Greening the Community:
Green economy, organic environments and healthy people
The 28th National Pesticide Forum - April 9-10, 2010
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, OH
Registration information
Keynote speakers
David Hackenberg, the beekeeper who first discovered a mysterious disappearance of honeybees now known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Mr. Hackenberg believes that pesticides contribute to CCD and that honeybees are a barometer of the environment. He is featured in
the films Vanishing
of the Bees and Nicotine
Bees, as well as this 60 Minutes segment. Mr. Hackenberg founded Hackenberg Apiaries in 1962 as a high school vo-ag project. Today, he and his son operate approximately 3,000 hives of bees in 5 states for pollination and honey. David has served as president of the American Beekeeping Federation and sits on the National Honey Board.
Melinda Hemmelgarn is a registered dietitian, “investigative” nutritionist, and award-winning journalist, with 30 years’ experience in clinical, academic and public health nutrition. Motivated by escalating childhood obesity rates, she was awarded a W.K. Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellowship which allowed her to connect the dots between food, health and agriculture. Her work today focuses on teaching critical thinking skills and "food system literacy" to find "food truth." Her provocative, practical and personal “Food Sleuth” newspaper columns, magazine articles and radio programs help people "think beyond their plates."
Jeff Moyer, farm manager at the Rodale Institute and former USDA National Organic Standards Board chair, is is an expert in organic farming and gardening. With 30 years at Rodale, he has helped countless farmers make the transition from chemical-based farming to organic methods. The Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial (FST - comparing organic and conventional) shows organic techniques will combat climate change and restore soil fertility. The Rodale Institute has a long history working in creation of the organic gardening movement and methods. Watch video: Organic vs. Conventional and the Organic Solution to Climate Change.
Harvey Wasserman is a journalist, author, democracy activist and environmental advocate. He is author of a dozen books, including SOLARTOPIA! Our Green Powered Earth. Harvey helped found the communal/organic Montague Farm, now home to the Zen Peacemaker Community. He also co-founded the Great Blue Heron Alliance and numerous other grassroots groups which, among other things, shutdown a trash-burning power plant, stopped a regional radioactive waste dump in Ohio, shut a McDonald’s, and saved the city of Bexley’s Jeffrey Park. Read recent entries at the Huffington Post, including this post on what the U.S. must do to go truly green.
Featured speakers
Donita Anderson is executive director of North Union Farmers Market, which operates farmers markets throughout the Greater Cleveland area. North Union Farmers Market champions the local foods of Northeast Ohio and promotes their environmental, economic and health benefits by connecting certified producers with consumers through a network of markets. Donita describes herself as a "self made locavore...driven by a strong inner desire to eat food straight from the glacial till of Ohio's soil." An admirer of the community that once farmed most of the land in Shaker Heights, she named the market "North Union Farmers Market" after the Shakers.
Ruth Berlin founded the Maryland Pesticide Network in 1994. She became a grassroots activist after she and her son were poisoned by pesticides aerially sprayed for fruit fly eradication in Southern California in 1990. Her work on the issue of pesticides and her success at bringing together a diverse coalition of state groups concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health and the environment has been recognized locally and nationally. She was appointed to the Maryland Governor's Pesticide Council in 1997 and served until December 2004. Ruth has been a board member of Beyond Pesticides since 1996.
Shelly Connor is Pesticide-Free Parks Coordinator for the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP). Shelly's work focuses on establishing pesticide-free parks in the Northwest and making organic food available in Northwest schools. Previously, she worked as the associate director for Appalachian Voices, an environmental non-profit based in Boone, NC. In addition, she worked as director of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and served on the Board of Directors for two years. She was the co-founder of the first Montana Farm to College Program at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Caroline
Cox is research director at the Center
for Environmental Health in Oakland, CA. Previously she served as staff
scientist at the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. Prior to working at NCAP, she had nearly ten years experience
as a senior research assistant at Oregon State University where she conducted
research on the biological control of agricultural weeds. Caroline
serves as a public interest representative to the U.S. EPA's Pesticide
Program Dialogue Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors
of Beyond Pesticides. She writes and speaks regularly as a national expert
on the toxicity of and alternatives to pesticides.
Dorr Dearborn, MD, PhD is chairman of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, director of the Swetland Center for Environmental Health and professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University Medical School in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Dearborn is an expert in the fields of environmental health, environmental mycology, pulmonary hemosiderosis and toxicology. The Swetland Center brings a new emphasis to environmental health at hospitals throughout Greater Cleveland. The current major focus of the Center is on the environmental health problems of the Cleveland community especially related to toxic exposures of children and their families.
Jay
Feldman,
executive director of Beyond Pesticides, is
a co-founder of the organization and has served as its director since
1981. Jay dedicated himself to finding solutions to pesticide problems
after working with farmworkers and small farmers through an EPA grant
in 1978 to the organization Rural America (1977-1981).
Since that time, Jay has helped to build Beyond Pesticides' capacity to
assist local groups and impact national pesticide policy. He has tracked
specific chemical effects, regulatory actions, and pesticide law. IN September 2009, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed Jay to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).
Sharon Fried directs the joint IPM project of Beyond Pesticides and Maryland Pesticide Network. Sharon has held a variety of both clinical and non-clinical positions in health care since 1980. Most recently, she was the Safety & Sustainability Specialist at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, where she was responsible for management of programs such as Integrated Pest Management, Hazardous Waste Handling and Reduction, Recycling and other Green Team initiatives. Additionally, Sharon maintains a working relationship with a human rights NGO in El Salvador, where she travels regularly for social justice projects.
Nichelle Harriott serves as staff scientist at Beyond Pesticides and coordinates the goup's Triclosan Campaign and technical comments to federal agencies.
With a B.S. in chemistry and environmental science (Morgan State University, 2005) and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy (George Mason University, 2007), Nichelle joined Beyond Pesticides as in 2007, having previously worked with several conservation and public health issues. Nichelle has also worked as a chemistry teaching assistant at GMU and co-authored a technical report on water quality issues in wetland systems.
Shuk-mei Ho, PhD is the chair of the Department of Environmental Health, director of the Center for Environmental Genetics, and co-leader of the Hormonal Malignancies Program in the Joint Cancer Center, at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
An expert in hormonal carcinogenesis, Dr. Ho’s research focuses on the significance of hormones and endocrine disruptors on carcinogenesis in the prostate, ovary, endometrium and mammary gland. Her latest research explores how the "reprogramming" of a gene after excessive exposure to estrogen may be partly responsible for elevated rates of prostate cancer in African American men.
Jan Kasperski is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP). Ms. Kasperski is a Registered Nurse, a Board Certified Health Executive and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Education at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. Ms. Kasperski has over thirty years experience in a variety of healthcare settings, as a clinician, an educator, a researcher and a hospital administrator. In 2009, Ontario, Canada banned the use of over 250 pesticide products (see banned ingredient list) for cosmetic purposes. Ms. Kasperski and OCFP were at the center of making this vision a reality.
Carol Kauscher, nicknamed "D´Bug Lady", started an environmentally-friendly pest management business of the same name in 1993. Formerly employed by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority for six (6) years, she supervised eleven employees in the Pest Control Department. Driven by a desire to help people and the environment, Carol founded the company. Carol believes in her cause and is very active with environmental groups around the country, as well as sponsoring speaking engagements and programs on least toxtic pest control. In 2000, Carol was presented with a Leading Women 2000 Award for Skilled Trades.
Chris Kious is the material recovery partner to A Piece of Cleveland, a business which seeks to preserve the rich history of the city by telling a story and turning unwanted materials into furniture and other products that will increase their value. His latest business venture is Urban Lumberjacks Of Cleveland. Working in community development within Cleveland for 5 years, Kious has seen many perfectly good buildings slated for demolition. Since 2006 Chris has worked at making deconstruction a successful industry in Cleveland. Chris's passion is to build sustainable/green businesses out of the recycling of buildings.
Marc L. Lame, PhD, is a Clinical Professor at Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In 1995 Marc Lame initiated a school Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in Bloomington, Indiana schools to reduce the risks to the school community from pests and pesticides. The “Monroe IPM Model” for schools proved to be sustainable in Bloomington as well as highly transferable. In 2008 Marc was named national training coordinator for an insect and rodent-control program offered by the National Environmental Health Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lani
Malmberg grew up in a cattle ranching family. While in graduate
school studying weed science, Lani got the idea to offer a goat grazing
service for those who did not want to spray chemicals for weed management.
She has grown her business, Ewe4ic
Ecological Services, to 2100 cashmere goats, working for governments
and private landowners for noxious weed control, fire reduction, re-seeding,
watershed management, and land restoration. The company also offers noxious
weed mapping and inventory. Ms. Malmberg owns no land, and considers herself
a ‘gypsy’ goat herders, working in 10 western states.
Theresa McClenaghan is Executive Director and Counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA). She practised in private law firms in Kitchener and Paris from 1985 until joining CELA as counsel from 1998 to 2006. From 2006 to 2007, Theresa was Senior Policy Advisor for water issues to Ontario’s Minister of the Environment. In November 2007, Theresa returned to CELA. Theresa has focussed on environmental law practice since 1988, almost exclusively for public interest advocacy groups, citizens groups and First Nations. Ms. McClenaghan and CELA played a key role in the Ontario cosmetic pesticide ban.
Alec McClennan is Founder and President of Good Nature Organic Lawn Care, a firm specializing in naturally-based, organic fertilization and natural weed suppression for lawns, trees, and shrubs on residential and commercial properties. Good Nature offers a full line of organically-based lawn and tree care services centered around proprietary, feed-grade formulas and processes that require no toxic chemical applications. A Cleveland native, Alec grew up in Bainbridge, Ohio. He earned a degree in Civil Engineering, with specialization in Urban Transportation and Business, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Peter McDermott founded Local Food Cleveland, an action network for everyone who is passionate about growing a thriving local food economy and culture around Cleveland, OH. Mr. McDermott also serves as Network Weaver for Entrepreneurs for Sustainability, a diverse network of over 7000 leaders who are putting the principles of sustainability to work for their businesses and the region. An avid gardener and local food enthusiast, Peter uses his experience in social network development to catalyze new businesses and collaborative projects in the local food industry. Peter is a graduate of Cleveland State University with a B.A. in History.
William Mitsch, PhD is an ecosystem ecologist and ecological engineer who was co-laureate of the 2004 Stockholm Water Prize as a result of a career in wetland ecology and restoration, ecological engineering, and ecological modelling. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Environment and Natural Resources at Ohio State University and director of the University’s Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. Dr. Mitsch played a key role in the development of the field of ecological engineering as an author of the first book on this subject and the founder and editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Ecological Engineering.
Phillip Nabors, co-owner of Mustard Seed Market & Café - the largest locally-owned retailer of natural and organic products in Ohio, is dedicated to serving the consumer of the natural foods industry. Phillip is a veteran in food safety and consumer rights legislation. He was instrumental in helping to get organic legislation passed by Congress in 1990, which required the USDA to develop organic guidelines. Recently, Phillip has been active in lobbying for legislation that would require the labeling of genetically engineered foods, allowing for consumers to recognize a food’s origin and composition and choose accordingly.
Francisco Ollervides is a national organizer with the Waterkeeper Alliance, a network that provides a way for communities to stand up for their right to clean water and for the wise and equitable use of water resources, both locally and globally. Known to most people by his nickname Paco, he connects and supports new and established Waterkeeper programs around the world with strategic planning and technical advice on scientific issues and development plans. Paco was co-founder and the first Board President of Magdalena Baykeeper in 2005. Before joining Waterkeeper Alliance, Paco directed the Center for Coastal Studies in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Chip
Osborne, founder and President of Osborne Organics, has over 10 years experience in creating safe, sustainable and healthy athletic fields and landscapes, and 35 years experience as a professional horticulturist. As a wholesale and retail nurseryman he has first hand experience with the pesticides routinely used in landscape and horticultural industry. Personal experience led him to believe there must be a safer way to grow plants. His personal investigation, study of conventional and organic soil science practices, and hands-on experimentation led him to become one of the country's leading experts on growing sustainable, natural turf.
Warren
Porter, Ph.D. is a professor of Zoology and Environmental
Toxicology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Porter's research has shown that
combinations of commonly used agricultural chemicals in concentrations
that mirror levels found in groundwater can significantly influence immune
and endocrine systems, as well as neurological health in animals. His latest research links pesticide exposure in utero to impaired learning, changes inbrain function and altered thyroid levels. His lab has
also shown lawn chemical mixtures at low-levels increase abortion rates
in lab animals. Dr. Porter is a Beyond Pesticides board member.
Brett
Ramey is the director of the Flagstaff, AZ-based Urban Lifeways
Project within Native
Movement, an organization that supports indigenous leadership development
and sustainability programs. The youth-led project includes building native
food and medicine gardens at schools and in vacant lots, operating a bicycle-powered
restaurant compost program, and facilitating community mural projects.
Brett's family is from NE Kansas.
He is the first generation to grow up in a city away from his mother's
reservation (Ioway). He travels extensively to communities throughout
the world working on food systems and cultural affirmation projects.
Margaret Reeves is Senior Scientist at Pesticide Action Network North America. Before joining PANNA in 1996, Margaret spent most of nine years in Central America, teaching and conducting research in tropical agricultural ecology. She worked with university colleagues and NGOs to improve productivity of low-input ecologically sound agricultural methods. Since the early 1980s, she has worked in support of farm worker rights and has been a member of New World Agriculture and Ecology Group. At PANNA, Margaret focuses on environmental health and justice, particularly farmworker health and safety, and she heads the organophosphates campaign.
Rebecca Reynolds is the owner and president of Green Clean Inc., an environmentally-friendly cleaning service in Cleveland, OH. Ms. Reynolds, who suffered from a rare blood disorder but turned her health around by converting to an organic diet, realized there was a great inconsistency between the organic food she was feeding her family and the toxic chemicals she had been cleaning with. After researching day and night the hazards of common cleaning chemicals and trying to get companies to disclose their ingredients, she founded Green Clean. She now employs over 30 people at a living wage and provides a valuable service to the people of Northeast Ohio.
Lesley Riddle is the Assistant Director of Public Works for the city of Greenbelt, Maryland, which recently adopted a policy to go pesticide-free on all city property. With a Bachelors of Science in Business and graduate studies in sustainable landscape design and environmental studies Ms. Riddle has been able to develop a unique outlook on appropriately administrating both financial and ecological resources thoughout the implementation of the city's organic conversion. She has been instrumental in several stream restorations and implemented a comprehensive study and inventory of the extensive urban tree canopy in Greenbelt.
Rachel
Rosenberg is executive director of Safer Pest Control Project in Chicago, IL. Safer Pest Control Project (SPCP) is dedicated to reducing the health risks and environmental impacts of pesticides and promoting safer alternatives in Illinois. At the center of its efforts is Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a proven
method that emphasizes simple, inexpensive prevention practices that cause
the least harm to people and the planet. For almost 15 years, SPCP has developed
model programs and policies, lobbying, building coalitions, and conducting
outreach, training, and advocacy programs.
Michael Skinner, Ph.D. is a professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University. Dr. Skinner established the Center for Reproductive Biology (CRB), one of the largest reproductive sciences research centers in the world. He also established the Center for Integrated Biotechnology (CIB). His current research has demonstrated the ability of endocrine disruptors to promote transgenerational epigenetic disease phenotypes due to abnormal germ line programming in gonadal development. Dr. Skinner has over 200 peer reviewed publications and has given over 180 invited symposia, plenary lectures and university seminars.
Maurice Small is an urban-gardening consultant, nutrition teacher and market gardener in Cleveland, OH. He served as Cuyahoga County co-director and youth program advisor for CityFresh, a program of the New Agrarian Center to build a more just and sustainable local food system in Northeast Ohio, until March 2009. He travels all across the Northeast Ohio helping inner-city residents grow healthy, organic food. Mr. Small believes that organic boutique farms could revive blighted lots and blighted lives in the most desolate city neighborhoods. VIDEO: Maurice Small takes us through an urban food desert as we learn how possible it is to grow on concrete.
Allen
Spalt is co-founder of the Agricultural Resources Center and
its Pesticide Education Project, now Toxic
Free North Carolina, and currently serves on its board of directors.
Toxic Free NC is a non-profit organization fighting pesticide pollution
in North Carolina by advocating for common-sense alternatives that protect
our health and environment. Allen has also been a member of the Beyond
Pesticides board of directors since 1985. He has testified repeatedly
on pesticide issues, including twice before Congress. Allen was elected
Alderman of the town of Carrboro in 1997. He has been instrumental in
the passage of numerous pesticide reduction measures.
Stefanie Penn Spear is founder and executive director of EcoWatch. She is passionate and committed to educating people about environmental issues and bringing people together to achieve a sustainable world. She is president of Expedite Renewable Energy, a company that helps businesses access their electricity usage, strategize the best renewable energy project for their site and implement the project. She is on the advisory committee for GreenCityBlueLake and Tri-C’s Green Academy and Center for Sustainability, and co-chair for the steering committee for the Advanced Energy Generation for Sustainable Cleveland 2019.
Robina Suwol, Founder & Executive Director of California Safe Schools, a children's environmental health non-profit, achieved national prominence by spearheading the Los Angeles Unified Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Policy,the most stringent pesticide policy in the nation for K-12 public schools-the first to embrace the "Precautionary Principle" and "Right to Know" and then the passage of California's Healthy Schools Act. Today the LA Unified IPM policy serves as an international model for school districts and communities. Robina also serves on the Beyond Pesticides' board of directors.
Lew Tremaine is the Mayor of Fairfax, California. He was elected to the Fairfax Council in 1999.
In 2001, he co-authored Fairfax’s ban on pesticide use in public parks and rights of way and Fairfax’s Neighborhood Notification Law for pesticide use in the community. Lew also co-authored legislation to begin a Community Choice Energy Aggrigation in Marin County, which planted the seed for what is now Marin Clean Energy.
He is a career journalist and publisher and has spent the past 11 years working in the non-profit sector. He has been a member of the Marin County Green Party and the Green Party of California since 1993.
Geri Unger is director of education at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. She manages a staff of 15 including Green Corps, a summer teen work-study program resulting in urban gardens, vegetable growing, harvesting and farmer's markets. She is also responsible for development of after-school programs for science enrichment. In addition, she is the liaison with Cleveland Metropolitan School District's Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics initiative. Previously, she has worked with the Chicago Zoological Society and New England Aquarium. Ms. Unger will be leading the Friday afternoon garden tour. Please RSVP if you would like to attend.
Andrew Watterson was appointed the Chief of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland in September 2009, after a successful career as the Program Director for the City’s Office of Sustainability since May 2005. As chief, he advises the City on policies related to energy, buildings, fleet, purchasing and oversees the Office of Sustainability. In addition, Andrew leads the coordination of Sustainable Cleveland 2019 on behalf of Mayor Jackson. Sustainable Cleveland 2019 is an action plan to create an economic engine to empower a green city on a blue lake. Andrew has also worked in real estate, focusing on historic restoration and green building.
Paul Winchester, M.D. is a professor of clinical pediatrics Indiana University School of Medicine and a neonatologist at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Recent research by Dr. Winchester published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Pædiatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer. The researchers also found that this period of increased risk correlated with increased levels of pesticides in surface water across the country. Past research linked pesticides, time of conception, pre-term birth, and academic achievement.
Catherine Zimmerman, author of Urban and Suburban Meadows, is a certified horticulturist and landscape designer, as well as an award-winning filmmaker. She is accredited in organic land care through the Northeast Organic Farmers Association. In writing her book, Catherine has created a stunning and enticing introduction to meadowscaping that will inspire her readers to do away with pesticide-ridden, manicured lawns and return their land to a beautiful, natural habitat for native plants and wildlife. She hopes that her project will help start the movement toward making natural landscapes the new landscaping norm.
More coming soon!