Showing posts with label environmental issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental issues. Show all posts

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Edward Abbey Quote T-Shirts

We loved Edward Abbey's novel "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and its somewhat zany cast of characters. We loved his non-fiction works such as "Desert Solitaire" and"Confessions of a Barbarian". Now we've designed a couple of t-shirts featuring quotes from this complex and gifted writer and conservationist. The hard part was choosing which quotes to use.

From his essay collection "A Journey Home", which is something of a sequel to "Desert Solitaire", we took the quote about unchecked growth being analogous to cancer cells. And on the lighter side, we have his humorous quote about dogs that any dog-lover will enjoy.

These designs and more can be found at our Zazzle store, Words Plus Paper. Stop by some time!



Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Environmental T-Shirts: Cool It Down! and Scooters!

We here at Words Plus Paper like to read novels and short stories, but sometimes we like to toss a little non-fiction into the mix as well. Just recently we finished reading "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. It's been on our list for years.

We're sure many of you have heard of this book, even if you haven't read it yourselves. First published in 1962, it spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was serialized in The New Yorker magazine. This book called environmental issues to public attention and led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. Critics claim that Rachel Carson was a lunatic advocating the banning of pesticides, but this book's lasting influence is due to her calm and reasonable approach of using scientific technology responsibly. Per Carson, “man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself…”.

Rachel Carson did not specifically address global warming, but when we decided to design an environmental t-shirt, that was the first subject that popped into our minds. The second thing we thought of was a line from an old Velvet Underground song: cool it down. We doubt that Lou Reed was pondering the Gaia hypothesis while penning those lyrics, but we decided to use it anyway. You can see the result below.

Like everyone else, we've also been hit hard in the pocketbook by rising gas prices. More and more, we've been seeing people around town on scooters. They certainly look gas-efficient, so we thought we'd pay homage to these fun little machines. And thus, our second shirt: I Love My Scooter.




These designs and more are available at our Zazzle-powered sister store, Rising Tide Tees. Stop by today and say hello!