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The Future Starts With Soil
Substack, online 2025

Part of the problem, they say, is the ignorance behind city bylaws and insurance policies. “Bureaucracy says you have to cut down that tree to get insured, but that tree could actually protect your house from fire. There are certain plants that ignite and there are others that stop embers from burning,” Shawn explains. “Look around. How many trees are still standing when everything else has burned?”

Beyond Elon: The Next Great EV and Living Past 200
Freisen Press, print 2023

In the next few decades, we will see a total transformation around health care, medicine, and our understanding of aging. As longevity medicines and technology become ready and accessible to everyone, not only will we be able to galvanize ourselves—to slow down and stop the aging process—but we will also be able to reverse aging entirely. We will turn back the clock on cancer, dementia, heart disease, wrinkles, grey hair, and everything else you can imagine.

The Fire That Bakes The Philosopher’s Stone
The Rebis, print 2023

I had been under the mistaken impression that the Chariot meant becoming a clear channel, a vessel for a power outside of my self. But that was hubris, a trick of the ego grasping for control.

The Magic of Paris
Substack, online 2022

In the fifteen years it took me to return, I dreamt about Paris many times. Both in waking and in sleep, but mostly in dreams. Again and again, I walked the streets of Paris in my dreams. Each time waking up with a yearning—a desire. Paris remained an icon, a place where I could access true magic, a place that held power over me.

Your Bank Account Has a Carbon Footprint, and It’s Big
Rabble, online 2021

There’s absolutely no reason to continue letting the big banks use our savings to bulldoze through Indigenous rights and fund the destruction of the planet. Even if there isn’t enough money in your account to make a measurable difference in fossil fuel project investments, closing your account sends a message and creates a ripple effect, both inspiring others to do the same and empowering you to take on more tangible actions in your day-to-day life. 

The Homelessness Crisis Is Not Complicated
The Tyee, online 2020

We have the tools at our disposal to create a society where everyone is taken care of, but the trauma of colonialism and the refusal to acknowledge white supremacy within our systems and structures hold us back. When we acknowledge the violent beginnings of private property and homelessness, then we can reckon with the trauma that pervades our society, divides our communities and continues to harm all of us.

There is No World
Medium, online 2020

There is no world. Or, rather, there are infinite worlds. I am a world and you are a world and… this place we call home? It is a moving, thriving multiverse populated with unique hearts and minds.

Yes, the world is ending. Just like it has ended a million times before. As the Earth, she continues to throttle through the sky: worlds sputter, worlds burn, worlds dissipate, worlds die.

The Art of Turning Every Mistake Into a Win
Human Parts, online 2019

Our thoughts aren’t inherently real; they’re just stories we tell ourselves. So tell your negative thoughts to hit the road. Remember: You are the narrator of your life. Tell the story that serves you best.

Dating in the Multiverse
Human Parts, online 2019

While they were cruel, I also felt like many of the comments rang true. Amidst the vitriol, I couldn’t help but admit: The Angry Men of YouTube were right. Or not “right,” per se. But some of their criticisms were valid. We don’t live in a singular universe where everyone holds the same beliefs and plays by the same rules. There is no “right” or “wrong” when it comes to opinions. And because we live in an infinite multiverse where every individual experiences a slightly different reality from the next, everything is subjective.

Portrait of an Artist: Collin Elder
The Georgia Straight, online 2014

One might expect to detect boastful pride in the voice of an artist who in less than half a decade is already working full-time, but Elder is instead quiet, thoughtful, and speaks passionately about learning to understand paint and dedicating himself to technique. His desire to paint started with a yearning for a more in depth understanding of ecology, the science behind the relationships between organisms and their environments—or, perhaps, more poetically and simply: the relationships between organisms and their environment.