Open Field Notes
Let's talk more about the power of place
Let’s explore the flow between person and place.
I’m a firm believer that we’re shaped by our early landscapes, and also the landscapes of our ancestors. “One is always at home in one’s past,” Nabokov wrote, in his extraordinary memoir, Speak, Memory.
I also believe we relate and draw inspiration from the landscapes we later inhabit. Rachel Carson, always so skilled with weaving wonder and science, wrote: “One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, "What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”
I want more people to feel at home talking about place and the environment, especially in this era of rapid change and loss. So here you’ll find notes about my thinking, but also prompts for you as a thinker, reader, and writer - and occasionally access to classes, talks, and resources.
The landscapes we know and love are changing - and I think we’ve underestimated the spiritual impact this has on us.
I want to open up conversations about how landscapes make us feel. How beautiful the places of our youth and later lives were and are. How they’ve changed. What has been lost - or will be lost. What beauty remains. Where can we find solace? Where can we make meaning? What can we save?
I want to make it easier - and more lovely and meaningful - for anyone to think and write about place.
I’m not trying to hustle anyone or show up in your inbox much. Probably once a month. A teacher, communicator, and environmentalist at heart, I really just care about these ideas. Your well-being, mine, and the well-being of the natural world. This work - and the work I hope it leads you to - is about increasing the quality and specificity of sight of what we see and what we value.
I see this is as a conversation.
I ask a lot of questions in my posts - you can use these to generate your own work, journaling or conversations. You can also send me your thoughts. It’s an honor to engage on these ideas with you.