text:
One of my great pleasures is to go exploring the back roads whenever I have to drive here to there in Vermont. Time permitting, and if the kids are up for it, we leave the state highways behind on trips from Middlebury or Rutland or Shoreham and turn onto dirt roads instead. I haul out my trusty atlas of Vermont, having long since learned that my car's navigational system likes to insist that I am on an "unverified route" once I get off the main-traveled roadways.
The knowledge I've acquired on these adventures served me well when Irene flooded downtown Brandon and effectively divided the town in half for almost a week. Miraculously, every bridge crossing the Neshobe River survived, though the roadways were impassable because of the mud and rubble the river left behind as it jumped its banks to flow downstream on these conveniently nearby routes down the mountainside. As the water receded and the road crews went to work, my kids and I visited each site that the river had made impassable, marveling at the muck that now covered fields and pastures, at the marble blocks strewn on the landscape that were once part of the historic mills and dams on the river.
Photos by Rebecca Reimers
It is up to the engineers who understand hydrodynamics and geology to decide if, as one letter to editor suggested, it is time to reposition some bridges and perhaps build new ones to adjust to the Neshobe River's changing course and give it more spill-over room during spring thaw and heavy rains. As a local historian and lover of stonework, I want to ensure that Brandon's historical marble bridges remain accessible and visible for tourists and residents alike. One of my favorites is the old Stone Mill Dam Bridge. Lying east of town on what the early proprietors termed "the uppermost falls" within Brandon, it is a humble bridge. Prior to Irene, it allowed people to reach the Stone Mill Dam Inn and Neshobe Winery directly from Route 73. Locals also knew that the best swimming hole on the Neshobe lay just upriver. On hot summer evenings, my husband and the boys would ride their bicycles there and jump into its chilly waters, biking home wet and refreshed and ready for dinner. And many runners incorporated a trip over the bridge as part of their loop from town as a way of avoiding the more treacherous Route 73, with its blind curves, narrow shoulders, rock falls, motorcyclists and heavy truck traffic.
Though a simple and short bridge, its abutments are made of beautifully cut classic white Brandon marble, probably quarried nearby and uniform in shape and size. The fill that strengthened the approach on each side is probably rubble, although one of the joys of living in Brandon is that our rubble is often more of the same almost pure white stone—the "factory seconds" that did not pass quality control inspections during the quarrying or cutting process.
Mills had been built along this section of the Neshobe as early as the mid-1780s, both for sawing timber and grinding grain. The proprietors in Williamstown, Massachusetts who chartered Brandon and continued to conduct its affairs during this time period voted to reserve all prime mill locations in the town for "public use and benefit," along with a parcel of land for the mill itself. The uppermost of three waterfalls along this section of the Neshobe already had a saw mill and grist mill in operation on what was then known as Town Farm when the town voted in 1789 to build a bridge across the river at that location. This early bridge was probably constructed of timber, but given the Neshobe River's history of washouts it probably needed frequent repairs if not outright replacement. That would explain the investment in the more expensive and labor intensive bridge we are fortunate to have today.
Brandon's geology soon provided stronger and more durable bridge materials. By 1828 the first marble mill had been opened in town, suggesting that marble had already begun to be quarried in small hand-saw operations throughout the town. A stone mill had already been built by 1843 on the uppermost falls, and the new owner began finishing marble there from his own quarry, which lay west of the village. With no railroads yet connecting Brandon to the wider markets, most local marble was produced for local consumption, and it may have been during this period that the original marble abutments of the Stone Mill Dam Bridge were built. However, it seems unlikely that the Stone Mill Dam itself would have been built until after Brandon was connected to the Rutland Railroad, for the cost of transporting marble overland or by waterway was simply too high prior to 1849; so too, the expense of constructing an artificial dam across the uppermost falls would probably not have been a profitable undertaking until after that time.
Ironically, eventual obsolescence of the Stone Mill Dam Bridge may account for its preservation. With the decline of the marble industry and the eventual destruction of the dam, there was no need to build a bigger bridge, nor to widen and reinforce it with concrete and steel as happened with the graceful double arch marble and granite bridge that crossed the Neshobe under what is now Route 7 in downtown Brandon. Today, all that remains of the spectacular falls once created by the dam are historical photos; the dam itself is only chunks of cut rock that have washed further downstream over the years. Somewhere in the underbrush must lie the foundations of the old stone mill, and perhaps the grist and saw mills as well. But the Stone Mill Dam Bridge offers a peek into Brandon's prosperous industrial past, its abundance of natural resources, and the energy source that powered its history. We humans have repurposed the buildings and land surrounding it, but the bridge is worth preserving for as long as the Neshobe River allows.


text:
Goodness and Faith
We will continue to sin until we are in the direct presence of God, so there will always be occasions when we disbelieve the Lord and transgress His law. Our need for perfection has been met in Christ, and He ...Read More
Goodness and Faith
What motivates you to do good works? Are you serving your neighbor solely out of a desire to please the Lord, or are you doing so just because it makes you feel good? Perhaps you just enjoy the recognition that ...Read More

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Brighton's Top-Rated Reliable Mobile Power Washing Services
United Mobile Power Wash is a second-generation family-owned business that has been providing expert and reliable truck and fleet washing services in Brighton and throughout the country. Your vans, trucks and tractor-trailers are the first line of advertising for your company, and maintaining a professional image of your fleet is an important responsibility. At United Mobile Power Wash, we know you have an image -- and we're here to keep it clean.
United Mobile Power Wash specializes in offering customized fleet washing programs that will keep your trucks and heavy equipment looking spotless. We'll help you keep your fleet clean and well-maintained with prompt, dependable, and cost-effective services so that your prospective customers see your best image.
Whether you need regular washing for your fleet at a single location, or several locations throughout the country, or you simply need us on an as-needed basis, we have the equipment, resources and expertise to manage all your fleet washing needs!
You Own It - Let Us Keep It Clean
Why not keep everything you own, operate or manage in brand new condition? Show the pride in your fleet and ensure your rolling billboards are leaving the best impression with our 360-degree service. Throughout our 25 years of experience, we have continually improved our process, equipment and services.
Our customers love working with us because they trust us to do the job right, every time. Let us provide you with a quote to manage all aspects of your exterior cleaning needs!
Single-Source Vendor for All Your Truck & Fleet Washing Needs in Brighton, MI and Nationwide
Commercial fleet washing is more work for your company than you may realize. We provide thorough and reliable service so you can concentrate on your business and what you do best. United Mobile Power Wash is your single point of contact for all your fleet washing needs. With one call, we will secure wash teams for each of your locations, provide electronic invoicing, maintain open lines of communication, and regularly verify your satisfaction.
We can clean any type of vehicle and have the resources, equipment, and staff to handle small-scale operations to large commercial truck fleets. There isn't anything on the road that we can't clean and maintain. We can wash:
- Semi Trucks
- Tractors
- Trailers
- Delivery Trucks
- Buses
- Heavy Equipment
- Mail Carriers
- Dump Trucks
- Step Vans
- Tanker Trucks
- Flatbed Trucks
- and more!
Our far-reaching network of mobile power washing experts and reliable in-house scheduling and customer service team makes working with us a smooth, hassle-free experience from start to finish. Not to mention, our mobile crews are reliable, friendly, professional, and will always ensure that the job is done right. We take great pride in what we do from our facility, our equipment, our people, to our quality of service.
United Mobile Power Wash is committed to maintaining environmental standards.
Just as you have the responsibility to ensure that your business is following all environmental regulatory guidelines, we have a responsibility to protect our environment. United Mobile Power Wash has made a commitment to reduce our impact on the environment with biodegradable cleaning solutions and conscientious fleet management.
As one of the largest power washing providers, United Mobile Power Wash, Inc. continually monitors local, state and federal Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) guidelines for environmentally safe and approved power washing practices.
We know how to handle the unique challenges of collecting wash water and we can offer you a custom solution for your washing needs. Our specialized cleaning solutions are designed to provide a deep, thorough clean, while also being gentle on sensitive equipment and materials.
Read More TestimonialsGreat job, very professional, highly recommended. They really go above and beyond and the follow up was a nice touch. Look no further, you will not be disappointed.Laura G. Rochester Hills, MI
Keep your equipment looking spotless wherever it goes, contact United Mobile Power Wash today for nationwide fleet power washing.


text: Violent storms in the southern Africa country of Mozambique have flooded thousands of acres of farmland and left villages across the country stranded by the floodwaters. WFP is working to provide some 70,000 people with emergency food assistance. Where victims have been cut off by road, WFP is using boats to reach the hungry with food.


text:
After an abortive first attempt at reviewing the Nokia's new flagship Windows Phone, I finally got my hands on a working Lumia 900 Wednesday. Even the new one had a connectivity issue, being unable to access AT&T's LTE network. That turned out not to be a fault with the phone, but rather the way the review unit's data plan was set up. A few tweaks in AT&T's system, and the phone was finally rocking my world.
Was it worth it? For the most part, yes. I'll echo other reviewers who've said this is indeed the best device running Windows Phone yet. It's also a great bargain, selling for $100 starting Sunday from AT&T.
It is not, however, among the very best smartphones you can buy, and that's a problem for Microsoft, which needs a device that towers above the competition to give its Windows Phone platform a jumpstart. So far, the market has given Windows Phone a collective yawn,
That said, I like the Lumia 900 a lot, and if I was to buy a Windows Phone device, this would be the one. It's got a solid feel, with curved sides and a tapered top and bottom wrapping a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen. Its build quality is much better than the only other Nokia Windows Phone I've tried, the Lumia 710, which was designed for the budget market.
The screen is bright and crisp, and Windows Phone's Metro UI really shines on it. However, at 800-by-480 pixels, its resolution pales in comparison to many Android phones and certainly the retina display screens of the iPhone 4 and 4S.
The Lumia 900 has been dinged for having only a single-core, 1.4-GHz processor, but those complaints seem largely to be based on principle rather than reality. This is one very fast phone, probably one of the fastest I've tried. You wait for absolutely nothing on this device, which makes it very pleasant to use. A multi-core processor would be overkill.
Part of its zippiness can be chalked up to its use of AT&T's LTE network. In a variety of bandwidth tests in multiple locations, I've seen download speeds ranging between 7 and 20 Mbps, and upload speeds between 5 and 9 Mbps. Those aren't as fast as some of my earliest tests of AT&T's LTE system, but certainly not shabby, and likely not the fault of the phone. During last night's episode of Technology Bytes, I turned on its Internet-sharing hotspot feature and got solid speeds to three devices I connected to it.
The 8-megapixel rear camera takes very good pictures with its Carl Zeiss lens, but they're not remarkably better than anything I've seen on other smartphones with similar camera specs. And it only takes 720p HD video, when most high-end phones are moving to 1080p.
The Lumia 900 comes with just 16 GB of storage, but you can use Microsoft's SkyDrive for cloud storage. If you've got lots of music and want to store it all directly on the phone, this could be an issue.
It's too early to be declarative about battery life, but so far it seems to be on par with my iPhone 4, which generally will end a full day with about a 30 percent charge. When I write my print review of the Lumia 900, which should run in Saturday's Chronicle, I'll have a better feel for the phone's staying power.
Finally, I continue to be impressed with Windows Phone as a mobile OS. It's very intuitive and smartly designed. On the Lumia 900, I've become particularly fond of its email application. I like the way it threads conversations, which makes archiving and pruning them very easy. This may be my favorite smartphone email client.
One thing I'm not impressed with, though, is the app selection. While you can find the basic, big-name apps here – Twitter, Netflix, Facebook, Kindle, etc. – there's not much depth. For example, I have yet to find a free speed test app that I like as much as Ookla's Speedtest.net, which is available for both iOS and Android.
If you asked me today whether you should buy this phone when it's available Sunday, I'd say yes – if you're dead-set on buying a Windows Phone device. If you're not sure about the platform, I'd advise you to take some time and do some research, because in terms of hardware, you can do a lot better than this. But this is a very good total package, providing lots of bang for the buck. My early impression is that it's worth your consideration.


text:
Mythbuntu 12.04.3 has been released. This is a point release on our 12.04 LTS release. If you are already on 12.04, you can get these same updates via the normal update process.
Underlying system
For more detailed feature information please visit us on launchpad.
We appreciated all comments and would love to hear what you think. Please make comments to our mailing list, on the forums (with a tag indicating that this is from 12.04 or precise), or in #ubuntu-mythtv. As previously, if you encounter any issues with anything in this release, please file a bug using the Ubuntu bug tool (ubuntu-bug PACKAGENAME) which automatically collects logs and other important system information, or if that is not possible, directly open a ticket on Launchpad (http://bugs.launchpad.net/mythbuntu/12.04/).
Known issues
About > Latest News >


text:
Please enter your company information as you would like it to be displayed on your posting. Check the box to the right to hide that field from your posting. If you would like to have an Anonymous posting, be sure to check the box beside the Company field.
Please select the way you would like to receive applications for this job. Click the radio button to select the desired method and fill out any additional information.
All Job Seekers will be redirected to the URL you specify in the space below to complete the application process. You will not be notified by JobsinCO.com e-mail when Job Seekers apply via this method.
All Job Seeker applications will remain on the JobsinCO.com site. You will receive a daily e-mail notifying you of any unread applications.
QuickPosts are not eligible for refunds of any kind. Job titles cannot be changed.


text:
The Wonder Sound
New Children's Museum San Diego, California
The New Children's Museum, six San Diego Community Centers and artist Wes Sam-Bruce have collaborated to create our largest and most immersive installation to date. Drawing influence from tree houses, empowered neighborhoods, canyons at night, sacred plants, silhouetted mountain ranges in the distance, animals that have never been seen, original stories, forgotten histories, whispered languages, ancient footpaths, imaginary places and the human condition, The Wonder Sound is an entirely new and complex culture that blends fact and fiction, the tangible and the ephemeral. It is a work of art that you physically enter into and discover. Part tree house, part village, part undiscovered world, The Wonder Sound invites you to explore through its many rooms and passageways, going from the real to the unreal, crossing the threshold from the known to the unknown, venturing from the wild to the familiar. Accompanied by an original/experimental soundscape by composer Joel P. West, the installation will take you to strange yet recognizable places. You can learn to read, write and speak the original language created specifically for this project, to name the constellations and to speak the names of the ancestors.
Price: Free-$12.


text:
IFRS (International Financial
Reporting Standards)
Industry insights
Industry insights
EY has invested in dedicated Global Industry Centers around the world – centers that serve as virtual hubs for sharing industry-focused knowledge and experience. These centers have teamed with EY Global IFRS Services to develop in-depth IFRS perspectives in certain key industries.
Contact us
Feedback on these materials is welcome.


text:
Exit Game
The year is 1848 and you are about to embark on a 2000 mile journey across North America from Independence, Missouri to Oregon Country on the Pacific coast via the fabled Oregon Trail. Awaiting upon your arrival, should you survive the arduous trek, will be 640 acres of free farmland in the fertile Willamette Valley. If you're up for the challenge, start by naming the leader of your wagon team and choosing your profession.
Wagon leader's name:
Banker - More starting cash but no useful pioneering skills.
Carpenter - Moderate starting cash and the ability to repair and maintain your wagon.
Farmer - Little starting cash but highly skilled in caring for your oxen.
Despite the difficulty of the journey, you'll be brining along your large family. Only married couples are eligible for the full 640 acres (single settlers receive half that much), and you'll need your children to be your workforce once you arrive on your new farmland.
Name the other members of your party:


text:
- Specificaties
Technische gegevens van product Tonne Bag with Top Skirt (90x90x90cm)
Artikelnummer 000-43U EAN Code 0635131400490 Artikel Big Bags Sizes (cm) 90x90x90 Volume ¾ m³ Filling system Top Skirt Emptying system Flat base Fabric Drop Non laminated Polypropylene Fabric Grammage 140 gr/m² Loops Standard loops Liner Nee SWL 1000 kg Fabric colour White Sort of use Normal use Pieces per pallet 320
- Beschrijving
Beschrijving van Tonne Bag with Top Skirt (90x90x90cm)
Tonne bag equipped with a lightweight skirt on top of the bag which accomodates with a variety of filling machines. Tonne bag with skirt top closure, ideal for easy and quick filling of the bag. A single trip tonne bag with internal dimensions of 90x90x90cm and a capacity of 0.75 cubic metres. Ideal for building material such as sand and gravel thanks to its strong 140gr/m² fabric and a safety work load of 1000kgs. Also suitable for light materials.
Unprinted bulks and bulk bags in the style of 123BigBags can be ordered from stock and come in white with orange loops.
Quick Delivery within 48hrs
We offer delivery from stock throughout all of Europe. Delivery time depends on your country and usually takes between 1-4 days, even for larger amounts. For detailed information please visit our page dedicated on delivery times.
Shipping Costs
Shipping costs depend on the volume of your order, the unit weight and the place of delivery. We have summarized the shipping costs for our top selling countries all over Europe. If your country is not in the list, please use our calculator at the checkout to know the exact delivery fees for your country.
Bulk Bags in Your Colors & Dimensions
Would you like bulk bags with your individual print? At 123BigBags you can have bulk bags printed with your logo starting from 1 pallet or more. Use our price generator above to receive an instant price quotation for printed bulk bags. Simply submit your request and we will contact you to work on an individual design for printed bulk bags with you. Learn more about printed bulk bags - ordered easily and delivered from 3 weeks. Looking for a bulk bags in own dimensions? We also offer custom-made solutions. Have your perfect bulk bags produced by 123BigBags and enjoy high-quality bags at a good price!
Any Questions?
For any questions on our products and services, do not hesitate to contact us and we will come back to you as soon as possible. Feel free to use our live-chat for immediate assistance. You can also call us on +44 12 1368 07 22 or dial +31 10 3 07 27 35 for our headquarters.


text:
WOODSTOCK – Art Vallicelli never meant to get the office. His plan was to stay in the classroom.
Vallicelli – who earned his doctorate from Northern Illinois University earlier this year – is two and a half weeks into his first year as assistant principal of Woodstock High School, a job he'd never envisioned having. The former English teacher thought he'd be content teaching in a high school, a dream he had even before he attended one.
Vallicelli recently caught up with Northwest Herald reporter Shawn Shinneman to talk about his change of heart, the prevalence of standardized testing and the changing learning standards, which Vallicelli sees as a paradigm shift.
Shinneman: So how's it going so far in the new role?
Vallicelli: It's been fun. It's been a little chaotic at times.
I remember Jon Grell next door mentioned to me when I got hired that as a teacher, 90 percent of your day is controlled and about 10 percent is chaos. As an administrator, it's just flipped. You control about 10 percent of your day and 90 percent is just things that show up in the moment. I'm juggling the things that need to get done this week versus the stuff that gets plopped in your lap. That's been the toughest adjustment.
Shinneman: Taking a step back, what got you into English?
Vallicelli: Some people have dreams of being a professional ballplayer, other people want to be a lawyer or a doctor, and I just wanted to be a high school English teacher. My mom has a seventh-grade language arts worksheet, and it's like, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And literally all it says is, "I want to be a high school English teacher."
This [change to assistant principal] didn't come to fruition until four or five years ago when I was doing my doctorate, and it was largely because of a note from a gentleman I'm not really close with anymore. At the end of one of my essays that I submitted for the class, it asked for career aspirations, and I said I'd like to be an English chair. ... And at the very end of it, he wrote, 'Yeah, but some people are called to do more.'
Shinneman: More big picture, education-wise, did you see the latest [national] ACT report that came out?
Vallicelli: I didn't see the exact numbers yet. I've seen our numbers.
Shinneman: That's kind of what I was going to ask. Do you pay much attention to the big picture or are you focused here?
Vallicelli: We look at the big picture of Woodstock High School as a whole, Woodstock High School compared to other communities, and with that you have to keep in mind demographics. That plays a big role – what kind of English language learners you have or what your special ed population is versus other communities.
We're still clinging onto old and new systems, too. I think sometimes people get caught up in just one test score result.
Shinneman: What do you mean old and new systems?
Vallicelli: We're rolling in an entirely new testing system in the coming years called the PARCC [Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers]. It's not entirely going to replace the ACT – the state of Illinois is probably going to hold onto the ACT for a while – but really, schools are going to move to the PARCC.
Shinneman: That's coming in with the Common Core, right? I didn't realize that was something colleges looked at.
Vallicelli: Yeah. Well that's the problem we're having, is which test should we be getting our kids ready for, right? People want us to have students college ready, and we do, of course. That's our No. 1 goal is to have them college ready or work ready, either one is great. But yeah, the ACT has college readiness goals, as well. They're not totally aligned with the Common Core. The Common Core is the new national standards. That's why I said there's old and new coming in.
It's just a change, that's all. It's kind of the evolution of education. ... But this one is a little bigger, this is more of a paradigm shift in terms of what it's going to do looking at student growth.
Shinneman: What do you think of the country's emphasis on standardized testing as a whole?
Vallicelli: I do think it's both good and bad because sometimes we compare the United States to other countries, but it's hardly apples to apples when you compare demographics. ... Numbers can be totally different. ... They may not include a certain population. We include every population in the U.S.
I know this: When lawmakers are making rules and laws about education, whether or not we like that they're getting involved in education, whether or not we think they're actual masters of the specific area, they want what's best.
I never really worry too much about what's going to happen at the national level because I don't know if there's a whole lot I can do about it. What I know I can do is I know I can help here at Woodstock High School.
The Vallicelli lowdown
Age: 34
Hometown: Elmhurst
Family: Missy (wife), Zach (4), Maggie (3), and Claire (3 months).
Favorite book: "The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint" and "Great Expectations"
Favorite weekend activity: Enjoying family time outside and watching Manchester City play soccer on TV with Zach
Favorite food: Chile rellenos, beans and rice


text:
Kim Kardashian's mother Kris Jenner has turned to police for help amid reports suggesting she has become the target of an extortion plot over a non-existent sex tape.
The reality TV matriarch claims she has been bombarded with up to 300 phone calls, voice mails and text messages every day for the past few weeks from a person who claims to have obtained explicit footage of Jenner engaged in a steamy romp.
The mystery caller has allegedly demanded the Jenner pay up in a bid to keep the tape under wraps, prompting her to call in the cops.
Officers from Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department paid a visit to the family home on Tuesday to take down details about the incidents for a police report, according to TMZ.com.
Jenner is adamant the sex tape does not exist, despite previously confessing to once filming herself and her estranged husband, former Olympian Bruce Jenner, making love early on in their relationship.
The couple separated last year after 22 years of marriage.


text:
A change is happening here at Mom on the Spot. Good change.
When I first began writing here, I had high hopes… to post good content regularly… content geared toward local families, yet content not just focusing on Kitsap. What I have found in the nearly one-year long journey is this: I need my peeps! With the chaos of life… being mom and wife and community member and social media junkie, I have found that I cannot do this alone.
I am not representin' the KC, yo! Besides, uh… SELFISH! I am but one of many moms in the greater Kitsap area. One voice of many… one perspective of many… one awesome of many.
Did you know there are many great local bloggers right here in Kitsap County? I knew this and it got me thinking… what if some of these fellow moms and bloggers came together?
What if, we ruled the world???
We are probably a long way off from world domination, but we are kind of big deals in our own homes. Baby steps.
I'd like to take a few (hundred) words to introduce the new chicks on the block: Lisa, Michelle, Stacey, Wendy and Me (Jenny). We are *insert drumroll here*…
The Mom Squad! 5 local moms rollin' and patrollin' in the the KC, yo!
I can see you are very excited! As are we! Let me introduce the bloggers of The Mom Squad (in alphabetical order, except for me, I'll brag about me last…):
Lisa of The Blozulfog – Lisa is a spicy red-headed mother of 2 from Indigranola. She pretty much runs West Sound Academy with her administrative skillz. She has been writing at The Blozulfog since February 2008. She says she enjoys bridwatching and flyfishing, but by that she really means dancing, laughing and being awesome.
Michelle of Noggin Toppers – Michelle is a creative mother of 2 from Hansville. She can sew (amazing) and makes the most fabulous children's hats and clothing. She is a down to earth girl who is conquering the world of gluten-freeness and all natural goodness. She has been blogging at Noggin Toppers Since October 2008 and enjoys sewing, crafting, creating, chocolate, foot rubs, and of course, being a Mom… and also being awesome.
Stacey of Oh Happy Days – Stacey is a dynamic and HILARIOUS mother of 2 from Poulsbo. She is a go-getter kinda gal and can get a project going like nobody's bidness. You need something done? Stacey is the gal… but she's pretty busy, just so you know. Stacey has been blogging at Oh Happy Days since October 2008 and enjoys rippling abs her family, traveling, celebrity gossip, a good sense of humor, and being awesome.
Wendy of Let the Dog In – Wendy is a zany former Texas-girl mother of 1 from Bainbridge Island. *Yeehaw!* I hear she makes quite the pot of chili, but have yet had the chance to take on that claim. Wendy is a delight with a spunky wit and has a great way of taking the normal things of life and making them fun. And she's smart, and has a smile that lights up a room. Wendy has been writing at Let the Dog since November 2006. Wendy enjoys tea, her lovely island existence, me (I have to add this cuz she hasn't yet answered my "what do you enjoy" email – to her credit, I only sent the email yesterday afternoon), and… of course… being awesome.
I am Jenny of Jenny on the Spot. I am a mother of 3 from Poulsbo. I try to be funny so as to distract from awkward social moments, and think I am pretty great. I have been blogging at Jenny on the Spot since April 2004 and am confused as to why I am not yet globally famous. I enjoy coffee, glitter, chocolate, comedy, the interwebz and being awesome.
I am going to speak for all of us without asking if I can – we are excited to be here! The content here will be as diverse as each woman is. We will talk about motherhood, local life, and local events. But sometimes we go to Seattle or the Bahamas *hopeful far-off dream*, and sometimes we don't want to write about motherhood, so you may come across select posts from crazed women just tryin' to get by who are dreaming of the Bahamas or rippling abs.
Aaaaanywho. Thank you for taking the time to visit here. Be sure to update your feed, as this one will be as this one will be changing soon. Also, as if this just isn't enough – please join our brand new fan page on Facebook – The Mom Squad! Yet another way we can further infiltrate you… all part of our strategy in world domination.
It could happen.
– Jenny is a scattered mom of 3 who loves to dance, spray glitter, and dreams of being famous… You can read more about Jenny at her blog Jenny On The Spot, where she has been telling tales of maternal defeat and digression since 2004. You can also find her on Twitter.
Keep up with news posts by subscribing to our RSS feed (it's free!). And don't forget to join our Facebook fan page! It's where all the cool kids are hanging out… It's true.


text:
Blu-Ray.com called attention to an SCEI press release about the features of the new Blu-Ray 3D function for the PS3 (info also available in English here). It specifically noted that when playing a movie in 3D, audio will play in DTS or Dolby Digital when your system is set to output DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD, respectively.
Blu-Ray.com's Joshua Wingfield tested the 3D playback: "I can confirm that with the PS3 3.50 firmware update it only puts the audio out as DTS standard (lossy) in the bitstream mode. Also the menus on Coraline are flattened to 2D. Subtitles still show up in 3D mode, and so do menus. The image just flattens." Note that he didn't seem too put off by the limitation, saying, "So for now 3D on the PS3...full 1080p to each eye, but no HD audio and no 3D on menu screens or pop up menus. Can't say I'm disappointed."
The PS3's 3D capabilities remain impressive, though not quite perfect. For 3D games, you have to lose some graphical complexity (in order to render two images simultaneously) and for 3D movies, you may have to sacrifice sound quality. And you sacrifice some of your time learning about audio codecs.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


text:
[re]vision: Student works inspired by the Getty collection
Jennifer Steinkamp selected college students as the primary participants for her 2011 Getty Artists Program project, [re]vision. Working with the department of Design Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, Steinkamp invited students to identify works of art in the J. Paul Getty Museum's collection or aspects of the Getty Center that they found personally compelling, and to create new digital media works through a process of interpretation, adaptation, and revision.
See a selection of student projects below.


text:
State of the World 2011: Author Bios
Catherine Alston
Catherine Alston is Program Coordinator for the Cocoa Livelihoods Program of the World Cocoa Foundation. She recently completed a two-year service with the U.S. Peace Corps in Burkina Faso as a community development volunteer focusing on gender development and girls' education. During her service, Alston facilitated baby weighing and vaccination days and worked with local healthcare providers to educate women on infant health and nutrition. She also developed and implemented three Girls' Camps where young village girls came to learn about reproductive health, future careers, and how to set and achieve goals. Alston took the opportunity to travel through eight other sub-Saharan African countries. Prior to her Peace Corps service, she accumulated over five years professional experience in anthropological fieldwork and has held various project management positions. Alston holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Arkansas and a B.A. in Anthropology from Florida State University.
Royce Gloria Androa
Royce Gloria Androa is a Senior Partner in Reach Your DestinyConsult Ltd., a consulting firm that she jointly owns, and provides consulting services in the fields of agriculture, rural development, food, and nutrition. She is on the Board of Trustees at the Uganda Wildlife Authority and was a recipient of a Ford Foundation International Fellowship in 2007. She earned her Masters in International Agricultural Development from the University of California at Davis. Androa was a District NAADS Coordinator under a Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock program that provides agricultural extension services. While in office, she won many accolades as the best-performing district in the NAADS program.
Hailu Araya
Hailu Araya is a geographer and Sustainable Community Development team leaderwith the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), a nongovernmental organization headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ISD is a member of PROFIEET (Promoting Farmer Innovation and Experimentation in Ethiopia), a platform of NGOs and government organizations in Ethiopia. Araya holds a Master's degree in community resource management from Addis Ababa University.
Fred Bahnson
Fred Bahnson is the co-founder and former director of Anathoth Community Garden, a ministry of Cedar Grove UMC in Orange County, North Carolina. During his four years as director, Bahnson helped turn a five-acre piece of land into a thriving community center. Anathoth is now a place that teaches sustainable food production, hosts regular community meals, and helps deepen relationships between God, neighbor, and the land. Bahnson speaks and writes widely about food and faith, covering everything from the theological and scriptural understandings of food to practical examples of how such beliefs are embodied in everyday practices. He is especially interested in churches and Christian organizations that engage the world through sustainable agriculture, both in the United States and abroad. His writing has appeared in Orion, The Sun, Sojourners, Pilgrimage, The Cresset, Christian Century, and the anthologies Best American Spiritual Writing 2007 and Wendell Berry and Religion: Heaven's Earthly Life. Awards include the 2006 Pilgrimage Essay Award, a 2008 Associated Church Press Award of Excellence, and a 2008 William Raney scholarship in nonfiction at Bread Loaf Writer's Conference. Bahnson is currently a Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute.
Marie-Ange Binagwaho
Marie-Ange Binagwahois an expert in international development who specializes in communities of practice for development and in supporting sustainable and locally appropriate programs. She is Executive Director of Solar Household Energy, Inc. (SHE, Inc.), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting solar cooking as a means of improving lives and relieving enviromental stress in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Her work has also focused on migrant and refugee communities in the United States. Over the past 19 years, Binagwaho has worked with community-based, nonprofit, and international organizations in over 20 countries.She was raised in Burundi and Kenya and has roots in Rwanda. Binagwaho holds a Masters in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Charles Benbrook
Charles Benbrook is Chief Scientist at The Organic Center in Boulder, Colorado. He worked in Washington, D.C., on agricultural policy, science, and regulatory issues from 1979 through 1997, and served for 1.5 years as theagricultural staff expert on the Council for Environmental Quality at the end of the Carter Administration. Following the election of Ronald Reagan, he moved to Capitol Hill in early 1981 and was Executive Director of the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture with jurisdiction over pesticide regulation, research, trade, and foreign agricultural issues. In 1984, Benbrook was recruited to the job of Executive Director, Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a position he held for seven years. Several influential NAS reports were done in this period on the need for and aspects of sustainable agriculture. In late 1990, Benbrook formed Benbrook Consulting Services. He has written many reports, books, and peer-reviewed articles on agricultural science, technology, public health, and environmental issues.
Louise E. Buck
Louise E. Buck is a Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She joined the department in 1996 and has been associated with the Cornell International Institute for Food Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) since 1993. Presently, Buck leads the Cornell Ecoagriculture Working Group. Her interests include community-based natural resource management, agroforestry, curriculum development for experiential learning, and participatory research.
Roland Bunch
Roland Bunch is Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods at World Neighbors, a U.S.-based nonprofit that works in integrated rural development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Bunch specializes in ecological agriculture and the design of agricultural development programs, with a focus on training local populations in the use of participatory technology development (PTD) and specific agricultural technologies such as soil conservation, soil restoration, and micro-scale water management. Bunch is the founder of the San Martin Development Program, and in 1992 he co-founded and coordinated COSECHA (Association of Consultants for a Sustainable, Ecological and People-Centered Agriculture) in Honduras. He also served as head of the Department of Rural Development at the Panamerican Agricultural School of Honduras. He is a member of the UN Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger. In 1982, Bunch published Two Ears of Corn: A Guide to People-Centered Agricultural Improvement, which is available in 10 languages and is used by more than 60 universities and organizations. He holds a degree in International Agricultural Development from California State Polytechnic University.
Marshall Burke
Marshall Burke is a Research Associate at Stanford University's Program on Food Security and the Environment, where his research focuses primarily on agricultural development and climate effects on food security. He is co-author of On the Use of Statistical Models to Predict Crop Yield Responses to Climate Change,Relationship Between Temperature and Conflict Is Robust,and The Poverty Implications of Climate-Induced Crop Yield Changes by 2030. Burke holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and is pursuing his doctorate in Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.
Sara Delaney
Sara Delaney joined Imperial College in July 2009 to work on the project "Africa and Europe: Partnerships in Food and Farming," funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is assisting Gordon Conway with the writing of a second edition of his 1999 book The Doubly Green Revolution. Delaney recently completed work with the U.K. Collaborative on Development Sciences (UKCDS) and the London International Development Centre (LIDC), supporting publication of the book Science and Innovation for Development. From 2005–07, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, working in the water and sanitation sector. She studied biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University and Science, Society and Development at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
Olivier De Schutter
Olivier De Schutter has been the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food since May 2008. He is also a professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and at the College of Europe (Natolin), a member of the Global Law School Faculty at New York University, and a visiting professor at Columbia University. From 2002–06, De Schutter chaired the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights, a high-level group of experts which advised the European Union institutions on fundamental rights issues. He has acted on a number of occasions as expert for the Council of Europe and for the European Union. Since 2004, and until his appointment as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, De Schutter has been General Secretary of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) on the issue of globalization and human rights. His publications are in the area of international human rights and fundamental rights in the EU, with a particular emphasis on economic and social rights and on the relationship between human rights and governance. His most recent book is International Human Rights Law, released in 2010.
Jim De Vries
James De Vries directs Heifer International's Programs Division, which includes the areas of Africa, Americas, Asia/South Pacific, and Central Eastern Europe.He provides leadership to the headquarters team as well as to Heifer's on-the-ground staff around the world, developing and managing more than 770 projects through 53 country and regional offices. De Vries has been Director of Programs since 1992, and was named Senior Vice President of Programs in 2003. He served as Director of Africa/Near East Programs from 1982 to 1992. Prior to Heifer, De Vries was a professor and head of the Agricultural Extension and Education Department at Sokoine University in Tanzania. He was born in the Netherlands and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1961. De Vries is fluent in English, Dutch, and Swahili, as well as reading and understanding German. He has a Ph.D in continuing and vocational education from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. in cooperative extension (education), and a B.A. in history and religion from Bloomfield College in New Jersey.
Pay Drechsel
Pay Drechsel is an environmental scientist based in Ghana. Since 2005, he has been Theme Leader of Water Quality, Health and Environment at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). At IWMI, he has coordinated projects on urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and related environmental impacts, with a focus on comprehensive and multidisciplinary UPA assessments, waste composting, and safe wastewater use. From 1996 to 2000, Drechsel coordinated research projects in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon for the Africaland network of the International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM). After working at IBSRAM headquarters in Thailand, he oversaw the organization's Africa office until 2001, where he focused on participatory on-farm research and resource economics. When IBSRAM's research programs merged with IWMI-CGIAR in 2001, Drechsel headed IWMI's subregional office for West Africa in Accra, Ghana, until 2005. He has also served as an R&D consultant (primarily for the German agency GTZ). Drechsel sits on the steering committees of the System-Wide Soil, Water and Nutrient Management (SWNM) program and the Initiative on Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture (Urban Harvest) and is a board member of the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security Foundation (RUAF). He has authored more than 150 articles for books and journals including Ecological Economics, Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, Economic Botany, Environment & Urbanization, Journal of Water and Health, Pest Management Science, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, Acta Tropica,and theInternational Journal of Environmental Studies.
Sue Edwards
Sue Edwards has been Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,since 1966. She is a botanist specializing in taxonomy as well as a lecturer, science journalist, and editor. Edwards is passionate about involving Africa's farmers as full partners in initiatives to improve agricultural production. Under her leadership, ISD works with closely with the Ethiopian government and community organizations to link cultural diversity with biodiversity, promote safe use of biotechnology, and protect the rights of local communities. Edwards is the author or co-author of more than 40 papers and has edited and published more than 50 documents including books, reports, proceedings, and booklets. Since 1984, she has edited Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea, a seven-volume work that aims to describe the 6,500–7000 plant species found in the region.Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Edwards has lived in Ethiopia since 1968 and holds Ethiopian citizenship.
Dianne Forte
Dianne J. Forte is Director of International Programs at Africare, a development organization based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that she was Managing Director of Heifer International's Washington DC policy office. Forte is a gender specialist among her publications is The South Within the North: Reproductive Choice in Three U.S. Communities. Dianne Forte holds a Master's degree in political economy and has over 22 years of experience managing development programs in Africa.
Martin Fregene
Martin Fregene is a plant geneticist and molecular breeder with more than 17 years of experience in the genetics and breeding of cassava. He developed the first molecular genetic map of cassava and started the first cassava molecular breeding program. He is also the authority in the study and utilization of wild Manihot germplasm resources and was the first to publish on the molecular phylogeny of wild Manihot species. Fregene began his career in 1991 as a cassava breeder at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. While at IITA, he received a Rockefeller Foundation post-doctoral fellowship on genetic mapping (1993–96), which led him to the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia. At CIAT, he developed a molecular genetic map of cassava. From 1996 to 1997, Fregene was an associate scientist at CIAT working on tagging genes that control early yield, resistance to diseases, and pests in cassava. In 1999, Fregene won the position of senior scientist and cassava geneticist at CIAT and led a program to develop CMD (cassavamosaic disease)-resistant neo-tropical gene pools and to broaden the genetic base of cassava with genes from wild relatives. He joined the Biocassava Plus project as product development manager in 2009 and recently became Principal Investigator of the project. Fregene holds a doctorate in plant genetics and breeding from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, where he completed his research in collaboration with IITA and CIAT.
Robert Freling
Robert Freling has been Executive Director of the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) since 1997. During his stewardship, SELF has completed solar energy projects in more than 15 countries, making it the leader among non-governmental organizations in realizing practical and cost-effective alternative energy solutions for rural villagers. A native of Dallas, Texas, Freling collaborated with SELF as a Chinese translator and interpreter to coordinate a 1,000-house solar electrification project in rural Gansu, China, in 1995. He was soon appointed SELF's Director of International Programs and facilitated negotiations between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to expand the Gansu Province solar electrification project. Fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Indonesian, Freling holds a B.A. in Russian Studies from Yale University and an M.A. in Communications Management from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California.
Samuel Fromartz
Samuel Fromartz is a freelance business journalist based in Washington, D.C. He began his career at Reuters in 1985, writing the news ticker that ran in New York City's Grand Central Station. Working as a correspondent and editor in New York and Washington, D.C., he covered virtually every aspect of business. Since 1997, Fromartz has been working independently, and his work has appeared in Business Week, the New York Times, and Fortune, among other publications. His story on a bankrupt restaurant chain was published in the anthology Best Business Stories of the Year 2002. Fromartz is the author of the book Organic, Inc., which describes how an $11 billion industry arose out of an alternative food movement and how it "came close to betraying the very ideals that drove its expansion." Food writer Michael Pollan called the book the "the definitive account of organic food's rise and move into the American mainstream." A native of Brooklyn, New York, Fromartz enjoys working from home, which affords him time to cook dinner for his family.
Dennis Garrity
Dennis Garrity is Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. He is active in the development of institutional innovations related to farmer-led organizations in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. He has also worked extensively on developing conservation-oriented agroforestry systems for sloping uplands. Between 1982 and 1992, Garrity served as an agronomist/crop ecologist and head of the Agroecology Unit at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. From 1992 to 2002, he was Regional Coordinator of the ICRAF Southeast Asia Programme in Bogor, Indonesia. He created the regional program and led the systems-improvement research to develop and evaluate agroforestry alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture. In addition to being an ex-officio member of the board of ICRAF, Garrity serves as Chair of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Inter-Centre Working Group on Climate Change. He holds a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Nebraska.
Stephanie Hanson
Stephanie Hanson is Director of Policy and Outreach for One Acre Fund, an agricultural organization based in Kenya. From 2006 to 2009, Hanson was a writer for CFR.org, the website of the Council on Foreign Relations, covering economic and political development in Africa and Latin America. She wrote about piracy in Somalia, China's increased presence in Africa, and the drug war in Mexico. Prior to working at CFR, Hanson was an associate literary agent. In 2008, Hanson won a News and Documentary Emmy for "Crisis Guide: Darfur," an interactive media guide that explores the history and context of the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. She has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Bookforum, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, and on the websites of theNew York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post. Hanson holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and English literature from Washington University in St. Louis.
Hans Herren
Hans Herren is President of the Millennium Institute (MI), an organization that promotes systems literacy and dynamic modeling tools to attain sustainable development worldwide. Over the years, Herren's interests have gravitated toward the policy aspects of integrated sustainable development, in particular the links between environmental, plant, animal, and human health issues. Prior to joining MI, Herren was Director-General of the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, where he developed and implemented programs in the areas of human, animal, plant, and environmental health (the 4-H paradigm) as they relate to insect issues. Herren also served as director of the Africa Biological Control Center of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Benin, where he conceived and implemented a highly successful biological control program that saved the African cassava crop and averted the continent's worst-ever food crisis. Herren serves as co-chair of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science & Technology (IAASTD); president of the International Association of the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS); chair of BioVision, a Swiss foundation that aims to improve the livelihoods of the poor globally; and a member of the U.S. Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR). He earned doctorate at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, and is the recipient of the 1995 World Food Prize. Herren holds numerous awards that recognize his contributions to science, agriculture, the environment, and improving the livelihoods of the poor worldwide.
Mario Herrero
Mario Herrero isProgramme Leader and an agricultural systems analystat the International Livestock Research Institute(ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. He works on increasing adaptive capacity of agro-pastoralists to climatic change in West and Southern Africa using a transdisciplinary research approach. Recent publications include Feed, Food and Fuel: Competition and Potential Impacts on Small-scale Crop-Livestock-Energy Farming Systems, Livestock and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Mitigation Options and Trade-offs, and Assessing Household Level Vulnerability to Climate Change.
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman is a Senior Scientist with the Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA). She holds a Ph.D in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. Marcia joined PAN in 1996 after working in Asia and Africa for much of the previous 15 years. She facilitated government-farmer-NGO collaborations on sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia and developed a farmer-based pest management education project in Thailand. Previously, she worked on agricultural projects in Somali refugee camps and on women's health and literacy projects with Khmer refugees. Her doctoral research focused on Thai farmers' rice cultivation practices and biological control of rice insect pests. At PAN, Ishii-Eitemanhas directed the World Bank Accountability program, was a lead author with the UN's International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology in Development, and is currently Coordinator of the Safe, Fair & Clean Food Program. She speaks Thai and French.
Joan Kagwanja
Joan Kagwanja is Program Officer for Policy and Partnerships (Land, Property Rights and Environment Policy) at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Prior to joining AGRA, Kagwanja worked for eight years at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), where she provided technical input into CAADP (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme) processes and advocated for gender issues in agriculture as well as for a value-chain approach to the development of African agriculture and markets. Kagwanja was instrumental in designing, fundraising, and building partnerships for a multistakeholder process that led to the development of the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa, which was endorsed at the African Union (AU) Meeting of African Ministers of Agriculture and Land. The framework also resulted in a Declaration on Land Policy in Africa, which was adopted by the AU Summit of African Heads of States and Government. A native of Kenya, Kagwanja holds a doctorate in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Dennis Karamuzi
Dennis Karamuzi is a veterinarian and Deputy Country Director for Heifer International in Rwanda.He specializes in livestock development planning and management and is passionate about social empowerment to fight against HIV/AIDS. At Heifer, he engages in community development through education and livestock-related training as well as through placing animals with impoverished families to support income generation and nutrition.Karamuzi was born in exile after his family fled the escalating violence in Rwanda. He received his degree in veterinary medicine in Uganda. After joining Heifer-Rwanda in 2005, he returned to his home country. Karamuzi speaks English, French, and Swahili.
Nancy Karanja
Nancy Karanjais Regional Coordinator of the International Potato Center's Regional Program for Sub-Saharan Africa (CIP-SSA) in Nairobi, Kenya. She works with Urban Harvest, a systemwide initiative on urban and peri-urban agriculture of the Center. Karanja has nearly 30 years of experience in research and development of natural resources and sustainable agriculture in Africa. In recent years, she has focused her research on the role of gender in R&D planning and institutional arrangements. Her other interests include advocating for on-farm appropriate management and conservation of below-ground soil biodiversity for sustainable productive agroecosystems. At CIP-SSA, Karanja works closely with multidisciplinary regional and global teams of stakeholders. She is currently working on projects on traditional foods, the benefits and risks of wastewater reuse for urban and peri-urban agriculture, the recovery of plant nutrients from solid urban waste for soil health/fertility improvement in urban and peri-urban vegetable production, and a pilot study on evaluating agricultural interventions for enhancing food security and livelihoods for urban HIV/AIDS-affected households.Karanja holds a doctorate in soil sciences and headed the Soil Science Department of the University of Nairobi's Faculty of Agriculture for seven years, where she lectured in soil biology, biochemistry, and enviromental management and served as advisor for numerous MSc and PhD theses. She has published widely in international journals on the topics of integrated soil fertility and health improvement action.
Anna Lappé
Anna Lappé is a bestselling author and food activist based in Brooklyn, New York, who is best known for her work on sustainability and food systems. Together with her mother, Frances Moore Lappé, she leads the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute, a collaborative network for research and education. She also heads the Small Planet Fund, which has raised nearly a half-million dollars to fund democratic social movements worldwide, two of which have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Lappé was the host of MSN's "The Practical Guide to Healthier Living" and the public television series "The Endless Feast" and has also appeared on Howdini.com and the Sundance Channel's "Big Ideas for a Small Planet." In addition, Lappé has made appearances on U.S. and Canadian television and on nationally syndicated radio programs. She has been featured in newspapers and publications including the New York Times, Gourmet, andO, The Oprah Magazine. Lappé's latest book, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It, explains the links between today's global food system and climate change and offers inspiration for sustainable food choices. She also co-authored Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet with Frances Moore Lappé and Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen with Brian Terry. From 2004 to 2006, Lappé was a Food and Society Policy Fellow with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She is a Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute and one of the first Innovators of The Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming. She was also named one of TIME Magazine's "Eco-Who's Who." Lappé holds an M.A. in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Graham Lettner
Graham Lettner works in Zambia as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders, partnering with Mobile Transactions. During his first year in Southern Africa, he worked in Malawi in partnership with Agricultural Research for Development in Africa, a nonprofit organization that addresses poverty through improved approaches to farming, and with TreeCrops, a company that buys baobab fruit from small farmers for export to the European Union.
Brigid Letty
Brigid Letty is an agricultural development specialist and animal scientist working in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security for the Institute of Natural Resources (INR) in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. She specializes inparticipatory approaches to agricultural research and development. Letty is the program coordinator for Prolinnova (Promoting local innovation in ecologically-oriented agriculture and natural resource management) in South Africa and is a member of small team tasked with developing a strategy document to guide the future direction of Prolinnova at the end of its funding cycle in 2010. She also coordinates the HIV/AIDS and Participatory Innovation Development(HAPID) initiative across countries. Starting in 2010, Letty is providing support to the Joint Learning about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture (JOLISAA) initiative, led by the French research center CIRAD and coordinated in South Africa by the University of Pretoria's Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development. Prior to her position at INR, Letty worked for six years in the Farming Systems Research Section at the provincial department of agriculture.
David Lobell
David Lobell is Assistant Professor in Environmental Earth System Science at Stanford University and a fellow in Stanford's Program on Food Security and the Environment. His research focuses on identifying opportunities to raise crop yields in major agricultural regions, with a particular emphasis on adaptation to climate change. Lobell's current projects include studies in northwest and central Mexico, the northern U.S. Great Plains, and South Asia that involve the application of remote sensing, GIS, crop models, and climate forecasts to agricultural decision-making at a range of spatial scales. His work aims to quantify the risks that climate changes pose to crop production and food security, and to identify attractive adaptation options and opportunities for reducing the gap between average and potential yields in major agricultural regions. From 2005 to 2007, Lobell was a Post-doctoral Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. He holds a doctorate in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University and is a past recipient of Graduate Research Fellowships from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and the National Science Foundation.
Diana Lee-Smith
Diana Lee-Smith is a founder of the Mazingira Institute, an independent research and development organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. She carried out the first survey of urban agriculture in Kenya in 1985 and has over 20 years of experience in research, policy, and advocacy work on urban poverty, gender, development, and environment issues. Lee-Smithwas a founding member of the Habitat International Coalition Women and ShelterNetwork and ran its secretariat from 1988 to 1995, where she was responsible for gender mainstreaming. From 2002 to2005, she led the African Regional Programme of Urban Harvest, an initiative of the Consultive Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Lee-Smith has written extensively on gender and urban agriculture, and her published works include Women Managing Resources: African Research on Gender, Urbanisation and Environment andHealthy City Harvests: Generating Evidence to Guide Policy on Urban Agriculture. She holds a doctorate in Architecture and Development Studies and is a visiting professor at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health, where she is editing two books on urban agriculture in Africa.
Maimbo Malesu
Maimbo Malesu is an agricultural engineerand Water ManagementProgramme Coordinator at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi, Kenya. His work focuses on improving the livelihoods of small-scale farmers through improved land management, conservation farming, soil and water conservation, small- and medium-scale irrigation, rainwater harvesting and management, and increased land and water productivity. Malesu is an expert in project planning, management, monitoring, and evaluation. As the coordinator of a cross-regional program on rainwater harvesting and management that covers 12 African and six South Asian countries, he is experienced in working with a wide range of multidisciplinary partners and stakeholders, including national governments as well as nongovernmental, intergovernmental, and community-based organizations. In addition, Malesu has managed several government- and donor-funded programs and projects at the district, provincial, regional, and national levels.Malesu holds an MSc. in Agricultural Engineering with a focus on soil and water engineering and has traveled extensively during his career throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Serena Milano
Serena Milano is General Secretary of Slow Food International's Foundation for Biodiversity. A graduate in Modern Literature from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy at the University of Studies of Turin, Milano has been editor of fortnightly and weekly publications of local politics for some years, and since 1997 has worked with the Slow Food International Head Office. Since 2000, she has been responsible for the Presidia (projects organized around the world to safeguard traditional products at risk of extinction and support communities of small producers),and since 2006 she has collaborated in organizing Terra Madre, the world meeting of food communities. MIlano also coordinates Slow Food's international communication and manages the organization's projects in Africa. She was previously employed as editor of the guidebook Osterie d'Italia and of the Atlas of Typical Products of Italian Parks. She also directed the magazine, The Ark: Book of Presidia, and the publication Slowark.
Anuradha Mittal
Anuradha Mittal is Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. She is an internationally renowned expert on trade, development, human rights, and agriculture issues. After working as the codirector of Food First/ Institute for Food and Development Policy, Mittal established the Oakland Institute, a progressive policy think tank, in 2004. She is the author and editor of numerous articles and books including America Needs Human Rights, The Future in the Balance: Essays on Globalization and Resistance, Sahel: A Prisoner of Starvation, and most recently Voices from Africa: African Farmers and Environmentalists Speak out Against a New Green Revolution and The Great Land Grab: Rush for World's Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor. Mittal's articles and opinion pieces have been published in outlets including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Bangkok Post, Houston Chronicle, and The Nation. Mittal was named the 2008 Most Valuable Progressive Thinker by The Nation magazine and also was awarded the 2007 Global Citizen Award by the UNA-USA East Bay and the KPFA Peace Award in 2006. She is on the board and advisory committees of several nonprofit organizations including the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) and is a member of the independent board of Ben & Jerry's, which focuses on providing leadership for the company's social mission and brand integrity.
Luc Mougeot
Luc Mougeot is Senior Program Specialist at the Canadian Partnerships Program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and is one of the world's foremost experts in urban agriculture. Between 1993 and 2004, he led IDRC programs focused on urban environment management and urban agriculture. Since then, he has worked with the Canadian Partnerships Program building networks with the development research community. Before joining IDRC, Mougeot worked in Brazil for 12 years, researching and publishing on issues of population resettlement, the use of natural resources by small producers in the Amazon, rural-urban migration in Colombia, urban land-use dynamics and fuelwood circulation in Ecuador, and urban food production in African and other countries. Mougeot first joined IDRC in 1989 and was seconded to the World Bank in 1992 for research on environmental refugees. He holds a Ph.D in geography from Michigan State University and conducted post-doctoral training and research on environmental impact assessment in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Edward Mukiibi and Rogers Sserunjogi
Edward Mukiibi and Rogers Sserunjogi hail from the same village in Uganda's Mukono district and are the founders of Project DISC (Developing Innovations in School Cultivation). They share a passion for agriculture and beganProject DISC at the Buiga Sunrise Pre-School in 2006 in an effort to overturn the negative associations thatmany Ugandans have with agriculture-sector work after having been sent to the fields as punishment as children. Through Project DISC, Mukiibi and Sserunjogi are improving local attitudes toward food production by teaching schoolchildren about growing, preparing, and eating local food. They hope to train new farmers both to remedy Uganda's food shortage and to preserve local food traditions. DISC has expanded to include more than 600 students in 17 primary and secondary schools in four Ugandan districts. Through a partnership with Slow Food International, Mukiibi and Sserunjogi have received additional resources and support for DISC events and initiatives, and they expect to have 31 DISC schools by 2011.Mukiibi works as an Agricultural Inspector at Uganda Organic Certificationand holds a BSc in Agriculture Land Use and Management from Makerere University, Uganda's largest university.Sserunjogi is an Assistant Administrator at Buiga Sunrise Pre–School and Community Program in Mukono.
Sithembile Ndema
Sithembile Ndema provides programmatic support to the teams of the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network's (FANRPAN) thematic thrust on Natural Resources and Environment. At FANRPAN, she assists with implementation of the Africa-wide Civil Society Climate Change Initiative for Policy Dialogues (ACCID) project, the Energy Crops and Agroforestry Systems for Arid and Semi-Arid Eco-Systems (Bio-Fuels) project, the COMPETE project, and the Challenge Programme for Water and Food Limpopo Basin Focal project. Ndema is also in charge of the Women Accessing Re-aligned Markets (WARM) initiative, which focuses on getting women involved in agricultural policymaking at the local and national levels. She is a spokesperson for the Farming First Coalition, and in February 2010 she was a delegate to the One Young World conference in London. Ndema became interested in agriculture growing up in Zimbabwe, where she watched her grandmother tend the same one-acre plot for long hours each day even as yields decreased drastically.
Jan Joost Nijhoff
Jan Joost Nijhoff is the Senior Agricultural Economist with the World Bank in Accra, Ghana. He specializes in regional trade policy development for agricultural commodities, the use of commodity risk-management tools in food security management, and agricultural market integration and innovation. He previously worked as Michigan State University's Regional Program Coordinator at the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA), headquartered in Lusaka, Zambia. Nijhoff has worked in Africa for 20 years for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), IFDC, and Michigan State University, mostly in eastern and southern Africa. His work at COMESA supports the planning and implementation of a regional CAADP (Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme), funded by USAID, and the implementation of regional investment and policy analysis under the Guiding Investments for Sustainable Agricultural Markets in Africa (GISAMA) program. Nijhoff also plays an advisory role at the Zambia Food Security Research Project funded by USAID/Zambia and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). He is interested in regional planning for the implementation of the African Union's CAADP. He holdsan MSc in Agricultural Marketing and Management from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom.
Mary Njenga
Mary Njengais a natural resource management scientistand research officer based at the International Potato Centre's Regional Program for Sub-Saharan Africa (CIP-SSA) in Nairobi, Kenya. She works with Urban Harvest, a systemwide initiative on urban and peri-urban agriculture of the Centre, and also sits on CIP's Gender and Diversity Committee, where she leads the development of draft guidelines for mainstreaming gender in the Centre's research processes. Njenga is working on initiatives including the Traditional Foods Project; the benefits and risks of wastewater reuse for urban and peri-urban agriculture, and a pilot study on evaluating agricultural interventions for enhancing food security and livelihoods for urban HIV/AIDS-affected households. She is also editing a book on guidelines and tools for gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture. Since 2002, Njenga has been working on urban agriculture research and development, with a special interest in integrating environmental management in urban agroecosystems. She works with partners on solid and liquid waste recovery for urban agriculture while addressing public and environmental health risks. She has contributed to gender-responsive technical capacity building through developing and conducting local and international training courses on resource recovery for urban agriculture. Prior to joining CIP, Njenga spent five years working on action research in community-based natural resource management in Laikipika, Kenya, where she developed action plans and community training materials. Her interest in linking research to policy has led to the incorporation of urban agriculture in the Draft National Land Policy of Kenya and to the development of draft urban agriculture bylaws for Nakuru. Njenga holds an MSc in the Biology of Conservation.
Catherine Njuguna
Catherine Njuguna is the Regional Corporate Communications Officer for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), based in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Qureish Noordin
Qureish Noordin is a Program Coordinator with World Neighbors in Kenya, working with local partners to address food security, clean water access, natural resource management, and community mobilization and organization.
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Helena Norberg-Hodge is a linguist and the founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC), based in the United States and the United Kingdom. She examines the causes of social and environmental crises and promotes more sustainable and equitable patterns of living. Since 1975, Norberg-Hodge has worked closely with the people of Ladakh, a remote Indian region on the Tibetan plateau. She helped to establish the Ladakh Ecological Development Group and the Women's Alliance of Ladakh. One of ISEC's most visible initiatives has been the Ladakh Project, which aims to preserve the traditions of the Ladakhi people. Norberg-Hodge wrote about her experiences in her book Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, which is available in 42 languages and has been adapted into a film. In 1986, she received the Right Livelihood Award, the "Alternative Nobel Prize," as recognition for her work in the region. In addition, Norberg-Hodge is on the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, a member of the editorial board of The Ecologistmagazine, and a co-founder of both the International Forum on Globalisation and the Global Ecovillage Network.She has made presentations to parliamentarians in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as at the White House and U.S. Congress, UNESCO, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, and at Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Cornell Universities. Norberg-Hodge studied at the doctoral level at the University of London and at MIT with Noam Chomsky. She has been the subject of more than 250 articles and was featured in several films. She is a native of Sweden and speaks seven languages.
Rajul Pandya-Lorch
Rajul Pandya-Lorch is head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture, and the Environment Initiative, a global initiative that seeks to identify solutions for meeting world food needs while reducing poverty and protecting the environment. She concurrently serves as Chief of Staff in the Director General's Office. Before taking her current position, Pandya-Lorch was special assistant to IFPRI's former director general, Per Pinstrup-Andersen. An IFPRI staff member since 1987, she has focused her research on trends in and prospects for global food security and on policies to alleviate and prevent food insecurity, poverty, and environmental degradation, with particular emphasis on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In recognition of her achievements, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) presented Pandya-Lorch and David Spielman with its 2010 Quality of Communication Award for their work on Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development. She has also received the American Agricultural Economics Association's 2002 award for Distinguished Policy Contribution, along with Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Mark Rosegrant. Pandya-Lorch earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Wellesley College and a master's degree in public and international affairs from Princeton University.
Sandra Postel
Sandra Postel is a leading expert on international water issues. She directs the Global Water Policy Project based in New Mexico and is the National Geographic Society's first Freshwater Fellow. Postel was a visiting lecturer at Mount Holyoke College from 2000 to 2008 and directed the college's Center for the Environment in 2008. From 1988 until 1994, she was Vice President of Research at the Worldwatch Institute. In addition, Postel was an advisor to the U.S. National Research Council as well as to American Rivers. She has served on the Board of Directors of the International Water Resources Association, and on editorial boards of several publications. Her books include Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity. Available in eight languages, Last Oasis was selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book in 1993 and as the basis for a PBS documentary. Postel also co-authored (with Brian Richter) Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature, which calls for new approaches to harmonizing human and ecosystem needs for fresh water. Postel also has authored over 100 articles and op-eds for popular and scholarly publications worldwide, and her article "Troubled Waters" was included in the 2001 edition of Best American Science and Nature Writing. Postel holds an M.E.M. from Duke University and two honorary doctorate degrees. She is a recipient of the Pew Scholar's Award in Conservation and the Environment and has appeared on CNN's Futurewatch, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC's Nightline, NPR's Science Friday, the BBC's Planet Earth, and in Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The 11th Hour. In 2002, Scientific American magazine named Postel as one of the "Scientific American 50," an award recognizing contributions to science and technology.
Jules Pretty
Jules Pretty is Director of the Center for Environment and Society (CES) at the University of Essex, Colchester, and a research fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London. His major research fields include sustainable agriculture, localized food systems, environmental and social policy, and community-based natural resource management. Pretty is deputy-chair of the U.K. government's Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment. From 1989 to 1997, he served as director of the Sustainable Agriculture Department at IIED in London. He served as faculty at Salzburg Seminar Session 353, Sustainable Rural Community Development, in 1998, and in 2001 he was appointed A.D. White Professor-at-Large by Cornell University in New York.Pretty has authored and co-authored numerous publicationsand contributes regularly to print media and as a speaker for television documentaries, most notably for the BBC.He is chief editor of the International Journal for Agricultural Sustainabilityand recently published a book of essays, The Earth Only Endures: On Reconnecting with Nature and Our Place in It. He has also written widely on the sustainability of agricultural and food systems in developing and industrialized countries, including the books Agri-Culture, The Pesticide Detox, An Earthscan Reader on Sustainable Agriculture, The Living Land, and Regenerating Agriculture.Pretty is a founding member of the Agricultural Reform Group and a trustee and advisor to a range of private and public organizations. In 2006, he received an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to sustainable agriculture in the U.K. and overseas.
Xavier Rakotonjanahary
Xavier Rakotonjanahary is the Rice BreedingCoordinator at Madagascar's Centre National de la Recherche Apliquee au Developpement Rural/FOFIFA or the National Center for Rural Development, anorganization that works with farmers to adapt different technologies and innovations to fit their own needs through extension services and on-farm testing. He is a contributing author to the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Tehcnology for Development (IAASTD) Global Report: Agriculture at a Crossroads.
Chris Reij
Chris Reij is human geographer and specialist in the socio-economic aspects of natural resource management. He is an expert in natural resource management, soil and water conservation, water harvesting, and farmer innovation, and is facilitating a new initiative to promote re-greening Africa's drylands that builds on existing success stories.Reij has more than 30 years of experience, primarily in Africa but also in Asia. From 1978 to 1982, he worked as a regional planner in Burkina Faso, where he developed an interest in soil and water conservation. Since 1982, he has been working as a specialist in sustainable land management at the Center for International Cooperation of VU University in Amsterdam. For the last 15 years, Reij has coordinated research programs on indigenous soil and water conservation practices and farmer innovation in 13 African countries, exploring long-term trends as well as the impacts of investments in natural resource management in the Sahel. Among his numerous publications, Reij is a co-editor of Sustaining the Soil (Earthscan, 1996) and co-author of Farmer Innovation in Africa: A Source of Inspiration for Agricultural Development.Reij also has served as a consultant, primarily in Africa, for nongovernmental organizations as well as multilateral and bilateral agencies, including the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the UN Office to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO), the OECD/Club du Sahel, and the EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation(CTA).
Andrew Rice
Andrew Rice is an award-winning journalist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. He has written on a wide diversity of topics including dictatorship, democracy, New York real estate, American and African politics, witchcraft, sweatshops, born-again Christians, urban planning, baseball, and war.Rice's first book, The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget, was named one of the "Best Books of 2009" by the Kirkus Review. The New York Times called it "a vivid prism for examining some of the largest themes in Africa's history." Rice's article "The Book of Wilson," published in The Paris Review, received a Pushcart Prize. He has also written about Africa for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and The Economist, among other publications.Between 2002 and 2004, Rice lived in Uganda as a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, a U.S. nonprofit foundation. Prior to that, he worked for several newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Observer. Rice is a native of Columbia, South Carolina, and a graduate of Georgetown University.
Jeanne Roberts
Jeanne Roberts is a freelance writer on environment and sustainability issues. In her previous life, she worked as both a reporter and acommunications specialist for a major public utility. Her most recent book, Green Your Home, approaches environmentalism from a consumer's perspective.
Saidou Magagi
SaidouMagagi is a scientist with the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Niger(INRAN). He has experience working with rural groups, nongovernmental organizations, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Special Programme for Food Security (PSSA) in co-developing, documenting, promoting, and disseminating farmer innovations and appropriate technologies. In 2004, Magagi was trained in the Philippines as a Participatory Innovation Development (PID) facilitator and trainer. Since 2006, he has been Deputy Co-ordinator of Prolinnova (Promoting local innovation in ecologically-oriented agriculture and natural resource management) in Niger. He has coordinated multistakeholder partnership building, publication, and institutionalization activities; facilitated workshops; trained partners in concepts and methods of PID and farmer-led documentation; and coordinated a cross-visit to Ghana and a study on local innovation in adaptation to climate change in Niger. Magagi also has contributed to building and strengthening regional and global partnerships and sharing among country programs in Prolinnova and PROFEIS (Promoting Farmer Experimentation and Innovation in the Sahel).Magagiholds a BSc in Food Science and Technology from the Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi, Nigeria, where he is pursuing an MSc. He is bilingual in French and English.
Sara J. Scherr
Sara J. Scherr is an agricultural and natural resource economist specializing in land management and policy in tropical developing countries. She is the founder of Ecoagriculture Partners and currently serves as its President and CEO. From 2001 to 2005, Scherr also served as Director of Ecosystem Services for Forest Trends, an NGO that promotes forest conservation through improved markets for forest products and ecosystem services. She is a member of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger and a member of the Board of Directors of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Scherr received her B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and her MSc and PhD in International Economics and Development from Cornell University in New York. She Scherr has published 26 articles in refereed journals, two annotated bibliographies, nine monographs, more than 50 book chapters, and 11 books, including Ecoagriculture: Strategies to Feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity (with Jeff McNeely), A New Agenda for Forest Conservation and Poverty Reduction: Making Markets Work for Low-Income Producers (with Andy White and David Kaimowitz), and Farming with Nature (with Jeff McNeely).
Alexandra Spieldoch
Alexandra Spieldoch is coordinator of the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders in Agriculture for the women-led networking group WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management). Previously, she worked at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), an organization that works on fair-and-sustainable food, farm, and trade systems. She served briefly as IATP's Global Governance Coordinator, led the organization's food reserves project, and also served as director of IATP's trade and global governance program, focused on democratic institution-building, human rights, and reform of trade and investment rules. From 2003 to 2006, Spieldoch coordinated the secretariat for the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN), a network of gender specialists from around the world engaged in research and action on trade and globalization issues. She also co-directed the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern in Washington, D.C. Since 1999, Spieldoch has engaged in World Trade Organization and regional trade advocacy. She is a member of the Alliance for Responsible Trade and is active in the Hemispheric Social Alliance.She studied at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and at the University of Caen in Normandy, France. She received an M.A. in International Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, with a major in French literature.
David Spielman
David Spielman is a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His research covers a broad range of topics including agricultural science, technology and innovation policy; seed systems and input markets; and community-driven rural development. Prior to joining IFPRI in 2004, Spielman worked on agriculture and rural development issues for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., the Aga Khan Development Network in Pakistan, and several other organizations. He work has focused primarily on East Africa and South Asia. Spielman holds a doctorate in Economics from American University and an M.Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.
Tristram Stuart
Tristram Stuart is a writer and historian based in Essex, the United Kingdom. Using a combination of historical insight and frontline investigation into modern food production, he makes regular contributions to television documentaries, radio, and newspaper debates on the social and environmental aspects of food. His new book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, reveals that modern Western countries waste more food than they consume, and that tackling this problem is one of the simplest ways to reduce pressure on the environment and on global food supplies. His first book, The Bloodless Revolution, published in 2006, was a history of vegetarianism, showing how revolutionary vegetarians from the 1600s and 1700s kickstarted the movement now known as environmentalism.After graduating from Cambridge University, Stuart worked on agricultural renovation and emergency shelter programs in Kosovo following the NATO bombardment, and then for the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, where he wrote for the magazine Down to Earth and for Indian newspapers and reviews. As a form of protest against the scale and gratuitous causes of food waste, Stuart has reclaimed most of his food for the past 10 years from the bins of supermarkets and other shops, and he raises pigs, chickens, and bees on leftovers and food waste.
Benedict Tembo
Benedict Tembois an environmental journalist working with the government-run newspaper Zambia Daily Mail, based in Lusaka, Zambia.
Abdou Tenkouano
Abdou Tenkouanois the Director of the Regional Center for Africa of the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) based in Arusha, Tanzania, responsible for leading AVRDC operations in sub-Saharan Africa and developing its national and international partnerships. With expertise in genetics and plant breeding he was a member of the Research for Development Council at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) where he led its Banana and Plantain Program prior to joining AVRDC in 2008. He has also worked on sorghum research in Africa with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). He holds a PhD in genetics from Texas A&M University.
Jacob Wanyama
Jacob Wanyama is a veterinarian and Africa Regional Coordinator for the LIFE Network, an organization that works to increase rights for pastoralist communities. He has been working for pastoralist peoples for nearly two decades in east and southern Africa with organizations such as Practical Action (formerly ITDG) and Vétérinaires Sans Frontiers (VSF).Wanyama has been involved extensively in advocating for pro-poor livestock policies at the national and international levels. Since 2000, he has advocated for livestock-keepers' rights to continually breed and draw livelihoods from their local breeds. He has worked with the government of Kenya and several international civil society organizations to set up and implement community-based livestock development projects with special emphasis on the promotion of indigenous and local livestock production practices. Wanyama has conducted extensive research on indigenous livestock practices in eastern Africa and is the author and co-author of several publications on indigenous knowledge and livestock production.
Ann Waters-Bayer
Ann Waters-Bayer is a Canadian-Dutch agricultural sociologist and a senior advisor with EcoCulture at the ETC Foundation in Netherlands. From 1989 to 1995, Waters-Bayer was network facilitator and publications coordinator at the Information Centre for Low-External-Input and Sustainable Agriculture (ILEIA) at ETC. Prior to that, she was a socio-economist with the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA, now the International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI) in Nigeria. Since 2003, Waters-Bayer has been a member of the International Support Team for Prolinnova (Promoting local innovation in ecologically-oriented agriculture and natural resource management), a Global Partnership Programme of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). She advises on socio-institutional and gender issues for the Pastoral Community Development Project in Ethiopia, where she explores the impact of HIV/AIDS on pastoral communities. She is also a member of a small group looking at HIV/AIDS-related issues as part of the ELD network on endogenous development by livestock-keepers.Waters-Bayer has co-authored or edited several articles and books on ecological agriculture, pastoral development, and participatory research and extension, including: Dairying by Settled Fulani Agropastoralists,Farming for the Future, Ecofarming in Agricultural Development, Farmers' Research in Practice, Advancing Participatory Technology Development, and Farmer Innovation in Africa and Forage Husbandry. She obtained her doctorate at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, where she coordinated a postgraduate program on agricultural extension at the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture. She speaks fluent English, German, and French.
Christi Zaleski
Christi Zaleski is concentrating in environmental studies at Brown University and spent the summer of 2010 in The Gambia working with the Gambia-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Project Ba Nafaa.