The author, a radical student activist in the anti Vietnam War movement in his youth in the 1960s and early 1970s, studied at "Science Po" (The Institute of Political Science) in Paris in 1968, and at CCNY and Columbia University (where his professors included such figures as the great historian Eric Foner, the provocative anthropologist Marvin Harris, and film critic and "auteur theorist" Andrew Sarris).

A longtime grassroots environmental activist, J.P. has a long history of organizing conferences and lecture series on a wide range of topics and of serving as a consultant to several non-profit organizations. His deepest and longest professional relationship (20 years) is in his role as associate producer of the annual Bioneers conference (www.bioneers.org), the largest and most diverse independent eco-themed conclave in the U.S. He also served as a program director at the New York Open Center, the largest urban holistic learning institution in the nation, in the early 90s and continues to advise the Center and to edit its catalogue. He also co-founded the Eco-Metropolis conference, held in New York in 2004 and 2005.

A writer and editor, and former teacher of writing in the CUNY system, J.P is the author of three books: Double Helix Hubris, an early (1996/97) look at the potential risks of unmonitored genetic manipulation; 2004's Political Ecosystems, an exhortation to left and eco activists to engage in far more sophisticated political thinking; and, most recently, Delusions of Normality.

He also edited Visionary Plant Consciousness, a collection of talks and essays by some of the world's leading specialists in the use of sacred, consciousness-altering plants, and was associate editor of the two first Bioneers books: Ecological Medicine, which delves into the links between human and environmental health, and Nature's Operating Instructions, a collection about cutting edge, "nature based" ("biomimic") solutions to environmental problems. J.P. has also taught taijiquan in Brooklyn, NY, for 24 years.