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The 365 days that made up the tumultuous year of 2022 have slipped from the calendar. Like the first steps on a long journey, a new month and year have arrived. Before all the collected pixels making up the 1,609 digital photographs I submitted for publication last year are sent to storage on a backup hard drive, a look back at the numbers and images seen in 2022.
Not surprisingly, the number one photographed subject was the beach. As an old photojournalism teacher said, “Always go where the people are.” So off to the beach it was, 41 photos in the beach category, not all sunbathers and beach umbrellas, however. There was erosion from the Jan. 29 nor’easter’s aftermath, Vineyard Wind work on Covell Beach along with sunrise and sunset.
A hawk takes a beating from a wind driven rain flying low over the dunes at Kalmus Beach in Hyannis on Nov. 12, 2022, keeping a keen eye out for breakfast.
Second place was a tie between flowers and kids, both coming in with 29 images each. From the Nutcracker ballet to sledding to Easter egg hunts; it is always fun to look at the world through a child’s eyes. On a hectic news day, when the world seems to be crumbling, a few minutes of photographing flowers, often accompanied by a bug or butterfly, can be a quiet meditation away from the day’s noise.
Birds arrived at number three, with 25. Always a favorite, they seem to introduce themselves on slow news days, a gift from Mother Nature. Following up in the fourth spot, at 21 photographs, this category of image-making wasn’t even on the list five years ago. The drone camera has become a great way of visual storytelling for many news stories, bringing an aerial perspective that used to require a trip to the airport and a chartered plane flight. It is also fun to take a new look at everyday scenery from a bird’s eye view, be it pickleball players or a snow-covered ancient cemetery on a sunny winter day.
Lighthouses rounded out the top five list with 11 images, edging out dogs and cats with 10 images, sorry cat people, dogs were a 7-3 favorite in this grouping. The most photographed lighthouse of that portfolio was Nobska Light in Woods Hole.
Filling the rest of these numbers to get to 1,609, day in and out photojournalism. Portraits of politicians, candidates, happy people and sad, young and old, added together with spot news and simple mug shots of building to make up the majority of the 2022 portfolio. Social distancing, masks and virus-testing photos were greatly diminished since 2021. The St. Patrick’s Day parade in Yarmouth was back to its March date and the world did seem more “normal” as COVID-19 was still in the rearview mirror but hopefully farther in the distance.
The past is indeed prologue, so as a new year begins the future is always hard to predict, safe to say if it is a nor’easter or a sunny July afternoon, there is a better-than-average chance I will spend a lot of time at the beach in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: A look back at a year’s worth of Steve Heaslip’s photos on Cape Cod
Welcome to 2023! Another calendar has been used, another red journal finished and safely tucked away on a shelf and newness has taken over. I place a brand new desk blotter calendar on my office desk, I unwrap a brand new red journal and begin to enter all of my almanac data and I crack open a new black journal so I can punch “2023 vol 1” on to its cover. These sorts of rituals are particularly satisfying for my and I take immense pleasure sitting in the silence of an early morning house and poring over the information recorded in years gone by.
Before I opened up this new document I decided to look back at my first column of 2022 to get the exact wording on last year’s resolutions and this is what I found: “So here is my resolution for 2022: I won’t let the paperwork pile up. I will make sure that I process my photos in a timely fashion, which will allow me to keep my website up to date and that nagging little voice in my head quieter than it has been. Like many resolutions this sounds really simple, but if I actually do it I will benefit greatly. Now let’s see if I can follow through.” A year later I can definitively say that I failed miserably.
As of the writing of this column I still had a backlog of photos going all the way back to August.
However, I did manage to take more photos in 2022 than I had ever taken in any previous year. The funny thing about these columns is that there is a curious element of time travel involved in them. I’m writing about the end of 2022 before the I actually experience the end of 2022. By the time this column reaches you I will have hit 23,000 photos for the year, but as I write I am still about 400 photos short of the mark, so I don’t know what the subject of that milestone photo actually is yet.
Anyway, I think that a resolution about getting paperwork done is a little boring anyway. Surely there must be something a little more interesting to focus on than that. As an example, perhaps it is time to see about working on the botany catalog of my property that I have been thinking of. I have six acres of land that is covered in a mixture of lawn, old field and forest. Perhaps it is time that I take an inventory of the different plant species that live within the geopolitical boundaries of what I temporarily call “mine.”
This is a daunting prospect because of the sheer magnitude of the project. Cataloging the trees would be the easiest because there are so few species that I would have to deal with. Beech, birch, maple and oak are all simple enough to identify. Then there are the slightly more challenging hawthorns, buckthorns and alders. And don’t even get me started on the difference between hornbeam and hop hornbeam!
Then you shift into the realm of the forbs and the grasses; non-woody plants that grow and die back every year without leaving “permanent” stems like trees and lilac bushes. Six acres of land could host hundreds of different species and finding them all would require an enormous amount of time, effort and discomfort. The ferns and the mosses would represent the final straw. I’ve got books, but the mosses in particular could actually represent the tipping point for pure madness to take hold of me.
Yet, there is an entire branch of botany called “bryology” that is focused purely on the mosses, liverworts and hornworts of the world. My poor computer is underlining all of these words in red because it doesn’t recognize them.
Well, I think I might be able to find a happy medium here. Perhaps what I will do is dedicate myself to identifying all of the plant species that can be found along the edges of my trails. These trails pass through meadow and forest and emerge into areas that I maintain as lawn. I realize that this might be a little more than I can chew, but I am going to go for it. 2023 will be my year of botany! I will continue with the photography of wildlife, but I will make a conscious effort to aim my lens at plants more often. Time to break out the close-up lens!
A secondary resolution will be to make an improvement on my general paperwork and correspondence. I like going outside and looking for interesting things, but I am not quite so good at sitting down at my desk and working on emails and whatnot. That being said, I am also getting tired of my afternoon routine and I think that I might enjoy dedicating an hour a day to “clearing off my desk” after getting home from work. If I can just do it long enough to make it a habit, then I will never stop doing it.
So, dear reader, I wish you the happiest and most prosperous 2023. I am personally filled with optimism about the coming year and I think that the project that I have initiated will bear fruit. I might even give myself the added challenge of alternating between plants and animals every other week, but that is going to take a little more thinking. Since I can’t get down to the Thinking Chair at the moment, I’ll get some fresh coffee in my mug, throw a fresh log on the fire and settle in for some imaginings of what might come next.
Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 25 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more in formation visit his website at www.speakingofnature.com, or head over to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.
Popularly known as the Alice or simply Alice, Alice Springs is in the heart of Central Australia. It’s known as a gateway to some of the country’s most impressive landscapes, including Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the MacDonnel mountain ranges, which stretch east and west from the town center.For outdoor lovers, Alice Springs Desert Park is a great place to see the natural habitat and animals that live there. Adventurers can pick up a free audio guide or join one of the free ranger talks to learn more about the area. The Olive Pink Botanic Garden is another lovely place to spend the afternoon. Founded by anthropologist Olive Pink, the garden has more than 500 central Australian plant species.Alice Springs also boasts a number of cultural museums within the Araluen Cultural Precinct, including the Sculpture Garden, Museum of Central Australia, and the Namatjira Gallery, which houses the territory’s largest collection of original paintings by Aboriginal artist Albert Namatijra.
In Alice Springs you will find some beautiful attractions that you just cannot miss! Places like Litchfield National Park, Camp At Rainbow Valley, and Alice Springs Aquatic And Leisure Centre and many more. Continue reading to know more.
Visitors who love the great outdoors and sightseeing will also love the Litchfield National Park in Alice Springs. It is famous for its beauty as it houses numerous waterfalls that cascade down a sandstone plateau known as the Tabletop Range. Visitors will surely love the magnificent views the park has to offer.
Rainbow Valley, located in Alice Springs, is a must-visit destination for those who love sightseeing and admiring the beauty of nature. The valley is well known for its sandstone bluff and cliffs that change from red to orange and purple depending on the time and season. The valley also offers stunning picturesque landscapes that will surely leave visitors in awe.
Alice Springs Aquatic & Leisure Centre is known to provide a safe swimming experience, quality facilities, and great customer service. It has a 50-meter pool, a 4 lane learn-to-swimming pool, a 20-meter indoor pool with beach entry, an indoor spa, and a lazy river. Undoubtedly it is a great place for people of all ages to have a stunning swimming experience.
Finke Gorge National Park is located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 458 km square. It is said to be protecting one of the oldest rivers in the world called the Finke River, which was believed to be 350 million years old. The park includes an impressive dessert with an oasis and a Palm Valley. It is a unique area containing a variety of plants including the red cabbage palm. It has around 3000 full-grown trees along with thousands of small seedlings. Other attractions here are a maze of sandstone amphitheaters, pinnacles, and gorges.
Glen Helen Waterpark, located in Alice Springs, is a must-visit destination in the summer as visitors could play in the sun and splash in the water. The park is famous for offering a one-of-a-kind experience as it offers free tubing all day long. Visitors will surely love tubing along the waterpark’s river while also admiring its surroundings.
Old Ghan Heritage Railway and Museum is located in Alice Springs, Australia. This museum is operated by the Road Transport Historical Society. The museum houses narrow gauge equipment from the original Central Australian Railway which once operated to Alice Springs. There are also restored locomotives and carriages displayed here. Apart from the museum, there are tea shops, family-friendly restaurants, barbeque cafes, souvenir shops, and toilets available.
Araluen Arts Centre is located in Alice Springs. It has four art galleries that contain a significant collection of regional art. It is known as the keeping place of stories. Apart from this art exhibition, drama, dance, and music are also held here. There is a theatre that features independent movies as well as international movies. The largest collection of Aboriginal art in Australia is present here. It is a great place to visit and enjoy the beauty of art.
Mbantua Fine Art Gallery is located at the Todd Mall in Alice Springs. It is an Australian art gallery that specializes in exhibiting and selling the artworks from Utopia region of Central Australia. You can also find jewelry, woodwork, sandstone carvings, Utopia giftware, and other kinds of souvenirs displayed here.
Cold-blooded does not always refer to murder. Some of the most amazing animals that have ever lived have blood that heats up or cools, depending on the environment. The “cold blood” most reptiles have to make them fascinating subjects of serious study or mere curiosity. Here at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre, you’ll get a fair dose of exposure to crocodiles, geckos, lizards, and other reptiles in this part of Australia.
Yubu Napa Art Gallery, located in Alice Springs, is a must-visit for art enthusiasts as it features an exquisite collection of Australian traditional and contemporary artworks. The gallery is unique for featuring up-and-coming Australian artists’ works that are just starting to showcase their stunning artistry.
Visitors who love the great outdoors will surely love the West McDonnell Ranges in Alice Springs. It is a mountain range that features stunning scenery of nature as it is filled with various beautiful and vibrant flowers as well as towering trees. It also features a hiking trail perfect for those who want to stroll around and admire the beautiful views of nature.
Corroboree Rock Conservation Reserve is a protected area in Australia’s Northern Territory, located in the East MacDonnell Ranges about 42 kilometers east of Alice Springs. Dark grey and light grey streaky blobs of ‘dalmation rock’ can be seen near the base of the rock. The rock is surrounded by a ring of low land, giving it the appearance of an obelisk. To obtain a better look at the old rock structure, take a short walk around the base of the rock.
The Northern Territory of Australia is home to a massive rock formation called Uluru. The nearest town here is Alice Springs. That is why there are many camping tours of Uluru that depart from and return to this town. Many of these tours last for at least more than a day. Hence, anyone who participates in adventurous excursions like this can enjoy the play of colors at Uluru during different parts of the day. For example, Uluru’s colors come alive when hit by the golden light of the sun during dawn or sunset.
Outback Ballooning, a company that offers hot air balloon rides, is located in Alice Spring. It offers a one-of-a-kind experience as it features hot air balloons with vibrant designs which visitors could ride. Guests riding a balloon will surely have fun as it offers wondrous and stunning views of the county’s skylines.
Back in the late 1800s, the telegraph relayed messages and news much like the Internet does today. However, there were was no multimedia back then, only electrical signals that represented letters. During the telegraph’s heyday, information traveled from the rest of the world to Australia and vice-versa, through this station. Perhaps owing to the fact that this facility was a communications hub, the Alice Springs settlement grew around it. This cultural and historic attraction is among Australia’s most preserved, with buildings, furnishings, and artifacts restored to their original glory. Aside from its rich history, the station is also an access point to recreational areas like a bike trail network, park walks, and bushwalking trails.
Anzac Hill, located in Alice Springs, features a bird’s eye view or panoramic view of the town. It is also surrounded by stunning scenery where visitors would surely love seeing. The Anzac Hill is perfect for those who like to go on sightseeing and stroll around while admiring the beautiful views of nature.
Visitors who love hiking will surely have a great time hiking at the Larapinta Trail. It was voted as one of the top 20 best trails in the whole world as it offers a unique and unforgettable trekking experience. The trail spans 231 kilometers and crosses different kinds of terrain where visitors could admire the beautiful scenery of nature.
Alice Springs Desert Park, located in Alice Springs, is a must-visit destination for those who love the great outdoors. The park is famous for its Palm Valley which is filled with towering red cabbage palm trees that are unique to Australia’s desert. Visitors would surely love the stunning views the park offers.
Named after Swedish botanist and zoologist, Carl Linnaeus, Veronica Lenza’s Milan-based Linneo brand mixes gold and porcelain onto which she has hand-painted miniature drawings of plants and animals. Having studied fine art and art history at Brera Academy in Milan and art, film and photography at London’s Kingston University, the Brescia-born, self-trained jeweler collaborates with Milanese craftsmen to manufacture her one-off handmade pieces.
One-of-a-kind Linneo gold ring with ink and gold on porcelain plate designed and handcrafted by … [+] Veronica Lenza
Photo Delfino Sisto Legnani
How did you arrive at this calling? How and when did you become interested in jewelry, and when did you know you wanted to be a jewelry designer?
Jewelry making, for me, is a means, not an end; in fact, I wouldn’t say I have a vocation for this profession, but that I found in jewelry the context for my explorations. It all started from my drawings; I have been projecting photos onto bodies, sketching tiny scenes and subjects around fingers, ears, wrists, legs. I never thought of those layers as separated objects from the body, not even as separate items between them; they were a discourse, a visual chant, a progression of ideas. I liked that they were always under my eyes, intercepting sights when I was gesturing and talking, even when distracted. Those drawings were there to give glimpses of leisure, also when you didn’t think about their presence. When I started thinking of making jewels, it had a functional purpose: a framework for my thoughts and a way of wearing and then removing them.
What are your sources of inspiration? How are you adopting a different approach and mentality to jewelry making, away from traditional jewelry?
My primary source of inspiration is the urgency to think about our planet’s incredible and surprising common heritage. I always start from nature, an inexhaustible source of surprise and emotions, deserving of all our respect. I also look to artifacts made by prehistoric humans: objects and personal ornaments representing the habits, discoveries and first forms of spirituality, and often having a symbolic communication function. I’m still close to this idea. I’m a jewelry designer because I create an object classified as a jewel. Still, each jewel is part of a whole. They can hardly be separated from each other, like words. They have their meaning, but they are a unitary discourse for me. The idea of the name Linnaeus (August Strindberg wrote: “Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist.”) also comes from this. The concept of cataloguing, building a semantics of relationships or associating by subtraction or similarity.
Linneo one-of-a-kind gold brooch with silver and ink on porcelain plate designed and handcrafted by … [+] Veronica Lenza
Photo courtesy of Linneo
What is your approach towards gold, and how is this reflected in your jewelry creations?
Gold was often used to fill in backgrounds in paintings. As unearthly light, gold leaf was associated with the sun and at the same time a symbol of incorruption and immutability, of everything sacred and eternal. These qualities are tangible when you start working with it and learn its physical properties that make it a symbol and a matter of desires. My approach is minimal; I try to give a shape and reduce finish. In reality, I like gold’s presence: in a world where lightness is a marketing keyword, it resists and has an ancestral power simply by its specific weight.
Where do you source your gold? Is it ethical or recycled gold? Is this important to you?
I rescue jewels that are hopeless. I wish to accelerate the recapture of the meaning of used gold by framing new stories around it. My work does not aim to restore a lost past, but instead proposes to move into a future where resources are finite. I think a circular economy is a responsibility for everybody who produces clothes, goods or jewels. We have to reduce consumption, be imaginative about how to transform what we don’t use anymore and value the history of objects and materials themselves. New gold is beautiful and I use it sometimes, but I think that the quality of the material lies in its intrinsic capacity of being recast and remolded.
Italian jeweler Veronica Lenza in the studio
Photo courtesy of Linneo
What new innovative techniques or technologies do you incorporate in your jewelry making, and who are the artisans you work with?
I mix ceramics and gold. Both are fascinating materials in many ways, but what gives me great satisfaction is the magic that is created in their union. The contrast between the opacity of unpolished gold and the iridescent sheen of glazed ceramic becomes an all-round esthetic component. It translates into an unprecedented relationship between decorated porcelain and precious metal. I think I can only achieve some details by using my hands. Something handmade is not perfect, thus more fascinating than a super perfect, super shiny piece, identical to many others. I make one-of-a-kind jewels.
It would be quite the understatement to say 2022 has been a difficult year, and whether or not 2023 will be any better is uncertain. That said, the more doom and gloom there is out there, the more important it is to look for the glimmers of hope and seek out the shreds of joy.
“We face lots of big challenges in our lives and in our society – we always have done and we always will,” says Mark Williamson, director of the non-profit organisation Action for Happiness. “So it’s vital that we find ways to stay resilient, take positive steps forward and look for solutions. The key is to be a ‘realistic optimist’: we see the world as it is, but we choose to focus more on what’s good.
“This isn’t about being naively positive, it’s a gritty and grounded response to an imperfect world. And by choosing this form of ‘active hope’, we not only become happier ourselves, but we’re also more likely to respond in helpful ways and contribute to a brighter future.”
With that in mind, we’ve gathered 50 reasons to feel optimistic about the year ahead. As Williamson puts it: “All around us there are signs of hope and things to be grateful for – we just need to look for them.”
Arts Council England is funding its broadest range of culture
The 990 organisations Arts Council England will fund between 2023-2026 is incredibly significant. “It is the broadest range of organisations we’ve ever funded, and we’ve focussed on achieving a fairer spread of investment across the country,” says chief executive Darren Henley. “This includes world-renowned institutions, like the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as those receiving funding for the first time, like the Blackpool Illuminations and National Football Museum in Manchester.”
We have our first People’s Plan for Nature
“It gives me huge encouragement that, right now, 100 citizens from across the country, and from all walks of life, are deliberating and discussing how we bring wildlife back to our shores as part of the UK’s first ever People’s Assembly for Nature,” says Harry Bowell, director of land and nature at the National Trust. “In March, the assembly will publish a set of recommendations on behalf of the UK public – a significant moment for citizen action and for the restoration of our natural world.”
Wind energy will gather speed
“The rate of green innovation has been incredible over the past few years and is set to continue,” says Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK. “The UK has the highest wind energy potential in Europe, and wind already generates nearly a quarter of the UK’s electricity. With the onshore ban finally set to end and a strong offshore wind rollout taking place, we are seeing renewables become ever more fundamental to our energy mix.”
Thousands will get better access to clean water
Hannah Bellemy, UK director at charity: water, is excited about the difference new technology will make next year. “We’ve developed a new water sensor that will help people living in remote, rural communities across the Global South have long-term, reliable access to clean water,” she says. “Following a successful pilot, in 2023 we’re going to install this technology for thousands of people.”
The final stretch of the English Coastal path will be completed in spring (Photo: Getty Images)
The English Coastal Path will be completed
Over the past few years, Natural England has been busy working on creating a coastal path that stretches the entire length of England. At 2,795 miles, it will be the world’s longest continuous hiking path when it is completed this year.
Climate Trace will help track emissions
“There are researchers taking steps to face the challenges of climate change head on, and 2023 will see many of these new innovations come to light,” says sustainability expert and UCL lecturer Renuka Thakore. “For instance, Climate Trace, an independent greenhouse gas emissions tracking system, will create the world’s first emissions inventory based primarily on direct, independent observation. This system will fill the critical knowledge gaps for all decision-makers and allow a coherent improvement in planning carbon reduction.”
Landscape restoration will expand
The counties along the Welsh-English borders – Radnorshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire – plan to be a lot wilder in 2023. The Wildlife Trusts in these counties will be restoring and connecting woodlands by rewilding river valleys and working with farmers to put wildlife back onto their farms.
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Eurovision comes to the UK
After decades of the dreaded “null points”, it seemed unlikely the UK would ever host Eurovision again. And yet, thanks to the success of Sam Ryder and on behalf of Ukraine, the song contest will light up Liverpool in May.
Our happiness is making a recovery
“The nation’s happiness saw a really sharp downturn during the pandemic, but the latest wellbeing data from the Office for National Statistics shows that we’re now seeing levels of happiness rising again,” says Williamson. “One of the big ‘silver linings’ from the pandemic is that more people than ever are now comfortable talking about mental health and wellbeing. This trend will not only grow in 2023, it will also connect with vital conversations about social change and building a better society.”
Rail is making its revival
There is a boom in travelling by train, which is only expected to gather steam in 2023. In fact, Europe’s network of sleeper trains will grow over the course of the year: Austria’s Nightjet – complete with wireless charging points and ensuite bathrooms – is one of the exciting debuts to look out for.
It will be a great year in film
La La Land director Damien Chazelle returns with an epic (three-hour) period film, Babylon. Dune is getting a sequel. After a long time in the making, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie arrives in summer. Alice Walker’s seminal novel The Colour Purple is getting a musical adaptation. Wonka, from Bafta-award winning director of Paddington Paul King and starring Timothee Chalamet, arrives in December. Disney’s Ariel, starring Halle Bailey, will make plenty of waves.
And an excellent one for TV
Meanwhile, in television, new series of smash-hit shows on the way in 2023 include: Netflix’s Squid Game, HBO’s Succession, Netflix’s Heartstopper and ITV’s Unforgotten. BBC are also bringing back Waterloo Road, and Netflix are gifting us a Bridgerton spin-off, Queen Charlotte.
Sex Education star Ncutia Gatwa is set to take over as the Fifteenth Doctor (Photo: BBC Studios/PA)
Doctor Who marks 60 years
In 2023 we will also see the celebration of the 60th anniversary year of Doctor Who. With much-lauded showrunner Russell T Davies back at the reins, Ncuti Gatwa playing the new generation Time Lord, and a return of David Tennant, fans are somewhat excited.
Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will launch…
One of the highly anticipated space moments of 2023 is when the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launches in April. “The spacecraft will carry out mission studies to Jupiter’s moons and will reach Jupiter in July 2031 after eight years of travel,” says Dr Atma Prakash, senior lecturer in aerospace engineering at Teesside University. “It will eventually enter the orbit around Ganymede moon for its close-up mission, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than our own.”
…as will Psyche’s mission
“Another exciting plan is the Psyche mission, which is scheduled to launch in October,” adds Dr Prakash. “This is the first mission to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, which eventually could help in understanding the formation of our planet.”
Environment groups will continue to encourage change
“Undoubtedly there are huge environmental challenges ahead, but we also won a historic legal challenge that means the government is having to revise its net zero strategy to ensure the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets are met,” says Miriam Turner, co-executive director of Friends of the Earth. “This shows climate legislation has real teeth and can be enforced through our court system. The power of people to drive action on climate is limitless – and that’s giving us hope for 2023.”
There is huge cause for optimism about this year’s Women’s World Cup (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
FIFA Women’s World Cup is back
The Women’s World Cup is taking place in Australia and New Zealand in July, and after the Lionesses’ success at the Euros, everyone is thinking the same thing: could it be their year?
Electrification ramps up
The increase in electric vehicles is positive all round. “Making electric vehicles more accessible will ultimately help set the economy on course for green, sustainable growth, and help combat rising fuel prices,” says Frank Barrett, chief executive at sustainable specialist vehicle manufacturer company WN VTech. “This year, we can expect greater clarity around the infrastructure requirements for electrification, as well as new methods of funding. This will take things forward at a greater pace in 2023.”
RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch is back (Photo: Grahame Madge/RSPB/PA)
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch is back
At the end of January, RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch will bring together bird lovers once more and help paint a vital picture of our feathered friends. “A small reminder about the everyday joy of connecting to the natural world, it’s a great barometer of the state of our most commonly seen nature and something everyone can get involved in,” says the charity’s chief executive Becky Spright.
Manchester is opening a long-awaited new arts venue
Manchester’s new £186m arts venue Factory International is opening at last. It will be the permanent home of the biennial Manchester International Festival, which begins in late June and will feature a stage adaptation of The Matrix and host the largest-ever immersive Yayoi Kusama exhibition.
30 Days Wild returns
One of the UK’s most popular nature challenges will be back in June. The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild event inspires people across the UK to try one “random act of wildness” every day for 30 days, be it listening to birdsong or identifying a wildflower.
Tech will get even smarter
“In 2023, I think we’ll see an explosion in smart city tech and applications,” says Matt Lewis, commercial research director at NCC Group. “From smart traffic lights to manage congestion, to smart ride-sharing services to help cities become more sustainable, these smart advancements will transform the ways cities run.”
Brighton will get a new heated lido
Not everyone enjoys cold water swimming. Those who like their dips to be at least 25ºC, thank you very much, will be pleased to hear Brighton’s new beach-side 50m lido, opening in spring, is heated.
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There could be a watershed moment in housing
The Centre for Ageing Better, along with partners in the Housing Made for Everyone coalition, have long campaigned for more accessible and adequate housing. “[This year] could herald a watershed moment, a moment where the pendulum swings and we begin to see homes built that meet the needs of people,” says deputy director Holly Holder. “The government has committed to raising minimum accessibility standards on all new homes – 2023 should be the year that this becomes enshrined in law and maybe even the year that change begins to take effect.”
Young V&A will open
Five years after it closed, London’s V&A Museum of Childhood is reopening in the summer as Young V&A. It promises to be unrecognisable, but even more fun for kids.
Creative Access will champion more under-represented talent
Under-represented and disabled talent will get greater access to careers and training support from employers this year, thanks to the work of Creative Access. In particular, they have received huge interest from organisations seeking to upskill to support disabled talent, and will be running a number of workshops to empower them to take action in 2023.
There’s a move towards nutrition in food industry
While the food and drink industry has faced huge challenges, industry expert Jane Milton feels there are some positive trends. “Consumers are seeking out healthier prepared foods and are opting for ‘better for you’ choices,” she says. “New brands that typify this are Good Things Snacks, and Apres Foods, a range of organic prepared meals that pivoted from being a restaurant in the pandemic.”
Holidays are on the up
Forty million British people are planning trips away this year, according to research from Booking.com, which is up 11 per cent from 2022.
The journey is the holiday when it comes to the boom in rail travel (Photo: Getty Images)
Sydney hosts historic Pride celebrations
Sydney is hosting World Pride this year, which is the first time the event has taken place in the southern hemisphere – and marks the 50th anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride Week.
There’s an independent retail boom
“In 2023, independent retailers have cause for optimism by harnessing a superpower that will help them succeed despite ongoing economic uncertainty: agility,” comments Olivier Buffon, head of international at the online wholesale marketplace Faire. “Smaller, community focused retailers are armed with more resilience because they are able to adapt to consumer demands and curate their supply in almost real time.”
National Galleries of Scotland will re-open
The main building of the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh has been under construction for what feels like forever, but when it reopens to the public in the summer it will be worth it: think transformed exhibition spaces and lovely views over Princes Street Gardens.
The Mental Health Act is on the cusp of reform
“Even at a time when people are struggling with their mental health and the NHS is under increasing pressure, there’s still light on the horizon,” says Lucy Schonegevel, associate director for policy and practice at Rethink Mental Illness. “We’re on the cusp of reform of the Mental Health Act, with new legislation inching closer to becoming law. For the thousands of people who’ve campaigned for the archaic Mental Health Act to be overhauled, this is hugely significant.”
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The circular economy grows
As we become increasingly aware of the environmental damage caused by our consumer-driven economy, the growing interest in the concept of a circular economy – with the likes of Vinted and Depop – is a light on the horizon. “The aim of the circular economy is to ensure that resources such as textiles, metals and plastics are reused over and over again rather than being thrown away,” says Geri Cupi, founder of Twig. “This prevents excess waste being sent to landfill and diminishes our need to rely on finite resources.”
Progress in immunotherapy will help tackle cancer
“The past few years has seen the emergence of powerful research technologies that are opening up a whole raft of treatment options,” says Dr Samuel Godfrey, research information lead at Cancer Research UK. “Immunotherapies offer a powerful tool that could complement chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery – and we have seen several recent headlines showing the success of these treatments. There are still some challenges, but I’m interested in some of the CRUK-funded work by Sergio Quezada at UCL who made a discovery that could increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy for many.”
Disney celebrates 100 years
The Walt Disney Company is celebrating its centenary with a number of highlights across the year, including UK-wide concerts, a documentary, and special events in each of its theme parks.
There will be better representation of disabled people both on and off screen
ScreenSkills are training access co-ordinators committed to improving representation and removing barriers in the TV and film. “While stereotypes and discrimination still proliferate, there is a shift, especially regarding neurodiversity,” says Professor Jason Lee, British Academy Innovation Fellow at De Montfort University. “This increase in awareness on and off screen and in equality in employment practices will progress in 2023, and have a knock-on impact, altering not just perceptions but reality.”
We have sports momentum to build on
“Who can forget the achievements of the wonderful Lionesses or the buzz across Birmingham and the West Midlands during the Commonwealth Games,” says Simon Morton, deputy chief executive at UK Sport. “Powered by National Lottery support, the UK hosted over a dozen major international sporting events across 25 towns and cities during 2022 in what proved to be a record-breaking year for sport. Given sport’s ability to unite communities, even in the most trying of circumstances, we have the opportunity to capitalise on this momentum as we enter the new year.”
Nextdoor Nature gets bigger and better
The Wildlife Trusts’ Nextdoor Nature project – a new way of bringing communities together to help nature flourish – will step up a gear in 2023 with a new digital platform to provide people with the advice and support they need to protect nature on their doorstep.
Race for Life celebrates 30 years
Cancer Research celebrates 30 years of Race for Life in 2023. It has raised more than £940m since the first event. “For the three decades, we’ve brought together people from across the country to run, walk or jog against cancer and as Race for Life enters its 30th year, we aim to make it the most impactful year yet,” says Clare Moore, director of Race for Life.
A new diabetes drug is looking positive
A new type of diabetes treatment might be on the horizon. “The glucagon-like peptide receptor agonist (GLP-1) drug, which has entered a third stage of clinical trial, is helping to improve insulin levels among those suffering from diabetes and control post-meal blood sugar level spikes,” says nutritionist Arina Kuzmina. “Another great benefit of this medication is that unlike any other, it needs to be injected once a week only, lowering the costs for those with diabetes. I am looking forward to seeing where 2023 will take this research to and I feel optimistic about the results.”
The Rugby World Cup is back
Four years after it was last held in Tokyo, the Rugby World Cup is coming back to Europe as France hosts the competition. After South Africa beat England in the final in 2019, the game is on.
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There’s King Charles III’s coronation
You don’t have to be a monarchist to accept that the coronation of the King in May is undoubtedly a significant historical event, one that few generations get to witness. And it’s not every year we get an extra Bank Holiday.
Northumberland is getting a shrine to whisky
Come February, a new Anglo-Saxon Museum and English whisky distillery will open in Northumberland. Ad Gefrin is a long overdue celebration of the area’s 200-year history of distilling.
Showtown will open in Blackpool
Where better for the UK’s new museum of fun and entertainment than Blackpool? Described as “all singing and all dancing”, Showtown will be located right in the heart of things on the Prom and opens its doors later in 2023.
It is shaping up to be another stellar year for book lovers
Jessie Burton is blessing us with a sequel to the literary sensation that was The Miniaturist; Lorrie Moore is returning with her first novel in 14 years, If This Is Not My Home, and Margaret Atwood is publishing her first short story collection since 2014, Old Babes in the Wood. Other highly-anticipated books include: Colson Whitehead’s Crook Manifesto, Jojo Moyes’ Someone Else’s Shoes, and Salman Rushdie’s Victory City.
Flexible working will continue to rise
The huge success of this year’s four day working week trial (86 per cent of companies said they were likely to continue with the model) will pave the way for more flexible working practices in 2023.
Hamnet is being staged in Stratford-upon-Avon, giving Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway a starring role in the town where she lived (Photo: Getty Images)
Shakespeare’s wife is getting a hometown tribute
An adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel Hamnet is being staged in Stratford-upon-Avon, giving Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway a starring role in the town where she lived.
The Jumanji theme park will be unveiled
Almost 30 years after Robin Williams’s famous fantasy film was first released, the UK is getting the world’s first Jumanji theme park. Opening in spring at Chessington World of Adventures, it will span 128 acres.
Leeds has its Year of Culture
After its bid to be named the European Capital of Culture 2023 was derailed due to Brexit, Leeds has decided to host its own Year of Culture so that the hard work and £1m already spent wouldn’t go to waste. Events will celebrate everything from the city’s art to pop, design to sport.
There’s progress in early cancer detection
“Diagnosing cancer early, when it’s more treatable, is one of the best ways to improve survival,” says Dr Samuel Godfrey. “There are big opportunities therefore in the early detection space, including trials for blood tests like the Galleri test and trials of simple technology like the cytosponge. Anything that can shift the stage of diagnosis of a cancer will save lives, and I think the next couple of years will be big for this field.”
Directed by Marie Kreutzer. Starring Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz, Jeanne Werner, Alma Hasun, Manuel Rubey, Finnegan Oldfield. 15A cert, gen release, 115 min
In Kreutzer’s innovative historical drama, Krieps plays Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the beloved 19th-century monarch whose 1898 assassination – an event transmogrified by Kreutzer’s script – was part of an escalating sequence that led to the first World War. Corsage shares some obvious DNA with Pablo Larraine’s Spencer and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. But where those films swoon for their put-upon heroines, Krieps brings an unapologetic flintiness. Kreutzer’s inventive fifth feature is complemented by cinematographer Judith Kaufman’s original high-angled dinner tables and low-angled horses. Take that, The Crown. TB
The Kingdom: Exodus ★★★★☆
The Kingdom: Exodus. Photograph: Henrik Ohsten/Mubi
Directed by Lars Von Trier, Morten Arnfred. Starring Mikael Persbrandt, Bodil Jorgenson, Lars Mikkelsen, Alexander Skarsgard, Willem Dafoe, Udo Kier. Mubi, 312 min.
The concluding five episodes of Von Trier’s spooky hospital series come together as the most unsettling Christmas movie of all time. Returning a quarter of a century after season two, we wind the usual morass of scuzzy, messed-up horror – this time threaded with metatextual gags. Almost everything Von Trier does, even when deathly serious, is some sort of a joke. Indeed, he is, perhaps, at his most jocular when at his most earnest. Boasting diverting, angular performances, The Kingdom: Exodus is mischievousness on a dementedly grand scale. There is nobody quite like Von Trier. DC
France ★★★★☆
Blanche Gardin and Lea Seydoux in France. Photograph: Kino Lorber
Directed by Bruno Dumont. Starring Léa Seydoux, Blanche Gardin, Benjamin Biolay, Emanuele Arioli, Juliane Köhler, Gaëtan Amiel, Jawad Zemmar, Marc Bettinelli. Mubi 133 min
The latest from the endlessly unpredictable Dumont is as broad as the hexagon-shaped country it giddily satirises. Shots are fired at the 24-hour news cycle, embedded journalism, and Macronism in a having-it-all melodrama built around a celebrity journalist bluntly named France de Meurs (Seydoux, never better). Dumont has seldom attempted so many swerves and shifts as he manages here. France, like the director, makes for a pleasing guessing game. The late composer Christophe, whose iconic track Road to Salina enlivened Kill Bill Vol 2 and Let the Bodies Tan, takes his final bow with a superb score. TB
Wildcat ★★★☆☆
Wildcat. Photograph: Trevor Frost/Prime Video
Directed by Melissa Lesh, Trevor Beck Frost. Featuring Harry Turner, Samantha Zwicker. Limited release, 106 min
A couple in a remote part of the wilderness make friends with a young wild cat and seek to educate the beast towards a release back into its natural habitat. Sound familiar? This often gripping documentary looks to have translated the story of Born Free to contemporary Peru. Harry Turner and Samantha Zwicker work hard to rehabilitate an orphan ocelot while Harry seeks to process traumas hanging over from his time serving in Afghanistan. The nature photography is strong, but the film is ultimately more concerned with Harry than his charge. An odd beast. DC
Usually people flock to Peggys Cove to see the iconic lighthouse, but on Saturday morning they were looking for something different.
Armed with binoculars and a photo identification guide, families searched the water for bird species and recorded what they found.
As part of the event, children were encouraged to participate.
The annual Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running citizen science project in North America, said Becky Parker, executive director of Nature Nova Scotia.
Every year on the same day, groups of volunteers in different regions go out and count as many birds as they can in the same 24-kilometre radius.
“The Christmas bird count since 1900 has been really valuable for generating oodles of data from sites across North America,” Parker said.
The Nova Scotia counts take place between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5.
The data is then submitted to a database that can help researchers track each bird species. It’s used in reports like The State of Canada’s Birds.
This is the first time the count has been conducted at Peggys Cove. Close to 100 people showed up.
Parker said though the project has been going on for more than a century, the technique has modernized over time.
“Back in the day, it was a little less ethical of a count,” she said.
“They used to shoot the birds out of the sky, create a big pile, and then have a competition with their friends and see who would get the most. So it did create some really interesting data, but we do things kind of differently today.”
Guns are no longer involved, but the kids did borrow supplies to help them see the faraway birds.
“I did kind of see it with my monoculars, but it was black and it was too far away, so it was like a dot,” said Diana Lee, age five.
That’s why people like Jason Dain were on site to help identify things that may look like a black dot to the untrained eye.
“Today we had 18 species so far, which is pretty good for this time of year,” said Dain, who is on the board of directors of the Nova Scotia Bird Society.
“We probably had a couple hundred individual birds today, so there was probably 30 harlequin ducks and probably a dozen or two dozen long-tailed ducks.”
Dain said some of the species seen every year are common, but some are at risk, like the harlequin duck. He said over the years, he has noticed increasing numbers.
“It feels good, it’s like you like to contribute to the data set and contribute to the population monitoring and they’re such a beautiful duck,” he said. “They have lots of character and lots of personality.”
“My mom probably just brought me here because we always stay inside and play the Nintendo Switch usually, and she always wants us to go out and take a walk, but I never want to,” Emberly said.
Dain said it’s important to get kids interested in animals and nature while they’re young.
Artificial intelligence is all over the news. When ChatGPT, OpenAI’s new chatbot, was released last month it seemed, finally, to match the hype that generative A.I. has been promising for years—an easy-to-use machine intelligence for the general public.
Wild predictions soon followed: The death of search engines, the end of homework, the hollowing-out of creative professions.
And, for the first time, such predictions didn’t seem abstract. When an A.I. bot like ChatGPT can write a coherent story or essay in seconds, and visual applications like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2, produce similarly comprehensible images you have to wonder if human creativity—slow and often uncertain—might be superfluous.
“Long Distance Art.” A robot arm in London replicates a drawing being created by Austrian artist … [+] Alex Kiessling in Vienna.
Copyright 2013 AP. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
We’ve been here before.
In 1839 a French painter named Louis Daguerre revealed an invention to the Académie des Sciences and the Académie des Beaux Arts in Paris that stunned their members—a process for taking and fixing a photographic image.
The enthusiasm for his invention, the daguerreotype, was immediate and off the charts. And so were predictions for how it might change the world.
Giroux daguerreotype camera, 1839.
SSPL via Getty Images
After seeing his first daguerreotype, the artist Paul Delaroche exclaimed, “From today, painting is dead!” On one level, he was right. The kind of painting practiced by Delaroche, ultra-realistic and painstakingly rendered portraits, would largely be replaced by photographs. But other artists saw potential in the new technology and quickly incorporated it into their creative process.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec photographed his models so he could continue painting when they were no longer sitting in front of him. Edgar Degas described photographs as “images of magical instantaneity.” He reveled in the way a photograph could freeze time and show aspects of motion that had never been seen before.
Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1915-26, oil on canvas, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.
Corbis via Getty Images
Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro began dramatizing the color, light and movement of a scene, using thick oil pigments and broad brush strokes that made their canvases look like sculpture. Several decades later, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí returned to a more realist style in their paintings, but with images that a camera could never capture—the human dream-state.
In America, a young painter named Mathew Brady learned about Daguerre’s invention and decided to abandon painting altogether. Brady opened a photography studio in New York City in 1844 and quickly established himself as a master of this new art, taking portraits of the most famous public figures of his time.
But it was his decision in 1861 to abandon the studio and take his equipment to the Civil War battlefields that established Brady’s place in history as the founder of an entirely different profession, photojournalism.
American Civil War: Dead soldier lying in the road. Photographed by Mathew Brady on May 3, 1863.
Getty Images
For the first time, the public at home saw the reality of war—dead men sprawled across the road, trees shorn of their leaves and branches from a hail of bullets, amputations being performed in squalid field hospitals.
War had been recorded by painters for hundreds of years. But few ever saw a battle with their own eyes. If they did, a sketch and their memory of the event was all they had to guide them. Photography allowed incidental horrors to be documented. A soldier’s recurring nightmare could now become our own.
Photographic sequence of a horse galloping. Taken in 1878 by Eadweard Muybridge, British-American … [+] photographer.
SSPL via Getty Images
By the last years of the 19th century photographic techniques had advanced to the point where they were revealing truths about nature that artists had missed for thousands of years. How did a horse gallop? Renderings before Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies in 1878 show it one way. Ever since then we know it, and see it, differently.
In 1893 Thomas Edison announced the Kinetoscope, a machine for viewing moving images. Just two years later in Paris, the Lumière brothers invented a machine for projecting film, called the Cinématographe. Photography now had motion and a rapt audience.
Poster for the Lumiere brothers cinematograph, “L’Arroseur arrose” in 1895, Museum of Advertising, … [+] Paris.
Corbis via Getty Images
In our time, photography’s reach has only grown—from full-length Hollywood movies on our phones to immersive virtual landscapes in our VR headsets.
When people saw photographic images for the first time, soon after photography’s invention, they often marveled at its strangeness—the extreme tonal range and foreshortening, the unusual perspectives, the arbitrary framing, the capturing of the immediate and the casual.
But then, with time and familiarity, they began to see the world the way a camera sees. It’s hard for us to imagine that mental shift. Everyone living today has always known photography. We can’t go back.
Perhaps this is our future too. What now feels shocking and portentous may be something we soon can’t imagine living without. Photography gave us new eyes. Who knows what creative tools A.I. will offer?
Many of these articles highlight the natural wonders across the US, but many of them would not exist if it weren’t for the work put forth by conservationists. Our national parks were not always the federally protected lands they are today, and had it not been for environmentally conscious individuals pushing back against industrialists, we might never have had anything preserved.
Let’s take a look at the life and decades of work put forth by one of America’s most prominent conservationists, John Muir. If you’ve not yet heard of him, you’ll know soon enough that he was partly or wholly responsible for an impressive number of protected national parks across the country.
The whites and ingidos of an alpine meadow of lupine mirror the crags and glaciers of Mount Rainier National Park’s eponymous peak. The highest summit in the Pacific Northwest, the dormant volcano slumbers peacefully beneath the quiet grandeur of a midsummer sunset. Fine Art Limited Edition of 100.
The Life of John Muir | John of the Mountains
Despite being born in Scotland, John Muir was heavily involved in US forestry conservation efforts throughout his life. He left his home country at about the age of eleven to live and work on a Wisconsin farm with his family. Muir spent much of his youth working from sunrise to sunset, but in 1860, he left the farm to attend college in Madison.
He worked toward inventing machinery after finishing his schooling, but following an injury, he ceased inventing and started pursuing natural and creative efforts. He traveled throughout the US (and later the world), kept a journal about his adventures, wrote various articles that were published in popular magazines of the time, and put his heart into preserving the natural world.
John Muir died from pneumonia in 1914, in his seventies, but the effort he put into his passion for the outdoors is recognized even today.
Wisps of fog drift silently down a lush hillside in the foothills of Mount Rainier National Park. Wraithlike, stands of fir and aromatic red cedar keep watch in the sheltered vales. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”
John Muir Artistic Works
During his lifetime, John Muir wrote an impressive body of work, which included roughly 300 articles and ten full-length books that detailed his adventures, discussed his thoughts and feelings about nature, and encouraged others to take part in enjoying the great outdoors.
Some of his most popular books include A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, The Yosemite, Stickeen, Our National Parks, My First Summer in the Sierra, and The Mountains of California.
Essays and articles he penned were published in Century Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, the New York Tribune, and Harper’s Magazine (then called Harper’s New Monthly Magazine). Most of the topics of these articles involved the natural world in some way. Some were meant to display the appeal of the forests, others were written to note the behaviors of wild animals, and others still were originally letters from himself to friends, colleagues, and government leaders.
Some of Muir’s journals were released after his death as well, covering many of the experiences he had and thought-provoking philosophies that came to mind during his travels.
Liquid sun laps like the waves on a beach over a meadow of lupine and paintbrush in Mount Rainier National Park. Low banks of fog move through the valleys beneath the torn peaks of a dark mountain ridge, its snowy crags warmed by the embers of a dusky sky. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
John Muir Preservation Efforts
Muir loved and respected the natural world, and the more he saw of it, the greater his resolve became. By 1876, he was already calling for conservation efforts to become law so that the vast forests of the US would have federal protections.
Unlike some conservationists of the time, like Gifford Pinchot, John Muir supported the complete preservation of national parks and forests, meaning that he was fully against the idea of allowing industrial interference. In his view, the natural world was one that should be off limits to those who sought to profit from any form of its destruction. This view was in contrast with conservationists who supported the idea of sustainable usage of various natural resources.
Muir’s writings were one of the driving forces behind pulling the public’s attention to the risks that came with the exploitation of the land, and his devotion to his cause helped bring the public’s opinion toward supporting conservation as well. The work he put into protecting national parks and forests helped cement the designation of 13 national forests in the US, and his influence helped spearhead the development of President Roosevelt’s conservation program.
Muir’s work also influenced the establishment of Mount Rainier as a national park in 1899 and the creation of the Grand Canyon National park in 1919, five years after his death.
However, it must be noted that Muir’s views toward the Indigenous Americans whose ancestors lived across the continent for centuries before settlers arrived were quite negative by today’s standards. Rather than showing support for the people whose very histories were entwined within the natural landscape, Muir was quite judgmental toward Native Americans. His opinions regarding Black Americans were not much better, as was unfortunately common in decades and centuries past.
Still, the results of his labor can’t be overlooked, as many of the national parks that exist today became a reality in some part due to John Muir. This includes Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, the Petrified Forest, and as mentioned above, both Mount Rainier and the Grand Canyon National Parks.
A dance of primary colors floods an alpine glade in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. A sunset navigates the troubled skies, painting the highest peaks of a ridge a deep velvety maroon. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir Mt Rainier National Park
While generally associated with California’s High Sierra and Yosemite National Park, the Scottish-American naturalist, author and preservationist John Muir was also instrumental in the establishment of Mount Rainier National Park. In August of 1888 at the age of 50 he joined a climbing party which included Major Edward S. Ingraham, photographer Arthur Churchill Warner and guides Indian Henry and Philemon Beecher Van Trump for an ascent of the 14,411-foot volcano.
Muir’s group became the fifth recorded climbing party to have reached Rainier’s summit. But with Warner it became the first ascent documented by photography. Muir penned his experience in Ascent of Mount Rainier. The book along with Warner’s photos helped brought public awareness to the area and the need to protect it. And while Muir was impressed with being upon the mountain, he felt that it was better appreciated from below. He saw the value in preserving the area’s vast old-growth forests and pristine alpine meadows. In 1898 he wrote in The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West, If in the making of the West, Nature had what we call parks in mind-places for rest, inspiration, and prayers -this Rainier region must surely be one of them.
On March 2, 1899, a little over a decade after Muir’s ascent, Mount Rainier became America’s fifth national park.
A chill dawn sets the sky alight behind the bristled silhouettes of a stand of cedar and fir. A ghostly mist hangs over the mirror-like surface of the lake, cloaking the shore in a veil of lavender. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
“…the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”
The Sierra Club
One of Muir’s greatest achievements was founding the Sierra Club, an environmental organization that still exists today. In 1892, Muir, along with a group of other conservationists in California established the group and Muir served as the first president. It was a role he held until his death. The club was both a group for individuals who cared about preserving the natural world as well as a collection of activists who pushed back against efforts to reduce protections for national park lands. One of the group’s first missions involved stopping the push to decrease the size of Yosemite’s protected landmass.
Some of the group’s founding members included Joseph LeConte, Warren Olney, Willard Drake Johnson, and William Kieth. A couple of these names might be familiar, as LeConte and his colleague Henry Fairfield Osborn were deeply involved in the US’s eugenics movement.
Fortunately, the views of the time evolved and so did the club’s membership. The modern-day Sierra Club is far more inclusive and while it has distanced itself from the racism and antisemitism that put a blot on an otherwise fantastic cause, today’s leadership group acknowledges the issues of the past.
As of now, the Sierra Club is still at it, pushing for the protection of forests, parks, and wildlife. The club is a testament to the possibilities that can come to light when human beings work together toward a common good. The fact that the US has not been entirely destroyed to make way for factories, gated neighborhoods, and other business interests means that we owe the Sierra Club and its members a debt of gratitude.
So, the next time you’re out in nature, enjoying the wonder around you and taking in landscapes that only seem possible in paintings, take a moment to consider one of the many individuals who put their life’s work into preserving these beautiful places.
The jagged spires of Mount Whitney, highest peak in the contiguous U.S., are sparked to golden flame by the blaze of the dying sun. A wreath of snow and pitch-black pines drape the grand entrance to the cloudborne tower. Fine Art Limited Edition of 50.
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