by beachraven | Jul 20, 2026
Monterey Bay, Monterey, California When I was a child, my grandparents showed the family a silent, homemade film of my grandfather on his ranch in Wyoming. He was walking towards the barn, wearing his cowboy boots and hat and carrying a bucket with a big nipple...
by beachraven | Jul 20, 2026
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt If we consider John Muir the moral conscience of the modern environmental movement, Theodore Roosevelt might be seen as its political ally. More than any other American...
by beachraven | Jul 20, 2026
Asilomare State Beach, Pacific Grove, California I ran into a book last year that I wish I’d read a decade ago, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was first published in 2013 and has spread through word of mouth, readers giving away copies and...
by beachraven | Jul 20, 2026
Lake Tahoe, California “In short, the brain evolved in a biocentric world.” ~ E. O. Wilson We’ve carried the daily stress of modern life for so long that it feels normal. Long before phones and computer screens invaded our lives, our bodies...
by beachraven | Apr 22, 2026
Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, California “You can’t get upset enough to improve anything.” ~ Wayne Dyer How should we salute Earth Day, this honoring of our mutual mother, our blessed terra firma, oceans and mountains, plants and trees,...
by beachraven | Apr 17, 2026
Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, California “You are never too small to make a difference.” – Greta Thunberg Driving on Sunshine It’s officially spring, and the trees and plants here are in full agreement, young, tender, green leaves pushing out and...
by beachraven | Mar 21, 2026
Big Sur, California Just outside Templeton between the north and south lanes of the 101 freeway, there’s a half-mile stretch of road where large oak trees grow in the median. One, in particular, a Valley Oak, is extremely large, its branches reaching out over...
by beachraven | Feb 13, 2026
Asilomar State Beach, Pacific Grove, California “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.” ~ Ansel Adams For more than a century, photography has helped shape the environmental conservation movement. Ansel Adams’ reputation as a...
by beachraven | Jan 16, 2026
This morning, the rain fell, not a wind-ripping storm, but a wonderful steady patter, dripping and gurgling, drifting through an open window along with the fresh scent of mineral and earth. It’s the same sound from thirty years ago on a summer day in Sedona, Arizona....
by beachraven | Dec 19, 2025
Sunrise Monterey, California “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” ~ Emerson The sky is dark and overcast this morning as I step out for my morning walk. A damp, winter chill holds the streets in its grip, with autumn leaves rustling about...
