Peter G. Brown is a professor in the School of Environment, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill University. Before going to McGill, he was Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland’s graduate School of Public Affairs; while at Maryland he founded the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, and the School of Public Policy itself, and also established the School’s Environmental Policy Programs. He is a graduate of Harvard College, and holds a master’s degree in the philosophy of religion from Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia in philosophy. He is the author of Restoring the Public Trust: A Fresh Vision for Progressive Government in America and Ethics, Economics and International Relations: Transparent Sovereignty in the Commonwealth of Life; it is published in North America as The Commonwealth of Life: Economics For a Flourishing Earth. He has edited and contributed to a number of other books and publications.

Brown is involved in conservation efforts in the James Bay and Southern regions of Quebec, as well as in Maryland. He operates tree farms in both locales and is a Certified Quebec Forest Producer, and in 1995 was Tree Farmer of The Year in Garrett County, Maryland. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends.