Monday, July 11, 2011

SUNFLOWERS TO AID FUKUSHIMA?

Check out this article.  I just read it and am amazed that they are going to use sunflowers, planting them all over the striken area, to soak up the radioactive chemicals in the soil at Fukushima.  Just imagine - where there was destruction and such abject horror, there will be fields of bright yellow sunflowers, standing tall, waving in the breeze!  (I believe Vincent Van Gogh would have loved this idea.)

http://www.care2.com/causes/sunflowers-may-heal-fukushimas-radioactive-soil.html

I've got homework to do for my online class with Suzanne McDermott.  She began with having us do some timed drawings and blind contour drawings (drawing something without looking at the object, but keeping your eyes on the paper).  Then we have to do some graphite and charcoal drawings for homework this week. 

I really would like to make drawing a part of my life more - keeping a small sketchbook in my handbag or in the car and just recording things.  Maybe I'll get there someday.  I do enjoy seeing blogging friends who sketch almost daily and record their surroundings so they can share them with me online :)  There are so many good sketching blogs online - some of my favorites that I follow are:

Sadami's Graffiti.  Sadami Konchi shares her surroundings in Sydney, Australia.

Joan Sandford-Cook.  Joan lives in England and sketches her garden and surroundings, when she's not painting.

And Cathy Gatland goes out in Johannesburg, South Africa, sketching people and places that give us a taste of her life there.

6 comments:

Sadami said...

Hi, Rhonda,
Thank you for commenting on the sunflowers project(I did not know it!) and my blog. Your blog is always humane and lovely. Please keep up.
Best wishes,Sadami

irinapictures said...

Great links, Rhonda. Thank you so much.
I wonder what they plan to do with the sunflowers grown and soaked radioactive elements. And what about birds.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Sadami :)

Irina, thank you; the article says they will plow under the sunflowers and then remove the refuse somewhere. It may not be a solution at all but the article did say they used this method at Chernobyl, too. I guess, for me, just thinking about all those sunflowers in place of the mess was uplifting. I do hope it works. (Yes, the birds will suffer by eating the worms, the insects, and the seeds, won't they?)

hw (hallie) farber said...

Interesting article. Thanks.

Autumn Leaves said...

A lovely post indeed!

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Autumn and Hallie. It will be interesting to hear of the outcome and how it helped (if it does).