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“Walter Scott and the Matter of Landscape: Ecologies of Violence” in The Bottle Imp Issue 16, 2014.
Essex University’s MA in Wild Writing: Literature and the Environment
Talk at Casper, Wyoming.
Talk at UW, Casper.
Category Archives: Environment and walking
Snow Story
I have to share a video (see below for YouTube link): please watch billy barr’s deeply moving short story of snow. It’s a Gothic tale of a man living in a cabin in the woods, in winter – all those … Continue reading
Seeing beyond the Sandhill Cranes: a trip from Eastern Wyoming into Nebraska.
A sense of time lies thick and heavy on such a place . . . . The cranes stand, as it were, upon the sodden pages of their own history. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There (1949). On … Continue reading
Posted in American West, Birds and Animals, Environment and walking, environmental aesthetics, land ethics, Nature writing, Nebraska, Poetry and Essays, Uncategorized, Wyoming
Tagged ecology, environment, landscape, nature, plants, Sandhill cranes, University of Essex, Vedauwoo, Wildflowers, Wyoming
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Wildflower thoughts . . .
Wildflower meadow and nature corridor, Wivenhoe Park, University of Essex OED definitions: Wildflower. Not listed. A search returns “wildering” as the nearest approximation, meaning “Leading or driving one astray.” Wildlife: “The native fauna and flora of a particular region.” Wildlife … Continue reading
Sculptured Coast
Holding back the tide: stone and wooden sea defences at East Lane, Suffolk. A friend visiting from California had been reading W. G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn, so we went for a day visiting places on the Suffolk coast. … Continue reading
Posted in Art, East Anglia, Ecology, Environment and walking, Nature writing, Ruins, Suffolk
Tagged Aldeburgh, Bawdsey, Coastal, Dunwich, East Anglian arts scene, modern British sculptures, Orfordness, Snape
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Wild things. Flowers of the Scottish / English border.
Grasses and wildflowers on the Scottish / English border. Photo from my recent visit to Scotland. Blogpost to follow . . . .
Posted in Ecology, Environment and walking, Nature writing, Scotland
Tagged grasses, Scottish border, Wildflowers
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City of Trees: Boise, Idaho and an Urban Natural Experience.
White pine in the rain. Boise, April 2014. ‘A large tree on the west side of a residential home can save up to $48 per year in electricity and natural gas use.’ ‘Urban trees remove 581 tons of air pollutants … Continue reading
Bio-Art – Jevan Watkins Jones: Occupied with Plants
Photograph: Priscila Buschinelli and Art Exchange. This is another brief post. I couldn’t resist writing something because I’m excited about the bio-art exhibition that is is about to open on my University’s campus. Plants are taking over the Art Exchange. … Continue reading
Hot Springs, Atomic Cities, and Craters of the Moon . . . on the Road in Idaho
‘Our heated sidewalks and dressing room floors keep your toes toasty warm, even on the coldest of nights.’ (www.lavahotsprings.com). ‘Welcome to the sagebrush steppe’ (information board, roadside rest area near Atomic City). ‘We’re praying for rain. There was hardly any … Continue reading
Posted in American West, Ecology, Environment and walking
Tagged Craters of the Moon, ecology, environment, Goodale's Cutoff, Idaho, landscape, Meek's Cutoff, nature, pioneer trails, road trip, Sagebrush steppe, Snake River Plain, Superman II, travel writing, U.S. deserts, Volcanic landscapes
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Getting to the Roots of the Matter: Trees and the Environmental Imagination in 19th Century Literature.
A video recording of my lecture in Interdisciplinary Explorations: The Idea of Nature Public Lecture Series at Boise State University, Idaho is now available at Boise Scholarworks. Thanks to the sponsors for their generosity in making the series possible, to … Continue reading
Sage Grouse Lekking and Canyon Fiction.
Green River at Green River City, where John Wesley Powell’s Grand Canyon expedition was launched. The grey-green sagebrush steppe and yellow and red rock canyons are two of the most contrastive, distinctive, colorful environments of the North American West. Arid … Continue reading
Posted in American West, Birds and Animals, Environment and walking, Fiction
Tagged biodiversity, ecology, endangered bird species, expeditions, Grand Canyon, greater sage grouse, Green River, high prairie, John Vernon (author), John Wesley Powell, Sagebrush steppe, The Last Canyon (novel), University of Wyoming, Wyoming
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Susan Oliver, writing from . . . 