Recipient of the 1994 Distinguished World Citizen Award, Applied Ecopsychologist Michael J. Cohen, Ph.D., is a Program Director of the Institute of Global Education where he coordinates its Integrated Ecology Department and Project NatureConnect. He also serves on the faculty of Portland State University and the Akamai University Institute of Applied Ecopsychology whose program he initiated and has directed since 1990.
In 1965, Dr. Cohen discovered that Planet Earth acted like a living organism and based on this he founded sensory, Gaia based, degree granting Environmental and Expedition Education outdoor programs independently and for the National Audubon Society and Lesley University. He conceived the 1985 National Audubon International Symposium “Is the Earth a Living Organism,” at the University of Massachusetts and established the science of Natural Attraction Ecology in 2008. He is the Editor of the Journal of Organic Psychology and Natural Attraction Ecology and an award winning author of ten books dealing with Applied Ecopsychology including Educating, Counseling and Healing With Nature, The Web Of Life Imperative, Reconnecting With Nature, and, new, in 2013, The Hidden Organic Remedy: Nature as Higher Power.
Dr. Cohen is also an accomplished folk song artist and contra dancer who presents traditional music programs using guitar, banjo and accordion for the U.S. National Park Service and Skagit Valley College Road Scholar program on San Juan Island, Washington.
