Battle Force of Nature

When I was a kid I loved playing with GiJoes and toy soldiers. I loved playing sports -- anything with head to head competition. I still play ice hockey.

I wonder why, for generations, children have been given toys representing violence, or taught sports symbolic of war. Perhaps it's simply a representation of the primitive struggle to survive.

But I recently listened to a talk by Dr. Jeremy Jackson, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Institution and professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, about the current condition of the oceans. The level of destruction is frightening, especially the effects from overfishing, sewage, and acidification from pollution in the atmosphere.

One quick example: overfishing and pollution has resulted in the rise of slime. As a result of nutrient pollution from sewage and agriculture, the population of phytoplankton has increased, and continues to increase, because of overfishing of shellfish that once ate phytoplankton. The phytoplankton eventually die of old age and sink to the sea floor where they decay, forming a slime and suffocating all other life such as coral, by using up the oxygen. This has created gigantic "dead zones" around the world now dominated by microbes and jellyfish.

We can sit on cliffs in Malibu, stare at the vast ocean horizon and pacify ourselves by thinking the oceans will always be big enough to sustain us, but this is the equivalent of sweeping our dirt under the rug. If we keep sailing into the sunset, we do not plummet off a flat plane -- the world is round, and humanity has globalized it. And the oceans are not merely a source of food -- they directly affect us on land, by the amount of oxygen in the air or by rising over cities like New Orleans or Miami. 

Continuous economic "growth" is unsustainable, yet I wonder what it will take to make major changes. It raises the question: Are humans inherently destructive?

Battle Force, 32" x 44", oil on acrylic sheet, 2013.

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Doodle of the Day - The Life Aquatic

Every artist needs nature. Yet I have mixed feelings about the "going green" trend, not because I am skeptical about environmental perils or global warming, but because so often it is referred to as a trend. A trend implies that it is something socially popular now, but in time will pass as it gradually becomes uncool, like wearing Airwalk shoes, or following 'N Sync, or having a mullet haircut. 

Going green, to me, is not a trend to be followed by some, but a necessary movement to include all. I recently watched a documentary narrated by the great David Attenborough about the world's oceans and it was informative but depressing because the outlook is grim, many significant fisheries may collapse by 2050, and the oceans affect everything, including the air we breathe.

For example, approximately one quarter of coral reefs around the world are already considered damaged beyond repair, with another two-thirds under serious threat. (See: http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/coasts/coral_reefs/coral_threats/.) A significant threat is ocean acidification. (See: http://www.coral.org/resources/about_coral_reefs/threats_to_coral_reefs.) Some people may wonder why we care about coral reefs anyway. But aside from their beauty, coral colonies are the backbone of oceanic ecosystems and directly affect not only fisheries and our food resources, but support the life of tiny creatures and plants called phytoplankton which contribute between 50 to 85 percent of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. (See: http://earthsky.org/earth/how-much-do-oceans-add-to-worlds-oxygen.)

Hopefully, we as a global community can continue to address these environmental concerns, implement resolutions, educate younger generations, and realize that the green movement is not a trend, but a requirement.

Thank you for reading about the paintings, sculptures, drawings, works in progress, reviews, Doodle of the Day, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark Novak. To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE :)

Doodle of the Day - Panda's Express Views on Pollution

I recently ordered lunch at Panda Express, that chain Chinese-food restaurant where customers should never brag about visiting. The employee asked me if I wanted it "for here" or "to go". I said, "For here," and she placed my food in the standard styrofoam container. I discovered that the only difference between "for here" and "to go" meant whether she would place the styrofoam container in a bag. After paying and receiving my styrofoam container of food, I walked to the utensil station where I noticed the napkin dispenser, as depicted above.

It puzzled me that Panda Express urged customers to conserve napkins, saying "save the environment, one napkin at a time", while at the same time providing a bulky, nondegradable styrofoam container to each and every customer on a daily basis, regardless of whether customers eat in or dine out:


It was fairly easy, if not crystal clear, to see through Panda Express's "pro-green" facade. Apparently, using less of the recycled napkins (so that Panda Express may minimize its costs), allows us to be unconcerned about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the vortex of floating plastics and other trash in the Pacific Ocean bigger than the size of Texas, and growing:


In any regard, the experience inspired this Doodle of the Day (click on it for larger view):


Thank you for following the Doodle of the Day and the paintings, sculpture, drawings, works in progress, reviews, and other art by Los Angeles artist Lucas Aardvark :) To see older blog posts and other doodles, click HERE.