The Gift of a “Green” Arts & Crafts Learning Vacation: Year-round U.S. Pottery & Glass-Making Workshops Inspired by Nature’s Best!

Looking for a unique gift this holiday season? How about a pottery vacation at a farmhouse retreat in the Green Mountains of Vermont or at an exclusive art village tucked within the deep canyon recesses of southern Utah? Indeed, why not take your creative “do-it-yourself-at-home” arts and crafts talents this Christmas to a higher level? And spread the seasonal joy of your artistic angel wings by enrolling in the best glass-making school in America next summer? One set against the awe-inspiring Cascade Mountains of Washington state!

Yes, this year – brighten your holiday season with a “green” arts and crafts learning vacation. Below are descriptions of some of the best pottery and glass-making workshop settings in the USA. See if you can guess their unique locations.

1-Set in the Ohio River Valley next to world class golf courses, the “Oglebay Institute” features glassblowing shows, demonstrations, workshops and classes in its “Glass Museum” – one of six facilities that offers cultural tours and educational programs in the arts, nature, and history. Classes include making charms, paperweights, and hearts. Note: The “Sweeney Punch Bowl”, the largest piece of cut glass in the world is housed here. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

2- Set on a majestic island and nestled within 40 acres of quiet forest on a cliff overlooking Jericho Bay in the Atlantic Ocean, this internationally renown school – the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts – offers studio-based arts and crafts workshops ranging from beginners to advanced professionals. In addition, to glass-making and ceramics classes, there are weaving, quilting, woodworking, blacksmithing, and drawing and painting classes. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

3- Set amongst the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, the Penland School of Crafts offers a wide range of workshops in glass, clay, iron, wood, metals, drawing, photography, and textiles as well as a three-year resident artists program. Classes range from one week to two weeks to eight weeks in duration during the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

4- Set within the countryside of the Mad River Valley and tucked away between two legendary mountain resorts – Sugarbush and Mad River Glen – the quaint Wilder Farm Inn Bed and Breakfast is also home to “The Naked Potter Studio and Gallery”, a full-service studio of pottery classes and workshops where guests at the inn can get lessons on the unglazed method of firing ‘raku’ pots. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

5- Surrounded by beautiful red sandstone cliffs, the Coyote Gulch Art Village is an arts-oriented desert community of fine art shops, galleries, artist studios, and sustainable housing serving as both an art center for teaching pottery, photography, and painting classes and as a recreational retreat filled with spa services, hiking and biking trails, yoga and equestrian classes, and fine patio dining. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

6- Set amidst the dome-shaped Adirondack Mountains, in the southern Adirondack Park of over 6 million acres of protected land, the Adirondack Folk School “is the only school of its kind in the country dedicated to teaching the arts, crafts and culture of this unique Adirondack region”. Its year-round classes of 200+ range from half-day sessions to full week-long courses. The variety of classes is simply dazzling and include fly tying, jewelry making, organic gardening, papermaking, birch bark basketry, marquetry, floral arts, fiber arts, needlecraft arts, beadwork, blacksmithing, tinsmithing, woodworking, rug hooking and braiding, chair building and caning, soap making, paddle making, and pottery. The school itself is housed in an historic building that has been recycled thru the decades from its beginnings in the 1930’s as a lodge, then an elementary school in the 40’s and 50’s and then a town hall. Behind the school between the woods and the Hudson River is an outdoor amphitheater and tables for outdoor classes. Gift certificates are available and make great presents. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

7- Set just a few minutes away from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a 14-acre wooded hillside, the 100-year-old Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts offers students a wide range of weekend workshops and one to two week courses for the beginner to the advanced artist from March through November. Taught by nationally and internationally renown instructors in professionally equipped studios, classes are offered in glass-making, ceramics, metals, woodturning, woodworking, painting, drawing, books and paper as well as photography and mixed media. Scholarships are in place that cover 50% to 100% of workshop fees, housing, and meals. Along with the school’s five galleries, the Artist Outfitters Store supplies students on campus and artists in the community year-round with craft materials, tools, and art-related books as well as a selection of artwork from past Artists-in-Residence. In addition to acting as a cultural education center in the surrounding community, the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is home to a host of annual art conferences and symposia. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

8- Founded in 1971 and set on 54 acres in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains on a former tree farm with views of Puget Sound, the Pilchuck Glass School is the premier glass art education center in the world! Each year a series of courses in a variety of glass-working processes are offered to artists of all skill levels from May thru September. Workshops include glass blowing, hot-glass sculpting, sandcasting, kiln casting, fusing, coldworking, flameworking, glass painting, mixed-media sculpture, neon, painting with enamels and stained glass. Studio buildings, cabins, cottages, and school store, library, dormitory, and dining hall are all made of native materials in the Pacific Northwest architectural style. Scholarship residencies for both emerging and established artists are given during the Spring and Fall. NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

9- Set in a valley surrounded by the eastern Ozark Mountains, the Ozark Folk Center is a nationally renown showpiece of living Ozark heritage featuring American folk music and workshops in pioneer crafts and herb gardening. Classes include pottery, corn shuckery (creating artwork with corn shucks), gunsmithing, harness weaving, broom making, mandolin making, reed basket making, soapmaking, knifemaking, glass beadmaking, blacksmithing, and tinsmithing. Musical events and daily concerts offer the old-time sounds of mandolins, banjos, fiddles, dulcimers, and autoharps whilst the surrounding landscape provides special hiking and biking trails and cavern tours.  NAME THE LOCATION – CITY AND STATE.

Answers: (1) Wheeling, West Virginia (2) Deer Isle, Maine (3) Spruce Pine, North Carolina (4) Waitsfield, Vermont (5) Ivins, Utah (6) Lake Luzerne, New York (7) Gatlinburg, Tennessee (8) Stanwood, Washington  (9) Mountain View, Arkansas

A Tribute to Nature – Remembering Britain’s Romantic Era Poets & New England’s Fireside Poets!

From 1790 to 1830, six British poets – Blake, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Shelly, Wordsworth – were busy shaping a movement known as “Romanticism” that elevated “nature” to its most poetic splendor .   Meanwhile across the pond in New England, from 1800 to 1865 five ‘fireside’ poets – Bryant, Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier – (also known as the ‘schoolroom’ poets) – were developing the same kind of poetry but in a way which made their body of work easy to memorize and recite at school and at home.   See how well you can match their nature-themed verses (V1 thru V11) with the appropriate authors and titles (A thru K).

AUTHOR & TITLE

A. William Wordsworth (I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud)

B. James Russell Lowell (The First Snowfall)

C. Percy Bysshe Shelly (Ode to a Skylark)

D. William Cullen Bryant (The Planting of the Apple-Tree)

E. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Frost at Midnight)

F. John Greenleaf Whittier (Snow-Bound)

G. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (The Last Leaf)

H. Lord Byron (Adieu, Adieu! My Native Shore)

I.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (The Song of Hiawatha)

J. John Keats (A Draught of Sunshine)

K. William Blake (Ah Sunflower)

NATURE-THEMED VERSES

(V1) The Frost performs its secret ministry, Unhelped by any wind. The owlet’s cry Came loud–and hark, again! loud as before. The inmates of my cottage, all at rest….

(V2) Adieu, adieu! my native shore  Fades o’ver the waters blue;  The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,  And shrieks the wild sea-mew….

(V3) And if I should live to be The last leaf upon the tree In the spring, Let them smile, as I do now, At the old forsaken bough Where I cling….

(V4) Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore ermine too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm-tree Was ridged inch deep with pearl….

(V5) Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveller’s journey is done….

(V6) I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils….

(V7) By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis….

(V8) Hence Burgundy, Claret, and Port, Away with old Hock and madeira, Too earthly ye are for my sport; There’s a beverage brighter and clearer. Instead of a piriful rummer, My wine overbrims a whole summer; My bowl is the sky, And I drink at my eye….

(V9) What plant we in this apple-tree! Fruits that shall swell in sunny June, And redden in the August noon, And drop, when gentle airs come by, That fan the blue September sky, While children come, with cries of glee, And seek them where the fragrant grass Betrays their bed to those who pass, At the foot of the apple-tree….

(V10) As zigzag wavering to and fro Crossed and recrossed the wingéd snow: And ere the early bedtime came The white drift piled the window-frame, And through the glass the clothes-line posts Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts….

(V11) Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest, Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest….

Answers:

‘A’:Wordsworth (I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud)-V6

‘B’:Lowell (The First Snowfall)-V4

‘C’:Shelly (Ode to a Skylark)-V11

‘D’:Bryant (The Planting of the Apple-Tree)-V9

‘E’:Coleridge (Frost at Midnight)-V1

‘F’:Whittier (Snow-Bound)-V10

‘G’:Holmes Sr. (The Last Leaf)-V3

‘H’:Byron (Adieu, Adieu! My Native Shore)-V2

‘I’:Longfellow (The Song of Hiawatha)-V7

‘J’:Keats (A Draught of Sunshine)-V8

‘K’:Blake (Ah Sunflower)-V5

Take A Walk On The Wild Side This Year – With Some of The Coolest Eco-Art Destinations in the World for Travelers and Artists Alike!

If you want an authentic travel experience filled with novel art ideas, products, resources, and opportunities that raises your environmental and cultural awareness to a heightened level of thinking and expressiveness – Take a Walk on the Wild Side This Year! – and Check Out Anyone of These Cool Eco-Art Destinations – and Who Knows You May Find An Eco-Inspiration of Your Own Making!

1-Cancun’s Underwater Art Museum– Just off Mexico’s eastern coastline in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc lies the world’s largest underwater sculpture park – a work-in-progress by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor – who is creating a submerged art gallery made of a series of specialized cement sculptures i.e. ‘The Collector’, ‘The Silent Evolution’, ‘The Archive of Lost Dreams’, ‘The Gardener of Hope’ and ‘Man on Fire’ that have been designed to form artificial reef structures, encourage coral growth, attract marine life (as well as scuba divers and snorkelers), and raise awareness about ocean health. Check out his www.underwatersculpture.com.

2-Western Canada’s Thunderbird Park & The Royal British Columbia Museum – Located side-by-side inside the harbor area of downtown Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada are some of the greatest First Nation’s totem poles ever collected and preserved. These heraldic tall red cedar poles carved with aboriginal family crests and ancestral supernatural beings are the eco-art symbols of a clan’s lineage from a particular array of animals. Other totem poles recount notable legends or events in the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. A number of contemporary totem poles designed, carved, and painted by well-known artists of today are also displayed here. Check out www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/.

3- Sweden’s ICEHOTEL and Sculpture Park – Located in the village of Jukkasjarvi on the shore of the Torne River, right next to the town of Kiruna, the northernmost city in Sweden in the province of Lapland which sits way above the arctic circle — the artistic ice creations within this hotel and the natural wilderness around it together with the Magnetite-carved sculptures surrounding the hotel make this an eco-art destination like no other. The ice hotel rooms and its famous ice bar are open to guests by mid-December and the ice church and main hall are completed by Christmas. Artists are invited each summer to create something new for the sculpture park of magnetite (iron ore is an abundant local resource) and artists and architects alike are invited each winter under the direction of the ICEHOTEL Art & Design Group to create next year’s version of the ICEHOTEL. This winter season of 2011-2012 there will be 47 rooms in total including 16 Art Suites, 20 Ice Rooms, and 8 Snow Rooms. This hotel location also makes it a good place for skiing, dog sledding, and observing the northern lights. Check out www.icehotel.com.

4-Newfoundland’s Fogo Island Art-In-Residency Program – Situated up in Eastern Canada, Located off the northeastern coastline of Newfoundland and Centered around old fishing cabins that have been converted into art studios – lies the Fogo Islands where visual artists, filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians, curators, and thinkers from around the world are now being invited to come “to create a world-renowned destination for artistic, cultural, ecological and culinary pursuits” – “a rural renaissance” model – within this endangered rugged community of 2700 people. Inspired in part by Zita Cobb, President of the Shorefast Foundation, and in keeping with the islander’s unique cultural and natural resources, the goal is to make Fogo Island (and the Change Islands) a leading “geotourism” destination and by so doing develop an alternative sustainable economy that will support community innovation and cultural resilience. Already being built is a boutique hotel, an eco-art gallery, and a locavore-focused restaurant. Check out www.shorefast.org/ and www.artscorpfogoisland.ca/.

5-Michigan’s Rabbit Island Eco-Art-In-Residency Project – Located three miles off the northern shore of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on the edge of Lake Superior lies an uninhabited 91-acre island recently purchased by a New York City-based physician named Rob Gorski who together with London-based Andrew Ranville, the Principal Artist-in-Residence, and ‘The Keweenaw Land Trust’, plan to turn this deserted place into a sustainable artist residency – “a chance to creatively explore ideas related to the absence of civilization in a well-preserved microcosm”. Plans have already been made for buildings using the island’s own stone and wood including a sauna, a treehouse studio, and an amphitheater made of fallen sugar maples. For more information, check out www.rabbit-island.org.

6-Denmark’s Tranekaer Int’l Centre for Art and Nature (TICKON) – Located within the magnificent park grounds of Tranekaer Castle, a 13th century fortress on the Danish island of Langeland – is an outdoor gallery of environmental sculptures that is continually evolving – animated by the wondrous landscape of this 60 acres castle park. Artists featured include Chris Drury, Andy Goldsworthy, David Nash, Jorn Ronnau, Alan Sonfist, Herman de Vries, Nils-Udo, Hermann Prigann, Marc Barbarit & Gilles Bruni, Patrick Dougherty, and Guiliano Mauri. For more information, check out www.langeland.dk or contact – mail@alfiobonanno.dk.

7-New Zealand’s Connells Bay Sculpture Park – Located at the south-eastern end of Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, a luxurious rental beachfront cottage is quietly nestled in amongst 60 acres of rolling farmland and unique New Zealand sculptures “where art and nature are united to create special spaces for site specific sculpture”. Tours are given by appointment only which features some of New Zealand’s best artists including Graham Bennett, Chris Booth, Phil Dadson, Neil Dawson, Paul Dibble, Kon Dimopoulos, Fatu Feu’u, Regan Gentry, Christine Hellyar, Virginia King, Gregor Kregar, Barry Lett, David McCracken, Cathryn Monro, Peter Nicholls, Julia Oram, Phil Price, Bob Stewart, Richard Thompson, Jeff Thomson and Denis O’Connor. This collaboration of artist and environment grows each year with new temporary sculpture installations and three new photographic exhibitions displayed at the park every other year. For more information, check out www.connellsbay.co.nz.

8-South Korea’s Mt. Yeonmisan Nature Art Park – Ever since 2004, the “Yatoo”, the Korean Nature Art Association hosts a biennial international nature art exhibition around Gongju city of Chungnam Province in South Korea – known as the ‘Geumgang Nature Art Biennale’. For three weeks artists from all over the world live together and create their nature art works at Mr. Yeonmisan Nature Park. Their works are open to the public thereafter and constantly change based upon their life cycle. During the ‘pre-Biennale’ period of 2009 alone, more than 200 pieces from 135 countries were submitted for consideration by the Organizing Committee for the 2010 Geumgang Nature Art Biennale. The final selection was made using a strict screening process, whereby the submissions were whittled down to 20 Korean artists and 17 foreign artists from 15 nations. Food, accommodations, as well as transportation costs were provided by the biennale organizers. The next biennale is due to take place this year between July 25th and August 17th and the theme this year will be “Nature, Human Being, and Sound”. The entire Nature Art Park will be open for viewing on August 19, 2012. For more info, check out www.natureartbiennale.org/.

Are you Ready Now for Your Next Eco-Art Traveling Vacation?

How Well Do You Know Your Hollywood Eco-Celebs and Environmentally Themed Films?

The Hollywood Entertainment Industry Has Gone Green – both On-Screen and Off-Screen – particularly since the Ecology Movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s. And Hollywood Celebrities have never been shy about making public statements about their environmental causes. So let’s test your star-gazing memories – How Well Do You Know Your Hollywood Eco-Celebs and Environmentally Themed Films?

1-Which American actress travelled the globe as an eco-tourist in the MTV series “Trippin” and was crowned “Queen of Green” by Vogue magazine?

2-Which American actor has his own brand of eco-cleaners and a reality show series that follows him as he tackles green issues in his home and with friends?

3-Which American actor is developing an eco-resort in Belize, is heavily involved in a global wildlife campaign called “Save Tigers Now” and has written, produced, and narrated his own eco-documentary, “The 11th Hour”?

4-Which American actor is a big proponent of the BP Solar Neighbors Program and has recently launched his own online fundraising site – www.crowdrise.com?

5-Which American actress and film star “mermaid” got arrested in 2006 for chaining herself to a tree for 23 days in a bid to save the nation’s largest urban farm in South Central Los Angeles?

6-Which American actor is a longtime green legend known for his good looks, his
Independent Cinema Festival, and his 2007 television series, “The Green”?

7-Which American actor is a big proponent of sustainable architecture, a founding member of ‘Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’ and was twice named “Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine?

8-Which American actress is a longtime vegetarian and animal-rights activist who launched her own vegan footwear in 2008 and co-hosted the documentary, “Saving a Species: Gorillas on the Brink” with Jack Hanna, America’s premier zookeeper?

9-Which American actress and celebrated singer is an urban environmental activist who has founded an organization devoted to restoring New York City’s lost and forgotten parks and developing new ones?

10-Which American actor, known for his off-beat characters on the big screen, is a dedicated environmentalist and staunch vegan who lives in a sustainable community in Maui, Hawaii and has recently teamed up with the “Living Tree Paper Company” to promote the use of tree-free products and other postconsumer waste recycled products amongst his colleagues and friends in the entertainment and music worlds?

11-Which American actor is a longtime ocean activist best known for his television work in comedy and featured narration of The Google Earth rock star tour, “Protecting the Arctic Ocean”?

12-Which American actor is a longtime environmental activist and helicopter pilot who has a Central American ant named after him and is now involved in a mission to rescue the Colombian Jungle from environmental degradation?

13-What 1979 Hollywood Eco-Thriller starring Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas, and Jack Lemmon tells the story of a reporter and cameraman who stumble upon safety coverups at a nuclear power plant?

14-What 1983 Hollywood Eco-Thriller starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher portrays the true story of a whistleblower named Karen Silkwood, a metal worker at a plutonium processing plant, who mysteriously dies on her way to meet a New York Times investigative reporter?

15-What 1993 Hollywood Family Film starring Jason James Richter and Keiko the Orca Whale pits a 12 year old boy against an aquarium owner when the boy learns that his beloved killer whale is about to be killed?

16-What 1997 Hollywood Eco-Action Thriller starring Steven Seagal and Kris Kristofferson pits a Environmental Protection Agent against big-time Corporate Polluters who are dumping toxic waster into abandoned mines in the Kentucky Hills Region and frightening the rural townsfolk into shutting up?

17-What 1998 Hollywood Eco-Drama starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall pits a personal injury lawyer against a major corporation as he seeks justice in a water pollution case brought by citizens of a Massachusetts town whose drinking water has been contaminated with industrial solvents?

18-What 2000 Hollywood Eco-Drama (based on a true story) starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney pits a small-town law clerk against a large electric utility after coming across suspicious medical records from the nearby town of Hinkley, California where toxic chromium seems to be the culprit behind the diseases and deaths occurring amongst the locals?

19-What 2004 Hollywood Science-Fiction Disaster Film starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal portrays the catastrophic effects of global warming when an American paleoclimatologist has to trek through a climate-changed ice-ravaged landscape to find his son?

20-What 2006 Hollywood Comedy Family Film starring Logan Lerman and Luke Wilson pits three kids against crooked politicians, land developers, and bumbling cops in order to save the habitat of endangered burrowing owls from destruction?

Answers: 1-Cameron Diaz 2-Ed Begley Jr. 3-Leonardo DiCaprio 4-Edward Norton 5-Daryl Hannah 6-Robert Redford 7-Brad Pitt 8-Natalie Portman 9-Bette Midler 10-Woody Harrelson 11-Ted Danson 12-Harrison Ford 13-China Syndrome 14-Silkwood 15-Free Willy 16-Fire Down Below 17-A Civil Action 18-Erin Brokovich 19-The Day After Tomorrow 20-Hoot

If you wish to learn more, register with EMA – the “Environmental Media Association” (www.ema-online.org/) based in Los Angeles, California.

Ready for Some Environmental Rap? — How Well Can You Sing Your Eco-Measurement Terminology?

It’s been 40 years since Marvin Gaye wrote and produced his hit single “Mercy Mercy Me” – subtitled “The Ecology Song”.* Forty years later this beautifully crafted song is still as fresh and as relevant today as it ever was but what has dramatically changed since 1971 is the establishment of Eco-Standards – specifically new Eco-Measurement Standards – that companies, consumers, and governmental agencies alike are continually working on in order to compare the environmental impacts that different products, processes, and social initiatives have on planet Earth. The health of our environment is now being quantified and here are but a few of the more interesting eco-measurement developments that are appearing more and more in our everyday lexicon.

1-Carbon Footprint Standard- Introduced in 2008 by The Carbon Trust, the BSI British Standards, and the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, the Carbon Footprint Standard is a new standard intended to help businesses assess the greenhouse gas emissions embedded in their goods and services throughout their entire life cycle.

2-Eco-Efficiency Ratio- Introduced in 1992 by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, it is essentially a Ratio comparison of ‘Product or Service Value / (Divided By) ‘Environmental Influence’. The numerator, ‘Product or Service Value’, is defined as “Net Sales” – the Quantity of Goods or Services Produced or Provided to Customers – and the denominator, ‘Environmental Influence’, is defined as Energy Consumption plus Materials Consumption, Water Consumption, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Ozone Depleting Substance Emissions.

3-Eco-Index- Launched in 2010 by the OIA (Outdoor Industry Association) and the European Outdoor Group, the Eco-Index is an Outdoor Industry Environmental Assessment Tool designed to be used by companies to incorporate environmental considerations and to advance sustainable practices across a product’s life cycle. It incorporates Environmental Guidelines, Performance Indicators, and Footprint Metrics to assess environmental impacts and improvements within six product life cycle stages: Materials, Packaging, Product Manufacturing and Assembly, Transport and Distribution, Use and Service, and End of Life.

4-Eco-Innovation Scoreboard (Eco-IS)- First published in 2010, the Eco-Innovation Scoreboard developed by the Eco-Innovation Observatory in Belgium is the first tool to assess and illustrate eco-innovation performance across the 27 European Union Member States. The Eco-IS shows how well individual Member States perform compared to the EU average and presents their strengths and weaknesses as well as identifies the barriers and drivers to eco-innovation. The core part of the Eco-IS is the “performance profile”, which contains indicators in five areas: eco-innovation inputs, eco-innovation activities, eco-innovation outputs, environmental outcomes, and socio-economic outcomes. The 2010 version of the Eco-IS is based on 13 sub-indicators in these five areas. The 2011 version of the Eco-IS, which is updated on an annual basis, is based on 16 sub-indicators.

5-Ecological Footprint (EF)– First introduced in the 1990’s, it is a measure of the human demand for natural resources versus the planet’s ecological capacity to regenerate – the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources for human population consumption and the absorption of accompanied waste.

6-Ecometrics- Based upon the principles of resource management and various mathematical and statistical applications, Ecometrics is a quantitative analysis of evaluating economic, social, and environmental opportunity costs of a given activity. In short Ecometrics is a way to identify sustainable trends in consumption and production of a given activity.

7-Energy Star Label-Introduced by the US government agency, the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1990’s, this government-backed symbol has become an international standard that identifies energy efficient consumer products that generally use 20% to 30% less energy than required by federal standards.

8-Environmental Performance Index (EPI)- First introduced in 2002 and developed by Yale University and Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the EPI index ranks 163 countries on 25 performance indicators to see how close countries are to established environmental policy goals.

9-Global Warming Potential (GWP) – is a relative measure of how
different greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere. GWP’s compare the heat-absorbing ability of each mass of gas relative to a similar mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) as well as their associated decay rate.

10-Green Stock Index- Launched just last year in 2011 by Luxembourg-based Living Planet Fund Management Company and the European broker, Cheuvreux – the Green Stock Index consists of a portfolio of 50 European listed companies that are active in finding eco-friendly solutions to the world’s most important environmental challenges as it relates to renewable energies and transportation, water and waste management, and various eco-products and services.

11-Happy Planet Index (HPI) – Introduced in July of 2006 by the New Economics Foundation, this index is a ”measure of the environmental efficiency of supporting human well-being”. It incorporates Life Satisfaction and Life Expectancy together with Environmental Costs per capita – the natural resources required to sustain a country’s lifestyle.

12-LEED Certification – Introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998, the Leadership in Energy and Conservation Design (LEED) Certification is an internationally recognized mark of excellence that provides independent, third party verification that a building, home, or community has been designed and built in accordance to a rating system of high performance indicators in the areas of design innovation, sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. In summary, LEED Certification is a quantitative measurement of a building’s performance based on the number of “points” that a building is able to achieve in each of the above six areas.
13-Net-Zero Home- A home or building which generates as much energy as it consumes.

14-Sustainable Society Index (SSI) – Introduced in 2006 by The Sustainable Foundation based in the Netherlands, The Sustainable Society Index, SSI, includes three ‘wellbeing’ dimensions: Human Well-Being, Environmental Well-Being and Economic Well-Being. Utilizing 24 key indicators, The SSI measures the actual level of sustainability of 151 countries and the distance of each country to sustainability over time.

15-Triple Bottom Line Accounting (TBL/3BL) – Introduced in 2007 by the United Nations and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, this corporate accounting includes social, economic, and environmental costs and benefits in its management reporting.

16- Water Footprint – First introduced in 2002 by Professor Arjen Hoekstra of The UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands, the Water Footprint is a multidimensional indicator that indicates how much freshwater volume is consumed, evaporated, and/or polluted per unit of time at a specific location. It can be calculated for any defined individual, family group, business, community or nation. Thus the water footprint provides a basis for assessing the impacts of goods and services on freshwater systems and formulating strategies to reduce those impacts. In 2009 a ‘Global Water Footprint Standard’ was introduced by the Water Footprint Network, an international network of governments, corporations, non-governmental organizations and UN bodies – but just this year it has been updated, revised and expanded after extensive consultations with partners and researchers worldwide.

Yes, Marvin Gaye – Your lyrics still ring in our ears but now they are in our eco-standards of measurement and accountability.

Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me” Lyrics
Woo ah, mercy mercy me
Woo, things ain’t what they used to be
No, no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north and south and east
Woo, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain’t what they used to be
No, no
Oil wasted on the oceans and in our seas
Ah, Fish full of mercury
Ah oh, Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain’t what they used to be
No, no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh, mercy mercy me
Oh, things ain’t what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land?
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
My sweet Lord
My sweet Lord
My sweet Lord

Looking Towards Summer? – How About Do-It-Yourself Eco Mosaic Art?

I truly believe there is a ‘summer sunshine artiste’ deep down within all of us – especially after being dumped on by 32 inches of snow in just one day! The fact that my 4th great-grandfather had endured the Valley Forge, PA. winter encampment back in 1777-1780 and the ‘Hard Winter of 1779-1780’ up at Jockey Hollow in Morristown, N.J. during the American Revolutionary War – gave me only a slight feeling of warmth during this snowy crisis – but then again, I was determined not to become one of Thomas Paine’s disparaging “summer soldiers” and “sunshine patriots”!

So, instead, I dug in and looked for inspiration eastwards – towards Athens, Greece – ‘the cradle of democracy’ – and sunny Rome, Italy – the architectural hub of the Roman Empire — and the mosaic decorations that once enlightened the Parthenon and the Baths of Caracalla – and hit upon the eco-idea that I was going to heal my relationship with Nature by creating a domestic interior that reflected the beauty of summer gardens, the buzz of bumble bees, and the serenity of summer cottages on pink beaches.

Assembling together small pieces of colorful broken tile and glass, old tea cups and saucers, egg shells and sea shells, and various beads, buttons, pebbles, and corks of all sizes, I then attacked in flourishing patterns with my glue gun in one hand and my grout spatula in the other – a gallery of household objects that had once seen better days – my porch-weary terra cotta pot, my cracked foyer mirror, my chipped kitchen crock, and my favorite stain-fingered coffee table scrapbook.

To say that everything turned out perfectly and I am ready to join the illustrious Society of American Mosaic Artists and be showcased inside the Women Environmental Artists Directory – would certainly be considered an overstatement – but there is now a warm new glow in my environment – a sense of optimism – that I can co-exist within the realities of my snow-bound environment by doing what I do best – restoring my household ecosystem in an eco-friendly artistic way – and dreaming of next summer’s mosaic patio!