My blog shares stories about human relationships with landscapes. These stories — you can call them accounts, narratives, analyses, or ethnographic case studies if you want to — document social change and natural resource conflict experienced by individuals and communities. They are about who we are, and how well we are learning from what we do on the land. My hunch is that here is a lot at stake in these kinds of stories.

At every scale you consider, humans exert a huge and ever increasing impact on Earth’s living systems. Our growing numbers and our growing demand for natural resources is gradually overcoming the carrying capacity of the only home we have. We all know this, but sometimes we wonder how we can translate our awareness into practical action and exert meaningful influence over land development, toxins in the environment, and energy and food policy decisions.

In these pages you’ll find reports describing people’s relationships with land, crafted with words, images, and maps. In my next post, I’ll give you an overview of my approach to ethnographic analysis and how I go about framing social interaction in terms of landscapes and land conservation. Let me know, and I will explain how my work can help you. The Gallery is a collection of photos, maps, and reviews for you to look over and think about. Click on header images to access my most recent gallery additions.

I think we’re all on a journey to learn about our connections to the people and places around us. Consciously or not, the people and places we experience make an indelible imprint on who we are, how we connect, the decisions we make, and, especially, the stories we tell. Can stories from landscapes help us understand the magnitude of our impact on the natural world ? Can they help us change, to be better people, and more present partners with living systems? Let’s find out.