Tag Archives: ecology

The Forest Unseen

Posted on September 20, 2020 by smellincoffee

In his Becoming Wild, Carl Safina remarked, “How long and rich a morning can be if you bring yourself fully to it. Come to a decent place. Bring nothing to tempt your attention away. Immerse in the timelessness of reality. … Continue reading →

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Quotes from the Ground Beneath Us

Posted on March 5, 2020 by smellincoffee

“Quotations to follow tonight,” I said. I didn’t expect AT&T to have another network outage, though mercifully this one wasn’t as long as the twelve days (you better believe I counted) of February. But enough telecom griping! On to the … Continue reading →

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Of murder and meaningful ground

Posted on March 4, 2020 by smellincoffee

A friend recently introduced me to the terms lentic and lotic, referring to stagnant and fast-moving bodies of water, respectively.  My Lenten series has so far been very lentic,   as I’ve been distracted by life’s goings-on.    I have done a … Continue reading →

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Cities of Gold

Posted on August 3, 2017 by smellincoffee

Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado© 1992 Douglas Preston (Walter Nelson, Photographs)480 pages Sometimes, history has got to be pursued from the back of a horse.  Douglas Preston wasn’t sure what took him … Continue reading →

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Cod

Posted on August 10, 2015 by smellincoffee

Cod: A Biography of a Fish that Changed the World© 1997 Mark Kurlansky294 pages In Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky detailed the surprisingly impactful career of a table condiment on human history. The importance of salted fish, both as … Continue reading →

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Human Scale

Posted on May 15, 2014 by smellincoffee

Human Scale© 1980 Kirkpatrick Sale500 pages             Human Scale is an ambitious assault on big business, big government — the very concept of Bigness. Opening with biology, Kirkpatrick Sale first establishes his basic operating principle:  for … Continue reading →

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dirt

Posted on March 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

dirt: the erosion of civilizations© 2007 Peter R. Montgomery295 pages             Civilizations rise or crumble on the soundness of their dirt, says David Montgomery. The life of a people is tied to the life of its soil, in its ability … Continue reading →

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The Gift of Good Land

Posted on February 18, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Gift of Good Land© 1981 Wendell Berry281 pages Wendell Berry is a philosopher, poet, and more, but before all else he is a farmer. He is a faithful son of Kentucky devoted to the land, to the stewardship of … Continue reading →

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small is beautiful

Posted on January 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

small is beautiful: economics as if people mattered© 1973 E.F. Schumacher288 pages Get big or get out, said the Secretary of Agriculture to American farmers in the 1970s. But as the consequences of widespread industrialism and general upheaval began to … Continue reading →

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Home Economics

Posted on September 28, 2013 by smellincoffee

Home Economics© 1987 Wendell Berry192 pages The term economics originally referred to household management, and to Wendell Berry, that’s what it should remain still. Home Economics collects essays on the meaning and relation of economy to human life. In it, … Continue reading →

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