Landscape panorama ear Afkaba, Marsabit, Kenya
Chalbi Desert landscape, Kenya
Studying landscape governance near Afkaba rock catchment, Marsabit, Kenya
Owl in ravine at Afkaba, Marsabit, Kenya

The Deliberative Landscapes Wanderer

Wandering Over to Environmental SF

by | May 19, 2024

This is just a note to let you know that I'll be taking a break from the Deliberative Landscapes Wanderer. As I hinted in my previous post, most of my spare time these days is dedicated to writing fiction.  But much of my creative writing grapples with the same...

The Literature of the Possible

The Literature of the Possible

by | Apr 6, 2024

In my recent mental wanderings in this blog, I’ve been exploring why, for those of us working for sustainability, it is crucial to take a long-term view, and I’ve been asking what it means to think about, plan for, and prioritize the future (e.g., "Deep Time").  I...

Thoughts on How to Live and Work in Deep Time

by | Dec 26, 2023

Envision the world you would like to see Back in the 1990s, visioning was all the rage and it seemed that every organization needed to have a vision statement.  Being a fashionable guy, I participated in that.  As a facilitator, I conducted workshops aimed at helping...

Bricklayers and Boiling Frogs

by | Sep 5, 2023

You may be familiar with the parable of the three bricklayers, but in case not, here it is in brief. A traveler came upon a construction site and saw a bricklayer at work.  He asked the bricklayer what he was doing.  “I’m laying bricks,” the man replied. The traveler...

Environmentalism as Cultural Change

by | Jul 18, 2023

Structural change and individual behavior change Social action for sustainability and the protection of nature often aims, in one way or another, at changes to social structures.  Whether the actions are led by researchers, activists, or technocrats, the goal of...

House on Fire

by | May 23, 2022

The house where I grew up was perpetually catching on fire. It wasn’t all bad.  Although I fought with my brothers and sisters sometimes, we really had a beautiful family.  Sunday dinner was especially nice.  Dad always asked each of us what we did that week.  If one...

Land Governance Lenses

by | Apr 19, 2022

There are multiple factors that influence the way we as human beings see the world.  Education, culture, and particular disciplines, professions, and institutions all provide us with narratives, conceptual frameworks, and biases.  These become lenses through which see...

Causal pathways in environmental governance

by | Jan 13, 2022

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that I’ve been silent for several months. I’m hoping that in the new year I can get back to a regular monthly schedule.   In an earlier post, I argued that formal land tenure systems—including policies and laws aimed at...