ELP NEWSMAKERS ARCHIVE

Expanding public dialogue | Awards and new appointments

Expanding public dialogue

November 2004: ELP Senior Fellow and Trustee Jonna Higgins-Freese became executive director of 1000 Friends of Iowa, a smart growth/anti-sprawl organization.

October 2004: ELP Trustee Margaret Lydecker became director of the Green Building Salon Series for the Center for Economic and Environmental Parnership, Inc.

October 8, 2004: ELP Senior Fellow Antoinette Gomez was selected by Penn State University as a Delegate to The Ag EXPO in Guanjuanto, Mexico.

July 2004, ELP Fellow Carmelo Ruiz Marrero was selected for a creative writing residency at Mesa Refuge by the Common Counsel Foundation.

February, 2004: ELP Fellow Cassandra Carmichael became Director of Eco-Justice Programs for the National Council of Churches. She also joined a delegation from the U.S. Coalition on the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development to meet with the Ambassador to UNESCO.

January 22, 2003: ELP Senior Fellow Na'Taki Osborne received a Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award, given to individuals, organizations, and businesses that innovate change and give voice to the marginalized.

December, 2003: Antoinette Gomez was one of 4 new members selected for the Penn State Cooperative Extension Board for Chester County. The Extension Board supports Master gardening programs, 4-H/Youth Development, Ag and Extension, and Nutrition programs, and approves program budgets. Antoinette is also one of 25 participants in the Hispanic Leadership Development Program offered by the William Penn Foundation, United Way of greater Philadelphia, and La Salle University.

December 1, 2003: ELP Fellow Ritu Primlani's organization, Thimmakka's Resources for Environmental Education, received a 2003 California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.

November 28, 2003: The Sociedad Cooperativa Buzos de Puerto Punta PeŇasco, facilitated by ELP Fellow Richard Cudney Bueno, received Mexicoís National Conservation Award 2003 for its work on community-based marine management.

November 1, 2003: ELP Senior Fellow Jennifer Hill-Kelley was appointed to the Wisconsin Land Council by Governor Jim Doyle.

July 2003, ELP Senior Fellow Jacob Park was appointed as Lead Author in the Scenarios Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a global environmental research initiative launched by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 2001.

July 31, 2003, ELP Fellow Stephen Moret's "White Paper on Higher Education" won the Most Distinguished Research Award from the Governmental Research Association.

July 14, 2003, ELP Fellow Cassandra Carmichael was appointed by the Annapolis City Council to serve on the City of Annapolis Environmental Commission.

June 2003, ELP Fellow Linda Tsang received an EPA Bronze Medal for her outstanding work in implementing Drinking Water Programs to protect public health.

May 9, 2003, ELP Fellow Felicia Davis received a Spirit of Democracy Award from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. This year's theme was "Celebrating the Diversity of Our Democracy."

March 2003, ELP Fellow Ritu Primlani received a 2003 U.S. EPA Environmental Achievement Award for the Greening Ethnic Restaurants project in Berkeley and Oakland, CA.

January 25, 2003, ELP Fellow Susannah Lindberg had a brief spot on WGCU, an NPR affiliate in southwest Florida.

January 2, 2003, ELP Fellow Dan Gruner was interviewed for a LA Times article entitled "Paradise Losing in Hawaii." Also, as developer of the Antwatch Project, Dan recently launched a new website that offers a mechanism for Hawaiian schoolchildren to collect information about invasive species.

December 20, 2002, In a Greenwire article, "Links Between Enviros, Spiritual Groups Growing," ELP Fellow Cassandra Carmichael discussed the increasing connection between faith and the environment.

November 12, 2002, ELP Fellow Kristi Chester's organization, ForestEthics, helped win a campaign to get Staples to increase recycled paper sales and stop using paper products from endangered forests.

November 8, 2002, ELP Senior Fellow and Board Member Jonna Higgins-Freese was featured in a Des Moines Register article about her work on the "What Would Jesus Drive?" campaign.

October 21, 2002, ELP Fellow Na'Taki Osborne wrote a week-long diary for Grist Magazine. Na'Taki wrote about her environmental justice work in Atlanta and her experiences at the 2nd National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., October 23-27.

October 17, 2002, ELP Board Member Don Chen's organization, Smart Growth America, published "Measuring Sprawl and Its Impact," a three-year study measuring sprawl and the impact it has on communities.

October 14, 2002, ELP Fellow Quita Sullivan wrote a week-long diary for Grist Magazine, discussing her preparations for the People of Color Summit and her work on community-based legal strategies to promote environmental justice.

October 9, 2002, ELP Fellow Kari Cobler and her organization, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, had two great successes in their battle against corporate factory farms in Iowa. Their victories are featured in an article in the Des Moines Register.

October 7, 2002, ELP Fellow Max Weintraub was featured in Grist Magazine's Dear Me column, where he discussed his experiences launching the Environmental Justice and Health Union, an organization dedicated to connecting environmental justice advocates and environmental health professionals.

October 4, 2002, the work of ELP Fellows Swati Prakash and Ritu Primlani and ELP Board Member Penn Loh was featured in an Asian Week article entitled "The Greening of Asian Pacific America: APAs and the Environmental Justice Movement."

October 2002, ELP Fellow Christian Freitag co-authored an article entitled "Balancing Accountability and Risk in Program Implementation: The Case of the National Fire Policy," in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

October 2002, ELP Fellow Felicia Davis's organization, Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda, co-published a study entitled "Air of Injustice," examining the disproportionate negative impact pollution has on African Americans as compared to Whites.

August 12, 2002, ELP Executive Director Paul Sabin wrote a week-long diary for Grist Magazine, in which he shared his experience at the ELP August retreat and discussed issues of leadership in the environmental field.

Summer 2002, ELP Fellow Cassandra Carmichael wrote an article entitled "People of Faith Walking Toward the Dream," which appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of Enough, the Center for a New American Dream's quarterly newsletter. In July 2002, The Center for a New American Dream also published Cassandra's new guidebook, Responsible Purchasing for Faith Communities, which outlines actions a congregation can take to be more environmentally and socially responsible.

Summer 2002, ELP Fellows Jonna Higgins-Freese and Jeff Tomhave wrote an article in EarthLight Magazine entitled "Race, Sacrifice, and Native Lands." Also, the article will be included in the second edition of This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, and Environment, an anthology of writings on the subject.

Summer 2002, ELP Fellow John Parks co-authored a chapter entitled "Building the Capacity of Those Who Do the Work," which appeared in Implications for Coral Reef Management and Policy: Relevant Findings from the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium, published in 2002 by United States Agency for International Development. John also has a second co-authored book chapter coming out later this year entitled "The Economics of Live Rock and Live Coral Aquaculture," which will appear in Marine Ornamentals: Collection, Culture, and Conservation.

July 2002, ELP Fellow Jacob Park co-edited the newly published The Ecology of the New Economy: Sustainable Transformation of Global Information, Communications and Electronics Industries, that explores sustainability concerns arising from the emerging global information economy.

July/August 2002, ELP Fellow Lynn Pinder published "Commentary on the Kennedy Krieger Institute Lead Paint Repair and Maintenance Study" in Neurotoxicology and Teratology Volume 24, Issue 4, Pages 443-562.

July 8, 2002, ELP Board Member Rachel Morello-Frosch co-wrote an article in the Mercury News, "Assumption is Wrong -- Latinos care deeply about the environment."

June 27, 2002, ELP Fellow Na'Taki Osborne was featured in an Atlanta Journal Constitution article called "Green space activist rolls on Southside," about her work with disadvantaged communities in Atlanta.

April 2002, ELP Fellow Swati Prakash co-edited a supplemental issue of Environmental Health Perspectives on "Advancing Environmental Justice Through Community-Based Participatory Research."

February 11, 2002, ELP Board member Michael Dorsey was quoted in the UN Wire, in an article entitled "Sustainable Development: Prep Committee Ends Two-Week Session." The article discussed preparations for the upcoming Summer 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

February 8, 2002, ELP Executive Director Paul Sabin published an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, entitled "Academe Subverts Young Scholars' Civic Orientation," in which he discussed his experiences with activism and academia.

February 3-5, 2002, ELP Fellow Swati Prakash organized a conference in New York City entitled "Human Genetics, Environment, and Communities of Color: Ethical and Social Implications," sponsored by West Harlem Environmental Action.

January 30, 2002, ELP Fellow Jonna Higgins-Freese wrote a book review for Gristmagazine.com, entitled "Oh, Baby!" The review discussed a new book about the environmental questions surrounding having children.

January 28, 2002, ELP Fellow Kim Todd's book Tinkering With Eden was reviewed on gristmagazine.com.

December 1, 2001, ELP Fellow John Perrine was profiled in a Los Angeles Times article entitled "Grad Student Meets his Match in Rare and Wily Sierra Red Fox," which described his work researching red foxes.

December 2001, ELP Fellow Marjorie Wonham published an article in Sea Kayaker entitled "Alien Invasion: Coming soon to a bay near you," which described the dangers that invasive species pose to wetland environments.

November 11, 2001, ELP Fellow Dan Gruner was featured in the New York Times Education section in an article entitled "Where Graduate Students Seldom Go -- Grade School," which profiled Dan's work with K-12 students in Hawaii.

November 18, 2001, ELP Fellow Liza Grandia published an op-ed article in the San Francisco Chronicle in response to an article about how much new mothers spend on doulas or birth coaches.

October 24, 2001, ELP Fellow Lynn Pinder was quoted in a Washington Post article entitled "Research Shield Discussed in Maryland." The article discussed the ethical debate over experiments involving humans, specifically lead-poisoning testing, which can threaten the health of lower income families and children.

Oct 1, 2001, Grist Magazine, ELP Fellow Swati Prakash details some of her experiences as an environmental justice activist in New York City.

August 2001, ELP fellow Janice Varela taught a three-day environmental science and acequia history class for the Minority Youth Environmental Training Institute in Pecos, NM, sponsored by the National Park Service and the National Hispanic Environmental Youth Council. Janice's class, for students in grades K-9, included discussions on healthy versus polluted water, watercourses, habitat, and an introduction to the history of Pecos.

July 30, 2001, ELP fellow Jacob Park wrote "Cyberjunk and the Earth" for the International Herald Tribune which discussed the often overlooked environmental impacts of internet technology.

July 23, 2001, Grist Magazine, ELP Fellow John Perrine takes us closer to his research of the Sierra Nevada red fox in Mt. Lassen National Park.

June 11, 2001, ELP fellow Michelle Knapik chair of the Greater Philadelphia Clean Cities Program, was featured in Grist Magazine's "My week and Welcome to It." Michelle wrote about her experience hosting the National Clean Cities Conference, a national alternative fuel conference sposored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

June 3, 2001, Rachel Morello-Frosch (Board of Trustees) co-authored an op-ed article published in the Los Angeles Times, entitled "Who's Minding the Air at Your Child's school?" The article suggested that minority and low-income students are disproportionatley impacted by poor air quality at schools.

May 21, 2001, ELP fellow Jeff Tomhave published an op-ed piece in the Baltimore Daily Sun entitled, "Baltimore should make recycling mandatory." Jeff argued against a proposal to eliminate the current curb-side recycling program. The day after Jeff's peice was published, the Sun reported that the city had decided to grant a "reprieve" to the program.

May 19, 2001, ELP fellow Brian Trelstad published an op-ed, "For energy source, there's no place like home," in the New Jersey Star Ledger. In the article, Brian reflected on how to reduce energy use in the home.

May 2001, Don Chen (Board of Trustees) and Paul Sabin (Executive Director) led an ELP case study discussion at the Western Roundup meeting sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation. The case study probed questions related to recruitment and retention of young people of color in envirnmental organizations.

May 6, 2001, ELP Fellow Jacob Park wrote "Forsaking the Smithsonian Mission" for the Washington Post, critiquing plans to close the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center.

April 20, 2001, ELP fellow Jonna Higgins-Freese was quoted in the Cedar Rapids Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) in an article entitled "Energy Company Uses Survey to Support Case for New Power Plant in Iowa." Jonna stresses the importance of alternative sources in finding solutions to increased demand for energy.

Spring 2001, ELP felllow Richard Cambell published an article in the newsletter of the Arizona Riparian Council, entitled, "The U.S. Supreme Court's SWANCC Decision: Charting a new course regarding "Waters of the United States." Rich discussed the January Supreme Court desicion to end regulation of "isolated waters" solely on the basis of their use by migratory birds, and pointed out how it will significantly impact the waters of Arizona.

Spring 2001, ELP fellow John Perrine published an article in the March/April issue of Outdoor California entitled "The Sierra Nevada Red Fox: Mysterious hunter of the mountains." The article describes John's work to study the fox and preserve it's habitat.

January 2001, ELP fellow Tracey Woodruff was the lead and author of "America's Children and the Environment: A First View of Available Measures," a recently published EPA report on children's environmental health indicators. The report examines important issues for the protection of children's health, including the role of environmental contaminants, bio monitoring, and childhood diseases.

January 2001, at the Greening of Industry Network conference in Bangkok, Thailand, ELP fellow Jacob Park and former Organizing Committee member Dara O'Rourke organized a workshop session focusing on supply chain issues in the footwear and apparel industries. Jacob and Dara also presented on the impact of e-commerce on sustainability issues.

October 27-28, 2000, Boston Area Campus Environmental Leadership Summit, organized by former ELP Development Consultant Chris Fox, was held at Harvard University. ELP Advisory Committee member Robert Bullard delivered the keynote address, introduced by ELP Fellow Jason Corburn. Former ELP Trustee Dara O'Rourke led a session on overseas production of university apparel and executive director Paul Sabin participated in the closing plenary session on "putting our principles into practice."

October 13, 2000, Boston Globe, "T approves weekly passes, free bus-to-bus transfers" summarizes a new transit fare system which will benefit lower-income riders. The victory was won by advocacy groups including Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE), led by Penn Loh, ELP Board of Trustees.

October 3, 2000, CNN Inside Politics, "Ads linking 'urban sprawl' with immigration stir controversy in Virginia" featured Don Chen, ELP Board of Trustees.

September 28, 2000, a New York Times article entitled "Report Abuses Says Global Accounting Firm Overlooks Factory," featured Dara O'Rourke, former ELP Trustee.
To read Dara's report click here: http://web.mit.edu/dorourke/www/PDF/pwc.pdfl

July 30, 2000, The Washington Post, >Power Grab at the Plant on the Hill, by Jacob Park, ELP Fellow.

July 23, 2000, Boston Herald published "Higher T fares will squeeze Boston's transit-dependent," by Penn Loh, ELP Board of Trustees.

June 27, 2000, Boston Globe published "Keep those gas prices high" by Paul Sabin, ELP Executive Director.

June 30, 2000, National Public Radio's Living on Earth program interviewed executive director Paul Sabin about the history and impact of rising gas prices. Click here to see a transcript of the interview, "The Price of Gas."

June 2000, Critical Planning Journal published "Why Spatial Mismatch Still Matters", by James Spencer, ELP Fellow.

May 24, 2000, Center for Transportation Studies featured Don Chen, ELP Board of Trustees, in an article entitled "The Sprawl Debate."

May 21, 2000, Missoulian Online featured Caitlin DeSilvey, former ELP Trustee, in an article entitled "Nonprofit Group Wants to Manage and Restore North Side Homestead."

May 8-12, 2000, ELP Fellow Brad Guy wrote about his experiences with green building in Grist Magazine's, "My Week and Welcome To It."

April 2000, MSNBC.COM, published "Growing a Green Business", by Jacob Park, ELP Fellow.

Spring 2000, The Washington Quarterly, published "Globalization After Seattle", by Jacob Park, ELP Fellow.

February 22, 2000, The World Today conducted an interview with Don Chen, ELP Board of Trustees, entitled "American transport expert gives Perth thumbs up."

Issue 6, 2000, Marine Biology published "Fish and Ships: Relating Dispersal Frequency to Success in Biological Invasions" by Marjorie Wonham, ELP Fellow, et al.

Awards and new appointments

December, 2003: Antoinette Gomez was one of 4 new members selected for the Penn State Cooperative Extension Board for Chester County. The Extension Board supports Master gardening programs, 4-H/Youth Development, Ag and Extension, and Nutrition programs, and approves program budgets. Antoinette is also one of 25 participants in the Hispanic Leadership Development Program offered by the William Penn Foundation, United Way of greater Philadelphia, and La Salle University.

December 1, 2003: ELP Fellow Ritu Primlani's organization, Thimmakka's Resources for Environmental Education, received a 2003 California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award.

November 28, 2003: The Sociedad Cooperativa Buzos de Puerto Punta PeŇasco, facilitated by ELP Fellow Richard Cudney Bueno, received Mexicoís National Conservation Award 2003 for its work on community-based marine management.

November 1, 2003: ELP Senior Fellow Jennifer Hill-Kelley was appointed to the Wisconsin Land Council by Governor Jim Doyle.

July 2003, ELP Senior Fellow Jacob Park was appointed as Lead Author in the Scenarios Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a global environmental research initiative launched by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in June 2001.

July 31, 2003, ELP Fellow Stephen Moret's "White Paper on Higher Education" won the Most Distinguished Research Award from the Governmental Research Association.

July 14, 2003, ELP Fellow Cassandra Carmichael was appointed by the Annapolis City Council to serve on the City of Annapolis Environmental Commission.

June 2003, ELP Fellow Linda Tsang received an EPA Bronze Medal for her outstanding work in implementing Drinking Water Programs to protect public health.

May 9, 2003, ELP Fellow Felicia Davis received a Spirit of Democracy Award from the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. This year's theme was "Celebrating the Diversity of Our Democracy."

March 2003, ELP Fellow Ritu Primlani received a 2003 U.S. EPA Environmental Achievement Award for the Greening Ethnic Restaurants project in Berkeley and Oakland, CA.

January 2003, ELP Senior Fellow Ben Packard was named Starbucks Coffee Company's "Leader of the Year" for his work on environmental sustainability within the company.

January 2003, ELP Fellow John Roanhorse was appointed to serve as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council Indigenous Peoples Subcommittee.

Fall 2002, ELP Fellow Matthew Klingle won the Best Dissertation in North American Urban History Award from the Urban History Association, for his dissertation entitled "Urban by Nature: An Environmental History of Seattle, 1880-1970."

October 2002, ELP Fellow Na'Taki Osborne was featured in Redbook Magazine's "Mothers and Shakers" feature story. The story honored Na'Taki for her work on environmental justice issues. Na'Taki was selected along with First Lady, Laura Bush, Tyra Banks, Malaak Compton-Rock, Laura San Giacomo, Angie Harmon and other women who have dedicated their lives so that all Americans can achieve the American dream.

Fall 2002, ELP Fellow Kim Todd's book, Tinkering with Eden, won the 2002 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. This award is given by the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute "to a published book of literary nonfiction nature writing that captures the spirit of the human relationship with the natural world, and promotes the values that preserve or restore the land for future generations."

June 4, 2002, ELP Fellow Max Weintraub, received the EPA Bronze Medal for his work as part of a team that developed a creative and legally binding solution for Mare Island Naval Shipyard. This agreement got contaminated property back into productive use by allowing the sale of PCB contaminated property to a buyer who wants to develop the property without relieving the polluter of responsibility to complete the cleanup.

May 2, 2002, ELP Fellow Na'Taki Osborne accepted a Distinguished Alumni Award at the 2002 Diversity and Environmental Stewardship Awards Reception which follwed the Environmental Careers Organization's National Roundtable on Diversity in the Environment.

January 2002, ELP fellow Deb Andraca was promoted to vice president of the Houston office of Fleishman-Hillard International Communications.

September 2001, ELP fellow Bodhi Burgess was promoted to director of a new environmental sustainability department at Birkenstocks Sandals.

August 2001, ELP fellows Brad Guy and Brian Reilly each received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts' New Public Works initiative, which provides $500,000 annually to help fund national design competitions for landscape elements along the 6th Street Rail Trail, a two -mile long rail line conversion through the historic core of Gainesville. Brian received the grant for the sixteenth street Community Health Center in Milwaukee, WI to support a design competition for a landscape plan to integrate Wisconsin's Hank Aaron State Trail through the Menomonee River Valley with adjoining areas, including a former indusrtial rail site.

July 2001, Paul Sabin won the American Historical Association-Pacific Coast Branch's 2001 W. Turrentine Jackson Award for the most oustanding dissertation on the twentieth-century American West.

June 2001, ELP fellow Ben Packard was promomted to director of environmental affairs at Starbucks Coffee Company.

June 2001, ELP fellow Torri Estrada received a two-year New Voices Fellowship, administered by the Ford Foundation and Academy for Educational Development, to work on environmental justice and natural resources integration.

May 2001, ELP fellow Jim Spencer received a grant from the Doris and John Randolph Haynes Foundation through UCLA's Lewis Center. Jim will use this grant to complete a comprehensive study of the distribution of economic growth throughout the Los Angeles County over the past decade. The study will help Jim evaluate the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs and how they are distributed spatially.

May 2001, ELP fellow Matt Raimi was appointed legislative director of the Northern California Chapter of the American Planning Association.

May 2001, ELP fellow Kristen Chester was appointed as director of commmunications for Forest Ethics, a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to preserving old growth coastal forests.

November 2000, ELP Board member Don Chen launched Smart Growth America, a coalition to promote smart growth initiatives. The coalition provides resources, support, and information to communities that want to learn more about how to protect open space, keep housing affordable, and make communities more livable.