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HIGHER GROUND
A blog by Kevin Berend
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Flow State
[Carles Rabada via Unsplash] “I’ve never had writer’s block. I don’t believe in it because… if I hear that I would freeze —I’m a block....
Kevin Berend
Mar 16 min read
1 comment


The Negative Space
A speech delivered at the 13th Northeastern Alpine Stewardship Gathering - Oct. 25, 2024, Bretton Woods, NH This is a sticker on a Jeep...
Kevin Berend
Nov 1, 20246 min read
1 comment


Synchronicity
There are coincidences, then there are surreal experiences I can’t explain. Last week, before dawn, I had a dream. I was at Griffin’s...
Kevin Berend
Jun 21, 202410 min read
0 comments


Radical Responses
Radical Responses: Climate Activism in the Post-Environmental Era A properly radical environmentalist position is in no way anti-human." ...
Kevin Berend
May 27, 202413 min read
4 comments


Stock Options
There is perhaps no industry more central to the Western identity than cattle ranching. Since the region was settled by whites, grazing...
Kevin Berend
Apr 28, 20246 min read
2 comments


This is the Place
[Patrick Hendry via Unsplash] It was summer of 1847, and Brigham Young had enough to worry about. As president of the Church of Jesus...
Kevin Berend
Mar 15, 20249 min read
2 comments


A Leap in the Dark
F I R S T Q U A R T E R NASA : On the Moon, snow does not fall. Thunder never rolls. No clouds form in the pitch-black sky. This year I...
Kevin Berend
Feb 9, 202411 min read
0 comments


Monkey Mind
Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers, teaching secrets, freedoms, and ways; who share with us their milk; self-complete, brave, and...
Kevin Berend
Jan 3, 20249 min read
2 comments

The Great Replacement
A healing ceremony being performed on the catalpa tree at Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, NY. [Photo credit Jim Conroy] T he tires of my...
Kevin Berend
Nov 25, 20238 min read
2 comments

The Art of Walking
Flâneur (n.) [flah-nœr] An idler, lounger, or saunterer; A deliberately aimless pedestrian. April 2023 Santa Fe, New Mexico Day One Four...
Kevin Berend
Jul 27, 202314 min read
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Keeping the Life List
[A version of this article appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of Adirondac.] Every serious birder keeps a “life list,” a total count of...
Kevin Berend
Jun 26, 20238 min read
2 comments


Rocks & Rolls
As the raven flies, Moab is only one hundred twenty miles from Escalante, but there is no easy way to get here. Starting north over...
Kevin Berend
Mar 27, 20236 min read
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Course Correction
On September 26, 2022, a half-ton spacecraft 6.8 million miles away and traveling four miles per second slammed into an asteroid called...
Kevin Berend
Feb 24, 20237 min read
2 comments


The Water Bearer
At the end of June I'm driving east on Highway 12 with L, in the passenger seat, who works for another environmental nonprofit in town....
Kevin Berend
Jan 17, 20236 min read
1 comment


Think Responsibly
Win or lose, elections always end the same--drowned in booze. This November’s midterms were no different. Republicans, smelling blood,...
Kevin Berend
Dec 3, 20225 min read
1 comment


Iron County
It took a man to break and hold a homestead of 160 acres even in the subhumid zone. It took a superhuman to do it on the arid plains. It...
Kevin Berend
Nov 6, 20228 min read
1 comment


Future Tense
Asphalt sauna. The late summer blacktop of a generic office park in the sprawling outskirts of north Buffalo. My first time here. I had...
Kevin Berend
Sep 30, 20225 min read
2 comments


Prime Numbers
176 riders. Three weeks. The Tour de France is the most well-known and most prestigious bike race in the world. It has been held every...
Kevin Berend
Sep 6, 20226 min read
2 comments


Northbound: Climate Change and Rare Plant Conservation in the Appalachians
This article appeared in the Summer/Fall 2022 issue of Appalachia. Flowers in Concord, Massachusetts are opening about eighteen days...
Kevin Berend
Jul 24, 202210 min read
0 comments


This Land is Our Land
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling The voice was chanting as the fog...
Kevin Berend
Jun 20, 20228 min read
2 comments
KEVIN BEREND
Science writing - Creative writing - Literary blog
Thanks for your interest. See the About page for my background or the Contact page to get in touch. Please subscribe using the form below to be notified about new posts.
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