Environmental thoughts

Caving & ruminations on complexity

Posted onSaturday 14 July 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

Writing this just after finishing the cavern tour in Sonora. Carlsbad’s caverns are much larger, of course, and the rock formations are more… clustered by type, I think, over that span. For example, the deepest the Sonora cave goes is about 150′, where Carlsbad’s underground visitor center (which is not actually the deepest point) gave…

Beyond grandeur

Posted onWednesday 11 July 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

Woohooo! I have not only scored a drop-in campsite at the Grand Canyon, but I have also showered and laundered! No worries, I shall modestly acclaim your gasps of astonishment and awe. Showers and clean clothes are awesome! Truly the kami who watch over Dark Star and I are mighty! :) Also, some culinary firsts!…

Mountainous metaphysics

Posted onTuesday 10 July 2012Tuesday 10 July 2012

I am become a connoisseur of mountains. ;) Most California mountains are sneaky. They slide under the roads and hillsides, laughing foggy breaths in the dusk and dawn at how well their shaggy disguises of grasses and trees work. You drive along innocently enough, occasionally noticing the clusters of rocky spines along their backs, but…

Mud & philosophy

Posted onTuesday 10 July 2012Tuesday 10 July 2012

Writing this on the night of the 8th, from a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall pizza & brews place called Hot Mama’s! I’m muddy, exhausted, starving, and triumphant — I walked the lava tubes! So cool! So muddy! So in need of a washing machine at my next stop too. The township is called Duck Creek, and…

FIRESTARTER | Environmental thoughts | Great Summer Road Trip! | Random | Year of 50 new things

Safely ensconced in Yosemite! :)

Posted onWednesday 4 July 2012Thursday 5 July 2012

I’m here! In Yosemite! Eating a really excellent salad, and with a pizza waiting for me. Well, okay, I’m devouring the salad — got excited about getting to Yosemite tonight, and waited too long. Ravenous! Salad’s still delicious, though. No coverage here, so I can’t access the internet, but I can set this up for…

FIRESTARTER | Environmental thoughts | Random | Year of 50 new things

The Great Summer Road Trip

Posted onTuesday 6 March 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

Okay, throwing open the field for suggestions! :) This summer will quite possibly be the last one I have free before I must settle down and really focus on my dissertation. I have therefore decided I should add to my list of new things by taking a road trip from here to Florida, so I…

Costumery | Environmental thoughts | Feminism | Random | Year of 50 new things

Sailing, saris, activism, & climbing

Posted onSunday 4 March 2012Wednesday 6 February 2013

Lots of great firsts to (quickly) report! First, on Saturday 18 February: I attended a “battle sail” with my housemates on the Hawai’ian Chieftain, a two-masted tall sailing ship, which was a great deal of fun. I also helped crew the tall ship, by assisting in the handling of the ropes for the mizzenmast. Finally,…

A posting on Haiti

Posted onSaturday 23 January 2010Tuesday 20 July 2010

I try not to write “hop on the bandwagon” postings about the current “hot” topic in the news. I like to have a bit of time to consider and reflect on issues and situations. Within that timeframe I frequently find that simply quietly helping however I can is all I wish to say on the…

"Other" review | Environmental thoughts | Ethics questions | LIBRARY | University papers

“Biodiversity vs. Bioengineering?”

Posted onMonday 1 September 2008Tuesday 20 July 2010

This is a class assignment to critique Huber’s article “Biodiversity vs. Bioengineering?” solely on the issue of whether the use of deception was sound argumentation technique. Huber’s short but fascinating article appears in The Environmental Predicament, shown to the left. From the article, I quote the most personally relevant portions: [T]here are still transcendentally important…