Advisory Committee
EcoLogic's advisory committee advises on groups and projects that EcoLogic should support and provides ongoing recommendations to partner organizations, EcoLogic staff, and our board of directors. The multidisciplinary committee is comprised of individuals with extensive knowledge of economic development, tropical ecology, micro-enterprises, natural resource conservation, environmental education, and indigenous rights.
Manuela Alvarado López is a former member of the Guatemalan Congressional Commission on Women, Minors, and the Family. Ms. López, a Maya Quiché, is dedicated to the Guatemalan peace process and the broadening of the social and political participation of women and the Mayan people. A nurse by training, Ms. López has also worked to advance better health care in rural, underserved areas of Guatemala.
Alberto Chinchilla is the executive director of the Central American Indigenous and Peasant Coordination Association for Community Agroforestry (CICAFOC) a community-based, nonpolitical and dynamic organization working to help adapt to the fast changes experienced by Central American rural communities.
Nilo Cayuqueo is the founder and co-Director of the Abya Yala Fund, whose purpose is to foster self-reliance among indigenous peoples in the Americas. Mr. Cayuqueo is a Mapuche Indian originally from the Los Toldos community in the southwest part of Argentina. He has been actively involved in the national and international movement for indigenous rights for more than 30 years. In 1983, Mr. Cayuqueo co-founded the South and Meso-American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) and served as its co-director until 1994. SAIIC has been very actively advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples of the Americas and linking people from the South with the North. Nilo's awards include the Social Justice Sabbatical Award of Vanguard Foundation, and the Recognition of Achievement Award from several Peruvian groups including the Peruvian Indian Movement, and the Rainforest Indigenous Federation. He has been honored by the United Nations for his work on behalf of indigenous peoples.
Dr. Jason Clay is vice president and managing director-markets at the World Wildlife Fund. In this capacity he leads work within WWF-US on forests, fisheries, agriculture, aquaculture, finance, climate, and policy. He is lead in the WWF Network on aquaculture and agriculture, and now the work with the private sector on supply chain management. Dr. Clay is the author of 15 books, over 250 articles, and 500 invited presentations. His most recent books are World Aquaculture and the Environment (in press, 2008), Exploring the Links between International Business and Poverty Reduction: A Case Study of Unilever in Indonesia (2005), and World Agriculture and the Environment (2004). Each is a commodity-by-commodity guide to aquaculture and agricultural impacts and practices. Dr. Clay studied at Harvard and the London School of Economics before receiving his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1979 in anthropology and international agriculture.
James Crowfoot, Ph.D. is president emeritus of Antioch College and director emeritus of the Pew Conservation Scholars Program. From 1983 to 1990, Dr. Crowfoot was dean of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources. Dr. Crowfoot is an expert in conflict-management and organizational design and behavior.
Neva Goodwin, Ph.D., is co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute (G-DAE), Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and vice chair of the Board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. A specialist in ecological economics, Dr. Goodwin has published extensively on environmental economics and sustainable development.
Lewis Gordon is an attorney and the founder and director of the Environmental Defender Law Center (EDLC). Focusing primarily on the global South, EDLC identifies cases of people whose human rights are being violated in connection with their advocacy for the environment, or who are being harmed by environmentally destructive practices. EDLC then recruits American lawyers from top international law firms to provide assistance on a pro bono basis. He entered private practice in Alaska in 1982, and from 1989-94 served on the plaintiffs’ steering committee that managed the massive litigation arising from the grounding of the Exxon Valdez. He founded EDLC at the end of that year. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Connecticut School of Law.
José Herrero is a member of the board of directors of Fundación Cuero y Salado, Fundación Parque Nacional Pico Bonito, and a former member of the board of directors of Fundación VIDA. Mr. Herrero is the manager and owner of El Marranito farm and one of Honduras' leading environmental advocates.
Dr. Leonard P. Hirsch is a senior policy advisor at the Smithsonian Institution, where he supports the scientific programs of the Smithsonian, with emphasis on global environmental concerns. Dr. Hirsch is a member of the White House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the National Science and Technology Council, where he works on issues of biological diversity informatics and facilitating the coordination of government research on land and seascape change. He is active in work with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (as Deputy Head of the US delegation), and participates in the coordination processes of the Conventions on Combating Desertification and Climate Change, and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. He represents the Smithsonian on the U.S. Interagency process for CITES. He in involved in the InterAmerican Biodiversity Information Network, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Dr. Hirsch received his B.A. from Pomona College, and an M.A. in international relations and PhD in political science from Northwestern University.
Enrique Leff, Ph.D., is Coordinator of the Environmental Training Network for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Environment Program in Mexico. Dr. Leff, a leading Latin American scholar on ecological issues, authored the book Ecology and Capital.
Joshua Mailman is the founder and director of Sirius Business, a New York-based investment firm working with a broad array of companies seeking to promote environmental and social responsibility.
Frances Moore Lappé is the author of 16 books, beginning with the 1971 three-million-copy bestseller, Diet for a Small Planet, which awakened a whole generation to the human-made causes of hunger and the significance of our everyday choices. Her newest book, Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, & Courage in a World Gone Mad, was released in October 2007. Her other recent works include the 2006 Democracy’s Edge: Choosing to Save our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life (Wiley/Jossey-Bass) and, in 2004, You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear (Tarcher/Penguin), co-authored with Jeffrey Perkins. In 2002, Ms. Lappé and her daughter Anna Lappé published the 30th anniversary sequel to Diet, entitled Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (Tarcher/Penquin). In it, the two pick up where the original Diet leaves off. Through a chronicle of their five-continent journey, the two Lappés explore answers to our planet’s most urgent questions of sustainability and democracy. Ms. Lappé and her daughter are co-founders of the Cambridge-based Small Planet Institute, whose publishing arm is releasing Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity, & Courage in a World Gone Mad, and the Small Planet Fund, which channels resources to democratic social movements worldwide. In addition, Ms. Lappé is co-founder of two other national organizations.
Ian Todreas is senior manager at ERG, a multidisciplinary consulting firm. Mr. Todreas has over 15 years of professional experience as an environmental consultant. Over his career, Mr. Todreas has worked with local, state, regional, national, and international agencies to affect behavior change through strategic implementation of voluntary initiatives. In addition to rain forest conservation and sustainable development, Mr. Todreas has technical expertise in energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and climate change policy and programs. Mr. Todreas is also widely respected as a skilled fundraiser and effective communicator. He has supported EcoLogic in various ways since 1994.