PATRICIA PASKOV found her passion in agriculture and food systems during an organic farming stint at Kingbird Farms in Galt, CA. Intrigued by the political, economic, and social force of food, she soon thereafter interned with Food First (The Institute for Food and Development Policy) in Oakland, CA to expand their global initiative, Food Sovereignty Tours. In Spring 2013, Trish spent five months in Lima, Peru where she studied Economics and worked with the NGO CEPES to help develop their newest observatory on food security. Currently, Trish studies Agricultural Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also serves as the president of Oxfam UW.

PAULA GASKA is a first-generation farmer in Mendocino County, California. She and her husband own Mendocino Organics, producing beef, pork, lamb, vegetables, fruits, and grain for their local community and the Bay Area. Dedicated to providing delicious, healthy food raised with respect for the Earth, Paula is committed to a sustainable farming and food future. She works part-time with West Company, an economic development non-profit, to connect local farmers with free business development services, and allies with community-based organizations to grow a vibrant local food system through outreach and education. Paula is a founding member of Greenhorns, has served on the board of directors of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, and is a Slow Food U.S.A. delegate to Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre 2014.

PENNY ZUST: The plain and simple truth is that I am a knowledge sponge. I love to learn. Many of my acquaintances have heard me say, “as long as I learn something today it won’t be wasted.” I am also deeply spiritual and have a strong belief in the need to respect our environment as the source and sustainer of life. One of my favorite quotes by Yogi Bhajan is “Travel light, live light, share the light, be the light”. About 4 years ago I took this saying as my mantra. It has lead me to my interest in the sustainability movement and I have recently started a webpage SUSTAINABLEME.ME and a blog ONE EARTH REVOLUTION dedicated to spreading the message of sustainability and local living. It is my deepest desire that we will learn, before it is too late, how to share this one finite planet equitably with ALL of its inhabitants so that we may enjoy a stable, healthy world for many generations to come.

PHIL METZLER is a community organizer and advocate for local food systems with Transition Goshen in Indiana. He started working with dirt as an engineer and plasterer and is now learning the art of building healthy soil. He is a board member of the Goshen Farmers Market, a permaculture enthusiast, and is active in many local food initiatives.

RACHEL REYNOLDS LUSTER is a folklorist, writer, and community organizer living and working in the Missouri Ozarks. She is Project Steward and founder of the Oregon County Food Producers and Artisans Co-Op, a collective of farmers, ranchers, artisans, and concerned citizens working toward an holistic approach to community renewal and sufficiency. She is also contributing editor for the Art of The Rural, a collaborative multimedia organization with a mission to promote diverse, interdisciplinary narratives of contemporary rural arts and culture and a student in Arkansas State University’s Heritage Studies, Ph.D. program.

Rachelle Lyons – A Research Assistant Professor at Plymouth State University seated in the Center for Business and Community Partnerships. She teaches about the social, economic, environmental and health dynamics of our current food system. In addition to teaching, Rachel works with partners in Northern New Hampshire to explore and support economic viability and environmental sustainability of small-scale farms in the region to promote health and vitality of both people and place.  

RENE MICHALAK is the Project Lead for ReThink Red Deer and has helped bring resilient community planning to the forefront of public dialogue in Central Alberta, Canada. He is currently studying biomimicry and resilience theory; exploring urban ecological systems to understand the foundations of community sustainability. He’s a Marketing graduate of the Haskayne School of Business (University of Calgary) and Red Deer’s Leadership Centre, a certified Transition Towns trainer and Permaculture Designer, and practicing SPIN-Farmer.

Richard Gregor has a diverse range of experience in the construction industry over the last forty years, having sat on all sides of the table in the building delivery process: concept, marketing, feasibility, design, working drawings, construction and sales. He now works to integrate these disciplines with Engineered Architecture, where he writes a blog on “Commonsense Building Practices” and as a building scientist and forensic engineer at Commercial Building Consultants. He spent three years as president of the Hanslin Design Studio which designed and built 550 individual and multi-unit recreational homes in the Eastman Community, a joint venture of Dartmouth College, the NH Society for the Protection of Forests, Chubb Insurance, and the Manchester Bank. During this time period, the country received its first wake-up call from OPEC, in the form of the oil embargo of the early ‘70’s. Mr. Gregor designed the first active solar home in NH as well as a group of passive solar and super-insulated homes. He then worked as general manager and treasurer of Yankee Barn Homes, a post and beam manufacturer using plywood & insulating foam structural panels. He rebuilt the manufacturing and beam processing facilities after a devastating fire destroyed the entire plant just two days after starting the job, continuing construction of orders on hand in a golf maintenance shed. He ran a full service architectural/engineering firm providing services to building owners, contractors, developers and architects. Engineered Architecture, originally founded as the Sheerr and Gregor Corporation in New London, NH in 1979, it is now located in Amherst, NHAs a principal engineer in the A/E business, he was responsible for over 1,000 individual and multifamily homes and 300 million dollars worth of commercial and institutional building and design. Some notable accomplishments and firsts include: a passive solar mini-mall, a congregate care facility with fee simple ownership, a passive solar subdivision, Energy Star manufactured homes, and innovative sewage disposal and water conservation systems for the State of NH Highway Safety Rest Areas. Prior to that, he was a gas turbine preliminary design engineer at the Aircraft Engine Group, General Electric Co., where he worked on the preliminary design of the American SST engine. He is an incorporator of the Greater Manchester Affiliate for Habitat for Humanity. Dick has worked as a coach and Tournament Judge in the Destination Imagination and Odyssey of the Mind programs and mentor in the US FIRST Robotics Program. Dick got his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) at Swarthmore College then after working in the private sector was awarded a NASA Fellowship and went to the Thayer School at Dartmouth College and completed all coursework for Doctorate of Engineering He is a registered professional engineer in Maine, and former member of ASHRAE, the Boston Society of Architects & NHAIA. He has lectured on sustainable affordable modular housing, renewable energy, and building mechanical systems integration at numerous workshops and conferences, and writes a blog at engineeredarchitecture.com on Commonsense Building Practices.

ROBERT S. HOWARD: After working 43 years in the nuclear Navy and civilian nuclear industry Mr. Howard retired to Delaware where he is actively involved in various volunteer activities for the local community. During his career with the Navy and the leading manufacturer of nuclear reactors Mr. Howard worked in many aspects of nuclear plant operations, including operations, design engineering, project management, construction management, servicing operating plants, Low Level Waste management and business development. As a consultant to the industry he worked with several nuclear utilities in various aspects of plant management. As volunteer in the community of Milton Delaware, he is active on the Economic Development Committee which is promoting sustainability as a discipline that will improve the economy of the town, its businesses and its people. The Lexicon of Sustainability is an educational tool that will promote that discipline and as such the pop-up art show is a perfect fit with our strategy. Mr. Howard is married to his wife of 47 years and his two grown daughters live in the Bay Area of California.

ROBYN REES is currently a Geography, Urban, and Environmental Studies MSc. candidate at Concordia University, in Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Her research focuses on social capital building in the food system, and the potential contributions of suburban agriculture to important shifts in local food systems. In 2010, Robyn was an intern for the Concordia Food Systems Project, an initiative of Sustainable Concordia and the Global Futures Laboratory, for which she created the Montreal Online Sustainable Food Map and a Food Studies Database. During that time she also did some work for the Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS). In the summer of 2011, she attended the Concordia Greenhouse’s City Farm School and received her Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) with P3 (People for the Profit of the Planet) Permaculture in Nova Scotia. Putting her knowledge to good use, the following Spring, she began growing vegetables on her family’s property in Hudson, Quebec, and began the first phase of transitioning her land according to a permaculture design developed through consultation with Graham Calder (P3 Permaculture) – together they planted a pear tree, plum tree, and aronia berry shrubs. She also hosted workshops in collaboration with P3 Permaculture, including a mushroom cultivation and food forest workshop.Through her involvement since 2010 in the local food movement, Robyn has connected with many individuals and organizations that are working in diverse ways toward building more local, people centered, just, and ecologically integrated food systems. Currently, she is working most closely with Justice Alimentaire Montreal (JAM, or Food Justice Montreal), and the Concordia Food Coalition (CFC), who are working to shift the food system in Montreal and at Concordia University, respectively. She feels strongly about the centrality of healthy and fair food systems in facilitating the urgently needed shift to holistically sustainable social-ecological relationships. Robyn is passionate about engaging people in this movement – one that is more proactive than reactive.

Root Cellar is a micro-retail grocery in downtown Columbia, Missouri that emphasizes Missouri-raised farm and food products. Our products tell the story of Missouri’s farmers: rice grown in the Bootheel, bacon and beef raised on the plains, salad greens nurtured in the rolling hills of the Missouri River. Our mission is to support Missouri’s diverse farmers and artisan food producers by providing a high-quality outlet for consumers. By developing personal relationships with each and every one of our farmers, we can rest assured that they are committed to caring for the land and believe deeply in the need to produce vegetables, grains, fruits, and meats without unnecessary harm. It is through these relationships that we can offer high-quality sustainably-raised products to our customers while supporting local family farms.

My name is Rosa Cantrell. I was born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina then moved to Auburn, Alabama, to attend Auburn University. At Auburn, I majored in Agricultural Communications with a focus in sustainable production. While a student, I was president of Auburn Real Food Challenge and had the privilege of working with Chartwells food service corporation to open a farm-to-table restaurant on campus. After graduating in May 2015, I found my way to Kennesaw State University with Chartwells where I serve as the Sustainability Coordinator. My favorite part of my job is educating students about sustainability and running an on-campus farmer’s market. My long-term goal is to open food and farming co-ops around the southeast, especially in food desert areas.

RYAN RISING is a community organizer, permaculture educator, and direct action advocate based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Ryan focuses on creating community access to land for local food growing and regenerative living – connecting people back to the land base to create what we need to sustain ourselves.  After starting Rising Roots Permaculture and designing for homes and farms on the east coast, Ryan moved to California where he became involved with urban social movements to create autonomous community spaces.  Ryan is a skilled facilitator with experience in consensus building, collaborative groups, and decision-making assemblies; and has taught permaculture and related subjects at various design courses, intensives, and workshops in the United States and Central America.  Ryan is also a drummer and percussionist and writer for independent media.

Pushing Through the Pavement is a team of permaculture educators and project facilitators touring the United States in the Fall of 2014 with musical artist The Polish Ambassador.  The team will be offering permaculture education at venues in major cities, connecting people in the audience with local groups and organizations doing urban permaculture and community resiliency work in each city, and facilitating project implementation days to get peoples’ hands planting, building, and creating a better world together.  We start with building community – connecting people together in the places they are already gathering – and move towards growing, cooking, and sharing food together, building with natural materials, collecting rainwater, and transitioning our urban spaces beyond sustainability.
Look for the Lexicon of Sustainability Pop-Up Show with the permaculture action tour in major venues in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Asheville, Washington DC, Seattle, New York, and many other cities across the United States this fall.
Through a focus on community organizing, the permaculture action tour will empower people to act directly to change their social ecosystems and physical environments and lead a culturally transformative shift towards a more regenerative and resilient way of life. www.PermacultureAction.org

SARA RYCKEBOSCH is a chef, writer, and food librarian based in Marietta, Ohio. She’s also the chef-in-residence with Washington County Harvest of Hope, a food recovery nonprofit organization that rescues fresh, nutritious food from businesses and delivers it to pantries and community meal programs in Southeast Ohio. She blogs at www.sausagetarian.com.

SARAH MERRITT is the executive director of the Arts Council of Wayne County (ACWC). Since assuming the role in 2006, Sarah has been dedicated to increasing the organization’s presence in the community. In 2011, she led the organization in a bold move to a relocate the Arts Council to Goldsboro’s historic downtown. With a goal of developing more diverse and active audiences, the organization has since increased annual participation and attendance for its programs by 75%. In addition, the Arts Council has increased its programmatic offerings to include a studio artist program, First Fridays, the Wayne County Jazz Showcase, scholarships for K-12 art students, open mic nights, gallery talks, and Sunday in the Park.
Through Sarah’s leadership, the organization has developed partnerships with community organizations formed to provide a number of annual programs and projects including Wayne County Reads with the Wayne County Public Library, Sunday in the Park with Goldsboro Parks & Recreation, Fall Arts Festival, Jazz on George with the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation, arts programming with the Wayne County Public Schools, the African American Music Heritage Trail with the North Carolina Arts Council, art exhibits with the University of Mount Olive, school programs with the Paramount Theatre, and humanities programming with the Wayne Community College Foundation.
Sarah is dedicated to community serving on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation for nine years and the St. Francis Episcopal Church Vestry for six years. Professionally, in 2010 and 2011, she served on the North Carolina Arts Council’s Community Arts Grant Panel. From 2007 to 2014, she served on the Board of Arts North Carolina and is currently involved as Chair of the organization’s Strategic Planning Committee.
Sarah is a graduate of the University of Maryland, University College with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. She holds a Master of Science in Arts Administration from Drexel University. Her awards include; Goldsboro Jaycees 2009 Distinguished Service Award, Downtown Goldsboro Development Corporation 2011 Board Member of the Year, Drexel University 2011 Arts Administration Scholarship Award, and North Carolina Department of Commerce 2102 Main Street Champion.
She shares her life with her husband of 22 years, Jeff, her seven year-old son, Ian, and three happy dogs, Sadie, Doc, and Teddy. An artist herself, Sarah enjoys painting, reading, travel, cooking, and time with friends.

SARAH VUJCICH is a junior at the University of Colorado at Boulder majoring in Environmental Studies, with a minor in Community Studies. Sarah is also an intern for the Front Range Bioneers, a conference which primarily focuses on working toward a more sustainable future. Sarah is passionate about community education around issues involving food. She has been involved with various student groups such as CU in the Garden and Student to Farm which focus on educating students about injustice in the food system and actively works in the fields with local farmers. Sarah Enjoys being outside, cooking, making art, and hooping. After school, she plans to WWOOF around South America to gain insight on the social aspects of farming from different cultural perspectives.

SEAN ARNOLD, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and currently obtaining his Master’s of Science in Sustainable Food Systems from Green Mountain College, is a forward-thinking and multi-talented food service leader with more than 15 years’ experience driving teams to success while promoting sustainable and environmentally-conscious initiatives. Sean started working in the food industry when he was in college at Elon University. Sean has years of experience feeding large groups of people while acting as the Director of Dining Services at Oldfields School for Flik Independent Schools, Towson University, and as Associate Director at York College, and at Garrison Forest School and Calvert Hall College High School for SAGE Dining Services. For the last several years, he and a team of volunteers have been working tirelessly to develop the Healthy World Café. The Healthy World Café is a not-for-profit community café dedicated to simultaneously providing affordable meals while promoting locally-sourced foods. They are based on four principles: 1. serve locally grown, unprocessed food. 2. Choose your portions 3. Pay what you can 4. Treat all with dignity. Serving as Chair for Healthy World Café, Sean has helped to build the organization from start-up to serving the community once a month from a local church, during special events and catering opportunities. Sean looks forward to continuing his passion of learning, and to educate others on the importance of local sustainable food.

Shawn Storer is a husband and father of five, an urban farmer, church worker, co-organizer of Common Goods Co-operative Grocery, and professor in the area of theology, integral ecology, food justice and the common good.

Shay Farmer Regional Food Access Coordinator: Shay’s work focuses on helping to implement the Double SNAP Dollars program and food sovereignty classes in the Mission Valley in conjunction with the Polson Farmers Market. She also provides regional technical assistance on implementing and fundraising for nutrition incentive programs at farmers markets. Shay received her bachelor’s degree in International Political Science from Arcadia University in 2009. Prior to CFAC, Shay worked at Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center in Ronan as the Farm to Institution Program Manager, working to increase local food being served at schools, hospitals, and other public institutions through forward contracting and cooperative purchasing initiatives. She has also served many stints in various AmeriCorps programs, learning important skills in building social capital and community organizing. Shay hopes to bring her experiences to CFAC to help increase local and healthy food access to all demographics in western Montana.

SHELLEY SOMERSETT was raised on a ranch in Pleasanton, California, and has gardened since childhood; she started living green in the 70’s; studied Landscape Design at UC Berkeley; designs sustainable gardens with a focus on Edibles combined with Ornamental plants for the past 29 years. She is a trained Contra Costa County Master Gardener, Bay Friendly Landscape Designer, EPA WaterSense Partner and Certified Professional Landscape Designer.

SHERRY COFFEY is passionate about food and works to create positive change in her community through community gardens as secretary for New Brunswick Community Harvest Gardens (NBCHG), and volunteer with Greener Village’s teaching kitchen. She is part of the Barkers Point School and Community Garden Committee that recently planted 8 raised beds for students, teachers, and neighbours. She is a Community Food Mentor, Outdoor Educator, and Permaculturist. She is also an award-winning writer with poetry published in the Antigonish Review, Cancer Poetry Project, Room Magazine, filling Station and The Northern Review. She is from the Yukon but makes her home in Fredericton, New Brunswick now.

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, are Catholic women bound together in faith. Urged by the love of God to respond to the most serious needs of our time, we pursue justice, peace and sustainable ways of life.

Based in Monroe, MI, our community of more than 350 vowed Sisters and 120 associates ministers in education, pastoral care, spiritual development, social services, mental and physical health, and social justice—throughout the United States and in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico and South Africa.

We live the mission of Jesus in our time. The liberating mission of Jesus is alive in IHM Sisters. We are called to respond to the world’s most pressing needs. From our earliest and continued ministries in education to our growing commitment to sustainability, we adapt our ministries to changing times.

We act on insights from study, prayer and contemplation. IHM Sisters are seekers and doers. We gain insights through intellectual study, contemplative prayer and apostolic lives, and we are unafraid to act on what we learn. We trust in divine providence and our calling, and we are willing to take risks for the sake of the future.

We work to bring about peace, justice and sustainability. The focus of our prayer and work is to build a culture of peace and right relationship among ourselves, with the Church, and with the whole Earth community. We seek justice for all of God’s creation, in this world and beyond.”

Florida’s Slow Food Glades to Coast Convivium is part of the international Slow Food movement which promotes good, clean, and fairly produced food. Located in Broward and most of Palm Beach counties, SFGC hosts many events throughout the year such as farm tours, restaurant visits, and tastings. We actively support school nutrition programs, sustainable seafood education, community gardens, and we hold an annual Growing Green Communities conference.

Slow Food Hoochee Poosa is an East Alabama/West Georgia group of like minded consumers, farmers, and foodies dedicated to furthering the mission of Slow Food International and encouraging the production and consumption of locally grown, clean, and healthy organic fruits and vegetables. We strive to promote local initiatives and educate the general public about alternatives to their current “fast” lifestyles. We have recently gained chapterhood through Slow Food International (www.slowfood.com). We meet monthly to discuss local projects and enjoy tasty locally grown food made by our members. Learn more about us on Facebook by finding and liking the Hoochee Poosa Locavores.