About

I am a writer, environmental designer, teacher and community ecologist based in Vancouver, Canada.

I work with individuals, groups and governments to improve the planet through words, design and education.

As a journalist from nearly the start of my working life I still feel I have the “ink in my blood.” Most of recent writing has gone into books. You’re welcome to visit here to consider buying a novel or non-fiction work, including my most recent book which was — to my eternal surprise — a BC #1 Bestseller for 16 weeks.

I have a Masters in Landscape Architecture and BA in Politics. I used the systems analyses and design skills I picked up in school to create my company EcoUrbanist. It offers ecological site design, environmental consultation/reporting and project management for diverse clients from home residents to municipal governments.

I am the founding Executive Director of Tree City, a non-profit environmental group “helping people and trees grow together.” We helped Vancouver early on with one of its key Greenest City goals by creating the TreeKeepers program which added nearly 9,000 trees to our urban forest.

I also teach in part because, as with writing, it helps me figure out what I know. I am currently managing the new Indigenous Land Stewardship certificate program for Native Education College. I have designed and lead a variety of courses for Simon Fraser University’s Continuing Studies program, and have taught Sustainable Landscape Design for Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I also teach online for Gaia College where my most recent course on Living Green Infrastructure was all about urban design using nature.

I am a keynote speaker and have given presentations across Canada, the U.S., Europe and Asia. I also pop up on radio, most recently talking about trees for CBC. You can click here for some sample clips.

Volunteers are my favourite people. At times I’ve been lucky to be one myself. I served as an elected member of the Vancouver Food Policy Council for four years, and represented Vancouver on the Metro Vancouver Agricultural Advisory Committee for three years. I also served for three years on the Board of Directors for Heifer International, a non-profit working to “end hunger and poverty and care for the Earth” in more than 50 countries.

What People Say

"You have been remarkable in your patience and openness to go with all of the delays and bureaucratic red tape that surrounded this project. It has been more than worth it for the community and I hope you know that we really needed you and your expertise or it still would not be complete.”

Ethel Whitty

Carnegie Centre Director

“[The Mustard Seed] reminded me of a Phillip Marlowe film noir, with the main character acting like him in films, finding him to be weak and flawed but coming through in the end. Bits of Buddhism a nice touch. I could see it as a film. Four star.”

Amazon reader review

“The garden is beautiful – even yesterday [a resident] told me that he found the space so breath taking and peaceful. He said there was no space like this in the DTES. He plans on using the garden more often to meditate and bring peace to his every growing anxiety.”

Sandy MacKeigan

Community Programmer

“[Guerrilla Gardening] is full of great quotes, sidebars, lists and tips. Enough to keep the most ADD of us interested and inspired. I see urban landscapes and abandoned places in a whole new light when I can imagine them becoming life-giving gardens.”

Lucas Land

Sustainable Traditions

“I would like to voice my gratitude for the role you played in helping this project come to fruition. You were a kind of glue which tied us all together. I appreciated the flexibility you showed in working with the various obstacles and changes which happened throughout.”

Jim Leyden

Little Black Bear Warrior

“[The Earth Manifesto is] a deceptively small book (132 pages), which is much bigger on the inside… Engaged Ecology is what Ecopsychology should be about – local, personal, and reflective, but also global, communitarian, and active.”

Ecopsychology.org review