Environmental Philosopher & Public Health Scientist
Mobilizing 21th century frameworks of ecology and planetary health for research, teaching, consulting, and human transformation.
Mission Statement
As our societies realize the necessity to reprioritize ecology and biology as master sciences in the great transition upon us, I see science, public health, and philosophy working synergistically, just as medicine now accepts a biopsychosocial model of health. Writ large, this looks like: (1) understanding how life and ecosystems flourish, in order to (2) allow us to figure out how to calibrate our values to meet those non-negotiable fundamentals, so that we can (3) design our societies to meet the needs of all, enabling greater ingenuity, innovation, and empowerment.
Each one of us contributes our own crucial piece of the puzzle in addressing our metacrisis, and I honor each sincere contribution. In my research and organizing efforts, I endeavor to prioritize those issues which have the most potential impact to address major societal challenges. This can include gaining and providing deeper insight into hyped topics, encouraging high-level pivots to important paradigms in policy or business, or pushing back against misguided enthusiasm for solutions that are single metric, not effective, or will make things worse.
To accomplish these different modes of applied scholarship, I perform experiments, reflect on the history of culture and concepts, and piece together documentary evidence from the archives of the Anthropocene to inform and assess policy, applying systems thinking to bio-ethical cases. This engaged methodology maps multi-level patterns in the social and environmental determinants of health together with philosophical concerns about the utility of our utilities, aiming to provide direction for targeted interventions leveraging ethically- and science-based social and institutional harmonization.
I am lucky enough to have my work funded by multiple active grants, large and small, public and private (see Research), and have the honor to serve as the editor-in-chief of the journal Biosemiotics.
Current Roles
Assistant Professor, Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Research Associate, Environmental Health Initiative, EaRTH Center, University of California, San Francisco
Advisor, Luminous Biomedical Sciences Consulting
Principal, Feral Ecologies Lab
Editor-in-Chief, Biosemiotics
Ph.D. in Environmental Philosophy
magna cum laude
University of Kiel, Germany
Postdoctoral research at the University of California at San Francisco & the University of Vienna
Graduate degrees from the London School of Economics & UCLA
Predoctoral Research at UCSF
Bachelors degrees (Rhetoric and Political Science, w/honors) from the University of California at Berkeley
Recent Posts
If we only get the models right, we can predict the world
'The data from NUI is critical to solving the mystery of how sediment banks may slow glacier break-up. “Model projections for the future of Greenland are just all over the place,” says Catania.' Here's another example of the "if we only get the models right, we can...
Outside In
Bespoke Ignorance Besides social connections, not a single thing (besides that image) says a shit about repair work, regeneration, getting your hands in the soil, unfucking your air and water (not just for you, but for all people), helping others out, being of...
Giving a paper on membranes, biodiversity, and Naturphilosophie in Kiel, Germany
On July 25-27, 2024 I will be speaking at a workshop at my alma mater in Kiel, Germany, on Blasen, Umwelten und Umgebung: Biodiversität und Porosität im Sinne von Peter Sloterdijk, Helmuth Plessner und Jakob von Uexküll The workshop on "Konzepte und Narrativeder...