Humans. Ecology. Stories.

I am an environmental social scientist and author with interests in food and water security, climate change, and societal transformation. My first book, Finding Our Niche won a gold medal from the Independent Publishers Awards and a silver medal from the Nautilus Book Awards. I write regularly for such venues as The Conversation and Ensia, and am a frequent science commentator for CBC Radio. I have also hosted and produced multiple podcasts, most recently the Second Transition Podcast for VoicEd Radio.

Professionally, I am the Global Director of Human Dimensions Science for The Nature Conservancy’s Global Science Team. I also hold academic appointments at The University of Guelph and The University of Saskatchewan, both institutions for which I previously taught and did research as a tenured professor. 

About Me

I grew up in coastal Maine. I spent a lot of time in the woods, on the beach, and around fisheries. In high school I worked at a lobster pound, pulling soft-shells out of traps, weighing them, and writing tickets for the fishermen. Its no surprise to me now that so much of my work focuses on food and the environment, but it was a bit of a journey getting here. 

In 2001, I was on my way into a lucrative career in information technology. Financially, I was well off, but in my heart I felt alienated and unsettled. Then, I read two books that helped me understand my unease and that ultimately motivated me to abandon this career in favor of a life in sustainability research and education. 

The first of these two books was Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. The second was A Yupiaq Worldview, by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley. Both of these works pull back the curtain on epistemological errors that plague contemporary civilization, and argue that there's a better way for people to live. Neither Quinn nor Kawagley have a specific design for that future, but both believe that win-win solutions, where people and nature thrive together, are possible if we only learn to re-think our humanity. 

No More Heroes

In 2005, I completed my long-delayed undergraduate degree. Considering graduate school, I volunteered for an Earthwatch archaeological expedition to Chocolá, Guatemala, a highland coffee farming community located at the site of extensive Pre-Classic Mayan ruins. It was not my first multicultural experience, but it was my first experience as an adult witnessing how local people are working to develop more sustainable food systems and livelihoods, but are constrained by global forces such as coffee markets and Fair Trade networks. This trip cemented my desire to save the world through a career in sustainability.

My research and studies covered a lot of ground. One main lesson that emerged, however, was that the world did not need more white saviours.

I realized, with the help of many patient mentors and a handful of regrettable missteps, that wanting to save the world—and thinking that I was specially endowed to do so—is the very essence of white supremacy.

I learned that there is no secret knowledge, no exotic elixer that we need to discover if we wish to live more sustainably on this planet. All the information and help we need is all around us, in our human and more-than-human neighbords. So I’ve turned my attention to building relationships, and finding ways to use my own skills and resources to empower others and support equitable and vibrant communities of practice.

You can hear more about my philosophy on heroes in my TEDx talk, “No More Heroes.”

If you’d like to read a selection of my writings, they are collected at Authory.com/PhilipLoring

You can reach me at philip.loring -at- tnc.org

Header photo of Phil Loring by Eric Kingsbury