What was your previous (or current other) career, training or background?

I was born into a sailing family in the United States, but left in a disagreement with its government over the Vietnam war. I was a journalist. After I retired, I went to sea for the better part of a decade and then came back to BC and saw that there was work to be done right in downtown Vancouver.

How are you trying to change the world?

We’re going to clean up the mess previous generations have made of False Creek, and not contribute to more through our indifference. We may not be personally responsible for the eviction of First Nations peoples from its shores, the burning of their longhouses, or the despoliation of their waters, but we are totally responsible for not doing anything about its present condition.

The creation of a protected area will be an effective and highly visible public investment in marine sustainability and reconciliation with First Nations. It will also foster an understanding that if we fail to revere the world’s oceans, human civilization will falter, just as certainly as the planet’s living coral reefs are turning to stone. Let all life thrive. Let’s start caring about this slender finger of the mighty Pacific Ocean, right in downtown Vancouver.

What does the concept of ‘the greater good’ mean to you?

The whole is much, much greater than the sum of its parts. Alone, each one of us struggles to make sense of what it means to be human. We get lost, anxious and alienated, no matter how valiantly we strive to do our best. And then, we too often turn to tribalism, nationalism, and racism as an antidote.

This is what I believe about the meaning of the greater good: modestly taking our true place alongside and with respect for our fellow creatures, of all life on this blue planet.