Environmental Commentary: Rethinking Consumption

I have revived another of the environmental graphics in the "FoxSense" collection that was published 20 years ago. I am reminded that one of the reasons that sustainable options have a hard time gaining widespread acceptance, even though they make logical, intuitive sense, is that following any one of suggestions 1 - 5 would only harm "the economy." At some point we will work to change the economic model so that household sustainability and self-reliance actually contribute to GNP.

Foxsense: Recycling by Fred Montague

From the Gallery: "Stalking Wolf"

"Stalking Wolf" is one of several sold-out print editions.  The original pen-and-ink drawing, made in 1973 when I was a graduate student at Purdue, depicts one of Erich Klinghammer's first wolves at his North American Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana.  Erich had invited me to his facility to obtain photographic reference materials for my drawings.  The wolf, named "Koko" was, in fact, stalking me.  

The edition of 100  photolithographs was issued in 1973, and it sold out in 1983.

"Stalking Wolf", a sold-out print edition by Fred Montague

Environmental Science Classroom: Recommended Reading

Full Planet, Empty Plate: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.  Lester Brown.  2012. W.W. Norton & Co., N.Y. 144 pp. pbk.  ISBN 978-0-393-34415-8

Lester Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute, is one of the great big-picture thinkers and communicators of our time.  As the latest in his Plan B series (Plan B, Plan B 2.0, Plan B 3.0, Plan B 4.0, and World on the Edge), Full Planet, Empty Plate outlines in concise and compelling logic the deteriorating condition of the world's food system.  Chapter 1 opens with the sentence: "The world is in transition from an era of food abundance to one of scarcity."  And in the chapters that follow, Brown outlines the challenges humanity faces in the next few decades with respect to growing food.  

The contents:

1.  Food: The Weak Link

2.  The Ecology of Population Growth

3.  Moving Up the Food Chain

4.  Food or Fuel?

5.  Eroding Soils Darkening Our Future

6.  Peak Water and Food Scarcity

7.  Grain Yields Starting to Plateau

8.  Rising Temperatures, Rising Food Prices

9.  China and the Soybean Challenge

10. The Global Land Rush

11. Can We Prevent a Food Breakdown?

Read Full Planet, Empty Plates and then begin to think of ways of addressing any one of these important issues. The book is available in hard copy or as a free download from the Earth Policy Institute. Or order from your neighborhood book shop.

Gardening: Essays on Ecological Concepts

For the past eight issues of Edible Wasatch magazine I have written a series of essays derived from my book Gardening:  An Ecological Approach.

These short pieces discuss, one-by-one, key ecological concepts and principles that make up the rule book for living on Earth. Of course, they are most applicable in wild places, and they are least well-applied in intensively occupied urban areas (at least as we usually occupy them). A backyard garden, however, in town or in the country, still expresses the principles and still promotes the processes (e.g. energy flow, material cycling, soil formation, carbon sequestration, etc.) that make life possible.  

You may read the following via the "online editions" page at Edible Wasatch.

"Backyard Biodiversity"  Fall 2012  pp. 56-57

"There Are Limits"  Summer 2012  pp. 56-57

"Global Conservation, Backyard-Style"  Spring 2012  pp. 50-51

"The Intimacy of Global Nutrient Cycles"  Winter 2011-2012  pp. 44-45

"Solar-Powered People"  Fall 2011  pp. 44-45

"Soil Matters"  Summer 2011  pp. 44-45

"Ecologically Competent People"  Spring 2011  pp. 44-46

"Diversity and Sustainbility"  Winter 2010-2011  p. 28

From the Gallery: "Backtrack"

My graduate thesis project centered on the ecology of the red fox in north-central Indiana.

I completed this drawing later (1981) and titled it "Backtrack." The image shows a red fox on a small snow-coverd hillock. Traveling downwind, it pauses to determine if a hound or a human is tracking it. The snow-laden breeze, blowing from right to left in the drawing, will bring to the fox the scent of any pursuer.

This edition of 200 signed and numbered photo-lithographs sold out in 1991.

"Backtrack" (red fox), photolithograph by Fred Montague

Wildlife Field Notes: Waterfowl Identification

Here's a useful guide for beginning bird enthusiasts.  Waterfowl, depending on the location, season, and circumstances may occur as individuals or in mixed flocks.  Usually we first see them in flight and at a distance, and species-specific characteristics are not discernible.

The first step in any serious attempt to identify birds is to refer to a field guide in advance and learn what birds to expect in the area for the season.  Next, in the field, we generally try to determine whether the bird we see in flight is, for instance, a duck or a merganser, or a goose or a swan.  Often the major groups of waterfowl can be identified by body shape and flight characteristics.  With patience and further observation, the bird is likely to tell you what species it is.

This graphic is one in a series I developed while teaching in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University (1975-1992).

Environmental Science Classroom: Poems with a Point

The following poems have been approved for use in university environmental science courses.

I have found over my years of teaching that students appreciate a variety of perspectives.  Poets are said to be the sense organs of our species-- often with deep and intuitive understanding of the big picture and the underlying factors associated with complex issues.  They are often able to deliver the lessons more succinctly and memorably than the professors.

The four poems listed below are a few of the ones I have found to be particularly appropriate.  These are not recently published poems, but their themes are even more important and relevant today than when they were written.  I have provided the publication dates for two of them.  

Your assignment:  Read these poems, then begin writing your own.

"The Flight"  1930.  (Rudyard Kipling)-- describes the displacement of wildlife by human disturbance.

"The Purse-Seine"  1937 (Robinson Jeffers)-- describes the vulnerability of urban populations. Consider that today about 54% of the world's 7 billion people live in urban settings, that by 2050 about 74% of the predicted 9.6 billion people will be urban, and that by 2100, 99% (according to the UN) of the expected 10 billion humans on Earth will be urban-dwellers.  

"The Wages of History" (Wendell Berry)-- a humble poem of agricultural land abuse and the challenges that lie ahead.

"For the Children" (Gary Snyder)-- down-to-Earth advice for tomorrow.

Environmental Commentary: Troublesome Linkages

While looking at this environmental graphic from my currently out-of-print 1992 FoxSense, I am struck by several observations.  Despite 20 years of efforts to address the troublesome linkages that are loaded in the "costs" wagon, most of the environmental impacts of industrialized agriculture have remained troublesome.

A few things have changed.  The sense of abundance depicted by the heavily burdened "crop production" wagon is tempered now by recent and regular weather-related crop disasters and by decreasing carryover grain stocks (our global food reserve).  Complicating the situation is a human population increase of almost two billion people (since 1992) and the increasing diversion of food crops (like corn) to biofuels. 

The "low commodity prices" issue on the "costs" wagon has changed dramatically, with grain prices more than doubling in the last few years.  Rising food prices affect the world's poor disproportionately more since they spend 50 -70% of their meager earnings on food, while people in wealthier countries typically spend 5-15% of their income on food.

You draw the cartoon for 20 years hence.

Troublesome Linkages from FoxSense

More New Woodcuts

Two more new botanical woodcuts ("Gamble Oak Leaves" and "Bigtooth Maple Leaves") have been added to my gallery.  Like the "Aspen Leaves" print recently released, and the "Bur Oak Leaves" issued last year, these four related prints make a striking collage when framed individually but hung together.  

Gambel Oak Leaves

Bigtooth Maple Leaves

Like most of the other woodcuts, these are matted 14" by 12" with image sizes 8" x 5.5".  The possibility of hanging groupings of several prints makes the "buy three, receive the fourth free" special offer especially attractive.

Events, Exhibits & Promotions

Art Exhibits & Sales:

Fred will be displaying and selling his drawings, prints, and garden book at the Red Butte Garden "Holiday Open House and Art Fair" on Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. The show hours are 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. both days. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. A portion of the sales benefits programs at Red Butte Garden. Red Butte Garden is located at 300 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Fred will also be displaying and selling his artwork at the 3rd Annual Swaner EcoCenter "Holiday High Altitude Art Show" on Saturday, December 7th (Opening) from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. and then Wednesday, December 12th through Saturday, December 15 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. all four days.  A portion of the sales benefits programs at the Swaner EcoCenter. This event is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served. The EcoCenter is located at 1250 Center Drive (Park City) which is actually in the NewPark area of Kimball Junction.  

Special Wododcut Promotion

When you purchase any three woodcuts in the gallery, you receive a fourth woodcut free! Use the Paypal shopping cart buttons to select and purchase three woodcuts and then notify us with your choice for the fourth.

Special Shipping Rates  

For a limited time, the handling, packing, and shipping rates for artwork and books will be 10% of the item costs. Artwork is generally shipped via UPS or FedEX, and books are mailed USPS media rate with a 7-14 day delivery time.

Nature Art: New Botanical Woodcuts

Fred is currently carving and printing three new woodcuts and working on two new original drawings. One of the woodcuts is "Aspen Leaves."  It will be 8" by 5.5" with a 14" x 12" white mat. The preliminary sketch is shown here. The other two woodcuts are depictions of bigtooth maple leaves and Gambel oak leaves.

View Fred's other woodcuts. Our current promotion:  Buy three woodcut prints and receive a fourth free! 

Aspen leaves • © Fred Montague

sketch for woodcut

Edition size: 88 • status: available

Environmental Commentary: Energy Policy

From my perspective:   In 1992 I published a small book of environmental graphics entitled FoxSense: A View of Humans and Their Environment.  

As I review the contents I find it interesting that so many of the issues included are just as relevant today as they were two decades ago. The graphic shown here is an example from the book.

There is an unintended irony in this 20-year-old cartoon since "deep water" is where we increasingly seek our petroleum.  

The original point of the graphic was to convey that one of the most powerful economic systems on Earth (the U. S.) continues to place such a heavy emphasis on a finite energy source, one that will likely be economically depleted before 2050, especially if the other 82% of humanity in developing countries decides to depend as heavily on petroleum.

This message does not even mention the climate-destabilizing carbon emissions associated with petroleum and other fossil fuel use.