BEAUTY: Photography--Hayden Williams

American photographer Hayden Williams addresses our Climate Catastrophe--and the immense frustration with the lack of acknowledgement of environmental problems, something very apparent in the US under a president who is a notorious climate change sceptic--in his series World Underwater.

In an interview with It's Nice That, Hayden said, "The spark that ignited this series was a trip to Venice. While travelling there I learned how the city is frequently flooded. It surprised me learning how Venice prepares, defends, and inevitably repairs itself from unforgiving tides. I began to imagine, 'what if the rest of the world lived like this?'

I usually have a very clear image in mind when I imagine a photograph I want to take or a scene I want to render. I imagined the two 'Pipe Dream' images of flooded subway trains when I was daydreaming about my move to New York for an internship. The subway is something many people are familiar with, so I thought it would be the perfect subject to flood.

Climate change is an obvious problem, and I find it absolutely ridiculous how many continue to deny its existence. We should be talking about how to solve it, but instead we somehow have to convince half of the world that there is something that needs to be solved in the first place."

I agree. Leaders and governments and businesses wasted nearly 30 years denying that our house is really on fire. It started in the basement, it is almost done consuming the ground floor (the images of the devastation in Australia and NSW have broken my heart), and it is about to start burning on the top floor. That is 30 years where solutions could have been proposed and implemented. How much farther along would we be right now if we had had that time? But no, financial greed and conservative/religious ignorance allowed the fire to grow. There's not much to mitigate anymore. The damage has been done and we are looking at a very grim future.

https://www.haydenclay.com/

It Starts Today In Iowa

"We can disagree and still love each other, unless..."

If you need reasons to vote...

...think about these.

DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SHAM, IT'S A JOB

BEAUTY: Photography--Danny Rowton

UK-based photographer Danny Rowton snaps pensive, mysterious night shots while most of us are sleeping:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128105854@N07/

Arctic Bath Hotel, Harads, Sweden

Situated under the northern lights in winter, and the midnight sun during the summer months, Arctic Bath is a unique hotel and spa experience that welcomes guests to immerse themselves in the elements while leaving a minimal environmental footprint behind.

The idea of a floating sauna first came to Harads resident Per-Anders Eriksson during the opening of Treehotel in 2010. At first, the vision was a glass cube on a raft. Bertil Hagström, who designed Treehotel’s The Bird’s Nest, took over the idea and in 2013 he and Johan Kauppi designed Arctic Bath’s floating, circular building.

Located just south of the arctic circle, this natural spa retreat is a reminder of the importance of forests for the entire country’s development. The architecture seamlessly integrates with the surrounding nature and is more particularly influenced by the timber floating era. For a long time, Lule River and its tributaries served as transportation routes for timber, an old tradition in the north. The construction of our circular main building, which floats on Lule River, imitates logs getting jammed in rapids, something that wasn’t too uncommon for those transporting timber.

Let an open-air cold bath under the northern sky revitalize you from the inside out as you take in the surrounding elements. You can also book a treatment with one of our certified therapists who will guide you as you find your optimal health level.

Local, pure and sustainable produce set the tone for the evening in our Scandinavian designed restaurant. Our chefs prepare a daily changing five course set menu based on local ingredients, with signature dishes including lightly smoked capercaille, Gahkku (Sámi flat bread) and Gompa (a Sámi dish with Arctic Angelica and sour milk). The culinary team at Arctic Bath is led by Kristoffer Åström and Maarten De Wilde. Kristoffer Åström has made a name for himself as “the Sámi chef” (samiska kocken) in Sweden, introducing Sámi flavours, produce and cooking techniques to a number of fine dining restaurants across the country. Local products used at Arctic Bath include dairy products, honey, beef and fresh herbs from Voullerim (40km from the restaurant), chicken and lamb from Strömnäsgården (10km from the restaurant), oil and mustard from nearby Tornedalen and reindeer, moose, wild birds, fish, berries and dried herbs from the surrounding nature in Norrbotten. All of the meat and fish served at the hotel comes from the wild, so there are no traces of pesticides or antibiotics.

https://arcticbath.se/

Bienvenue Février 2020!

par Pierre Le-Tan