iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Jumping in to the last of #Butterflyweek with one of my favorite shots: eye to eye with a field crescent (I think!) taken in gorgeous #WatertonLakesNationalPark in Alberta. #insects #naturephotography 🌿

Face to face with an orange, black, and white butterfly (I think it's a field crescent) perched on top of a tall purple fleabane (Erigeron perennis) in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada.

2335

Reposted by @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

A new one for me: a luminous Mojave aster blooming in this year's super bloom in Death Valley in California. Love that even in the hottest and driest places on Earth life and beauty show up regularly. #wildflowers #naturephotography 🌿

A Mojave woodyaster (Xylorhiza tortifolia) luminous in the desert in Death Valley, California. It's delicate lavender coloring fades to white as it goes toward the yellow center. As with all flowers in the Asteraceae family, everything you see is a flower. What look like petals are ray flowers, what look like a center is a cluster of disk flowers. A pollinator's feast.

0172

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

0172

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

In spite of *gestures wildly in all directions* I've had wonderful adventures lately, like finding this gorgeous San Joaquin blazing star blooming on a small mountain next to a road I hadn't meant to be on. It was gorgeous and exciting if a little nerve wracking. #wildflowers #naturephotography

Two deep orange San Joaquin blazing stars (Mentzelia pectinata) blooming above the Carrizo Plain in central California. The centers are deep red with a cluster of red stamens topped by orange anthers.

041

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

The Easter stories have lasted because we need to hear that life is continual rebirth. Death is overcome by the energy we bring to living our lives. With every rebirth, we can choose other paths, tell other stories. Connect more deeply to the beings we are blessed to walk among. shorturl.at/BlmDI

shorturl.at

Easter: we have always needed this story

The Easter stories say something we need to hear: life is continual rebirth. Light dawns after darkness. Death is overcome by the energy we bring to our lives.

000

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

This is so beautifully said by @globalecoguy.bsky.social. I will never understand the insane disregard for our gorgeous, precious planet. What a monumental difference it would make if we chose to organize our lives around stewardship and a green prosperity for everything and everyone. 🌿

0192

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Wonderful videos of #birds building a nest and fledglings at a bird bath. When I said as much in a comment @iand777.bsky.social added another of an owl taking a shower (in the comments.) Happy way to start a day. 🌿

082

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

We take down forests because we've always taken them down. Every bag, box, paper towel, and ream of printing paper could be made of hemp or bamboo. Decks and fences recycled plastic 'boards'. Tree plantations can give us furniture and housing. Where's our imagination? 🌿 #InternationalDayOfForests

076

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

For #WorldSparrowDay, Drew Lanham Joy is the last song, drifting in as dark curtains fall; the sparrow’s vesper offering... in pine-templed woods, requiem in me-minor— church in a cathedral time built. No stained glass. No pulpit. Altars everywhere. Just listen. Just look. #birds #poetry #nature 🌿

A brown, white-crowned sparrow on a twig, with orange beak and dark eye line. Seen from the back, looking right, slightly windblown. The words are from Drew Lanham's wonderful Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves.

0173

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) is having a moment in the Anza Borrego #desert in southern #California. #wildflowers #flowerphotography #nature 🌿

The bright yellow, daisy-like flowers of brittle bush cascade down a slope among boulders and other shrubby plants in the Anza Borrego Desert.

0296

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

A great idea! I hope it includes plants animals rely on. Plants are the leading edge of biodiversity loss. You can't save pandas without saving the bamboo forest. But we are far less attuned to plants than to animals, so they don't make good mascots. Let's have mascots bring attention to plants. 🌿

0162

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

I'm in the desert, thinking of the patient, enduring wisdom of ancient rocks as they both create a planet and slowly metamorphose into plants. This is in the Valley of the Gods in southern Utah, one of the great places to be with rocks as they carry Earth's history. #StunDay #landscapephotograpy 🌿

Under dramatic clouds and very blue sky, a red rock ridge slowly erodes into the sloping plain at its feet. Sagebrush and other shrubby plants are taking hold.

311810

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

It’s many (many!) decades ago now, but I still remember being 7-ish and finding and being transfixed by my first Jack-in-the-pulpit in a remnant woods behind my suburban home. @hellabarnes.bsky.social ‘s description of “charismatic and strange” is perfect. Fascinating plants!I love them still. 🌿

060

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This year’s coming Pollinator Week just got a little more diverse! 🌿

1133

Reposted by @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 03/03/2026

I firmly believe that if we take the Bible seriously, we’ll be at the front of the line demanding climate action – and many Christians are! But the fact that so many in the US base their beliefs on politics explains why identifying as an evangelical is the top predictor of climate denial in the US.

jezebel.com

How Fossil Fuel Money Made Climate Change Denial the Word of God

Since 2007, Jezebel has been the Internet's most treasured source for everything celebrities, sex, and politics...with teeth.

413437

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

@brushwhisperer.bsky.social once again creating exquisite botanical art. It fills me with joy when I see these quiet celebrations.

020

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Several wisdom traditions hold that the antidote to fear is love. I agree with Barry Lopez that it’s the antidote to many, perhaps all of the forces we feel so overwhelmed by in these heart-wrenching days. It’s always worth celebrating love against the odds.

052

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I couldn’t love this more. I also love the idea that, watching this, we are joining one of the oldest and youngest of Earth’s terrestrial creations. These tiny, vibrant beings are the ancestors of the trees they carpet. And they remain, in so many ways, the parents of the forest they inhabit. 🌿

072

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Important point from @jasondovemark.bsky.social about climate comms: “If the media won’t do its job, then we need to become environmental storytellers…sharing tales of the climate changes we are witnessing.” And when they do their job, we can help keep their message alive. 🌿 tinyurl.com/ynms6hyv

tinyurl.com

A Time Capsule Reveals the Urgent Tone of Climate Journalism in the 2010s

What a 10-year-old time capsule reveals about the state of climate reporting.

052

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Such an important point: “staying on stories long enough to shift understanding.” Something @katharinehayhoe.com emphasizes for climate communication. Click bait drama can’t make this kind of contribution to understanding our world. 🌿

03212

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Happy #Imbolc! And happy St. Brigid's Day. A day celebrating the first stirrings of spring and a deep, green feminine energy in the world. Everywhere in the northern hemisphere, no matter how deep the snow, buds are getting ready to unfurl. #naturephotography #nature 🌿

The pale green and purple striped bud of fetid adders tongue (Scolipus bigellovii) rises from a cone of its green, mottled leaves.

2152

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

“Join with the Earth and each other, to bring new life to the land, to restore the waters, to refresh the air, to renew the forests, to care for the plants, to protect the creatures, to celebrate the seas, to rejoice in the sunlight, to sing the song of the stars…to renew our spirits…” ~ MLK ~

Bright pink clouds fan up from the setting sun, which has disappeared into blue mountains. The pink is reflected on the lake at the bottom of the photo.

170

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Flower fragrances are meant for their pollinators, but, as @dghaskell.bsky.social says, “ we get to be eavesdroppers.” One of the joys of life and another way we are woven into the whole.

030

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

One of the few true blue flowers on the planet, houndstongue is already blooming in the woods near me. Has been since Christmas. I saw a pink version yesterday, and there has been a patch with white flowers in recent years. But mostly it's amazingly blue. #flowers #flowerphotography #BlueSkyMonday

A cluster of five-petalled, vivid blue houndstongue (Cynoglossum officianale) flowers with raised white centers. They are named for their long leaves, like a hound's tongue, not their flowers.

0171

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Among the best, most practical, and realistically optimistic people to listen to about climate change and what we can do are the folks at @projectdrawdown.bsky.social #climate 🌿

070

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

There are an estimated 65 million gardeners in the US and every single plant we put in the ground or in a pot can be one that helps to save bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. And we get to choose one gorgeous plant after another. #gardening #gardendesign #nativeplants 🌿

0182

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

I wish everyone a flowering of blessings in this complex season that can be joyful, magical, and difficult. Over the years, white double amaryllis have become my Christmas flower. And a favorite model. They are wonderfully, lushly photogenic. #ArtAdventCalendar #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

Three very lush blooms of a white, double amaryllis. Double means that they have been bred to have many more petals than the species. The petals are wide and curve away from centers tinged with green. They look like extra lush lilies, but are only distantly related to real lilies.

0475

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Christmas color as we near the end of #ArtAdventCalendar. A staghorn cholla blooming in the Arizona desert, luminous in the late light. I went to #SaguaroNationalPark to see saguaros, not realizing I'd be in a world of other cacti radiant with #flowers. So happy! #nativeplants #flowerphotography 🌿

A close up of a vivid scarlet staghorn cholla (Cylindropuntia versicolor) flower radant with late afternoon sun lighting it up from the right. Cholla flower petals have a tendency to grow upright on one side and flare out on the other. One of their very wrinkled buds is on the left.

2356

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

Since childhood, when I was only reading about them, I've felt a great pull to the #prairies. Hard to explain these things. I was filled with joy when I saw my first at #CurtisPrairie, the glorious restoration in Madison, WI. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #sciart #blueskyartshow 🌿

A prairie mandala with grasses, flowers, leaves, roots, a butterfly, and a meadowlark displayed in and out of the circle. Flowers include yellow goldenrod, purple tradescantia, yellow rudbeckia with brown center, and pink blazing star. Grasses include side oats grama, goosegrass, and buffalo grass. The butterfly is a black and orange fritillary. Meadowlarks have yellow throats and chests and white tummies with brown and black stripes and markings.

1313

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Advocating for fossil fuels now is insane. This is an utter, even decadent lack of imagination for either consequences or possibilities. What can we do differently? What would that look like? How do we communicate that? Those are great questions to ponder, not this. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?

041

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Sticky geranium, another beauty from a sun-drenched June day in #WatertonLakesNP. I went to one of the last of their wonderful Wildflower Festivals. Everywhere we went we were surrounded by flowers. Plus other excitement, like a bear. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

1293

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Finding this delicate yellow Columbine and its bud in #WatertonLakesNP was a delight. Love their structure & how you can see it in the bud. It's fascinating that some flowers evolved to be so complicated, but their beauty is our gain. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

A yellow columbine (Aquilegia flavescens) with touches of red on their flaring sepals. They're hard to describe! There are 5 upright structures that look like tubes that start narrow and open wider and flare like a skirt t the bottom. Halfway down each are petal-like structures that open outward like wings. The yellow anthers are on thin, pale stamens hanging from the tubular structures. The small green bud already shows that this interesting structure is coming.

2337

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Tall purple fleabane in one of my favorite photos, from a wonderful time in #WatertonLakesNP in Alberta. It reminds me of a line in a Robert Hass poem: "The light in summer is very young and wholly unsupervised." #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

The luminous lavender flowers of three tall purple fleabane (Erigeron peregrinus) against a green background of leaves with the sun shining through them. The shot is taken from the side of the flowers, so the yellow centers are peeking through the petals.

1357

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

As @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social says in the intro, "The dark is always rising and it's the task of the greatest stories to hold it back, as this one does." A wonderfully spooky production, especially since I listen while walking in the twilight woods, looking behind occasionally. shorturl.at/RHbex

podcasts.apple.com

The Dark Is Rising

Drama Podcast · Series · A young boy’s time-travelling fight against ancient evil. When the Dark comes rising, who will hold it back? This dramatisation of Susan Cooper’s cult novel is a magical journ...

140

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Our local fairy slipper orchids are tiny and fleeting. They bloom in often cloudy March, and are hard to find among the leaves and needles of the forest floor. One year the sun was in the perfect position to pick them out for me. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

A vivid pink fairy slipper orchid (Calyso bulbosa) shimmering in the sunlight. The upright sepals and petals are hot pink, the lower, sac-like labellum red and white striped with fine white hairs to help lure bees and brush pollen off them as they enter.

0338

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Checkerbloom showing how exquisite and luminous it can be and how odd common names can be. No checks! Its Latin name, Sidalcea malviflora, tells you it's in the mallow family and has mallow-like leaves. Clearer, if a little redundant. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

A cluster of luminous pink, cone-shaped checkerblooms (Sidalcea malvifolia) which are not checked at all, but gently striped from petal tip to petal tip with lighter and darker pink.

0263

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Monkshood flower buds and seed pods are fascinating, especially with their vein-like markings so vividly picked out by the sun behind them. This was being radiant and a little spooky at the Wynn Nature Center in Homer, #Alaska. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography 🌿

A vivid purple monkshood (Aconite delphinifolium) bud and green triple seed head. Both are extra luminous and have their purple veins emphasized by the sunlight shining through them.

0478

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

For a few years I roamed in an RV, a life I loved. Some days after settling into an apartment with very mixed feelings, I hiked a nearby trail and found the woods full of migrating checkerspot #butterflies. I felt blessed. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

A light purple wild hyacinth (Dipterostemon capitatus) hanging upside down with an orange, red, black, and cream Chalcedon checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas chalcedona) also hanging upside down, holding on with delicate bright red legs.

0416

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Buckwheat was new to me when I moved to the west coast. It was love at first sight for these 1" ball-shaped clusters of tiny flowers on delicate stems. This one is being pollinated by a gorgon copper butterfly. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

Buckwheat (Eriogonum species) flowers are round clusters of tiny, individual flowers. This one, likely a cultivated version, is white and pink with red markings. The cluster is being visited by a gray gorgon copper butterfly (Lycaena gorgon) which has black markings surrounded by white and orange markings on the lower wing flanked by black.

1488

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

@scottzona.bsky.social got me thinking about fraseras this morning. This is the only one I've seen, roadside in northern California, being visited by a fritillary friend. I had to take the photos thru a chain link fence. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

White stem frasera (Frasera albicaulis) has a green stem and pale blue four-petalled flowers with a central stripe of darker blue. Since there are both yellow and pink stamens, I assume they turn pink after pollination to let pollinators know not to bother. This cluster is being visited by an orange and black fritillary butterfly with white spots on its underwing.

0332

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I found lots of billowy arrowleaf buckwheat on back roads in Northern California one spring, glowing on a pale gray day. This one offered the timeless hint that one should always match one's beetle with one's outfit. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

Vivid yellow, round clusters of arrowleaf buckwheat flowers (Eriogonum compositum) against a dark background. On one cluster rests a matching black and yellow ornate checkered beetle (Trichodes ornatus).

0415

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I can't remember if I read "Eager" by @bengoldfarb.bsky.social because I was writing about beavers or if he inspired the essay. I do remember the book is wonderful and unexpectedly hilarious. Either way, reading & writing about beavers is fun. shorturl.at/EBf1d #nature #naturewriting #mondayblogs

shorturl.at

Beavers: nature's brilliant water engineers

North American history is beaver history. Earth's consummate water engineers, beavers had it figured out. Now we are actively enlisting their help.

0206

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

This is an excellent thread, full of resources. As @danielrembrandt.bsky.social emphasizes, we depend on forests for our survival. Our thriving depends on theirs. Defending them should be at the top of our list. #nature #environment #climate #forests 🌿

0155

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

These small, quiet, speckled lilies that can be hard to find in the woods are among my favorites. Checker lilies are fritillaries, which means dice box in Latin, suggesting that Linnaeus was familiar with gambling. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #Idaho 🌿

The color of checker lilies (Fritillaria affinis) vary from yellow to chocolate brown. This one is yellow with maroon speckles and deep yellow anthers. They bloom downward, curving their stem with them. This one has a background of yellow light shining through trees to match.

0474

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Driving back roads full of wildflowers one spring, I found this glorious stalk of Washington lilies with buds, full blooms, and fading flowers all equally radiant in the sun. That one hour drive took me all afternoon. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

A slanting stalk of Washington lilies (Lilium washingtonanium) set against a dark background. The buds, white full blooms, and fading, now pink blooms are all equally radiant with the sun on them. Some flowers change color when they are pollinated so bees will know not to waste precious energy on them. I suspect that's the case here.

0241

thesouloftheearth.bsky.social @thesouloftheearth.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I love it when flowers show up in unusual positions and places, like this cardinal flower (Silene laciniata) that was growing downward over the face of a rock along a favorite trail. #ArtAdventCalendar #nativeplants #flowers #flowerphotography #California 🌿

Bright, bright red cardinal flower (Silene laciniata) with strappy red petals and silvery green leaves, stem, and buds. All upside down because it was tumbling over a rock along the trail.

0243