From a house perched on the rugged east-facing side of Mount Zion, at 1865 m/6120 ft, the view of sunrise is spectacular. Mount Zion is the first uplifted (remaining, continuing) expression of the Laramide Orogeny of the Rocky Mountains as they rise from the Great Plains of middle America. The view to the east is expansive and includes the town of Golden, Colorado, once the territorial capital, in the foreground; then comes the low North and South Table Mesa neither completely obscuring the view of the far horizon that is perhaps 75 mi. away towards the state of Kansas. The curvature of the earth is apparent, looking over this western edge of the Great Plains.

The live microphone feed will include a constant machinic whining from the Coors (Beer) Brewery that sits on the east side of Golden; along with that is the sucking hiss of cars driving at high speed along a piece of 6th Avenue; often there is a significant wind; possible early-morning runners and mountain bikers huffing up the Chimney Gulch trail below the house; interspersed with the conversational cries of the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia). There are Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), and the occasional Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), a neighborhood dog barking, and lots of birds that I cannot name in the moment.

It had been a dry winter here, in the transition zone, though the mountains got plenty of snow, up until last weekend when we got 30 cm of wet springtime snow. Now things are quite green.

This feed is set-up by Dr. John Hopkins (aka neoscenes), a visual/sonic media artist, learning facilitator, information-space organizer. He holds a creative practices PhD from La Trobe University/University of Technology Sydney, an MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder (where he studied film under renown experimental film-maker, Stan Brakhage), and a BSc in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. His transdisciplinary research and workshops explore issues surrounding sustainable creative practices, 'big-picture' system views, networked & tactical media, distributed and community-based DIY & DIWO processes, networked creativity, and Temporary Autonomous Zones. His international media arts practice explores the role of energy in techno-social systems and the effects of technology on energized human encounter. He has taught across more than 20 countries and 60 higher education situations. He currently is working at the Colorado Geological Survey which, strangely enough, is now part of the aforementioned Colorado School of Mines... strange circles.

You may track his hopes for a 'prosperous way down' at: 

http://neoscenes.net/blog/