Imaginings
stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other imaginative accounts of the natural world
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Snapshot: Zero Waste?
At the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) in Paris, the third floor of La Grande Galerie de l’Évolution (the Great Gallery of Evolution) is dedicated to humans’ impact on the environment. This collection of garbage represents a meager portion of the waste we produce globally. The RCC’s latest Perspectives volume, A Future without Waste? Zero Waste in Theory…
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Making Tracks: Axel Goodbody
In the “Making Tracks” series, RCC fellows and alumni present their experiences in environmental humanities, retracing the paths that led them to the Rachel Carson Center. For more information, please click here. “From Romantic Poetry to Contemporary Fiction and Climate Discourse” by Axel Goodbody My task at the Rachel Carson Center has been to investigate…
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Snapshot: A Living, Breathing Thing
Living walls aren’t just a wonderful way to brighten up urban spaces—greening grey walls has benefits inside and out. Green walls help protect building façades, reduce noise, and make structures more energy efficient, and they improve biodiversity and outdoor air quality, and our well-being in general. Living walls and vertical gardens have become increasingly popular over the years—thanks to innovative and striking designs by people…
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Snapshot: “energie.wenden (energy.transitions)”
We need to transition towards more sustainable energy systems! But what is keeping us from making the necessary changes? Technology? Politics? Psychology? Following the successful exhibition on the Anthropocene, the Deutsches Museum and the RCC are once again teaming up for another large exhibition. This time, the title is “energie.wenden” (energy transitions) and it focuses…
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Snapshot: Mini Workshop on Sub-Saharan African History
Last week, the RCC hosted a group of African scholars, along with their mentors, to discuss and support proposals for a postdoctoral fellowship grant from the Volkswagen Foundation. In a three-day series of mini-workshops, the teams discussed their intended projects with RCC director Christof Mauch, RCC students and fellows. Also in attendance was current fellow…
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Making Tracks: Chris Conte
In the “Making Tracks” series, RCC fellows and alumni present their experiences in environmental humanities, retracing the paths that led them to the Rachel Carson Center. For more information, please click here. “Rust Belt Recollections and a Winding Road to Munich” by Chris Conte By the time I arrived at the Rachel Carson Center in…
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Worldview: Earthquakes in Munich?
By Katrin Kleemann If you followed the news over the weekend, you will have seen that several serious earthquakes occurred over the past few days. The Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Saturday morning (local time). On Thursday the region had already suffered a…
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Snapshot: “Beyond Doom and Gloom: An Exploration Through Letters”—A New Virtual Exhibition
By Katrin Kleemann The Environment & Society Portal has launched a new virtual exhibition, curated by Elin Kelsey. It is a collection of letters that addresses the cultural concept of “doom and gloom” with regard to the issues we are currently facing at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The concept of “doom and gloom” makes it…
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Snapshot: Busy Urban Mining Bees
The warm temperatures we saw here in Munich at the beginning of April were likely the trigger for the frantic mating spectacle of Andrena mining bees. These busy little bees overwinter in burrows and over the course of a few days in spring, the adults emerge to reproduce. A frenzy ensues as the males wrestle each other to catch and mate with the emerging…