Monday 20 August 2018

History in the Storeys of Sediments in an Ontario Lake

Hi guys, hope everything is having a great summer in the northern hemisphere/winter if you are in the south.

Just wanted to share some local news from Ontario on the research side of things, as the Weather Network reported that a team of researchers believes they may have found a treasure trove of environmental history at the bottom of a lake, which happens to be right here in Ontario!

What they're looking for is a way to examine what might have been a turning point due to human activity, changing the way our planet operates on a significant level.

Francine McCarthy, who is leading the research team, explained that Crawford Lake is an ideal place to be taking samples because nothing lives as the bottom, as the lake is 22 meters deep and anoxic, (anoxic meaning there is little to no oxygen).

If you have ever explored the Niagara escarpment, chances are the stones rocked your world. These are not only parts of the habitat beautiful to the eye, but over time they also can tell a story. McCarthy explained that over summers, pieces from the rocks bordering the escarpment will sink to the bottom. This creates layers of information-containing organic matter that can be analyzed like the rings of a tree.

The goal is to get some insight on just how much human activities have affected the environment, as these layers can help tell the story of what has happened globally through those years.

Specific information they are looking for includes amounts of materials related to human activities such as plutonium and microplastics. These can serve as something measurable to help with defining the start of the anthropocene, marking when humans really did take over the planet.

Source:
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/team-of-researchers-from-ontario-believe-a-turning-point-in-earths-history-is-sitting-in-a-lake-in-milton-brock-carleton-mcmaster-university-sediment-crawford-lake/109666

Introducing 'Cranberry Works' | feat. Ocean Minded Water(colour) Art

If you have explored the navbar recently, you might have noticed some changes to the directory from "Cirrus Photography" to "Photography & Projects".

Meet the newest sister project, Cranberry Works.

This is the name of my new online art shop being kickstarted via the online market and print shop, Society6. It features mainly artwork, and may also include some words making cameo appearances from another one of my projects. Products are printed on-demand to avoid waste, and artists of all skill levels from around the world can publish their pieces and put together collections.

I do accept custom orders and commissions for personal use and events and if you are looking for more info please visit the page in the navbar, but one of the main features of the shop will be the Ocean Minded Water(colour) series.

The name 'Ocean Minded' is meant to imply daily mindfulness of how our activities affect life in the water -and by extension, life on land- and being open to making changes in harmony with that.

Here the ones from the series featured so far:
For myself, simply going swimming or looking at animals or images of animals is always a good reminder to take shorter showers, recycle e-waste, and be careful of what I put down the drain, and it is my hope that my personal hobbies can hopefully help others feel good about making adjustments to live more in harmony with nature as well.

Also, I believe that like spending time outside, the process of creating little pieces inspired by nature can help strengthen that bond we have, and I'm not the first to see this. At many environmental conferences in school and festivals a man would often come in to do a sketch, Paint, and Shoot workshop. If you create any nature-related work you'd like to share, please don't feel shy to drop a reference in the comments, it would be lovely to see more projects.

(l~w parallel post under the same date, 20/08/2018)