About the Natural Patriot

What we’re about
The Natural Patriot is dedicated to cultivating and putting to work a new and universal ideal of patriotism appropriate to the new Millennium, one based firmly in Reason and a deeply held moral of stewardship for our endangered homeland. (Is that ambitious enough?) What sets the Natural Patriot apart from the generic Patriot is a broader vision of the homeland, which includes not only the arbitrary nation of birth or the chosen nation of adoption but the entirety of this small, lonely planet and its interdependent web of life — unique in the known universe – on which rest squarely our own life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.  Today, in the new millennium, people, commerce, and information move largely unfettered across the boundaries of nations, as do the plants and animals that associate with human civilization, and the CO2 and warming winds that society exhales.  Whether we choose to recognize it or not, we are one world.

Personnel
The Natural Patriot is run by Emmett Duffy, Professor of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Emmett is an ecologist with expertise in marine biodiversity and its importance to human society.  His research has been featured in the BBC’s Blue Planet series, on the Discovery Channel, in textbooks, and in various media outlets worldwide.  He was awarded an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship in 2006, and has served on editorial boards of several scientific journals in the field of ecology. Emmett has served as topic editor (Oceans, Biodiversity) for the online Encyclopedia of Earth, and on the Stewardship Council of the Environmental Information Coalition, publisher of the Encyclopedia of Earth and the Earth Portal.  He earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has held research fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution and the University of California, Davis.

Emmett can be reached at jeduffy@vims.edu.

Geekish details
The Natural Patriot uses WordPress software and is hosted at bluehost.com. The general layout of the site was developed from the 2010 Weaver 1.5.4 by Bruce Wampler, with some tinkering and interference by Emmett. The nifty morphing NP flag was designed by my brother Matt Duffy, and one day soon I will figure out how to get it to show in the new theme . . .

Disclaimer
All opinions expressed on this site are personal musings of the contributors (primarily me, at this point) posted in our crumbs of spare time. On the off chance that it is not transparently obvious, I should emphasize that these opinions do not represent the views of any organization that employs me, the agencies that fund my research, my family members or friends or casual acquaintances, etc. Finally, I can assure you that no one pays me to do this.