Our final presenter is Jeremy Ian Kirk (pictured above, sans habit).  The name of his presentation is called:  Something’s Gotta Give: Resisting Empire in the Age of Obama. Here’s Jeremy’s bio:

Jeremy Ian Kirk is a doctoral candidate in Christian Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York.  His academic interests include: the future of liberation theology, constructive praxiological response to contemporary world crises, resistance to contemporary U.S. imperialism, interrogating and critiquing liberalism, engaging postmodern and historicist critiques of religion, and the intersection of spirituality, art and social engagement.  Jeremy has been an activist with Witness Against Torture, a member of Dan Berrigan’s Kairos peace community and is a co-founder of Union Theological Seminary Students for Peace and Justice.

So it’s set, we have an awesome roster:

1. Architect/urban-planner/activist Mitch Joachim (profile below).

2. Filip Noterdaeme of the Homeless Museum of Art (HOMU) (profile below).

3. Theological Ethicist Jeremy Kirk (profile above).

The event will be held at 33 Flatbush, 6th floor (Metropolitan Exchange, or MEx) serviced by most every train (map below).  Doors open at 6:30 with presenters at 8:00 or 8:30.  There will be a $5 cover.

Filip and Jeremy are two good friends of mine–two of the most intelligent, uncorrupted guys I know.  I’m profoundly happy to have them present (Filip and I will be doing an interview).  Mitch is cool too (I just haven’t known him as long).

So please, put Saturday night aside for some Lucidity.

David

Many of you’ve asked:  will there be lucidity in March?  The answer is yes!

Seeing as how Lucid NYC’s founder is not a very deft delegator, if said founder is preoccupied with personal issues (a high volume commodity this month), some administrative tasks run the risk of being neglected.  Fortunately, issues are at a manageable level and determination to create a great salon has returned.

Right now, we’ve got activist/architect Mitch Joachim (see profile below) on board as a presenter and we’re in conversation with several other great people.  So rest assured something phenomenal will be worked out.  We will update the roster at www.lucidnyc.com as details reveal themselves.  We will also shoot out a reminder email either Thursday or Friday with as much info as available.

Thanks for your patience and would love to see you this Saturday.

David
Lucid NYC’s negligent (and repentant) founder.

I was at the Greener Gadget Conference the other day, writing for PSFK (which published my polite version of events).  There was a cool group of people there and some cool shit discussed, but there was also an ominous tone initiated by keynote speaker Saul Griffith. He detailed how we can afford about another 2.0 degrees increase in global temperature before life gets really uncomfortable (mass climate-induced migrations, mass extinctions, etc.  See his great slides here).

Many of us roughly know the information Griffith displayed, but it obviously hasn’t settled in.  I think many of us hope that because it’s snowing outside, it means global warming is somehow a theory—a likely theory, but a theory nonetheless—and our behavior modifications range from none to superficial.   This failure to change, according to Griffith, makes us “hypocritical planet fuckers,” and I’m inclined to agree.

So how do we stop fucking the planet (and ourselves as inhabitants)?  The global trajectory in terms of adding these 2 degrees is horrifying—basically within 20 years, which for this 32 year-old is not encouraging.

A good start, Griffith said, is to reduce our levels of energy consumption by ten times. But how do we do that in a culture where we are looked at askance for refusing plastic bags, where flights taken to forage in rainforests are PC, where not having the latest iPhone sends us in to social exile?

To a large extent, we need to opt out of the system rather than work within it.  Fortunately, the current system’s ability to deliver a high quality of life has been seriously called into question recently.  It’s a ripe time to present alternatives; not ones based in contradiction and opposition to all that has preceded this moment, but alternatives based on their abilities to create the maximum amount of happiness across the planet.

During his presentation, Griffith decried the need to cut down on air travel; because of his extensive travel and businesses, he expends 18 kW of energy annually vs. 11 kW of the average American.  He said one way someone like him could greatly reduce his footprint is employ video conferencing as S.O.P.  I managed to ask him why he didn’t do a live feed for the conference and he looked at me a little sadly and seriously and said, “They wouldn’t let me.”  He vowed (hopefully in earnest) that this would be his last conference he’d fly cross-country for.  I also asked him why he continued to consume meat in light of its environmental impact (although he only does so once weekly).  He gave a few excuses that I didn’t buy.  I needled him further and he accused me of sounding religious (which I’m sure I did).  We’re all filled with contradictions.  We don’t practice what we preach.  We cling to comfort and convention rather than respond to crisis.

I think the first course of action in building an alternative way of life is stripping away everything that doesn’t work toward building the kind of planet that works for all.  Start questioning all of our actions:  each purchase, each gesture, each airline flight, each extra wrapper/packaging/sheet of toilet paper, each new or replacement gadget (check out the wonderful wattzon.com to calculate).  We need to observe and ask:  “Is this improving my life?  And if so, does that improvement come at the expense of others?”  If it doesn’t, we need to cut the shit out as best and as fast as possible.

This, I believe, is all we can do:  consistently reduce the contradictions between what we know and what we do.  When we start stripping away the contradictions, we’ll find a naturally occurring alternative mode of existence.  It’ll be a more streamlined, one stripped of the unnecessary. It’ll be an essential existence, filled with community, interdependence and craft, not gadgets.

Due to some emotional disturbances, Lucid has been foggy lately, but will up and running in short-time.  Thanks for visiting and check back really soon for our tech report.

Next Event

Next LUCID NYC event is Saturday, March 14th in—sit down—Brooklyn. Thought we’d give you the Saturday for extra travel time. Just kidding of course, since A. many of you live in Brooklyn, and B. it’s not exactly in Far Rockaway.

In fact, the venue is half the attraction. Metropolitan Exchange (aka MEx) is a 7-story, 45K square-foot kingdom of progressive businesses, design firms, architects, co-working spaces, looms, bakeries, bio-labs, writers collective, woodshop and much more—all in downtown Brooklyn.

Future House of Lucid

Mitchell Joachim (see profile below), MEx member and visionary architect/urban-planner /activist, is hosting us as well as being one of the presenters.

If you have an idea for other presenters (maybe it’s you) drop us a line.

Website and Blog

The website has been modified for easier content management. The idea is to create a format that facilitates an online dialogue that’ll be brought, presumably, face-to-face at the events and beyond.

The site will post original content and re-blogs from event-goers. We’re looking for content germane to Lucid’s mission of making the world a better place (this can be interpreted in whatever way you see fit; just be willing to explain). Please shoot us a line if you have something.

See you in March if not sooner.

David Friedlander

Note: this text–with a few modifications–originally appeared in PSFK.

Mitch inside an ad hoc warehouse at 33 Flatbush (Lucid's next venue).

Asked what inspires him, Mitchell Joachim rattled off things that started with the letter G: Goethe, Gilliam, Gaudi, Gehry and his coming baby girl. But taking a look at the tall, dreadlocked architect & urban planner’s repertoire, you realize he has many other (alphabetically diverse) sources of inspiration.

With partner Maria Aiolova, Joachim founded Terreform 1, a nonprofit organization for developing “philanthropic architecture.” He sees himself largely as an architect activist: “I give a voice for people and things that can’t necessarily speak for themselves like trees and wildlife,” he told me. “Or the residents of Harlem,” he continued, where Harlemites being ousted by the campus expansion of Columbia University (where Joachim happens to be an adjunct professor). Terreform is creating an alternative plan – one that gives voice to parties other than the school’s administration and the real estate developers.

Featured as one of Wired magazine’s picks on their “2008 Smart List: 15 People the Next President Should Listen To”, Joachim has spearheaded projects at the vanguard of design, where technology, biology, ecology and humanity seamlessly interact.

Among his creative endeavors is the Human Powered Exercise Boat, which we featured last year. There’s also the SOFT car, which Wired called “Facebook on wheels,” connecting people with transport based on locality. And we also like the Tree Fab Hab,

Tree Fab Hab

which grow homes from native trees “to replace the outdated design solutions for Habitats for Humanity” and was featured at last year’s NYC’s Moma’s Home Delivery exhibit. Then there are his endeavors at the Bioworks Institute, where he and Harvard biologist Oliver Medvedik are creating a “victimless shelter” made out of a leather-like substance formed by grafting paper using 3D printed pig cells. Joachim’s ultimate goal is to find solutions to the ecological problem that has already taken root: “The environmental revolution is over. It’s dead. It’s accepted that global warming is here and humans did it, ” Joachim told us. Now, as Joachim sees it, it’s a matter of dealing with it. Joachim is answering that question with something more than a sustainable version of old, pathological modalities. He sees our relationship to our environment like that of a complex commitment, like a marriage. As he explained to Wired: “You don’t want your marriage to be sustainable. You want to be evolving, nurturing, learning.”

David Friedlander

If you’ve been to lucidnyc.com before, you’re aware that this website is not the same as days of yore. I’m modifying it to allow event news, content from the Lucid community, as well as general information.

I’m actively looking for contributors–particularly posts from people who’ve attended Lucid events and are familiar with what we’re doing (if not, see about). I’m happy to re-blog your posts from other blogs if that helps. Contact me with submissions/questions at dfriedlander@lucidnyc.com

I’m going to be screwing with the website layout for the next week, so if there’s a dead link, strange or shifting layout, bear with me for a second.

Lastly, next event is March 14th. I’ll be shooting out as many details as I can shortly.

Thanks for stopping by. More later.

David Friedlander

Last month rocked. Katrin Verclas, Graham Hill, Sem Devillart and Ben Donaldson created an intimidatingly high benchmark for the quality (bios here).

The only way to maintain that level of quality this month was to cancel. Whether it was the spring thaw, the upcoming Presidents Day or the Westminster Kennel Dog Show, we just weren’t able to assemble the kind of people you’re beginning to expect will present.

Fear not, there is still much Lucidity in the world–NEXT EVENT IS MARCH 14TH. Details coming soon.

Image by Doug Mills/The New York Times