James A. Swan

Short Biography

James grew up on a Michigan island in Lake Erie, Grosse Ile. In high school he won awards in football, golf and archery, and began his acting career with the role of "Charlie Davenport" in the Senior Class play, "Annie Get Your Gun." At the University of Michigan, as an undergraduate conservation education major, he played intercollegiate football and rugby (leading scorer, l963).He began performing in front of groups in 1965 by leading groups of school children on nature hikes. That quickly evolved into being the environmental education coordinator for the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Public Schools, and leading field trips for thousands of children for four years, while paying for graduate school -- earning an MS and a Ph.D. in environmental psychology in 1969 and developing skills in broadcast journalism at the U. of M. TV Center. Joining the U of M. faculty he immediately was cast as the teacher of the large introductory conservation classes that swelled in l970, the same year that he was one of the producers of the nation's largest college Earth Day teach-in. That same year he appeared at 22 teach-ins across the US, speaking and playing music, and he wrote and hosted his first documentaries on air pollution and pesticides in 1970-71.He has been a college professor at the Universities of Michigan, Western Washington State, Oregon, and Washington and the California Institute of Integral Studies. From l974-l982 he was a psychotherapist, working with a number of world-class athletes. He presently is a Research Adjunct at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology.James has lectured widely across North America, and in Japan and England for audiences up to several thousand, receiving a number of awards for pioneering research and writing on the human dimensions of environmental problems. He has made guest appearances on Donahue, Good Morning America, CBC and NHK, and appeared on the Sightings, Modern Marvels, and Ancient Mysteries TV series.The author eight popular non-fiction books that have sold well over 120, 000 copies worldwide, two have been Book-of-The-Month Club selections. His books often cut across cultures, and have common theme of integrating ancient wisdom with modern science. From l988 to 1993, he and his wife, Roberta, produced five annual Spirit of Place Symposiums in the US and Japan, featuring 350 speakers with over 10, 000 attending. Members of 20 different American Indian tribes, Australian Aborigines, Polynesian, Inuit and African cultural representatives participated; including Hopi Elder Thomas Banyacya, and Chimu-Moche shaman Eduardo Calderone.James' screen acting career began as an extra in the movie "Tucker: The Man and His Dream"(1988) when he was placed in a scene with Martin Landau, who encouraged him to pursue acting. In addition to work in 19 film and 3 TV series, James has appeared in over 40 commercials and print ads. He served on SAG Executive Council for Northern California from 2006-2008.Wearing a garbage pail on his head and a suit made out of garbage by Lucasfilm, from 1990 to 1993 he fronted the comedy rock band, Recycleman and the No Trash Band; featuring James Gurley, Muruga, Shakti, Jack Prendergast and Keith Borak. The band received an Award from the California Assembly, appeared on ABC World News, and was featured in a music video, before recycling. A member of ASCAP, in 2003, his song, "The Solution to Pollution, " won "Best Country Song" in the ZAP Pollution Solution national contest.James enjoys many outdoor sports (Outward Bound Certified Whitewater Instructor) and has been a featured guest on several outdoor TV shows, as well as a writer over 70 Outdoor TV shows, including "Bushnell's Secrets of the Wild, " and "Engel's Outdoor Experience, " which won a Golden Moose award in 2002. In 2003 he wrote and hosted "Sports Afield TV." In 2005, he hosted the reality series, "The Shooters, " on OLN.He has been a Contributing Editor for ESPNOutdoors.com since 2001.In 2002 James and his son, Andrew, founded Snow Goose Productions, as a full-service video and film production company.