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Biography
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Writings
Blog
Websites
Books
Poems
Photography
Individual Images
Layouts with text
Favorites
Books
Posters
Contact Me
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I am an environmental writer editor
and photographer, and founder and president of the
World Pantheist Movement.
I was born in Oldham,
Lancashire, United Kingdom, in 1945, and schooled at Manchester
Grammar School. After a gap year working with disadvantaged and
handicapped children in Germany, I studied European languages and
literature at Cambridge, spent a year the the University of Pisa on
a Council of Europe scholarship, and did a Masters in political
sociology at the London School of Economics. In 1968-9 I lectured on
French language and literature at the University of Ife in Nigeria. Somewhat later in life,
in 1995, I got my Ph. D. from Cambridge in Earth Sciences and
Geography.
For most of my life, I
have been a writer on environment and Third-World development. I
trained as a journalist on the Western Mail in Wales, and
worked for three years with the social affairs magazine New
Society in London. In 1975 I went freelance and since I
was always travel-crazy, I specialized in writing and photography
about poverty and environment in developing countries.
My best known books are
Inside the Third World (1979) and The Third Revolution
(1993) (on population and environment). I also wrote The Greening
of Africa (1987) about sustainable development for Africa, and
Inside the Inner City (1983) about inner city poverty in East
London. My pocket handbook on pantheism, Elements of Pantheism,
was published by Element Books in 1999.
I have edited the
flagship reports of UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture
Organization, UN Population Fund and the UN Environment Programme,
and travelled to many Third-World countries in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America. In 1988 I received a UN Environment Programme Global
500 award for my writings on environment and in 1992 a Population
Institute Global Media Award. I was editor-in-chief for the
Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life's report
Caring for the Future (1996). In 2001 I was the lead author of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science's
Atlas of Population and Environment. Since 2004 I have edited
the United Nations Environment Programme's Geo Yearbook.
In July
1996 I posted the first page of what became the
scientific
pantheism site, and in 1997 I started the mailing list that grew
into the
World Pantheist Movement.
I lived for most of my
adult life in Hampstead, London, close to Hampstead Heath. Since
2002 I have lived in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains in
California. I have two sons, Alex and Sam.
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Testing out the weight of women's
firewood burdens in Yatenga province,
Burkina Faso, 1989. |
Writings
Since around the age of
ten or eleven, I have always been writing. I
focus primarily on non-fiction, because of my love
affair with reality. For me, reality is so rich and
deep, and the problems we face so vast and challenging,
that I am fully satisfied writing about the actuality
around me.
My earliest non-fiction was journalism, first news, then
features. My focus was always on poverty, injustice and
marginalization: I specialized in talking to the poorest
and most oppressed people, first in Britain, then in the
developing world, with the aim of raising awareness and
stimulating action. More recently I shifted to writing
about nature and spirituality, but since environmental
problems are the greatest challenge we face, I continue
to write and edit environmental reports. Side by side with the all-important struggle to
save our planet, I also feel impelled to contribute
towards the shift in human thinking about nature.
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My Blog
Direct Link
My Websites
Pantheism -
history, theory, practice
World Pantheism
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My Books
The following links lead to Amazon sellers
of my books.
If they are not available at Amazon.com, or if you live in the UK,
try Amazon.co.uk.
Inside the Third World (Penguin 1993)
Overview of the major problems of poverty in developing countries
The Third World Tomorrow (Penguin 1980)
Overview of the most promising solutions to poverty in developing
countries
Inside the Inner City (Penguin 1983)
The realities of poverty and marginalization in East London
The Greening of Africa (Paladin 1987)
Low-cost environmentally-friendly solutions to Africa's food and
energy crisis
The Third Revolution (Penguin 1992)
Overview of major environmental problems and their links to
population issues.
Elements of
Pantheism (1999)
Handbook of pantheist
theory, history and practice
AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment (2001)
Online version
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Poetry
The Fire
Codes
Poems on
death
Photo
poems at Tabblo
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Photography
I have been taking
professional photographs for 32 years now, alongside my
writing. It has always been another aspect of my lov
affair with reality. Photography explores reality
directly and sensually, without the intervention of
words which can so often obscure rather than
illuminate.
Photography is a part of my religious practice: it
allows me to focus intensely on the beauty that
surrounds us, enables me to see things that are too
fleeting for the human eye to perceive, and when I am
back home permits me to study the finer details and
forms.
I started with social
documentary photos of poverty in Britain. Then I moved
on to Third World countries, especially rural areas
where people had a closer connection to nature. As I
took shots of people in their natural environment, I
began adding straight pictures of their environment.
You need nerve and a certain
recklessness to charge in and take photos of people
without really asking their consent. If you ask,
sometimes they say no, frequently they want to stare at
the camera, or go and put on their finest clothes, and
so on. As the years passed I
gradually became more and more sensitive to people's
feelings about being photographed, and gradually felt
less entitled to just shoot
regardless.
Nowadays I mostly focus on nature photography, wherever
I happen to be. I am fascinated by natural form,
especially abstract, dynamic and chaotic forms such as
volcanic rocks, ocean waves, tree bark, the play of
light on creeks. I am also fascinated by the diversity
of plants and animals. I go on a nature hike almost
every morning, and love to watch and record animals'
intelligent and responsive behavior from day to day.
I never cease to be amazed how impressively animals and
plants are adapted to their environment, and how
amazingly beautiful and skilled they are.
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Individual Images
My Nature
galleries at Smugmug
These are hi-res photos that are most suitable for photo
prints,
at sizes up to 24" x 36"
They are also available as photo gifts: T-shirts, mugs, mouse
mats and so on.
My own personal favorites, showing complex interactions of water
and light,
are in the Reflections gallery.
RSS gallery feed
The newest images from each of my galleries.
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Photography in
developing countries
Some of the photos from
my Third World travels are available online at Still Pictures.
Enter my name in the search
box and click the "search" button.
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Layouts
with text
Tabblo
Tabblo is the best photo storage site for creating artistic
layouts
of images and text. The images can be purchased individually
or as posters of the whole layouts.
I am gradually adding more layouts.
[When buying posters, choose the "shrink to fit" option]
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Favorites
Certain authors have had a
strong positive influence on my personal development and
all of them were pantheists. The first or these, in my
teens, was probably D. H. Lawrence, with his strong
endorsement of the goodness of the body. Next, in my
twenties, came Heraclitus, for whom the Universe was an
ever-changing fire, and Chuang Tzu, with some of the same
sentiment but tempered with calm wisdom and profound meditation.
Here I offer my selections of good books, art and other
visual materials.
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Posters
My selection of
nature photography, nature art,
science and
life inspiration, at Allposters
You can also buy prints and posters of my own photos
at Tabblo
and at Smugmug
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Books
My
selection on science, religion and philosophy,
from Amazon Books
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