Chasing Ideas
Let’s be honest: Nature writing is somewhat a fraud. No matter how lyrical, it’s never as good as actual nature. With that in mind, Chasing Nature’s intent is to get you outside, aware, and perhaps making some sense of the world. Here you’ll discover owls and orchids, sexual selection and gender identity, warfare and warblers, the extinction and climate crises, joy and wonder (lots of joy and wonder).
A field biologist and recovering journalist, I’ve been navigating this terrain for nearly a half century. My essays and articles about people and nature have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Audubon, Orion, Aeon, Field & Stream and lots of other places.
Chasing Nature is for birders and botanists, for backyard and armchair naturalists, for thinkers and wanderers, for anyone who seeks refuge in wild nature, human nature, and the force of ideas expressed in short essays.
My Backstory
When not outside or writing, I have been — or still am — a bread baker, a pot washer, an air-pollution chemist, a firefighter, a print journalist, a professional photographer, and a consulting field biologist for governments, non-profits, and private landowners. I’m adjunct faculty in natural resources at the University of Vermont, serve on the Vermont Endangered Species Committee, and trace my eco-roots in part to hard-core birdwatching and guiding (although I’ve since recovered from that affliction). I am also owned by an English shepherd named Odin.
Subscriber Benefits
Free
Every subscriber gets most dispatches gratis.
Paid (Monthly or Yearly)
Chasing Nature can’t happen without paying subscribers, who get the benefit of supporting independent writing. Other perks include:
Every post, every essay, every image.
Exclusive subscriber chats with me on Substack. (I’m also looking into video chats.)
Access to GO WILD, which features occasional video seminars on nature, maps to wild things near you, and an insider email to paying subscribers a few times a year.
Founding Subscribers
The patrons among you get all of the above plus small-group video meets with me on a variety of topics, including AMAs (Ask Me Anythings).
By the way, if the fee is a barrier, send me an email. We’ll work it out.
