CAVORTING AT BAKER BEACH (WE'RE TALKIN' 'BOUT... DOLPHINS*)

Did you know there's a regular pod of dolphins hanging out at Baker Beach?  Pretty damn amazing.  I saw these three in November when I was doing site visits as a committeemember advising the Presidio Trust about changes to the Coastal Trail.  

(My main recommendation was to start with a matrix of users and place typologies because, like so many other natural and coastal areas in San Francisco, there's such a broad range of visitors, i.e. tourists, birders, seniors, hikers, nudists.  And then the best re-design would address which places are best for what mix of users, rather than broadly making this narrow, steep ribbon of coast just a little better for everyone.)  

I'd read about the dolphins, and arrived early before the trail got busy and was just scanning the water while I waited.  And then they were there: jumping and moving about 150 feet offshore.  It was pretty amazing and really makes me appreciate how close nature is here in our city.

What reminded me about the Baker Beach dolphins were two separate radio interviews on KALW today; the local "Your Call" and "Earthbeat," a great Dutch environmental program, both featured the makers of "The Cove," the Academy Award-winning documentary about dolphin hunting in Japan, that we haven't seen yet, but want to very much (and are simultaneously a little afraid of--can anyone vouch for it???).  

What they described about the hunt was pretty frightening, and what they described about dolphins was pretty amazing.  Which reminded me of a great David Attenborough documentary on dolphins (with clips here in three different parts).  And an on-line conversation I'd had with my dear friend Dena about a scientist who considers dolphins "non-human persons" because of their intelligence. What do you think, or have you seen them?

*I'll do a post soon about a great hike we enjoy on a recently-reconstructed trail leading down to a small, beautiful, clothes-optional beach in the Presidio.

HORSES AND CHICKENS AND GOATS, OH MY!: RECENT GETAWAY PART II

On our recent West Sonoma trip, an incredible find was Full House Farm, where we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the Studio Cottage. Cozy, comfortable, fully fitted out and perfectly sited on a secluded, wooded slope on a working, organic farm west of Sebastopol.


Included in the very reasonable rate was a farm tour by owner Christine Cole. Christine really took the time to tell us about and introduce us to her animals, and really let us interact with them, and answer all of our questions. She clearly loves her animals and caring for and sharing them with her guests.


We talked in the stables as she led her horses in and fed them, we helped to feed the chickens, and Willow and Oreo, her two goats, nuzzled like puppies eager to be scratched. We can't wait to go back and learn how to milk them.


Christine also keeps sheep and has plenty of wild turkeys roaming her fields.


It was such a treat to stay right on the farm and get an introduction to farm life, and also be some place so quiet, removed, and relaxing. We didn't do much beyond walking the farm and country roads, visiting the animals, listening to the birds, sipping wine on the deck, watching the fog and sunsets, and soaking in the hot tub each day of our stay.

A WILD STORY

I have another piece in another show: I created the hand-made book,"the seasons of point reyes" for the 2010 Wild Book Show on exhibit at Gallery Route One in West Marin through March 28th. The Wild Book Show was created by our friends Steve Costa and Kate Levinson at Point Reyes Books as a fundraiser for G.R.O.'s Artists in the Schools program.

This is the most recent in a series of handmade books I've created using my words and photographs; I'll do some short posts on some of the previous ones soon. The theme for this year was "Rain or Shine: The Atmosphere," and I decided to focus on the seasons and what created their distinctive weather patterns of wind, fog, sun, and rain. The design concept arose from one picture of Schooner Bay off of Drakes Bay that seemed to include all the seasons in one image; I used that on the frontispieces with windows cut into the cover showing different types of weather. From there I decided to create windows through the pages to tell the story. Here's a quick video walk-through:

These are some photos from the exhibit opening this past Sunday; there are many beautiful books to see if you happen to be up that way, and bids can be placed any time in person or by phone or email for the silent auction closing on March 28th.

Goldman Environmental Prize

Yesterday, on a rare balmy evening in San Francisco, David and I attended the 20th Goldman Environmental Prize Awards at our beautiful, but unfortunately-named War Memorial Opera House. And I was finally propelled (and freed?) to post my first blog entry because this event --and the awardees' stories--never fails to inspire me and move me to tears, and this year was no exception. I flash back often to something one of last year's awardees said from the stage, "We are in grave environmental danger and have so much hard work to do, but we have to remember that Martin Luther King changed the world not by scaring us, but by making us see how that changed world could look..."

War Memorial Opera House: Stage and Chandelier

This year's awards were especially glam: Christiane Amanpour emceed, Al Gore gave the keynote, Robert Redford spoke in person in addition to his regular narration of the video on the awardees, and Tracy Chapman performed. Christiane didn't look up much from the prompter, but she was still her amazingly crisply-spoken and telegenic self. Part-time SFer Al started off in his Professor Gore persona, shvitzing like mad in the heat, and he did an odd shout-out to his biz partner in the audience, but he finally hit his "Inconvenient Truth" stride. Redford was disarmingly unrehearsed and craggily handsome (David: "He's so short in person!"); I knew his very smart and generous ex-wife Lola in New York. And it was a treat to hear local resident Tracy's live versions of "Talking 'Bout a Revolution" and "Big Yellow Taxi" since she performs so rarely; she joked that it had been hard to find upbeat environmental songs. I understand there's a big debate on whether she's sapphic, but when I see her on Valencia in The Mish, I certainly think so...

Goldman Prize Awards Program: Christiane Amanpour, Al Gore, Robert Redford, and Tracy Chapman

But I digress, because the point of the awards and this post is the awardees and their amazing stories. Each year, the Goldman Prize gives an award to one grassroots environmentalist in each of six areas of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, Island Nations, and North and South America. This year's awards highlighted work in Gabon to stop mining in newly-created national parks, in Bangladesh to halt the dumping of toxic freighters, in Russia to focus attention on chemical waste, in Bali to build safe water and trash/recycle/re-use infrastructure, in West Virginia to stop mountain-top removal coal mining, and in Suriname to prevent deforestation of tribal common lands. I always am inspired and amazed because these are truly grassroots efforts of individuals with few resources or connections who build movements and take on major issues, often facing hostile governments or well-funded corporations who put their lives at risk through intimidation, violence, and imprisonment--the awardee from Gabon alluded to how grateful he was to be allowed to leave the country to accept the award. And I don't think it is a coincidence that they are overwhelmingly upbeat, modest, and that many of them are women. As I watch and hear their stories and hear them speak in person I realize again what each of us is capable of--large and small.

Several notes: most of the awardees used the phrase "our territory" in their speeches, and I found myself wondering and hoping that they didn't intend to use those specific words with their specific connotations in English, but something more like "our home," or "where we live" since English was the primary language of only one awardee. I wish the organizers had used a lectern that could be lifted and lowered, rather than take out a mini lectern for the one awardee in a wheelchair. I sometimes wonder about the awards' hagiographic tone toward the Goldmans, but then they have done incredible things and put vast resources toward awareness around grassroots environmental efforts ($150,000 award x 6 awardees x 20 years = $18m). And I can never figure out where the award attendees are from: overwhelmingly well-off, well-dressed, older, straight, white people who I don't recognize.

The reception at City Hall that followed was again a generous and warm event overflowing with well-crafted, beautiful, and delish food and drink, and following the green theme it was a completely S.O.L.E. food gala that filled the North and South Light Courts, the Rotunda and stairs, and the balconies above. I love being in and attending events at our City Hall--it's a beautiful building that has been well-restored. And while it has some sad memories for San Franciscans, it is also has all the good memories of brave politicians and seminal legislation, gay weddings and gay pride, and other protests, movements, and memorials. I can never resist climbing the stairs and walking the halls, and I dragged David by the offices of the Gav and our Supes.

City Hall: Staircase and Main Hall

We also got to take a closer look at the cool/wild/slightly scary Patrick Dougherty willow sculptures woven into the London plane (Platanus × acerifolia) trees in Civic Center Plaza.

Patrick Dougherty artwork: toward City Hall and toward the Federal Building