Finding ways to impact the future

A Newsletter by Chuq Von Rospach

V2#1 - February 9, 2020

Welcome to the latest issue of 6FPS, the first issue of volume 2. Because why not start a new season with the start of a new decade? In January I took my first trip of the year, headed down the coast for birding in Orange County and San Diego county and to conduct a bit of business along the way.

I talk about that trip and show off photos in First birding trip of the year: Southern California. One bit of business was to sit down with my tenants in the house down there and talk about the logistics of selling it to them. This has been the plan since I took ownership of the house after mom died, but it hasn't been until this year that I felt I was ready on my side to move this forward. So hopefully in 2020 the house will belong to them -- they've lived in it as tenants for over 20 years -- and the last connection I have to southern California will be gone.


The other bit of business for the trip? I finally visited dad. I've felt since we lost him that I needed to go and visit him and get a picture of his gravestone, but to be honest, the first two times I tried I couldn't get through the gates at the cemetery. But I felt he deserved having someone come and visit, and I felt there wasn't really closure with him until that happened.

This time, I was able to visit and spend some time with him, but yes, it was tough, and yes, I lost it. But I felt it was definitely a necessary thing, and I'm glad I finally got there. God speed, dad, wherever you are. Miss you and think about you almost every day. And yes, my last name doesn't match the one he used. That's a story for another time...

My next planned trip won't be until June, when I head to Portland for a few days for my annual company all hands meeting. After that, I'll be headed up to Poulsbo, Washington for a couple of days to hang out and get to know the city a bit better. Why? Because Laurie and I have started talking about whether or not to move out of Silicon Valley, and right now Poulsbo is the town we're considering -- it's one of about ten on my list, but currently at the top.

Why Poulsbo? We know the town from the days when my family had a cabin nearby in Port Ludlow, and it's a nice, small place near the ferry but not caught up in the ferry traffic. The cabin was across the Hood Canal Bridge, which in bad weather could be sometimes problematic. It would be a place where if/when I do choose to buy a boat I could keep it there and have it accessible. But that said, it's been a while since we've spent time there, and so we're both scheduling trips to go explore and see whether the town is still the one we remember and like or not.

If we decide to move, and that's far from a given, I doubt we'll do anything until 2021 or later, but you'll never know. The first thing you realize when you sit down to figure something like this out is just how freaking complicated and how many details there are to think of. For instance, it looks like the closest Avian veterinarian for Tatiana is across the ferry, and we have to consider what they might mean for her and us.

The nice thing is that every time I do a search of the area on Zillow, I see 3-4 houses I could easily see as candidates for what we'd be looking for at a price I don't consider insane.

For right now, this is a low priority "project" for me, but I expect in 2020 it'll start to take shape and we'll get a better idea of "whether, where and when".

New places to stalk me

If you're looking for new places to stalk me, um, follow me and see what I'm doing, for 2020 there are a couple of new ones you might be interested in.

In past years I've kept a list of books I've read here on this site. this year, I decided to try something different, and I'll be keeping that list on Goodreads, which is a place that lets you show what you've read, and rate and review it and share the results with others. You can find me at https://www.goodreads.com/chuqvr if you want to follow along and share your reading back. I'm hoping this might give a bit more visibility to the authors I want to encourage you all to read than my HTML page has done to date. We'll see. So far, I think it's okay, but I'm giving it 2020 and then deciding whether or not to continue.

Would it make sense to note the books I've finished here, or is a pointer to Goodreads sufficient? Let me know and I'll see what makes sense.

On with the Show!

And with that, on with the show! And thank you for being part of this.

What's New?

Here is what I've written since the last issue:

  • Come Fly Away

  • Release 3: Free Desktop Wallpapers

  • First birding trip of the year: Southern California

  • Tri-colored Heron

  • Tree Canopy Abstract

  • Mule Deer

  • Yellow-billed Magpie

  • What's in Chuq's Office (2020 Edition)

  • Say's Phoebe

  • Ground Squirrel

  • Is Luminar 4 the future of photography?

  • Birding 101: Judging size in the field will make you cry

  • Peregrine Falcon

  • Bee and Flower

Photos: Quizzical Quail

A female California Quail has noticed that I've seen her, and is watching me to see if I might be a threat. To a quail, pretty much everything is considered a threat, of course... She soon toodled off into the brush. 

Finding ways to impact the future

I have been involved recently in a number of discussions about the challenges we're facing with climate change and the unwillingness of the current administration to acknowledge the problem, much less what to do about it. I'm also sensing a growing frustration at not being able to impact positive change, and a lot of questions on exactly what they should do. 

It is tough and frustrating to watch our current President here in the US choose to do exactly the wrong things, like push coal and fossil fuels and opening up sensitive habitat to mining and drilling. As things stand, there's not much we can do other than help organizations that are fighting these battles politically and in court, and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.  We can't, however, stop fighting. 

I've also had discussions this week with some photographers, and also with a couple of birders, about whether or not it's appropriate to get in the car or on a plane to go somewhere to take pictures or bird. We feel guilty about doing so, and were asking for ideas of what to do or how to offset these activities. 

My general advice is this: you need to be sensitive to your usage, but it serves nobody well to turn yourself into a hermit and hate your life. First and foremost, you have to live a life you're happy with. If that means grabbing a camera or your binoculars and going out somewhere and bird or take photos, do it. In the grand scheme or not, that one outing won't make a difference either way. A thousand of us making a change to our habits here might make a tiny change, but not one that'll stop the Antarctic and Greenland from melting. 

That shouldn't imply you do nothing; if we can all do little things they can combine into a bigger thing. But I do think we have to balance what we do with what's sustainable, and if you hate your life or aren't happy, it's not sustainable, either. But you can think of ways to make changes to reduce your impact. I've been talking to a lot of birders about the 5 mile radius challenge, where you focus your birding in the five miles around your house and explore the smaller and lesser known areas that are mostly overlooked. That significantly reduces the amount of driving and time spent in traffic, and still gets you out birding, and we learn more about the areas around us that tend to get lost because we often as a group focus on the most popular locations. Photographers can think about local locations and subjects instead of travelling out in search of the more famous trophy shots -- and teach us about the area around you as you start to do more local shooting. 

I also have been encouraging people to find ways to get involved locally, where one person putting in time and energy can do things that amplify the work of others and through that make a difference. This is one of the reasons I do my work for the local Audubon chapter: I can help make the local environment better and safer for us. Part of what I do behind the scenes is support the chapter's lobbying and policy efforts, which has helped drive local policy in a number of cities on protecting green spaces and creating regulations on things like bird safe buildings. We don't win every battle, but we are making a local difference. 

The other thing I encourage people to do is find organizations that are fighting those fights at the national level, and support them with donations. Two key groups for me are the Audubon National Chapter and the Nature Conservancy. Both organizations are involved in a lot of different efforts including, but both are also involved in fighting these environmental rollbacks in court, and educating and lobbying governments at the state and federal level on what we need to protect our birds and lands around us. By sending them some money, you can support their efforts to push forward the things you feel are important. It doesn't have to be a lot of money -- give what you can. And it doesn't have to be those organizations; spend some time finding the ones that resonate with you.

But if you want to make a difference, even a small one, I think you can. These are the strategies I've chosen to adopt: find ways to reduce my impact while still having a life I can enjoy and be happy in; find local groups fighting for the causes that matter to you and look for ways to support them with time and perhaps money -- I feel safe saying there are very few organizations working at the local area who have too many volunteers. And help those working at the national level at education, advocacy and lobbying by donating some money to them as well. 

it's a small thing, but it will help. I'm a firm believer that if we all commit to doing things at a local level, we can accomplish more than if we just donate to the national groups. But they're doing useful and necessary work, too, at a scale we can't at the local level, so they deserve support, also. 

And, honestly, if what's going on with the current government upsets you, a big thing you can do is make sure you vote, because staying home and standing on the sideline doesn't help your cause. It makes it easier for those idiots to continue. Even if you don't think the candidate facing them is perfect, or great -- not voting for them makes it easier for the worse people to win, so please. Make sure you get involved and cast your ballot. 

For Your Consideration

About 6FPS and Chuq

6FPS (Six Frames Per Second) is a newsletter of interesting things and commentary from Chuq Von Rospach (chuqui@mac.com).

Coming out in theory every six weeks, I will place in your inbox a few things I hope will inform and delight you. There is too much mediocre, forgettable stuff attacking your eyeballs every day you're online; this is my little way to help you cut through the noise to some interesting things you might otherwise not find.

See you soon!


And with that, I'll see you in a few weeks with the next issue. I'd love feedback on this, what you like, what you want more of, what you want less of. And if you have something interesting you think I might want to talk about, please pass it along.

Until then, take care, and have fun.

Chuq (chuqui@mac.com)

(P.S.: some links in this newsletter may point to products at Amazon; these are affiliate links and if you use them to buy a product, I get a small cut of the sale. This doesn't make me rich, but it does help pay my web site bills. If you use the link to buy something, thank you. If you prefer not to, that's perfectly okay, also.)

Copyright © 2020 Chuq Von Rospach, All rights reserved.