A writer, photographer, and speaker, I have been a long-time professor at Pacific Lutheran University.  I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and I love living here now, in the midst of such natural beauty. 

 

I’ve been a Fulbright Senior Scholar two times, both in Latin America—Mexico and Ecuador.  I love speaking Spanish (I taught in Spanish!) and love the immersion in Latin cultures.  I travel extensively around the world, and have a special affection for South and Central America.  My love of animals has fueled a passion for travel in Africa, the High Arctic, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and more.  And of course my training in the Renaissance for my Ph.D. stirred me to travel throughout Europe.

 

I write extensively about nature and animals and sustainability.  I have many cover stories in magazines like Smithsonian, Audubon, All Animals (U.S. Humane Society), BirdWatching, and more.  I wrote a feature story for National Geographic on trumpeter swans.  I love to put words and images, stories and photos together on behalf of a threatened planet, our fragile and failing Earth.  My books—five of them—have won a number of awards:  Washington State Book Award, Southwest Book Award, the Benjamin Franklin Book Award.  One book was a finalist for a PEN USA Literary Award