Another National Park Geothermal Haiku

Paint Pots, BC

For centuries, the Ktunaxa, Stoney and Blackfoot First Nations used the ochre beds surrounding the ‘paint pots’ in Kootenay National Park as a source of pigments for ceremonial purposes. 

The ore was even mined for a time in the early 20th century, before it was decided that this was incompatible with the objectives of the National Park system.

What this haiku might have to do with National Park environmental objectives gets a little circuitous... Existing infrastructure may point to the less energy-intensive upgrading of existing buildings compared to tearing down and starting over with all new materials, and charging as they go could refer to any form of transportation that generates electricity while in motion.

Mid-century Northern Lights

Northern Lights in Banff

Watercolour and crayon 

©2018 Charlene Brown

I had no record of the very occasional Northern Lights we would see in Banff when I was growing up there. So I’ve used internet photos that resemble what I remember and placed them in the NE to SE sky over Banff in the positions they appeared most frequently. And now I have a record of the very occasional etc…

The main colours used in these paintings were Indanthrene Blue and Ultramarine Violet. Or maybe Carbazole Violet – I have big wadges of both on my palette and I’m not sure which is which.  I also used a Neon green crayon I bought 25 years ago as part of a set, and have had almost no use for – well, I mean look at it – where do you ever see that colour in nature?

Low Carbon Transit Haiku

Pond Inlet, Nunavut

Pond Inlet is one of the most picturesque communities in Canada’s Arctic. However, because of its isolation the cost of food and other materials such as construction supplies can be much higher than that of southern Canada. Milk is close to $4 a litre and carbonated drinks can be as much as $4.50 a can. There are environmental costs as well, because supplies must be brought in by ship during the short ice-free summer season or even more expensively and energy-intensively by air for the rest of the year.

Hence the possible appeal of low carbon airship transit. Hard to say how kinetic energy storage devices, such as flywheels, fit into any of this, but it is known that they have better lifetime cycles and higher power and capacity than static energy storage devices such as batteries or capacitors have.

Painting Waterfalls

Here are two of the waterfalls in Johnston Canyon, about 20 kilometres west of Banff. There are a few higher falls in this canyon,but I think these ones are the prettiest.

There wasn't a huge amount of water coming down the canyon in late September when I was there, and I have tried to get that effect by painting quite intensely over a thin white crayon resist.

I have previously written blog posts about water paintings using this technique (with varying degrees of similarity to the actual appearance) in locations such as Maquinna Provincial Park, Ireland, Kakabeka Falls, Niagara Falls, Esquimalt, Balboa Park, Japan, Croatia, Korea and even Johnston Canyon.