Category: Green New Deal

My Green New Deal, Part 3

3/15/2019

Say 'Yes' to The Mess

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.

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

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?

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.

"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.

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.

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."

OK. Here I am. By E.R.Swett, 2015

Got it Greta.
Got it President Roosevelt.
I'm on it.

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

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.

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.

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)

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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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.

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?

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.

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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.

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

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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?

By the tracks, 1987 By Evelyn R. Swett

There are black and
white prints in carefully labeled files,

Scrapbook images are so different from reality outside, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

two scrapbooks with detailed annotations,

32 year old slides in the artist's studio, 2019 by Evelyn R. Swett

and two binders full of color slides.

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?

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.

Somewhere America, 1987 by Evelyn R. Swett

I'm talking about
The Green New Deal and
all the controversy it is inspiring.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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My Green New Deal, Part 3

Say 'Yes' to The Mess

'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

"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

My Green New Deal, Part 2

My Green New Deal, Part 1

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Let's ReFrame!

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My Green New Deal, Part 3

Say 'Yes' to The Mess

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

"Jazzimprovisorsfocus on discoveryin times of stress...They interpretchallenging situations so thatfear does not limit​choices..."-Frank Barrett, Yes to the Mess

My Green New Deal, Part 2

My Green New Deal, Part 1

Subscribe to​Let's ReFrame!

Archives

Categories

'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

"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

Subscribe to
Let's ReFrame!