My story ends with a picture of me in Xochimilco, Mexico moving mud to be used as fertilizer for production of food on a chinampa. A chinampa is from a past Aztec civilization innovation that installed "islands" of land over a lake to help provide maize or other food production with water and nutrients with sustainability in mind. I start with the end of the story as my pursuit of Master's Degree in Natural Resources in leadership and sustainability from Virginia Tech lead me to a global trip to Mexico City and Oaxaca to learn about sustainability in other cultures and communities for a global perspective. To be more specific we learned about how water scarcity in Mexico City is a troubling issue due to past improper infrastructure practices from the Spanish conquistadors and with current climate impacts, water is a finite resource even given that rain seasons replenish that land on a yearly basis. I had the opportunity to visit local communities outside of Mexico City who through Isla Urbana, a non-profit, is forging ahead with technological innovation in water capture to bring people out of poverty and into prosperity. I also had the fortunate opportunity to visit Oaxaca, Mexico to learn about sustainable social responsibility at a Mezcal operation from the farming of Agave all the way through the supply chain to end consumer. Of course a majority of the end consumer lies in the United States which creates a problem with the Agave ecosystem from consumption and so knowing where you are buying the product from can be a small lever in making great change.
And so why did I start here in my mid-life pursuit of a Master's Degree? I started here because with the knowledge I have gained in holistic, system thinking, sensemaking, collective impact, social innovation, project management, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, negotiation, sustainability, climate systems, networking, partnerships etc etc has given me a new perspective on applying this to an ecological service business and being a systemic leader in solving wicked problems with sustainability in mind. There is no better time than now to move ahead and innovate with climate change impacts already causing havoc throughout the world.
My story begins on a small homestead in Naples, NY in the Finger Lakes Region up in the Bristol Hills where I was raised with sustainability in mind with organic chickens, goats, pigs, turkeys you name it and an acre large garden full of any vegetable you could think of. The house located on a hill where the only traffic sound may have whispered occasionally in the valley below and snow was at a 4 foot base by the time Spring came around. It was in this setting and before college realizing the trash that was strewn around or the impacts of our footprint decimating frogs in the Adirondacks, that I pursued a career in conservation and forest biology. For many years I traveled the country working seasonal jobs for the US Forest Service or US Fish and Wildlife Service as a biological technician and full-time doing habitat restoration or natural area management. In the pursuit of all of these my experience led me to consider my options, which led me to invasive species control and the fulfilling desire to save our forests and trees. With estimates of billions of dollars from the impacts of non-native invasive species and loss of regional biodiversity, I feel an obligation to help reduce these species and restore with native regeneration in order to keep the ecosystem in balance, to practice climate smart forestry for long-term sustainable management, to consulting on ways to conserve our trees through tree health strategies, and to preserve our foundational species for climate mitigation.
I now reside in Ithaca, NY with a beautiful family of 4 and look forward to servicing your every needs in ecological services as we continue to move into Anthropogenic climate impacts and what that may look like for the future of this planet.