Ted is always looking for ways to minimize his ecological footprint. Professionally, Ted is working to gain the skills necessary to turn his passion for sustainable development into action, as an entrepreneur or financing sustainable businesses.
Ted studied economics and international business at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was honored as the Distinguished Student in International Business for his class. As the founder and president of the SLU Madrid Business Club, Ted focused the club’s activities on sustainability.
While working for commercial real estate multi-national Jones Lang LaSalle’s Madrid office, Ted strove to implement sustainable practices both within the firm and for its clients. He proposed and designed an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan for JLL Spain. Green Building and Environmentally Sustainable Development remain a passion for Ted: he believes that the intersection of sustainable infrastructure and sustainable attitude is where we’ll find a sustainable society.
Ted currently works for a private equity firm in Madrid, learning skills that he hopes to apply to finance Environmentally Sustainable Development in the United States and around the world.
Tracy is the CEO and Founding Partner of Technical Green - a green industry career site focused on clean tech and green research and development.
Tracy's professional experience are in the recruitment advertising and non-profit sectors and she has for many years maintained a sustainable lifestyle.
Marie Oser is a best-selling author, columnist, and host/producer of VEG TV. A vegan lifestyle expert, and environmental advocate with a focus on nutrition and its role in disease prevention, Oser specializes in creating original gourmet recipes with a solid nutritional bottom line.
Many prominent medical and nutrition professionals endorse her work, including Dr. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and principal researcher of the groundbreaking CHINA STUDY, and Neal Barnard, M.D. founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC.
Marie is president of VEGTV, Inc., a video production company producing content for TV and new media. VEGTV streams hundreds of lifestyle videos to more than 1,000 sites globally. In her role as Director of Product Development at Smart Planet Kitchen, she has created, Marie Oser’s Lean & Green, a new line of vegan and Fair Trade Certified products. Marie has appeared on CNN, ABC, National Public Radio, QVC, WUSA, WNBC, KCAL, KOVR, Home & Garden Television (HGTV), FINE LIVING, TECH TV, and Discovery Channel.
Vegetarian since 1971; vegan since 1990, Marie left a career in TV advertising to pursue her interest in food, health, and nutrition. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, she studied psychology at St. Joseph’s University. Marie is a gourmet cook and organic gardener living in California, writing her 5th book and hiking every day with Travis, her Yellow Lab companion.
Cherl Petso is the Associate Editor at Disaboom.com, an online magazine for people with disabilities. Her writing expertise includes articles about the environment and sustainable living, and vegan/vegetarian issues. A vegetarian for 16 years and a recent vegan, Cherl is passionate about animal rights and issues. She enjoys writing about simple ways to lessen the impact on the Earth.
Cherl recently moved to Denver, Colorado from Bellingham, Washington. She enjoys hiking and hanging out with her puppy.
Nathanial Manning works for the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) as a Regional Analyst for Asia. He focuses on two programs for CCI, the Green Building Retrofit program and the Waste Management program. Nathaniel recently graduated from Brown University as an Environmental Studies Masters student, specializing in sustainable design and international carbon policy. Nat also completed a Bachelor of Arts in World Religions at Brown, focusing on the philosophy of ethics and the intersection between religion and politics. He is completing his Masters thesis on clean-technology-transfer within the UN's carbon credit mechanism (the CDM), which allows developed countries to invest in carbon mitigating technologies in developing countries with the purpose of promoting sustainable development.
Nathaniel has a long history of involvement in environmental development work ranging from waste-to-energy entrepreneurial ventures to designing sustainable homes for the Guatemalan chapter of Habitat for Humanity, to working for a tidal energy engineering firm in Singapore. Nat's passion is in how intelligent innovative solutions and technologies can be applied to create a sustainable and free world. When Nat thinks of the word "green" he does not just think of the word "environment" but how we as humans can design systems and solutions that create win-win situations.
Robert Cowin is a political consultant for environmental NGOs. His nomadic childhood reveals a world-class carpetbagger, but he masks as a Texan-New Yorker hybrid. Formerly with the National Environmental Trust (now the Pew Environment Group) in DC, he’s spent time on Capital Hill advocating for Kyoto ratification, clean air, renewable energy technology, and green energy policy.
Robert has also worked on marine conservation issues, directing the Conserve Our Ocean Legacy coalition in the Mid-Atlantic States which successfully worked to help strengthen and reauthorize the Magnuson Steven’s Act. He now happily lives in Southern California, flying back east often as he finishes his Masters in International Relations at Tufts University’s Fletcher School.
Dayanti Karunaratne is a freelance journalist based in Canada's capital city, Ottawa.
Since graduating from Carleton University's journalism program in 2006, Karunaratne has worked on the news desk at the Port Hope Evening Guide, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Molokai Times. Karunaratne's writing appears in the Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Magazine, the Globe and Mail, and other lifestyle publications.
Heather O'Neill is the founder of Eco to the People, a green living blog.
Before founding Eco to the People, Heather O’Neill wore so many hats in the field of journalism that even the Queen Mother would envy her collection. She has worked as the managing editor of a beauty trade magazine; as a copy editor for an online tech magazine; as the associate editor of a city magazine and as a newspaper reporter and columnist, and as the senior editor at the popular online newsletter ecofabulous.
Her work has appeared in many publications, including Parenting, Alternative Medicine, Natural Solutions, Marin Magazine, Greenwich Magazine and HOME.
Heather earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She lives and works in San Francisco.
On the one year anniversary of Obama’s election, the New York Times has run an article assessing Barack on some of the issues which have defined his presidency to date. One of the areas covered is Energy and Environment. The analysis is not very in-depth, divided into one paragraph about his campaign promises and one about the action he’s taken in office.
A headline atop the Energy and Environment section sums its contents and Obama’s record on the issue up nicely: “Some progress, but the big fight is still ahead.”
Barack Obama’s inauguration speech was a message of the change that has occurred within the federal government as well as a call to action for every American. Along with his plans for the economy, the nation’s infrastructure, and foreign relations, Obama addressed environmentally sustainable development: global warming, over consumption of resources, creating a new, “smart” energy grid fed by renewable sources.
In his opening statements, Obama declared the need for an energy revolution in the United States: “the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” Oil imports are quickly losing popularity on both sides of the aisle due to the double edged sword Obama mentions—oil dependency on the one side, and climate change on the other—but it’s still reassuring to hear him continue to call for a change even with plummeting oil prices and a struggling economy. There has been speculation that the current situation would relegate environmentally sustainable development to the back burner; however, Obama’s address reaffirms his commitment to help America get on a sustainable path to long-term growth.
One line of the speech in particular caught my attention, almost summarizing the best case scenario for Obama’s presidency: “Your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.” …read more of The Task Before Us here
This is indeed an historic election. We’ve got two wars an economic crisis and we’ve got global challenges like terrorism, poverty, and global warming. American anxiety is high, and many have felt for some time that they are helpless to change things. Well, I say now is that time.
Go brave the long lines at the polls. Make a phone call, send an email, or shoot a text reminding friends to do the same. Remind people that the 2000 election came down to 537 votes in Florida (not counting the Supreme Court decision). My grandmother constantly reminds me of how much others before us had to struggle for the right to vote, both minorities and women alike. Let nothing stop us or divide us. Let us go to the polls together as Americans and participate in our cherished process. Voting is the engine of democracy. This thing doesn’t run if you don’t grease the wheels. So do your patriotic duty, and moreover, give yourself a right to be mortified or ecstatic at the result.
I’ve often heard the phrase, “Freedom isn’t free”. Usually it’s said in reference to the war in Iraq, but today I’d like people to think about it in a different context. While others join the peace corps or the ranks of our military which keeps each and everyone of us safe, all that’s asked of us American citizens, who remain in this country and enjoy all the freedoms it provides, is that we use our voice to demand of democracy what we want from it. That we cast our ballot and keep this wonderful experiment of ours going. Will you use your voice to keep our country strong?
When I ask friends why they don’t vote, I always get one of two answers:
1) “I don’t like either of them.”
2) “My vote doesn’t count anyway.”
I understand the frustration of having to choose between two politicians whose lips are spouting misleading statements when they’re not kissing babies. Indeed, presidential campaigns more closely resemble the circus than a democratic process. And the primary process often produces the lowest common denominator because the party machinery tends to support party hacks who fit their mold, even when another candidate is more popular nationally (see John McCain in 2000). But this is no excuse not to vote. …read more of The Importance of Voting here
With former Vice President Al Gore having stepped up as a de facto figurehead for environmentally sustainable development, it seems appropriate to ask what the next VP of the United States can and will do for “green” issues. The VP is granted no executive power by the constitution, but—along with deciding tie votes in the Senate and the potential for an unfortunate promotion—can act as an agent of the President in whatever roles the President sees fit. …read more of Can the Vice President Affect Change? here
Stay current on the latest policies and progress government is making on addressing green issues. Find out what is going on off-camera and in the discussion chambers of government. Advocate your thoughts and ideas.
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This is indeed an historic election. We’ve got two wars an economic crisis and we’ve got global challenges like terrorism, poverty, and global warming. American anxiety is high, and many have felt for some time that they are helpless to change things. Well, I say now is that time.
