Category: Ecology of Bad Ideas

Why Say “Weed” in the Capitalocene?

Ellie Irons White clover blooms in two disparate habitats in Troy, New York: a brownfield on a former junkyard (left) and a residential lawn subject to frequent mowing (right). When the phrases “annoying weed” and “urban evolution” ran in a…

biPolar Bioart: USDA APHIS FDA BRS notification request

Adam Zaretsky Intro: Meet the Bipolar Flower, Bipolar (manic-depressive), Double Dipped, Zinc Fingered (ZF), GMO Arabidopsis thaliana plants. These are plants who have been ‘whole genome fracked’ in a bipolar duet of two artificial transcription factors (activating and repressing) competing…

A Great Green Desert: Into The Pit

Ryan Griffis If you drive through the flat territories of Illinois, Indiana, or Iowa — US states that form the center of a region known as the “corn belt” — you are almost certainly going to be surrounded by vast…

Symptom: Network 

Ken Ehrlich A network is a break is a fissure a metaphor an analogy a misunderstood sign a desperate attempt a domain a reminder a sense of touch a feeling. A network is a broom closet a despairing glance a…

they didn’t bring enough water

Lindsey French and Willy Smart Cautionary Signage in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 7 January 2016. Water becomes more saline as it approaches the Salton Sea. It is a lake with no outlet and no input either, other than what is…