Tag: climate change

Artificial cobwebs strung in a windowframe, hung with tiny plastic skeletons.

Trash or Treat? Escaping the Environmental Horrors of Halloween

October 31, 2023

I entered my office and walked straight into a cloud of bats. Cartoonish chiropterans clung to the walls. Orange crepe shrouded the doorways. A plastic mermaid skeleton with blue nylon hair dangled from the light over my desk. My grinning colleague animated a large, fuzzy spider perched on the cubicle divider. “You think that’s going … More Trash or Treat? Escaping the Environmental Horrors of Halloween

Side-by-side globes showing El Nino satellite data across the Pacific. The 1997 globe shows a thick red line near the equator; on the 2015 globe, the red indicators have spread up the west coast of the United States and into the Pacific.

Fire and Ice: How Climate Change Impacts the El Niño Southern Oscillation

October 2, 2023

“I saw the termination dust in September,” said my colleague, nodding out the office window toward the Chugach Range. When I raised my eyebrows, he added “That’s what Alaskans call that first sprinkle of snow on the mountaintops, because it means summer is coming to an end. I’ve never seen it that early before.” I … More Fire and Ice: How Climate Change Impacts the El Niño Southern Oscillation

A great horned owl peers up from a green patch of clover, vivid yellow eyes blazing through the pink blossoms.

The Fifty-Dollar Owl: Contemplating the Cost of Conservation

September 5, 2023

My overseas work contract recently concluded, but after three years of vast Australian skies and wilderness at my doorstep, I couldn’t bear returning to the congested mid-Atlantic sprawl I’d once called home. Instead, I took a job in another remote pole: Alaska! I’ve hopped hemispheres from the Great Southern Land to the Great White North. … More The Fifty-Dollar Owl: Contemplating the Cost of Conservation

Journey to “The Protean Shore”: Writing for Mason Jar Press’ Literary Journal

June 4, 2023

Power thrums through the headset. Every nerve sizzles with alien sensations: water flowing over speckled skin, the lingering taste of fish, a symphony of echoes lapping my mind’s protean shore. Phantom limbs unfurl into a broad tail… My writing has undergone significant evolution in the past few years. I shifted from YA to adult fiction, … More Journey to “The Protean Shore”: Writing for Mason Jar Press’ Literary Journal

A paper rose made from ivory paper printed with dark text.

“After the Noise”: A Music/Poetry Collaboration

May 20, 2023

As if writing and photography weren’t enough creative pursuits to consume a person, I also play music. Not terribly well, since I rarely have time to practice these days, but it’s still a strong frequency in my spirit. Thus when a music artist on Mastodon sought voice segments for a project, I responded. Recording a … More “After the Noise”: A Music/Poetry Collaboration

Lady Elliot Island seen from the air.

God Save The Queensland, Pt. II: Reef Restoration

April 9, 2023

This two-part blog post series begins with my first visit to north Queensland in July 2022, and concludes with a second trip to the Gold Coast in March 2023. After the mid-2022 trip to North Queensland, I didn’t plan on returning anytime soon. There were many other places I wanted to explore, like New Zealand. … More God Save The Queensland, Pt. II: Reef Restoration