Louise Conner

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The Art of Creation: Indigestible

Dec 5, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

Three days ago on December 1, it was announced that what was intended to be the fifth and final meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5), had ended without an agreement being reached. In March 2022, the UN passed a resolution setting the end of 2024 as the target date for the adoption of a finalized, legally binding international treaty on plastics pollution, including marine plastics.
The Art of Creation: Real? Or Not?

Nov 21, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

COP29 (the Conference of the Parties, or the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference), which concludes on November 22, has had its controversies and critics. From the choice of the host country, Azerbaijan, to the progress (or lack thereof) in making decisions significant enough to truly combat climate change, some wonder about the efficacy of this climate conference.
The Art of Creation: Loss and Hope

Nov 14, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

Maya Lin is an artist/architect who rose quickly to fame when, as a college student at Yale, she submitted the winning design for the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, DC. Since then, she has created such an impressive body of work that she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 by President Barack Obama. A consistent theme in Lin's work is a deep concern for and connection to the natural environment.
The Art of Creation: Wild Things Reprise

Nov 7, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

Three and a half years ago on April 22, 2021, we launched The Ecological Disciple. My column began with a favorite poem written by a favorite poet of mine—Wendell Berry. Today, we share this post again, with a few minor updates, as a spark of light against the fear and despair that I and many people I know are currently experiencing. If you, too, find yourself in need of an antidote to hopelessness, I pray that these words will be a comfort and an encouragement.
The Art of Creation: Lead Us

Oct 31, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

During this current national election season in the United States, many of us who live here are experiencing a heightened sense of concern for the future of the earth and its inhabitants. This acute concern can actually make it difficult to find the words we want and need to pray. As a possible entry into your own prayers, no matter where on this earth you live, I share this short prayer from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The Art of Creation: Wings, Not Feathers

Oct 24, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

When thinking of well-known wildlife artists, John James Audubon is often the name that comes immediately to mind. His realistic detailed portraits of birds have habitually set the standard for other wildlife artists. Charley Harper, who lived from 1922 to 2007, was a different kind of wildlife artist, however, and he quipped that he was probably the only wildlife artist who had never been compared to Audubon.
The Art of Creation: Teaching a Giant to Step with Care

Oct 17, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

The island country of Palau (located 500 miles southwest of the Philippines) consists of approximately 340 islands for a total area of 180 square miles—the fourth smallest country in the world. Palau has the most diverse coral fauna of Micronesia and a high density of tropical marine habitats.
The Art of Creation: Not Your Typical Postage Stamp

Oct 3, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

In 1951, the United Nations became authorized to issue postage stamps, thus becoming that only organization in the world that is neither country nor territory authorized to do so. It is also the only postal authority issuing stamps in three different countries in three different currencies: Geneva (francs), Vienna (now euros), and New York (dollars). The stamps are valid as postage worldwide for mail originating from one of these three postal offices.
The Art of Creation: Silent Spaces

Sep 26, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

In a world where noise is pushing into all the corners of the world, acoustical ecologist Gordon Hempton advocates for the preservation and protection of listening and silence. By recording sounds such as the wind blowing through a driftwood log and a bird chorus in Costa Rica, he highlights natural sounds that are usually buried underneath the noise that humanity fills the world with. His definition of silence is not absolute soundlessness.
The Art of Creation: Leaf Bowls

Sep 19, 2024 | ecodisciple.com | Louise Conner

Leaves are beginning to drift down from the maple trees in my back yard. Before long, they will begin to decompose—a fascinating process as the membranes disintegrate into transparency until only the outline of their skeletons remain. Kay Sekimachi, now 97 years old, is a well-known and admired textile artist, who has spent years creating interesting and original textile designs, such as the one pictured above.