Dr. Irene J. Klaver
Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of North Texas
Dr. Irene J. Klaver is Director of the Philosophy of Water Project and Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of North Texas. With an M.A. in Political Theory (Cum Laude) from the University of Amsterdam she was Fulbright scholar in Philosophy (SUNY Stony Brook) and Vera Liszt Fellow at the New School of Social Research in New York City. Her research and teaching focus on social-political and cultural dimensions of water. She has published and lectured widely on the topic, is co-editor of the UNESCO book Water, Cultural Diversity & Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures (Springer, 2011), and editor of Water and Culture, a volume in The History of Water and Civilization Project UNESCO book series of the International History of Water Association. A firm believer in the importance of visual culture, Klaver has worked on various water documentary films. She was research consultant on “The Global Rivers Project” which premiered in Beijing, China (2008), and “River Planet” (2011). She was co-director/producer with Melinda Levin of the Rio Grande and Mekong sections of the films. Other imaging projects include a photo essay on local water infrastructure with information scientist and filmmaker Brian O’Connor, selected for the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. Klaver is UNESCO Water and Cultural Diversity Advisor and Co-Director of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy.
Devon G. Peña
Professor of Anthropology and Chicano Studies, University of Washington
Research Interests:
Agroecology; ethnoecology; anthropology of place and place-making; environmental justice and sustainability; workplace politics; international migration; social movement theory; environmental history and ecological politics in the intermountain West (Mexico, Southwest USA, Taiwan, China)
“I was just elected Secretary of the Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association in Colorado. In that capacity I am currently involved in a major participatory action research (PAR) project to establish and convene the “First Congress of Colorado Acequias” that will implement and amplify the 2009 “Colorado Acequia Recognition Law.” This new law restores some important “first principles” of acequia customary law and allows for our formal organization as acequia ditch corporations. The new law allows acequia farmers to manage community irrigation ditches and their water resources as a “commons” instead of requiring strict adherence to the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation. The recognition law restores the role of “one farmer, one vote,” requirements for mutual aid and cooperative labor, and the principle of “shared scarcity.” I am also launching a project to convene a conference on “Payments for Ecosystem and Economic Base Services of Acequia Agroecological Landscape Mosaics.”
I am participating in another new collaborative PAR project focused on developing a resilient and equitable co-management and restoration ecology plan for the restored 80,000-acre “La Sierra Commons” in south central Colorado. This applied environmental anthropology project seeks to apply Ostrum’s model of the principles for enduring CPRs to the organization and work of the Herederos Livestock Grazing Association and the Rio Culebra Agricultural Cooperative. I continue my research on the ethnobotany and agroecology of urban agriculture along the entire length of the Pacific Coast with a focus on people from the “post-NAFTA Mesoamerica diaspora.” This is part of a collaborative project with Tezozomoc and Rufina Juarez of the South Central Farmers in California.
Finally, I continue to do my own work as a farmer, seed-saver, plant-breeder, and philanthropist. I do this through my family’s non-profit educational and research foundation, The Acequia Institute. The Institute is located on a 200-acre acequia farm in the San Acacio bottom lands and on the historic San Luis Peoples Ditch in southern Colorado. We live and work at the farm during the irrigation to harvest cycle every year and continue with applied projects in restoration ecology, permaculture, shifting mosaics of annual-perennial polycultures, and plant-breeding and seed-saving programs for the conservation of the genomic diversity and integrity of local land race heirloom varieties of the “Three Sisters” – corn, beans, and squash in the Upper Rio Grande headwaters bioregion.”
Dr. Sylvia Hood Washington
Research Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago
An award winning project engineer, grant writer and environmental health scientist who has been successful in integrating industry, the government and academic professionals with community groups. Over 15 years of on the ground involvement with community and environmental justice grassroots activists concerned with environmental and health inequalities tied to industrial operations.
An experienced environmental epidemiologist who is skilled in the research of environmental health outcomes from pollution exposures for litigation matters, health care safety, infection control, risk communication for environmental matters, safety and training program development, OSHA compliance assistance.
An experienced Project Manager responsible for the development and management of an environmental health disparities and environmental health literacy grant for Chicago’s Black Catholics funded by the USCCB and Illinois Humanities Council (2002-2006)
Principle Investigator for the NSF funded “Engineering and Environmental Justice ” grant which developed and utilized GIS models to examine environmental health disparities tied to sewage infrastructures in the Great Lakes (2006-2009).
An award winning NASA Sr. Project Engineer responsible for modeling environmental health risks associated with nuclear propulsion systems for future Mars missions.
An accomplished Sr. Environmental Chemist/Engineer for Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company responsible for the oversight, implementation and enforcement of solid waste, hazardous waste, water and air pollution regulations at coal fired power plants in Cleveland, OH.
Specialties:
- RCRA
- TSCA
- CERCLA OSHA compliance
- research on exposures for litigation matters
- risk communication for environmental matters
- health care safety and infection control
- safety and training program development
- mathematical modeling and computer simulation of environmental health risks
- Environmental Risk Assessment for Communities
- Environmental Engineering Designs and Modifications
- Environmental Epidemiology Research Studies
- Environmental Health Disparities Longitudinal Studies
- Mathematical and GIS Modeling of Environmental Justice Communities
- SAS Model Development and Evaluation of Environmental Health Disparities
- Long term and Long Range Environmental Health Disparities Studies
- Training and Development of Environmental Health Workers
Paul B. Thompson
W. K. Kellogg Chair in Agricultural, Food and Community Ethics, Michigan State University
Paul Thompson came to Michigan State in 2003 to assume a position in the Philosophy Department, with partial appointments in the Agricultural Economics and Resource Development Departments. Previously he held positions as Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Director, Center for Food Animal Productivity and Well-Being, at Purdue University, and prior to that positions as Professor of Philosophy and Agricultural Economics and Director, Center for Science and Technology Policy and Ethics, at Texas A&M University.
Professional Interests:
- American pragmatist approaches in practical ethics
- Environmental ethics
- Risks and ethics of agricultural and food biotechnology
- Science policy
- Philosophy of technology
- Philosophy of economics
Selected Publications:
Thompson, Paul B. (Ed.). 2008. The Ethics of Intensification: Agricultural Development and Cultural Change. Dordrecht: Springer.
Thompson, Paul B., Callicott, J, Frodeman, R, Davion, Victoria, Norton, Bryan, Palmer, Claire (Eds.). 2008. Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale-Cengage Learning.
David, Kenneth, Thompson, Paul B. (Eds.). 2008. What Can Nanotechnology Learn from Biotechnology? Social and Ethical Lessons for Nanoscience from the Debate over Agrifood Biotechnology and GMOs. Burlington, MA: Academic Press.
Thompson, Paul B. 2008. Agrarian Philosophy and Ecological Ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics 14 pg. 527-544.
*Thompson, Paul B. 2008. Animal Biotechnology: How Not to Presume. The American Journal of Bioethics 8 (6): pg. 49-50.
*Thompson, Paul B. 2008. Borgmann on Commodification: A Comment on Real American Ethics. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 21 pg. 75-84.
*Thompson, Paul B. 2008. Current Ethical Issues in Animal Biotechnology. Reproduction, Fertility and Development 20 pg. 67-73.
*Thompson, Paul B., Hannah, W. 2008. Nanotechnology, Risk and the Environment: A Review. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 10 pg. 291-300.
*Thompson, Paul B. 2008. The Agricultural Ethics of Biofuels: A First Look. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 21 pg. 183-198.
*Thompson, Paul B. 2008. The Opposite of Human Enhancement: Nanotechnology and the Blind Chicken Problem. NanoEthics 2 pg. 305-316.