Who is Trevor? | The Elevator Pitch
I am a Canadian forest ecologist (M.Sc.), teacher (B.Ed.), and freelance writer living and working in Taiwan. Behind these broad titles I also work as a guide for visiting researchers and curious botanists, translate magazine articles (Mandarin to English), edit manuscripts for various universities and organizations, and am slowly building an ecology-themed summer camp program for rural students, combining language, nature- and eco-literacy, and experiential education. With my partner I am raising the love of my life, my (currently) 5-year-old daughter in sunny – and very windy – southern Taiwan.
I grew up obsessed with the Arctic and glaciers but today call Taiwan home, a country decidedly lacking glaciers (though the lovely high mountains get winter snow!). Here I spend my life working in those thick, wet, bustling-with-life tropical forests people often imagine when the word tropical is mentioned, measuring trees and carbon dioxide emissions, identifying flowers and seeds, climbing lianas and trees to see if other plants grow on top of them... . I also write nature-based magazine articles, guide and translate for visiting researchers, volunteer with conservation projects, teach junior high ecology courses, and am a director of a non-profit educational association.
And I love every minute of it.
Well, this is my floor. Elevator pitch over. Too bad we didn’t take the stairs, because I could have told a more sinuous story! But this is the synopsis – a Canadian transplant in Taiwan who took a few chances that led him on a path to working as a field ecologist, writer, and building education opportunities in rural areas.
The details, if you care to peek at them, are in the about section.
I am a Canadian forest ecologist (M.Sc.), teacher (B.Ed.), and freelance writer living and working in Taiwan. Behind these broad titles I also work as a guide for visiting researchers and curious botanists, translate magazine articles (Mandarin to English), edit manuscripts for various universities and organizations, and am slowly building an ecology-themed summer camp program for rural students, combining language, nature- and eco-literacy, and experiential education. With my partner I am raising the love of my life, my (currently) 5-year-old daughter in sunny – and very windy – southern Taiwan.
I grew up obsessed with the Arctic and glaciers but today call Taiwan home, a country decidedly lacking glaciers (though the lovely high mountains get winter snow!). Here I spend my life working in those thick, wet, bustling-with-life tropical forests people often imagine when the word tropical is mentioned, measuring trees and carbon dioxide emissions, identifying flowers and seeds, climbing lianas and trees to see if other plants grow on top of them... . I also write nature-based magazine articles, guide and translate for visiting researchers, volunteer with conservation projects, teach junior high ecology courses, and am a director of a non-profit educational association.
And I love every minute of it.
Well, this is my floor. Elevator pitch over. Too bad we didn’t take the stairs, because I could have told a more sinuous story! But this is the synopsis – a Canadian transplant in Taiwan who took a few chances that led him on a path to working as a field ecologist, writer, and building education opportunities in rural areas.
The details, if you care to peek at them, are in the about section.
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WRITER
Having worked in Taiwan for more than a decade, my writing mostly focuses on regional ecological topics, ranging from seeds and plants to sea turtles and crabs. Through my writing I aim to highlight the science and conservation perspectives of a topic, as well as the people doing the heavy lifting of research in the forests and oceans. Pushing the story behind the story is, I find, a compelling and refreshing way to approach ecological writing. I am collaborating on photography and writing for three books: one scientific, one aimed at nature education for a broader audience, and one focused on increasing young reader ecoliteracy. I also maintain a (new) blog of introductory ecology, Pacifica. I was also, a lifetime ago, a contributor to my astronomy associations monthly newsletter with the Astronomical Society of Canada. - |
ECOLOGIST
As a field ecologist I conduct field work for a diverse range of forest ecology based projects, mostly in the uplifted coral forests and montane rainforests of southern Taiwan. Projects range from species-based (e.g. distribution and host specificity of Balanophora fungosa), trait-based (e.g. within and between species variation of wood density), ecosystem-scale (e.g. soil respiration and carbon sequestration capacity of national park protected land), reproductive monitoring (e.g. seed trap monitoring and species identification), to studies of reproductvie strategies (e.g. sex change in tropical trees, particularly Diospyros and Bischofia). Beyond field research I also guide and translate for visiting researchers and volunteer with various forest plot census projects. - |
EDUCATOR
I am a certified (B.Ed.) teacher with experience teaching biology, science, debate, math (Canada, Taiwan) and language (Taiwan). In these capacities I have taught elementary to high school students, undergraduate university courses, summer camps, proessional workshops and a range of adult classes. I currently teach a mandarin-taught junior high ecology course, give guest lectures on ecology/conservation for various universities, host eco-tourism workshops, and lead teacher training workshops and language/STEM camps. I am also a director for the non-profit eduational association GLUE. With a mission to increase the quality and availability of eductional opportunities to Taiwanese students and professionals, I lead camps and am building curricula for ecoliteracy programs. - |
