words are not enough » Environment

[Garden Fresh]

Joe Kennedy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:19:27 +0000

A lot of people have yards. If they try hard, they grow green grass and sometimes have a garden with pretty flowers. My folks have a yard. It has a lot of grass. Some pretty flowers, too. (See here and here.) But my dad- he’s got to one-up those other people. That’s why my dad grows blueberries and tomatoes. He’s got lemon trees and orange trees (the lime tree froze last winter), and even a banana tree, although it hasn’t produced any fruit yet. He has a fig tree in the far back. Figs! And wouldn’t you know sometimes he even grows peppers. Last year he had bell peppers and jalapenos. Me? Oh yeah. I’ve got a tiny herb garden and maybe, just maybe if I’m lucky, some strawberries growing. But when I finally get that yard… well, it won’t just be grass. Grass is for cows.

[Battle of the Roux]

Joe Kennedy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:00:49 +0000

Back in April I was asked to photograph the Alabama Coastal Foundation‘s Battle of the Roux Gumbo Cookoff. It took me forever to get these photos edited, but now that they’re done and I’ve given a copy to the ACF, I’m posting a few here. The ACF does great things, and right now they’re working hard to educate us about the oil spill. If you’re a local, check out their website and join them! They’re on Facebook, too. The Battle of the Roux at 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center on the Causeway | April 8, 2010

[Project 365 Week 13]

Joe Kennedy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:00:57 +0000

Week Thirteen. What a week. I managed to grab some random around the house (and yard) photos, but it wasn’t until Thursday that I got the good photos. Seriously, thank God for Thursday, when I went out to 5 Rivers-Delta Resource Center to shoot the Alabama Coastal Foundation’s Battle of the Roux Gumbo Cookoff. I’ll have a bunch of photos from the Cookoff on here in a few weeks, once I’ve had a chance to edit and upload them. In the meantime, check out all my daily photos at my Posterous site.

The Privileged and the Forgotten…

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:13:09 +0000

“It is a sad fact that on this earth at this late date there are still two worlds, “the privileged world” and “the forgotten world”. The privileged world consists of the affluent, developed nations, comprising twenty-five to thirty percent of the world population, in which most of the people live in a luxury never before experienced by man outside the Garden of Eden. The forgotten world is made up primarily of the developing nations, where most of the people, comprising more than fifty percent of the total world population, live in poverty, with hunger as a constant companion and fear of famine a continual menace.”

[Norman Borlaug, "father of the Green Revolution," during his 1970 Nobel Laureate lecture]

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

[Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke 12:48b]

[Katrina]

Joe Kennedy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:00:50 +0000

I originally posted this back in February, but I decided to rewrite it and publish it on Earth Day. I’m not a scientist, and I can’t tell you anything about global warming except that it seems to be occurring, regardless of the cause. What I do know is that the management of natural resources can play a role in saving billions of lives. Had we not dredged a canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River, the washout rate of Louisiana’s barrier islands would have been drastically less severe. As all residents of the United States Gulf Coast know, those barrier islands take the brunt force of all tropical and hurricane storm surges (thereby reducing inland flooding) and substantially weaken the storm’s strength (in particular, the wind). Without the barrier islands, we see great American and humanitarian disasters. We cannot let our pride or our politics hold the lives of millions worldwide hostage.

I lived in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Central Gulf Coast region on August 29, 2005. Rather than staying in my dorm at the time, I evacuated east to my hometown of Mobile, Alabama. When I left, I had no idea I wouldn’t be back for months. When I moved back in June 2006, I immediately took stock of what was gone, what was left, and what was being rebuilt in the city.

From UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana | June 2006

One of the first places I went was north to the University of New Orleans campus at the lakeshore. UNO didn’t flood and many of those who were stuck in their homes after the waters rose found their way to the campus. After the city drained, the parking lot of the UNO Lakefront Arena became home to hundreds of FEMA Trailers, creating what my friends and I called a FEMA Farm.

From the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana | July 2006

Largely considered the most devastated neighborhood in New Orleans, the Lower 9th Ward’s condition was pretty well covered by the media. I’m still not sure how I feel about the big bus tours and disaster tourism that became the norm after Katrina. Making money from others’ destruction just doesn’t feel right. As someone who lived in the city, I did make it a point to visit the area though. My friend Doug took a few of us through the Lower 9th, where I took the photos above and below.

From Chalmette, Louisiana Near New Orleans | July 2006

The boat photos were taken in Chalmette, just downriver from the 9th Ward. Chalmette is not a part of Orleans Parish (it’s in St. Bernard Parish), but it backs up to Arabi and the Lower 9th. Water from Lake Borgne to the north topped the levees and swept the SS Dolphin into someone’s front yard. I’ll write it again: the water rose so high that a shrimping boat floated across the levee into this front yard.

Greenhouse on the Ridge…

Joe Kennedy — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:20:31 +0000

[For the winter]
I built this greenhouse for my plants.

[In the autumn]
I built this greenhouse with my hands.
I could not fit it through my door,
so there it sat on my floor.

[Until with help]
Into pieces it was tore.
Now there it sits
On my patio floor.

[Fin.]
The end.

Our Way of Life…

Joe Kennedy — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:47:02 +0000

What would happen if we stopped trying to preserve our way of life and started working to perserve life itself?

My First Apartment…

Joe Kennedy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:10:49 +0000

These things should come with instruction manuals… and 30 day return policies.

First, the good news: I’ve only seen one ant since I got back Saturday night.

The bad news: my air conditioning is still sketchy at best. All day long today, even with the A/C set between 70 and 75, I wasn’t able to get it below 80. It topped out around 85, and right now it’s at 79 (it’s been dark now for over 2 hours). The A/C doesn’t stop running; it just doesn’t do its job.

And in the bathroom I kept finding black flakes and specks around, so I checked the vent. Mold. I took pictures and I’ve written a letter to apartment management. I’m going to take it in tomorrow, but rest assured I’m going to get this dealt with.

Here’s a question for you former apartment dwellers: is this normal, or should I be upset? I’m trying not to throw a fit when a fit need not be thrown, but I’m also not interested in getting shafted by crappy management. Thoughts?

Battlefield Update…

Joe Kennedy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:56:05 +0000

This wouldn’t be so bad if the ants just paid rent and bought their own food…

I saw an ant on my nightstand and thought about Leanne’s comments, so I further inspected. Found about four working their way into my closet, so I evacuated it and discovered a fifth front. I killed a scout in the kitchen today, but that was just one. I now have battled ants in virtually every extremity of the apartment- the pantry, the fireplace, the study, the bathroom, and bedroom closet. Had I not made this discovery tonight, I’m sure it would have become a very intense battle in the coming days.

Wait… I see one now… and it just met the Thumb of Joe its forefathers spoke of. My Ortho seems to be ineffective. I find myself looking around constantly. Feeling phantom itches. They’re here. They’re watching me. They taunt me….

Communication Disruption…

Joe Kennedy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:48:40 +0000

Twenty-six hours after I realized my internet and cable were down, Charter has restored it. Last Saturday it flickered on and off for about five hours, so when it was down yesterday I figured it would come on by the time I returned from my errands (a Texas Driver’s License and lots of plastic containers for my food). I got back home around 3:30PM and found it still out, so by 4PM I was on the phone with Charter. I was told to do a few things and to wait 2 hours, calling back only if it didn’t reset as needed. It didn’t, and that meant the earliest anybody would come to fix it was today. As usual, the repair guy was about an hour later than the “scheduled repair time” of 10AM-12PM… and it was the same fella who installed things two weeks ago. (Originally they cancelled my installation because of some unknown reason, so I was stuck around the apartment all day until the appropriate steps were met and someone came. Of course, the first guy didn’t finish his install, and I had to have another guy come back to set up the outlets in other rooms last week.)

Anyway, he got it working this time, and explained that somehow everything got disconnected outside. I asked if he knew how that could happen. He said it could have been a million things. A million things indeed. I think we all know what happened.

In war the first thing to attack is means of communication. It’s doubtful anyone will ever convince me the ants didn’t do this. The war continues.