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- Last login almost 7 years ago
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Overview
About Me
CURRENT MISSION
Real people, communities, and the outdoors.
ABOUT ME
I'm currently living in a co-op house in San Francisco and working in several different towns in the Bay Area on designing & promoting city-wide composting programs.
I grew up in the Chicago area in a family with a strong Irish heritage that is still with me. I play folk music on the accordion and if I've had enough Guinness I may just do a jig or a hornpipe!
I like to get outdoors, though I do spend a lot of time on the internet - I'm somehow frustrated by this trend of ever-increasing time in front of a screen rather than outside in fresh air... are you?
PHILOSOPHY
"A [person] who uses an imaginary map, thinking it a true one, is likely to be worse off than someone with no map at all; for he will fail to inquire wherever he can, to observe every detail on his way, and to search continuously with all his senses and all his intelligence for indications of where he should go."
- EF Schumacher, Small is Beautiful 1973
I think we're all pretty confused about where we are going - no matter how secure our lives seem or how many accomplishments are listed on our resumes. I like looking around and thinking, "we're all in this together." Hoping to share this journey with as many as possible.
Why I’m on Couchsurfing
HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
I was introduced to CS when i lived in a house called Franklin's Tower in Palo Alto, CA. My housemate Will Rogers was an avid Couchsurfer and hosted many a visitor on our couches. We had students come in from all over the world for conferences and meetings at Stanford University.
I was hesitant to sign up for CS when I moved to DC because I wasn't sure how receptive my roommate would be to the idea. I still don't think he'd like it so I signed up anyway - although only "available for coffee or drinks." If it was just me, rest assured I'd be offering my couch!
COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
When I lived in Franklin's Tower (referenced above) we hosted a pair of Mexican grad students in town for an Engineering competition. They were in town just when our house was having a lovely group dinner. We had a great time chatting with them into the night over a bottle of fine tequila they brought with.
The pair also left us with some posters of Poncho Villa which were fantastic decoration for our hallways!
Interests
Team sports, esp: Frisbee, Gaelic Football, Hurling
Running
Being with extended family
Gardening
Folk Music - both playing and listening
Public Transit
Ideas for leveraging community knowledge and depencence to reduce environmental impact!
Gangster Rap
- coffee
- running
- drinking
- gardening
- team sports
- music
- folk music
- outdoor activities
- camping
- sports
- soccer
- engineering
Music, Movies, and Books
Books:
One with Nineveh, Paul Ehrlich
Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
Small is Beautiful, EF Schumacher
Our Ecological Footprint, Mathis Wackernagel & Bill Rees
Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants, Carol Steinfeld
State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures, Worldwatch Institute
One Amazing Thing I’ve Done
Hitchhiked with a coworker from Mporokoso - a small town in rural Northern Zambia to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We were working in a refugee camp in Zambia at the time and needed to go to Tanzania to buy a generator. An short trip, but packed with amazing people and places.
Teach, Learn, Share
in 1960 the World Population was about 3 billion.
On February 16, 2010 the US Census Bureau estimates the world population at: 6,803,020,919
For many people on this earth, the world population has grown by nearly 4 billion just in their lifetime!
Crazy to think about...