My name is Phillip Meintzer (he/him), and I am a Marxist settler currently living on Treaty 7 territory in Calgary, Alberta - also known as Mohkinstsis in the language of the Blackfoot Indigenous people.

I work as a Conservation Specialist with Alberta Wilderness Association - an environmental non-governmental organization based out of Calgary that seeks to protect Alberta’s remaining wilderness spaces and biodiversity. I have a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Calgary and an M.Sc. in Marine Biology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Prior to starting my role with AWA my primary academic and professional focus was commercial fisheries conservation.

My primary interests are:

• Science - as the process by which we learn and validate new information about our universe;
• Education - for all people, regardless of age, race, gender, or wealth, as a means for addressing the ignorance, apathy, and superstition currently plaguing our society under global capitalism;
• Empathy - as part of the solution for many of the intersectional problems we are currently facing on our planet including climate change, wealthy inequality, and racism;
• Philosophy - which I understand to be the way that each and every person feels about their existence through their own unique experiences;
• Gratitude - as a deficient quality in today’s society, but which is integral to truly appreciating the world around us as well as our place within it;
• Socialism (or Communism) - as the only viable political system by which we can liberate our lives from the drudgery and alienation we experience under capitalism; and
• Reconciliation (or Decolonization) - a process to which all settlers must commit towards advancing, to atone for the intentional harm of our ancestors, and to build a society that ensures justice, equality, and sustainability for all beings (both human and non-human), and the natural world we rely on.

Outside of work, my hobbies include spending time with loved ones, intimate (or honest/vulnerable) discussions, reading, writing, running, photography, and being in the wilderness.