I am an Ojai, California-based writer focused on human interactions with natural systems. With a deep ecology approach to the stewardship role of humans, my work hopes to raise awareness, provoke action and collective responsibility, and encourage the actualization of our role as a regenerative species.
Though much of my work is centered around climate solutions, I don’t feel the climate crisis exists as a problem to solve by itself. Our atmospheric emissions are just one of a multiplicity of ways the waste products of society impact the natural world. I believe our fossil fuel dependence has the same behavioral roots as our other environmental malpractices, such as our over-reliance on single-use materials, like plastic. Our understanding of how plastics are creating an ecological catastrophe lags far behind other earth science fields—so you’ll get a solid stream of plastic content from me here.
Our misuse of water is also a primary concern. I was raised in California—the most severely modified hydro-scape in the world. I see realigning our relationship with water as the starting place for both climate adaptation and mitigation action. Downstream of our conscious relalignment with water are the solutions for regenerating soils, forests, and ocean health.
Related to the human tendency for overconsumption is our propensity for injustice. Through my writing on environmental justice, I hope to illuminate the inequalities of our society—how the burdens of our collective decisions tend to fall disproportionately on the least responsible, most marginalized people.
Before joining the Earth Institute at Columbia University, I was a Lieutenant in the US Coast Guard, where I specialized in high seas surface operations, international relations, and maritime threat mediation. Responding to tectonic shifts in my personal life and changing global geopolitics, I decided to refocus on my energy toward sustaining life on Earth.
I believe the story you tell shapes the society you create. My hope is that my storytelling will have some shred of influence on those who read and listen—and that if you do—how you vote, consume, and waste will be made with greater awareness and shift the way you perceive and interact with the world around you. The overarching goal of my work is to illustrate our connectedness to all things, including our connection to one another. With love and understanding, we can make a better world together—one that is happier and more fulfilling for people, and less impactful on the natural systems we depend on.
