WRITING

On the Moors of Omaha—Fine Lines copy

Books, articles, essays, and occasional writings in other genres by me

BOOKS

JUST PUBLISHED!

Fierce Consciousness: Surviving the Sorrows of Earth and Self
Calliope Books, 2023

When grief and anxiety beat us down, the struggle to cope can feel like it’s crushing us even more. To meet big challenges we need to develop fierce consciousness. In her new book Trebbe Johnson offers 34 simple practices for not only surviving tough challenges to our personal lives and our ailing planet, but also engaging with them in ways that give new meaning and beauty to daily experience.

From March 10-April 21, I’ll be doing a 21-city, cross-country book tour! See the complete schedule. 

“Unabashedly courageous and edgy, wise and poignant, Trebbe Johnson recognizes that each of us is a makeweight in the shaping of any possible future for us and the planet. She turns away from nothing, inviting each of us to find our deep affection for this beleaguered world and to put our love on the line.”
—Francis Weller, Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow

 

You’ve Made the World More Beautiful
2021

In 2010 Radical Joy for Hard Times launched their new organization by asking people to go to places they loved that had been hurt and make simple, spontaneous gifts of beauty for them. The response was so enthusiastic, we knew this had to be an annual event. In this book some of the participants share their photos and stories.

 

Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty for Earth’s Broken Places
North Atlantic Books, 2018

What do we do when the places we love are damaged or endangered? By facing what’s broken, sharing stories, and making wild, spontaneous, heartfelt acts of beauty, we reconnect with the ground beneath our hearts and find, yes, even joy.

“It’s a great vision that Trebbe Johnson is sending out into the world, and it is very much her own. The great central truth of what she is doing is the very hard lesson for all of us in our lives, and yet it is our blessing.”
—W. S. Merwin, former poet laureate of the United States

 

101 Ways to Make Guerrilla Beauty
2016

How are we to respond when the forests, rivers, and neighborhoods we love are hurt by human or natural acts? This slim book is filled with ideas for empowering ourselves and reviving our relationship with these hurt places by making bold, creative, spontaneous gifts of beauty for them.

 

The World is a Waiting Lover: Desire and the Quest for the Beloved
(Foreword by Thomas Moore)
2005, Published by New World Library

When Trebbe Johnson was 50 years old and happily married, she fell in love with a young man who was assisting on a wilderness journey she was leading in the mountains of Colorado.  She discovered that longing and desire are often linked to something greater than human relationships and that following that longing can lead to a more compassionate—and passionate—engagement with the world.

“The World Is a Waiting Lover can be read as a grand adventure, a love story, or a guide book on attaining union with the divine. Whatever you call it, the book offers an unabashedly delicious and juicy
—Parabola Magazine

ARTICLES (a partial selection)

Lament and Praise for the Earth
Parabola, October 2024

The Juniper Tree
Kosmos Journal, Winter 2022

Kissed by Fire
Parabola, Fall 2021

The Coal Remembers
Essay in the Practice volume of 5-volume Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations
Center for Humans and Nature, 2021

Guerrilla Beauty
Humans and Nature, Spring 2021

Gifts in the Promised Land: A Pilgrimage of Spirit, Song, and Friendship
Parabola, Summer 2020

On the Moors of Omaha
Fine Lines, 2019 Spring Issue

Equipment List for the Journey Home
Parabola, Fall 2018

Spiritual Activists Confront the Woes of the Planet: The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions
Parabola, Spring 2019.
Download PDF.

You Are Now Entering the Environment
Minding Nature, January 2018.

Uncommon Gratitude
Orion, July-August 2015

Devoting: Meetings with the Force That Impels Faith
Parabola, Fall, 2014
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Gifts for Broken Places
Ecopsychology, March 2014
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Gaze Even Here
Orion, November-December, 2012
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Reuniting with Wounded Places
The Ecologist, January 21, 2013

Where’s the Temple?
Parabola, Fall 2011

Rituals for Wastelands
Spirituality & Health, July/August 2009

Without Heart You Have Nothing
Parabola, Fall 2009
Download PDF

Getting to Aha
Spirituality & Health, July-August 2008
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Walking Like Lions
Second Journey, Fall 2007

“The Fierce Lover, the Royal Child, and the Rest of Your Life”
Stephens College Commencement Speech
May 5, 2007

Falling In Desire, Landing Whole
Life Challenges, 2006

The Second Creation Story: Redefining the Bond Between Religion and Ecology
Sierra, 1998

The Monster of Grim Prospects
Parabola, Fall 1998
Reprinted in The Inner Journey: Myth, Psyche, and Spirit,
Ed. Martha Heyneman, Morning Light Press, 2008

In My Backyard? Sure
Harper’s, April 1994
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Trebbe Johnson CV