Category: Uncategorized
Beavers heal habitats
Wisconsin wolves
God is in the Details
Water?
Please join us this Saturday in person or on Zoom!
A Forest Voices of India presentation, second of a series of events focusing on the fascinating world of nature.
Saturday, July 29, at 2 pm
“Water ?”
You are invited to attend “Water?,” a talk and discussion led by Bart Battista.
At the Nomad Café, at the Port of Entry, Kanab, UT
There will be music too, by Bobbi Chaney!
This Saturday, July 29, 2 PM!
Bart Battista As a Major in the Marine Corps, Bart Battista focused on managing the environment. Both a scientist and an engineer, he has a Masters degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management, with a specialization in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. Working with Battelle as a research scientist, he organized an environmental clean-up project in both the southwest U.S. and in Japan. Later, as the operations manager and lead environmental planner at Camp Pendleton, with a team of 100, he oversaw the drinking water and wastewater systems on 125,000 acres, with 70,000 people working there. At Best Friends Animal Society, he is the Facilities and Infrastructure Manager, keeping major systems functioning.
A captivating speaker, Bart Battista will give us a clear view of water systems throughout Utah and the southwest, including our aquifers and how they work, will tell us about amazing aspects of the physical nature of water, and will talk about our changing relationships to water – followed by a discussion. Water is relevant to all of us.
Here is the zoom link for anywhere in the world –
2:30 pm, July 29, U.S. Mountain time:
https://suu-edu.zoom.us/j/96820541578
Note: The Zoom link will begin at 2:30 pm, not at 2 pm.
We look forward to seeing you!
Sharon
Sharon St Joan,
Forest Voices of India
What is happening to the Mogao Caves
By Sharon St Joan
In 2011, I, along with several friends, visited China. One of the more amazing sites we saw were the Mogao Caves. (The photo is of caves that are somewhat similar to the Mogao Caves.)
Far out into the Gobi Desert lies the city of Dunhuang. The atmosphere there is somehow reminiscent of frontier towns in the southwestern U.S. during the late nineteenth century. There is the sense that one is far, far from civilization. The population is around 180,000 – so not that small.
Nearby lie the Mogao Caves. These are caves inside cliffs, along a long natural wall, which house some of the most beautiful examples of Buddhist art spanning around one thousand years, from around 400 CE to 1400 CE. There are many thousands of paintings and sculptures, found inside the system of around 500 cave temples. They are very striking works of art.
There are also documents that were found, in recent decades, in a hidden cache of ancient writings. Apparently, they were found, unexpectedly, hidden in a compartment behind a wall. Many of these documents were sent to Beijing, but some remain. Some are very ancient, written in various languages. We were told that some still remain undeciphered.
Very sadly, in an article on July 17, 2023, the Washington Post writes that recent floods and heavy downpours have caused extensive damage to the caves and to the artwork. This is quite hard to imagine since the caves are in an area, far out in the desert, that has been excessively dry for around 1500 years.
Now, out of the blue, moisture is causing severe damage. Water vapor levels can cause salt to crystallize, resulting in the dislodging of the paint. A certain distance from the Mogao Caves, in the Jinta Temple Grotto, humidity levels reached 93 percent during a severe downpour last year.
1,000 miles to the southeast of Dunhuang, in the grottoes of Maijishan, in two of the caves, more than half the murals had fallen off.
All this is happening despite a great deal of attention and hard work on the part of both international and Chinese conservationists and environmentalists who are well aware of the problem and who are attempting to save the ancient artwork.
Incredibly beautiful, irreplaceable, ancient artwork is being destroyed by downpours in an area that has been dry for thousands of years. Now, unpredictably, the art work is gone. It is a tragedy when beautiful artwork is destroyed. But somehow the tragedy is compounded when the artwork is very ancient and is also part of history that has endured for many centuries.
© Copyright, Sharon St Joan, 2023