'Volga Blues' Review: Russia's River of Consciousness The Volga is not Russia’s longest river (though it is Europe’s). But as the religious pomp suggests, it is by far the country’s most significant. “Russia would not exist without the Volga,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, tells Marzio Mian, an Italian journalist and the author of Volga Blues: A Journey Into the Heart of Russia. “It’s the life force of a nation. Symbol and destiny. It’s the autobiography of a people.” Volga Blues is Mian’s chronicle of a monthlong, mostly landbound journey he took down the entire 2,000-mile river in the summer of 2023. To travel freely, without the restrictions usually placed on foreign journalists, he presented himself as a historian gathering material about the Volga, accompanied by a photojournalist using a tourist’s camera and two Russian translator-fixers. In reality, Mian asked his subjects about their lives, Russia, and the war in Ukraine, going as far as he dared without arousing too much suspicion. He quotes their conversations at length and changes many of their names for security reasons. As a result, the book brims with rare, candid, and colorful glimpses of Russia and its people during a period of immense repression, secrecy,...

'Volga Blues' Review: Russia's River of Consciousness
->Foreign Policy | More on "Volga River Russian identity journey" at BigEarthData.ai | #Water #River #RussiaUkraineWar

Healthy Illinois Wetlands Support a Healthier Mississippi River Illinois lawmakers have an opportunity to reduce flood risk, protect water quality, and conserve essential wildlife habitat by restoring and protecting wetlands. Many wetlands in Illinois have been lost over the years, affecting the birds and communities that rely on them. The Wetlands Protections Act would create a comprehensive state permitting program that, except for exempt actions like normal farming activities, would require permission prior to modifying or filling wetlands. This would help avoid impacts to the 72% of Illinois’s 981,000 acres of remaining wetlands that are at risk of development or drainage. The state would be compensated for any impacts that are unavoidable; those funds could then be used for future restoration activities. Passage of the Wetlands Protection Act could be part of a broader effort to increase state wetland protections and restoration efforts. For example, in Wisconsin, the state legislature authorized a demonstration project to test natural flood risk reduction practices, such as wetland restoration projects, to mitigate flood impacts in flood-prone areas of Ashland County, WI. The project proved to be so successful that the Wisconsin legislature followed it up with the creation of a Pre-Disaster Flood Resilience Grant Program. Illinois could follow the same formula to...

Healthy Illinois Wetlands Support a Healthier Mississippi River
->Audubon | More on "Illinois wetlands protection and restoration" at BigEarthData.ai | #Healthy #River #Wetland #Water

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

@jaybanmodel.bsky.social

#artnude #artisticnude #nudephotography #monochrome #canadianmodel #nature #outdoors #river #peace #bliss #naturephotography #art #summer #summertime #rocks #woods #forest

Vista para Oriente

Parabéns pela foto @flashd.p 🏆

Envia-nos as tuas fotos de Portugal no #instagram ou identifica-as com #on_centro ou #on_centro_portugal

🔌🔛Centro #photoshoot 📸 #photographylovers 💕 #águeda #pateira #ribeira #centro #travel #lagoa #river #colors #water #praia #sunset #sunrise

Lugosi, a male goose is standing watch, while his partner Balla is in the river ...

Ask and you shall receive...
I needed a new picture for #BirdOfTheDay and #Riverbank...
and Bella and Lugosi showed up in time...
Here's Lugosi standing watch ... Bella is in the river...
#Birds #Nature #ArtinNature #River #Photography
#PhotographersOfBluesky #ECK

Black bird flying away from the trash can

Mr&Mrs Mallard on the sidewalk in the sunshine

Tugboat heading upriver pushing a large barge

It’s turning into a beautiful afternoon here along the Hudson. I’ve just been sitting in my car. The black bird landed on the trash can but didn’t want to stick around. Mr.&Mrs Mallard stopped by and a large Tugboat pushed a barge upriver.
#ECK
#birds
#boats
#river
#photographersunited
#photography

The Breakup. Ottawa River, April 2022. #spring #nature #river #ice #city #travel #photography

The #birdoftheday alt theme is #riverbank.

Here is a Coot, on the Sacramento #River

#waterfowl #bird #birding #birder #birdphotography #nature #wildlife #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #photography #nikon

Little beach gallery for y'all 😘 2/2

🐚

#beach #bikini #microkini #tinykini #thong #booty #thighs #longhair #photography #outdoors #nature #river #abs #tummy #armpits #fitgirls #public #eastcoast #sunshine #sunny #rapunzel #booty #sandy #river #blueskies #sunset #sunbathing #back #backmuscles

Little beach gallery for y'all 😘 1/2

🐚

#beach #bikini #microkini #tinykini #thong #booty #thighs #longhair #photography #outdoors #nature #river #abs #tummy #armpits #fitgirls #public #eastcoast #sunshine #sunny #rapunzel #booty #sandy #river #blueskies #sunset #sunbathing #back #backmuscles

If you vibe with what I’m making, feel free to click the link and send a little support.
buymeacoffee.com/aivery_north

#photography #nature #naturephotography #water #river #stream #waterfall #newyork #fdt

At least here, it looks to be a great day for a forest adventure.
Have a happy #forestFriday
Nature photo day 445
#peace #nature #photography #eastcoastkin #hiking #photographersofBluesky #photographersunited #pnw #landscapephotography #scape #river

Swan on River Avon with the Holy Trinity Church is the distance - Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

#swan #riverAvon #river #stratfordUponAvon #stratford #landscape #scape #classicMono

'If they pollute our rivers, what will become of us?': the town divided between hope and fear in Brazil's Amazon oil rush Covering a densely forested area larger than Wales, the municipality and city of Oiapoque, in the state of Amapá, is an isolated yet renowned part of Brazil, thanks to a popular national saying. “From Oiapoque to Chuí” highlights the country’s northernmost and southernmost points, respectively, illustrating its vastness. Although well known, it is a remote area with about 30,000 inhabitants where less than 2% of the houses have access to proper sewage treatment. One-third of its residents are Indigenous people from four ethnic groups living in 68 hamlets across three Indigenous lands, 66 of which have electricity for less than 12 hours a day. Yet now there is hope for significant development, although this is coupled with great fear. At the northern edge of Brazil’s coastline, Oiapoque has been transformed into an operational base for Atlantic Ocean ultra-deepwater drilling by state-controlled company Petrobras – one of the probable new energy frontiers of Brazil. Spanning four other countries, the Equatorial Margin in Brazil stretches for 2,200km (1,370 miles) along the coast of six states, including 19 “blocks” in the Amazon River mouth basin, whose exploration rights have been acquired by several companies. Petrobras holds a 100% stake in six blocks and...

'If they pollute our rivers, what will become of us?': the town divided between hope and fear in Brazil's Amazon oil rush
->The Guardian | More on "Amazon oil drilling Indigenous communities" at BigEarthData.ai | #Pollute #River #Water

Sleeping tourists after picnic beside estuary. Two tourists sat on picnic chairs behind a wooden gate by the river Torridge estuary at Bideford. One is sleeping and the other is reading a newspaper. They also have a small picnic table and thermos flasks. The river is the Torridge - in the background can be seen the closed GWR railway bridge over the river. - James Ravilious

#FarmGateFriday

#ECK #Scape #ClassicMono

A 1978 photo by the wonderful James Ravilious. Had to include it for FarmGateFriday

#Monochrome #BlackandWhite #BnW #Mono #FilmPhotography #BelieveinFilm #Landscape #Bideford #Devon #Torridge #river

The Cockermouth River in Hebron, New Hampshire, three years ago #environment #nature #photography #NH #naturephotography #NewHampshire #photo #photos #photographer #photographers #landscape #landscapes #landscapephotography #water #river #rivers #trees #spring

Any Bluesky-ers into #fountain-pens, #Japanese #paper, Japanese #notebook systems and also #Filofaxes? #Plotter, Traveler's Notebook, #Midori #TN, #Ro-Biki, Midori MD, #Tomoe #River, Life, #Yamamoto. And are you keeping a common book? I'm looking for useful tips about keeping a #TOC and an #index.

Getting out of the river and on the bank; showing off her legs.
#BirdOfTheDay #Riverbank#Birds #Nature
#ArtinNature #River #ECK

a view from a bridge looking down a straight river lined by trees. black and white photo.

Down river. March 2026

#river #somerset #landscape #Scape #sonyalpha #monochrome #blackandwhite #ClassicMono #photography

#alt #birdoftheday #birds #birdphotography #photography #swan #littlegrebe #grebe #riverbank #boyne

Little grebes and mute swans resting in the early sun.
Boyne #river

New Satellite Model Maps Yellow River's Turbidity Newswise — Suspended sediment concentration is a core indicator of river health because it affects channel evolution, delta formation, flood risk, and aquatic ecosystems. In the Yellow River, sediment has long been a defining feature, especially after the river crosses the erosion-prone Loess Plateau. Although previous station measurements showed a major decline in sediment load in recent decades, those observations covered only limited river sections and could not capture full basin-wide patterns over time. Based on these challenges, deeper research into long-term, river-wide sediment dynamics was needed. Researchers from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, and collaborating institutions reported (DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0940) the study in the Journal of Remote Sensing on February 10, 2026. The work addresses a persistent challenge in river science: how to monitor sediment change continuously across the entire Yellow River, rather than relying only on scattered hydrological stations. The team found that sediment concentration generally increased from the upper reaches toward the estuary, but with sharp local drops near major reservoirs and spikes where sediment-rich tributaries joined the main channel. Over time, the river passed through three phases: rising sediment from...

New Satellite Model Maps Yellow River's Turbidity
->Newswise | More on "Yellow River sediment satellite mapping" at BigEarthData.ai | #River #Water

Cajari River Extractive Reserve - AP - Brazil #gratidaoadeus #river #status #travel #laranjaldojari

Massive, dark clouds are covering the evening sky over the river. Silhouette of a range of hills are visible at the horizon. A passenger ferry is anchored and a few people are having conversation by the riverbank.

Dark clouds looming after sunset

#unedited #gloomy #eveningsky #mood #clouds #mountains #India #horizon #river #nature #photography #mobileclick #silhouette

...this 🦫-trimmed tree made an excellent rest stop for the weary canoe hiker #pencildrawing #drawing #sketch #hiking #canoeing #nature #spring #nationalpark #river #travelsketching #colorpencil #beaver