While finishing his degree in filmmaking, Glenn co-produced with Randy Hayes and Toby McLeod the award-winning Four Corners: A National Sacrifice Area?
After visiting the Amazon, he and his first wife Monti Aguirre made a documentary film: Amazonia: Voices of the Rainforest.
In 1994 he joined International Rivers and moved to Brazil with his second wife Selma Barros de Oliveira.
Glenn Switkes was born in New York City to working class parents and had one brother, Daniel.
He was a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees and the music of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan.