"Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue"

James Hansen in front of Kayford Mountain, a mountaintop removal mine site

A few weeks ago a friend and photographer J. Henry Fair sent me a link to a photo essay that will be in his new book The Day After Tomorrow: Images Of Our Earth In Crisis.  The pictures were of a scientist I first met when I was a graduate student, Dr. James Hansen.  Jim, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies and one of the leading climate scientists of our age, had recently driven with Henry to Kayford Mountain in West Virginia to protest the scourge of mountaintop removal coal mining.  Indeed, over the last five years Jim has been crisscrossing the globe educating people about the perils of global warming due to unchecked fossil fuel consumption.  These activities have included testifying on behalf of citizen's groups suing large corporations, writing personal letters to many of the world's leaders in hopes of influencing their energy policies and, on occasion, getting arrested during peaceful protests.  In short, he is an activist, a label he proudly embraces, even in the face of much head-shaking, even scorn, from some of his fellow scientists. 

Like Hansen, William Morris excelled at and became a world leader in his chosen profession (in his case Arts and Crafts, later referred to by him as "ministering to the swinish luxury of the rich").  And, by the second half of his adult life, he also had become an activist, founding the British socialist party, fighting for worker's rights, and laying the foundation for today's "green" movement.  No doubt many of his upper-class family and friends likewise shook their heads in disbelief and dismay.

Shuttered stores at night in Whitesville, WV

If you are the least bit curious about global warming and whether you need to worry about it, I recommend you read Hansen's engaging two page essay Activist (follow this link then look for the line beginning with "Aug. 25, 2010").  When you find the "Hypocrisy" quote about half way through you will begin to understand the full might of the short-term political and economic status quo when it comes to the energy industry.  Not all of us are cut out to be activists but we can all be part of an educated citizenry.

Finally, the coal miners of West Virginia understandably advocate strongly for their jobs and livelihood.  In "Art and Socialism", a talk given by William Morris in 1884, he asks "What are the necessaries for a good citizen?  First, honourable and fitting work.  The second necessity is decency of surroundings, including:

1) good lodging,
2) ample space,
3) general order and beauty.

He goes on to elaborate on these three requirements including, for the third, to say "Order and beauty means that not only our houses must be stoutly and properly built, but also that they be ornamented duly; that the fields be not only left for cultivation, but also that they be not spoilt by it any more than a garden is spoilt; no one for instance to be allowed to cut down, for mere profit, trees whose loss would spoil a landscape; neither on any pretext should people be allowed to darken the daylight with smoke, to befoul rivers, or to degrade any spot of earth with squalid litter and brutal wasteful disorder."

Storefront at night in Whitesville, WV

I can't help but think that if Morris was alive today he also would be in these sad bleak towns of West Virginia, with Hansen and Fair, working to establish new economic models based on craft and agriculture.

James Hansen in front of Marsh Fork Elementary School, which is adjacent to a Massey Coal processing plant.

Thank you Henry for letting me share some of your very moving photographs.  Looking forward to the book!

The Ultimate in Historic Preservation

I wonder if William Morris, the founder of the modern historic preservation movement, would have enjoyed a visit to the famous Gubbio Section in Italy.  I know you are probably wondering, what the heck is that?  It is an outcrop of rock (see pic below) that preserves a record of deep time, a sequence that somehow escaped being eroded, subducted, buried, washed away, blasted to smithereens, etc.  Here in a deep gorge in the mountains near the medieval town of Gubbio, one finds the beautifully preserved boundary between the Cretaceous Period, the time of the dinosaurs, and the Tertiary Period, the time of mammals rise to dominance (we rule!).

 It is at this famous outcrop that Walter Alverez, Jan Smit, and their colleagues found the telltale evidence for the asteroid impact that slammed into the Earth 65 million years ago bringing with it years of darkness, firestorms, a collapse of the food chain, and the demise of the dinosaurs that had roamed the Earth as the largest vertebrates for over 160 (!) million years.  I first learned of the asteroid extinction hypothesis as an undergraduate, the year it was proposed --- it was considered a profoundly outlandish idea at the time.  Probably the only reason anyone paid any attention at all to it was that it was authored by a Nobel Prize winning physicist, Luis Alvarez, geologist Walter's father.  Thirty years later the hypothesis is widely, although not universally, accepted within the scientific community (as a comparison, I would say there is more scientific consensus on the reality of anthropogenic global warming).

The reason the boundary layer looks like a slanted hole (the rock layers are tilted) is that for decades geologists and others have been digging further and further into the cliff to get samples of the extinction layer.  The guy in the lime shirt is Jan Smit, one of the original proposers of the asteroid impact hypothesis.

 Even though it is the most famous outcrop in the world, this is still really only a place to set a geologist's or naturalist's heart aflutter.  But anyone would appreciate Ristorante Bottaccione, located a few hundred meters down the road.  Here we (about 70 of us!) had a fabulous multi-course lunch on a shaded outdoor patio with many bottles of wine.  We pored over the two Gubbio guest books that have been kept by the restaurant since the first one was started by Walter Alverez in 1976 (he and his colleagues published the hypothesis in 1980 after discovering extraterrestrial iridium in the boundary layer).  A record of the many geologists and Earth Science groups that have visited the outcrop over the years, these books are filled with names of scientists, famous and otherwise, along with their doodles, reflections, comments, etc.  A few years back a museum in France scanned them in their entirety as an epistemological record of the evolution of the asteroid impact hypothesis.  Like my visit to Red House, it was a great feeling to finally visit this amazing place.

The first page of the first logbook...Walter Alvarez at top of list.

Red House Hallways....Welcome

Given that I have always wanted to see much more detail about Red House than I've been able to find in books or on-line, I am going to post lots of pictures of the interior.  Hopefully you won't find them all too boring!  Here are a set focusing on the incredible hallways of this house....Above is the front hallway with the fabulously painted door (detail below and also here) and bench.

This door makes me want to rush home and pick up a paintbrush....

To the right of the door is this easily constructed "boot closet".  The detail below shows the castle turret motif that is central to the stairwell (next post).  This would be so easy to do!

Standing facing the front door one would have this side hallway on your right.  The glass doors are inscribed with the signatures of William Morris's visitors to Red House.  What a great idea!

The back door is also painted.....

And to the right of this door are beautiful hand-painted stained glass windows which I believe were done by Edward Burne-Jones.

Wheel of Fortune modeled by Jane Morris....

another window modeled by Lizzie Siddal....

The third hallway is the kitchen wing....
 And here is another beautiful window painted with Morris's motto, Si je puis, or If I can.

 A plan of house I found on the web.....

Pilgrimage to Red House

Oh hallowed ground!

From the National Trust website:  "The only house commissioned, created and lived in by William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts movement, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance. When it was completed in 1860, it was described by Edward Burne-Jones as 'the beautifullest place on earth'. Only recently acquired by the Trust, the house is not fully furnished, but the original features and furniture by Morris and Philip Webb, stained glass and paintings by Burne-Jones, the bold architecture and a garden designed to 'clothe the house', add up to a fascinating and rewarding place to visit."

a counter-clockwise walk around house......

 northside

 the kitchen garden

The British are such masters of the beautiful garden.  Here the most basic raised beds are bordered by simple sticks---nothing fancy but quite easy and beautiful (although I'm left with the nagging thought that if I lined my garden beds with sticks it would just look like I hadn't done my fall clean-up yet.....need that magic British touch!)

Also in the garden, attached to the back of the house, is the site of the old greenhouse that was torn down and replaced by bomb shelters (above) during WW2.  These themselves are now quite rare and being preserved for posterity by the National Trust.

This bench alcove is through the archway you see two pics above.  Again, it is such a simple design you could easily and inexpensively do something similar anywhere you had an alcove.  A plank bench rests on bricks and the tile back and sides are bordered by a piece of molding that was probably added last.  Morris made the tile and they are quite faded, apparently because he used improper glazing.

Tomorrow the interior....even more fabulous!

Brunel and the Industrial Revolution

Big Red Propeller (1843), Isambad Kingdom Brunel

Hel's comment on how you can't understand the Industrial Revolution without understanding Brunel got me thinking about what Morris must have thought of Brunel.  To Morris, Brunel must have been an anathema, an agent of the Revolution (and not the right one) relentlessly driving forward the mechanization and industrialization of England.  Brunel's red propeller reminded me of this painting of artist David Mabb (from a previous post) which captures the irony of Morris's antipathy toward the very forces of industrialization that not only allowed his designs to be mass produced but also greatly expanded the upper class able to afford his luxury goods.

Big Red Propeller (2001), David Mabb

The SS Great Britain, gears all still working, moving, turning....

"bridge to engine room"....check out that awesome speaking tube!

ship's "galley" -- a perfect work triangle

first class family cabin with fake well-behaved children

first class dining room

steerage

SS United States -- Saved from the Scrapyard!!!

This is me and my sibs sailing to Europe in 1968 on the fastest ocean liner of all time, the SS United States.  The SS United States was a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 both to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record for the U.S. (which it did on her maiden voyage) and to serve as an easily convertible troop carrier if war broke out with Russia (Cold War).  The SS United States operated continuously in trans-Atlantic passenger service until 1969 when she went to the shipyard for overhaul and never returned to service.  Airline travel had become cheaper and faster.  Returning from Europe in the summer of 1969, we were among the last passengers ever to sail on this beauty.

Since 1996, the SS United States has been docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and just this past March narrowly escaped the scrapyard, due primarily to the more than twenty year effort of the SS United States Conservancy.   This national nonprofit organization has fought to preserve America’s national and legendary flagship while advocating for a dignified future for this historic ship.  A few days ago they announced the exciting news that Philadelphia philanthropist H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest has pledged up to $5.8 million to the Conservancy, funds that "will be used to purchase the vessel from its current owner, Norwegian Cruise Line/Genting Hong Kong and maintain the ship in its current berth for up to 20 months while redevelopment plans are solidified." 

On her maiden voyage, the SS United States broke the record for fastest trans-Atlantic crossing by a passenger liner, capturing the "Blue Riband", going from New York Harbor to Cornwall, UK, in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots (40.96 mph; our trip took five days).   On her return voyage she broke the west-bound record, a speed record she still holds. 

From wikipedia:

"She is widely considered the greatest ocean liner ever built. She was also a secret weapon during the Cold War, able to be converted to a troop ship capable of carrying an army division 10,000 miles without refueling or replenishment. The ship became an icon of her era, transporting four American presidents and other heads of state, military and business leaders, and countless celebrities. She also brought many immigrants to America."  

I can still remember vividly my trips on the liner---the movies, the bingo games, the pool, the fancy dinner tables, everybody getting sea-sick as we skirted a huge storm, walking up and down the gangplanks, arriving in Le Harve and New York, peering into the first class sections of the ship!  When I get on a plane for Europe later today, with the cramped seats and unappetizing food, I will think back with nostalgia on my first European adventure, happy knowing I might get another chance to walk around this great ship someday soon! 

tied up in Philly...

today....(Photo by Patrick Murphy)