Visiting California.
My unit from the bartlett is visiting California in the beginning of November.
We are going to look at both places of interest conc. architecture as well as natural sites.
apart from seeing those beautiful forests/coasts and buildings of great value I was wondering if anyone might point us towards places where the local ecosystem / impact of human activities are less well balanced \ idyllic. Perhaps industrial sites near the ocean, forest logging - even places of spillage and pollution.
We are interested in sustainability as well as seeing if we can find connections between environmental politics and its successes/failures in real - life.
Hope that makes sense
Chris
ps. any other places of any interested would be interesting for us too..we do have quite a list, but further knowledge would be appreciated
You may visit Santa Cruz as an example of what to do right. The Kron / Salz leather factory cleanup and the extremely modern recycling facilities as well as Big Creek lumber Co.'s sustainable logging practices in the redwoods are positive examples all within about 10 miles of each other. Plus you get to go to Santa Cruz - surf's up. Just south in Watsonville there's lots and lots of chemicals sprayed on the strawberry crops with lots and lots of potentially illegal immigrants working every day in those fields. Not a glaring example like strip mining, but a subtle environmental/political/socio-economic minefield anyways.
Just two cents from my old neck of the woods. I'd check around Lake Tahoe too, there's a spot worth visiting.
The #1 place (in my mind) where the human/nature balance has tilted all to one side is the Port of Long Beach. It's terrible, but strangely beautiful at night.
Owens Lake, 100 miles west of Death Valley. check out the dust control project on the east side of the lakebed. I can connect you with local tour guides if you head that way.
Thanks for your tips so far, inspiring places in there.
I will take a further look asap
Itenirary ( rough and will be modified during the next week )
Starting out in San Francisco, moving north via the Muir Wood, Sea Ranch / Red Woods. Going back towards San Fran, stopping to see H & D Meurons Wineyard, Yosemite National Park (skipping San Fran this time), then south along the coast, towards MonteRay and to L.A. Spending a couple of days there, then heading towards Palm Springs and the Joshua Tree national park ( this bit is still not certain ). then back to L.A and towards London.
Unfortunately we will not have time to see death valley ( I tried to have this one included ). Will look into the dust control project as well.
We will be going to L.A, so either the port and/or any other large industrial site will hopefully be included into those few days we spend there.
The Watsonville scenario is definately interesting . " a subtle environmental/political/socio-economic" contains many interesting aspects which all relate to ethics and environmental issues.
I was hoping to push the trip to see Tuscon air base ( mostly because I;m curious :-) ) but keep them coming.
While in Yosemite it may be of interest to look into the Hetch Hetchy situation. In the earlier 1900's San Francisco, in conjunction with the federal government, damned the Hetch Hetchy valley to provide water for the Bay Area. There is a decent overview at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy
I know in Watsonville (just north of Monterey) they were using Methyl Bromide for years. I'm not sure if it's use has been phased out yet or not. It's a Class I Ozone depleting chemical. A huge amount of the country's produce comes from this area. This is John Steinbeck "Grapes of Wrath" country and it's questionable if the plight of migrant farm workers has improved at all (or gotten worse due to increased pesticide use) since ol' John wrote his masterpiece.
stop by the Architecture for Humanity HQ in Sausalito on route to Muir woods. We will pry you away from the dark side of the force. Though if your prof is in tow he'll probably be playing some bartlett nano-tecture mind trick....
There is a pretty good english pub near Muir Beach and Bolinas is like stepping back to the 70s. btw. it's been 80 and sunny all this week.
the border fence (both sides), calexico, yuma
plastic bag abodes (really cheap architecture) in east san diego, but probably well hidden.
disneyland.
and, isn't orange county an ethical wasteland? :-)
pomboland. i wonder what that looks like.
maybe some north coast treehuggerz can show you a washed out hillside, mucked creeks. (i'm speculating, but most creeks in sub/urban ca are wiped out)
Surf, CA (10 miles west of lompoc) Set in the midst of vandenburg AFB, you can see the rockets on the hills overlooking one of the most pristine beaches left in CA.
Cameron; if we stop by Sausalito, will someone from AfH have time to introduce your agenda/projects to the group?
I have forwarded the entries to the people in charge of arranging the sites relevant to the posts - again thanks for the input, when people have looked into the information provided I hope to return with more queries,
S
Oct 24, 06 6:44 am ·
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Visiting California.
Visiting California.
My unit from the bartlett is visiting California in the beginning of November.
We are going to look at both places of interest conc. architecture as well as natural sites.
apart from seeing those beautiful forests/coasts and buildings of great value I was wondering if anyone might point us towards places where the local ecosystem / impact of human activities are less well balanced \ idyllic. Perhaps industrial sites near the ocean, forest logging - even places of spillage and pollution.
We are interested in sustainability as well as seeing if we can find connections between environmental politics and its successes/failures in real - life.
Hope that makes sense
Chris
ps. any other places of any interested would be interesting for us too..we do have quite a list, but further knowledge would be appreciated
You may visit Santa Cruz as an example of what to do right. The Kron / Salz leather factory cleanup and the extremely modern recycling facilities as well as Big Creek lumber Co.'s sustainable logging practices in the redwoods are positive examples all within about 10 miles of each other. Plus you get to go to Santa Cruz - surf's up. Just south in Watsonville there's lots and lots of chemicals sprayed on the strawberry crops with lots and lots of potentially illegal immigrants working every day in those fields. Not a glaring example like strip mining, but a subtle environmental/political/socio-economic minefield anyways.
Just two cents from my old neck of the woods. I'd check around Lake Tahoe too, there's a spot worth visiting.
The #1 place (in my mind) where the human/nature balance has tilted all to one side is the Port of Long Beach. It's terrible, but strangely beautiful at night.
It's the smoking bit off to the left.
Owens Lake, 100 miles west of Death Valley. check out the dust control project on the east side of the lakebed. I can connect you with local tour guides if you head that way.
In los angeles, visit the Center for Land Use Interpretation. they are the key to researching what you're interested in.
it's a very large state, spinner, which part(s) are you going to go see?
Thanks for your tips so far, inspiring places in there.
I will take a further look asap
Itenirary ( rough and will be modified during the next week )
Starting out in San Francisco, moving north via the Muir Wood, Sea Ranch / Red Woods. Going back towards San Fran, stopping to see H & D Meurons Wineyard, Yosemite National Park (skipping San Fran this time), then south along the coast, towards MonteRay and to L.A. Spending a couple of days there, then heading towards Palm Springs and the Joshua Tree national park ( this bit is still not certain ). then back to L.A and towards London.
Unfortunately we will not have time to see death valley ( I tried to have this one included ). Will look into the dust control project as well.
We will be going to L.A, so either the port and/or any other large industrial site will hopefully be included into those few days we spend there.
The Watsonville scenario is definately interesting . " a subtle environmental/political/socio-economic" contains many interesting aspects which all relate to ethics and environmental issues.
I was hoping to push the trip to see Tuscon air base ( mostly because I;m curious :-) ) but keep them coming.
Thanks for your help
While in Yosemite it may be of interest to look into the Hetch Hetchy situation. In the earlier 1900's San Francisco, in conjunction with the federal government, damned the Hetch Hetchy valley to provide water for the Bay Area. There is a decent overview at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetch_Hetchy
go to malibu and look at all the houses with big fat sea walls that are illegal. all these people that are trying to fight the ocean.
I know in Watsonville (just north of Monterey) they were using Methyl Bromide for years. I'm not sure if it's use has been phased out yet or not. It's a Class I Ozone depleting chemical. A huge amount of the country's produce comes from this area. This is John Steinbeck "Grapes of Wrath" country and it's questionable if the plight of migrant farm workers has improved at all (or gotten worse due to increased pesticide use) since ol' John wrote his masterpiece.
stop by the Architecture for Humanity HQ in Sausalito on route to Muir woods. We will pry you away from the dark side of the force. Though if your prof is in tow he'll probably be playing some bartlett nano-tecture mind trick....
There is a pretty good english pub near Muir Beach and Bolinas is like stepping back to the 70s. btw. it's been 80 and sunny all this week.
the border fence (both sides), calexico, yuma
plastic bag abodes (really cheap architecture) in east san diego, but probably well hidden.
disneyland.
and, isn't orange county an ethical wasteland? :-)
pomboland. i wonder what that looks like.
maybe some north coast treehuggerz can show you a washed out hillside, mucked creeks. (i'm speculating, but most creeks in sub/urban ca are wiped out)
http://images.google.com/images?q=Irrigation+circles+%7C+kern+%7C+cotton+%7C+joaquin+%7C+pivot
don't forget to wear flowers in your hair. grow some hair if necessary.
Surf, CA (10 miles west of lompoc) Set in the midst of vandenburg AFB, you can see the rockets on the hills overlooking one of the most pristine beaches left in CA.
Cameron; if we stop by Sausalito, will someone from AfH have time to introduce your agenda/projects to the group?
I have forwarded the entries to the people in charge of arranging the sites relevant to the posts - again thanks for the input, when people have looked into the information provided I hope to return with more queries,
S
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