Karen Pinchin

A map of showing England, Cornwall, and Wales. The map land is somewhat sepia colored, and the water is a speckled blue. The map is dotted with many green circles of different sizes. Each dot, of course, is the location of an eel rent. Larger rets get bigger dots. It's a lot of dots, and a lot of eels. It's worth taking a moment to remember that this map is a lie. All maps are lies, really. It's just that we decide which lies matter to us and which ones don't. The very best map in the world is still wrong as an accurate representation of space.

How do you pay rent? With money, like a sucker? Have you thought about using eels?

In medieval England, people did just that! In fact, eel-rents were very common. In 1100, English landlords collected more than 500,000 eels in rent each year.

That's a lot of eels!

Here's a map:
🗃️🧪

This feels like a graduate thesis somehow.

Finding Amelia | Literary Review of Canada Jenn Thornhill Verma reviews “Kings of Their Own Ocean,” by Karen Pinchin.

In a world imperilled by apathy, I feel fiercely that individual choices must and do matter. So that makes it extra special that Jenn Thornhill Verma picked up on this deep thread for her lovely Kings review: reviewcanada.ca/magazine/202...

I’m here for embrace of complexity in all its forms!

Screenshot of comment piece linked to in post

I wrote a comment piece about our ability to predict how ocean productivity will respond to climate change and the need for a new generation of biological forecasting tools:

rdcu.be/dqPEA

Slow but steady. I’m trusting reliable sources and voices I trust to rebuild a network. And the algorithm brought me to you, so something is working!

The Committee to Protect Journalists say the level of danger and casualties among journalists in Gaza is worse than anything they have every covered.
cpj.org/2023/11/jour...

I’m curious how many (or if?!) veterans are actually in the community? Legions are a funnily under-appreciated element of the military-industrial complex, imo!

Guess nationalism and xenophobia will never truly go Out of Style, at least while the dudes are in charge.

Lest We Forget | The Walrus Is the Royal Canadian Legion fighting a losing battle?

As Nov. 11 approaches and war pummels Europe & the ME, it's strange to look back at this Walrus piece I wrote (13 years ago gah) about the portended death of the Legion: thewalrus.ca/lest-we-forg...

Yesss please! #addocean

I was first lured your way my buddy Rebekah White so this truly felt like a sign! LMK if you'd like me to mail you folks a copy of Kings. 🌊 Complex systems illuminated by Indigeneity, we love to see it!

www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/fie...

Am heading to the Everglades for the first time ever (!) before the Miami Book Fair next week so am prepping with the Field Trip ep. by @washingtonpost.com and it is so excellent. Now to not step on any poisonous snakes! 🐍🐊🌴

Ooh also me as well please!

Gaza at ‘breaking point’ as Israel refuses to allow in life-saving fuel War-shattered Gaza’s health, sanitation, water and food services are nearly exhausted as Israel prevents fuel to enter.

All bakeries in the Gaza City and North Gaza governorates have stopped operating due to Israel’s systematic targeting and a lack of fuel and flour, according to Palestinian officials. Oxfam has accused Israel of using starvation ‘as a weapon of war’.

“Claws and Camouflage,” by Christian Sardet and Sharif Mirshak, CNRS. Phronima has four legs (two front and two hind ones), two large claws, and a tail for swimming with the currents. Here, its claw is colored a copper-red from pigmented cells called chromatophores. It can contract the cells and appear completely transparent so that prey mistake it for harmless gelatinous plankton. Image courtesy of Tara Oceans, “Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World”

Phronima sedentaria is a type of hyperiid amphipod, or small crustacean, that preys on gelatinous plankton, such as salps. 🧪

Learn more:

www.sciencefriday.com/articles/mon...

The Solutions Journalism Network is looking for a new leader for its climate initiatives. jobs.lever.co/solutionsjou...

Yuck but yes!

No tie, $4,000 cashmere sweater sorry I don’t make the rules.

Israel accused of using ‘starvation as a weapon’ against Gaza civilians International charity says just two percent of usual food delivered to enclave since Israel imposed ‘total siege’.

Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Wael Dahdouh’s wife, daughter and son have been killed in an Israeli shelling attack on a house where they were sheltering. Dahdouh has been described as ‘the backbone of Al Jazeera’s coverage in Gaza.’

A mother reported her son missing in March. Police kept the truth from her for months. Bettersten Wade’s search for her adult son ended when she discovered that an officer had run him over — and without telling her, authorities buried him in a pauper’s field.

A Mississippi mother who spent 7 months searching for her son discovered that an off-duty officer ran him over less than an hour after he left the house.

Authorities then buried him without notifying his family

@shastingssimon.bsky.social I'd be happy to chat wicked problems, international governance and climate hope with your students anytime! (Thanks buddy!)

What Does the Law of the Sea Say about Climate Change? | Hakai Magazine A team of 21 judges is going to figure it out.

In its 41-year history, ITLOS has only ever produced two advisory opinions: one on deep-sea mining and the other on high seas fisheries. So experts say it’s difficult to know how the court will approach the much broader and more complex matter of climate change. hakaimagazine.com/news/what-do...

The World Solved Acid Rain. We Can Also Solve Climate Change Lessons from how we tackled acid rain can be applied to our world today

We! fixed! acid! rain! And we can fix climate change 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Baby’s first honey mushroom. 🍄

The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidence

I’m actually shocked it took this long to overturn. I mean, I’m not shocked because … patriarchy. But the evidence has been right there all along. Another example among many that bias clouds our ability to see reality.
WOMEN WERE HUNTERS:

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

I just booked my XBB booster; god bless socialism or whatever. No COVID yet but I know it’s only a matter of time!

#5amwritersclub and it seems a bit early to be trying to describe this photo #sharkweek

The haircut! The bow tie! Love this dream coming true for you. (Also happy you are here as I abandon Tw***er for milder climes.)