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A Little More About Me…

Early morning fishing in the Sound (From left, me, my French neighbor and coastal mentor – Róbert, my brother Christian, and a childhood friend)

I was born to a diverse family in the world’s largest metropolis – Mexico City, not so long-ago known as Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire built atop a deep volcanic lake. My extended family resides in Mexico still, and I visit as frequently as I can to connect with them and my Mexican heritage. When I was five my parents were divorced, and I emigrated to the far northern shores of the US, to a coastal area we know today as New England, once home to millions of Algonquian people. In Connecticut, I had the good fortune of living deeply embedded in the marshes of Long Island Sound – the world’s largest and most urban estuary.

At my CT town’s local Department of Environmental Protection Nature Center in Sherwood Island State Park, I got to share my love of horseshoe crabs with youth.
As an intern at the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, I created displays for the publicly displayed biological collection used to this day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mother works as a longtime chemistry professor at Norwalk Community College, and my father is a doctor in Bridgeport, Connecticut, one of our nation’s poorest cities. Thanks to their example, I strive to be a compassionate, responsible, and proactive member of my community. Science has always been part of our family life, as has a love of art, and my brother, the family bird-nerd, is currently making a living as a professional painter, often tackling environmental themes from his studio in upstate New York. 

I began my career as an adventure education specialist, and naturally migrated towards conservation biology and science education. Through my love of integrating differing fields of knowledge, my creativity, people skills, and strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, teamwork, and environmental justice, I have helped multiple schools, government agencies, and science-based nonprofit organizations to advance a wide range of United Nations sustainability goals across the world. I consider my capacity to learn from people of different backgrounds and walks of life an integral and invaluable part of who I am, and feel especially lucky to have worked and learned together with low-income communities in the developing world, fisherfolk, and Indigenous peoples in places like New Zealand, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the southwestern United States.

In 2022, our biosphere and life-support-system continues to collapse under the pressure that humanity is placing on it, and despite what some would have us believe, there is no Planet-B. I believe in using all our resources to protect Mother Earth, her countless services, and all her unique and intrinsically valuable denizens. I hope to continue opening doors to more accessible information, better public services, sustainable livelihoods, and healthy, productive habitats in which future generations can thrive together with their in-tact natural heritage. To build this future, where functioning ecosystems and their biodiversity are culturally, legally, and economically established as humanity’s most valuable assets, we will need to work together. The environment is everybody, and the time to act on its behalf is now.