#OptOutside with REI

November 25, 2016November 23, 2016 | cartographiclandscapes

rei-2016-go-outside-photo

It’s Black Friday! — the world day of shopping for the United States. This Black Friday, give up wandering aimlessly around the mall being bombarded by loud scratchy music and sparkly signs. Give up slumping in front of the screen, credit card in hand, scrolling and scrolling and scrolling through page after page of objects. Instead — GO OUTSIDE! There’s a real world there, a world of cold or heat or wet or dry or sunny or gloomy and with people or all alone by yourself. Go out and enjoy it. Even if all you’re doing is sitting on a bench looking at a river. Go outside!

The Op-Ed Project

November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 | cartographiclandscapes

OH Monroe Fly Sistersville Ferry waiting for the ferry — doors are opening

The research team just spent an exhilarating and strenuous two days with the The Op-Ed project. The Op-Ed project teaches women and underrepresented minorities how to get their voices into the mix of public comment by teaching us how to write op-eds. It’s not the writing that’s hard — it’s the strength to do it! We learned to think of ourselves as experts. We are the experts on parks along the Ohio River because, over the past two years, we have visited and analyzed more than one hundred of those parks, and because we have been invited to be on the Steering Committee of ORBA, the Ohio River Basin Association. We learned to generate op-ed pieces based on upcoming events, not just to respond to events that already have happened. And we learned that we have a national voice, not just a local one. We learned a lot, and you should expect to see Op-Eds about the Ohio River Parks Project in local newspapers in the coming year. If you are interested in making your voice resound more broadly, check out the Op-Ed Project’s public seminars — or organize one for your own group.

River Sweep 2016

March 15, 2016October 29, 2015 | cartographiclandscapes

Be sure to sign up for River Sweep 2016 — the third Saturday in June. Go down to the Ohio River and pick up trash — let’s make it possible to drink the water and eat the fish — and enjoy the river! ORSANCO has sign-up information and a FAQ sheet. Here’s a video about it:

Small towns in Southern Illinois

October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 | cartographiclandscapes

One of the research team’s acquaintances reported that, early in his career, he sold coffins for a local coffin maker. He tried out several territories — one was in southern Illinois. “It’s always the same,” he said. “You walk up to a big white Victorian house in the middle of town. There’s an old guy sitting on a chair on the porch. Inside there’s a woman behind a reception desk, and a man standing waiting to greet you. The guy on the porch is the former owner, now retired, but still coming to work every day. The woman is his daughter, and the man, her husband. That’s pretty much the pattern.” “I was offered a territory in southern Illinois,” he said. “But what would I do? I don’t do agriculture and I don’t do bass fishing. I don’t know what I’d do in my spare time. And my wife — what would SHE do? She’d divorce me if I took a territory there.”

Ohio River Bridges Project

October 10, 2015October 9, 2015 | cartographiclandscapes

The interchange of the Interstate highways that meet in downtown Louisville always has been confusing and dangerous. This project untangles several of the parts of the spaghetti bowl by building a new bridge and renovating others. It’s unusual in being a joint project of the states of Kentucky and Indiana — the constituencies have worked together very well. Here’s a video introducing the whole thing.