From 13 to 17 years old Chris lived in Costa Rica where his passion for surfing burgeoned synchronously with a powerful awakening to real poverty, reckless deforestation and environmental imbalance. There, as a wide-eyed surfing teenager he was also inspired to become an agent of change through exposure to successful community environmental education programs run by Peace Corps volunteers. He returned to the US but soon made his way back to Latin America, spending most of the 1990s in Chile; surfing, studying at Universidad Catolica Valpo and working (probably in that order of priority). Chris now lives in California where he recently finished a post graduate program at Stanford's GSB, handles international responsibilities for a major surf brand and is currently on the Surfrider Foundation's, State of the Beach 2008 advisory panel.

In 2006, Chris produced a landmark awareness/fundraising expedition contributing to WildAid's efforts to save the Galapagos Islands. He authored the subsequent Zero Degrees article for The Surfer's Path depicting the Galapagos exigency as a metaphor for our planet's biosphere. In Chile that same year, he joined Will Henry, Josh Berry, Greenpeace and concerned Chileans in protest against Celco and their pulp mill enviro-atrocities; an experience that lead to lasting friendships and a long-term commitment to help Josh, Will and Save The Waves in their fight to preserve the integrity of our treasured surf spots and surrounding coastal ecosystems.