
Picture
By the tracks, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett
There are black and
​white prints in carefully labeled 
files,
Picture
Scrapbook images are so different from reality outside, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
two scrapbooks with detailed annotations,
Picture
32 year old slides in the artist's studio, 2019 by Evelyn R. Swett
and two binders full of color slides.
Picture
Lovers on a summer adventure, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
More importantly,
what happens when that project
contains raw material that relates directly to one
of the hottest topics in Washington DC?
Picture
Waiting in Kansas City, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
No, I'm not talking
about the impact or reality of an aging
​population or racism
​in our country.
Picture
Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
I'm talking about
The Green New Deal and
all the controversy it is inspiring.
Picture
The map. Two months, 14 cities. Lots of photographs.
It turns out,
that in 1987, at the age of 21,
I traveled around  the United States
on Amtrak, stayed with alumni ​from my college in twelve
​different cities, and researched murals painted
during the Great Depression in Post
Offices ​and other public
​buildings.
Picture
Slides, Farmersville, TX, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
The highlight was
visiting the small town of Farmersville, Texas,
photographing the mural in the post office and then, a few days
later, meeting the artist, Jerry Bywaters,
​who created that work.
Picture
Scrapbook page. Jerry Bywaters & sketches from a New Deal Art Project, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
The New Deal
is about as good as it gets
when it comes to the convergence of
creativity and climate
action.

Picture
All Aboard Amtrak - Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
FDR's programs 
were comprehensive, universal
and profoundly innovative. They impacted every
aspect of our country's infrastructure and re-inspired hope
for millions in the dream that once was
​once America.

Picture
Boyscouts, middle of the night in Kansas City, MO, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
Only by
getting out of the
world I knew, was I able to see the
great promise of FDR's vision. At the same time,
I witnessed the reality that fifty years
later, that promise remained
elusive for many,
Picture
Street corner murals, somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
So here I am.
It's 8:30 on a Saturday night.
Calvin, the dog, is asleep at my feet and I am in
heaven, remembering a very long
Saturday night in the
summer of
​1987.

Picture
The waiting room, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
I was changing
trains in Kansas City. The 
Southwest Chief
was six hours late.
There were no cell phones or laptop computers,
so we got to know each other in that pre-digital waiting-room
kind of way. We 
were more concerned for the
well-being of those involved in the
accident on the track, than
we were with being
​late.
Picture
Amtrak Stationmaster, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett
Amtrak employees
provided  hats for the kids. I got
out my camera and made friends. 
These places,
people and works of public art I was so
inspired by thirty-two years ago
are why I care so
​much.
Picture
Gorgeous Compost, 8 Black & White, by Evelyn R. Swett
 When I say
that compost is like America,
I mean it. We are nothing without our diversity,
perseverance, and patience. We are also nothing without our audacity.
What the hell? Why not give it a try?
​A Green New Deal ​might
be just be what
we ​need.
Picture
Evelyn R. Swett, 1987
What happens
when I discover a project from
decades ago and my husband is out of town
​and I'm feeling reflective?
A lot, I guess.


To learn more, check out The Living New Deal Project, which documents and celebrates New Deal
Public Art projects and also provides a helpful ​connection to the Green New Deal.
2 Comments
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    Evelyn R. Swett celebrates
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    compost re-imagined
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Evelyn R Swett Photography
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**Let's ReFrame is a weekly newsletter that hopefully inspires joy & new ways of being.
It will include links to recent blog posts, updates about my work, and, best of all, inspirational action prompts
​for you to explore your creativity and passion for the world you love. 
  • By Degrees
  • Portfolio
    • Compost Compositions
    • Reframing the Narrative
  • Join Me!
    • Upcoming Events
    • EcoChallenges
    • Let's Work Together >
      • Compost Conversations
      • Portraits
  • Store
  • About
    • Profits for the Planet