The Pacific Northwest once grew an oyster so delicious that California gold miners saved it for their celebrations when they struck paydirt. The native oyster has been almost completely replaced by an import from Asia, so much so that most people wouldn't recognize the original oyster today if its salty flesh slapped them in the …
The Wild wins a Signal Award
Quick update: The podcast I write for, Chris Morgan's The Wild, won a silver in the Signal Awards! It was in the sustainability and environment category for our 'Buffalo Boys' episode. We were also the listener's choice in the genre. The story is at times harrowing, funny, and inspiring. Kudos to the team for the …
There’s a Bear in My Swimming Pool
I use this blog to showcase my writing. One of my most satisfying outlets is the writing I do for Chris Morgan's podcast The Wild. Chris is a wildlife biologist who left England for the Pacific Northwest around the same time I left for Colorado. We are the same age and, though we did not …
An Ethicist on Both Sides of AI
It doesn’t feel like something I’d embrace. I’ve spent my working life becoming an expert on the ethics of emerging technologies. I’m not exactly a luddite, but I’m cautious. I wrote a book for MIT Press, The Synthetic Age, that sounded a warning about trying to ‘outdesign evolution,’ ‘resurrect species’ and ‘reengineer our world.’ The …
Carbon Capture revisted
I posted this article when it came out last year. I'm happy to say it just won the Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Award for 'solutions journalism' in the health/science category. The issue I tackle is not just central to carbon capture. It's central to much of what's ailing society. Trust. Enjoy “‘Climate Delusion’ Or …
Can Climate Manipulation Save Nature?
The planet looks like it has been badly handled by a fiddling giant. Our sticky fingerprints are all over it. Chemicals, dams, and rats imported in the hulls of ships have reshaped everything under the sun. The recent photos from Artemis II might have shown a familiar blue planet, but zoom in a little closer, …
