Category Archives: Natural History

Insights from geology on incomplete information, uncertainty, and problem solving

Posted on December 11, 2011 by

Came across the following in the new issue of the Geological Society of America journal for members. A basic notion is that frequently a set of facts we know, or can know, are open to multiple interpretations, any or all … Continue reading →

Posted in Complexity, Education/curriculum, Effective Action, Natural History | Leave a comment

Emma Marris’s new contribution to understanding wildness & wilderness, with a critique of the notion that landscapes can (or should) be returned to a baseline date or condition

Posted on October 17, 2011 by

Emma Marris’s new book Rambunctious Garden is some of the best stuff I’ve seen on today’s wildness/wilderness issues. She critiques the notion of a “baseline” ideal for a landscape, e.g. pre-Euroamerican for Yellowstone or 1938 for Kennecott, Alaska. Her work … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural History, Wilderness, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve | Leave a comment

Consequences of choice of symbols: Framing and describing is more than an analytic tool

Posted on December 4, 2009 by

Framing and describing is more than an analytic tool. The words and concepts used are symbols that carry meanings, often multiple and easily unconscious, that have consequences and affect action. Writing the natural history of the Wrangell Mountains thus can … Continue reading →

Posted in Effective Action, Natural History | Leave a comment

Conze on perennial and sciential philosophies

Posted on November 26, 2009 by

The crux here is bringing the perennial and the sciential together, so they are both seen and experienced, though the distinctions are not blurred. Seems like the dichotomy is similar to (identical with?) the distinction between the ultimate and historical … Continue reading →

Posted in Effective Action, Natural History | Leave a comment

re Rosenberg on modern geoscience and spiritual enlightment – Do the paths converge?

Posted on October 22, 2009 by

FORM AND FORMLESS: SEVENTEENTH CENTURY DRAWINGS OF ROCKS IN EUROPE AND CHINA AND THE PATHS TOWARDS MODERN GEOSCIENCE AND SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT By the 17th Century, the century of Steno, the artistic depiction of rocks as natural objects had clearly begun … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural History | 1 Comment

Posted on March 12, 2009 by

Flies pollinating cow parsnip near the study at Sweet Creek, Alaska.

Posted in Natural History | 2 Comments