Charlotte Leib

@charlotte-leib

PhD@Yale. Trained in landscape, energy, early American & US history, with broader interests in histories of tech, climate, capitalism, inequality. Incoming postdoctoral fellow @Princeton charlotteleib.com

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Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· 29d

New moon blooms ~*^~*’,~^*•’• #Echinacea #flowers

Close up of pink and orange echinacea heads. Sunny ☀️

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· 29d

Had an energizing time workshopping papers on #envhist of #plastics for a special issue w/ @elsadevienne.bsky.social Jess Varner, Yaxi Liu, Etienne Dufour @luciletruffy.bsky.social from my desk at the @hagleycenter.bsky.social today Big thanks to Elsa for convening us at @northumbriauni.bsky.social

Laptop computer screen with a word doc and zoom call pulled up. In an office on desk with notebooks, coffee, and books.

Group of academics sitting around a table in a white room, smiling and conversing. There's one other person joining on a screen, virtually, at the front of the room. People look engaged.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Jul 13

This morning, I plucked a little inspiration for the paragraphs I’m writing and revising from the @hagleycenter.bsky.social meadows: Red clover. Another key “planetary commodity” of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, alongside sugar, rice, and tobacco. #envhist #capitalism #grass

Red clover and a blue jay feather on a desk along with some books, including one titled Tobacco Culture and another titled Sweetness and Power, a laptop and a computer screen.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Jul 2

What a plant needs after a day in a hot truck! 🥵🥵🥵🪴🪴🪴 🧊🧊🧊

Fiddleleaf fig tree with ice cubes in pot, within a house and next to a tiger rug

Close up of ice ice cubes in pot from above

A filled uhaul truck with cardboard boxes, furniture and a large fiddleleaf fig tree plant inside. The truck is very full.

10’ uhaul truck parked in front of a brutalist concrete building on a one-way street. Two street trees bracket frame as does a black car parked behind truck at right.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Jun 7

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· May 22

So ready! #Princeton #reunions #tiger #tales

Orange and black jacket with big with athletic letter “P” with tiger tail and tiger socks in hanger. Has name tag that reads Charlotte Leib ‘13

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· May 21

Fourth in line signing in for my college reunions… Minor celebrity moment spotting Jeopardy star Jamie Ding first! 31 wins. Happens to be our class year backwards!

Cropped view of reunions signature book with four names signed on lined letter paper including Jamie Ding at top.

Reunions signage on a rainy day. Class years show in orange lettering with lightbulbs above a wooden fence. Years shown are 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 on. bottom with 2011 at top. There are green trees in the background along with a big white tent. Someone with an orange and black blazer and hat is passing in the foreground.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· May 15

Lovely! Here’s to Rosa rugosas coast to coast!

Rosa rugosa up close - pink and green with yellow center - brick wall

Rosa rugosa up close side view - pink and green with yellow center - sidewalk in back

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· May 4

Earlier today, I wrote this message in chalk beneath a tree… …Then found a penny minted 1945! Wonder where it’s been. 81 years. A “wheat” penny featuring Lincoln on the front and two sheaves of wheat framing the word “One Cent” on the back:

Maple tree in a park leafing out with the message “WOW a beautiful day to sand in awe of a tree!” in chalk on the sidewalk in front.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· May 4

Oaks are leafing out. Lilacs are out. True spring post-full moon here in New Haven, like clockwork!

Soft blur photo of a park as the evening sun hangs low and streams through oak and other tree branches. Springtime. Oak leaves in foreground leafing out next to oak trunk.

Lilac bloom with setting sun peaking behind in an urban environment

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Apr 25

…and delights. #spring #wildflowers #moss #rocks

Small pink-white wildflowers emerge from a dry, brown leafy forest floor. Close-up. Flowers have bright green leaves and five petals.

Water drips from a mossy rocky ledge. The moss is vibrant green and has grass growing from it. The rock is clay colored.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Apr 25

among today’s finer oddities:

Surface of a rock with two perfectly round holes that appear to be eyes and a crevace in the rock that appears to be a mouth. 🌱 Sedums and grasses emerge from the orifices. Shadows fall across the rock from the tree rock’s apparent planted eyes and mouth from northwest to southeast. It is afternoon.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Apr 16

#Elms are waiting for their turn! #ElmCity #CT #spring

American elm trees rise from a narrow urban sidewalk opposite a brick wall with latticed brick at top and cherry blossoms above. Sky is blue. Sidewalk vanishes toward center of horizon line. Spring sunny day. Shadows fall across the scene amidst light blossoms.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Mar 31

The #Seagulls are back roosting on my apartment rooftop! This one tapped on my skylight early this morning as if to say “get up, get up!” Works much better than an alarm for me! Heyyyy seagull #urban #birds #birding

Bottom up view of a seagull perching on a skylight looking into an apt

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Feb 8

Ok, it's 1 °F in New Haven, and I just ordered a giant bag of chocolate online for melting. The world is a mess. Somehow chocolate seems like a good thing to have for this February 2026. Sharing this recipe in case you, too, need chocolate. May look decadent, but it's high in iron and magnesium!

Recipe for Jeweled Tiffin from Natalia Rudin's cookbook, Cooking Fast and Slow. Photo shows two pages in the book with picture on left-hand page of sliced, stacked chocalate tiffin laced with nuts, cranberries, and biscoff cookies, piled high in chunks.

Photo of a winter streetscape. There's a snow-covered sidewalk shoveled with a dusting of snow, and brick buildings on either side. Cars are blanketed in snow and the street trees stand black and bare in the middle of the photo, between the cars and the sidewalk. Lights glow from windows, doorways, and the street. Wires criss-cross in the sky above the street. The sky is a dusky blue-gray. It is cold.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Jan 18

Someone else made #ducks and ducklings! #snow

Row of snow ducks and ducklings along a stream-side bridge in winter

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Jan 18

A freshly made snowman ready to greet all passerby this snowy Sunday in #NewHaven

Snow man stands on a bridge rail against overcast reflection of gray sky on river, with trees covered in snow.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 25

Home is where the books and plants are, for me…And warm, non-led lights! 🕯️ Sending Merry Christmas wishes to the West Coast!

Image of lit candle, mug, and stacks of books on an oak table

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 22

I’m amazed at how quickly asphalt chunks can just be removed, all in one morning. Hopefully it will be filled with something green & chirping with insects again come summer. Or maybe it’ll be a new swale, since this area used to be a creek. 🤩 Will post a final pic! #roaddiet #NewHaven #safestreets

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 14

Winter light this afternoon, New Haven Green. Soft blur, to soothe, for these troubled times.

Evergreen tree dressed in multicolor lights seen from a distance, set between two asphalt paths proceeding across a snow-covered ground plane. Urban towers are in the back. Their tops are cloaked in warm evening sunlight. The rest of the photo has a cool, snowy atmosphere. The sky is cloudy with hints of blue. A couple of people walk along the paths, in the distance. The main focus is the tree.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 5

An energetic #flower to carry you thru the #wintersolstice and onward, to spring.

Purple, light pink yellowy-white dahlia backlit by evening sunlight against green leaves and shadows. Photo taken at the Botanic Garden in Sweden, August 21, 2025

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 4

Ooof, my listening age is 78. I think Vivaldi is throwing off the average! Can't just be all the 60's music on my wakeup playlist Surely not! 🤣 #spotifywrapped

Graphic from Spotify reads "Your listening age 78 / Since you were into music from the Early 60s. You're an old soul."

Slide reads: "Your top artists: Max Richter, Emile Mosseri, Antonio Vivaldi; sped up + slowed; Jamie xx"

Minutes Listened: 21,701. Top Genre: Neoclassical. Top artists... Top songs...

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 3

Full moon skies 🌝

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 3

Old maple tree awaits a bird ——— — + ‘ * —_ * . -* ❄️❄️❄️

An orange clay birdhouse vessel covered in fresh snow hangs from a maple tree covered in lichen, with snow-covered evergreens behind.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Dec 2

Took a half day off today to frolic in the snow. Not complaining! #snow #Catskills #mountaintime

Dried underbrush covered in white snow with a snowy forest scene in the background

Garden statue / birdbath in the snow. The child-like grey statue holds up a bird bath filled with snow against a brown wall outdoors.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Nov 26

Recent sidewalk encounters: An errant stove. An ice box. It just so happens I’m writing about both things currently in my dissertation… Yes, you heard it right: stoves and ice! 🧊 Both important understudied topics in 19th century American #envhist and #energyhistory 🔥

Large metal ice box labeled in blue letters “ICE” next to a bike rack and a brick building / wine shop.

A used stainless steel stove and oven on a street. There’s a building with windows in the back and the image of the street is reflected in them. You can see the photographer taking a photo of the stove with her iPhone. It is winter and the sun and shadows are crisp.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Nov 24

What a “road diet” and renovating for safe, pedestrian and cyclist friendly streets looks like… with Willie Wright’s “Right on for Darkness”’ as soundtrack 😀🎶🎸 #roaddiet #safestreets #NewHaven #righton

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Nov 21

Final fall blooms in #NewHaven this week. Found this calendula in my writing break round-the-block walk thriving in a stone and concrete microclimate 🍃🍂🌨️ 11.21.25 #fall #flowers

Bright yellow calendula popping its head up above a gray and green background Color in a bleak near-winter scene. Flower had a green head and red band around it before yellow petals.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Nov 18

Here’s to the beauty of pink-hued sunsets after a dreary day…closing research tabs…reading 19th-c, weather diaries, and meeting a major writing deadline (still in process…!) Going to be some late nights upcoming. Wish me luck.

Laptop computer on a desk facing a window that looks out on an urban streetscape. A cloudy pinkish-orange sunset is visible. The sky however is mostly grey. The building outside on the horizon is low lying brick and then there’s another brick building with a smokestack. The desk has a plant perched on it. The laptop shows a screen with a detail of a handwritten cursive weather diary. There are sticky notes and clips on the left of the laptop on the desk and two books on the desk to the right.

Charlotte Leib@charlotte-leib· Nov 16

...And just as I read about an entire 🧊 #ice warehouse getting struck by ⚡lightning and as I write about 19th c. #climatechange there's lightning & thunder, in November ⛈️ Favorite convo. today: talking with an Italian library security staff about how ice is so...American. Dickens thought so, too.