Welcome to Cascadiana.blog,
I created this space to share stories of the land, cultures and history of the place I come from.
My home is not a place in the conventional geopolitical sense, instead it emerges naturally from the meeting of two of Earth’s great titans: the Pacific Ocean and the North American Cordillera. The sun powers nearly every process on Earth, ecosystems are no different. Energy from the sun is absorbed by the Pacific ocean, vaporizing and dissolving water into the surrounding atmosphere. This warm, humid air is carried by the Westerly winds until encountering the mountainous northwestern edge of the North American continent. The rising terrain and the push of prevailing winds forces the air mass upward, cooling it and condensing the dissolved moisture into clouds, droplets, and rain. This water, wrung from the sky by towering titans, is compelled by the unyielding tug of gravity to flow downward. Cascading over the landscape as it returns to the ocean, shaping the earth and creating a fertile oasis of terrestrial biodiversity. In this flow minerals and nutrients are dissolved and washed out to sea, feeding a rich marine ecosystem on the continental shelf. The land and sea cooperate to create vibrant, interconnected ecosystems that would be impossible otherwise.
This is Cascadia, the land and waters of the Northeast Pacific rim, where ocean, earth and sky meet.
As a bioregion, Cascadia’s borders are ecological in nature; thus are flexible, bending and blurring as the land changes over time. In modern times this region is divided between Canada and the U.S.A., as settled by the 1842 Oregon Treaty. But the history of this place is far older than a few centuries of colonialism. It was the lands and waters of Cascadia that served as a fertile gateway for first people to enter the Americas. For tens of thousands of years the people of the First Nations thrived here and they still do, despite the arrival of Eurasian diseases and the directed campaigns of extermination by the colonial governments. This is a place countless people have come seeking a better life. Our modern population is among the most diverse in the world, hosting immigrant communities from every continent.
You have probably experienced “Americana”, maybe “Canadiana” too; now I welcome you to join me as I explore “Cascadiana” the history and culture of Cascadia!
Cascadiana.blog 