Having grown up in a small town in central New Jersey, Jonathan attended Boston University, where he studied anthropology and archaeology. He worked for a time on different archaeological digs in New York and Wyoming for the department of agriculture before he was accepted into the Peace Corps Morocco environmental education program, where he taught and assisted local women's associations. Jonathan has returned to New England in 2010 to follow his interests in municipal governance, clean energy, and park and forest national policies. He wants to see a more 'organic' relationship flourish between local communities and the ecosystems with which they interact.