Exploring the Writing of
Karen Telleen-Lawton
Exploring the Writing of
Karen Telleen-Lawton
Karen Telleen-Lawton writes to understand the environment around her. Her aspiration is to be persuasive, stimulating, entertaining, and sometimes provocative. Nature is her most influential teacher.
Published Most Recently
November 11, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com I’m not a particularly loyal professional sports fan, but I was all in for the Dodgers. My husband Dave and I drove down to South Pasadena on the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
Canyon Voices - Writings from Rattlesnake Canyon
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES BOOK: CANYON VOICES THE VOICE
COMMUNITY•ECONOMICS•ENVIRONMENT
Plastic Free July
JULY 13, 2020 BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
The ubiquity of plastics made its greatest impression on me five years ago on a visit to Easter Island. Twenty-one hundred miles west of mainland Chile, it is one of the most remote inhabited places on earth.… Read the rest
READING TIME: 3 MIN
COMMUNITY•HEALTH & FITNESS•JUSTICE
The Library
JUNE 29, 2020, BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist Published: June 29, 2020 4:00 p.m.
The public library was my first love outside the family. My relationship mirrored what Susan Orlean describes in “The Library Book”: “I loved wandering around the bookshelves, scanning the spines until something happened to catch my eye.… Read the rest
READING TIME: 3 MIN
BIODIVERSITY•CLIMATE
EMERGENCY•ECONOMICS•ENVIRONMENT•JUSTICE•UNCATEGORIZED
Triple Emergencies II
JUNE 1, 2020 BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist June 1, 2020
In the last column, I wrote about the co-incident and related global emergencies of pandemics, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A friend asked me to help her understand the relationship. I struggled a bit to provide a clear explanation.… Read the rest
COMMUNITY•ECONOMICS
•JUSTICE•UNCATEGORIZED
Black Lives Matter
JUNE 29, 2020, BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist June 15, 2020
Last week, my email teemed with what I feared were mere platitudes about Black Lives Matter from
organizations with which I’m involved. Everyone is “sorry,” no one “has been doing enough.”… Read the rest
READING TIME: 4 MIN
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
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November 11, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com I’m not a particularly loyal professional sports fan, but I was all in for the Dodgers. My husband Dave and I drove down to South Pasadena on the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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October 30, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist; Read original post on Noozhawk here. In August, LA Times writer Laurel Rosenhall reported on California lawmakers reaching a five-year deal with Google regarding AI (Artificial Intelligence). In exchange for shelving legislation requiring Google to pay news…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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October 29, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
When was the United States’ glory period? I found myself pondering this question after reading Neal Ascherson’s “STONE VOICES: The Search for Scotland,” in preparation for a Scotland trip. “A people focuses upon its national…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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September 16, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist; Read original post on Noozhawk here. How did it take me six years to discover Farm Day? The only way our time in the country could have been more fun would…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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September 2, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist September 2, 2024 | 3:00 pm We’ve learned a ton about carbon since 1925. Human activities, we know, have increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere by a third since the Industrial…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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August 19, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
Read the original column in Noozhawk A few days into the Olympics I was frustrated with the coverage. I wanted a variety of events without consigning myself to a part-time job as a couch-potato. The highlights coverage…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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August 5, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
The bus driver in the Highlands clued us in on the secret of forecasting Scottish weather. We were passing alongside a Munro — a mountain higher than 3,000 feet — when he pointed to the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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July 22, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.” Attributed to Andrew Carnegie, this quote demonstrates the direct link between setting a happiness goal and…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 24, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
My brother- and sister-in-law had a great meal arrangement. Greg is an amateur gourmet chef. They love to entertain, which they did frequently for years. He cooks with panache and relishes using every dish, pan,…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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May 13, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
The solar eclipse totality was our dazzling first taste of Texas. Pre-eclipse, at LBJ National Historic Park west of Austin, we started spotting traffic control signs suggesting, “arrive early, stay late.” NASA and the Park Service had erected white tents…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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April 22, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
Call me provincial, but I believe the Gibraltar Road bike ride stacks up well against any road ride in the world. The landscape of rocky hillsides and canopy of coast live oaks fronted by the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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April 8, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
I lost my Covirginity last month. After four years of caution and a scant few months after my eighth or ninth Covid booster, I partied while my husband was away. I let down my vigilance, accepting a…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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March 25, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist There are the fixers and there are those who can’t wait to get the latest, greatest gadget. My friend Jane and her best friend You Tube-diagnosed and fixed a plugged stovetop…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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December 25, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com (This is a reprint from Noozhawk December 2013) I used to read Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” every year on my Christmas-week birthday. The beauty of Dickens’…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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July 13, 2020
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
The ubiquity of plastics made its greatest impression on me five years ago on a visit to Easter Island. Twenty-one hundred miles west of mainland Chile, it is one of the most remote inhabited places…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 29, 2020
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
The public library was my first love outside the family. My relationship mirrored what Susan Orlean describes in “The Library Book”: “I loved wandering around the bookshelves, scanning the spines until something happened to catch my eye. ……Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 15, 2020
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
Last week my email teemed with what I feared were mere platitudes about Black Lives Matter from organizations with which I’m involved. Everyone is “sorry,” no one “has been doing enough.” I didn’t trash them,…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 1, 2020
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
Last column, I wrote about the co-incident and related global emergencies of pandemics, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A friend asked me to help her understand the relationship. I struggled a bit to provide a…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
Canyon Voices - Writings from Rattlesnake Canyon
PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES BOOK: CANYON VOICES THE VOICE
COMMUNITY•ECONOMICS•ENVIRONMENT
Plastic Free July
JULY 13, 2020 BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
The ubiquity of plastics made its greatest impression on me five years ago on a visit to Easter Island. Twenty-one hundred miles west of mainland Chile, it is one of the most remote inhabited places on earth.… Read the rest
READING TIME: 3 MIN
COMMUNITY•HEALTH & FITNESS•JUSTICE
The Library
JUNE 29, 2020, BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist Published: June 29, 2020 4:00 p.m.
The public library was my first love outside the family. My relationship mirrored what Susan Orlean describes in “The Library Book”: “I loved wandering around the bookshelves, scanning the spines until something happened to catch my eye.… Read the rest
READING TIME: 3 MIN
BIODIVERSITY•CLIMATE
EMERGENCY•ECONOMICS•ENVIRONMENT•JUSTICE•UNCATEGORIZED
Triple Emergencies II
JUNE 1, 2020 BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist June 1, 2020
In the last column, I wrote about the co-incident and related global emergencies of pandemics, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A friend asked me to help her understand the relationship. I struggled a bit to provide a clear explanation.… Read the rest
COMMUNITY•ECONOMICS
•JUSTICE•UNCATEGORIZED
Black Lives Matter
JUNE 29, 2020, BY KAREN TELLEEN-LAWTON NO COMMENTS
By Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist June 15, 2020
Last week, my email teemed with what I feared were mere platitudes about Black Lives Matter from
organizations with which I’m involved. Everyone is “sorry,” no one “has been doing enough.”… Read the rest
READING TIME: 4 MIN
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
ktl@canyonvoices.com
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances, and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.
A variety of experiences over many (!) decades have influenced her views. Telleen-Lawton holds an undergraduate engineering degree from Stanford University as well as graduate degrees and certificates in environmental policy, economics, business administration and financial planning.
Until her retirement in 2022, Telleen-Lawton was the principal of Decisive Path Fee-only Financial Advisory. She writes regular articles on environmental, economic, and financial planning issues in local, regional, and national publications such as Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk, Stanford Magazine, and a national senior writing syndicate. Her book, Canyon Voices – the Nature of Rattlesnake Canyon, was published by Mission Creek Publishing in 2007. Inspirational writer for her work include John McPhee, Anne, Terry, etc . . . [I’ll look on by bookshelf]
Telleen-Lawton’s volunteer activities include various board and committee functions at All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Channel Islands Nationalist Corps, and PSC Partners Seeking a Cure. She was a proud saxophonist with Prime Time Band for seven years before passing her horn to her granddaughter. Her most important influence and best friend for the past 47 years is her husband David.