ABSTRACT
Ecological artist Aviva Rahmani and soils scientist Ray Weil discuss their various approaches to restoration work, concluding that a transdisciplinary approach is the most effective solution to degraded systems. They compare issues that they have encountered respectively in wetlands and fisheries degradation (Rahmani) and in agricultural ecosystems (Weil). Rahmani describes two projects, Ghost Nets (1990–2000) in Maine, and Fish Story (2012–2013) in the Gulf of Mexico and Memphis, Tennessee. Weil discusses how his use of daikon radishes helps wean agribusiness farmers from the use of heavy fertilizers. Together, they compare ecosystem conditions and discuss how their insights and discoveries can be applied to remediate problems at the local level, as well as large landscape problems such as eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico. Their conversation reveals where art becomes science, and science becomes art.
