ABOUT ME
Basically, I am flunking retirement -and rather gloriously so, too. After decades of working in the sciences & education and getting our kids successfully launched off to university, my spouse and I retired to the Big Island of Hawaii; the plan was to read, garden, putter in the home laboratory, and sip mai tais decorated with little umbrellas & orchids while relaxing on the lanai. That lasted a few months, at most. Now, I get to work on all sorts of fascinating and worthy projects just as I did before retirement, but this time largely pro bono! Lucky me, and I do mean that sincerely. I am fortunate to be able to assist with useful research studies, mentor students, create industrial scale public art, participate in progressive & fun community groups and useful charitable organizations, write, and travel. Life is good.
Education
Research, Hobby & Advocacy Interests
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Rat Lungworm Disease, FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) and Public Health & Science Education
We live in a rapidly changing world thanks in large measure to global climate change (which is very real), overpopulation, laissez-faire capitalism run amok, and corruption in democratic institutions. There is much work to be done and time is growing short.
1959 - present
School of Life
Travel is the best form of education for the well-prepared person (meaning putting time and effort into serious geographical, anthropological, and language studies before going abroad, mainly) when s/he is adequately equipped with an open mind and is flexibly adaptable to unanticipated situations. I've been fortunate to live and work around the planet for extended periods ranging from weeks to decades, notably in Alaska, California, Ecuador, Hawaii, Indonesia, Jamaica, Nepal, New Jersey, and Russia -among others. There is no substitute for stepping outside one's own place and paradigm of origin, learning other languages and speaking them in immersion (where English is not an option), experiencing alien cultures, and directly appreciating other environments.
Permaculture, Sustainable Small-Scale Farming Systems, and Hawaii Food & Fuel Self-Sufficiency
Hawaii is the most isolated land mass on this planet. Over 93% of food is imported and most electricity is generated via imported fossil-fuel power plants. There is a three week food reserve. The electrical grid is vulnerable to severe storms; soil is at risk to rerosion and invasive species are sweeping the islands. Leadership in these areas has been woefully deficient.
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Rare & endangered species preservation
On our 20 acres we seek to provide a refuge and safe harbor for rare and endangered species from Hawaii and elsewhere (Madagascar and Indonesia, for example) by combatting invasive species, planting specific flora and protecting fauna.
Community Education and Empowerment
The evidence suggests short-term profit-motivated corporations with a heavy finger on the scale of local politician's sense of the public's best interest can be effectively countered via education and community empowerment. That, and a guillotine, if necessary.
1960s - 1970's
Aggie Intensive - Ranches, Farms, & FFA
I grew up on ranches and farms in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Great Central Valley of northern California. If you've ever seen the movie Brokeback Mountain, then you basically saw my childhood in a nutshell (wonderful and awful aspects, both; I was the same age as the little blonde kid in the movie and lived in essentially the same places and conditions). It was a real stroke of luck attending a high school with a strong Future Farmers of America program; FFA was nearly the only saving grace of that whole high school experience.
1970's - present
Academic training & GLTB, Civil Rights, & Environmental Activism
My university training and academic degrees are largely in the sciences (specifically in biology, chemistry, ecology, anthropology, and geography). Throughout my years on university campuses I have also been highly active in the ongoing struggle for social justice, equal rights, and balancing protection of the environment with economic progress. I have been fortunate to study at Modesto Junior College, California State University Stanislaus, University of California Berkeley, Rutgers University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Indonesian Institute of Ecology, University of Hawaii Hilo, and a number of othrs around the planet. My very first college class was the astronomy course "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan, taken via PBS when I was 14 years old. I am an advocate of lifelong learning and intend to be both teaching and taking additional courses of study as long as I am still alive.
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