Rain, Carson, Art, Salt: A Venetian Matrix
22 minutes
Early September 2024: When, on the morning of my third day in Venice, I wake and grab my phone to check the weather app, I am met by the same orange b...The Nutmeg’s Curse
by Amitav Ghosh
8 minutes
The story of The Nutmeg’s Curse (2021) begins almost exactly 400 years ago, in a very faraway place—so far away that very few of you are likely...Walking a Sicilian River
by Paolo Gruppuso and Erika Garozzo
13 minutes
On the sandy shoreline of eastern Sicily, the Simeto River meets the Ionian Sea against the dramatic backdrop of the volcano Etna. Groves of reeds sur...The Place of the Moon
15 minutes
The same Moon rises everywhere, but, for me, the Moon is part of the US West. It rose over my first house near Logan, Utah; three houses in Tucson, Ar...
Avian Escapees and Budgie Snugglers
28 minutes
Late one evening soon after I had arrived in Australia for a sabbatical, I was out strolling with my daughter through a Sydney park, seeking relief fr...
Handling Heat: A Conversation with Elspeth Oppermann
by Elspeth Oppermann and Daniel Dumas
22 minutes
Critical geographer Elspeth Oppermann worked on the UK–ESRC-funded Cool Infrastructures project, which brought her to the Rachel Carson Center (RCC) a...
The Magic Mirror: Legends, Limnology, and Nuclear Power on Lake Stechlin
by Jessica Lee
15 minutes
On the horizon of the small German village of Neuglobsow, the chimney of the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant rises above the surrounding beech and pine...Talking Fungus: Finding Language for a Troubled Kingdom
10 minutes
Language greatly colours the way we perceive life. Words and concepts shape our perception of nature, and not all organisms receive equal consideratio...The Value of Fragments: Making a Hotspot in Mount Nimba, Liberia
by Emmanuelle Roth and Gregg Mitman
28 minutes
Faint high-pitched sounds echo up from the cavernous pit into which we peer. At twilight’s edge, the dry season’s intense midday sun has mellowed into...Beavering
11 minutes
Spring is approaching. The beavers have left a single stick about a meter long across the pond outlet, marking their intentions. “No mud yet, but we a...The World as a Wardian Case
by Kate Brown
21 minutes
In 1829, Nathanial Bagshaw Ward, a London doctor, placed the pupa of a sphinx moth, some dirt, and a few leaves in a glass bottle and clamped on a lid...The Poetics of Dunes
11 minutes
I grew up by the sea, in the warm south of Portugal, swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. I didn’t know then that my childhood playground wa...