A Day Without Buses in 1974

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, External Images | 1

Soon after Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, the agency recruited a small army of photographers to document the state of the natural environment in the United States.  The DOCUMERICA project collected over 20,000 photographs between 1971-1977  and along the way captured the state of American life itself, driving home the connection between the two.

The National Archives has digitized 15,000 of these images, selections of which can be found on Flickr or in their entirety through the Archival Research Catalog.

Your 70’s time machine awaits you…

(A D.C. parking lot during a bus strike in 1974 – Jim Pickerell/NARA)

[The Atlantic via Boing Boing]

You Can’t Handle the Cover

by | posted in: Commentary, External Images | 0

Time is running a new contest:  Speculate on their choice to run a different December 5th cover in the U.S.

The winner gets nothing.

Ape Con Myth’s entry will use phrases like “New World vs. Old World” and sum things up with something like “that cover will probably sell better in the U.S.”

Feel free to leave your own entries in the comments and we’ll pass them along.  First person to mention Occupy Wall Street also wins nothing.

[Time covers via @suckapants]

Is “Buy Nothing” the Wrong Idea Now?

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Commentary | 0

An idea is better than no idea. In the face of run-away consumerism, perhaps the first step is slamming on the brakes.  It won’t stop the train, but it could provide a much needed jolt.

Or you can wait for it to hit a wall, which always gets people’s attention.

That’s where we are now. But during tough times, over-consumption isn’t our problem. Remaining consumers, in the most basic sense, is the challenge now.

We need a new approach to spending. Looking at the current state of American economics and politics, the key could be a realization.

Spending is the new voting.

There’s not a corporation on Earth that can survive without customers. They exist purely on our whim. Support the ones you want to see thrive. Better yet, support the ones that want to see you thrive.

It isn’t easy. Convenience is making a lot of decisions these days. Who has the time to do more? If today could be used for anything, perhaps it should be to inconvenience ourselves. Rather than buy nothing, we could go out of our way to consider our spending more thoughtfully. To think about the businesses we default to and take the time to find alternatives to those we’d rather not be supporting.

We can call it Inconvenience Day. And unlike Buy Nothing Day, everyone camping out for Black Friday sales can say they participated too.

A Map of Where to Give Thanks

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Maps | 0

During hard times, being thankful for what we have comes a little easier.  Here’s a map to help guide your thoughts of thanks in regards to food.

But before you breath a sign of relief over there being so much room to grow more, remember that only 29% of the Earth’s surface is land and only 9% of it is arable.  And guess what, we’re not taking good care of it.

We have much to be thankful for, but it’s not a guaranteed condition.  They’ll still call it Thanksgiving, even if there’s hardly anything on your plate.  Just ask anyone with hardly anything on their plate.

[Map 1 from Radical Cartography, Map 2 from The Global Education Project]

Dragged to the Back of the Pack

by | posted in: Commentary, External Infographic, The Cultural Devision | 0

Every once in a while you have to reassess the things you are proud of.  Is the quality that first inspired you still important?  Is it still there?

Does the idea of America in your mind include the Czech Republic possessing a vastly superior ability to keep its citizens above the poverty line?

Is being below-average part of the plan?

(click for the full-sized version)

The way our government operates, you’d assume it represents a nation of people only interested in corporate profits.  As if our drive as a nation were to put money over every other concern, from the quality of products and services to the quality of life itself.

If the economy can not remain stable, if a person can not create a livelihood within the economy, the economy can not be called dependable.  It becomes a risk that must be hedged.  The government represents the people’s hedge.

If big business can not deliver, they should lose the competition, not be allowed to rewrite the rules so they still win.  If they don’t want to compete, they are unfit to lead and endanger us with their attempts to manipulate our government.

They can go to the back of the pack if they want, but should not be allowed to take our country with them.  We’re better than that.

This isn’t Corporate America.  This is the United States of America.  We’re the boss here.

[Infographic from GOOD Magazine]
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