My fiancee (Helen) and I are recently reunited after 2 years apart because of the pandemic. Now we live together in a cute 2 bedroom apartment not far from the botanic gardens and Zealandia.

Presently trying to save the world: I work at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as a Climate Change Advisor, and have my Master's in Climate Change Science and Policy. Also saving couchsurfers from the injustice of overpriced hotels.

I'm from Chicago in the US, I love to travel, I've done a lot of disaster relief work for hurricanes, tornado's and floods.

I spent a year in Hawai’i on the big island: lived in a permaculture house, and worked at horticultural therapy rites of Passage Program called Pacific Quest

Lived in Central Oregon working for Dragonfly Transitions, another wilderness therapy company, where we take our students hiking, camping, climbing, kayaking, etc.

I'm a pacifist, I try and grow as a person everyday, I strive to learn about injustice in the world so as to better counteract it, I've been able to find good in every person I've met and hope to keep that up, I'm friendly and love to learn from other people

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It's an interesting way to meet people and more fully delve into the areas I'm travelling to. Also, it's a means to develop a more reciprocal relationship with the places you visit, and hopefully develop meaningful connections with the people that inhabit the spaces you enter.

Interests

Reading, writing, discovering new music, exploring the world, making new friends with diverse and varied people, continuous growth as a person, environmentalism and sustainability, reducing armed conflicts worldwide

• writing
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: This changes all the time, but currently it's Kamasi Washington's The Epic, Kendrick Lamar, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Green River, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Daft Punk, Lauryn Hill's the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and probably more I'm forgetting

Books: The Lord of the Rings, War & Peace, Capitalism Vs. Climate, Frankenstein, Open Veins of Latin America, The Little Prince, 1984

Movies: Also a changing list, Mad Max Fury Road, The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven, Birdman, The Royal Tenenbaums, Amelie, There Will be Blood, Rushmore, The Lord of the Rings, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Spirit of the Beehive, Dog Day Afternoon, habla con ella

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've saved at least 10 people's lives, in a variety of ways.

Teach, Learn, Share

Can teach ukulele lessons, beginner surf lessons in the right spots, and a little bit about horticultural therapy

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, United States