About Me
Biography
of
James P McMahon
My name is Jim McMahon, a professional ecologist of some renown. What is an ecologist, you might ask. Well, it’s a person who has studied the natural function of our planet’s life support systems; her rivers and forests, the ecosystems that support all living things.
I launched my company, Sweetwater LLC, in September 2002 after an extensive search for a business that I could operate from home. I live in a lovely little spot where I overlook this stream while speaking with you on the phone. I was tired of the constant strife of the activist role and sought a way to continue to help people but with a greater focus on individuals. I chose water because I’d studied rivers in college and professionally and could build on my knowledge and experience. I provide water purification equipment and consulting services to people seeking a healthy lifestyle, or just trying to solve a water problem.
I grew up in Illinois, having been born in Chicago and growing up in the southwest suburbs back when they were largely farm fields and forest preserves. I studied Ecology at the University of Illinois and have worked in the environmental field since 1974 when I launched one of the first recycling collection programs in the country in Seattle. I went door to door and asked people if they would set out their materials and I would come pick them up in an old van and process them for recycling. My experiences are documented in an essay entitled Closing the Loop in the book The Next West published by Island Press in 1997.
I worked in recycling for 15 years, launching several successful business ventures and establishing the first intentional variable trash collection rate structure in the country in Seattle. It was my affiliation with my close friend Harry Leavitt that led to this outcome. Harry, having no trash, first brought the idea to my attention and together we formed a coalition that succeeded in convincing the City Council.
By 1985, I’d wearied of recycling and pursued a growing interest in psychotherapy and personal growth, studying NLP that summer and winter. I began doing some consulting and won the successful bid for Waste Management, Inc to provide curbside recycling services in the north half of Seattle. In the fall of 1987 I relocated to Los Angeles to participate in the start-up of the California bottle bill and then in 1987 took a one year sabbatical in the French West Indies. During the time in St. Martin, I studied fiction writing and of course enjoyed the French cafes and the open sea.
Upon my return to the states, I moved to Denver and began working as a freelance writer and sought a way to work with rivers, since I had always been attracted to flowing water. While in Denver I wrote a local newspaper column on western land use and other environmental issues and published editorials and white papers as a senior fellow for Independence Institute, a conservative, bordering on Libertarian, think tank based out of Golden. Its founder and then President, the now former State Senator John K. Andrews, Jr. became a good friend and provided an important key that enhanced my ability to publish. At the same time, I studied part time at the Buddhist oriented Naropa Institute. Naropa had a developing program in Deep Ecology that was premised on the notion that the largest barrier to environmental sustainability was man’s own ego, the constant need to dominate in all matters.
In 1995 I was offered a chance to launch The Nature Conservancy’s Mackinaw River Project in Illinois. Along with my now former wife and two children we moved to the heart of farm country in Eureka, where the mission was to convince farmers to protect and preserve a relatively rich river system. Frankly, the project scared the hell out of me. I spent the first year figuring out how to make progress and building rapport, eventually making a move when the farmers themselves began to hint that they were ready to proceed. The project went from 100 opposing press clips in the first year to an equal number of supportive clips by the third year.
” Jim McMahon is the best I have ever witnessed at bringing
together people with different backgrounds and perspectives and building consensus.”
Larry Huggins, Professional Facilitator
For a time the Mackinaw Project was thought of as one of the Conservancy’s star projects. Unfortunately, the Conservancy did not have the patience to persist and downsized the project before doing any more than touching the surface of its potential. While I felt privileged to work for The Nature Conservancy my experience of the organization was that it was brutal on its people and most disappointing. We cannot care for the land without also caring for people, whether employees or those who live on the landscapes we hope to protect.
“For landscapes to become healthier, people need to alter their ways–their land-use practices, their consumption patterns, and their pollution-generating activities. Such changes don’t come easily, a reality that few people know as well as Jim McMahon, a veteran promoter of land health. McMahon understands the kinds of shifts that are needed today, particularly in rural communities like his own. And he can describe the hard work that first needs to occur: the research, education, discussion, and planning. Most of all, though, he can talk about the patience that needs to be stockpiled, drawn on, and periodically replenished if a community based conservation effort is to have hope of success.”
Eric T. Freyfogle
Professor of Law
University of Illinois
In January 1999, I was able to return to the West when I accepted a position with Grand Canyon Trust, working on the Virgin River in southwest Utah. My job was to collaborate with agencies working to save endangered fish species while also developing a landscape conservation strategy for the region. My team did a landmark study on the impact of rip rap on the Virgin River and the resulting decline of cottonwood populations within Zion National Park. I also launched the greater Zion EcoRegion project, but we never had the time to pursue that idea. Once again, I was cut short when the Trust decided to give up its projects in southern Utah when the recession hit and funding was short. That left me looking for something to do and living in southern Utah.
Having tried twice to implement river projects and having experienced success with locals but not with my own sponsoring organizations, I decided not to try again. Neither organization had the will to persist. The other factor in this decision was the constant strife due to encountering people who were threatened by my actions. I decided to put my activist sword away and deal from a more helping perspective.
It was this work with endangered fish and rivers that led me to the realization of the extent to which we have polluted our water resources. Starting this business allows me to work with people who want to live a healthy lifestyle and builds from my strong base of experience with water and water quality issues. When you choose to work with me you gain access to years of on the ground experience working with both our natural environment and with natural resource industries. You can count on me to guide you toward the most appropriate solution for you and your situation.
I have a BS in Ecology from the University of Illinois. For the past five years I’ve studied the ancient energy healing methods of the Quechua Indians of Peru with the Four Winds Society located in Park City. In addition, I’ve been researching my Irish roots and intend to expand my water business to Ireland where cow manure has been entering the water for thousands of years.
I am known to have a passion for learning and am always up to something.
I have a son, Emrys, and a daughter, Jacqueline. I work from my log home overlooking this trout stream in the mountains of southern Utah. Life doesn’t get any better than this….
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To view my experience and credentials:
Resume
You can learn all about Sweetwater at:
www.cleanairpurewater.com
by admin with 1 comment.
Love the look of your home environment most particularly the stream that runs through it.