Tom is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University New England where he founded the master’s degree program in Conservation Biology. His interest range from forest, desert, arctic, and alpine ecosystems, geomorphology, evolutionary ecology, complex systems science, to the interface of landscape , culture, and economy.

Tom calls himself a terrestrial ecologist. But he is also a philosopher and an astute observer of all kinds of communities, including human ones.

He has conducted workshops on ecology and sustainability throughout the country for over three decades and he is the author of numerous books including his Reading the Forested Landscape series. His book The Myth of Progress is now in its third printing.