Gigi Abbadie (MN)

p-gguttman@aveda.com

Gigi Abbadie's role as a Global Marketing Director at Aveda fueled her passion for sharing with individuals and businesses their responsibility and ability to slow global warming.  After receiving her MBA in Services Marketing from Vanderbilt's Owen School of Management, Gigi's love of fashion took her to a career in the beauty industry and her love of animals and the environment soon brought her to Aveda.

There she took on the challenge of redefining Aveda's Earth Day fundraising efforts and created a unified global Earth Month program.  From 2002-2004, the Earth Month program focused on the effects that global warming has on biodiversity and raised almost $2.5 million for 18 Earth Month partners; while collecting 365,000 individual commitments to reduce personal CO2 emissions by 1,000 lbs each (365 million lbs collectively). In January of 2007, Gigi attended a training lead by Al Gore which prepared her to deliver the Inconvenient Truth PowerPoint presentation. Gigi loves speaking to students of all ages about what they can do to stop global warming, and has the personal mission of making caring about the environment cool.

Alycia Ashburn (WI)

ashburn@entomology.wisc.edu

Alycia Ashurn is a graduate student in the Land Resources Program of the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin–Madison.  She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Luther College in May 1999 and is currently doing research on the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and ozone on insect biodiversity at the Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) facility near Rhinelander, Wisconsin.  She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, the Ausable Graduate Fellowship, and in 1998 was awarded a Morris K. Udall Scholarship in Environmental Public Policy.  Alycia is interested in the multi-dimensional nature of today’s environmental challenges and is using the interdisciplinary degree program at UW to further her understanding of the public and scientific perceptions of climate change.  Her goal is to continue working at the interface of these two communities to help promote clear and effective communication necessary for difficult environmental decisions ahead.  In her free time she enjoys hiking, traveling, and track-and-field.

Thomas Brown (WI)

tbjs@coredcs.com

Thomas Brown, of Stevens Point, WI, is a Registered Architect practicing in central Wisconsin, and holds national certification by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). His practice emphasizes energy-conscious, sustainable design. The National Association of Home Builders Research Center recently selected a project he designed as the best innovative/advanced residence in the country for a cold-climate region. He has been a frequent speaker and presenter over the last 20 years at regional and national energy-related conferences including: those sponsored by the Energy Efficient Building Association (EEBA), Affordable Comfort Incorporated (ACI), the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the Wisconsin Green Building Alliance (WGBA), and others.

His firm is located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. From 1991-1995, he and his family relocated to the southern Africa country of Mozambique. While there, Tom, through the United Nations Development Program, provided technical assistance and coordinated a countrywide school construction and rehabilitation program funded by the World Bank. Upon returning to Stevens Point, he reopened his architectural practice. Tom also teaches an Environmental Design course at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Michael Crosby (WI)

mikecrosby@aol.com

Michael Crosby has been involved in socially responsible investing since 1973. His group of Capuchin Franciscans, a Catholic religious order, filed the first shareholder resolution with Exxon on global warming in 1997. Since then he has acted as the Coordinator of the Steering Committee of Campaign ExxonMobil, an effort geared to change the company's position on global warming. He has a masters in economics (New School for Social Research, NY) and a PhD in theology (GTU, Berkeley). He coordinates the efforts of 25 groups in the Midwest who are working with others on a whole host of social issues (including climate change) at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility in New York. Mike lives in Milwaukee, WI.

Francoise Dassier (MN)

frannie4parks@yahoo.com

I'm with Clean Water Action Alliance of Minnesota. I've been working with Clean Water for 5 years now on a variety of environmental issues. The main issues we've focused on here are Energy and Corporate farming issues. Specific energy issues include: Deregulation,Mercury,promoting renewable energy (wind power!), nuclear waste and storage, coal ash storage, DM&E coal train, and closing the loopholes in the Clean Air Act (for old coal plants). I've recently started doing outreach at schools and giving presentations on the issues we work on and how people can get involved.My most recent endeavor was running for Park Board as a Green-Party endorced candidate. I look forward to working with everyone. It's always great to meet more people in the environmental movement.

Charles Dayton (MN)

charles.dayton@leonard.com

Charles Dayton is an environmental lawyer who has represented environmental groups and corporations in Minnesota for 37 years, and received the "environmentalist of the decade" award from the Sierra Club's North Star Chapter, primarily for his work in the l970's on the protection of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. He is currently "of Counsel" with the Minneapolis firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard, and is also working as a volunteer on the global warming issue with Minnesota environmental groups and the Interfaith Global Climate Change campaign.

Lori Del Negro (IL)

delnegro@lfc.edu

Lori Del Negro, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Lake Forest College, lectures regularly on the topic of global climate change, both on campus and off. Lori received her graduate training at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aeronomy Laboratory studying the impact of reactive nitrogen species on stratospheric ozone loss. Since then, she has become more involved with issues directly related to climate change; her research with undergraduates at Lake Forest College looks at the emission rates of gases with high global warming potentials. Lori has been involved in carbon dioxide emissions inventories at two colleges and has taught a short course on becoming carbon neutral that directly supported Middlebury College's Carbon Reduction Initiative. Personally, Lori is active in finding ways to reduce or offset carbon dioxide emissions in creative, practical, and economically viable ways.

Robert Gough (SD)

Rpwgough@aol.com

Bob Gough is an attorney with Graduate Degrees in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology, specializing in cultural ecology and working with Indian Tribes on cultural and natural resource issues over the past twenty years. He was the 1997 Indian Law Fellow at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, specializing in research on energy and telecommunications utilities and tribal jurisdiction. In 2000, he was the El Paso Energy Research Fellow at the Natural Resources Law Center at CU in Boulder, CO, working on technical and policy issues involved in connecting reservation based renewable generation on to the federal grid. He is presently a visiting professional at NREL's Wind Technology Center to increase outreach to Indian Country. Mr. Gough was the first Director of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Utility Commission and serves as a consulting attorney, participating in negotiations with the Western Area Power Administration for allocations of federal hydroelectric power and interconnection of commercial wind generation. He is co-chair of the Native Peoples/Native Homelands Climate Change Workshop, part of the national assessment on climate change and variability through the United States Global Change Research Program and has participated in the Kyoto Protocol COPs 6 in The Hague and the COPs 6b in Bonn as part of the Indigenous Peoples delegation. He also maintains a private law practice in indigenous rights.

J. Drake Hamilton (MN, WI, IA, ND, SD)

hamilton@fresh-energy.org  

J. Drake Hamilton is Science Policy Director for the private, nonprofit Fresh Energy (formerly Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy).  Hamilton’s specialty is communicating global warming solutions; she gives many invited presentations every year.  Fresh Energy advocates for energy solutions that lead to healthy economies, healthy people, a healthy environment, and greater energy independence.  Hamilton serves on the board of the U.S. Climate Action Network, and helped found Congregations Caring for Creation.  In 2005, she studied global warming policy in Europe via a leadership fellowship from the European Union.  She holds degrees in geography and environmental studies from Dartmouth College and the University of Minnesota. She was formerly Assistant Professor of Geography at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental geography and energy policy.  Fresh Energy’s extensive web resources are available at www.fresh-energy.org

David Konkle (MI)

dkonkle@ci.ann-arbor.mi.us
David Konkle has been the Energy Coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor,
Michigan for the past 16 years where his responsibilities include the whole
range of energy issues in a City: energy efficiency, utility issues and
programs, municipal energy policy, energy and transportation, and renewable energy   Dave led the local effort which convinced the City of Ann Arbor to join the "Cities for Climate Protection Program" a United Nations program which helps cities create a program to reduce their global warming
emissions.  Dave serves as the City's liaison to this program.  He is also
the areas Clean Cities coordinator, a DOE program to encourage alternate
fuel vehicles. Mr. Konkle has become a nationally known speaker and educator on energy issues and climate change.  He has been an invited speaker at national conferences for groups as diverse as the US Department of Energy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the American Planning Association, and the International Council on Local Environmental Issues.  He was awarded the EPA's 2003 Climate Protection Award for individual effort.

Monty Nickerson (MO)

mrnicker@mail.mac.cc.mo.us

Monty Nickerson, Park Hills, MO, currently is the field coordinator for the EPA Environmental Justice Grant at Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri. He acts as a liaison between the program manager, high school advisor, college intern, and high school students, and also advises the college intern on developing a high school level curriculum. In addition he is also a Brownfields job training instructor and instructor coordinator. Recently, Monty was a national speaker at Brownfields 2000-"The Role of Community Colleges in Brownfield Redevelopment," in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Jane Pater (IL)

janepater@hotmail.com

Jane Pater’s fascination with climate change stems from the broad range of issues that it encompasses.  With a background that includes two years as a geology major; an undergraduate degree in Government and International Studies; and an internship with the National Environmental Trust that immersed her in the public relations and community organizing aspects of environmental issues, her interest in such a interdisciplinary topic is understandable.  When it comes to global climate change, Jane’s passion lies in discovering its implications for the developing world—economic, political and physical—and in facilitating the development of just solutions that will enable those countries to cope with the reality that they face. 

Following her graduation from the University of Notre Dame, Jane pursued a Fulbright Scholarship to study climate change policy in the Philippines.  Through this opportunity, she worked as part of a team at the Climate Change Information Center in Quezon City.  As part of a capacity-building project funded by GEF, the team designed a national greenhouse gas inventory system for the Philippine government.  Now back in the United States, Jane hopes to educate other Americans about the far-reaching effects of their everyday decisions and to motivate them to pursue more environmentally-conscious lifestyles.

Richard Person (MN)

rick.person@ci.stpaul.mn.us ;  2persons@email.msn.com

Richard Person is Program Manager for solid waste and recycling programs for the City of Saint Paul. He has been involved in the field of solid waste management since 1978 with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the City of Saint Paul, serving on numerous county, regional, state and national governmental and professional committees on solid waste management policy development. He is chair of the City of Saint Paul Environmental Coordinating Committee, which monitors licensing, sewer utility, water utility, and public works environmental management activities citywide. He also coordinates Saint Paul's Environmental-Economic Partnership Project Plan and participation in International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives programs including Urban CO2 Reduction Project, Cities for Climate Protection Campaign, Climate Wise, Cities21, and Cities Environment Reports on the Internet. The E-EPP Project received an ICLEI Local Initiatives 2000 Award for Excellence in Atmospheric Protection. Richard holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master of Public Health degree in Environmental Health from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Science degree in Urban Planning from Iowa State University. He was 1991 recipient of the Eisenhower-Jennings Randolph International Public Works Fellowship.

Gao Pronove (MN)

gao@govida.net

Gao Pronove is a Senior Advisor to the Carbon Market Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Earth Council Institute.  He is also a Senior Fellow of the Earth Council Institute and is leading the Earth Council's Online Learning Center for Sustainable Development (www.learnSD.org).  Gao has been working on climate change issues for the last 8 years in the United Nations, as Programme Coordinator of CC:Train, a 5 year project that assisted 40 developing countries in developing their climate change policies, as the Team Leader that supported the negotiations of the capacity-building issue at COP 6 and COP 7, and most recently as the Advisor for the Carbon Market Programme.  Gao is now based in Minneapolis and continues to consult on climate change issues.

Dr. Debra Rowe (MI)

dgrowe@occ.cc.mi.us

Debra Rowe is a professor of  Behavioral Sciences at Oakland Community College in Michigan, where her teaching focuses on environmental sustainability.  She holds Ph.D., MA and MBA degrees from the University of Michigan,  a BA from Yale University, and is a licensed Mechanical Contractor in the state of Michigan.  Debra has spoken widely on topics ranging from energy policy to organizational change.  She is the recipient of the State and Regional Professional Development Award from the Association of Energy Engineers.

Lauren Sharfman (IL)

lsharfman@elpc.org

Lauren Sharfman, Chicago, IL, works on global warming initiatives at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, an environmental legal advocacy and eco-business innovation organization. She is developing the Midwest Global Warming Leadership Council, a coalition of businesses dedicated to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrating that some Midwest businesses improve the environment and expand the economy. She is also working with college students to encourage greenhouse gas emission reductions on campuses in the Midwest. Lauren previously served as Executive Director of WasteCap of Massachusetts, an organization designed to help businesses reduce and recycle solid waste. She also worked for the Vermont Electric Vehicle Demonstration Project and the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Natural Resources. M.S., Natural Resources Planning, University of Vermont; B.A., Emory University.

Steve Steel (OH)

ssteele@bgnet.bgsu.edu

Steve Steel is an Instructor for the Center for Environmental Programs at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio where he teaches courses in environmental sustainability, biodiversity, and other topics. He has also been a high school science teacher and environmental and community activist in the Toledo, OH area.  His interests include environmental education and the importance of developing lifelong learning skills.  He speaks frequently to local school and community groups on ways to lead a more environmentally conscious lifestyle.  He is currently in the process of retrofitting a turn-of-the-century home in Toledo to make it more self-sufficient and reduce its environmental impacts.  Steve's hobbies include organic gardening and woodworking.

Winslow Stiefel (MN)

stief@citilink.com

Winslow Stiefel was a teenager during the depression and has been active in many of the social and economic changes since that time. He worked at a number of different jobs and conditions before starting in 1948 thirty-one years with 3M. Vacations were spent traveling to many of the states seeing family members and attending special events. His first vacation of one week came after working five years at 3 M. He square danced and went to week-long camps of a nondenominational fellowship many years. In 1954, his wife Mary and their four children moved into an energy efficient self constructed home. It is on a lake that separates two good size islands in the Mississippi River thirteen miles south of St. Paul. In twenty-two years of retirement he has been active in many volunteer activities. In a writer's group he have written many pages of life's experiences. He has been a help-mate to a number of families respite volunteering. He taught classes and was active in many of the activities of a thirty-year nationally acclaimed nature center. In his eighty-three years, he has seen many environmental, climate, social, and political changes and Global Warming is a facet of many of these changes.

George Stone (WI)

stoneg@matc.edu

George Stone earned a Ph.D. in geology at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and served for eleven years as Assistant and Associate Professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Oklahoma. While on the faculty at Oklahoma, Dr. Stone spent a post-doctoral year at the University of Cambridge and a sabbatical year at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. George left teaching for a few years to write; his most successful work was a novel that warned about tampering with nature (Blizzard). In 1995, he returned to teaching at the largest technical college in the Midwest, the Milwaukee Area Technical College. During the past two decades, George has become increasingly concerned about global warming and finds himself discussing it more and more in his classrooms. In April, he spoke on global warming at MATC's symposium "Beyond the Terror: Energy Policy, Geopolitics, and the Global Environment," for which Jeremy Rifken gave the keynote address. Next fall, George will teach a new course at MATC devoted entirely to climate change.

Louis Villaire (IL)

louis.villaire@gastechnology.org

Louis Villaire is a Senior Research Associate in the Sustainable Energy Planning Group at the Distributed Energy Resources Center within the Gas Technology Institute (GTI). GTI is the nation's premier, industry-led natural gas research and development organization. Mr. Villaire's group promotes the generation and use of clean and renewable energy resources and the reduction of energy-related air emissions. Mr. Villaire has an A.S. in renewable energy engineering technology from the Detroit College of Business/Jordan College, a B.A. in English and environmental studies from Western Michigan university, and an M.A. in urban and environmental geography (GIS), with an energy emphasis, from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is a member of the American Solar Energy Society, the American wind energy association, Fuel Cells 2000, and the Midwest and Great Lakes Renewable Energy Associations.

Mark Waldrop (MI)

mwaldrop@umich.edu 

Mark Waldrop, Ann Arbor, MI, is a soil ecologist concerned with issues of microbial ecology, geomicrobiology, plant-microbe interactions, global change, carbon sequestration, and sustainable development. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley where he studied how changes in the environment that may arise from global change alter ecosystem process. Currently, Mark is looking at issues of carbon sequestration and the effects of elevated CO2 in the Northern US. Although the potential impacts of climate change are great, mark is hopeful that new technologies and ideas, such as carbon credits which may be a win-win scenario for sustainable development, can help slow or stabilize the course we are on.

Join/Contact

To join the speakers network or to arrange for a presentation by a volunteer speaker to your campus, faith community or other group, please email the Green House Network, or call 503-342-6863.