James John Bell
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James John Bell is currently an award winning advocacy advertising writer and producer for print, television, radio and the web for the non-profit communications firm smartMeme that he co-founded in 2003. His clients include national nonprofits, like Greenpeace and the Breast Cancer Fund, as well as local grassroots organizations. James manages smartMeme's Northwest office located in Skokomish Nation, Washington. Other smartMeme offices are located in Burlington on the east coast, San Francisco on the west coast, and Chicago in the midwest.
An avid gamer, hacker and writer, James writes regularly for progressive 'zines, tech journals, and science publications. BenBella Books published his afterword to the environmental science fiction classic The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner. His other writings on science fiction and anarchist revolutionary strategy can be found in the book Pie Any Means Necessary - The Biotic Baking Brigade Cookbook. He recently authored a chapter titled "Underworld of Warcraft" for the new book The Battle for Azeroth: Adventure, Alliance, and Addiction in the World of Warcraft which hits bookstores in July, 2006.
James has been a professional in the environmental movement since 1992. He has participated in many environmental victories from working on direct action campaigns that got the US to adopt nuclear test moratorium legislation in 1992 to developing communications strategies and political advertising that helped Rural Vermont usher in the first biotechnology labeling law in the United States in 2004 (Farmers’ Right to Know Genetically Engineered Seed Labeling and Registration Act).
After getting his BS in Communications from Northern Illinois University he worked as a Technical Director for ABC news. In 1992 he left a career in television news to live for four years with leaders of the Western Shoshone Nation resisting the U.S. federal government and multinational gold mining companies over issues of sovereignty. He brought international attention to the Western Shoshone land rights struggle through creative media strategies and award wining videos.
In 1996 he founded CounterMedia in Chicago to provide alternative media coverage of the Democratic National Convention. Over a hundred volunteers harnessed emerging digital technologies to link grassroots media entities and progressive organizations from around the world, laying the foundation for the Indy Media Center and today's global independent media movement.
James was a writer/director and network administrator at the non-profit public interest communications firm Sustain based in Chicago from 2000 to 2003. He managed advertising and public relations campaigns for critical environmental issues such as biotechnology, energy, land use, and transportation for clients including the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network, Earthjustice, Friends of the Earth, and the Center For Food Safety among others. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and Communication Arts.
He has written extensively on the phenomena of the technological singularity. See his Futurist magazine cover story "Exploring the Singularity" (May, 2003) for a cautionary environmentalist perspective on technological convergence and NBIC technologies.
Being a lifelong student of philosophy and science he launched LastWizards.com in March 2002. The Last Wizards explores and connects the eclectic mix of emerging science, postmodern media, hermetic magic, occult philosophy, and social change theory. A collection of his published writings can be found in The Book of Green Shadows.
