Daniel Lorenz Johnson
Encyclopedia
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, community organizer
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who has worked for the advancement of various progressive/social liberalist
Social liberalism
Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
causes through interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
, collaborative projects involving grassroots politics
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
, media art and popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. While best known his work advocating for and organizing social nudity, events (with an emphasis of opportunities on public lands
Public nudity
Public nudity or nude in public refers to nudity not in an entirely private context. It refers to a person appearing nude in a public place or to be seen from a public place. It also includes nudity in a semi-public place, where the general public is free to enter, such as a shopping mall...
), his work also involves advocating human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, ecological economics
Ecological economics
Image:Sustainable development.svg|right|The three pillars of sustainability. Clickable.|275px|thumbpoly 138 194 148 219 164 240 182 257 219 277 263 291 261 311 264 331 272 351 283 366 300 383 316 394 287 408 261 417 224 424 182 426 154 423 119 415 87 403 58 385 40 368 24 347 17 328 13 309 16 286 26...
, environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
al issues, naturopathic medicine
Naturopathic medicine
Naturopathy, or Naturopathic Medicine, is a form of alternative medicine based on a belief in vitalism, which posits that a special energy called vital energy or vital force guides bodily processes such as metabolism, reproduction, growth, and adaptation...
, cannabis advocacy
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
, humanure composting and benefits of shifting to a high plant-based, mostly raw vegan diet
Raw veganism
Raw veganism is a diet that combines veganism and raw foodism. It excludes all food of animal origin, and all food cooked above 48 degrees Celsius . A raw vegan diet includes raw vegetables and fruits, nuts and nut pastes, grain and legume sprouts, seeds, plant oils, sea vegetables, herbs, and...
.
Family
Born in Seattle and raised on Mercer Island, Washington, an affluent part of the Puget SoundPuget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
region. His mother was a private piano teacher and his father was a cryptographer
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
stationed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in the US Military during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. He has one older sister and one older brother.
Ancestry
Daniel's family traces its roots back to Germany, SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and other Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries. He is the 1st cousin
Cousin
In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term . The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of...
, 10 times removed of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
through his 10th great grandmother Mary Montague.
Education
He graduated from Mercer Island High SchoolMercer Island High School
Mercer Island High School is a public high school located in Mercer Island, Washington in the U.S., as part of the Mercer Island School District....
in 1992, Bellevue Community College (now Bellevue College), The Vancouver Film School
Vancouver Film School
Vancouver Film School is a private entertainment arts school located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1987, it has achieved international recognition. The Vancouver Film School has campus locations around Downtown Vancouver and comprises six buildings...
in 1998 with a certificate degree in 3D Animation and Digital Effects as well as The University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in 2000 with a B.F.A. degree in Fine Art (Photography) and Art (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts). At the UW he was active in the Laboratory for Animation Arts (LA2), Studio for Media Arts Research and Technologies Laboratory (SMART), Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities (CARTAH) and the School of Music Computer Center (SMCC), programs which were later merged into the The Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS)
DXARTS
The Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media, or DXARTS, is a program offering BFA and PhD studies in the New Media art at the University of Washington...
program. There he studied with Shawn Brixey
Shawn Brixey
Shawn Alan Brixey is Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Experimental Media, and the Floyd and Delores Jones Endowed Chair for Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle...
, Paul Berger, Ron Carraher, Richard Karpen
Richard Karpen
Richard Karpen is an American composer of electronic and acoustic music. He is also known for developing computer applications for music and composition.- Biography :...
, David H. Salesin, Barbara Mones and Cassidy Curtis.
During his time in college he became interested in international politics and participating in the National Model United Nations
Model United Nations
Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
in 1994 as a representative of Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in the Human Rights Council in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Later he became a Co-coordinator of the Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
Group 94 at the University of Washington. In addition to living in Seattle and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
(1997–1998) he also lived in North Hollywood, Los Angeles for about a year in 2000.
Advocacy
After learning about clothing-optional activities on public lands and reading about The Freedom to be YourselfThe Freedom to be Yourself
The Freedom to be Yourself campaign was founded in 1999 by Vincent Bethell. The group, according to Vincent Bethell is about "the right to be naked in public". The campaign is about non-sexual public nakedness...
(TFTBY) campaign he briefly joined that campaign. In late 2001 and May 2, 2002 he received some brief publicity with activist Terri Sue Webb
Terri Sue Webb
Terri Sue Webb is an activist living in Bend, Oregon, who was one of few activists in the United States active in The Freedom to be Yourself campaign. She has been imprisoned and released multiple times for public nudity. On several occasions, she has remained fully nude while incarcerated, often...
after two short public urban nude TFTBY protests with her in Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and Bend
Bend, Oregon
Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. At the latter protest, he was held in jail overnight after being arrested for disorderly conduct and interference with governmental administration (relating to Webb's trial appointment scheduled for the same day). The charges were later dropped. At that time Johnson became critical of the clothes free movement for failing to activate enough interest and advances in public lands advocacy.
In 2001 he co-founded The Body Freedom Collaborative
Body Freedom Collaborative
The Body Freedom Collaborative is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the integration and acceptance of non-sexual social nudity in a variety of public and private settings...
(BFC) with Mark Storey
Mark Storey
Mark Storey is a board member of the Naturist Action Committee and has testified at anti-nudity legislation hearings all over the United States....
. In 2003 Daniel Johnson helped organize World Naked Bike Ride
World Naked Bike Ride
World Naked Bike Ride is an international clothing-optional bike ride in which participants plan, meet and ride together en masse on human-powered transport , to "deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world."The dress code motto is "Bare as you dare"...
events globally with Conrad Schmidt
Conrad Schmidt
Conrad Schmidt is a social activist, filmmaker and writer living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who is best known for his role in founding the Work Less Party of British Columbia and for creating the internationally known World Naked Bike Ride protest.-Biography:Schmidt was born and raised...
and other ride organizers that began to come forward. In 2005 he founded The Organic Living Party, a progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
political party based on the German Lebensreform
Lebensreform
Lebensreform was a social movement in late 19th-century and early 20th-century Germany and Switzerland that propagated a back-to-nature lifestyle, emphasizing among others health food/raw food/organic food, nudism, sexual liberation, alternative medicine, and religious reform and at the same time...
movement. The party, together with the Work Less Party USA hosted the World Naked Bike Ride Seattle
World Naked Bike Ride Seattle
World Naked Bike Ride Seattle is an umbrella reference for Seattle's collection of local World Naked Bike Ride-affiliated events including WNBR Downtown Seattle , the permaculture-oriented Gardens Everywhere Bike Parade, WNBR Seattle Night Rides, WNBR West Seattle, Seafair Cyclists and Hemp Ride...
, co-founded by Johnson and Schmidt.
In 2006, Johnson founded Naked Pumpkin Run Seattle with the help of his friend Josh whom he knew from his college years living together in the University District. In 2007 and 2009 respectively he founded Hemp Ride and in 2009 co-founded the Gardens Everywhere Bike Parade with permaculture activist Kelda Miller, two affiliated WNBR events designed as stand-alone events.
In Seattle he has helped in focused efforts to push for the development of clothing-optional city beaches. He co-founded two free beach groups in Seattle: the Seattle Free Beach Campaign and Magnuson Beach Bares as well as co-founding Seattle Swims and the NAC Seattle Swims, which is believed to be only the second such indoor swim organized at municipal pools facilities in the USA. In 2006, he came up with the idea of an election time event, which later became the Nude Beaches Yes! national campaign, a collaborative project primarily organized by the Naturist Action Committee
Naturist Action Committee
The Naturist Action Committee is a nine-member volunteer committee that functions as the political adjunct to The Naturist Society , based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...
, with support by BFC as well as other grassroots skinnydipping organizations around the country.
On July 29, 2006 he ran the entire length of the 5K UnitedHealthcare Torchlight Run at Seafair
Seafair
Seafair is a summer festival in Seattle, Washington, USA that encompasses a wide variety of small neighborhood events leading up to several major city-wide celebrations...
(celebrating its 30th anniversary) in Seattle wearing only bodypaint, socks and shoes in an attempt to encourage others to participate in a creatively adorned manner and to jumpstart a related event called the Jaybird Run.
In Spring of 2008, with the help of free beach advocates from around North America, Johnson help organize a community effort to lobby the Seattle Board of Park Commissioners to put pressure on the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation
Seattle Parks and Recreation
Seattle Parks and Recreation is the department of government of the city of Seattle, Washington, responsible for maintaining the city's parks, open space, and community centers.The total area of the properties maintained by the department is over , which makes up approximately 11% of the total...
to look at the issue of creating more opportunities for clothing-optional recreation in Seattle. The plan was called "Citywide Clothing-optional Recreation Plan" and was presented to the Board of Park Commissioners on Thursday, May 8, 2008. This also involved collaborative efforts with the Naturist Action Committee
Naturist Action Committee
The Naturist Action Committee is a nine-member volunteer committee that functions as the political adjunct to The Naturist Society , based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...
to organize a grassroots effort to lobby during the Seattle Parks and Recreation Strategic Action Plan public input process, which resulted in 22 pages of positive support published in the "Seattle Parks and Recreation Strategic Action Plan - Summary of Public Feedback - Phase 2: Public Comment Report"
In November 2008, Seattle Parks and Recreation attempted to propose a rule change banning nudity in all Seattle Parks & Recreation areas, with the exception of indoor rentals at City pools. Daniel led a collaborative effort with the help of the Naturist Action Committee
Naturist Action Committee
The Naturist Action Committee is a nine-member volunteer committee that functions as the political adjunct to The Naturist Society , based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...
to successfully defeat the proposal in the Seattle Board of Park Commissioners meeting on November 13, 2008. The Board not only rejected the proposed ban but also asked the Parks Department to look into creating areas for clothing-optional recreation on Seattle beaches, which was widely seen as a significant move in favor of and in lieu of the lobbying efforts of local skinny dippers and sunbathers.
On February 27, 2009 Johnson was involved in an auto-pedestrian accident in the Seattle Chinatown-International District. The elderly woman who was struck by Johnson later died. Johnson was cited for inattentive driving and fined. Johnson was on his way to "Bicycling: A Sustainable Choice", a presentation by Niels Tørsløv—Director, Traffic Department Technical and Environmental Administration for the City of Copenhagen at Seattle Central Library's Microsoft Auditorium. Around the same time Cascade Bicycle Club
Cascade Bicycle Club
Cascade Bicycle Club is a nonprofit 501 community organization based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest bicycling club in the United States with more than 13,000 members. It is run by unpaid directors, professional staff and volunteers...
was pushing for increased penalties for breaking traffic laws relating to accidents with vulnerable users with their support of Washington SB 5838.
Johnson founded Raw Living Wiki and Naked.Wikia.com. He is the founding member of a collaborative effort known as Viretta Park Repair, a group that, according to its website, "aims to ecologically restore and repair Seattle's Viretta Park while preserving the park's mix of developed and natural areas through collaborative work parties and community building. Utilizing the principles of permaculture, the effort will create a park that serves both as an urban neighborhood escape as well as a destination to remember and celebrate the life of Kurt Cobain and the music of Nirvana with creative memorial installations that reflect both the character of the park and the creativity of the band and the dedication of fans that visit the park". Shortly after the first work party in 2011, he had to distance himself from the group's efforts due to opposition from neighbors regarding a Kurt Cobain memorial and Federal Wages and Hours laws
Fair Labor Standards Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a federal statute of the United States. The FLSA established a national minimum wage, guaranteed 'time-and-a-half' for overtime in certain jobs, and prohibited most employment of minors in "oppressive child labor," a term that is defined in the statute...
.
Religious, philosophical and political views
Johnson grew up with a Christian (Evangelical Covenant Church)Evangelical Covenant Church
The Evangelical Covenant Church is an evangelical Christian denomination of more than 800 congregations and an average worship attendance of 179,000 people in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents. Founded in 1885 by Swedish immigrants, the church is now one of the most...
mother and originally an Assemblies of God Christian
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
father who later became a follower of Meher Baba
Meher Baba
Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....
. Johnson considers himself a neocharismatic Christian aligned with Tierra Nueva, the Jesus Movement/Jesus Freaks, the Toronto Blessing
Toronto Blessing
The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
and Christian leaders and writers such as Bob Ekblad, Francis MacNutt
Francis MacNutt
Francis Scott MacNutt was a leading member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and is an author of books on healing prayer, including Healing, The Healing Reawakening and Deliverance from Evil Spirits....
and Lonnie Frisbee
Lonnie Frisbee
Lonnie Frisbee was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s...
.
While he has embraced some holistic, free-spirited and creative aspects of the new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
(he has enjoyed Vladimir Megre's
Vladimir Megre
Vladimir Megre is a Siberian entrepreneur from Novosibirsk, and founder of the Anastasia/"Ringing Cedars" movement.-Background:...
Anastasia/Ringing Cedars book series) and environmental movement
Environmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
(with an emphasis on permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
), he is a critic of the new age movement
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
, the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, secret societies (Masons, Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
, Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a campground located at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club...
), New World Order; world government
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
(including Codex Alimentarius
Codex Alimentarius
The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety. Its name derives from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus...
), big government (such as the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
, Drug Enforcement Agency, and Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
), and is a proponent of various conspiracy theories aspects which aligns him such people as Alex Jones and Mike Adams (host of Natural News), while rejecting nationalistic, pro-USA viewpoints.
Influenced by Vincent Bethell of The Freedom to be Yourself
The Freedom to be Yourself
The Freedom to be Yourself campaign was founded in 1999 by Vincent Bethell. The group, according to Vincent Bethell is about "the right to be naked in public". The campaign is about non-sexual public nakedness...
, he also often rejects associations with labels. While at first notably rejecting associating by name with nudism and naturism he also rejects being associated with liberalism, libertarianism, right-wing conservatism and the new age movement while exhibiting sympathies with some aspects of those associations, which may make it difficult initially to summarize his beliefs.
External links
- Raw Exuberance Johnson's personal TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
feed. - Raw Exuberance Johnson's business site focusing on living vegan food, social nudity and natural medicine.
- Hugelkultur - Johnson's YouTube channel