This site supports my project to consider "ecodemocracy" as a fresh way of thinking and acting in response to the twin preconditions of human being: nature and society. Each person is an expression of nature – weaving earth, fire, water, air, and space together in a living, feeling, thinking body. How we live (surviving or thriving), feel (fearful or loving), and think (thinly or deeply) as people expresses our society in all its political and cultural aspects, depending entirely upon it for how that expression takes form. Together, we co-create our ecosystems and social systems. In a time when all of these systems are in crisis, can we take responsibility for this co-creation? Can we – each of us, and together – learn to think and move in healing ways? Can we learn from the past how to approach the future in ways that do not replicate and deepen our present crises?

I come to this project trained as a lawyer, and having spent nearly 30 years as a civil servant in federal government – committed by oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States; and dedicated by mission to protect human health and the environment. In carrying out that oath and mission through federal environmental law, sometimes I have used the coercive tools of the state to enforce compliance. Sometimes I have relied upon the power of collaboration and cooperation to achieve shared purposes – ones embodied in Tribal, state, or local law; as well as ones alive in the hearts of the people and groups who are stewards and members of communities at every scale. Now I aspire to draw upon but move beyond this experience – to think and write from the heart, with a deep and loving commitment to our nation and our world, and to see what unfolds in doing so.

I choose to do so on this website because I dream of this becoming a collective enterprise, a true co-creation. My voice is only one and does not give me any privilege to speak for others. May my words work only for good, whether they come out as philosophical, poetic, or practical. May I help to create a space we can share as equal members of an ecodemocracy, emerging from the ashes and chaos to fulfill our highest aspirations for well-being in all its dimensions: bodily, mental, cultural, political. May this space give birth to collaborations that drive positive change in the world.

The purpose of thinking and writing is action. I am deeply interested in how I may be of service, which is why I've chosen to initiate this project as a public website. So please also feel free to reach out by email if you'd like to collaborate in any other way to advance well-being in the communities you call home or care about. Building ecodemocracy at any scale drives change at all scales; and empowers the people who build it together to exercise their inalienable rights to live, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. One community at a time, we can realize the purpose of government and advance this purpose at every scale.