Phil's mountains are the Santa Catalinas of southern Arizona, and his river is the Santa Cruz. His tūpuna are primarily of Dutch and English descent; he also traces his ancestry to the Turtle Clan of Mohawk Native Americans from the region now known as upstate New York.
Phil's primary areas of specialisation are biochar enterprise development, plus consulting for regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration and carbon remissions reduction, renewable energy and energy conservation. He loves practical instruction, and he also offers IT support to organisations and enterprises with community development, social justice, and/or ecological purposes. He is on the boards of Biochar Network New Zealand, the Australia-New Zealand Biochar Industry Group, and Living Economies Educational Trust. In addition to advising others on how to integrate biochar into their enterprises in his role as Slow Farm co-director, Phil also offers biochar and biochar equipment as products through the company COOLStuff Community.