Welcome!

Have a look at my first book!

Click here to find the pdf of my published papers, my master thesis and parts of my doctoral dissertation.

Check out the exciting activities of the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy, which I co-coordinate.

I created this site to share with you my journey through environmental ethics around the globe.

Exchanges and conversations are the driving force behind my research (see academic papers) and my environmental commitments, and this website aims to be a support for developing and deepening them by making my thoughts easily accessible.

Learning and thinking is a dynamic and ongoing process, so the materials I share here are work-in-progress. Without a doubt, they will change and be improved over time, thanks to your precious inputs!

About Me

I’m taking a pragmatic approach to research and apply environmental ethics globally, from philosophy to activism.

Short bio

I grew up in the Jura mountains in Switzerland, where I did my first steps in environmental activism and in the world of philosophy. I went to live in Japan between 2015 and 2020, because most of environmental ethics and international environmental laws seemed to be quite Western-centred, and I believe that to take efficient action together, we first need to understand each other better. In other words, I felt the need to reach for diverse perspectives in order not be involved in advocacy that would unintentionally support or reproduce oppressive policies and structures. For these reasons, we started in 2019 the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy with my friend and colleague Orika Komatsubara. Over the last years, I learnt from diverse worldviews on ethics and the environment, by following teachings of scholars and by exchanging with environmental activists, mainly in East and South-East Asia. I owe my ideas and inspiration to these countless of exchanges.

I completed my Master in International Environmental Management (2017) and my PhD in Environmental Ethics (2020) at Kyoto University, in Japan. Then, I worked for a year with IPBES in communications. Between 2021-2022, I was a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, hosted at the BC3 – Basque Centre for Climate Change in Spain and at the Rachel Carson Center in Germany. I am now Project Assistant Professor at Tokyo University, at the Sustainable Society Design Center of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.

Current Academic Affiliation

Project Assistant Professor at Tokyo University, at the Sustainable Society Design Center of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences – 東京大学大学院新領域創成科学研究科特任助教

See my LinkedIn profile in lieu of Curriculum Vitae.

ORCID Identifier: 0000-0003-3138-9197

Check out “Research“, “Publications” and “Exchanges” for more about my research.

(Master and PhD-studies Affiliation: Laboratory of Global Environmental Policy 地球環境政策論研究室 Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies 地球環境学舎 Kyoto University – Japan 京都大学日本 Usami Laboratory Homepage )