RESEARCH-RELATED: 

 

💡I am looking forward to presenting at the International Conference on Environmental Mindfulness in Rome in September.

Currently thinking about this study on Environmental Behavior.

Title: Does Mindfulness Mediate the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Pro-Environmental Behaviors? (2024) 

SPOILER: Yes, but there are gender differences.

 

💡(Re)reading the anthopological perspective of Tim Ingold. (I have always loved his ¨wayfarer¨ concept and his famous quote: ¨Anthropology is philosophy with the people in.¨) 

 

💡Reading recent environmental psychology papers, including some intriguing research by Dr. Eleanor Ratcliffe, who asks, ¨How do environments help people recover, restore, and flourish?¨  

 

💡Revisiting the decades-old ideas of Rachel & Stephen Kaplan´s Attention Restoration Theory (ART) regarding environments that restore directed attention, and some updated perspectives on it.

 

💡Pondering the Radical Attention Movement and their concepts of human fracking, attention sanctuaries, cognitive liberty, and attention activism to ¨re-enchant a distracted world¨...YES. 

 

READING: 

 

💡Richard Powers´ sweeping and wonder-full novel, Playground

I loved his book, The Overstory, about forests. This one makes an absolute star of our oceans.

This NPR podcast interview of Powers by Ari Shapiro is excellent.

 

💡The free online courses and resources available on All Things Urban.

I just missed the first community meet-up here in Amsterdam, but look forward to getting involved and participating in the next one!

 

💡Celebrating this post by group-hang guru Priya Parker called 50 Ways To Gather Without Breaking the Bank.

Can´t wait for her forthcoming book, The Art of Fighting, about how to practice disagreeing with each other in low-stakes ways. 

 

💡 The themed-reading list on the Rebel Library website offers both fiction and non-fiction in a range of genres related to our predicament. I have been perusing the categories to find the books I have missed.

 

💡This thoughtful Substack post by Dr. Jean Renouf titled Urban Collapse: What Cities Teach Us When Systems Fail. I especially appreciate the inclusion of Sarajevo and the unflagging determination of the people to meet in basements to continue with education, music, and theater despite the very real risk of being hit by snipers.

 

💡One of the best things about speaking at the World Adaptation Forum in Budapest in April was swapping asides during the presentations as I sat next to triple-scientist, fabulous gardener, and provocatively insightful author George Tsakraklides. 

I feel like I am sitting next to him again as I read his latest book, The Biology of Collapse: Lessons From Nature On Growth, Power, Extinction, and Rebirth. It is not for those brand new to the concept of collapse, but what a riveting and unblinking assessment! Written in a science-informed but conversational and delightfully George-y voice. Brilliant!

 

💡 Next up: The Power of Nature: Archaeology and Human-Environmental Dynamics, edited by Monica L. Smith. 

 

WATCHING/VIEWING:

 

💡Christopher Nolan's masterful film, The Odyssey. The final two sentences keep coming back to me:  "Civilization will rise again. Our mistakes will be forgotten."

 

💡This video from Plantist.org shook me by the shoulders. 

 

💡Loved this fabulous photo exhibition called Can Love Be A Photograph: 40 years of Inez & Vinoodh at Kunstmuseum in Den Hag (The Hague). This major restrospective celebrates the 40-year career of legendary Dutch-borh photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. 

Featuring a veritable who´s who of cultural subjects, from models, actors, and rock stars to authors, designers, and thought leaders. Brilliant, outrageous, and touching.

 

💡Spent a few days in Groningen, including the wondrous (big oil and gas-funded) 10-storey tower that is Forum, a media center/museum space/movie theater/co-working space and more, looming from the center of the lovely city. My grandson especially loved the interactive history of animation displays at Story World, and I was surprised by how much I learned about Marilyn Monroe in the excellent exhibition about her life.

Examples: Because her mother was schizophrenic, she lived in an orphanage as a child. She recalled the first time someone touched her with affection...at the age of 8.  She worked out with weights, alone and using a routine she designed, long before it was accepted for women to work out at all. And she was serious about her acting, moving to New York in order to study with the famous acting coach, Lee Strasberg.

 

💡I was mesmerized by this exhibition of the work of the notoriously rebellious Dutch painter Jan Cremer at the Museum de Fundatie in the utterly charming small city of Zwolle, Netherlands (an hour by train from Amsterdam). I loved reading his bodacious claims, seeing into his quirky creative process, and being delighted by the surprisingly playful pieces (Tulips was my favorite) among the darker, more brooding examples of his work.

 

There is more, but that gives you a general idea of what´s swirling in my brain. 😊

What´s going on in yours?  

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