Confirmed speakers and presenters appearing at Eco Metropolis 2005

(as of 11/02)

 

Michael Ableman (www.fairviewgardens.org) is a farmer, educator, founder and Executive Director of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens, CA, (where he farmed from 1981 –2001), and the author/photographer of From the Good Earth , On Good Land , and Fields of Plenty: A farmer’s journey in search of real food and the people who grow it . Ableman, the subject of the award-winning PBS national broadcast “Beyond Organic” (narrated by Meryl Streep), is currently farming on an island in British Columbia with his wife and two sons and heading up a campaign to cleanup the local pulp and paper industry.

 

Rev. Patricia Ackerman, an Episcopal Priest and psychotherapist, is a program coordinator at Garrison Institute (www.garrisoninstitute.org) in the area of religion and the environment. Rev. Ackerman has a long history of interfaith social justice work in the NGO and church communities. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary, where she received the Julius T. Hansen Memorial Award for community-based, social change work, she has been a senior consultant for conflict prevention for the Episcopal Diocese of NY and is a community mediator.

 

Robert Alpern, with the Nature Network Task Force, is an attorney who recently spent 12 years on staff at the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. He is a long-term activist in the public interest community, concentrating on water infrastructure, especially water supply and wastewater management. Before that, he worked at Citizens Union as head of that organization’s water supply project.

 

Tom Alworth is the Executive Director of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development (www.catskillcenter.org), which encourages economic growth consistent with conservation values and the protection of the cultural heritage of the region and works to build a strong constituency for the protection of the irreplaceable human and natural resources throughout the Catskills.

Al Appleton is a Senior Fellow of the Regional Plan Association and a Senior Fellow for the CUNY Institute for Urban System. He was the former Commissioner for Environmental Protection of NYC under Mayor David Dinkins.

 Roy Arezzo is the Chair of the Science Department of The New York Harbor School(www.newyorkharborschool.org) and has probably done more bicycling, rowing and canoeing together than anyone in the city.

 

Murad Awawdeh, 18, joined the Sunset Park, Brooklyn, activist group UPROSE (which tackles youth justice issues in their community, i.e. police brutality, racism, sexual harassment, school drop out rates and pollution, www.UPROSE.org) six years ago because he and most of his family suffer from asthma, and he wanted to do something about it. He and other UPROSE youth organizers fought hard to keep a new power plant from being built on the neighborhood’s waterfront.

 

Robert Bangiola, Deputy Director of Materials for the Arts (MFTA, www.MFTA.org), a reuse program of NYC's Department of Cultural Affairs, has managed numerous creative partnerships aimed at reducing waste and effectively managing reusable resources. Robert is representing the Reuse Alliance (www.reusealliance.net)-a support network of and for NYC's re-use organizations. MFTA is one of RA's founding organizations and a strong ally in RA's efforts to unite NYC's re-use community.

Brent Baker , the CEO of Tri-State Biodiesel LLC (www.tristatebiodiesel.com), is an environmental and social advocate who has been actively promoting biodiesel for over 10 years. As director of the non-profit organization, Biotour.org, Brent has traveled across the U.S. in his vegetable oil powered bus with a solar-powered sound-system, educating thousands of Americans on the benefits of renewable fuels and sustainable energy. As founder and CEO of Tri-State Biodiesel, Brent is pioneering an urban, recycled oil based biodiesel production plan and preparing to build a biodiesel refinery in Brooklyn , which will use waste restaurant grease to supply our region with clean, renewable, bio-diesel fuel.

 

Ludger Balan is the Executive Environmental Program Director of Urban Divers (www.urbandivers.org), a non-profit grassroots environmental organization comprised of volunteer scientific divers, waterway stewards and citizen monitors committed to active participation in the public education, restoration, conservation, and protection of our rivers, oceans, and marine wildlife, with a special focus on restoration of the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary.

 

Brandon Ballengée is an artist who explores the boundaries between art, science and technology, collaborating with numerous scientists in biological research and advanced imaging procedures. His works have been exhibited in New York , Los Angeles , Beijing , Vienna , London and other cities. He regularly conducts ecology/ field biology/ genetics and digital imaging workshops at urban parks, zoos, pet stores and fish markets. In 2003 he was an artist in residence at the Natural History Museum in London . Recent solo exhibitions of his work were in NYC were held at Wave Hill, The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning and Archibald Arts. Ballengée serves on the board of directors for the Peoples Museum of New York and NurtureArt Non-Profit, Inc. (www.nurtureart.org)

 Mary Barknecht organizes groups and conducts workshops on voluntary simplicity (VS) in NYC. A long-time environmental activist, she works with many grassroots, community-based initiatives for sustainable living in NYC, speaks and writes about voluntary simplicity and related issues and publishes a VS newsletter.

 

Nancy Barthold is Assistant Commissioner of Capital with the NYC Parks Department(www.nycgovparks.org).

 

Hilary Baum, one of our region’s leading experts and activists on sustainable food issues, is the Director of the Baum Forum (www.baumforum.org), which presents programs and conferences on food and farming issues; an adviser to the Community, Food and Agriculture Program at Cornell University; and the co-author of Public Markets and Community Revitalization .

 Mark Becker is a researcher at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University (www.ciesin.columbia.edu).

 

David Bergman is the principal of David Bergman Architect (www.cyberg.com), an architecture and interiors firm, and founder of Fire & Water®, a furniture and lighting design/manufacturing company specializing in sustainably designed products. His work has been widely published, and he is also an instructor at Parsons School of Design where he creates and teaches sustainable design courses in the Product Design, Interior Design and Design + Management departments, and co-developed "Educating the Educators: A Crash Course on Eco Design." David is a LEED® Accredited Professional.

 

Susan Boyle, a former Transportation Alternatives activist, has become famous in NYC design circles for transforming (with her husband Benton Brown) a 14,000 square-foot derelict Brooklyn brewery into an exemplary, pioneering “green” apartment building, complete with solar power, radiant heating, natural ventilation, super efficient appliances, a rain-water collection system, a high-efficiency condensing boiler, and vast expanses of super-insulated, floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

 

Wendy Brawer is a New York-based eco-designer with an artist's background. She is creator of the Green Apple Map and the founding director of the award-winning Green Map System, a local-global collaborative community media network with over 250 locally-led projects in 40 countries, as seen at http://greenmap.org . Wendy has taught, spoken and written on eco-design extensively. She was appointed Designer in Residence at Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 1997 and given the Sea Change award in 2003.

 Jackie Brookner ( www.jackiebrookner.net ), a world-renowned NYC-based ecological artist, writer, and educator, collaborates with ecologists, earth scientists, landscape architects, policy makers, city governments and communities on water remediation/public art projects in the U.S. and abroad. She is the recipient of numerous awards and currently teaches at Parsons School of Design.   

 

Carlton Brown is a pioneering eco-aware developer of moderately priced housing based in Harlem .

 

Harry J. Bubbins is the Founder/Director of www.friendsofbrookpark.org, serves on Community Board #1 in the South Bronx and is a member of Times Up! Harry was born in the Bronx , served as a public school teacher at the intermediate school he attended and has engaged in homesteading and direct action. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and is a graduate of the prestigious... actually he says to drink water and eat greens!

 

Noah Budnick is Projects Director for Transportation Alternatives, NYC’s advocates for bicyclists, pedestrians and sensible transportation (www.transalt.org). He is T.A.’s head bicycle advocate, working for safer streets, access to bridge and greenway paths, more bike lanes and paths, bike racks and secure bike parking and more bicyclist-friendly government policies. Prior to working for Transportation Alternatives, Noah worked for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy as Administrative Director and United Nations Liaison. Noah lives in Brooklyn, where he helped found Greene Acres Community Garden . He had a very serious, potentially life-threatening bike accident investigating poor bicycle access to the Brooklyn Bridge ( ! ) in March 2005, but has recovered and is back at TA, more determined than ever.

David Burg is the President of WildMetro (www.wildmetro.org), an organization dedicated to protecting nature in metropolitan regions around the world. He has worked as a naturalist for many institutions, including Yale University , the Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy.

 

Jeannine Cahill is Hudson River Sloop Clearwater's Onboard Educator and the organizer of its Urban Outreach Internship program. Clearwater , founded in 1969 thanks to the efforts of the legendary Pete Seeger, conducts environmental education, advocacy programs and celebrations to protect the Hudson River , its tributaries and related water bodies, and to create public awareness of the estuary’s complex relationship with the coastal zone (www.clearwater.org).

 

Terri Carta is the Manager of Community Partnerships and Programs for the Central Park Conservancy(www.centralparknyc.org).

 

Mark Caserta , Deputy Director of New Yorkers for Parks, previously served as the New York City Director of Advocacy and Policy for the New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) and as the Director of NYLCV's Waterfront Park Coalition program. Mark is the co-owner (with his wife) of the new eco-friendly store, 3R Living, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, at 276 5th Ave ,(www.3rliving.com).

 

Neil Chambers is the CEO and President of Chambers Design, Inc. which focuses on sustainable and ecological design with projects ranging from city planning to architecture to interiors to products. An architect who has worked his entire career to merge the natural and the built worlds, he is an adjunct professor in green design and environmental policy at NYU’s Gallatin School . Neil is a founder of Green Ground Zero (www.greengroundzero.org) and the primary force in establishing that organization's international presence. He is the host of Built Green TV, a television/webcast series and has advised elected officials on environmental policy and worked to encourage green business and architecture in NYC.

Stephan Chenault has been active on issues of the environment, sustainability, community building, and social justice for many years. He has had leadership positions in several areas in the Sierra Club, where he established several committees and served as Conservation Chair, Wildlife and Wilderness Chair, and Environmental Justice Co-Chair. He also established such organizations as the Coalition for Forests and EcoLobby. In addition, he has worked with a variety of organizations on issues of hunger and homelessness. More recently, he has focused on local sustainable community building by establishing a block association and chairing the Central Brooklyn Chapter of the Neighborhood Energy Network.

 

Atom Cianfarani , a principal in the firm of Gaelyn and Cinfarani ( www.gaelyn.com ), is an entrepreneur and pioneer in the field of socially responsible/eco-aware fashion. Atom launched her first green company in Vancouver BC working with reclaimed wood, moved to NYC in 1999 and started the first ever mainstream fashion house using recycled materials, garnering international attention and acclaim. She works with PETA and the Humane Society to promote animal-friendly fashions and won the first ever Compassion in Fashion Award in 2004. In 2005 she began her Green Consulting business and has been lauded for her work with Habana Outpost in Brooklyn, the first solar powered and one of the “greenest” restaurant-bars in NY ( www.habanaoutpost.com ).

 

Circle of Soul,( www.circleofsoul.org ), is a collective of singers, artists, interfaith ministers and yoginis who come together in song, movement and creativity to honor the Earth. They gather in circle to celebrate seasonal changes and cultural holidays from around the world. They have performed at many venues including Kripalu, The NY Open Center, St John the Divine, Eco Fest, The Clearwater Festival and many of the community gardens in New York City . Circle of Soul has also facilitated workshops for teens, women in shelters, cancer survivors and others and as well, they create private rituals for individuals and groups including baby blessings, weddings, coming of age ceremonies and house blessings.

 

Steve Clemants, one of the leading botanist/biologists and conservationists in our region, is the President of the newly formed tri-state preservation coalition, the Nature Network, Vice President of Science at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden , Co-Director of the Center for Urban Restoration and Co-Editor of the online journal, Urban Habitats ( www.urbanhabitats.org ). He serves on many important state and city task forces and boards involved in preserving the region’s biodiversity.

 

Jaimie P. Cloud is the founder and President of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education in NYC (www.sustainabilityed.org). She teaches and writes extensively and facilitates the collaborative development of instructional programs. The Center has recently launched two secondary school courses: “Business and Entrepreneurship Education for the 21st Century” and “Inventing the Future: Leadership and Participation for the 21 st Century.” A course on Sustainable Development for secondary students in China is in the works. Ms. Cloud serves on the boards or advisory councils of several organizations, including as Chair of the Green Map System and of the Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning.

 

Phillip Coffin is the Director of Education at the New York Restoration Project (www.nyrp.org), founded by Bette Midler in 1995 to reclaim, restore, and develop under-resourced parks, community gardens and open spaces in NYC, primarily in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Philip came to the Restoration Project four years ago from California with a degree in Environmental Education from UC Santa Cruz and has helped create and develop a multifaceted environmental education and recreation program that serves about 1200 Washington Heights, Inwood and Bronx kids every year, offering school programs in aquatic, garden and forest sciences; after-school gardening, hiking, biking, and boatbuilding programs; a high school internship program, summer gardening and aquatic programs, and more.

 

Thomas Congdon is a Policy Analyst with the New York State Attorney General's Office, Environmental Protection Bureau.

Elena Conte is the Solid Waste and Energy Coordinator for the renowned Environmental Justice organization, Sustainable South Bronx,(www.ssbx.org)founded by Majora Carter.

 

Cecil Corbin-Mark is the Program Director of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc. (www.weact.org), a community-based, environmental justice organization dedicated to building community power to fight environmental racism and improve environmental health, protection and policy in communities of color. Cecil is a lifelong Harlem resident, where his family has lived for seven decades and counting. He did his undergraduate work at Hunter College and his graduate work at Oxford University . Mr. Corbin-Mark is an urban environmentalist and an avid biker.

 

Jennifer R Cox is a Geographer at the Regional Plan Association (www.rpa.org). Her research focuses on regional land use, environment, and energy. Jennifer has co-authored several reports including: What happens when we run out of land? A Build-Out Analysis for Nassau & Suffolk Counties , the New York New Jersey Harbor Needs and Opportunities Report , and Nature’s Estuary, The Historic Tidelands of the New York/New Jersey Estuary . Currently a doctoral student at the CUNY Graduate Center ’s Earth and Environmental Sciences Program, she has co-authored several articles including: Mitigation of the heat island effect in urban New Jersey and a chapter in: Green Roofs in the New York Metropolitan Region.

 

Kelly Cox is a communications consultant focused on creating a bridge between environmental and social responsibility and mainstream media. Her experience has included producing events for prominent NYC clubs, helping launch a PR firm and directing the Collage Foundation, a unique youth-oriented environmental non-profit.

 

Carter Craft, one of our region’s leading urban planners specializing in transportation and waterfront issues, is Director of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance (MWA), a bi-state coalition working to optimize waterfront land use and water quality and is the Editor-in-Chief of Waterwire, (www.waterwire.net) MWA's highly influential web-based newsletter. Currently Co-Chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program, Carter sits on the boards and advisory councils of many organizations.

 

Teresa Crimmens is the Environmental Coordinator of the Bronx River Alliance, (www.bronxriver.org) a pioneering organization that serves as a coordinated voice for the Bronx River and seeks to work in harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor and greenway so that they can be healthy ecological, recreational, educational and economic resources for the communities through which the river flows.

 

Jon Crow is an environmental activist, longtime gardener, and the Garden Coordinator at the Brooklyn Bears Community Garden .

Christine Datz-Romero is one of NYC’s pioneers in recycling. She came to NYC from Germany in 1980, and in the late 80s she became involved in community based recycling and co-founded the Lower East Side Ecology Center (www.lesecologycenter.org) with her husband, Clyde Romero. She developed composting and electronic waste recycling programs to supplement the NYC curbside recycling program. Ms. Romero is a graduate from Queens College , where she studied Environmental Biology.

 

Joanne Derwin is the Project Director of Urban Agenda, (www.urbanagenda.org) a joint research and policy initiative of the NYC Central Labor Council and Queens College Labor Resource Center, which is spearheading NYC Apollo, a growing coalition of labor unions, business leaders, environmental justice advocates, and educators convened to optimize energy usage in a way that creates jobs, revitalizes underserved communities, and improves the environment.

 

Jose Felix works with Added Value, ( www.addedvalue.org) a pioneering urban agriculture, education and youth development non-profit enterprise in Red Hook, Brooklyn, that includes raised beds of organic vegetables grown from seed in an on-site greenhouse; a vermi-composting program; and a twice-weekly farmers market staffed and managed by the program’s teen participants. More than 1,000 Red Hook residents have sown and harvested side by side and fifty teens have earned weekly stipends for 18 hours of work in the gardens, the market and the classroom. Jose began as one of those at-risk teens and is now one of the main figures helping Added Value thrive.

 

Mike Feller is the Chief Naturalist of the City of New York Parks and Recreation Department’s Natural Resources Group as well as a widely published nature photographer.

 

David Ferguson is on the board of the Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, which was formed as an alliance of individuals and groups to protect and improve the quality of the waters in the Croton Watershed through regional action, and to provide alternatives to the proposed chemical treatment/filtration plant for Croton waters, because of the disincentive such a plant would have on effective watershed protection and its adverse on neighboring communities.

 

Murray Fisher is the Founder and Program Director of The New York Harbor School, ( www.newyorkharborschool.org) a maritime-theme-based New York City public school. With a life-long passion for water and for education, Murray started the school after three years at Waterkeeper Alliance and one year at Hudson Riverkeeper. He also spent one year working for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Peru and Bolivia studying macaws and monkeys.

Owen Foote, a NY native and local architect and expert in urban planning and zoning who has lived near the Gowanus Canal for sixteen years, has been a catalyst for over 300,000 square-feet of renovation and over 75 million dollars of investment in the Gowanus community, and is a board member and volunteer with the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of New York's estuary ( www.gowanuscanal.org ). Owen also conducts water safety and canoe paddling instruction in New York Harbor and is actively involved with waterfront revival efforts in other neighborhoods of NYC and Newark .

Omar Freilla , raised in the South Bronx and a resident of Hunts Point, was a founding board member and Program Director of Sustainable South Bronx (SSB- www.ssbx.org) and has served as chair of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance. Now a project consultant and board member for SSB, Omar is the founder of the new Green Worker Cooperatives, an organization dedicated to bringing worker-owned and eco-friendly manufacturing jobs to the South Bronx as well as a board member of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Workplaces, a newly formed national federation for worker-owned businesses Omar is also a member of the Dominican-Haitian percussion group, Pa’lo Monte.

 

Medard Gabel has conducted workshops, consulted and given lectures for over 400 corporations, colleges, universities, high schools and organizations throughout the world. Former Executive Director of the World Game Institute, a UN-affiliated NGO, he worked with Buckminster Fuller for 12 years and is currently the CEO of BigPictureSmallWorld (www.bigpicturesmallworld.com) and BigPicture Consulting. He has authored five books on global environmental issues.

 

Ken Gale is a long-time environmental activist, freelance writer and WBAI radio show host. With a backround in science, he has studied energy issues for nearly 25 years and was very active in the anti-nuclear movement. Ken also writes for comic strips and comic books, both mainstream and alternative. His radio career at WBAI began in 1991, where he currently is a host and producer for the Comic Book Radio Show and Eco-Logic, WBAI-FM's environmental show (www.WBAI.org).

 

Jean Gardner is Senior Faculty, Department of Architecture, Interior Design and Lighting, Parsons, The New School of Design, and Coordinator of the CUNY (City University of New York) Sustainable Construction Initiative (www.ccny.cuny.edu/cius/sbi.html). The National American Institute of Architects awarded her required course, "Issues and Practices in Architecture and Urbanism,” special recognition in the 2005 National AIA Ecological Literacy in Architectural Education initiative. Gardner originated the Green Stewards Training Program for labor unions funded by the EPA in the NYC region.

 

Joy Garland is the Executive Director of the Stuyvesant Cove Park Association, (www.stuyvesantcove.org) a volunteer citizen’s group which evolved from a successful 20 year struggle to defeat a luxury high rise and preserve open space and public access to the waterfront between 18th and 23rd streets on the East Side. The result has been a stunning park and state-of-the-art eco-learning center that opened in 2002 and that the association helps maintain. The center includes Solar 1, NYC’s first totally solar powered building.

 

Chris Garvin is a Vice-President at Croxton Collaborative Architects (www.croxtonarc.com) where his work focuses on human-centered sustainable design. Chris is the co-chair of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (COTE) and the director of the Abingdon Square Alliance , a community-based non-profit organization in NYC. In addition, he is currently leading an effort to develop affordable green housing in North Carolina , and teaching continuing education seminars on environmental issues and architecture at the Pratt Institute Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.

 

Yigal Gelb prepared a report on the implementation of the clean-development mechanism, an important component of the Kyoto Protocol, for the UN, while getting his Masters from Columbia in environmental science and policy. Upon graduation in 2004 he became NYC Audubon’s (www.nycaudubon.org) first Program Director and helped expand the scope of its conservation, research, and education programs, emphasizing regional collaborations and scientific research. His projects include the Harbor Herons Project , focusing on the protection of urban colonial wading birds, Project Safe Flight , dedicated to making the urban environment safer for migratory birds, and Lights Out NY , the creation of a glass that is visible to birds, as well as the Natural Areas Initiative which protects the natural areas of the City.

 

Jesse Goldman is on the staff of Make the Road by Walking, (www.maketheroad.org) a grassroots activist organization composed primarily of low-income Latino and African-American residents of Bushwick, Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhoods that fights to promote economic justice and participatory democracy in Bushwick and NYC.

 

Eric Goldstein is a Senior Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council ( www.nrdc.org ) , one of the nation’s leading environmental organizations, headquartered in NYC.

 

Tom Goodridge directs the Garden Project at PS 76, a Harlem elementary school where he previously taught Special Ed for 11 years. Tom helped begin the school's “ Garden Of Love ” that was bulldozed in '98 and now coordinates development of the school's new garden. He is a doctoral student at the Union Institute and University in Ecological Learning. The focus of his research is upon how city children can learn from direct contact with the natural world.

Adam Green is Director of Rocking the Boat, (www.rockingtheboat.org)a traditional wooden boatbuilding, environmental education and youth development program based in the southwest Bronx .

 

Justin Green is the founder of Build it Green (www.bignyc.org), a new, pioneering construction materials salvage and recycling enterprise in Astoria , Queens that has recently been working on joint projects with Habitat for Humanity and the Community Environmental Center .

 

George Haikalis, ASCE, a transportation consultant with very long and broad experience in research and analysis, is the President of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc (IRUM), which focuses on market-based strategies to reduce traffic congestion in NYC and is Chairman of its Auto-Free New York unit (www.auto-free.org), which he founded in 1989 to encourage alternatives to auto dependence for area residents. He served in a variety of positions including Director, Research Division, with the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission for nineteen years where he was the principal author of Maintaining Mobility , the first official regional transportation plan for the NY, NJ, Connecticut metropolitan area . He also served for two years as NYC Transit's Director of Revenue Budget and Fare Analysis, where he established the methodology that led to the MTA's MetroCard program. More recently he has served as a transportation consultant to a number of civic and environmental organizations.

 

Brian Halweil is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, (www.worldwatch.org) one of the world’s leading environmental think tanks. He is the author, most recently, of Eat Here , a seminal book on the local food movement. He lives in Sag Harbor , NY , where he and his wife tend a home orchard and garden.

 

J.P. Harpignies, co-producer/founder of Eco-Metropolis, associate producer of the national Bioneers conference, and a former program director at the New York Open Center and contributing editor to its journal Lapis (www.lapismagazine.org), is a freelance consultant, conference producer and copy-editor/writer. He is the author of two books: Political Ecosystems and Double Helix Hubris ; and the associate editor of: Ecological Medicine and Nature’s Operating Instructions , the first two books in the Bioneers book series. He has been an instructor of Taijiquan in Brooklyn for 22 years.

 

Sara Hobel is responsible for the Urban Park Rangers, a division of the New York City Parks Department (www.parks.nyc.gov) that provides wildlife management, environmental education, outdoor recreation, natural areas restoration, and enforcement in the 28,000 acres of public parkland. Sara directs day-to day operations of twelve in-park nature centers staffed by Urban Park Rangers, spearheads corporate, government and private fundraising efforts and oversees all areas of program development, marketing and promotion, special events, grant administration, compliance, hiring and budget.

 

Joan Hoffman, a professor of Global Economic Development and Crime and Environmental Economics as well as Coordinator of the Economics Division of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has done extensive research on economic development from various perspectives, including its interaction with social stratification, crime, and sustainability. She has recently studied the impact of the city's watershed agreement on the economy of its upstate Catskill/Delaware watershed.

 

Bob Holman is a poet, currently the proprietor of the Bowery Poetry Club (www.bowerypoetry.com) and a visiting professor at Columbia School of the Arts.

 

Joe Holtz is a founding member (in the early 1970s) of the Park Slope Food Coop , (www.foodcoop.com) by many measures the strongest and most successful food cooperative in the country. The Coop has a membership of over 12 000. Joe was the Co-op's first paid employee and is now its General Manager.

 

Pattie Hulse is the Manager of the Children's Garden and Family Programs at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden (www.bbg.org).

 

Lee Ilan is a Senior Environmental Planner at the NYC Office of Environmental Planning.

 

Jane Jackson is the Director of Programming for the New York Restoration Project (www.nyrp.org)

 

Brian Johnson is the Education Officer for the U.S. program of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI- www.bgci.org). He directs the development and implementation of plant conservation education and public awareness programs in the U.S. through BGCI’s network of botanic gardens, zoos, policy makers, schools and other NGOs. BGCI’s U.S. office is based at Brooklyn Botanic Garden . Brian has also directed environmental education programs at the Prospect Park Audubon Center and previously served as senior faculty with the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University , where he taught environmental education and environmental studies courses for undergraduate and graduate students.

Elizabeth Johnson is the Program Director for b-healthy ( www.b-healthy.org) and a restaurant manager, chef and avid lover of food. As a child she watched her mother create delicious dinners for family and friends. Slowly she learned to cook and discovered the art of preparing meals. As an adult Elizabeth fine-tuned her food knowledge while earning her Bachelors Degree in Food and Restaurant Management at New York University . She continued her education at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School for Food and Health. While in attendance she learned about the hazards and helpfulness of food and realized most people are not aware of the effect food has on our bodies and minds. Elizabeth decided to spread the word by teaching and inspiring young people to eat healthily. Elizabeth is also Co-Founder and Co-Director of a healthy Fast Food burger restaurant that will open in New York , offering people an organic, health supportive alternative to fast food.

 

Ruth Katz, one of the founders and initial volunteers of Just Food (www.justfood.org)in 1994, is now its Executive Director. Katz has been in the non-profit sector in a range of direct service and management roles for over fifteen years and spent three years working in Central Africa , where her interest in the connections between agricultural issues, hunger and nutrition developed. Just Food began as an all-volunteer effort of a number of New York City and Northeast food-system leaders to promote a holistic approach to food, hunger and agriculture issues. It envisions a strong regional food system that preserves ecosystems, reduces pollution, promotes social justice, provides education about the environment and invigorates rural and urban economies.

Tim Keating is the co-founder and Executive Director of Rainforest Relief (www.rainforestrelief.org). Since the group's founding in 1989, Rainforest Relief has become a force preventing the logging of rainforests by reducing the demand for imported tropical timber, preventing the use of more tropical wood than any other U.S. group. Tim has a B.S. in Environmental Science and has educated tens of thousands about the connection between consumption and rainforest destruction.

Ethan Kent is a specialist in “placemaking” with the Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org), one of the nation’s leading organizations working on designing and promoting livable, sustainable and healthy urban spaces.

 

Deena Kolbert is presently a Marketing and Outreach Consultant with Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Active in a variety of organizations, she is a volunteer co-host and co-producer of City Watch, heard Wednesday mornings, 10-11 am, on WBAI, 99.5 FM, NYC’s beloved Pacifica , listener-sponsored radio station (www.WBAI.org). She is a member of Pacifica Foundation's National Affiliate Task Force Committee, and has been a long time member of Roxbury Farms - a Community Support Agriculture network. Deena is also a sculptor whose primary mediums are clay and metal.

 

Sam Krevor is the current coordinator for SustainUS (an organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the U.S-www.sustainus.org) in New York City . Sam has been involved with SustainUS for the last 4 years and has attended the last three Commissions on Sustainable Development at the U.N. He is a 2 nd year graduate student at Columbia University in Klaus Lackner's Center for Carbon Management where he works on technologies to mitigate greenhouse gas production as a result of fossil fuel production.

 

Joel Landy is the host/producer of Songs of Freedom (www.singfreedom.org), an award-winning cable television program seen throughout New York City (and the world via the Internet). Joel's background includes a graduate degree in telecommunications and twenty years as a public speaker, corporate trainer, high school teacher and entrepreneur. He is also an activist/singer/songwriter involved with local, national and global issues.

Phoebe Legere is a world-renowned NYC-based performance artist, musician and composer (www.phoebelegere.com).

 

Mary Leou, Ed.D. is the Executive Director of the Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education at NYU (www.education.nyu.edu/wallerstein). She has over 20 years’ of experience in environmental education in NYC and has written and edited numerous educational books and curricula and organized many conferences and symposia for teachers. Formerly Director of Education of the City Parks Foundation, she established the Urban Forest Ecology Center in Van Cortland Park.

 

Amy Lesen, Ph.D., an oceanographer and marine ecologist, Assistant Professor of Biology at the Department of Math and Science of Pratt Institute (www.pratt.edu), teaches Ecology, Marine Biology and the Science of Sustainability. She is a member of Sustainable Pratt, a group of faculty and staff committed to developing cross-disciplinary collaborations between designers, planners, architects, fine artists, scientists and other members of the Pratt and wider NYC communities.

 

David Levine is Director of the Continuing Education & Public Programs at The Graduate Center, CUNY (www.web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp/index.html). He has long been one of the leading figures in the NYC progressive and activist community, including as long-time Executive Director of the Learning Alliance, for many years our city’s leading forum for progressive issues.

 Amy Lipton, who ran a gallery in New York City from 1986 to 1995, is one of the nation’s most important independent curators in the field of “Eco Art.” She is affiliated with Ecoartspace (www.ecoartspace.org), a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise environmental awareness through the arts.

 

Isamar Liz is a youth intern with Recycle a Bicycle (www.recycleabicycle.org).

 

Timothy Logan , the lead organizer of the NYC Zero Waste Campaign, is one of the most accomplished activists working on solid waste and environmental justice issues in our region. He is also a consultant to the Consumer Policy Institute of Consumers Union - the nation's largest consumer organization. Timothy coordinated the GrassRoots Recycling Network's 2nd National Zero Waste Action Conference, held at Pace University  in Spring 2005.

 

David Lutz is the Executive Director of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition/Friends of Gateway. The Neighborhood Open Space Coalition, founded in 1981, is dedicated to improving New York life by expanding and enhancing its infrastructure for public health: parks, waterfronts, community gardens and open spaces, through advocacy, research, education, and planning. For more information- www.treebranch.com.

Mia MacDonald is a Senior Fellow of the WorldWatch Institute ( www.worldwatch.org ) with expertise in international development, gender, and environmentalism. She has written for E Magazine, the Ecologist, and the New Internationalist, has taught a class on human rights at Columbia University and has worked for several UN agencies, Friends of the Earth, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

 

Paul S. Mankiewicz, Ph.D., the Executive Director of The Gaia Institute (whose mission is to couple ecological engineering and restoration with the integration of human communities in natural systems- www.gaia-inst.org) , is a pioneering figure in eco-design, with substantial experience enhancing, remediating/restoring and constructing wetland and terrestrial ecosystems. Beyond nearly twenty years of teaching and research experience at the City University , Columbia , the New School and Pratt, Paul has developed a number of novel fluid purification and measurement technologies and served as a consultant on issues of heavy metal and hydrocarbon contaminants in urban soils and estuaries. He is a former chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Board of the Bronx and Treasurer of the Soil and Water Conservation District Board of NYC.

 

Kristin Marcell currently works for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Hudson River Estuary Program (www.dec.state.ny.us/website/hudson/hrep.html), a unique regional partnership designed to restore and conserve the Hudson River . Kristin manages several projects for the Program including the monitoring and evaluation of its effectiveness. Kristin, who has a Master’s in Urban and Environmental Policy, spent four years as a field researcher in Alaska, Hawaii, and the islands off Cape Cod on a variety of projects including monitoring migratory bird populations and documenting the evolutionary ecology of the three-spine stickleback (a fish).

 

Ian Marvy is a co-founder of the pioneering urban farming, community building, education and youth development venture in Red Hook, Brooklyn , Added Value(www.added-value.org).

Alex Matthiessen, the Executive Director of Riverkeeper, previously served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Interior under Bruce Babbitt, where he conceived and developed the Green Energy Parks initiative which promotes clean and sustainable energy use throughout the national park system, receiving a Presidential Award for his work. Matthiessen also spent a year in Indonesia as a Macroeconomic Policy Analyst for the Harvard Institute for International Development and a summer working at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Earlier in his career, he served as the Grassroots Program Director for the Rainforest Action Network. Matthiessen has a Masters of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and has a backround in Biology and Environmental Studies.

 

Leslie McEachern is the owner of the renowned, award-winning vegan restaurant, Angelica Kitchen ( www.angelicakitchen.com ), in lower Manhattan , and a pioneer in using locally grown produce from small regional farmers. She is the author of The Angelica Home Kitchen .

 

Franc Menusan, of Creek-Metis ancestry, is a professor of American Indian studies at the Gallatin School at NYU, a storyteller, artist and writer, and a multi-instrumental musical virtuoso (flutes, sitar, rabab, tambour, didgeridoo, many percussion instruments, etc) who has worked on many film scores.

 

Frank Millero, currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Industrial Design Department at Pratt and a member of “Sustainable Pratt,” also has a backround in cell biology and spent ten years at the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco developing biology-based exhibits and programs.

 

Bob Muldoon, is an Associate Regional Representative of the national office of The Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org).

 

Shannon Murphy, an artist of "social sculpture" (a term coined by Joseph Beuys), based in political involvement, environmental concerns, and performance, has backrounds in dance, painting and sculpture and also studied English literature, bible, medieval mystical texts and public policy for the arts at Duke University. In 2002 she experienced a calling and subsequent conversion and is currently working to revitalize a former farm and monastery in the city of Beacon , NY. 

 

Aaron Naparstek (www.naparstek.com) is a journalist, author and community advocate. He is the author of Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage, a humorous book of haiku poetry inspired by NYC traffic congestion. He served as a project coordinator for Transportation Alternatives, organizing and working on a number of campaigns including Car-Free Prospect Park and the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project. He is co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group. Naparstek, a graduate of Columbia University ’s School of Journalism , lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his wife Joanne and son Arlo.

 

Jon Orcutt, one of our region’s most accomplished transportation activists and experts, is the Executive Director (and a founding board member) of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (www.tstc.org)as well as the editor and founder of the Campaign's acclaimed weekly bulletin, Mobilizing the Region . He is a former Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives (1989 to 1994).

 

Karen Overton is the founder and Executive Director of Recycle-A-Bicycle (www.recycleabicycle.org), an organization dedicated to providing environmental education and job training to NYC youth since 1994. She has a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from SUNY-Albany, where she became interested in bicycle planning. Previously she worked for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy as “Bikes for Africa” Director, and ran a bike shop and credit fund for women small farmers in Africa .

 

Ryan Palmer is an Environmental Associate for Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (www.clearwater.org), a non-profit environmental education and advocacy group based in Poughkeepsie , NY . His work is focused on coordinating the Hudson River Watershed Alliance, a regional watershed protection coalition of environmental groups, agencies, citizen groups and others, as well as actively promoting local citizen-based watershed protection groups throughout the Hudson River watershed. (In his spare time he likes to take care of little baby raccoons and squirrels.)

 

Alexis F. Perrotta is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Regional Plan Association ( www.rpa.org ) whose research focuses on transportation finance, housing and demographics. She has authored and co-authored several reports since joining RPA including: An Exploration of Motor Vehicle Congestion Pricing in New York , and Out of Balance: The Housing Crisis from Regional Perspective . She also contributes articles to RPA's newsletter, Spotlight on the Region . Ms.Perrotta previously worked as a housing developer and advocate at Women In Need, Inc., an NYC homeless services provider and is a founding board member of Housing Plus Solutions, a community-based non-profit organization whose mission is to provide housing and services for formerly incarcerated women with children.

 

Glenn Phillips is the Vice President of Education for Prospect Park and the Center Director for the Prospect Park Audubon Center (www.prospectparkaudubon.org), a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to wildlife preservation and natural education, located inside an historic landmark. The result of a trailblazing partnership between the Prospect Park Alliance and Audubon New York, it is the first urban-area Audubon Center in the nation, full of hands-on exhibits and innovative programming for children and adults. Glenn was formerly at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, running programs for families and schools and helping develop the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden , and then at Columbia ’s Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, running adult education programs in conservation biology.

 

Evan T. Pritchard is a descendant of the Miramichi branch of the Alqonquin Micmac people. The author of a wide variety of books, the most recent is, Native American Stories of the Sacred . Evan is the founder of The Center for Algonquin Culture (www.wilkesweb.us/algonquin), and is currently Professor of Native American history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie , NY , where he also teaches philosophy.

 

Gordian Raacke is the Executive Director of Renewable Energy Long Island ( www.renewableenergylongisland.org ), RELI is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization promoting clean, sustainable energy use and generation for Long Island . RELI seeks public participation in energy policy decisions to encourage energy efficiency, use of renewable energy sources, and to protect our environment, economy, and public health.

 

Linda Richards , the Education Director of Clearwater (www.clearwater.org), has been teaching for 25 years and has organized and implemented a wide array of environmental education programs and continues to lead graduate, undergraduate and teacher “in service” courses. She is also a professional singer and musician who performs at numerous events in the Hudson Valley .

 

Wilson Rickerson is with the Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College ( www.bcc.cuny.edu/institutionalDevelopment/cse ).

 

Don Riepe has been the NY Chapter Director and leading tours for the American Littoral Society ( an environmental organization comprised of over 6,000 professional and amateur naturalists with headquarters in Sandy Hook, NJ, that has worked to protect the delicate fabric of life along the shore since 1961- www.alsnyc.org ) for the past 20 years and is now employed as the “Jamaica Bay Guardian”. He recently retired from the National Park Service where he worked as a naturalist and manager of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Don has written many articles on natural history subjects and his photographs have been published in many journals including Scientific American, National Wildlife, Audubon, Defenders, Underwater Naturalist, Parade and The New York Times. He has also taught a course in Wildlife Management at St. John’s University . An avid birder, he also has a keen interest in Lepidoptera (butterflies & moths).

 

Rocking the Boat is a traditional wooden boatbuilding and environmental education program based out of the southwest Bronx . Taking a hands-on and multi-faceted approach to education and youth development, Rocking the Boat runs one of the most dynamic and effective after-school and summer programs in New York City . Its kids build the boats from scratch, row them and use them to revitalize the Bronx River . All participating students are eligible to receive a variety of academic credits at their high schools with their successful completion of the program. Monitoring, guidance, and counseling with an in-house social worker complement technical instruction in the shop and on the River. At Rocking the Boat , though kids build boats, boats also build kids, www.rockingtheboat.org.

 

Alnardo Rodriguez has been a member of Open Road of New York (www.OpenRoadNY.org) since the summer of 1994, when he was just fifteen. He started as a volunteer and worked his way up to park supervisor, park program manager/coordinator and is now Open Road Park ’s Director and Open Road Program Co-director. Open Road of New York develops “participatory design” programs and environments with and for young people that promote community, independence and self-respect. It has created parks, gardens, playgrounds and youth programs that include a daily drop in after-school program, academic and gardening, design, and park-creation classes; citywide mapping and composting programs; and exchange programs, including with Cuba and Mexico .

 

Steve Romalewski is the Director of NYPIRG’s CMAP (Community Mapping Assistance Project- www.oasisnyc.net). With NYPIRG since 1984, Steve has extensive experience as an environmental researcher and advocate and with community mapping concepts and applications. He brought GIS to NYPIRG in 1994 and launched CMAP while completing his graduate studies in urban planning. CMAP provides affordable access to the in-depth data provided by sophisticated computer maps and spatial analysis for nonprofit organizations working on consumer protection, social justice, the environment, and government reform. CMAP has provided mapping services since 1997 to more than 300 organizations.

 

David Rosane is an ornithologist, author, Cornell University Research Associate and CUNY adjunct. Born in Guyana and educated in France he has worked for the past 15 years as a reporter, science writer and research scientist in Europe and South America . He has done extensive fieldwork in the Amazon, and is now teaching in the groundbreaking “The Nature of New York” courses at CUNY and is a Naturalist in Residence for Nurture New York ’s Nature, Inc. His current project “the Nature of New York Green teams”, provides CUNY students with extra-curricular resources in urban ecology and job and internship opportunities in studying the NYC environment (www.groups.yahoo.com/group/GreenTeams ).

 

Matthew Roth is a writer and volunteer organizer with the all-volunteer NYC environmental group, "Time's Up!" (www.times-up.org), which promotes local environmental issues, particularly advocating for greater access and safety for non-polluting transportation such as bicycles. The group has been active for 19 years and has seen an exciting rise in membership over the past few years and an explosive growth in cycling within the city.

 

David Rothenberg is a composer and clarinetist known for his integration of improvisation with the sounds of nature, and a philosopher and writer, author of many books including: Sudden Music: Improvisation, Art, Nature ; Hand's End: Technology and the Limits of Nature ; Is It Painful to Think? Conversations with Arne Naess ; and most recently: Why Do Birds Sing? He has also edited many anthologies, including The Book of Music and Nature and Parliament of Minds and is the editor of MIT Press’ Terra Nova book series. Rothenberg is associate professor of philosophy at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

 

Anne-Marie Runfola, the Education Coordinator for the Bronx River Alliance (www.bronxriver.org), works with schools and community organizations to enable them to use the river as an educational resource through programs such as the Bronx River Classroom and the Bronx River Stewards. Prior to joining the Alliance in September 2003, Anne-Marie worked as a high school teacher and curriculum developer, and as an adult educator/instructional designer. Anne-Marie also served as Executive Committee Member and Fundraising Chair for the Sierra Club, Illinois Chapter, Fox River Group, and was a member of the Fox River monitoring team. By joining the Alliance , Anne-Marie has achieved her goal of fusing several of her passions: education, the environment and community empowerment.

 

Christy Rupp (www.christyrupp.com) is an eco-artist who has studied the impact of economics on the environment for the past 25 years. Her early work was inspired by studies of animal behavior by pioneers such as Konrad Lorenz and Peter Kropotkin (who studied the role of mutual aid in evolution). Her interests have evolved to include issues such as: genetically engineered food, the quality of municipal tap water, and the fast food industrial complex. She lives in NYC and the Catskill Mountains, home of the headwaters of the city’s watershed.

 

Brian Sahd, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Community Development at the New York Restoration Project (NYRP- www.nyrp.org), responsible for administration, management and strategic planning of NYRP's community garden and other open space initiatives. He has a long history of urban activism and as a consultant for numerous not-for-profit organizations including community housing groups and service providing agencies.

 

Steffen Schneider is the Head Farmer for Hawthorne Valley Farm (www.hawthornevalleyfarm.com), one of the nation’s leading biodynamic farms and biodynamic agriculture educational institutions.

 

Basil Seggos is a Legal Investigator for the environmental group Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper.org). As a student clinician at the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, he won a landmark decision in a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit against New York City for polluting a trout stream in the Catskills. He also represented the Waterkeeper Alliance in a series of lawsuits against the hog industry in North Carolina and helped conduct the first annual symposium on sustainable hog farming. A former research associate at the Natural Resources Defense focusing on urban issues of solid waste, recycling and watershed protection, he also served as a law clerk in the President's Council on Environmental Quality in the White House.

 

Anushka Shenoy is a sophomore at Columbia University studying economics and mathematics. She attended the 13th Conference on Sustainable Development at the UN in New York City last year as a delegate for the Agents of Change program of SustainUS (an organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the U.S-www.sustainus.org). She has since become the National Co-coordinator of this program and is a member of the steering committee of SustainUS and a member of its New York City geocluster.

Peggy Shepard , Executive Director and co-founder (in 1988) of West Harlem Environmental Action, Inc (WE ACT- www.weact.org), NY’s first environmental justice (EJ) organization, is one of the nation’s leading figures in the EJ movement and has won countless awards, including the prestigious Heinz Award For the Environment. Peggy is co-chair of the Northeast Environmental Justice Network and sits on many boards, including the national and NYS Leagues of Conservation Voters, Environmental Defense, NY Earth Day, Citizen Action of NY, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, and Healthy Schools Network, Inc. She also advises the Bellevue Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic, the Harlem Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Mt. Sinai’s Children’s Environmental Health Center.

 

Bill Shore , founding Acting Chair of the Nature Network, is a Senior Fellow at the City University of New York’s Institute for Urban Systems. Bill previously worked for 35 years as a senior staff person at the Regional Plan Association.

 

Mark Spellun , MBA, is the founder of PLENTY (www.plentymag.com), an eco-lifestyle magazine focused on new paradigms in “green” culture and technology. Spellun’s past jobs include stints as a Senior Editor at the Economist Group, as a policy analyst on trade for the U.S. Federal Government, and as an international economic consultant with a primary focus on the automotive industry.

 

Mike Steffens , a father of 5 (and adopting 3 more!), works for the FDNY by night and is an environmental educator and site manager of the Gateway Greenhouse Education Center at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn ( www.treebranch.com/FoG_Gateway_Greenhse.htm ) by day. The Gateway Center has worked with thousands of kids and disabled adults in its 5-year history, propagates thousands of trees a year and emphasizes connections communities have to the bay.

 

Edie Stone is the Director of Green Thumb (www.greenthumbnyc.org), the largest community gardening program in the country, helping support over 600 community gardens in NYC, serving 20,000 city residents. All GreenThumb gardens offer public programs that improve quality of life for residents of all ages, creating a stabilizing force in communities while making the city safer, healthier and cleaner.

 

Lois Sturm is with the New York Neighborhood Energy Network (www.neighborhoodenergynetwork.org).

 

SustainUS (www.sustainus.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States through proactive education and advocacy at the policy-making and grassroots levels. SustainUS is organized into national campaigns and regional Geoclusters. The national campaigns work directly with the U.S. Government, the United Nations, and international youth. The regional Geoclusters ensure that all of the members are in touch with sustainability activities happening on a local level.

 

Samara F. Swanston , Esq, has over 20 years’ experience as an environmental attorney and environmental justice activist. A former award-winning EPA Superfund attorney and then NY State DEC superfund manager, she is Executive Director of the Greenpoint/Williamsburg Watchperson Project, an administrative law judge with the NYC Environmental Control Board, state chair of the Sierra Club Environmental Justice Committee, and a visiting professor at Pratt’s School of Urban Planning and the Environment.

 

Susan Szensay is the Editor-in-Chief of Metropolis Magazine (www.metropolismag.com).

 

Elizabeth Thompson, Executive Director of the Buckminster Fuller Institute (now based in Brooklyn , NY- www.bfi.org) and co-founder of the PlaNetwork Conference (http://www.planetwork.net), has a long and varied professional history in the world of art.

 

John Todd , Ph.D., (www.oceanarks.org), a world-famous eco-design visionary/biologist, has won countless awards for his simulated ecosystems that purify sewage and wastewater, now built in eight countries.  President of Ocean Arks International; research professor and distinguished lecturer at The University of Vermont; senior partner, John Todd Research & Design, Inc.; co-founder in 1969 of the New Alchemy Institute; and co-author of The Village as Solar Ecology; Tomorrow is our Permanent Address and From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design ; he is currently working on developing an eco-industrial park for the City of Burlington, VT, and on watershed restoration projects in Vermont and Costa Rica.

 

Nancy Jack Todd is an environmental writer and the editor of Annals of Earth, a publication of Ocean Arks International. (www.oceanarks.org). She was a co-founder of the New Alchemy Institute and edited and published the Journals of the New Alchemists there. With John Todd she is the co-author of From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Precepts of Ecological Design; Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design ; and Tomorrow is Our Permanent Address as well as having contributed to environmental journals and other publications. She lectures at universities and colleges in the US , Canada , and Europe and, with John Todd, has been awarded several prestigious environmental awards. Her latest book is: A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise of Ecological Design.

 

Irene Tung is the Coordinator of Organizing at Make the Road by Walking (ww.maketheroad.org), a membership-based organization in Bushwick, Brooklyn . MRBW's current projects include campaigns to reduce the high levels of asthma in Bushwick and to strengthen the lax housing code enforcement that results in tens of thousands of families living in environmentally hazardous conditions.

 

Roberta Washington, AIA, a LEED certified architect, founded Roberta Washington Architects in 1983 (www.robertawashington.com). Her background includes 12 years working for firms specializing in building health care and institutional facilities in New York and 4 years in Mozambique designing health centers, secondary schools and teachers' colleges. Throughout her career, she has maintained a special interest in hospital and health care facility design. A frequent lecturer at major schools of architecture, she is a registered architect in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, member of the New York State Board of Architecture and past president of the National Organization of Minority Architects.

 

Jason West, elected Mayor of New Paltz in 2003 while in his mid-twenties, gained international attention, initially as part of the first Green Party majority elected in any jurisdiction in New York State , and later for risking criminal prosecution to marry 25 same sex couples. Mayor West's accomplishments in office include financing a solar power array for the Village, the use of natural reed beds to treat sewage and the pursuit of land use policies that combine open space protection and affordable housing construction. He is the author of Dare to Hope: Saving American Democracy and has been the recipient of numerous civil rights awards for his stance on marriage equality.

 

Barry Weinbrom retired in 2002 from the NYC school system after teaching science for the 34 years. He has started his own educational consulting company, ASAP and also works for Green Games, a company that is producing and distributing environmental games that educate and enlighten the world's youth about the importance and effectiveness of taking individual action to solve local and global environmental problems.

 

Paul Steely White is the Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives (www.transalt.org). An internationally known activist, author and lecturer on bicycling, walking and transportation reform with degrees in biology and environmental science, Paul previously served for seven years as Africa Regional Director for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, an international non-profit transportation advocacy group based in New York City .

 

Matt Williamson , MBA, is Director of Renewable Energy ( New York ) at Natsource ( www.natsource.com ), a financial management firm that focuses on adapting business to a world that will require reduced greenhouse gas emissions. He currently leads Natsource's renewable energy brokerage team. Matt previously spent a number of years working for the Office of Air and Radiation at the U.S. EPA in Washington , DC .

 

Elizabeth Yeampierre is the Executive Director of UPROSE (United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park- www.UPROSE.org) dedicated to youth, family and community empowerment in Sunset Park , Brooklyn . UPROSE successfully led the opposition to place two power plants in the area and successfully campaigned against a sludge treatment plant and mobilized residents against lead poisoning. The group organized the first environmental justice conference in Sunset Park and has pushed to replace the Gowanus Expressway, one of the nation's busiest highways, with a tunnel. Neighborhood youth have joined UPROSE and meet regularly to learn about regulatory bodies and community-based planning. They organize community forums, speak at public hearings, and distribute information. In addition to environmental justice work, UPROSE provides educational programs that include counseling, academic support and leadership development.

 

Mike Zamm is the Director of Environmental Education at the Council of the Environment NYC (www.cenyc.org), which was founded in 1970 and is a privately funded citizens' organization in the Office of the Mayor promoting environmental awareness and solutions to environmental problems. Its programs are in 5 main areas: open space/greening; greenmarkets and urban farming; environmental education and waste prevention and recycling; as well as other special projects.

 

Institutions affiliated with speakers at or allies of Eco-Metropolis in 2004 (with many repeating in 2005 as well):

"E" magazine; The Buckminster Fuller Institute; GreenHomeNYC
Green Ground Zero; Gaia Institute; Lapis online; Bowery Poetry Club; Small Planet Fund; Sustainable South Bronx; West Harlem Environmental Action; Environmental Justice Alliance;
Downtown Bronx Eco-Development Corporation; Greenpoint/Williamsburg Watchperson Project; Gowanus Dredgers; Central Labor Council; Municipal Art Society; Neighborhood Open Space Coalition; Green Guerrillas; NY Restoration Project; Brooklyn Bear Community Garden; The Nature Network; Neighborhood Open Space Coalition; Sustainability Education Center; Green Map System; Riverkeeper; Clearwater; Clean Water for the Bronx; Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition; Task Force on Law and Meaning; Just Food; East New York Community CSA; Housing Works
Green Worker Cooperatives; North East Sustainable Energy Association; O2NY; 3R Living; Sustainable Pratt; Pratt Collaboratives; NYPIRG; Central Park Conservancy; Urban Park Rangers; Prospect Park Audubon Center; Lantern Books; Satya magazine; Worldwatch Institute; Student Animal Rights Alliance; In Defense of Animals; The American Prospect; The Nation Institute; Sierra Club; NY League of Conservation Voters; Verdant Power; The V-Terrain Project; Climate Impacts Group at NASA; NYSERDA; Coalition for Forests; EcoLobby; Neighborhood Energy Network; Free Agency; The Baum Forum; Angelica Kitchen; Community Food Resource Center; Aquatic Research and Environmental Assessment Center at Brooklyn College; Transportation Alternatives; b-healthy; Recycle A Bicycle; Time's Up/Critical Mass; Pedicabs of NY; Eco-Logic/WBAI; New York Press; Independent Media Center; Blacked Out Media TV; Manhattan Neighborhood Network