A little about myself...
I was born in Kansas, grew up in Kentucky, went to graduate school in New England, and now live in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley where I work as a sometime documentary filmmaker and a full-time freelance writer of articles and essays dealing with the natural world, history, culture, law and politics. As an attorney I've worked extensively with state and federal governments as well as with various nonprofit groups on environmental issues dealing with land preservation, endangered species, clean air and water, and wetlands mitigation.
I am currently writing articles and essays for publication in a wide variety of magazines, including National Geographic, Scientific American, Discover, Vice, Mongabay, Humanities, Virginia Wildlife, Grit, Birdwatcher’s Digest, Blue Ridge Outdoors, The Southern Quarterly, History Today, The Utne Reader, African Wildlife News, Earth Island Journal, Wildlife in North Carolina, Blue Ridge Digest, Africa Geographic, Virginia Sportsman, Quest: The Science of Sustainability, Virginia Business and others.
Documentary filmmaking is another passion of mine. I enjoyed a month with Maine Media Workshops in the summer of 2011 where I wrote, produced, shot, edited and scored a short documentary concerning the reintroduction of declining seabirds to the Gulf of Maine, an opportunity funded in part through a Madson Fellowship awarded by the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Recently I directed a crew of a dozen volunteers in making a short film to benefit a local dog rescue group.
I try to spend a maximum amount of my time outdoors - hiking, canoeing, birding, camping - though in point of fact most of my days are spent in the salt mines of freelancing: pitching, researching and writing. I enjoy literature, cinema, history, music, photography and dogs. Especially rescued pitbulls.
Journalistic Expertise
∞
~ Concise Professional Biography ~
I hold both a Juris Doctor and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy from Vermont Law School, the country’s top environmental law facility, and have developed a reputation for explicating complex legal, policy and scientific matters in illuminating and compelling prose. My areas of journalistic expertise include endangered species and habitat preservation, wildlife crime, marine issues, history, public lands management, climate change, animal cruelty issues, wetlands mitigation, land use, environmental law, sustainability, wilderness subjects, traditional cultures, rural living and Appalachian culture. I’m particularly interested in journalistic projects that involve some of the weightiest topics of our time: rewilding, the African poaching crisis, the Anthropocene and the Sixth Extinction. I’ve worked with numerous environmental NGOs and both federal and state environmental agencies, and am a skilled and eager naturalist.
~ Selected Publications ~
Ensia, Vice, Yale Environment360, Aeon, Bay Journal, Sierra, Mongabay, Discover, Humanities, The Revelator, Cosmos, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Blue Ridge Outdoors, FuturePerfect, The Southern Quarterly, Grit, The Utne Reader, African Wildlife News, Earth Island Journal, Virginia Wildlife, Wildlife in North Carolina, History Today, Blue Ridge Digest, Virginia Sportsman, Africa Geographic, Virginia Business, Quest: The Science of Sustainability.
~ Professional Recognitions ~
~ Professional Memberships ~
I am currently writing articles and essays for publication in a wide variety of magazines, including National Geographic, Scientific American, Discover, Vice, Mongabay, Humanities, Virginia Wildlife, Grit, Birdwatcher’s Digest, Blue Ridge Outdoors, The Southern Quarterly, History Today, The Utne Reader, African Wildlife News, Earth Island Journal, Wildlife in North Carolina, Blue Ridge Digest, Africa Geographic, Virginia Sportsman, Quest: The Science of Sustainability, Virginia Business and others.
Documentary filmmaking is another passion of mine. I enjoyed a month with Maine Media Workshops in the summer of 2011 where I wrote, produced, shot, edited and scored a short documentary concerning the reintroduction of declining seabirds to the Gulf of Maine, an opportunity funded in part through a Madson Fellowship awarded by the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Recently I directed a crew of a dozen volunteers in making a short film to benefit a local dog rescue group.
I try to spend a maximum amount of my time outdoors - hiking, canoeing, birding, camping - though in point of fact most of my days are spent in the salt mines of freelancing: pitching, researching and writing. I enjoy literature, cinema, history, music, photography and dogs. Especially rescued pitbulls.
Journalistic Expertise
∞
~ Concise Professional Biography ~
I hold both a Juris Doctor and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy from Vermont Law School, the country’s top environmental law facility, and have developed a reputation for explicating complex legal, policy and scientific matters in illuminating and compelling prose. My areas of journalistic expertise include endangered species and habitat preservation, wildlife crime, marine issues, history, public lands management, climate change, animal cruelty issues, wetlands mitigation, land use, environmental law, sustainability, wilderness subjects, traditional cultures, rural living and Appalachian culture. I’m particularly interested in journalistic projects that involve some of the weightiest topics of our time: rewilding, the African poaching crisis, the Anthropocene and the Sixth Extinction. I’ve worked with numerous environmental NGOs and both federal and state environmental agencies, and am a skilled and eager naturalist.
~ Selected Publications ~
Ensia, Vice, Yale Environment360, Aeon, Bay Journal, Sierra, Mongabay, Discover, Humanities, The Revelator, Cosmos, Bird Watcher’s Digest, Blue Ridge Outdoors, FuturePerfect, The Southern Quarterly, Grit, The Utne Reader, African Wildlife News, Earth Island Journal, Virginia Wildlife, Wildlife in North Carolina, History Today, Blue Ridge Digest, Virginia Sportsman, Africa Geographic, Virginia Business, Quest: The Science of Sustainability.
~ Professional Recognitions ~
- 2018 Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources Post-SEJ Conference Tour of Great Lakes
- 2018 Travel Fellowship for Society of Environmental Journalists Annual Conference
- 2018 St. Lawrence River Institute, Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources
- 2018 Excellence in Craft Awards, First and Second Place, Virginia Outdoor Writers Association
- 2017 Most Read Article on Mongabay, “Namibia’s Low Cost, Sustainable Solution to Seabird Bycatch”
- 2017 Speaker’s Fellowship for the World Conference of Science Journalism, Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
- 2017 Journalism Fellow, Society of Wetland Scientists
- 2017 Freelance Fellowship for Workshop: “Searching for Truth in the Age of Alternative Facts,” Society of Environmental Journalists
- 2017 Certificate of Excellence in Craft for Conservation Writing, Virginia Outdoor Writers Association and Appalachian Mountain Advocates
- 2015 McCormick Specialized Reporting Institute: “Covering Water in a Changing World”
- 2015 Freelance Fellowship for ScienceWriters2015, National Association of Science Writers
- 2015 Chesapeake Bay Institute, Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources
- 2015 Frank Allen Field Reporting Award, Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources
- 2014 Rosen Fellowship, Society of Environmental Journalists
~ Professional Memberships ~
- Society of Environmental Journalists
- National Association of Science Writers
- Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources
- International League of Conservation Writers
- DC Science Writers Association
- Virginia Outdoor Writers Association (elected Board member 2019)
| whf_résumé.pdf |
| whf_journalistic_expertise.pdf |
🤔 Products Reviewed 😀
Like many freelancers I occasionally receive products for an objective review, ranging from boots to Qi chargers, earbuds to air purifiers. These items are not purchased but freely sent by companies so that an empiric evaluation may be made and shared. If a product suits my criteria I'll post a brief review of it here, updated as my usage of the products evolves over time, along with the company's pertinent link. Products which don't live up to standards as advertised or in my experience won't be reviewed.
- Buff makes excellent dog kerchiefs and lightweight caps, the former of which my rescued pitbull Duchess is proud to wear. Highly recommended for stylishly walking your dog up the street, downtown, or on the trail.
- Medify's excellent MA-40 2.0 Air Purifier has done a great deal to clean the air of my home office of allergens and odors through a HEPA-13 filter, an advanced technology that goes the extra mile to help people like myself whose allergies run the year-round gamut. The sound output is perfectly acceptable, in fact rather soothing, with multiple power settings for different needs, spaces and times of day or night. The MA-40 2.0 Air Purifier is somewhat bulky, but its size and air intake/output are such an entire floor of a midsize house like my can be purified very effectively in a couple hours. A modernist look with smooth curves and non-obtrusive domestic presence make this device a softly breezing necessity for sequestering dust, pollen, dander, and pollutants.
- The Dodow Metronome Light for sleeping takes some getting used to but has become a nice facilitator for getting to sleep quickly in a natural manner. A slowly pulsing cloudy blue light is projected to the ceiling, allowing one to concentrate on natural deep-breathing to facilitate getting to sleep. The device may be set to 8 or twenty minutes of activity by tapping the light's top, by which time you'll likely be snoozing comfortably. Compact and lightweight, the Dodow Metronome Light is easily portable, allowing for use in hotel rooms or other strange places where you could use some help in falling asleep.
- Oboz's Hyalite Low Hiking Shoe is an excellent and multi-use shoe that perfectly fits the needs of both the home office and the hiking trail. The sewn-leather upper and water resistance are both great for hiking and immediately stylish downtown or in the office. Oboz leads the pack in the anatomical science of both their proprietary insoles and outsoles boasting 3 modes of balancing cushioning support. Rubber toe caps, first developed, if memory serves, by Keen, are something that should've been developed decades ago, providing as they do firm toe protection if like me you're often hiking rocky trails with binocs glued to your face. Plus, in our devastatingly deforested landscapes, Oboz plants a tree for every pair of footwear sold. Comfortable, with welcomed arch/joint support and ideal traction, these shoes are my new faves. Recently hiked w/ these shoes in the snow and sleet on the family farm--utterly comfortable, no slippage or sliding. Just keeps you moving.
- The size of a deck of cards but half the height and weight, Western Digital's My Passport for Mac is a highly portable XHD that holds up to 5TB in storage and works nicely with Apple's Time Machine. As with all WD devices I've tried, the My Passport for Mac is a welcomed recognition that Apple's hegemonic insistence that its "ecosystem" (grotesque corporate appropriation of a purely scientific term) use only apps and power ports that Apple has copyrighted is something that has to be worked around to benefit Apple customers like myself. I was shipped just the 1TB hard drive, but it is more than enough with all the nonsensitive data that can be freely stored on various cloud apps. Plus this is easily the most portable XHD I've seen, making a huge amount of storage easily available--just pop it in your shirt pocket!--for traveling, including lengthy business trips that for journalists like myself necessarily demand extensive data usage.
- Looking for an environmentally friendly phone case to make a mobile statement about sustainability? Enter Pela's smartphone cases. Perfect Qi charging with a radiation reducing slip included, these cases are fully compostable, comfortable and durable. And stylish ... I chose the "Jumbo" edition (one of many art designs to explore) which features an Indian elephant in natural habitat, unicolored and sublime. The Pela smartphone cases are soft and pliant, though very effectively remaining on your phone.
- The Levoit Core P350 Pet Care True HEPA Air Purifier is like something I'd never encountered but which has swiftly become a core component of my dog-friendly bedroom. According to the Levoit site, "The non-woven pre-filter captures more fur and pet dander, while the activated carbon filter’s ARC Formula absorbs pet odors and decomposes them to avoid second-hand pollution." There's even a Pet Lock feature to keep settings from being changed by curious rescued pitbulls like mine. You can set preprogrammed running times, activate a Sleep Mode which turns off the lights on top (this can also be done separately) while turning down the power for more quiet. With 360-degree intake, a 219 square-foot coverage, and up to 99.97 percent of airborne contaminants as small as 0.3 microns, this purifier is perfectly designed for pet-friendly households, and especially for those who, like myself, find it utterly impossible to remove a sweet and chunky dog from your bed.
- This evaporative air cooler/fan by NewAir packs a lot of punch for quickly and powerfully blasting cold air throughout a midsize room. It's very easy to move it around, say if different parts of the house or office get hotter as the sun passes overhead. The design is made for ease of use, a compact and stolid machine that rather ingeniously uses simple evaporation to produce a soothing outpouring of cool air. Before you invest, remember that this unit works best in very arid environments, places with extremely low humidity. Those in the Southwest, Southern California and similar areas will find the Frigidaire 2-in-1 Personal Evaporative Air Cooler & Fan to be an indispensable addition to their hot, low-humidity household.
- Are you a serious music aficionado looking for an immersive, tailored, and personalized audio experience? The UK's Cambridge Audio has the earbuds made for you. Admittedly I'm fairly new to earbuds, having relied on headphones for travel and online interviews in the past, but these Melomania I earbuds have the kind of total sound delivery that is almost supernatural, the music or phone calls seemingly coming from within the mind itself. Bass is very satisfying, an unusual attribute to earbuds, and the overall experience is one that can last for days in a home office. This device can also make phone calls that remarkably allow the callee to fully hear you as you place a hands-free call through your bluetooth-connected device. Cambridge Audio has delivered a remarkable audio experience that can be highly personalized to its user, wonderfully packaged and ready for a longterm commitment to your music, podcasts and calling.
- For a thick and solid desktop charger that allows fast charging for numerous devices, the BESTEK Wireless Charger Desktop Power Strip provides a well-designed vertical charging station (why it's labeled a power "strip" in uncertain🤔) with 8 AC outlets and 6 standard USB ports--plus a Qi charger on top. The charge time is impressive, though the Qi aspect doesn't penetrate phone cases very swiftly. Its tower build allows for less desk space being claimed, and it provides a powerful surge protection (1,500 joules) and a "smart USB" charging design that allows for USB-plugged devices' energy needs to be individually, automatically tailored, just by plugging them in. This is an attractive component of my desktop, one that feeds the needs of my laptop, phone, twin Echo Dots, clock radio, light and fan easily and quickly.
- Wifi-enabled AV devices have crowded the market in record time, allowing for global surveillance of your home, your yard, garage, street front, and immediate neighborhood. The implications of this universal accessibility of anything you can point am AV camera at has troublesome implications for the immediate future as technology increasingly directs our lives as opposed to the assumed opposite. But while we're in this evolving situation it's time to discuss what works and what doesn't in these financially doleful days, and one inexpensive alternative which offers all the glam and toughness (a lot more than its big-league competitors) is Conico's Outdoor Security Camera. With a 1080P, IP66 Waterproof WiFi IP Camera with night vision and motion detection, as well as a 2-way Audio Cloud Storage 2.4G WiFi Connection, this inexpensive and highly effective little voyeur can be set anywhere in or out of the house with the help of its Alexa capabilities: once minute you're re-watching Christmas Vacation and the next you're taking a sweeping overlook of the frozen backyard from your couch, all though a gentle voice command. There will always be more powerful and life-altering devices to come, but let's meet things in the middle for now with this highly functional, easily set up and inexpensive outdoor smart camera.
- This handheld RENPHO massager is precisely what's needed after a day of working in a home office ... or even more when returning from a brutal commute. The differently styled heads address your varying muscular/nerve pains in a variety of ways; it takes some experimentation to find the right massager head for each and every ailment, but stick with it--this device digs through the cramps and contortions that are inevitably part of the office environment. And don't be afraid to dig in deep--there may be some subtle pain involved, but the benefits are lasting and perhaps most importantly they make for great sleep, which is what massage is all about. Highly recommended.
Copyright © 2021 William H. Funk - All Rights Reserved.
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