Expert Details
Sustainability: integrating all elements and dimensions including climate change, environment, and sustainable consumption and production, etc.
ID: 737225
Pennsylvania, USA
Expert has spoken in the inter-governmental meetings and conferences of the Commission and High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Financing for Development, Education for Sustainable Development, Climate Change Summit Conferences, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio +5 and +20, UN Environment Assembly, UNEP+50 and the Stockholm+50 Conferences, etc.; drafted and distributed papers, reports and articles - including in UN publications; organized exhibits and side events; and contributed to and edited Major Group and civil society group statements; etc.
For ten years he was one of the principal organizers of the Commons Cluster of the NGO Major Group which repeatedly organized side events and exhibits and distributed papers and statements at the UN meetings, including three major reports on how to achieve the SDGs using a Nature Perspective. He also contributed substantially to the reports, drafted the executive summaries and was a principal editor.
From 1997-2007, he was one of the primary organizers of the US Citizens Network for Sustainable Development. Organized congressional briefings in Washington DC in cooperation with the US State Department and at the United Nations at the UN Commission and Conferences on Sustainable Development. He also organized side events and issued political statements and advocated for the US government to develop and implement a National Strategy for Sustainable Development after the US President’s Council for Sustainable Development was disbanded at the end of the Clinton Administration.
In earlier years, he participated in meetings of the President’s Council and submitted recommendations for developing a National Campaign for Sustainable Development. Expert also served on the K-12 Committee of the US Partnership Initiative on Education for Sustainable Development and helped to draft a set of standards to be used and implemented in teaching sustainable development in schools throughout America.
Expert participated actively in most of the meetings of the UN Open Ended Working Group that developed the SDGs; the development of the 10 Year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production, and the consultations that resulted in the development of the Global Compact for businesses.
Expert also put together a special web section on the Global Ecovillage Network website for the Paris Climate Summit Conference that features Best Practices and Success Stories carried out in ecovillage communities to address the climate crisis with a focus on regenerative development. The articles and information posted in this section are examples of the best practices that are now being included in the UN strategy for achieving the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the Nature Based Solutions that are increasingly being championed at the UN by governments and UN agencies as one of the best solutions for addressing the climate and biodiversity challenges, and regenerative agriculture, water retention land management and natural or eco-friendly building practices.
Education
| Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year: 1978 | Degree: Multiple Subject Teaching Credential | Subject: Social Sciences for Teaching; Political Science; and Environmental Education | Institution: Humboldt State University, Arcata, California |
Work History
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years: 2001 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Main UN Representative | Department: GEN International |
Responsibilities:GEN Ambassador and serves on the Network Stewards Circle, the Elder’s Council, the General Assembly, and the GEN Board Recruitment & Selection Team. Coordinated GEN’s UN Advocacy Working Group and helped to organize our delegations and activities at multiple UN ConferencesSpoken in the inter-governmental meetings and conferences of the Commission and High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Financing for Development, Education for Sustainable Development, Climate Change Summit Conferences, World Summit on Sustainable Development, Rio +5 and +20, UN Environment Assembly, UNEP+50 and the Stockholm+50 Conferences, etc.; drafted and distributed papers, reports and articles - including in UN publications; organized exhibits and side events; and contributed to and edited Major Group and civil society group statements; etc. Put together a special web section on the GEN website for the Paris Climate Summit Conference that features Best Practices and Success Stories carried out in ecovillage communities to address the climate crisis with a focus on regenerative development. See: www.ecovillage.org/climatesolutions. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2021 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: North American Representative | Department: International Facilitating Group |
Responsibilities:Work as a Team to produce and promote Spotlight Reports reviewing national and international Voluntary National Reviews on implementing the UN's Sustainable Development GoalsWork as a Team to draft and edit A4SD Statements and inputs for the UN's processes of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Climate Change Conferences, and the UN Environment Assembly. Work as a Team to organize and promote the Global Week of Action for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2013 to 2019 | Employer: Baltimore County Public School District | Title: Substitute Teacher | Department: Human Resources |
Responsibilities:Pre-school through Sixth Grade Public Elementary School Substitute Teacher including teaching Music, PE, Art, Library, and Computer Lab |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 2015 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Founder and CEO | Department: A web portal under development |
Responsibilities:In the process of developing a web portal and LLC which will provide the most essential information needed by all interested people and stakeholder groups to help in achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and transitioning to a fully sustainable world. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1998 to 2002 | Employer: UN NGO Millennium Forum and Millennium Peoples Assembly Network | Title: International Coordinator, MPAN | Department: Millennium Forum Executive Committee |
Responsibilities:The Millennium Forum was the companion civil society conference accompanying the UN’s Millennium Assembly and Summit. The governments produced a Millennium Declaration; and the Forum produced a People’s Agenda for Action which was translated into all 6 of the UN languages and distributed by the UN to all of it’s Member States. Representatives of 1400 organizations participated in the week long Millennium Forum at the UN Headquarters in New York. We provided funding for 100 representatives coming from the Global South.Introduced the lone action item that was adopted by the Millennium Forum which called for the establishment of an on-going World Civil Society Forum to be held annually at the UN. International Coordinator of the Millennium Peoples Assembly Network, which was calling for the development of an elected Peoples Assembly at the UN that would represent the voice of the world’s people. Organized a number of meetings at the UN in New York and at the UN 50 Anniversary Commemorations in San Francisco in 1995 and held an inaugural assembly in Samoa in 2000, before changing orientation and calling for the establishment of a World Civil Society Forum instead. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1990 to 1997 | Employer: Action Santa Cruz County | Title: Co-Founder and Co-Coordinator | Department: Sustainable Community Campaign |
Responsibilities:Co-founded and coordinated a Sustainable Community Campaign in Santa Cruz County, California for five years in the 1990s, which included the development of a Local Agenda 21 Sustainable Community Plan - adopted by the County Board of Supervisors; a Household EcoTeams Program; a Sustainable Quality Awards Program for Businesses and Community Organizations co-sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce; and produced and hosted a Sustainable Community Video Film Festival which aired 60 hours of programming on Community TV for 10 weeks between the 25th Anniversary of Earth Day and the 50th Anniversary of the UN. Each week the Film Festival featured a different topic - paralleling many of the same themes and goals now being included in the SDGs.I co-authored an Organizer's Handbook for Creating a Sustainable Community and a Local Agenda 21 Plan; and helped organize Nine Weeks for the Earth celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the UN in San Francisco where it was chartered and began. I served as Co-Chair of the Santa Cruz County Earth Day Committee; edited the Earth Day Journal; and coordinated the County School's Earth Day activities. In the 1970s I served on the Organizing Committee and Board of the Redwood Alliance Safe Energy Coalition, which forced the permanent closure of the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant leading to its replacement with energy conservation and renewable programs. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1978 to 1996 | Employer: US Youth Conservation Corps and Resident Outdoor Science Schools and Summer Camps | Title: Federal Program Officer/Evaluator, Environmental Education Coordinator, and Crew Leader; Naturalist Teacher and Trail Leader | Department: Programs in California, New York and Vermont |
Responsibilities:Worked with the US Youth Conservation Crops, a Residential Summer Work Experience Program for High School Students, as a Federal Program Officer/Evaluator reviewing 60 local programs in Vermont and New York, as the Environmental Education Coordinator in a residential camp and a Crew Leader in a residential program in California.Worked for many years as a Naturalist Teacher in 6th Grade Residential Outdoor Science Schools and as a Counselor/Trail Leader at the UC Berkeley Hall of Science Summer Science Camp program. |
|||
| Years | Employer | Title | Department |
| Years: 1972 to 1998 | Employer: Eureka, Arcata, and Santa Cruz County Offices of Education and San Jose Unified School District in California; and Curry County Office of Education in Oregon | Title: Teacher; Substitute Teacher; Special Education; PreSchool and Child Care Teacher | Department: Human Resources |
Responsibilities:Worked as a Pre-school through 12th grade teacher in public schools and childcare programmes. Worked as a PE teacher, coach, music teacher, outdoor education teacher, substitute teacher, and childcare teacher and taught all of the traditional subject areas, along with arts and crafts and environmental education.Also worked as a House Parent at Scotland School for Veteran's Children from 2005 - 2007 in Pennsylvania and supervised my 3rd -12th grade students in the residential life program in the cottages where we lived. |
|||
Career Accomplishments
| Licenses / Certifications |
|---|
| Multi-Subject Teaching Credential, K-12 and Adult Education, 1978 Certified Trainer in Design for Sustainability, Gaia Education, 2018 (A year long course covering all aspects of sustainable and regenerative development with an emphasis on the ecological dimension) |
Fields of Expertise
Sustainable Consumption and Production, Renewable Energy, Circular Economy, Recycling and Reuse, Regenerative Agriculture, Sustainable Business Practices and Products, Natural and Green Building, corporate social responsibility, Ecosystem Restoration and Land Management, Human Settlements, Gender Equity, Education for Sustainable Development, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, Green Economy, Biological Waste Treatment, Access to Sustainable Water and Sanitation