Field Guide to the Anthropocene

not waving but burning / NARA and NVIDS Public Domain Archives Hello everyone: It may reveal something about my capacity for patriotism that I’m much more interested in watching the World Cup while cheering for whatever team catches my fancy than in thinking about the flag-draped parades of America’s semiquincentennial.

If you had to pick a place to live… / credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA Hello everyone: I’ve been stretched a bit thin recently, and forgot to offer solstice greetings last week. I hope that for all of you, in both the northern and southern hemispheres, the solstice offered a moment of reflection on the movement of the spheres, and on our good fortune to be here for a little while within the wonder. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.

trailing arbutus / author photo Hello everyone: As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing: One of my favorite uses of a verb in a poem is by the great Mary Oliver in her Pulitzer-winning book American Primitive. In “Mushrooms,” she describes the fungal fruiting bodies “pummeling upward” through the soil, quiet fists breaking out of their shadow realm into ours.

Busy (and noisy) port in Pakistan / credit: Ali Abdullah on Unsplash Hello everyone: For a one-stop site to listen to samples of our ocean noise pollution sources, check out the “Anthropogenic Sounds” audio gallery at Discovery of Sound in the Sea. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.

sleeping Weddell seal, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica / author photo Hello everyone: Given my topic these few weeks, I thought I’d note that World Oceans Day is this Monday, June 8th. Find an event near you, and check out the U.N.’s beautiful video announcement about why celebrating the ocean matters. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.

a quiet moment in Muscongus Bay / author photo Hello everyone: (Apologies for a second email, but the first went out by mistake with an early draft. This is the full version. You can discard the previous email.) I’m away for most of this week and the next two, and so I’ve revisited, revised, and updated my three-part series on our ocean noise. It’s from three and a half years ago, when I had a tenth of my current readership, so it should be new for most of you.

5/28/26 – We can, and should, stop making so much noise in the ocean a quiet moment in Muscongus Bay / author photo Hello everyone: I’m away for most of this week and the next two, and so I’ve revisited, revised, and updated my three-part series on our ocean noise. It’s from three and a half years ago, when I had a tenth of my current readership, so it should be new for most of you. I think it’s one of my more interesting and lesser-known topics; let me know what you think.

out in the morning mist / author photo Hello everyone: As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing: Fog, a recent study tells us, is full of life. Bacteria inhabit the water droplets, feeding and reproducing, at a concentration similar to the density of microbial populations in both salt and fresh water.

false light amid the darkness: the fantasy (and nightmare) of controlling sunlight for profit / credit: Reflect Orbital, source Hello everyone: As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing: To be alive now in Anthropocene culture can feel like being lost in a hall of mirrors.

hiking (not portaging) in NH’s White Mtns / source Hello everyone: Some good literary news: My essay “We Are Not Alone” is a finalist for the Maine Literary Awards, hosted by the great Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news.