Grünes Band

Phantom Border named as one of 20 Environmental Books to Inspire You in the Year to Come!

December 16, 2024Kerstin No Comments

…by The Revelator, the online magazine of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Regular readers may remember Lange’s Revelator essay about Germany’s “Green Belt” and what it represents for humans and nature. That essay just scratched the surface — this book-length examination takes us on a powerful journey through the Green Belt’s history, culture, and ecology.… Read more Phantom Border named as one of 20 Environmental Books to Inspire You in the Year to Come!

Cold Lake Anthology Release

July 5, 2023Kerstin 4 Comments

Book launch July 9, 2023! The Burlington Writers Workshop announces the release of this year’s anthology. You can join us one of two ways: in person at Hotel Vermont or, for the geographically and time-zone-challenged (like me), online. Either way, you can get your free ticket – and order your own copy – here. Find… Read more Cold Lake Anthology Release

Die Vögel am Ende der Welt

September 29, 2020Kerstin 3 Comments

(Bonus Post in German! Ausschnitte aus Kapitel 18) For English, scroll back to the last two posts. Die Nachtluft hat die Hitze des Tages nicht wirklich aus meinem winzig-gemütlichen Dachzimmer vertrieben, und meine schläfrigen Versuche, einer hungrigen Mücke nachzustellen, waren erfolglos. Aber als die Morgensonne meine schweren Augenlider überlistet, fällt mir wieder ein, was für… Read more Die Vögel am Ende der Welt

The birds at the end of the world (Part 2)

August 31, 2020Kerstin 9 Comments

As Kai goes on to fill in the picture for me, I realize that what made the resolution for the Green Belt so effective was a chain of developments that sounded almost providential. Kai Frobel himself uses the expression glückliche Fügung, the coming together of auspicious circumstances. What becomes quite clear to me, too, is the… Read more The birds at the end of the world (Part 2)

The Birds at the End of the World (part 1)

July 24, 2020Kerstin 6 Comments

Why “the end of the world?” you may ask. For the people who lived near it, the border between East and West Germany might as well have been the end of the world. For birds – and for countless other wild creatures – the deadly border was a lifeline in an increasingly inhospitable modern agricultural… Read more The Birds at the End of the World (part 1)

At home on this earth?

May 30, 2020Kerstin 3 Comments

Since the coronavirus started to spread around the world earlier this year there have been countless stories of nature rebounding: bobcats and black bears venturing onto the roadways in Yosemite National Park, Venice canals so clear that schools of fish are visible again; seismologists finding that movements in the earth’s upper crust have slowed down… Read more At home on this earth?

Phantom borders, phantom villages

August 26, 2017Kerstin 5 Comments

The weather forecast had said something about temperatures in the 30’s – Celsius, of course, which translates to high 80s and 90s in Fahrenheit. I know I have some good hills coming up, so I make sure both my water bottles are filled, and buy a bottle of Apfelschorle (apple spritz) at a small store.… Read more Phantom borders, phantom villages

Salt mountains, and a river in recovery

August 22, 2017Kerstin 1 Comment

I like traveling along rivers. During the first leg of my expedition farther north, I had spent two days along the river Elbe, some 60 miles of which served as the “inner-German border” during the time of the German division. Now I’ve arrived at the banks of the Werra, a river I had heard about… Read more Salt mountains, and a river in recovery