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
Just added! 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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
More coming soon!