The COP21 talks began in Paris today, following last week’s worldwide climate marches. Here is a reflection I offered at the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo on November 15, as part of our climate justice service preceding these momentous talks. Prayers and social movements are both made with our feet, so I’m pleased to sayContinue reading “The Road is Made by Walking”
Author Archives: christinaconklin
The Light on My Mountaintop, Part II
The Parliament of the World’s Religions brought together hundreds of leading thinkers, writers, and spiritual leaders from around the world. Drinking from the fire hose of wisdom and justice-making, I took copious notes of their best aphorisms. Though many are unattributed in my notebook (that damn fire hose!), here are the best quotes. We haveContinue reading “The Light on My Mountaintop, Part II”
The Light Shining on My Mountaintop, Part 1
What on earth is the Parliament of the World’s Religions? And what could it possibly mean that this conference of 10,000 people from 50 faiths and 80 countries is taking place in Salt Lake City, the home of the Mormon Church? What would all these people even talk about for 5 days? Would they allContinue reading “The Light Shining on My Mountaintop, Part 1”
Lost Cities of the California Coast
After a hiatus to pursue my Low Carbon Diet project, I’m BACK, working on a new project, Lost Cities of the California Coast. It explores how people in California cities will respond to rising sea levels over the coming decades through participatory art and creative writing. Here’s a summary: With sea level rising for theContinue reading “Lost Cities of the California Coast”
The Dead Sea is Dying
The Dead Sea is the lowest tideline on earth, filling the deepest trench of the Great Rift Valley, which begins in Mozambique and runs north to Syria. The border between Israel and Jordan divides it in two, a border that is, unusually in the Middle East, both geological and political: not a line in theContinue reading “The Dead Sea is Dying”
Lowtidefullmoon walking
Following are excerpts from my recent guided walk, Tideline as Timeline. Timeline: January 4, 2015, 2:30 – 5:30 pm Place: Princeton-by-the-Sea, California The tideline is one of the richest biological regions on earth. It is also a fluctuating, fractal line that rises and falls each day and over thousands of years. Today, as the seaContinue reading “Lowtidefullmoon walking”
Low Carbon Diet I
So what does a Low Carbon Diet look like? I’ve been thinking about this and researching the idea for a couple of months now, as I get ready to begin, and a few things have become clear to me: 1) Everything we touch and do in modern life is coated with a veneer of petroleum;Continue reading “Low Carbon Diet I”
Tideline as Timeline
Join me for this New Year walk, marking the edge of the low tide and the rise of the full moon. We’ll think about presence and absence in Princeton-by-the-Sea, a neighborhood on the site of a former Ohlone village. A little background. This phrase — tideline as timeline — occurred to me earlier this yearContinue reading “Tideline as Timeline”
Let’s Get Physical
I walked into a JMW Turner painting this morning. This one: Or maybe this one: It was wild outside last night — the rain woke me twice and the rainless wind once — and my morning walk was unusually warm and blustery. I rounded the corner to the Point, where I usually stop to surveyContinue reading “Let’s Get Physical”
The Tides They Are a’ Chaaaan-gin’
Half_Moon_Bay flood map Check out this map of my town. My house lies in the middle of it, just above that dark blue band indicates where the new tideline will be once seas have risen 55 inches, as they are expected to this century. Within the light blue area — the hundred-year flood line —Continue reading “The Tides They Are a’ Chaaaan-gin’”
