Robin Lee Carlson

News and signs of climate change are all around us. How do we understand and assimilate the questions and emotions this knowledge brings? I grapple with these questions through ecoreportage: close observation of the natural world, documented in drawings, paintings, and words, building a nuanced portrait of ecological change. These acts of observation are important experiences in the moment and also aids to memory. But they are also ways to communicate with others what we see and feel, to convey the life around us, as it is now and as it will be.

I have been on a journey exploring the legacy of wildfire close to home and farther away. I never expected the degree to which fire would become a driving force for my imagination, inspiration, and view of what is important in the world. I learned about fire through the experiences of other organisms, showing me that fire itself is not an ecosystem disaster, though climate change and mismanaged land policy have drastically altered healthy fire cycles. My book, The Cold Canyon Fire Journals (Heyday, 2022), is the culmination of my work so far.