WiserEarth Editors

I am an independent communicator, scholar, writer and thinker. Member of an Alaskan gold-rush family, I grew up in a mining ghost town and Inupiat fish camp. I've lived and worked in several northern countries, speak Russian passably and am a former Fulbright Fellow.

My background is trans-disciplinary and I've always followed a self-directed intellectual pathway. Formally my education includes international law and relations, history, civil engineering, anthropology, music, natural resource and environmental policy and cross-cultural communication. I'm an accomplished singer (professional at one time) and graphic artist. BA Reed College (Chinese and North Pacific history, 1990), M.A.L.D. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (1993), Ph.D. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (lapsed ABD candidate -- decided the effort wasn't worth the result), University of Helsinki.

My professional experience includes surveying across Alaska, overseeing public consultation programs throughout the former Soviet bloc for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and running The Northern Forum, an organization of Governors from eleven countries. I also co-founded and operated an independent international operations consultancy. 

I now work in adaptation and developing resilience to global change at community and personal levels. I write and speak about global change and policy in the Salmon Nations. My wife Sara and I are co-writing a book about adapting to the changes cascading around us. I founded and run a regional Resilience Group which seeks adequate responses to our crashing systems, for which I publish an occasional reader.  We are also developing a unique pathway for the deep exploration and sharing of adaptation and resilience called The Resilience School.

I'm not a joiner, but recently have helped to lead Bioneers in Alaska, the International Bering Sea Forum, the Alaska Progressive Coalition and the Alaska World Affairs Council. I do not fit the "I Am" categories offered by WiserEarth, though this is nothing new ...

Sara and I are raising one of five generations of Alaskans in urban and wilderness settings.