Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences at UAlbany, where he served 26 years on the faculty.George’s multiple interests include wild and urban ecosystems, environmental policy, botany, canoeing, and music, and this past year has found him joining Third Act Upstate New York. George’s path to Third Act took numerous twists and turns. He studied Philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago, which, he told us, “prepared him for life in the Thirteenth Century.”
George Robinson (center) with Third Actor Larry Wittner (left)
George’s path to Third Act took numerous twists and turns. He studied Philosophy at Loyola University in Chicago, which, he told us, “prepared him for life in the Thirteenth Century.” At the same time, he was driving a taxi and performing as a folk singer in Irish bars and restaurants. Later, he became manager of a music club (The Quiet Knight) that featured leading musicians and attracted a wide range of customers. Among them were a few Canadians who ran the Voyageur Wilderness Program in NW Ontario. Souring on corporate elements of the music business, George began traveling all over America, eventually visiting his Canadian friends up in the Quetico wilderness. Before he knew it, he was hired as a canoe guide and naturalist, a thrilling but humbling experience given his urban background and his scanty knowledge of natural history.
Inspired by the dedicated environmentalists and science educators he guided through Quetico who knew much more than he did, he grew hungry to learn more. At the same time, he was becoming increasingly disturbed by witnessing the environmental degradation that penetrated even remote natural areas, harming a world he’d come to cherish and the creatures who live there. He decided to go back to school and deepen his education.
A few academic degrees and professional appointments later, he joined the faculty at UAlbany, focusing his research on biological conservation. Recognizing that even the best science was often ignored, he began collaborating with policy faculty and other social scientists on broader interdisciplinary research and graduate training. As he observed the rapid advances in climate change research, he became more and more alarmed by the lack of attention to the looming consequences. Reading Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature, he found a compelling narrative. A curious twist in George’s story is that McKibben’s next, more optimistic book, Hope Human and Wild, featured the Brazilian city of Curitiba, where coincidentally, George’s wife Ingrid worked as a forest geneticist. Her research blossomed into a role in a reforestation campaign that collected and propagated native tree seeds. (She and her many colleagues were recently honored by a national postage stamp that celebrates 24 million trees planted.)Today, George is retired from teaching but remains active and engaged in the struggle to protect the environment. Last year the UAlbany Emeritus Center awarded him its Reese Fellowship for “sustained, consequential and exemplary… contributions in scholarship, creative productions, teaching [and] service.” And this year he completed work as an author of the NYS Climate Impacts Assessment (NYSERDA) chapter on Ecosystems. He continues to serve on the NYS Invasive Species Advisory Committee (now as Vice Chair), and on the Scientific Advisory Board for the E.N. Huyck Preserve. As if that weren’t enough, he remains a proud member of the United University Professions.
George joined Third Act because “its mission makes good sense” – identifying feasible actions while supporting younger climate activists. He considers himself “not adept” at community organizing and outreach, and admires people with those skills, but instead expects to contribute in other ways. These include sharing scientific information, and just showing up, including joining the September NYC march and the recent NY HEAT rally inside the State Capital.
George continues to be engaged with traditional music, which he says “not only helps exercise his right brain but has opened many doors.” He served on the Board of Old Songs, Inc. for twelve years, volunteering at its annual festival. He has also sung in the Master Works Chorus of Albany Pro Musica.
George continues to write, sing, and perform his own songs. Here’s one he wrote, dedicated to John Muir and Rachel Carson: https://robinsong1.bandcamp.com/track/john-and-rachel