jnazak at yahoo dot com
(512) 619-5363 (I am based in Daytona Beach, Florida; just have not chosen to change my Austin number)
(Event organizers: You are welcome to use any of the photos and biographical information on this page for purposes of promoting my talks/workshops/demos at your events. And feel free to edit the info to your desired length and level of detail.)
(The above photos were taken at F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. www.freshbookfestivals.net )
Short bios:
1 – Jenny Nazak is a sustainability educator based in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. She has a blog dedicated to low-footprint living, and is the author of the “small-footprint living large” guidebook, DEEP GREEN.
Organizational affiliations: I am a life member of the following organizations. NAACP; Sierra Club; Tri Delta; Veterans for Peace.
2 – Jenny Nazak is a writer, artist, and permaculture educator based based in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. She is the author of the “small-footprint living large” guidebook, DEEP GREEN, and blog jennynazak.com. She believes that everyday people, through their daily choices, have the power to create a just and sustainable civilization. She is setting out to spark a “Grassroots Green Mobilization.” Some years back, she noticed that her ultra-low-footprint lifestyle, undertaken for the collective good, was also bringing her great personal benefit in terms of financial resilience, occupational freedom, and happiness. She has been known to do standup comedy about biospheric collapse, and is working on a humorous novel about Zombie Apocalypse themes. She likes DIY fashion and chunky jewelry.
Jenny is a life member of the following organizations: NAACP; Sierra Club; Tri Delta; Veterans for Peace.
Bio for F.R.E.S.H. Book Festival 2024:
Jenny Nazak is a community activist, public speaker, and the author of DEEP GREEN book and blog. She has turned her urban house and yard into a low-footprint living laboratory, and often posts on social media about her “Doomer Home Ec” experiments with solar cooking and other low-tech sustainable practices. Jenny has a BA in English Literature from the College of William and Mary, an associate’s degree in graphic design from Northern Virginia Community College, and a Permaculture Design Certificate from the Permaculture Institute (US). She has lived and traveled all over, and loves all different places and cultures, but fell in love with Daytona Beach and chose this city as her adopted hometown. She enjoys the beach, incessant reading, and taking long walks around the city. During her rambles, she likes to get on Facebook Live and talk about walkability, desirable density, and other aspects of creating sustainable urban environments. She will try almost anything to get people motivated to take care of the planet that is our only home. To raise concern about the consequences of extreme heat, she once stood up at City Commission with slices of burnt toast clipped to her person and waved a large cardboard cutout of a flaming thermometer. And she has been known to do standup comedy about biospheric collapse. She’s working on a humorous existential novel in which the main character is a failed environmentalist. She is a life member of NAACP, Sierra Club, Tri Delta fraternity, and Veterans for Peace.
Bio for Beachside Neighborhood Watch meeting June 2024:
Jenny is an eco educator specializing in urban environments. Originally schooled as a writer and visual communicator, she later added permaculture courses and land apprenticeships to her CV. She started her “puffy landscaping” business a few years ago to promote affordable and beautiful alternatives to costly, destructive, and unsightly landscaping practices on the beachside. One of her business mottos is, “Helping to stop the flooding in Midtown, one *beachside* yard at a time.”
Longwinded chatty bio:
Hi there! I’m Jenny Nazak, a freelance writer, artist, educator, and community activist. (My catch-all description for my occupation is “Sustainability Educator.”) I’m known among my friends and colleagues for having a low eco-footprint (generally 10% to 15% of the average U.S. resident’s footprint), while living in a conventional, urban, on-grid home.
My background includes training and experience in marketing, permaculture design, writing, and editing. I’ve lived and volunteered on small organic farms; I use a solar oven as my regular oven; I have worked on community composting projects in various parts of the USA (including humanure composting — it’s super easy and practical).
Other areas of expertise that I draw on include foreign cultures (I lived in Tokyo for five years and have traveled all over), ultralight hiking (love Ray Jardine’s philosophy!), and decluttering (KonMari etc).
I have a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a minor in sociology. At college I also did coursework in marketing and psychology.
Other degrees/certificates include an associate’s degree in graphic design, a Permaculture Design Certificate (actually several different ones), and a certificate in Earth Based Vocations from EcoVersity (2006), with a focus on solar cooking/renewable energy.
I am a Certified Ultimate Professional Organizer™ (Ultimate Academy®). And, I am a Certified End-of-Life Doula (Doulagivers Institute).
And, I am a Licensed Avatar® Master.
My natural habitat is dense urban settings with plenty of intelligent, creative neighbors. And lots of greenery, particularly native and edible landscaping! For 10 years I lived in a 19-foot travel trailer in south Austin, which I named the MicroPalace. For most of my adult life I have lived in tiny urban apartments.
I now own a 988-square-foot house, which feels vast to me! My place is near the ocean, in my adopted hometown of Daytona Beach, Florida. To satisfy my love for tiny houses and RV living while still getting to have a regular house where friends and family can come stay, I have set up the tiniest room in the house (7×8 foot room) as my office, studio, and sleeping quarters, leaving two big bedrooms and plenty of space for potlucks, neighborhood meetings, and of course books.
I grew up in a Navy family, and between duty stations, the five of us traveled the country by car, visiting the national parks and other wild spaces that ultimately sparked my eco-activism.
I’m on fire for ultra-low-footprint living, and I’m a “connector” who naturally brings ideas and people together.
Feel free to email me questions or comments about my blog, or low-footprint living in general. You’re welcome to suggest topics for me to blog about, though I can’t promise I’ll cover every topic suggested.
You can also contact me for permaculture design services. I offer a variety of permaculture-based services, from site design to home organizing to life-coaching, at fees affordable to people of all income levels.
Organizational affiliations: I am a life member of the following organizations. NAACP; Sierra Club; Tri Delta; Veterans for Peace.
Jenny Nazak
jnazak at yahoo dot com
(512) 619-5363
Profile written by request for Sierra Club Volusia-Flagler Group’s Executive Committee:
Jenny Nazak is a writer, landscaper, permaculture educator, and community activist based in Daytona Beach. She’s a strong believer in the power of everyday individual choices to make a difference, and she offers tips and moral support for low-footprint living in her book DEEP GREEN and blog by the same title. She uses the hashtag #GrassrootsGreenMobilization to get everyday people motivated to make the necessary reductions rather than waiting for governments and corporations to go first. She has taken multi-day solo trips by bicycle and foot, worked on organic farms, and would love to show everyone how to cook food in a solar oven. She has been passionate about the environment since childhood and is a Sierra Club Life Member. As a member of the Executive Committee, Jenny would endeavor to promote ecologically restorative, economically regenerative, and socially equitable actions in keeping with her permaculture design background. She supports anti-racism, environmental justice, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Anyone wanting to ask Jenny questions or find out more about her eco lifestyle can visit her website www.jennynazak.com
Profile written by request for floridaforaging.com:
ABOUT JENNY: Jenny Nazak is a freelance eco educator based in Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. Through her writing, art, public speaking, and workshops, she strives to awaken people to their self-interest in ecosystem health. Her landscaping philosophy is to maximize wild and gently managed space, while minimizing intensively cultivated space. She is an enthusiastic forager, engaged in an ongoing study of native plants and edible plants in her region, and dreams of the day when “weeds” gain widespread recognition as food, medicine, soil-restorers, and stormwater-mitigators.
JENNY’S EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Jenny has a B.A. in English Literature from the College of William & Mary, with a minor in sociology and coursework in marketing. A lifelong artist, she also has an associate’s degree in graphic design from Northern Virginia Community College.
She encountered the permaculture design movement in 2005, and has earned four Permaculture Design Certificates. She also has a Certificate in Earth-Based Vocations from EcoVersity, with a focus on solar cooking and household energy conservation. She has additionally taken courses on topics such as native plants in order to start an eco landscaping business in her neighborhood.
Jenny is also a lifelong student of the inner landscape. She is a licensed instructor of The Avatar® Course.
Other certifications:
• Certified End-of-Life Doula, International Doulagivers Institute
• Certified Ultimate Professional Organizer, Ultimate Academy
OTHER INFO:
Jenny has lived and traveled in various parts of the world. Her occupational history may seem like a disjointed patchwork (from magazine staffer to Japanese translator to fire performer to permaculture publicist to house cleaner and yard laborer, to name only a few), but it is all connected by her passion for eco education and lifelong learning.
Her marketing activities contributed significantly to the growth of permaculture education in Austin, TX. She moved to Florida in 2010 and is founder and admin of Daytona Beach Permaculture Guild.
Jenny is part of a worldwide movement of people who have voluntarily reduced their eco footprints to a small fraction of the U.S. average. Her book DEEP GREEN, and blog by the same name, offer tips to individuals and organizations seeking to radically reduce their eco footprint and financial overhead while boosting quality of life.
Jenny offers research, design, ecosystem restoration, and other eco services on a pro bono basis to selected projects in her community.
You can find out more about Jenny and her work by visiting her website www.jennynazak.com
