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Zoey Greenberg

Zoey grew up in Bellingham, Washington, where the Salish Sea and temperate rainforest were powerful catalysts in sparking her love of the coast. Her studies took her to tall ships in the eastern U.S. where she taught kids how to haul sail, sing sea shanties with gusto, and notice the ocean.

Next, she moved to Pennsylvania where vultures stole her heart and set her on a scavenger-loving path. She worked for Penn State’s nature center as an environmental educator and vulture trainer, and later underwent extensive training in raptor conservation at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary where she created a curriculum on the importance of vultures and piloted a science outreach position. She later worked as a migration counter along a golden eagle flyway in the Appalachian Mountains. When the Pacific Ocean tugged her home, she spent four summers living in the San Juan Islands as a whale watch naturalist teaching guests about the marvelous lives of humpback and killer whales.

Zoey has a B.A in human ecology from College of the Atlantic in Maine and an M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana, where she wrote a thesis of prose poems critiquing conservation ethics. On land she is the science writer for the Journal of Raptor Research, the raptor ecology specialist for HDOnTap, and a communications specialist and facilitator for boat-based writing workshops with Freeflow Institute. She is also a North American compiler for the IUCN’s biannual newsletter on global vulture research and conservation. Zoey enjoys volleyball, ultimate frisbee, dance, and the color turquoise. She splits her time between the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, the Galapagos, and her Toyota Tacoma.