“We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it,” a core tenet of the Cloud Appreciation Society’s manifesto, is enough to make most people look up and take notice, so to speak.
The society’s founder, British author Gavin Pretor-Pinney (aka Member #0001), is dedicated to reinvigorating our interest in the beauty of clouds and thereby combating the linguistic stigmas of such metaphoric phrases as “he’s living under a cloud,” or “dark clouds are gathering on the horizon.”
Instead, the aim of the Cloud Appreciation Society is to help reconnect us with the wondrous visions of nature depicted in the cloud formations that fly above us and think of them not as just barriers to the sun, but spectacular raiments of Mother Nature. The society promotes not only the study of cloud formations – cirrus, cumulus, altostratus -- but also the simple joys of cloudspotting and daydreaming that we did as kids, looking up at the clouds.
You can also join the society to meet other cloud aficionados and help promote cloud appreciation around the world. Memberships score you an enamel cloud pin, certificate and official Cloud Selector Identification Wheel. A portion of each membership goes toward the distribution of educational “cloud appreciation” packets to teachers and homeschoolers around the world.
Members also receive a “Cloud-A-Day” photograph delivered to their email inbox. “We’ve always argued that a moment each day with your head in the clouds has a profound effect on your wellbeing,” claims Pretor-Pinney.
The Cloud Appreciation Society website is jam-packed with cloud news, live feeds, a gallery of member-submitted cloud videos, art, and poetry, and a gift shop. The site also functions as a community forum and has links to cloudspotting group sites worldwide.
Photo: Clouds over the “Mushroom Hoodoo” Bluff, Utah, US. © Paul Martini. Posted on March 29, 2021 at Cloudappreciationsociety.org.