{"id":1031,"date":"2015-11-09T02:41:58","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T02:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guelphoutdoorschool.wordpress.com\/?p=1031"},"modified":"2016-06-09T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T19:57:28","slug":"cloud-appreciation-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/2015\/11\/09\/cloud-appreciation-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Appreciation Society"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Gavin Pretor-Pinney: Cloudy with a chance of joy\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.ted.com\/talks\/gavin_pretor_pinney_cloudy_with_a_chance_of_joy\" sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-same-origin\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen><\/iframe><\/h1>\n<div class=\"singleDetails\">\n<p><em>Interview\u00a0by<\/em> Anne Fullerton <em>Photograph by<\/em> Maia Flore<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kinfolk.com\/the-cloud-appreciation-society\/\"> (From Kinfolk)\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"singleStory\">\n<p><strong>THERE\u2019S NO NEED TO HEAD TO A FAR-FLUNG BEACH OR A CABIN IN THE WOODS TO DISCONNECT: YOU JUST NEED TO LOOK UP.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to celestial phenomena, clouds have a reputation for being the surly, temperamental cousin no one wants to sit near at Christmas. We rarely notice them, but if we do, it\u2019s usually just because they\u2019re causing trouble. As both a Londoner and the founder of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cloudappreciationsociety.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cloud Appreciation Society<\/a>, Gavin Pretor-Pinney knows this better than most. Over the past decade, Gavin\u2019s mission to rebrand clouds has led to three best-selling books, a BBC program, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/speakers\/gavin_pretor_pinney\" target=\"_blank\">TED Talk<\/a> that\u2019s been viewed more than a million times and the formation of an online community of at least 37,000 cloud lovers. We chat with him about why clouds are so maligned and what we can learn from the underdog of the skies.<\/p>\n<p><b>When did you first become fascinated with clouds?<\/b><br \/>\nWhile being driven to school by my mother at about the age of four, I looked out of the window and saw rays of sunlight bursting out from behind a big puffy cloud. I thought, maybe for the first time, \u201cI wonder what that is? What\u2019s it made of, why is it up there and what would it be like to sit on?\u201d As I got older, I became curious about why people in Britain complain about them so much. We even have negative connotations written into the language: We talk about depressed people \u201chaving a dark cloud hanging over them\u201d and there being \u201cclouds on the horizon.\u201d I\u2019ve always felt that they get unfair press, and it seems to me that we should stand up for them. I realized later in life that that someone should be me.<\/p>\n<p><b>Why do we need a Cloud Appreciation Society?<\/b><br \/>\nIf you just shift your perspective slightly on this ever-present backdrop to our lives, it\u2019s easy to see the beautiful, the surprising, the exotic in the everyday mundane stuff around you. Cloud-spotting is kind of meditating on nature, and the sky is a very egalitarian part of that. You don\u2019t need to live in an area of outstanding beauty to look up at outstandingly beautiful skies\u2014you could live in an inner-city urban environment where the sky is the last wilderness visible to you. The valuable aspect is that it\u2019s easy to engage with.<\/p>\n<p><b>What are some of the benefits of cloud-spotting?<\/b><br \/>\nIt\u2019s good for creative thought because it allows the other modes of the brain to kick in. When you let your mind wander, you begin to make creative connections. It\u2019s also good for your soul and health to be able to disengage from the ever-present to-do list. Layered on top of all the traditional pressures of our lives, we now have all the pressures of the digital world, which has this effect of making us feel as if we should be doing something all the time. One of the values of cloud-spotting is that it legitimizes doing nothing.<\/p>\n<p><b>How has cloud-spotting helped you?<\/b><br \/>\nThose struggles are as apparent to me as they are for anyone. Staring at clouds helps me disentangle myself. I\u2019m quite goal-focused, and the clouds help remind me of the value of the process. They are forever in process, forever in change. To engage with them is not to be focused on an endpoint. In fact, that\u2019s one reason why I don\u2019t take photographs of clouds these days: I find it\u2019s more valuable to see a beautiful cloudscape, value it and then let it go.<\/p>\n<p><b>Do you have a cloud-spotting routine?<\/b><br \/>\nI don\u2019t. It\u2019s a bit like when someone asks, \u201cWhere\u2019s the best place to watch clouds?\u201d Being a cloud spotter is an attitude. It\u2019s a matter of being prepared to pause for a moment and stop whatever is pressing right now when you notice something interesting in the sky. I have two daughters who are 5 and 8 and if one of them says \u201cDad, look at the sun,\u201d it\u2019s easy to say, \u201cYes, I\u2019ve just got to send this email first.\u201d There\u2019s always something to stop you stepping back. It\u2019s not about having a routine\u2014it\u2019s just about being prepared to stop what seems urgent right now and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/experimentalstudio.ca\/sart-4660-f15\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/11\/willfogbow-1.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1077\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/experimentalstudio.ca\/sart-4660-f15\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/11\/willfogbow-1.jpg?resize=660%2C437\" alt=\"WillFogbow\" width=\"660\" height=\"437\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>MANIFESTO OF THE CLOUD APPRECIATION SOCIETY<br \/>\nWE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned<br \/>\nand that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.<\/p>\n<p>We think that they are Nature\u2019s poetry,<br \/>\nand the most egalitarian of her displays, since<br \/>\neveryone can have a fantastic view of them.<\/p>\n<p>We pledge to fight \u2018blue-sky thinking\u2019 wherever we find it.<br \/>\nLife would be dull if we had to look up at<br \/>\ncloudless monotony day after day.<\/p>\n<p>We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the<br \/>\natmosphere\u2019s moods, and can be read like those of<br \/>\na person\u2019s countenance.<\/p>\n<p>We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.<br \/>\nIndeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save money<br \/>\non psychoanalysis bills.<\/p>\n<p>And so we say to all who\u2019ll listen:<br \/>\n<em>Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cloudappreciationsociety.org\/\">From the Home page of the Cloud Appreciation Society<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interview\u00a0by Anne Fullerton Photograph by Maia Flore (From Kinfolk)\u00a0 THERE\u2019S NO NEED TO HEAD TO A FAR-FLUNG BEACH OR A CABIN IN THE WOODS TO DISCONNECT: YOU JUST NEED TO LOOK UP. When it comes to celestial phenomena, clouds have a reputation for being the surly, temperamental cousin no one wants to sit near at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/11\/willfogbow-1.jpg?fit=957%2C634&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7CROG-gD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2429,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031\/revisions\/2429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalstudio.ca\/outdoorschool\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}