Tag: restoring ecosystems 2014

Richard Teague is Associate Resident Director and Professor of Sustainable Rangeland Management at Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center.  His philosophy is that research and service must provide the linkage that enables managers to base decisions for sustainable land use on the principles of ecosystem function. He uses four key elements to enhance this linkage:…

Ridge Shinn advocates raising beef on a 100% grass diet to change the present model of beef production and distribution in North America, resulting in an ecologically based and economically sustainable system.  Large-scale implementation would lead to improved human health, energy savings, and an increase in carbon sequestration, soil fertility, and biodiversity.  He has developed markets…

Judith Schwartz is a longtime freelance writer and author of several books. Over the last several years she has written about the juncture of economics and the environment for such publications as Time,Time.com, the Christian Science Monitor, Conservation, and the UKGuardian. Most recently she is the author of Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of Restoring…

Vanessa Rule is co-director and lead organizer for Mothers Out Front.  She has been working to address the climate crisis since the fall of 2006, as lead organizer for Somerville Climate Action, as a board member of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, and as co-founder of Better Future Project and 350 Massachusetts.  Her love of people, nature,…

Gary Rucinski is co-founder and chairman of the Committee for a Green Economy, and is Northeast Regional Coordinator of the Citizens Climate Lobby, a grassroots nonpartisan nonprofit building the political will for a sustainable climate. Since founding CCL’s Boston chapter in 2010, Gary has become the local organization’s primary spokesperson advocating for a national tax on carbon that would…

Ethan Roland is an international expert on regenerative agriculture and permaculture design. He is the lead organizer of the 2015 Carbon Farming Course, and is launching Regenerative Real Estate LLC to transform large areas of degraded land into economically & ecologically profitable farms. Ethan is the President of the Apios Institute for Regenerative Perennial Agriculture, the founder…

Greg Retallack is an award-winning paleobotanist at the University of Oregon, where he has been on the faculty since 1981.  His research group is dedicated to the proposition that soils have a fossil record, like other living things. Past studies have considered the role of soils in ape and human evolution in Kenya, grassland evolution in North America, dinosaur…

Precious Phiri is a Senior Facilitator at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe.  Precious directs training for villages in the Hwange Communal Lands region that are implementing restorative grazing programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management. This helps rural communities in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security. This nature-based…

Charlotte O’Brien, President and CEO, Carbon Drawdown Solutions, is an entrepreneur, pyrolysis and biomass expert who has worked for years with many varieties of bamboo, a plant that improves soils and water cycles, expands habitats for many other species, and may be harvested sustainably for uses ranging from construction to food to biochar, a soil supplement.…

Tom Newmark has spent fourteen years in the natural vitamin and supplement industry, building New Chapter into the number one company in the industry. Tom is also the founder of Sacred Seeds and co-owner of Finca Luna Nueva, an organic farming operation in Costa Rica that administers tropical farming systems trials, collaborating with the Rodale Institute…

William Moomaw is Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and founding director of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, the Tufts Climate Initiative and co-founder of the Global Development and Environment Institute. A physical chemist with a PhD from MIT, he works to translate science and technology into policy…

Hugh McLaughlin has a BS in Chemistry (Harvey Mudd College, 1976) in addition to an MS (USC, 1978) and PhD in Chemical Engineering (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1988).  He is an expert in biochar and activated carbon and is a leader in the rapidly developing field of biochar, the precursor to all activated carbon products.  He has developed proprietary…

Mark Leighton is senior advisor in the Sustainability and Environmental Management Program at Harvard Extension School.  He joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 in the department of biological anthropology, having received his PhD from the University of California, Davis focusing on rainforest ecology. Since then he has studied topics in rainforest community ecology, vertebrate behavioral ecology,…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine”…

Larry Kopald has been a communications and branding professional for over twenty-five years, working at some of the world’s top advertising agencies. He has overseen the advertising for brands ranging from McDonalds to American Express to Honda, and has helped launch multibillion-dollar brands like Acura, Oracle, and Huggies. Larry has also been a lifelong environmentalist…

Dan Kittredge is a life-long farmer and founder of the Bionutrient Food Association.  He launched The Real Food Campaign (RFC) in 2008, to empower and educate farmers towards the production of quality food for the improvement of human health. In 2008 and 2009 RFC made major strides in developing a cohesive local, national and global vision, and networked nationally…

Seth Itzkan is a futurist and founder of Planet-TECH Associates in Somerville, Massachusetts.  Planet-TECH has twenty years of experience consulting for clients in energy, urban development, youth empowerment, and futures preparedness. His other company, Charles River Web, develops Open Source web applications.  His personal advocacy is climate mitigation through HM grasslands restoration.  He has spent months…

Eli Gerzon is State Divestment Organizer at Better Future Project/350 Massachusetts. His work focuses on divesting the state pension fund from fossil fuels through grassroots organizing. Before this, he ran an ultra-low-carbon landscaping business on his bicycle for 11 years. Much of his life has focused on world travel and he founded Worldschool Travel Tours for teens…

Candace Ducheneaux, Hohwoju Lakota elder and long-time activist from the Cheyenne River homelands, is dedicated to preserving the Lakota way of life and the environmental integrity of our sacred mother earth. She has been at the frontlines in many grassroots battles for justice for the Lakota Oyate and against the destructive human forces threatening the existence of…

Diana Donlon is the Director of the Center for Food Safety’s Cool Foods Campaign. which offers hope on climate by empowering the public to make the critical connection between everyday food choices and climate change.  Before coming to work for CFS, Diana worked for a variety of family foundations supporting youth and sustainable agriculture programs.  She is the Board Secretary of…

Antje Danielson is the Administrative Director at the Tufts Institute of the Environment and the graduate interdisciplinary “Water: Systems, Science and Society” (WSSS) program. She came to Tufts from Durham University (UK), where she served as the Deputy Director for Sustainability, in May 2008. Previously, she worked with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative.  A long-time resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Antje also co-founded the innovative car-sharing company Zipcar. She holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Free University,…

Ronnie Cummins is founder and Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a non-profit, U.S.-based network of 850,000 consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and sustainable system of agriculture and commerce.  He has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in human rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear, labor,…

Dorn Cox is the director for GreenStart, and a farmer working the 250-acre family farm in Lee, New Hampshire.  He has designed and constructed systems for small-scale grain and oil seeds processing and biofuel production, worked to select effective cover crops, grains and oilseed for food and energy production, and has developed no-till and low-till equipment to reduce…

Veronika Miranda Chase is an Environmental Policy Researcher, particularly interested in issues of sustainable development, climate change and the Water-Food-Energy Nexus. She has participated in projects related to climate mitigation and adaptation in developed countries, and has also worked in developing countries with poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods initiatives. She holds a Bachelors in International Relations…

John E. Carroll is professor of environmental conservation in the Department of Natural Resources. In three decades at UNH, he has taught and done research on national and international environmental policy, diplomacy, ethics, and values as they pertain to sustainable agriculture and food systems. His recent books include Sustainability and Spirituality, and The Wisdom of Small Farms…

Steven I. Apfelbaum is principal ecologist and chairman at Applied Ecological Services of Brodhead, Wisconsin.  He has conducted ecological research, designed award-winning projects, successfully navigated regulatory programs, and contributed his unique creative scientific expertise and enthusiasm to over 1,500 projects throughout North America and beyond. He is one of the leading ecological consultants in the U.S., providing technical restoration…