Andy Baker, PE; YourClean Energy LLC www.yourcleanenergy.us
Ally Barker is a Home Gardener, Wild Foods Harvester Extraordinaire & Mountaineering Guide
Peter Briggs; Corvus Design Landscape Architecture www.corvus-design.com
Sirena Brownlee is a wildlife biologist at HDR Alaska with over 9 years of experience conducting ecological baseline studies in support of a variety of development and restoration projects in Alaska and the lower 48. Her specialties include designing and conducting field studies of terrestrial and avian wildlife, threatened and endangered species surveys, biological monitoring and NEPA compliance. Sirena has an extensive knowledge of local flora and fauna with specialization in bird identification by sight and sound.
Kevin Cassity has studied, practiced, and occasionally taught various approaches to working with emotions. Kevin was recently licensed by HeartMath Institute to teach HeartMath biofeedback technology and techniques to educators and schoolkids
Kathy Ciarimboli is the National Outdoor Leadership School, Palmer branch, Sustainable Foods Coordinator and Farmer.
John Creighton, age 26, grew up at Ionia and therefore has a firm grasp of the principles of macrobiotics, gathered energy, peer support, and close kibbutz-like community. He is the father of Buddy, age 5 - our first member of the third generation Ionians. John is emerging as a young leader at Ionia. He has participated with several of our alternative energy projects, speaks plainly and energetically in Ionia’s daily meetings, and helps to explain our mission with our regular stream of interested visitors, and at public events.
Robert Crosby has over thirty years experience in architectural and engineering design, as principal mechanical designer on over 300 projects located throughout Alaska since 1975. In 1984, he founded Biorealis Systems, Inc. a professional corporation set up to provide R&D and ecological engineering services, with a primary focus on development of small scale appropriate technologies, and designs which emulate natural biological systems. He is a member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc, (ASHRAE) and has served on the boards of the Alaska Inventors & Entrepreneurs Association, and Ecological Economics of Alaska, Inc.
John Doyle grew up in northwestern Alaska and has traveled widely and lived on three continents. He loves the Earth, children, intellectual exploration, the arts, contemplation and peace. He believes in wonder, universal energy, equity and compassion. He seeks simplicity, reality and sustainable human resilience. John’s professional background includes international law, engineering, natural resource / environmental policy, strategic planning, history and music. Lately John’s work has shifted from international relations to cascading global change and adaptation.
Ted Eller and Bill Johnson are founding fathers of Ionia - a self help, kibbutz like eco village on the Kenai Peninsula. They have practiced a natural, macrobiotic lifestyle for 30 years, and their recipe for planetary wellness includes whole natural foods, daily group meetings which address people’s fundamental attitudes and point of view, close family and peer support, and simple, seasonal close to the ground activities. Ted and Bill are the principle builders of our alternative energy projects here at Ionia, including an efficient, low emissions wood fired boiler and beautiful masonry heaters.
Sharon Ferguson’s interests in the design of ecovillages, permaculture, and natural building have taken her around the world to visit sites and learn about sustainable community design. She has recently returned from the 8th International Permaculture Convergence in Brazil. Sharon is the owner of a small business - Straw Design which specializes in consultation and design of residential, commercial, and institutional properties using permaculture techniques. She is also establishing a new division – Sustainable Community Planning for the American Planning Association.
Nancy Lee-Evans has 30 years experience in environmental activism, sustainability, healing, and the work of the human soul. She is the former director of the AK Alternative Energy Resource Center, and current director of the Anam Cara Program, a 3 year program in personal development, spiritual awakening and healing. Her work centers on the power of relationship to heal – the self, one’s family, community, the natural world and our ancestors. It is her belief that relearning these important forms of relatedness is crucial to the success of our sustainable communities and the restoration of our full humanity. www.nancylee-evans.com
Dawn LoBaugh has a Master of Environmental Science, specializing in biological systems. She has over ten years experience in project management, animal husbandry, and wild animal rehabilitation. For the past two years, Dawn has worked for HDR Alaska focusing on water quality and hydrology in streams, lakes, and rivers around the state of Alaska. She is now tasked to work with the Municipality of Anchorage on a variety of hydrological projects, one of which is the Municipality’s Rain Gardens grant program.
Stella Lyn is a local herbalist of Red Moon Rising in Palmer, AK. and uses tried and true methods which have been working for people throughout history. With an emphasis on nourishment, Stella offers private consultations for people at any stage of life, dealing with acute or chronic illness, or just wanting to enhance their well-being. She also offers high quality bulk herbs, and herbal extracts. She is inspired by the sparkle in people’s eyes as they begin to see the weedy plants of the doorstep as healing allies and supreme foods. Stella is also the leader of the Palmer chapter of the Weston Price Foundation, for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts. artemis@mtaonline.net
Brian Messner, ECI-Hyer Architects www.ecihyer.com
Pamela K. Miller is the founder and executive director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, a non-profit environmental health and justice research and advocacy organization. She serves as principal investigator for community-based research projects supported through grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Environmental Protection Agency. Pam has twenty-five years of experience in marine research, education, and environmental health advocacy. She holds a master’s degree in environmental science (Miami University, Oxford Ohio,1981). Pam received the Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contribution, Alaska’s highest honor for conservation professionals. www.akaction.org
Madeleine Morrison N.D. received her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from National College of Naturopathic Medicine in 1995. Her philosophy is to bring about a healthy world through healthy families. Dr. Morrison utilizes lifestyle coaching, counseling, nutrition, homeopathy, western and Chinese botanical medicine in her practice. She focuses on bringing improved health through lifestyle changes. She has advanced training in environmental medicine, gynecology and obstetrics.
Dr. Morrison grew up in San Francisco and received her B.A. in biology from the University of California Santa Cruz. Prior to moving to Alaska 12 years ago, she lived in Portland, Oregon; Snowmass, Colorado; and in Northern California.
Alan Parks grew up in Homer and has served his community in a myriad of ways as a city council member and dependable community volunteer. He is a lifelong commercial fisherman, professional photographer and conservation advocate. While still going to sea as a halibut longliner and fishing salmon in Bristol Bay, Alan has worked for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council as the Homer community outreach coordinator since 2000. In 2007 the Homer City Council appointed him chair of their Global Warming Task Force.
Theresa Peterson is a long-time resident of Kodiak. She has crewed on commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska and currently runs a family fishing business together with her husband. Theresa is Alaska Marine Conservation Council’s Kodiak coordinator on fisheries conservation and climate change. Theresa is one of the founders of Sustainable Kodiak, a citizen group working to identify, practice and promote sustainable methods and technologies for their island community.
Kelcie Ralph is a senior at the University of Alaska Anchorage where she is studying Economics. She has worked as an intern for the Institute of Social and Economic Research and currently works at the UAA Experimental Economics Laboratory. Her research interests are Urban and Environmental Economics and she hopes to continue her studies at the PhD. level. Kelcie served one year as a Student Senator where she worked to institutionalize sustainable practices at UAA. She currently serves on the Chancellor’s Council for Sustainability. While not at school, Kelcie enjoys biking, backpacking and traveling to far away places.
Troy Smiley has been a builder of log, timber frame and conventional homes and structures, as well as stairs, railings, and cabinetry for over twenty years. He serves on the Susitna Community Council and the Denali Arts Council Board, was a founding board member of the Valley Community for Recycling Solutions and operated a volunteer recycling operation in Talkeetna for three years. The ideals of green building practices have been a passionate goal for Troy, driving years of experimentation with natural, food safe, nontoxic glues and finishes, locally harvested wood and alternative insulation materials and techniques.
Kim Sollien came to Alaska in 2000 and studied sustainable development at APU. Working for Chickaloon Native Village, she helped launch a sustainable foods initiative that included organic gardening classes, community gardens and a four-season greenhouse that produces fresh produce. She helped bring the national conference Bioneers, to Alaska in 2004 and hosts a local food issues blog on the Anchorage Daily News Website: called AK Root Cellar. Her passion in working toward food security and rejuvenating the Alaska food system influences all aspects of her professional and personal life.
Kirby Spangler spent much of his childhood camping, fishing, hiking and biking with his folks. This led to a deep love of the “outdoors” and a growing suspicion that we, as a culture, had lost our place within it. Despite four years of college, and after much reading, reflection, laughing and crying, that suspicion is now a certainty. Kirby’s current interests include learning ways to live that answer the call of our wild genetic heritage and allow us back into the tattered ecological fabric of the Earth.
Will Taygan is a stay-at-home dad, a biodiesel educator, and an authorized installer of straight vegetable oil systems. He is the owner of Arctic Vegwerks and the coordinator of the Alaska Biodiesel and SVO Network, a non-profit dedicated to supporting and encouraging the use of waste vegetable oil, fish oil and local sustainably grown oil crops as fuel. Will started his alternative fueling efforts over six years ago by converting a 1981 VW pickup to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO) and has since used commercial biodiesel, participated a small biodiesel collective, built a biodiesel processor, and is currently teaching biodiesel and SVO seminars and installing Plantdrive-based straight vegetable oil systems.
Dr. Ty Vincent is a lifelong Alaskan, raised in the Mat-Su Valley. He achieved his MD from the University of Washington in 2002, then completed residency training in Family Medicine here in Anchorage in 2005. He was Chief Resident the last year of training, and was chosen for a national teaching award. He has had further advanced training and education in the areas of nutritional medicine including intravenous therapy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, bio-identical hormone therapy, Reiki (a form of energy healing) and advanced immunological treatments for allergy. He is pursuing a fellowship in Environmental Medicine, and currently holds a national board position for that organization. He currently runs an integrative medical clinic in Wasilla, where he lives with his wonderful wife Brandilyn and 5 amazing children.
Randy Virgin is the Director of Sustainability for the Municipality of Anchorage where he works to reduce waste and promote sustainable practices in municipal government. Previously, Randy worked in the grassroots advocacy field for over ten years as an executive director, grassroots organizer, fundraiser, and office assistant for organizations including Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Public Interest Research Group, and the Alaska Rainforest Campaign. Randy has lived in Anchorage since 1997 and grew up in central Montana. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Montana.
Viola Waghiyi is a bilingual St. Lawrence Island Yupik Eskimo who was born and raised in Savoonga, Alaska on St. Lawrence Island. Vi is the Environmental Justice Community Coordinator with ACAT’s Alaska Rural Environmental Justice Program. In her work with ACAT, Vi is sought out repeatedly to speak at national and international meetings about military toxics in rural villages, the long-range transport of pollutants to the north, the effects of global warming in Alaska, and body burdens of chemicals. Vi brought to ACAT fifteen years of experience in a variety of positions in Nome, Seattle, and Anchorage.
Marcus Welker is a senior studying Natural Sciences at UAA. My senior research project is titled “Community responses to climate change.” This summer I conducted comparative research in Tatabanya, Hungary and Tromso, Norway. The goal of the research is to successfully implement a climate action plan in Anchorage, Alaska.
At UAA I am proud to be a student leader, serving on the student government for one year as chair of the Sustainability Committee. I currently serve on the Chancellor’s Council for Sustainability.
Outside of the classroom, I love to bike (for fun & to commute), ski, and be outdoors.
Susan Willsrud is the Farm Director at Calypso. Susan has a BA degree in Zoology from UC Davis and a MS degree in Plant Ecology from UAF. She has 12 years of organic farming experience working on farms in California and Alaska. She is the co-founder of Calypso and the lead farmer since its founding in 2000. Susan is an enthusiastic advocate for local food and has worked extensively with other organizations and community leaders to forward sustainable agriculture in Alaska. Her responsibilities as Farm Director include program and farm planning, budgeting, workshop instruction and supervision of Calypso’s Schoolyard Garden Initiative.
Sara Wilson Doyle has many passions: family, nature, wild medicinal and edible plants, perennial gardening, thought-provoking conversations and reading. She has grappled with community, sustainability, and land-related issues for more than twenty years, including at the Land Institute and the E. F. Schumacher Society. Sara currently works as a land use planner in southcentral Alaska and has a masters in landscape design.
Tom Zimmer is the Ecology Center Director at Calypso. Tom has a BS degree in Geological Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a MS degree in Soil Science from Utah State University. Tom has wide ranging experience working with diverse agricultural systems; from Sub Saharan orchard and nurseries to developing home gardens. In 2000, he co-founded Calypso Farm and Ecology Center and continues to dedicate his efforts to creating a healthy, diverse farm system. His responsibilities as the Ecology Center Director include environmental education planning, soil fertility management, ecological farming instruction and consultation, farm infrastructure planning and community outreach.
