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
December 9, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
Green Gift Guide by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read original in Noozhawk here) December 9, 2024 | 3:00 pm I recall lifting the bright red container out of a Santa-decorated box: the milkshake maker instantly became…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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February 24, 2024
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read original on Noozhawk here) Vans of Big Data frequently cite the year 1800 as marking when the quantity of knowledge was doubling every 100 years. The same doubling of knowledge…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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December 11, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com The word symposium derives from ancient Greek for “drinking together.” The term referred to a post-banquet time of drinking accompanied by music, recitals, and conversation.…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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November 20, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Skelmes ?Iwotoko. Islas de Esperanza, Islands of Hope. The 10th California Island Symposium lived up to its aspirational title. The four-day conference held in early November in…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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November 13, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Palestine loses Western support whenever Hamas resorts to terrorism. “At the same time,” opines Daniel Blas in the L.A. Times, “we must acknowledge that the far-reaching tentacles of…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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October 30, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com In college, an easy course we acquired to round out a heavy load was called a “mic,” for “Mickey Mouse.” The course that everyone thought…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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October 16, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com What does a tasty bowl of split-pea soup have to do with a 50th high school reunion in Chicago? We returned home last week on…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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October 2, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Boycott and divestment actions don’t work — until they do. California’s grape boycott gained momentum in 1966 after Cesar Chavez’ mostly Latino labor union joined with…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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September 4, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Early this morning a black phoebe alighted on my upper railing just a few feet from me, repeating its classic perky chirp. Typically it’s house finches, pigeons, and the oak…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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August 21, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com In one of my imagined alternate paths I would have become a cooking scientist or historian. Our spice cupboards, gardens and refrigerators offer a wealth…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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August 8, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, (read the original column in Noozhawk) By now, you’ve probably heard of the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. Local governments, nonprofits, Native Americans, and supporters are paddling hard to win approval…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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July 24, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Our garden grows citrus fruit (native to Southeast Asia) and plenty of incorrigible European weeds like fennel, to which we’ve surrendered. Mostly, though, in the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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July 10, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Last month my friend’s grandson spoke at a school board meeting against a new book challenge proposal. The change at the Virginia high school where…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 26, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com I loathe waste. Plastic pump soap dispensers have no place when a paper-wrapped bar of soap does the job at a small fraction of the…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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June 12, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com In Fellowship Point, Alice Elliot Dark describes aging as “the letting go of one activity after the next, with no fanfare … just realizing later that the last…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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May 29, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Cool stuff happens in salt marshes. Signs in the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Nature Park describe the life cycle of parasitic trematodes (eew, right?), whose function is so…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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May 15, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Traveling to Portugal, I expected to be reminded of Italy, where I’ve enjoyed several memorable times dating back to the 1970s. Both are southern European…Read the restReading Time: 3 MIN
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May 1, 2023
By Karen Telleen-Lawton
by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist, Read the original column at Noozhawk.com Now that we’ve entered May gray season in Santa Barbara, I’m reflecting fondly on my recent trip to a small sunny country with a big…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.