A Couple of Things and AI

Posted on July 17, 2023 by SusanG

First things first. No. You didn’t miss last week’s post. I did. I could offer several reasons or excuses except I don’t know that they would matter. Yes, I had been on holiday from the day job and last week was the return. Yes, I have a friend going through some health issues and I am hopefully being supportive. Yes, I’m working on art projects. Yes, I have music I’m working on, and I have Taekwondo, and it’s summer here in the northern hemisphere. That’s life. 

I also backed off on several things because I didn’t think the post was long enough. They were only a page long but as I’m accustomed to writing longer posts, and the algorithms say posts need to be at least a certain length that meant that they were too short. I think I’m going to set a new standard. I’ll post. Sometimes they will be short, even if they aren’t an announcement. Sometimes they will be long. Somethings don’t require a long dissertation. I just feel they need to be mentioned or observed. So, with that let’s get to this week’s topic. 

patch of pink purple flowers

It was a toss-up this week. I thought about telling you about some new music I have and have listened to. And I thought about talking about the AI thing with Hollywood. I’ve decided to tell you about both, because, why not.

I have two things to share on the music. Both are women singer/songwriters, that I came across because they each did a duet with Olivia Newton-John 20 or so years ago. One was released then, the other was just released in May. Both are outstanding. 

The artist on the song released in May is Vanessa Amorosi. They song is a duet of ‘True to Yourself’ that was released on the Olivia Newton-John duets compilation ‘Just the Two of Us’. I recommend that CD as there are some great tracks, including a great rendition of ‘Jolene’ with Dolly Parton. But back to Vanessa Amorosi. When I listened to that track, ‘True to Yourself’, I was expecting something completely different from her vocal. It’s rich and textured and wow. So, I did a little YouTube and Google search and the first thing I came across was her incredible performance of ‘I Am Woman’ at the ARIA Hall of Fame induction of Helen Reddy. I was floored. What an incredible voice and performance. The second thing I found was her performing ‘Still Got the Blues’ with Orianthi. Yes. I had to forward links of both those videos to at least two music friends because, as I said, wow. She’s on most of the streaming platforms. Her cd ‘City of Angels’ is the latest and it’s great. She has also done some great work with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. 

The artist on the song that was released 20 some years ago is Tina Arena. That song ‘I’ll Come Running’ is a Diane Warren song and it’s also on the new duets complication cd. I could write a lot about Tina Arena. She also has a stunning voice. She’s written some great music as well. During the pandemic when we were all being encouraged to stay home and flatten the curve, she helped to entertain followers with her Instagram episodes of QuaranTina.  She has a new cd out called ‘Love Saves’. This one is brand new as in this week. It fits with a lot of her earlier work. There’s a lot of great tracks on it. I’m looking forward to building a new playlist and adding everything to it. 

Rickenbacher 12 string guitar

Before I get to the AI topic, I want to mention how you can already see the impact of the pandemic and the lock downs and restrictions in our art of the time. So, Tina Arena wasn’t the only one entertaining people from home during the lock downs. Sam Neil from Jurassic Park was posting regularly on Instagram and Twitter. Sometimes they were short musings sometimes little sketches. If you can find it, the one with Helena Bonham Carter as his needy iPhone is quite humorous. Patrick Stewart read us Shakespeare’s sonnets. Jimmy Barnes and his family, a very talented crowd, regaled us with daily performances of whatever song. Those were always a great thing to see first thing in the morning. All of that was great and a lovely treat during a very uncertain time. But there are other things that I’ve seen that reflect the time as well and they will be a bit less fleeting.

Those are the videos of performances and music videos that were made as things were tentatively opening up. Restrictions were lifting and people, performers in particular, were trying to get back to doing what they do. The music video for ‘Jolene’ with Dolly Parton and Olivia Newton-John is a good example. The part of the video of Dolly in the control room with the engineers shows them wearing their masks. Dolly’s of course matches her top. There is also the Orianthi concert dvd, and videos from it, for ‘Live From Hollywood’. One of the musicians playing with her wears his mask for most of the performance, and if you look at her right wrist, you can see her mask looped around it the same way many people would during that time. These are signs of the times we have just come through. And they are preserved now for the sake of history. And I find it really interesting.

Band trio guitar player drummer bass player

Now to the AI thing. I could say a lot on this topic. I could give both sides equal weight and try to go really in depth. Truth is I can’t. I can admit that there are some good uses for it, and that it might even be helpful as a tool for brainstorming ideas, even for creatives, and it might be faster at sorting through some scientific results. That’s all the good press I’m going to give it right now. When they first started openly touting what they could do with it, like the artistic mash ups and some of the writing stuff, it came to light that what they did with the bots that fed it was they stole. They scraped the internet and stole the works of artists and writers and musicians. And now the movie studios are wanting to use it to basically steal again. Only they want the actors and writers to sign a contract telling them they can do it. Legal theft. Yes. I am being simplistic in my assessment and explanation. You can read about why the actors walked out. You can read about why the writers walked out. And I would encourage you to. Because after you do, you might think about that show you’re so upset about missing out on because the actors are striking, a little differently. The big names are striking for not just themselves, also for the little names. The bit part actors that make their living appearing in the background as the person at the bar, or in line at a check out, etc. The studios want them to agree to scans that are taken of them during that filming to be owned by the studio so they can use it whenever they want, without paying for another performance. 

There is a lot of that happening all over, but it doesn’t usually consist of you signing over the rights to your own likeness. Businesses are using bots to ‘streamline’ repetitive activities and to automate those things. And while one could argue about the jobs it eliminates for that as well, in general those are processes being appropriated, not likeness and creation or creativity. 

The writer’s complaint is equally compelling. They are fighting the studios using AI to write stories and scripts that then the writers have to clean up because the studios pay less for re-writes than for new ideas. 

Green guitar being looked at

I was discussing this with my mother the other night. She’s an anthropologist. And she is very curious to see the music that AI creates. Because she sees the AI that scrapes the internet and then compiles from that as a reflection, a mirror, of our times. That’s what music, art, film, stories, creativity in general ultimately are. They are a reflection of the time in which it was created, and the reality of the person creating it. It is our humanity. And what bothers me is that what we will find, when AI is creating music, and anything else, that what it reflects back to us is how much we have lost our humanity. How much we have sacrificed of what makes us human for what. For efficiency to save the studios some money so they can pay their CEO’s and shareholders even more money?

As an artist and a musician, the idea of AI art or music ‘taking over’ nauseates me. It disturbs me. I’m not against progress if it is truly progress. I’m against losing our humanity. I’m against being treated as automatons. I’m against being treated as our feelings, our fears, our joys, our accomplishments, our failures, our triumphs are an inefficient waste of time or energy. And by letting AI take over the creating that we do as part of expressing those things I think we lose just one more part of who we are as humans. So, I absolutely support the writers and the actors on strike right now. They are standing up for all of us regardless of which creative endeavor we are a part of.

And no, I won’t be giving up creating art or music because of AI. I will continue to do it because that is what I do. And I hope you will too. If you create, create with abandon. Share it with abandon. And if you want to change it up, do it. Share your humanity. Cheers.

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Random Stuff From My Week

Posted on July 4, 2023 by SusanG

As sometimes happens, well probably more often than I care for, I had a topic for this post. I started it. I rewrote it. I rewrote it again, and again. Each time it went a bit off the rails. So, I’ve abandoned it. After three tries, if that train doesn’t want to reach the station, it’s not going to. That means that instead, you get random things going on in my world.

I am on holiday from the day job. That does not mean I am on holiday somewhere interesting. Not this time. I’m doing the stay home thing, not that that is much different from being at the day job these days. It does mean that instead of having a schedule I need to keep and other work that takes up my time, I have the day, the schedule, and the time to do as I please. Because of that it can sometimes mean I find projects I didn’t know I had and get lost in those and find half a day gone.

Photo of cds on a stereo
Latest listening, much of which needs to be ripped.

One such project that could do that, and nearly did that at first has to do with my cd collection. My cd collection has begun to grow again in the last month or so adding to a problem I created the last time it grew. A few years ago, just before I started buying a lot of cd’s, I had managed to get everything I had ripped to digital on my computer. Then I bought a bunch of cd’s and didn’t rip them as I got them. Well, I did rip some because I put them on my phone at the time. But a lot I didn’t.

For those who might not know, ripping a cd is basically the process of using a program to copy the file and convert it to a format a media player can read, like .mp3, .mp4 or .wav.

Not having everything ripped hadn’t been much of an issue until recently. I got Air Pods to use with my iPad and iPhone and very quickly discovered that they resolve something that has been bugging me about the cd/record player I have. So first, yes, I have a cd/record player/radio. It is an all-in wonder. But as you might guess, it doesn’t have the best of sound output. It also has this really annoying “feature”. It has auto-attenuation when you plug in headphones. Basically, it won’t let you turn the volume up too loud, I guess for safety. I don’t like this feature. It can make it very difficult to zone in on a pitch, a phrase, or a part because to do that sometimes you have to turn up the volume enough to get to what you’re trying to hear. With my system, at a certain point, it feels like the more I turn it up, the softer it gets, or I turn it up and it turns it right back down. It’s really annoying. So far, my Air Pods have not done that.

Once I figured out that the Air Pods were going to make my listening better, I started using them when working in the art studio and I’m really loving it. It is a little weird if I sing along, and I do, but I don’t have anyone around to be disturbed by it, so I’m not worried about it. While listening this way, I have found that there is stuff I want to listen to that I can’t find on most of the streaming platforms that I pay for. Which is frustrating because I’d love to create a playlist with a bunch of that stuff. So, as you might have guessed, one of the projects I didn’t know I have is trying to catch up on the cd ripping. Which involves, identifying what didn’t get ripped, and ripping it to the computer. It’s going to take some time. I counted last night, and I have nearly 80 cd’s to rip, and some are two cd sets. I don’t expect to finish this while I’m on holiday. I have other things I want to do, and I don’t want to spend all that time sitting in front of a computer. I do that enough as it is. But I’ll chip away at it.

photo of stacks of music cds
Stacks of cd’s to rip

Most of the other projects I may work on this week I listed out last week. I don’t know about you but for me, when I realize I’m going to have time to do stuff, I will make a list of everything that I need to do, or could do since I’ll have a big chunk of time to do it all in. The list is usually longer than I will have time to finish. Though, this time I have managed to get a few of those items knocked out already. However, I haven’t tackled a couple of the ones that are bigger, or at least feel like they are. The nice thing is, there isn’t a room painting project on the list this time. Though…

Yes. It did occur to me to paint or repaint a room in my home. And it would have been a massive project because the room I had in mind is the office with two seven-foot bookshelves that are full. And now, several guitars, as well as an amplifier, not to mention the desk set up that would all have to be moved. Oh, the painting needs doing, And maybe this year, just not this week.

Instead, I’m going to make more art and play some guitar. That is my primary plan for the week. I’ve got a new stippling art piece I’m working on. I’d like to get it done, or mostly done by the end of the week. Amazingly, it’s possible. I used to think every stippling project would take forever, some do, and then I did one over a weekend. It was pretty much all I did that weekend, and I was fairly stiff and sore from sitting in one position for so long. By taking the week, I hope to not have that issue.

photo of a drawing of a cockatoo
The start of the next piece of art

Yes, you did read that play guitar is on the list of this week’s activities. I am back to being able to play more again. Yay. I’ve found a handful of songs I want to learn to play and sing so I’m working on those. None of them are new, though one is new to me. A couple of them are old songs that are great sing-along to songs. And I’ve been working on a more robust way of playing a song I already know. I’ve basically learned the intro and the main fill for it instead of just strumming. That’s a bit of a change for me.

It’s not that I never wanted to learn the intros, and the fills, and the lead guitar parts of a song. I just never took the time to figure it all out. I’d want to play a song right away so I’d find the most expeditious way to play it that would let me sound like I was playing the song. While right now, doing this means it takes longer to learn a song, I’m hopeful that as I do it more and learn more songs that I’ll get better at it, and I’ll be able to enhance songs I already know while new songs won’t take as much to learn. Not to mention, I might not need sheet music or video demos as often. That would be so cool. While I work on the new songs, I’m refreshing some songs I already know. Many of them I haven’t been playing for a year or two, even before I injured myself, and for some songs, I don’t have very good notes on how I was playing them.

Other stuff I have planned for the week include a little cooking, going to dinner with a friend, watching a couple of movies, deciding on the next piece of art after the one I’m working on now, and possibly some daytime Taekwondo. Not an especially exciting week off, and definitely not the excitement of the weeklong trip to Paris. Still, it’s time that is mine to do what I want and I am happy to have it. Now, I think I’ll get a workout in and see what I can get stuck into for today. Peace.

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Your Interview

Posted on June 26, 2023 by SusanG

A few weeks ago, an off-handed response to a text from a friend started a fun little adventure for me, and hopefully him. He texted about something, and I responded about a song I’d just listened to that I was excited and perplexed about. The song was ‘Banks of the Ohio’ but in German. I’ve been trying to learn German for many years, and I was excited about it because I understood a fair bit of what was being sung. Progress for me. I was perplexed because the original song in English was recorded back in the early 70’s. ‘Banks of the Ohio’ was one of the first hit-type songs for Olivia Newton-John. Or close to it.

I mentioned to my friend that it had to be in her back catalog someplace. And that I shouldn’t be surprised she’s recorded in German since her mother was German, the daughter of Max Born. He said something and I responded that I have a lot of not very useful information stuck in my head and that he loved Olivia Newton-John and liked fun information like that. Or something along those lines. I apparently took that as a challenge of sorts because I proceeded to lead him down the rabbit hole of what I could find or had previously found. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Rick, for playing along.

Selfie in the art studio
Selfie in the art studio

As I was poking around finding all the cool stuff to send him, I watched a lot of live video and interviews. I’d been sorting through a few videos just before I went for a walk and as I was walking, I found myself having this interview conversation with myself, in my head, not out loud, people would think me very strange if I did that. Anyway. It got me to thinking. What would my, your interview be.

Play along with me for a moment.

What would you want to be being interviewed for? When you think about it, most people interviewed, except say eyewitness interviews, are usually being interviewed about something related to their job. Is that what you would want to be interviewed about? Maybe you are an amateur actor and you’re doing a play, or you’re directing the play. Maybe you’re an artist and starting to give lessons or go to art shows. Maybe you’re a musician who has been playing for years and you’re just starting to play performances. Maybe you collect something and have a lot of knowledge about it that you think is cool and you want to share. Maybe you’re an exercise or health guru or an activist or politician.

So. What would you want to be interviewed about?

Next. What questions would you want to be asked? There are some standard interview questions that you would be asked. Things like ‘how did you get started?’ What sparked your interest. Who or what was your early influence. How did you find out about it. Those would be pretty standard how we find out about you and your interview topic. You might even get a question about why it’s important. That question would come up if you are being interviewed about something you’re advocating for or against, so if you are being interviewed for your environmental activism, or your political activism, or any other sort of activism for that matter. It could even come up if you’re talking about history. It’s a good question to consider regardless. But those are standard questions. Is there a question you would want to be asked? Something you think gets missed in the standard stuff.

Now, let’s pretend you’ve been well-known for a while. So, you’re a celebrity in your area so people start asking more probing, not surface questions. Not the how did you get into this, or what was it like working with, questions. Now they want to know about your life. You’re private life. How you feel about love, if you have a love interest, what you like to do when you’re not doing what you’re well-known for. What would you want to be asked? What would you not want to be asked? What would you be willing to answer even if you preferred you weren’t asked the question. How open would you be willing to be? Would you be all out there and open for any question? Would you be evasive? What about the question of ‘guilty pleasure’? Would you, could you answer that?

Guitars on a shelf and an electric keyboard in my living room
Music in the living room

I used to like the ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ interviews because of the questions asked at the end. I forget what the segment was, but it was great. One of the questions was ‘what’s your favorite curse word’. I think he even asked, ‘and why’. I still remember what and how Barbara Streisand answered. Will your interview, or some part of your interview stick in someone’s head?

So, you’re now a celebrity and you’re going to be interviewed. Where? Are you being interviewed remotely, are you on some morning show, some talk show in a studio with a studio audience? Is this an interview for some magazine show and they are interviewing you on set of something? Back stage? Are you inviting them into your home? Where would you want to be interviewed?

What sort of an interviewee would you be? Are you stiff and uncomfortable? Are you difficult and reluctant to answer? Do you answer but with very short answers, so the interviewer has to work hard to fill a ten-minute segment. Or are you relaxed and easy going? Willing to answer just about anything and give a little more to the answer than just ‘yes’, ‘no’, or the date of the event? Are you really talkative and the interviewer has to work to get an additional question asked? Are you shy or embarrassed about being interviewed?

Which leads to, who sets the tone? You’re going to be interviewed. You’re well-known, even a celebrity. How do you approach the interview? Do you set the tone? How do you greet the interviewer and team? Do you give a curt nod, a handshake? A brief embrace, and a kiss? A pat on the back or shoulder? Just a ‘hello’? Do you make it clear they are on your turf so to speak, even if it’s in their studio? Are you gracious and welcoming? Are you combative? Do you make the interviewer and their team feel comfortable and at ease? Or do you intimidate them and keep them on their toes?

We’ve had our fun imagining being interviewed and what we want to be asked, how we would handle it, how we would make the interview team feel. What else would you want for your interview? What else is important for you for your interview?

Most people that we see being interviewed don’t have that much say in their interview set up. Some do. And in some situations. But if you’re going on the ‘Tonight Show’ you know the set and set up and that’s not going to change. At best you might get a stipulation or assurance that you won’t be asked about something. That doesn’t really guarantee that you won’t be asked about it. How would you handle that? Would you get up and walk out? Would you look at them with disdain and clam up? Would you politely decline to answer the question?

There are countless other things got consider as part of your interview for sure. For now, though I have one last set of things for you to think about for your interview. Who would you want to be interviewed by? Would you be comfortable with your friends or family seeing your interview? Would your friends or family learn something about you from the interview they didn’t know, or you didn’t want them to know?

Overgrown apothos plant on a stool
My Apothos, Phil, needed a haircut.

I was going to ask you ‘why’ as well. Why would you want to be interviewed about the particular topic or event? Why would you respond the way you choose? All of those things. I’m not going to ask that, but maybe you should ask yourself, as I should ask myself.

I really didn’t start the walk thinking of how the idea of imagining your interview would be an exercise in self-reflection, and I didn’t start this post with that thought. But there it is. If you really sit down and play the game, come up with the questions, the setting, the scenario, I think we get to learn a lot about ourselves. Things like what is important to us. Did your interview start one way and pivot to something else that you suddenly realized you’re really passionate about? Maybe we learned how we think we are or how we want to be. Maybe we learned how we want to be treated. One last experiment. If your interview was antagonistic, set up a non-antagonistic interview for yourself. And if your interview was pleasant and non-antagonistic and docile, setup an aggressive, or antagonistic interview. How do you handle the other? And what else did you learn?

If you are wondering if I’ve done this myself. Not yet in this form. While I was on the trip for the day job one of the activities, they gave us was to interview one of our colleagues and then introduce them in the group meeting. So, not only did I get to “interview” one of my colleagues, but I also got to be interviewed. I’m not sure I did that great of a job interviewing my colleague because I didn’t really handle it that way. He happened to be sitting across the table from me. But the colleague who interviewed me, we made time to sit down so he could ask me questions. It was an interesting experience. And it did touch on some of the things I’ve presented you in this experiment. It didn’t offer quite the self-reflection that doing this on your own might. Though, it did still teach me a little about how to be interviewed.

I hope you had fun playing along. And thanks again Rick for letting me dig that hole for you. I found a secondary path or two that I expect will be playing a part in things I’m working on. I’ll be sharing more on those things as they come up. For now, don’t forget to check out the new art store. I’ve got a link up so you can get to it easily. I’ll be adding more pieces to it so if you want to stay in the know, you can join the mailing list there. Have fun with your interview. Peace.

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Announcement Time!

Posted on June 20, 2023 by SusanG

I’m excited! It’s time for the big announcement.

Are you ready?!

Susan Michelle Artist is open!

For a while now I’ve been thinking of finding a way to make my art more available to people who might be interested. An opportunity came my way and I decided to take it and open my online art store. You can check it out at the link above.

Currently there is a small selection of works, a couple of stippling pieces, a watercolor, and a pastel painting, that you can purchase as prints, or even tote bags.

There will be more soon.

I have two watercolor pieces I’m working on now. One is just nearly complete and the other is not quite half complete. I expect to be releasing the first one sometime in the next week or so.

When you visit the store, be sure to sign up for the mailing list so you know when I release those new pieces, and any future pieces. Oh. And check your spam folder in case the email ends up there.

This is a big step for me and I’m super excited about it. Please check it out. And return often to see the new stuff.

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Environment and Demand

Posted on June 13, 2023 by SusanG

Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s along with the big hair, big shoulder pads, leg warmers, and neon, followed by grunge rock, there was a resurgence of environmental awareness. I say resurgence because the environmental movement was really launched in in 1962 with Rachel Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring’. Followed by the first Earth Day on 22nd of April 1970. The resurgence was partly fueled, I’m guessing, buy the realization that there was this gaping hole in the planet’s ozone layer. Not really a good thing if you want to keep damaging ultraviolet radiation out. Why would you want to do this? Well, it damages crops, leads to an increase in skin cancer, and an increase in cataract rates, according to the EPA website. Because I grew up during this time, I knew the hole was bad and it was because of radiation and skin cancer. I even knew that it was being caused, or we were told it was caused by chlorofluorocarbons. But it’s been a long time, so I looked it up.

photograph of a cafe style coffee mug supporting surfrider foundation making waves

I have a friend who lives in Australia and at one point I think we talked about how they had become a bit more environmentally conscious due to being closer to that ozone hole. And it makes sense. The sun seems much more intense there so if it’s already intense and blinding then that hole sitting over or near you well, it was probably a little disturbing. And yes, the sun is more intense there. My sunglasses were not near dark enough at times when I was there. And for that matter my friends were telling me that their daughters get sunburned in Australia but can go to someplace like Greece and they don’t get burnt.

A few things brought this to mind this recently. I was reminded by email that it’s time to renew my Surfrider Foundation membership, that was one. Then, as I was doing swapping the music room into the art studio, I found a duplicate DVD of a concert and I had to play it to tell which one was the ‘bad’ DVD and which one was the good one so I could get rid of the bad one. It wasn’t the DVD itself that was the reminder it was who the concert was by. In my mind Olivia Newton-John, in addition to her cancer work, will always be associated with the environmental movement of the 1980’s and 1990’s. And then there was an article I read on the El Pais English site; it talks about a number of thresholds that according to scientists would have devastating effects if they were breached widely. One of the things the article does note is that we solved the ozone hole problem, pretty much at the last moment, but we solved it. And that makes me wonder, what happened? Not what happened that we solved it. What happened that we stopped.

What happened that that movement, that awareness lost momentum? We were concerned about not cutting down trees, about saving species of plants and animals, about protecting the rain forests, about the plight of dolphins and other sea creatures, about toxic waste, about hunger, and the plight of humans all over. What happened? Did we quit caring?

While it might feel like we did, I don’t think we actually quit caring. I think our care and concern for the only home we have right now became a victim to the almighty dollar and to demand. See demand has never been about meeting our needs as customers or even as people. Demand has always been about creating consumers. If it had been about meeting our needs as people, we’d have seen greater progress in sustainable living and health and clean air and clean water and social justice. Instead, we’ve seen life “improvements” in the form of making it “easier” for us to do more work in a shorter amount of time, so that companies don’t think they need to hire as many people to do the work as they used to. As an example. But those companies also need to see constant bottom-line growth in the form of profits. And so, they find ways to create demand of consumers.

photo of a white t-shirt for old environmental friendly type store called 'shop called Mango'

And we as people, that have now been dehumanized into consumers, aren’t getting our demands, desires, or needs met. But we are told we are. Or we’re told that if we just purchase this more thing or bigger thing it will solve everything. Because, if they distract us from our dissatisfaction and disappointment maybe we’ll forget about passing laws that make them more responsible, or even insisting they have more sustainable practices. Because if we make them make quality products that will last beyond their first use then we won’t buy as much of their stuff.

But. There again, they’ve manufactured or induced demand. We are told that if we are really concerned for the environment that we just need to recycle more, buy more expensive “enviro-friendly” products, buy a hybrid car, get solar panels, eat organic, recycle more, and on and on. So that’s what we’ve tried to do. Community recycling programs were started, and recycling was added to our trash pickup so we could feel like we were/are making a difference. Even though they were halfhearted and mostly ineffective or insufficient, recycling programs remain in the form of curbside pickup and recycle bins.

For so long, we were told we were the problem. We created all the trash and waste, and we weren’t taking advantage of the recycling programs as evidenced by the fact that only some miniscule percentage of plastic was being recycled. And yet because we are considered consumers used to create demand for product that we may or may not need but the corporations need us to purchase to make more and more money, we are encouraged to keep…consuming. Which by its very nature creates more waste. But it’s our fault that we aren’t recycling.

The truth is, while we should do our part and reuse or recycle what we can, even if we all did that for everything, the problem would still exist because we as customers and people were not the primary problem. As they say, you don’t repair the fence after the cows get out, or if you prefer, you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube. Or something like that. If you want to fix or prevent the problem, you have to start at the source. You don’t want to run out of toothpaste, you put the cap on it before it oozes out. You don’t want the cows to get out, you make sure the fence is in good shape before it’s breaks or falls down. You keep your house in order, so you don’t have to clean up the mess. You take care of things, so you don’t have to replace them. The difference is, while we can replace things, we can’t replace the Earth.

photo of the back of an old tank top that has a rain forest design and says 'The Rain Forest must not die - Sun Lover'

We are at the last minute, again. But unlike the ozone problem, this time we face multiple problems that we have to solve in this last minute. Sure, the most pressing is climate change. And yes, we know most of what has caused it. And no, it’s not a single class of chemical that we can make illegal to use and mandate it be immediately phased out. Even if it were, like with the ozone hole, it would still take time and we are at the last minute. Yes, we need to do our part. But our part isn’t rounding up the cows after they get out or trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube after it’s oozed all over the counter. Our part is helping to stop the problem at its source. Our part is to break the cycle of induced demand. Our part is to demand better. If they want our business, they need to do better business. And we need to insist on it. We need to show them we no longer have the appetite for just being sold the cheapest flashiest stuff that just breaks and gets replaced right away. We also have a part to play in showing lawmakers as well as corporations that we not only want the drastic change required, but we also have an appetite for it.

Making the changes needed to keep our planet livable is not going to be easy. It will require a lot of paradigms shifting. In some case it may look like ‘going backwards’ as older, sustainable methods are revisited and revived. We will resist, as we have been for many years. But we are at the last minute. And while I’m not keen to go back to the big hair and neon of the 1980’s or even the grunge of the 1990’s we could really stand to bring back whatever it was that let us band together to fix the hole in the ozone.

After the post about health care as an induced demand I really thought I was done with the topic of induced demand. But when I read about how many acres of the Amazon Rainforest has been cut down in the last few years just for cattle farming, I realized that the environmental movement had been a victim of it as well. Even if it is a demand/movement that has been unintentionally induced. And then I realized that what happened to that environmental movement of my youth was that it had been appropriated and turned into a demand that we don’t realize is a demand. Remember, when I said that the question was who was making money off us? Well, if we don’t have waste, pollution, a climate crisis, we don’t have a market for the clean-up, we don’t have a market for things that make the air less polluted, we don’t have a market for renewables. The crisis maybe was the result of short-sightedness, but it has turned into a manufactured demand that we perhaps could have avoided.

I’ve been working in the art studio more since I moved things around and I’ve got exciting news about the art store that I’ll be sharing this week. I’ll be posting it here and on Instagram and Facebook soon. I look forward to sharing it with you. Until then, peace.

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