Imaginings
stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and other imaginative accounts of the natural world
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Five Minutes with a Fellow: Matt Kelly
Five Minutes with a Fellow offers a brief glimpse into what inspires researchers in the environmental humanities. The interviews feature current and former fellows from the Rachel Carson Center. Matthew Kelly is a senior lecturer in the history department of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. A historian of Ireland by training and…
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Nice Weather (If You’re a Newt)
Chaos and Resilience in Human and Natural Ecosystems Post by Kieko Matteson Spring 2013 saw some of the worst flooding in central European history. After a relentlessly rainy May, in which nearly every day of the month was marked by unseasonably cold temperatures and steady downpours, the swollen streams and water-logged soils of Germany, Austria,…
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Film Review: Plastic Planet
Post by Ellen Arnold How much plastic do you think is in your life? Probably more than you realize. Werner Boote’s documentary film Plastic Planet explores the rapid expansion of plastics production and consumption since the 1950s, bringing both a global dimension and personal, intimate perspectives into the discussion. His main goal, and one that…
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Photos of the Week: Erka Urtnast
Only 10% of the Mongolian population are herders. However, their culture dominates perceptions of the country. In this photo series, taken 21-24 June 2008, Dr. Erdenetuya Urtnast offers a glimpse of the landscape and customs of Mongolia outside of the cities.
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Gardening for Gardening’s Sake
Post by Jennifer Hamilton (This post is the latest in a series of reflections on Jeffrey Hou’s recent talk, “Urban Gardening as Insurgent Placemaking.” For the first piece in this series, please click here.) It “started with the park, but it has become bigger than the park” declared Turkish scholar and activist Nazan Ustundag on…
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Photo of the Week: Christof Mauch
Wiseman, Alaska. Formerly a gold-diggers town. Wiseman now has 13 inhabitants: eskimos, indians, and a family from Bavaria. On the road to the graveyard of the town is this container with beer cans. Most people go to the closest city only two or three times a year (the drive takes more than a day each…
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Danube Floods Present and Past: Exploring Historic Precedents Through the Arcadia project
Post by Andreas Grieger Germany is currently experiencing record floods along some of its major rivers. Earlier this week, the Danube surpassed its historical flood mark from 1501 and reached an unprecedented height of 12.60m, flooding the entire historic district of the city of Passau. Other Central European countries are also suffering from or are…
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Photo of the Week: Sigurd Bergmann
Holy places and sites are called “mazar” in the popular Islam of Kyrgyzstan (a synthesis of traditional “immigrated” Islam and older shamanic folk religion). The Mazar Manjyly Ata is one of the largest in the country; it is about half size of Munich’s English Garden. Holy trees, wells, and chapels have been (and are still)…
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Q&A with Environment & Society Portal Director Kimberly Coulter
What is the Environment & Society Portal? The Environment & Society Portal is the Rachel Carson Center’s platform for digital outreach and open-access publication. Like a digital museum or archive, we aim to inspire curiosity about the human-environment relationship, with emphasis on the Center’s themes. How was the Portal established? The RCC was founded in…