Jim Steele was the Director of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus of San Francisco State University from 1985 to 2009. Having taught courses on plants, natural sciences, bird banding and bird identification, his research into the causes of the declines in local bird populations led him to the understanding that natural climate cycles and landscape changes were causing disruptions of wildlife populations. He went on to author a book, Landscapes and Cycles: An Environmentalist's Journey to Climate Skepticism, and a website, LandscapesAndCycles.net where he explores how faulty, over-hyped C02-driven climate change fears are misdirecting environmental researchers and activists away from the true cause of environmental disruption.