Connie Barlow CONTACT PHOTOS     CONNIE BARLOW (born in 1952, Detroit MI) is a leading advocate for the "assisted migration" of native trees poleward in this time of rapid climate change. Beginning in 2004 in a paper cowritten with Pleistocene ecologist Paul S. Martin titled, "Bring Torreya taxifolia North — Now", Barlow's advocacy subsequently expanded to include even common native trees of North America. (See her assisted migration video playlists.) Despite the popular appeal of Coast Redwood and Joshua Tree, Barlow's notoriety in forestry and conservation biology is not her advocacy for assisted migration of these species but rather her founding of Torreya Guardians and her ongoing guidance and documentation of citizen volunteers who are planting an endangered tree (a glacial relict) hundreds of miles north of its native range in Florida. The project is controversial not only for being citizen led. Because Florida Torreya is listed as endangered, the group utilized a loophole in the Endangered Species Act that enabled them to legally step out ahead of the scientists in charge of "preventing species extinction." Torreya Guardians access horticulturally produced seeds and cuttings (rather than wild stock) for their northward plantings. The group's efforts have been showcased in popular magazines, notably Orion and Audubon, and mentioned in science journals (including Nature and Science). National media (e.g., New York Times and The Economist) have also reported on this group's role in putting into practice assisted migration. See the webpage "History of Torreya Guardians", which includes excerpts from print media and science journals that refer to Torreya Guardians and its actions. During the 1990s, Barlow earned her living as a freelance science writer (four books) and science editor (with Columbia University Press). Her final book, The Ghosts of Evolution (Basic Books, 2001), featured the work of Paul S. Martin and Daniel Janzen in setting forth in 1982 a new paradigm of "evolutionary anachronisms", along with Barlow's own adventures in utilizing her natural history skills to recognize probable anachronistic features of plants in America that had lost to extinction their co-evolved animal seed dispersers. (Florida Torreya's anachronistic seed possibilities were included in this book.) Her previous books, Green Space, Green Time: The Way of Science (Copernicus Books), Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life (MIT Press), and From Gaia to Selfish Genes: Selected Writings in the Life Sciences (MIT Press), all explore topics within the evolutionary and ecological sciences. In the 1990s Barlow also contributed articles to Wild Earth magazine toward encouraging others in conservation to develop "deep-time eyes" by way of learning the history of evolutionary change and paleoecological interactions. In 2014, she launched her videoblog series promoting forestry-climate activism, "Climate, Trees, and Legacy". In 2021 she developed a strong appreciation of Indigenous ecological values, and began using the phrase "helping forests walk". From 2002 through 2020, Barlow (and her husband, Michael Dowd) led an itinerant lifestyle, promoting a sacred and naturalistic view of the "Epic of Evolution". Within Unitarian Universalism, Barlow became a well-known developer of curricula for children's religious education that highlight our shared evolutionary story. Barlow's work was twice featured as the cover story of the Unitarian Universalist national magazine, UU World, (2006 and 1997). Barlow and Dowd are both on the advisory board of the Religious Naturalist Association (created in 2014) and were awarded Religious Humanists of the Year in 2016. (One outcome of visiting and speaking to many UU congregations is Connie's online UU Best Practices webpage, which inventories the diversity of fruitful ways of handling each of the standard components within UU worship services that she has encountered during visits to hundreds of UU congregations.) In 2017 Barlow volunteered as web archivist and occasional videographer for the five climate activists known as the Valve Turners, who undertook deeply moral direct action against tar sands pipelines in 2016. In 2019 she volunteered to serve as video-editor of Michael Dowd's Post-Doom Conversations series. Connie is inspired by the philosophy and poetic writing of Robin Wall Kimmerer, who wrote: "If citizenship is a matter of shared beliefs, then I believe in the democracy of species. If citizenship means an oath of loyalty to a leader, then I choose the leader of the trees. If good citizens agree to uphold the law of the nation, then I choose natural law, the law of reciprocity, of regeneration, of mutual flourishing." (Braiding Sweetgrass, p. 173). Best Sources for reflections on Connie's legacy       BOOK: Zach St. George in his The Journeys of Trees, presents Connie as one of the main characters in this popular science book, as each comes to grips with the need for native trees to geographically track the too-rapid speed of climate change. Published by W.W. Norton, July 2020. VIDEO: Collapse of Culture and Ecology: The Death of Expectations    This 75-minute conversation between CONNIE BARLOW and TERRY PATTEN was recorded and published October 2020 in AUDIO format on Terry's "State of Emergence" podcast series. The previous week, Terry had posted his conversation with Connie's husband, Michael Dowd — well known as the founder of the "postdoom" concept and community.      The shared projects of Connie and Michael are major elements of this conversation, and all three were great friends. Terry's style of probing for deep insights and personal story revealed how worldviews and values arise and shift, so this is the only video online that entails substantial elements of Connie's own trajectory. Terry Patten died one year after this podcast episode (October 2021). Michael Dowd died three years later (October 2023). Two month's after Michael's death, Connie was inspired to use her editing skills to shorten the audio and then add image/text overlays to post on youtube. Having spent 19 years on-the-road as an evolutionary educator with Reverend Dowd, and then settling in Michigan at the onset of covid, Connie had acquired an enormous stock of artistic photos and videos of NATURE. Thus, all video fragments and almost all images were filmed by Connie. She posted this video Christmas Day 2023 as a tribute to both her deceased husband and her dear friend. Four Books by Connie Barlow   •   1991 - 2001             • List of Barlow's Publications (with Abstracts) on Researchgate • COMPLETE LISTS OF BARLOW'S WRITINGS (and other works) in Evolutionary Biology Ecological Advocacy Evolutionary Humanism / Religious Naturalism Evolutionary Children's Curricula • PHOTOS of Connie Barlow VIDEO Playlists by Connie Barlow  (on her Ghosts of Evolution YOUTUBE channel) Writings in Evolutionary Biology The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms, 2001 (Basic Books) (Written by Barlow; foreword by Paul S. Martin). This book has been increasingly quoted in the popular press, especially the sections on avocado and honey locust, as evidenced in in these publications: National Public Radio 2008; Smithsonian 2013, Tasting Table 2022; North Country Public Radio 2014 Evolution Extended: Biological Debates on the Meaning of Life, 1994 (MIT Press) Anthology of classic and contemporary essays, assembled and edited by Barlow. From Gaia to Selfish Genes: Selected Writings in the Life Sciences, 1991 (MIT Press) Anthology of classic and contemporary essays, assembled and edited by Barlow. "Deep-Time Lags: Lessons from Pleistocene Ecology" 2009 PDF of chapter by Connie Barlow in Gaia in Turmoil: Climate Change Biodepletion, and Earth Ethics in an Age of Crisis, edited by Eileen Crist and H. Bruce Rinker, 2009, MIT Press. See also Connie's self-published "Tribute to the Man Who Gave Me Deep-Time Eyes: Paul S. Martin ", 15 September 2010 (internal links updated 2023). "Botanical Ghosts of Evolution", 2004 A contributed essay to the 2004 volume, Forest Canopies, edited by Bruce Rinker and Meg Lowman. Based on Connie's 2001 book, The Ghosts of Evolution. Full text. "What is Native to the Land?", 2003 Cover story for the Fall 2003 issue of, Earth Matters, newsletter of the Northwest Earth Institute. "Let There Be Sight! A Celebration of Convergence in Evolution", 2003 Annotated list of a wealth of examples in which evolution has brought forth the same form or function in life on multiple occasions and in distinct lineages. Full text. "Anachronistic Fruits and the Ghosts Who Haunt Them", 2001    Based on Connie's 2001 book, The Ghosts of Evolution (Basic Books), this 8-page article (with color illustrations) in Arnoldia 61(2): 14-21, examines the evidence that some fruits native to North America are ecologically out of step with time — that is, they co-evolved to attract seed dispersers who went some 13,000 years ago (notably, mastodons and mammoths). PDF "Ghost Stories From the Ice Age" Natural History, 2001 Another short magazine article on Connie's 2001 book. PDF See also story in Smithsonian Magazine. "Haunting the Wild Avocado" Wild Earth, 2000 Extract from chapter 1 of Connie's 2001 book, published in the Winter 2000/2001 issue. PDF Click the VIDEO at right for a 5-minute, visually rich (and playful!) introduction to these concepts. A PBS short VIDEO in 2013 also references Connie's book.          "Gaia and Evolutionary Biology" (with Tyler Volk), 1992, BioScience first page or full paper via Researchgate. "Open Systems Living in a Closed Biosphere: A New Paradox for the Gaia Debate" (with Tyler Volk), 1990, Biosystems 23(4):371-84. technical paper: Abstract (Full paper via Science Direct). FULL TEXT of paper in PDF. See editor's acceptance letter (by Lynn Margulis) image left. "Science Update: Rebirth of Philosophical Paleontology", Epic of Evolution Quarterly Fall 1998. PDF Ecological Advocacy • 2023: Comment on "Forest Service Functions" proposed rule - 3 pages PDF. EXCERPT: "My primary suggestion entails the need for "assisted range expansion" of dominant canopy trees. On a practical basis, this should be prioritized wherever replanting seeds or seedlings becomes a necessity in a national forest, owing to logging, canopy fires, or climate-induced deaths of vast acreages of trees, especially when it is clear that climate change is the root cause of stress in trees that are then killed secondarily by native insect pests or pathogens...." • 2023: Growth Capacities of Coast Redwood: Photo Essays by Connie Barlow    Connie Barlow expanded her photo-rich, lengthy webpage (in full html or in pdf) expressly to help guide nursery and planting best practices of Coast Redwood assisted migration efforts into coastal Pacific Northwest by a new citizen group based in Seattle, Propagation Nation. A shorter and less technical version of Barlow's photo-essays (that is published in html and posted on the TorreyaGuardians website) is linked from this Propagation Nation webpage: "Where to Plant Coast Redwoods". The short version can be accessed directly on the Torreya Guardians website as "Finding Good Redwood Habitat in Coastal Pacific Northwest". • 2022: Comment on Endangered Species Act proposed rule change for climate adaptation    Comment time for this proposed regulation ended August 8, with a total of 553 comments — including the COMMENT I POSTED, drawing upon my experience with Torreya Guardians. I attached a 5-page pdf that, after voicing a YES to the proposal, offered RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION: 1. Create implementation frameworks and policies that are distinct for plants. 2. Encourage nongovernmental entities to use the ESA "exception" for plants. 3. Follow the lead of the USDA Forest Service [in their own "assisted migration" terminology and actions. 4. Facilitate respectful dialogue and understandings of worldview differences. • Barlow Comment, 5-page PDF here or here • Barlow summary of key institutional comments (10 pages PDF) • Connie launches new VIDEO series in 2021: Helping Forests Walk    Retired now to her home state of Michigan, Barlow launched a new video series that builds upon the foundation laid by Torreya Guardians. Titled "Helping Forests Walk", it is a more reflective series on the topic of "assisted migration" than her 2014-2020 video series filmed across America: "Climate, Trees, and Legacy". The previous series featured field experience and learnings of these native trees: Torrey Pine, Joshua Tree (5 vids), Arizona Cypress, Rocky Mountain Trees (10 species), Engelmann Spruce (2 vids), "Becoming Passenger Pigeon" (eastern USA large-seeded trees), Alligator Juniper (9 vids), Redwoods and Sequoias (9 vids), and my 2015 lecture on assisted migration at Michigan Tech U. This new series will feature traditional natural history ways of observing and interpreting as a possible bridge between indigenous and modern science. • PROJECT by Connie Barlow: Pawpaw Ecological Survey in Michigan     GOAL - Using citizen science to discover why some pawpaw patches produce little or no fruit in southern Michigan and the ecological nuances for attracting pollinators. Three hypotheses surfaced as possible causes of the non-fruiting. A lack of effective pollinators, which Connie Barlow proposed in her 2001 book, The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms, is one possibility. Note: This project became possible when Barlow and Dowd ended 18 years of living on the road, settling into Connie's homestate of Michigan in 2020. In 2022 and 2023, Barlow gathered post-harvest seeds from a nearby large pawpaw orchard and sent seeds northward to volunteer planters — primarily to Indigenous planters in MI, WI, and NY. • VIDEO: "Helping Subcanopy Trees Migrate"    • VIDEO: "Helping Subcanopy Trees Migrate" features two subcanopy species of the eastern USA. Pawpaw, while having a long north-south reach in its historic range, can benefit from "assisted range expansion" northward. Florida Torreya is an endangered glacial relict for which citizens, including Connie, have done what the official recovery program implementers have been unwilling to do — restore its health by nothing more difficult than planting seeds well to the north. Indigenous values are advocated as well as the "natural history" style of observation and interpretation. 50 minutes - published November 2021.    WATCH • VIDEO: Torreya Guardians - Reflections by Connie Barlow 43 minutes - filmed November 12, 2022 Filmed November 2022 while cleaning and sorting autumn 2022 seeds harvested from a private home in Clinton, NC. Here Connie reflects on "two decades of citizen action." YOUTUBE CAPTION begins:    Torreya Guardians is internationally known for conducting the first "assisted migration" action for a climate-endangered plant, Florida Torreya. Advocacy began in 2004, with actions ramping up in 2008. This network of engaged citizens, however, relied on an "exception" (just for plants) in the Endangered Species Act in order to do so legally. Finally, in 2022 the federal agency in charge of endangered species proposed updating the regulations pertaining to "experimental populations" in order to facilitate its use for climate adaptation: helping species move to cooler habitats. • 2021: "Case Study of Agency and Institutional Failures in Endangered Species Management of Florida Torreya" Below is an excerpt of the TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF 13 FAILURES.    1. FAILURE to include paleoecological scientific knowledge when discerning whether and for how long the risk of potential "invasiveness" in "recipient ecosystems" should stand as a barrier to beginning experimentation with poleward assisted migration of Florida torreya. 2. FAILURE to recognize and act upon the fact that species categorized as "glacial relicts" deserve expedited decision-making in this time of super-interglacial warming anthropogenically caused. 3. FAILURE to distinguish ultimate cause (Holocene warming) from proximate causes (various diseases) in posing and evaluating palliative actions and experiments for achieving species recovery. 4. FAILURE to visit and evaluate existing mature horticultural plantings in northward states, and from such assessments see for themselves that northward plantings are not impaired by disease and thus continue to evidence health, reproduction, and (in some cases) full naturalization in northward states.... • 2019: "Petition to Downlist Torreya taxifolia from Endangered to Threatened" BELOW: Table of contents of Barlow's 26-page petition, submitted to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. EXCERPT: JUSTIFICATIONS FOR DOWNLISTING are drawn from 15 years of accomplishments by citizen volunteers associating with Torreya Guardians. The accomplishments serving as justifications are described and linked to references in five topical sections, as listed below.    TORREYA GUARDIANS s a self-organized group of naturalists, botanists, ecologists, and others with a deep concern for biodiversity protection, who have chosen to use the internet as a tool for discussing ideas, posting plans, and taking a variety of actions in behalf of our most endangered conifer tree: Torreya taxifolia. There are no by-laws, officers, board, staff, overhead costs, dues, formal organizational structure, or physical location to this organization.... Results of Barlow's petition can be accessed here. • SERMON VIDEO 2018: "Grief and Gratitude in a Time of Climate Change"     Connie Barlow's guest sermon (26 August 2018) for a Unitarian Universalist audience in Michigan conveys the anxiety and suffering of friends in Colorado, California, and Washington who are suffering yet another summer of forest fire danger, smoke, and flash flood warnings. Her message: Environmental damage (and consequent fear and anxiety) out West is clearly "21st Century." But climate change is mostly an abstract understanding in Michigan — where environmental concerns and calamities are still "20th Century". 22 minutes - Video or Audio •SERMON VIDEO 2019: "Post-Doom Death of Expectations"     In this guest sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island WA, Connie shares what she has learned while video-editing the first set of episodes of Dowd and Barlow's Post-Doom Conversations. She describes 5 patterns: (1) Diversity of outlooks; (2) Find a peer group; (3) Share stories; (4) Identity shift / myth; (5) Generational distinctions. 27 minutes Video - recorded December 2019; posted February 2020 • VIDEO 2020 Covid Legacy Pledge - in 2 parts on youtube    TO: Boomers and Beyond March/April 2020 RE: A Covid Legacy Pledge for Seniors — Turning fear into calm and crisis into generosity         by insisting on palliative care at home and/or saying no to ICU medical interventions • VIDEO Part 1: Background - narration and commentary on "What and Why a Legacy Pledge by Seniors?" • VIDEO Part 2: Sample Pledge - narration and commentary of Barlow's own sample pledge    • 2020 VIDEO ON YOUTUBE (52 minutes) This video was produced in the the second month of the covid crisis in the USA. Connie had written her own "Covid Legacy Pledge" to supplement her living will. Here she grounds her pledge to forego hospital interventions re covid on a depth understanding of how pervasive and natural death was for her immigrant maternal grandparents — and how her mother spoke of that experience and her own sense of generational justice as core for her own in-home choice of dying. The final 24-minutes is an excerpt of a 2011 video that she and Michael Dowd partnered: "Death, Budgets, and Generational Justice. Part 1 of this legacy pledge video pair is 33 minutes.      ABOVE: Barlow and Dowd's "Climate Resources" page of original videos and links.    4-city "Climate Wake-Up" tour in Kentucky, May 2013 sponsored by Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light          • 2014 VIDEO: Connie Barlow presents: "Forest Trees in Climate Peril" A 45-minute talk that Connie delivered in Prescott, Arizona, is the single best place to begin learning how rapid climate change is endangering even common trees of American forests — and why our descendants will need to step in and help those trees disperse seeds farther north than birds and mammals can transport them.     CLICK LEFT: Connie advocating for "assisted migration" at a conference in 2004. Two years later, she founded TorreyaGuardians.org WIKIPEDIA: Torreya Guardians "The Torreya taxifolia USF&WS Recovery Plan Process: An Opportunity to Shift to a Deep-Time Perspective of Native Habitat" 2010 in PDF. What We Are Learning" about Torreya's northward habitat needs. Educational page on assisted migration papers hosted by Connie. In 2021 Connie coauthored with a Canadian a lengthy new WIKIPEDIA page: "Assisted migration of forests in North America". As founder, webmaster, and chief spokesperson of Torreya Guardians, Connie is often interviewed by journalists on the topic of assisted migration of forest trees as an essential management tool in this century of rapid climate change. Samples include:     The Economist, 2015. "The Torreya Guardians were at first seen as 'eco-terrorists spreading an invasive species', remembers Connie Barlow, the group's chief propagandist. She rejects that charge, pointing out that she is only moving the tree within America. She also thinks that drastic action of this kind will soon be widespread: 'We are the radical edge of what is going to become a mainstream action.' Online access: "A Modern Ark: To save endangered species move them to more congenial places". New York Times, 2014. "In 2008, Connie Barlow, a biologist and conservationist, helped move an endangered conifer tree in Florida north by planting seedlings in cooler regions. Now she is working in the West. "I just assisted in the migration of the alligator juniper in New Mexico by planting seeds in Colorado," she said. "We have to. Climate change is happening so fast and trees are the least capable of moving." "Building an Ark for the Anthropocene".    Barlow at Michigan Technological University The "assisted migration" ongoing project of Torreya Guardians is regularly cited in academic literature on climate adaptation controversies in biodversity and ecosystems protection. Here, Connie Barlow presents the first (highly illustrated) talk to professionals. Speaking to faculty and students at Michigan Technological University's School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Barlow presents the history of the "assisted migration" controversy — highlighting the reasons why foresters have already taken actions where conservation biologists fear to tread. (filmed Sept 11, 2015) VIDEO: Foresters Outpace Conservation Biologists in Climate Adaptation Videos by Connie Barlow on the Torreya Guardians Website Educational VIDEO series to document the citizen science projects of the all-volunteer Torreya Guardians in human-assisted migration of America's most endangered conifer tree, Florida Torreya, northward in this time of rapid climate change. Connie Barlow founded the organization.    01: Helping Plants Move North in Anthropocene Climate: Torreya Guardians 2013 Report Climate is warming too fast for large-seeded plant species to migrate north via the animal partners (e.g., squirrels) that have dependably dispersed seeds for millions of years. In 2008, a group of citizen-naturalists (Torreya Guardians) legally planted 31 seedlings of the endangered Florida conifer Torreya taxifolia within private forests in the mountains of North Carolina. Connie Barlow reports their learnings during the first five years. 75 minutes - published November 7, 2013 52 total videos filmed and posted by Connie as of 2021 . . . (click for list of all videos) OR the Torreya Guardians youtube playlist. AUGUST 2022: Barlow filed a comment on the proposed federal regulation to eliminate "historical range" as the sole locus for endangered species recovery, based on her 17 years of experience leading Torreya Guardians. After voicing YES to the proposal, she offered recommendations for implementation under these four headings: 1. Create implementation frameworks and policies that are distinct for plants. 2. Encourage nongovernmental entities to use the ESA "exception" for plants. 3. Follow the lead of the USDA Forest Service [in their own "assisted migration" terminology and actions. 4. Facilitate respectful dialogue and understandings of worldview differences. • Barlow Comment, 5-page PDF here or here • Barlow summary of key institutional comments (10 pages PDF) Videos by Connie Barlow on "Climate, Trees, and Legacy Annotated list of all episodes in this video series, or via titles at right:     CLICK LEFT: 42-minute VIDEOBLOG launching Connie's educational video series, "Climate, Trees, and Legacy" in 2014. Here she introduces a learning and action series for citizen activism in helping trees adapt to climate change — species by species, decade by decade. This "assisted migration" in a time of unprecedented climate shift will be increasingly necessary in the decades ahead. Foresters can create the maps to show us where species will need to move to. But we citizen naturalists will play a complementary role in ensuring that the full diversity of genotypes keeps pace with a warming and drying continent. Human action will mimic what birds, rodents, and other native seed dispersers have been able to accomplish on their own in previous periods of Earth history, when warming occurred at much a slower pace. Pt. 2: LESSONS OF TORREY PINE Pt. 3: LESSONS OF JOSHUA TREE Pt. 4: LESSONS OF ARIZONA CYPRESS Pt. 5: ROCKY MOUNTAIN TREES IN CLIMATE PERIL Pt. 6: BECOMING PASSENGER PIGEON Pt. 7: ALLIGATOR JUNIPER ASSISTED RANGE EXPANSION Pt. 8: Foresters & Conservation Biologists, Climate Adaptation Pt. 9 REDWOODS      Summer 2016 Connie experimented with "coyote-style" and "elk-style" assisted migration of Alligator Juniper seeds into northern New Mexico. Multi-part video series accessible through her "Climate, Trees, and Legacy" page. ABOVE LEFT: August 2018 Connie delivers a "Story for All Ages" about stages of life of Monarch Butterflies at People's Church (UU) of Ludington, MI. Autumn 2016 Connie began advocating for documentation (data + video + oral history) of the amazing number of thriving specimens of California Sequoia and Coast Redwood already planted in the Pacific Northwest. Above she stands with a Sequoia that had been planted in a golf-course landscaping in Portland, Oregon — and now in someone's front yard (as the golf course succumbed to urban construction a half-century ago). Below left, in a Redwood forest in California. Below right with a Coast Redwood planted 70 years ago near Seattle, Washington.        Pt. 9F - Coast Redwoods Thrive and Multiply at Seabeck, WA 2019 Crucial documentation of 1980s planting of Coast Redwoods into a Douglas-fir regrowth forest west of Seattle. Site visit by Connie Barlow October 2019 shows thrival of the in-forest plantings, plus multiple age groups of evident offspring. 61 minutes - published November 2019    Pt. 9i - Coast Redwoods Assisted Migration: Collecting, Testing, and Dispersing Seeds Northward Field experiences and online learning have culminated in sufficient information for citizens to launch their own efforts for easily gathering cones, testing seed viability, and dispersing seeds (as the wind would do, if given thousands of years to track climate change) into fog-rich areas of the Pacific Northwest coast. The likely best microsite: patches of tall Sword Fern beneath deciduous canopy of Big-Leaf maple. 1 hour - published March 2020    WATCH Green Space, Green Time: The Way of Science, 1997 (Copernicus Books) Reflections by Barlow on ecological spirituality garnered from mainstream sciences. (This book is the primary subject of a paper by Jon Turney in Science as Culture journal in 2001.) VIEW SAMPLES OF EACH CHAPTER of GREEN SPACE GREEN TIME ONLINE: • "The Way of Science" • "Science and the Coming of a New Story" • "Biology and the Celebration of Diversity" • "Ecology and the Birth of Bioregionalism" • "Geophysiology and the Revival of Gaia" • "Meaning - Making" "Ecology Is the New Theology" 2013 (in SpiritEarth magazine) (with Michael Dowd) why the teachings of Thomas Berry are now even more urgent. (1 page in PDF) "Deep-Time Lags: Lessons from Pleistocene Ecology" 2009 PDF of chapter by Connie Barlow in Gaia in Turmoil: Climate Change Biodepletion, and Earth Ethics in an Age of Crisis, edited by Eileen Crist and H. Bruce Rinker, 2009, MIT Press. "Arkansas River Pleistocene Dreamtime" 2009 Connie's photoessay of a paleoecological "sacred site of the epic of evolution". "Spotted Salamander Pond: Gaian Symbiosis in Miniature" 2012 Connie's photoessay of her 7-week interaction with a "sacred site of the epic of evolution". "Rewilding Torreya taxifolia: Reflections by Connie Barlow" 2008 August 2008 commentary on the historic "assisted migration" of 31 seedlings of this endangered plant to private lands in the mountains of North Carolina, by Torreya Guardians. Click for PDF. "Paleoecology and the Assisted Migration Debate: Why a Deep-Time Perspective Is Vital" Illustrated webpage of citizen science, created as advocacy to influence 2010 updating of the official Endangered Species Act Recovery Plan for Torreya taxifolia (2021 UPDATE in pdf) "Torreya taxifolia Natural History" in pdf. This material is ongoingly updated by Connie Barlow on the Torreya Guardians website: Torreya taxifolia Natural History "Rewilding Megafauna" an Interview with Connie Barlow (on www.actionbioscience.org) 2007    Feature article on CONNIE BARLOW's evolutionary activism in June 2008 ORION Magazine     "TORREYA STATE PARK perches on the steep, sandy banks of the Apalachicola, where the river twists slowly through the Florida Panhandle toward the Gulf of Mexico. This is one of the most isolated spots in Florida, rich only in plant life and prisons, stupefyingly hot in summer and eerily quiet nearly all year round. Most park visitors are on their way somewhere else, and when Connie Barlow stopped here on a winter day in 1999, she was no exception . . . " SEE ALSO Connie's eco-advocacy work in Audubon Magazine, May/June 2010, in an article titled "Guardian Angels."

"Bring Torreya taxifolia North — Now" 2005

Essay co-authored with Paul S. Martin and published in the Winter 2005 issue of Wild Earth, in PDF.
Also, Connie's 2010 eulogy to Paul S. Martin

"Forests in Peril: Book Review", 2004

Review of book by Hazel Delcourt, published in Winter 2004 issue of Wild Earth magazine. Full text.

"Goodbye Eternal Frontier", 2002 (10 pages)

Published in the Summer 2002 issue of Wild Earth magazine, this article is grounded on the 2001 book by Tim Flannery, The Eternal Frontier. It presents the 65 million year deep time story of the North American Continent, questioning what it means to be native to this continent: spiritual implications and practical recommendations for conservation biology. PDF.

VIDEO LEFT: "Mammoths, Overkill, and a Deep-Time Perspective on Pleistocene Extinctions" Connie Barlow summarizes the world-wide paleontological evidence in support of the Overkill Theory of "extinction of the massive", proposed by Paul S. Martin, in this "Coming Home to North America" program delivered as a keynote presentation in 2004 in Lexington Kentucky (EarthSpirit Rising Conference). RIGHT: Click for annotated charts used in Connie's North America overkill presentation.

"Trees Who Remember", 2001 (5 pages)

Published in Trees for Life Engagement Calendar, 2001. Retyped for online publishing in 2010, with lots of photos added (including photos of Connie's mentor Paul Martin and memorabilia from the "Mammoth Memorial Service" that the two conjured up together and held at the Mammoth Site in Hot Spring SD, 1999. PDF.

"Aldo and Me", September 2000.

CLICK LEFT: 5-minute VIDEO (left) of Connie reading Leopold's "On a Monument to a Pigeon" at the Passenger Pigeon Monument in Wisconsin. 36 minute AUDIO of Connie reciting four items in honor of evolutionary ecologist Aldo Leopold (who envisioned the first designated wilderness in the world: the Gila. In September 2000, Connie sat on a log in the West Fork of the Gila and recited into a tape recorder 4 parts: (1) in-the-moment observations of the immediate surrounds, (2) "We Live in a Mythic Time": unpublished advocacy piece in behalf of the newly rewilded Mexican Gray Wolf (submitted to the Silver City Daily Press), (3) Connie's favorite excerpts from Aldo's A Sand County Almanac, and (4) Connie reciting the essay she wrote for the Trees for Life annual engagement calendar (published 2001, see above).

"Rewilding for Evolution" - Wild Earth, Spring 1999

An essay in support of Paul Martin's proposal to "Bring Back the Elephants" to North America, published in the same (Spring) issue. This essay also appears in an anthology of essays, Wild Earth, published by Milkweed Press in 2002. (Both essays are also available as part of the archived journal issue of Wild Earth, Vol 9 no. 1, here.) Watch Connie lead the congregation in the song, "Bring Back the Elephants," at the memorial service for Paul: video: song

"Re-Storying Biodiversity by Way of Science" Wild Earth, 1997

More extracts from Connie's 1997 book, published in the Spring issue. PDF.

"Because It Is My Religion" Wild Earth, 1996

Extracts from Connie's 1997 book, Green Space, Green Time, published in the Fall issue. PDF.

TRIBUTES TO MENTORS

Tribute to Paul S. Martin
Tribute to Celia Hunter
Tribute to William R. Catton

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Click for the youtube playlist of Nature-Celebrating Videos by Connie Barlow.

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Religious Naturalism / Evolutionary Humanism

Green Space, Green Time: The Way of Science, 1997 (Copernicus Books)

a now-classic text in religious naturalism, featuring the evolutionary and ecological sciences

VIDEO: Barlow and Dowd Religious Humanists of the Year (2016)

Barlow and her husband, Michael Dowd, were awarded "Religious Humanists of the Year" at an event associated with the Unitarian Universalist 2016 General Assembly. (Barlow's section begins at timecode 6:33 and ends at 17:36).

"Covid Legacy Pledge for Boomers and Beyond" - by Connie Barlow (March 2020)

VIDEO: "Post-Doom Death of Expectations" - 2019 Guest Sermon at UU Congregation of Whidbey Island, WA

Connie Barlow offers what she has learned while video-editing the first set of episodes of Dowd and Barlow's Post-Doom Conversations. Barlow describes 5 patterns: (1) Diversity of outlooks; (2) Find a peer group; (3) Share stories; (4) Identity shift / myth; (5) Generational distinctions. 27 minutes • (recorded December 2019; posted February 2020)

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VIDEO: "Your Brain's Creation Story" In August 2009, Connie Barlow (with Michael Dowd) were theme speakers at a Unitarian Universalist summer camp in Puget Sound, Washington. Connie took the lead in the illustrated presentation on the practical lessons and uses of evolutionary brain science for improving our lives — and for provisioning children and teens with an evolutionary perspective that can help them make better choices and develop healthy habits, despite having inherited "mismatched instincts" that pose challenges in modern-day life. Click LEFT for 54-minute VIDEO on YouTube.

"Death, Budgets, and Generational Justice"     AUDIO or VIDEO In August 2011, Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd gave twinned theme talks at two events in the American West: "Evolutionize Your Life" (by Michael) and "Evolutionize Your Death and Legacy" (by Connie). Inspired by the audience response and poignant storytelling that ensued, Connie wrote a call-to-action in essay form, urging her boomer generation to transform the debilitating and financially untenable death-denial that pervades American culture — largely because of literalist Christianity that interprets death as "the enemy." Click LEFT for 31-minute VIDEO.

"Death Through Deep-Time Eyes"     in AUDIO, or VIDEO April 2005, Connie Barlow presented the SONG and CHARTS version of her multi-year presentations on death. In later years in her death presentations she eliminated the song and switched from charts to powerpoint. This earliest version has an immediacy and audience involvement that is diminished in the later, more "professional" versions of the same program. 37 minutes

"Imprinting Is Not Indoctrination (Connie Barlow's boldest statement yet!)

Critiquing Dale McGowan's invited lecture at the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists nationwide (in June), Connie calls for a reassessment of the way kids in religious liberally families and institutions are taught "religion". Our postmodern celebration of diversity and advocacy of free choice actually means we deny our children a basic human requirement: "a coherent cosmology (creation story / worldview) through which to enjoy and securely navigate the years of childhood wonder, learning, and innocence." (posted July 2010)

"We Are Stardust: The Epic of Evolution in Children's Religious Education" 2009

Contributed chapter in the 2009 book, ed. Frederic John Muir, The Whole World Kin: Darwin and the Spirit of Liberal Religion (Skinner House Books). 6 questions for group discussion of this essay

Two PODCAST series  co-hosted by CONNIE BARLOW and MICHAEL DOWD

New Dimensions radio interview

"Ecology Is the New Theology" 2013 (in SpiritEarth magazine)

(with Michael Dowd) why the teachings of Thomas Berry are now even more urgent. (1 page in PDF)

"Ritualizing Big History" 2013 (in Metanexus)

Originally published as an entry in the 2004 Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (edited by Bron Taylor), Barlow's article was cited in the Wikipedia entry on Aldo Leopold: "Science writer Connie Barlow says Leopold wrote eloquently from a perspective that today would be called Religious Naturalism.[21]" This same citation sentence also appears in the religious subsection of the Loren Eiseley Wikipedia entry.

"From Mystery to Wonder: Science vs. God of the Gaps" 2009

Guest Blog by Connie Barlow on the ThankGodforEvolution.com website.

"Evolution Now: A Manifesto for Our UU Congregations" 2008

Sermon delivered by Connie Barlow on 8/31/08 at Cedar Lane Untarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland. Click here for PDF or mp3 AUDIO.

"A Place at the Podium" 2008

Guest blog by Connie Barlow on Michael Dowd's, Thank God for Evolution website, responding to the 2008 North Carolina U.S. Senate race, in which one candidate posted a negative campaign ad that implied her rival was an atheist.

CONNIE BARLOW sermon "Celebrating Evolution" VIDEO of June 2008 sermon at   Unitarian Universalist Church of Canandaigua NY   ♦ Click for audios of more SERMONS

LISTEN to the hour-long June 7, 2009 audio interview

"Immortality Projects in the Internet Era: The Rise of Volunteerism, the Demise of Consumerism, and the Democratization of Cultural Progress" (blogpost, December 2011)

"The Death of the Fringe Suburb: Why we boomers are to blame and what the youngers can do about it" (blogpost, November 2011)

"Leaving a Legacy: Proposal for a New Health Insurance Program" 2008

GOAL: to create a new governmental or nonprofit, voluntary group Health Insurance policy that (1) honors death as a natural / sacred part of the life process, and (2) distributes the financial savings thus accrued between group members (80%) and charities chosen by the dying or their guardians (20%). Click for PDF.

"Zoey 101, Brain Science 101" 2007

Guest blog by Connie Barlow on Michael Dowd's, Thank God for Evolution website, that focused on the pregnancy scandal of teen TV star Jamie Lynn Spears, as a current event platform for appreciating the practical benefits (self-understanding, compassion) for promoting an understanding of the ongoing discoveries of evolutionary brain science and evolutionary psychology.

"Even The Heavens Are Not Immortal" 2005

Interview by Craig Hamilton of Connie Barlow in the Fall 2005 issue of What Is Enlightenment? magazine.

LEFT: 10-minute YouTube VIDEO of the conclusion to Connie Barlow's "Death Through Deep-Time Eyes" presentation in Ashland OR, 2009. "Death As Natural and Generative in the Cosmos", 2004 Text (and chart) used in public presentations to show how, in the last 500 years, discoveries by geographers, geologists, paleontologists, evolutionary biologists, cell biologists, astronomers and astrophysicists have demonstrated that death is not just something that happens to individual plants and animals but also is a natural and creative process affecting mountains, seaways, continents, species, and even stars and galaxies). Full text

"Garden of Eden on Your Dinner Plate?", 2004

Essay published in the Spring 2004 issue of EarthLight, in PDF.

"Stardust: Toward a New Periodic Table of Elements", revised 2004

Written for this website, and to support the "We Are Made of Stardust" ritual also on this website, this document provides an easy introduction to the broad outlines and fascinating details of how the various chemical elements were created in different kinds of stars. Full text or PDF.

7-part VIDEO series: Loyal Rue, Connie Barlow, and Michael Dowd in conversation "Nature Is Enough" (the future of Religious Naturalism) recorded August 2014 Click for the webpage that is the annotated list/links of all 7 videos (filmed and edited by Connie Barlow).

Photo-Essays of Connie's pilgrimages to SACRED SITES OF THE EPIC OF EVOLUTION

Great Unconformity of the Grand Canyon

Arkansas River Pleistocene Dreamtime

Spotted Salamander Pond: Gaian Symbiosis in Miniature

Back to the Ediacaran in a Pool of Ophyridium Blobs

A Mammoth Memorial Service (South Dakota)

Lake Missoula / Scablands / Columbia Flood Basalt

Cretaceous Interior Seaway, KS

America's First Dinosaur Discovery (Haddonfield, NJ)

Dinosaur Ridge, CO

"Wall of Diversity", American Museum of Natural History, NYC

Little Colorado River, AZ

Passenger Pigeon Monument, Wayalusing State Park, WI

Sand Path at Down House, Darwin's Home in England

Ice Age Refuge: Apalachicola State Park, northern Florida

Archaean Encounter at Yellowstone

NASA's Apollo Flight Center, Houston TX

Type Specimen of an Ancestral Whale

"Is This Not Divine?", 2004

A fragment of a sermon on religious naturalism, delivered extemporaneously by Connie at Sunday services at Unitarian Universalist churches. Full text.

"Epic of Evolution Ritual", 2004

Entry written for the Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, edited by Bron Taylor, published 2005. Full text.

LEFT: 3-minute YouTube Music Video Sing-Along (with displayed lyrics) of Connie Barlow singing her stardust song, "In the Beginning" RIGHT: "Deep Time Eyes" interview of Connie by Craig Hamilton

"An Immense Journey: Religious Naturalism and the Great Story", 2003

Written for the "Metareligious Essays" page of this website, this personal essay shows how the Great Story can enrich the experience of religious naturalism. Exemplars of this tradition include Julian Huxley, Aldo Leopold, Loren Eiseley, and Annie Dillard; in PDF or on-screen. Note: The Wikipedia entry on Aldo Leopold credits Connie Barlow for identifying Leopold as a religious naturalist: "Science writer Connie Barlow says Leopold wrote eloquently from a perspective that today would be called Religious Naturalism.[21]" This same citation sentence also appears in the religious subsection of the Loren Eiseley Wikipedia entry.

"An Immense Journey: A Religious Naturalist Learns to Celebrate the Great Story", 2002 (unpublished)

This was an early, less formal draft of the essay above. Because it includes memories of my participation in the "Mammoth Memorial Service" in South Dakota (and because it is more free-flowing and less directed toward serving as an example of religions naturalism), I have preserved it as a separate, unpublished document in PDF.

"The Judgment of the Birds", 2000 (unpublished)

This memoir, which uses the same title as one of Loren Eiseley's revered essays, was written soon after (and which describes) my solo visioning experience in the Gila Wilderness in July 2000; included within it is a flashback to a previous solo wilderness experience in the Gila backcountry much farther upstream on Little Creek, and that occurred July 1997. PDF. Shortly after writing the essay (September 2000), I recorded an audio version ("Loren and Me") that begins with the ambient night sounds, followed by a reading of excerpts from Eiseley's "Judgment of the Birds" essay, then my own memoir, followed again by night sounds. The recording took place outdoors, at night, on a rock ledge along a shallow side canyon of the West Fork, right after the trail begins. Click to listen to 36 minute AUDIO

"The Epic of Evolution" Earth Matters (Northwest Earth Institute), 1999

2-page adaptation of Connie's 1997 book, Green Space, Green Time, published in the Spring issue. JPG Image

"The Way of Science and the Epic of Evolution" UU World, 1998

Extracts from Connie's 1997 book, Green Space, Green Time: The Way of Science, published as the cover story for the Unitarian Universalists magazine (Nov/Dec). PDF

"The Way of Science" The Humanist, 1998

More extracts from Connie's 1997 book, published in the member magazine of The Humanist Society (Mar/Apr). PDF

"Evolution and the AAAS" Science and Spirit, 1998

A report of the 1997 "Epic of Evolution Conference" held in Chicago and sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. PDF

"Classic Quotations on the Epic of Evolution" Epic of Evolution, 1998

Fifty inspiring quotations, ranging from Charles Darwin and Maria Montessori to Carl Sagan and Loren Eiseley, to Brian Swimme and Ursula Goodenough. PDF

"The Epic of Evolution" Teilhard Perspective, 1997

A lengthier version of the above report. PDF

"Because It Is My Religion" Wild Earth, 1996

Extracts from Connie's 1997 book, Green Space, Green Time, published in the Fall issue. PDF

"A Jostling on the Shelves" Teilhard Perspective, 1996

A sample of a book review column Connie contributed for several years. PDF

"Clouds and the Crystal Bell" unpublished, 1998

Reflections on a natural death and hospice. PDF. NOTE: The "Clouds" stress-reduction audio mentioned in this text is available through NewHealthVisions.com.

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Videos by Connie on Religious Naturalism (pro bono)

Praise Darwin! (an evolution revival with Charlie Varon)

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Kinship w/ Cosmos (8 mins)

Peter Mayer: The Play (music video)

Stardust and Death (4 parts)

Loyal Rue pt 4A: "Nature Is Enough" (w Barlow and Dowd)

Nancy Ellen Abrams: "Cosmic Society" (2009, pt 1)

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ON-LINE AUDIOS in Unitarian Universalist or secular settings

2013: "How Religion Is Failing Our Youth"
   Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC

2013: "Stages of Life: Dreams v. Legacy" (MLK Sunday)
   Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, CO (topics incl death and climate change)

2012: "Evolution: The Next Generation"
   Cadboro Bay United Church, Victoria BC (Canada)

2011: "Modern Women with Stone-Age Instincts"
   Interview by Claire Zammit for Women on the Edge of Evolution

2009: "Your Brain's Creation Story"
   UU Congregation of Whidbey Isl, WA

2008: "Evolution: Truth, Beauty, and Utility"
   UU Fellowship of Hendersonville, NC

2008: "We Are Stardust" (intergenerational service)
   Unitarian Universalist Church of Riverside, CA

2008: "Evolution Now: A Manifesto for our UU Congregations"
   Cedar Lane UU Church Bethesda, MD (PDF).

2006: "Celebrating Evolution"
   Second Unitarian Church of Omaha, NE

2006: "An Evolutionary Celebration of Death"
   Unitarian Society of Hartford, CT

2005: "What Is Our Cosmic Task?"
   Yakima Unitarian Universalist Church, WA

2003: "Is This Not Divine?"
   Unitarian Church of Asheville, NC

Audio Links to SERMONS BY OTHERS that Connie highly recommends

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Evolutionary Children's Curricula

"Failing Our Youth: A Call to Religious Liberals" Online Essay (Barlow and Dowd 2012) Audio (22 min) VIDEO (58 min; left; Barlow 2013) Excerpt: "Here lies an extraordinary opportunity for theologically progressive institutions to do what the fundamentalist churches cannot. Liberal churches can offer the youngers an evolutionary worldview that delights children in their wonder years, offers immensely practical insights and guidance for those going through puberty (by teaching them about "mismatched instincts" and "supernormal stimuli"), and empowers teens to ponder the meaning of life — and their life — as they edge toward adulthood." Evolutionary Religious Education (10 pp)

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"My Universe Story" (children's curriculum) (WORK IN PROGRESS) 8-9 month curriculum for provisioning 3rd and 4th graders in liberal religious, Montessori, or private-school sessions with a coherent, meaningful, and fun worldview. 28 major events in the 13.7 billion year story of the Universe are celebrated, in order, one or two per week. For each, the child selects a representative bead, culminating in the final project of stringing them together into a loop or necklace. Crucial are that the final 2 events/beads pertain to the child's own birth — and hope for their future. Click here for PDF.

"Remember Who You Are: Living a Mythic Life" (children's curriculum) 2009 12-part curriculum for assisting middle school youth in the life passage from childhood ("Explorers in the Garden") to early adolescence ("Thespians at the Oasis"), which uses the understandings drawn from the 2008 book by Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul, and using scene-by-scene the Disney movie The Lion King as a beloved bridge and focus for the middle school mindset. Overview and full curriculum available for free viewing and downloand.

"Tree Talks About Death" (children's story) 2009 This story is a non-picture book, designed to be read interactively to a child (ages 6 through 11, along with any post-teen, playful adult). The goal is to meaningfully and memorably convey a mythic tale through which the deep understandings, thanks to the scientific worldview, of the creative role that death plays at all scales of the cosmos can be grasped by both head and heart. Download in PDF. Click here to listen to free online AUDIO of Connie reading aloud this story.

"The River of Life" (children's curriculum) - a.k.a "Ancestor's Tale" 2009 From 2006 - 2009, this program created by Connie (but grounded in the evolutionary data offered by Richard Dawkins in his 2004 book, Ancestor's Tale) was the primary kids program she delivered personally at more than 40 church and private school settings. In November 2009, she made the entire curriculum available online for free download. See VIDEO below of Connie presenting this program to kids in 2011.

"12-Part Stardust Curriculum for Children" 2007 80-page PDF of lesson plans for teaching elementary-age children our relationship to stars and the Universe.

EVOLUTIONARY PARABLES by Connie Barlow: "Startull: The Story of an Average Yellow Star", 2006 "Pluto's Identity Crisis", 2003 "Earth's Challenging Childhood", published in EarthLight, 2002   AUDIO

Click on image left to watch Part 1 of a (two-part) 90-minute VIDEO of Connie presenting "Ancestor's Tale for Kids" to a mixed-age group of children in 2011 at a Unitarian Universalist church in Georgia, USA. After the video starts playing, we recommend you click on the YouTube button in the lower-right part of the picture screen. That will take you to the video's full YouTube page. From there, you can read the long text caption that summarizes the highlights. On the YouTube page, click on the gray "Show more" directly below the truncated text. Notice that the text summary includes a full TABLE OF CONTENTS with linked timestops (in blue), which you can click to advance instantly to that portion of the video. The Part 2 VIDEO of Ancestor's Tale for Kids opens at confluence #11. Two minutes into that program a child asks why some people don't believe in evolution. Watch Connie's imaginative response!

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LEFT: Connie with Montessori children in Houston, 2005, leading the "We Are Stardust" glitter ritual/song. RIGHT: VIDEO: Connie speaks of Great Story Beads at Unitarian church service in 2014 (4 mins).

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ABOVE LEFT: 5-minute VIDEO of Connie Barlow speaking to adults on how the science of "stardust" (especially when presented evocatively to children) can help modern peoples recover a deeply felt relationship to "ancestors" in the night sky. See also "From Stardust to Us", The Spiral, 2001: a PDF Report (co-written with children's book author Jennifer Morgan) of guiding children at "The Walk Through Time" exhibit.

ABOVE RIGHT: 7-minute VIDEO: "Story for All Ages" at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County, NJ (October 2013). Connie improvised a story to accompany a guest sermon by Michael Dowd ("The Future Is Calling Us To Greatness"), and used these props: her necklace of Great Story Beads, Michael's long strand of Great Story Beads, the "Earth from Space" stained glass window in the sanctuary, a pair of Hubble Space photos she has on poster board, and the children themselves.

AUDIO of a 6-minute Story for All Ages that Connie delivered at the Sunday morning service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Indianapolis in September 2014. Here she uses leaves of a tuliptree and nuts of a walnut tree she collected that morning on the church grounds to (a) help the kids appreciate identify and enjoy these trees and (b) gently introduce them to the idea that their generation will need to help such trees move north in tandem with a changing climate.

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"We Are Stardust: The Epic of Evolution in Children's Religious Education" Long version of a chapter contributed by Connie Barlow to a 2009 book edited by Unitarian Universalist minister Fred Muir. The book is The Whole World Kin: Darwin and the Spirit of Liberal Religion, published by Skinner House Books. Connie's chapter is a summary of her work and philosophy in bringing the Epic of Evolution into religious education for children. Advance the video at right to 1:00 minute into the program for a sample reading from Connie's chapter. "Evolution Now: A Manifesto for Our UU Congregations", sermon by Connie Barlow delivered August 2008 - a plea for Unitarian Universalists (and other liberal religious folk) to ensure that we give our children a coherent, inspiring creation story to guide their lives and love for all of creation. Click to listen online or read in PDF.

"Imprinting Is Not Indoctrination (Connie Barlow's boldest statement yet!)

Critiquing Dale McGowan's invited lecture at the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists nationwide (in June), Connie calls for a reassessment of the way kids in religious liberally families and institutions are taught "religion". Our postmodern celebration of diversity and advocacy of free choice actually means we deny our children a basic human requirement: "a coherent cosmology (creation story / worldview) through which to enjoy and securely navigate the years of childhood wonder, learning, and innocence." (posted July 2010)

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Photos of Connie Barlow

Connie Barlow co-hosting (with Michael Dowd) an episode of "Post-Doom Conversations", 2020.

Barlow conferring with forestry geneticist Jerry Rehfeldt in Idaho, 2016.

 
LEFT: Video-documenting 10 years of Florida Torreya growth at the Lake Junaluska site, near Waynesville, North Carolina (2018)
RIGHT: Barlow planting a torreya seedling in western North Carolina that had germinated from seed (2018).

 
LEFT: Barlow sorting Alligator Juniper berries for assisted migration in northern New Mexico, 2016

 
LEFT: Barlow in 2016 standing in front of a redwood planted at Seabeck Conference Center (Kitsap Peninsula, northwest of Seattle WA) that is now just a few years older than she is.
RIGHT: Three years later (autumn 2019) Barlow inventories the younger plantings of redwoods — and their offspring — that are flourishing in the native regrowth Douglas-fir forest onsite (toward which Barlow is pointing in the 2016 photo).

Barlow with a Coast Redwood in a wealthy section of Capitol Hill Seattle, fall of 2019. She was dismayed to discover that, while the redwood benefitted from a watered lawn, there were no cones on or under the tree — likely owing to lack of pollen drift as there were no other redwoods nearby.

Barlow loving-up a Giant Sequoia in an old neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, in 2016. Notice how distinct the leaves are of this inland California (west slope of Sierras) close cousin of the Coast Redwood that Connie works directly with.

 
LEFT: Connie Barlow casting seeds of Coast Redwood into native sword ferns, with Bigleaf maple nearby, on Whidbey Island (northwest of Seattle, WA) February 2020.
RIGHT: For the seed-casting ceremony, Connie made facepaint from the dark red tannin crystals that spill out with the seeds when redwood cones are shook.

 
LEFT: Connie in front of a young redwood trunk near Eureka CA, surrounded by Swordferns, which are native all the way up the coast into British Columbia. Swordfern is a member of her favorite fern genus, Polystichum. Because redwoods and ferns associate with the same kind of mycorrhizal fungi, they are partnered below ground; in California, they are almost always together.
RIGHT: Polystichum fern genus is also represented in the eastern USA, where species Christmas Fern is often the only evergreen fern in sight during the winter months. Here it shrouds a young Florida Torreya December 2018, which was freeplanted from seed by Connie into the southern Appalachians. Because snow rarely covers the ground, the evergreen fern fronds help Torreya escape notice by hungry deer.

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CONTACT CONNIE by email

WWW www.TheGreatStory.org

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