About

Michael Gaffney is a conservationist and writer based in Southern Appalachia. He holds a dual MEM/PhD from Duke University, where he studied landscape ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and environmental humanities with the Program in Literature. 

Michael’s work in land conservation focuses on the permanent protection of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Foothills of Western North Carolina. He currently serves as the Conservation and GIS Specialist at Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina. 

Drawing on the long history of environmental thought, Michael’s writing reflects on the impact of climate change on contemporary ways of imagining the natural world. His essays and book reviews can be found in Cold Mountain Review, Southern Review of Books, Science Fiction Studies, and Nineteenth-Century Contexts. His most recent essay, “When Mountains Flood: On Climate Havens,” describes his experience of Hurricane Helene and engages critically with the idea of climate havens.