{"id":75,"date":"2009-10-02T17:09:49","date_gmt":"2009-10-02T21:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/?p=75"},"modified":"2009-10-02T22:02:21","modified_gmt":"2009-10-03T02:02:21","slug":"green-living-magazine-writes-theres-something-about-franke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/green-living-magazine-writes-theres-something-about-franke\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Living Magazine writes: “There’s something about Franke”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Franke James is using her creativity to tackle climate change\u2014armed with a paintbrush and a vivid imagination\u2014and having dazzling results.”<\/em>
\n\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Franke James<\/a>, artist, author and co-founder of The James Gang, is profiled in the Fall 2009<\/a> issue of Green Living Magazine<\/strong>. The issue urges Canadians “to take a stand” and challenges them to become greener citizens.<\/p>\n

“Canadians want to do more for the environment than the proverbial ‘changing of lightbulbs,’ ” says Lindsay Borthwick<\/strong>, editor of Green Living magazine.<\/a> “The goal of this issue was to show them how. From voting to volunteering, leading by example to making climate change art, we’ve showcased the numerous ways to help individuals, families and communities work toward significant environmental change.” \"Green<\/a><\/p>\n

Green Living journalist Astrid Van Den Broek<\/strong> interviewed Franke for the profile and wrote, “James\u2019 voice comes through so strongly in her eclectic, captivating online visual essays that sometimes I feel like I\u2019ve been reading her diary entries, instead of public documents. But that\u2019s exactly why they stand out. While so much environmental messaging is filled with admirable but often abstract concepts or clich\u00e9d language that fails to connect with its audience, James manages to avoid both. Instead, she offers her atypical journey toward a greener life in these can\u2019t-click-away illustration-meets-photography-meets-storytelling essays.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Franke comments, “I was delighted when Green Living said they wanted to do an article on my environmental visual essays. However I was totally amazed<\/em> at Astrid’s thoroughness in interviewing me — even interviewing people I know from across the country. And going back to where I attended grade school! I joked that it reminded me of the Sesame Street<\/strong> segment “This is YOUR Life!”<\/a><\/em> I’m not usually the one being interviewed (if you know my work, I often interview friends, family<\/a>, pundits<\/a>, and strangers<\/a> for my essays). But I’m very grateful they decided to write the article, and honored to be part of their “Take a Stand” issue — because taking action on climate change is the #1 challenge we face. Failure to reduce CO2 emissions today imperils the future well-being of our children and future generations. Society as a whole has not gotten that message, yet.”<\/p>\n

Alex Mayer<\/strong>, Director of the Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, who helped Franke calculate the stormwater runoff for Paradise Unpaved<\/a>, was interviewed for the article. Dr. Mayer comments, \u201cI\u2019d never seen anything like these essays applied to environmental advocacy and it affected me intellectually and emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Astrid goes on to write, “Mayer\u2019s experience is echoed by Stan Kozak<\/strong>, curriculum specialist for Learning for a Sustainable Future<\/a>, who recently witnessed James\u2019 tour de force at a workshop<\/a> on climate change education. \u201cWe\u2019d spent two days looking at the science and it was not looking good. Then, bango, Franke James comes along and says \u2018do the hardest thing first\u2019 and then shows that she has done it and is still living to prove it\u2014and she is artistically thriving and maybe even seeing some financial benefits as well,\u201d says Kozak. \u201cI think Franke should be the \u2018closer\u2019 at more conferences just to keep people\u2019s spirits up\u2014and let them know there is hope if people take personal responsibility.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

“There’s something about Franke”<\/a> is a lively and entertaining read about Franke’s role as an artist, environmental author<\/a> and activist. It shares her passion, creativity and counter-intuitive advice to \u2018do the hardest thing first\u2019 with a growing audience.<\/p>\n

But the story is still being written as Franke continues to share her message of environmental art and activism. Ryan Dean<\/strong>, a 350.org coordinator at Bates College (and a recent graduate) commented on her Bates College keynote<\/a> to this year’s incoming students:<\/p>\n

“What can I say? Attending your talk<\/a> really put things into perspective for me. I can honestly say that your visit to Bates really made all of the lofty possibilities a tangible reality. I am so impressed because you not only recognize that you must take up this social responsibility yourself, but you are actually compelling enough to get others to do the same. Students here came away from your talk both with a greener conscience AND ways in which they could create activist art themselves. It\u2019s brilliant.<\/p>\n

I find your combination of activism and art completely inspiring and it has sparked an energy in me that has only grown in the days since! My head is buzzing with the number of new ideas that I am determined to see come to fruition. Thanks for everything.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Franke James is using her creativity to tackle climate change\u2014armed with a paintbrush and a vivid imagination\u2014and having dazzling results.” Franke James, artist, author and co-founder of The James Gang, is profiled in the Fall 2009 issue of Green Living Magazine. The issue urges Canadians “to take a stand” and challenges them to become greener … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Green Living Magazine writes: “There’s something about Franke””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[231,219,232,222,230,18,16,229,234,131,235,233],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-news","tag-activism","tag-alex-mayer","tag-bates-college","tag-bothered-by-my-green-conscience","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-change-art","tag-franke-james","tag-green-living-magazine","tag-learning-for-a-sustainable-future","tag-paradise-unpaved","tag-social-leper","tag-stan-kozak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":145,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesgang.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}