Participants
Ms. Carter, founder and director of
Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) (www.ssbx.org), is a relentless and charismatic urban
strategist who seeks to address the disproportionate environmental and public
health burdens experienced by residents of the South Bronx. Working in
partnership with local government, businesses, and neighborhood organizations,
she creates new opportunities for transportation, fitness and recreation,
nutrition, and economic development. Making the connection between green
space and health, Ms. Carter added a community education focus to the work of
the SSB around fitness, food choices, and air quality. As part of this
effort, she established a community market and introduced green roof
technology. Today, Ms Carter is profoundly transforming the quality of
life for South Bronx residents. (www.majorcatergroup.org)
Laura
Westra, Ph.D.: Holder of doctorates in philosophy and Dr.
Westra the
scholarly work focuses on environmental ethics, policy and law, with special
emphasis on human rights and global justice. Dr. Westra has published more than
80 articles and chapters in books, and 20 books/monographs and has taught in
both Canada and the U.S. from 1983 to 2000, last serving as Endowed Chair of
Environmental Studies at Sarah Lawrence College (NY). Dr. Westra is a tireless servant both within and
beyond the academy with multiple credits including the editorial boards of
Environmental Ethics, Environmental Values, the Journal of Ecosystem Health and
Bioethices; offices with the International Society for Environmental Justice,
the science for Peace Group, Occupational Ethics Group, the York centre for
Applied Sustainability and co-chair the Specialist Indigenous People Group;
consultant and conference organizer for the IUCN Commission on Law and
Environment, the World Health Organization and legal consultant for Governance
Instruments and Child Health: Informing Canadian Policy (Health Canada Grant);
and founder of the Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG)
Robert
Figueroa, Ph.D.: Associate Professor,
Graduate Program Adviser in the Philosophy and Religion
Studies Department and graduate affiliate in the Women's Studies Program at the
University of North Texas, Dr. Figueroa
specializes his
research in Environmental Justice Studies, Environmental Philosophy, and the Philosophy
of Science, Technology, and Society. Inclusive of his research is work on
Philosophy of Heritage, Environmental Identity, Climate Refugees, Critical Race
Theory, Feminist Philosophy, and Philosophy for Children. In 1995, he launched one of the first courses
in the nation titled "Environmental Justice" and has been a leader in
environmental justice pedagogy since, teaching environmental justice in
academic programs, such as philosophy, environmental studies/science, Africana
and Latin American studies, peace and conflict studies, women's studies, and
liberal arts core curricula. Of his many publications of particular note are
Science and Other Cultures:
Issues in the Philosophies of Science and Technology (Routledge: 2003), which culminated a
three-year partnership between the National Science Foundation and the American
Philosophical Society on diversity and the philosophy of science and a special
issue edition of the Journal of Environmental
Philosophy edited
by Dr. Figueroa on Ecotourism and Environmental Justice is due out in the fall
2010 issue. He is also the Director of
the Environmental Justice
Project, a
part of the Center for Environmental Philosophy.
Lisa
Schweitzer, Ph.D.: Associate
Professor at the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University
of Southern California, Dr. Schweitzer specializes in urban studies, and, in
particular, analyses of social justice, environment and transport. Her work has
appeared in multiple popular and scholarly outlets. Dr. Schweitzer's research has been supported
by National Institute of Health and is currently the principal investigator on
a National Science Foundation grant entitled: "Sociodemographic Analysis of
Household Travel Behavior in No-Notice Evacuations." She maintains a blog entitled "Sustainable
Cities and Transportation" which focuses on sustainable urbanism at www.lisaschweitzer.com.
Jenny
Price, Ph.D. is a writer, Los Angeles Urban Ranger, and
Research Scholar at the UCLA Center
for the Study of Women, and gives frequent tours of the
concrete L.A. River. Author of " Thirteen
Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A." and Flight Maps:
Adventures with Nature in Modern America, she's written also for GOOD, Sunset,
Believer, Audubon, New York
Times,
and Los Angeles
Times,
and writes the Green Me Up,
JJ
not-quite advice column on LA Observed. She has a
Ph.D. in history from Yale University, has been a Guggenheim and two-time NEH
fellow, and will be the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University in
fall 2011. She lives on Venice Beach.