Tired Of The Urban Heat Island Effect?

FYI from AMY: Enter the raffle for a 15 and 45 gallon tree, or attend
the opening and closing ceremonies for sapling giveaways. Learn how
you can get free trees to plant in parks and medians in your area to
reduce the heat. More info on CommuniTREE: http://www.EarthRhythms.org/

Addressing Dallas' Urban Heat Island Effect

What is the Urban Heat Island?

Like many metropolitan areas, Dallas’ is affected by an Urban Heat
Island (UHI), which is caused by the large concrete areas that are
warmer than the natural rural areas. Sometimes there is a 10-12 degree
temperature difference between the inner urban and rural areas. By its
nature, concrete, asphalt and buildings tend to absorb heat, and a
lack of trees as well as other plant life prevents natural cooling
from occurring. Additionally, the absence of vegetation that naturally
removes pollutants from the air can lead to poor air quality.

The committee is working with various city departments,
including Dallas’ Environment Quality Department on reducing the UHI
effect. In 1995, Texas Christian University professor, Dr. Ken Morgan,
conducted the city’s first urban heat island study, which showed a
large section of central and downtown Dallas having temperatures
several degrees warmer than the surrounding suburbs and countryside.
In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency commissioned its own
updated study on Dallas’ urban heat island areas providing further
research on this issue. This heat effect can impact not only Dallas’
environment, but also its quality of life by having hotter than normal
temperatures, higher energy bills, and poorer air quality.

Trees Can Cool Dallas

Reducing the urban heat island affect is challenging task; however,
one effective tool shown to lower urban temperatures and improve air
quality is the planting of trees. In fact, the 1995 study also
revealed that Oak Cliff, and its tree covered neighborhoods, had one
of the coolest temperatures compared to the rest of the city. Trees
can have a positive effect on urban heat island areas.

How Can Trees Reduce Dallas Temperatures?

Trees have many qualities well suited to reduce the urban heat island
affects:

Large trees can provide shade to block the sun’s heat.
Trees have a “moisture emitting” process, otherwise known as
evapotranspiration that cools the urban air temperature by releasing
moisture.
Trees need carbon dioxide to survive, and through its “breathing” or
photosynthesis process, significant amounts of carbon dioxide and
other pollutants are removed, such as sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide.
Taken together, trees can help cool urban temperatures and cleanse the
air, which improves Dallas’ quality of life.

What is UFAC doing to curb the Urban Heat Island?

UFAC is helping to reduce the UHI effect, by encouraging various tree
planting projects across Dallas - especially in the concrete laden
parts of our city. The Adopt-A-Median project, increased planting in
city parks and street medians, inclusive of other key tree planting
projects and obtaining funding and support for such projects are some
of the ways UFAC is helping to restore trees to Dallas urban areas and
reducing the heat island effect.

Moonlady News
www.Moonlady.com
moonladynews@gmail.com

Story on Digg: Massive Copyright Infringement of Deviantart Exposed

Check out this story I found on Digg. It has 379 Diggs so far!

"Massive Copyright Infringement of Deviantart Exposed"
Websites by the name, Art4love.com and MarkYourSpot.com owned by Craig Prav...

See more: http://digg.com/d77sJZN

The Community Art Showcase at the AMA

October 5 – November 13, 2011

The Community Art Showcase is your opportunity to celebrate the vitality of visual art in Arlington. You are invited to participate in this annual event to display one or two of your artistic creations in the Arlington Museum of Art during the month of October. This is not a juried exhibition so all artwork which meets our eligibility criteria will be included in the show.

http://arlingtonmuseum.org/ama-programs/community-art-showcase/

Frequently Asked Questions

I know it's probably long overdue but we finally decided to start a FAQ for the website to cover some commonly asked and/or anticpated questions. Most of what we have on there now comes from the interview I did recently for Kindred Images but I have some other questions I plan to answer and add to the file soon. If you can think of anything you would like to add, please ask away!

Primal Aspects Frequently Asked Questions

Thank You Bohemian Chic Jewelery

For including my Moon and Wolves drawing in her latest Etsy Treasury:

What Big Eyes You Have

What a beautiful collection of goodness! :)

Free basic classes in drawing, watercolor, oil & calligraphy

We heard about it this one on Moonlady News and wanted to share it with our followers too!


The Irving Art Association offers free basic art classes for adults to get you started in art or in a new medium. Location: Jaycee Park Center for the Arts, Irving. Held on Thursday evenings from 7 - 9 pm. To register use the new online registration form. See also the Free Basic Art Lessons brochure for 2011-2012 for more information or to register by mail also available at the link above.

This year’s schedule:

Basic Drawing; instructor Dot Blalock: Sept. 8, Sept. 22 & Sept. 29, 2011
Basic Watercolor; instructor Mary Treadwell: Oct. 6, Oct. 20 & Oct. 27, 2011
Basic Oil Painting Dot Blalock: Jan. 5, 12, 26 & Feb. 2, 2012
Basic Calligraphy Angie Vangalis: Mar. 8, 22, 29 2012

Don't Forget...

As mentioned in this previous post the Innerspace Soul Circus is coming up this Friday evening. A great line up of musicians, artists and performers will be performing at Trees in Dallas for this Burning Man Camp fundraiser. If you miss out on this great show it's on you!

Pyrography Video

So, yeah, I was messing around with Windows Live Movie Maker and put together this video of some of the Pyrography pieces Emily and I have done in the past year or so set to the awesome music of Kyle MacConnell who we first met at Health and Harmony House when he was performing live for an open mic night there. Then later he also provided the live music for an Art Auction held there which is when we asked his permission to use some of his music for a project like this.
Anyway, here's the result:



There is also a paintings one in the works but Em has 6 more paintings (I think she said 6) at any rate there's some new stuff in the studio that she's not quite ready to unveil yet. When those are ready we'll add them to the paintings video and get it posted up. So, enjoy and please share! :)


- Troy

Thank You Amy Devoe of Larkspur Studios!

For including my chalk drawing "The Color Of Music" in her latest Treasury on Etsy aptly named "Bright and Pretty"!