Phil Petrie

Phil Petrie is an artist and long-time environmental activist.  Phil has always had a deep love for nature and an unease with our technocratic civilization both of which led to his work in the anti-nuclear power movement in the late 70s.  Since moving to San Diego in 2007, he has been especially active in fighting climate change as a founding member of SanDiego350 and of ICEJ.  He sees this crisis as a key opportunity to put our civilization on a truly sustainable footing–to place it not on top of but within nature.

His environmental beliefs are also deeply grounded in his Christianity.  At St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral where he worships, he co-founded Simpler Living, a creation care ministry dedicated to “seeking a Christian response to the environmental crisis and our excessive consumerism by living more simply and sustainably in home, church, community, and the world.”  At the root of our hyperconsumerism is the attempt to fill a God-sized hole with status and goods, and to create these goods we in the developed world are radically degrading the biosphere.  This crisis is both environmental and spiritual.  Phil is excited about what ICEJ has done and will do to empower people of faith to move us to a more spiritual and sustainable world!

Phil lives in Normal Heights with his wife Mary and daughter Sarah.  He enjoys hiking in Mission Trails, obscure (or not-so-obscure) indie bands, and reading novels and history.