Education and Work
For my undergraduate degree, I received a Bachelor's of Science in Biology and Environmental Studies at Warren Wilson College. After I graduated in 2006, I spent the next five years in a variety of temporary field jobs working as a biological technician in avian field studies. I worked on islands off the coast of Maine, the Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Cabo Rojo NWR in SW Puerto Rico, sagebrush deserts in and around Arizona and other western states, the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay and logging lands in Washington state.
Each experience added to the rounding out of an entire toolkit of skills in research and observation in the avian biology world.
While I was given a firsthand view of the beauty of the natural world, I was also given a front row seat to the devastation inflicted upon it through the inadvertent actions of humans.
What most frustrated me in my work was knowing that what I was observing was commonplace ecosystems around the world and that so few people, other than scientists and researchers, really knew the unfortunate details. For example, humans know raccoons to be a pest that thrive in neighborhoods and the outskirts of cities on human trash. So while we feel the inconvenience of having to pick up the scattered refuse from a busted open trash bag, the raccoon populations are growing and expanding. And they don't just live in your neighborhood. They also start overwhelming parks and beaches and, more often than many would think, they prey upon nesting shorebird eggs and chicks. While this isn't unnatural, the amount of occurrences is. Shorebirds rely on a declining amount of protected beachfront property upon which they can lay their eggs and raise chicks to fledging. As raccoon populations increase, the birds' chances of successful productivity rapidly drop, something that is being witnessed on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as other coastal locations.
Taking a New Path
With these experiences sharp in my mind, I have made a very intentional re-direct in order to reach my goal of helping contribute toward a sustainable future for the natural world. I've always been a writer, keeping journals of all of these experiences I've been so fortunate to undergo. Recording the sights I've witnessed and the skills I have learned has always been natural to me and very rewarding. What furthermore seemed natural was the shift from becoming a biologist to that of becoming a journalist. I feel that education is the only way we can create change, I want to create a greater environmental awareness through my writing. Hence my decision to pursue environmental journalism as a master's degree through the University of Oregon, Eugene. If I can take what I've seen and continue to see in the field and put it in writing so that the wider public can also understand the real-life issues that are plaguing the natural world, perhaps I can get initiate even just a tiny fraction of change. Even the smallest bit is a step in the right direction.
For my undergraduate degree, I received a Bachelor's of Science in Biology and Environmental Studies at Warren Wilson College. After I graduated in 2006, I spent the next five years in a variety of temporary field jobs working as a biological technician in avian field studies. I worked on islands off the coast of Maine, the Bay of Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Cabo Rojo NWR in SW Puerto Rico, sagebrush deserts in and around Arizona and other western states, the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay and logging lands in Washington state.
Each experience added to the rounding out of an entire toolkit of skills in research and observation in the avian biology world.
While I was given a firsthand view of the beauty of the natural world, I was also given a front row seat to the devastation inflicted upon it through the inadvertent actions of humans.
What most frustrated me in my work was knowing that what I was observing was commonplace ecosystems around the world and that so few people, other than scientists and researchers, really knew the unfortunate details. For example, humans know raccoons to be a pest that thrive in neighborhoods and the outskirts of cities on human trash. So while we feel the inconvenience of having to pick up the scattered refuse from a busted open trash bag, the raccoon populations are growing and expanding. And they don't just live in your neighborhood. They also start overwhelming parks and beaches and, more often than many would think, they prey upon nesting shorebird eggs and chicks. While this isn't unnatural, the amount of occurrences is. Shorebirds rely on a declining amount of protected beachfront property upon which they can lay their eggs and raise chicks to fledging. As raccoon populations increase, the birds' chances of successful productivity rapidly drop, something that is being witnessed on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as other coastal locations.
Taking a New Path
With these experiences sharp in my mind, I have made a very intentional re-direct in order to reach my goal of helping contribute toward a sustainable future for the natural world. I've always been a writer, keeping journals of all of these experiences I've been so fortunate to undergo. Recording the sights I've witnessed and the skills I have learned has always been natural to me and very rewarding. What furthermore seemed natural was the shift from becoming a biologist to that of becoming a journalist. I feel that education is the only way we can create change, I want to create a greater environmental awareness through my writing. Hence my decision to pursue environmental journalism as a master's degree through the University of Oregon, Eugene. If I can take what I've seen and continue to see in the field and put it in writing so that the wider public can also understand the real-life issues that are plaguing the natural world, perhaps I can get initiate even just a tiny fraction of change. Even the smallest bit is a step in the right direction.
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