• The Green Life Market
• Clean Water Action
• Food from Marie Catrib's of Eastown.
  
  
  • Biodegradable plates and eating fair to be donated by Campus Dining

• A representative from Shaklee, an environmentally friendly provider of personal care & household products

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, and former CIA director R. James Woolsey are among those who discuss the pressing issues facing today's world. Specialists reveal how human actions impact the Earth's ecosystems, and what can be done to reverse or slow the damage before it is too late to save the planet's life.

Robert Hollister, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology - Grand Valley State University

Dr. Robert D. Hollister is a well respected researcher in ecology and environmental science. He has over 9 publications in premiere journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS). His expertise is in changing tundra vegetation and biotic response to warming and other disturbances. Hollister's research in Alaska is funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the Arctic Observatory Network. This long-term project uses small chambers to experimentally warm plots of vegetation in an attempt to simulate future climate change. He monitors the response of the plant species and a few ecosystem parameters including carbon balance. The results from this work are being used to better forecast and understand vegetation change in the Arctic. As a member of the Global Change Biology Editorial Advisory Board he is well aware of the many changes currently impacting biological systems. He has experience working in systems outside the Arctic Circle including Antarctica, tropical dry forests and temperate systems especially Michigan wetlands. Hollister does extensive outreach activities in Alaska and Michigan. He often talks with community groups and classrooms about the Arctic and climate change.

Ann Kroll Lerner

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology - Grand Valley State University

Mortuary studies, cultural maintenance, pastoral nomadism, landscape, and prehistoric archaeology.

After working for several years in cultural resource management throughout the Midwest and Northeast, Ann Kroll Lerner returned to Michigan to study at Michigan State University. She received her PhD in Anthropology, focusing her doctoral research on the cultural identities of Iron Age pastoral nomads in Western and south Siberia. Through her mortuary studies she explores the use of material culture in forming and maintaining nomadic identity, the unique expressions of gender identity in the burial record, and the importance of children in mobile populations.

Casey Boase

Senior Grand Valley State University Student

Casey Boase is currently a senior at Grand Valley State University where he is pursuing a degree in International Relations and a minor in Economics. For over a year, Casey has worked closely with the Director of Sustainability and Facilities Services to inventory the University’s greenhouse gas emissions and find cost-effective solutions for reducing energy consumption and the University’s greenhouse gas footprint. After receiving his MBA, Casey plans to create his own global consulting firm, which will assist large and small corporations alike in their evolution toward greater social responsibility, environmental consciousness, and long-term economic vitality.

Dr. Ashok Kumar

Professor of Business Management - Grand Valley State University

Dr. Kumar is currently serving as Professor of Management in Seidman College of Business. He holds baccalaureate degrees in Mathematics (co-majors: Physics and Chemistry) and in Technology, a masters degree in Quality and Reliability Engineering, and a Ph. D. degree in Management. His areas of expertise include Quality, Supply Chain Management, Operations Strategy (promoting sustainable businesses), and Advanced Manufacturing Systems. He has over 130 publications to his credit in many highly regarded business journals and conference proceedings and has served in ranking editorial capacities on nine leading journals in the area of operations management (currently serving on five). He has also served in numerous leadership capacities in academic conferences including as President, Vice President, General Program Chair, etc.

At Grand Valley, he has received Outstanding Contributions to a Discipline award, Outstanding Seidman Faculty award, and several awards for Excellence in Research. Outside Grand Valley, awards of significant distinction include Best Dissertation Award (Runner-up), Highest Quality Research awards, Best Student Paper award, and Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award, and several Who's Who awards including the Who's Who in America's Teachers (2003-2006). He is currently serving as Chair of the Amazing Asian Awards committee, Vice President of Asian center of West Michigan, and Board member of India Link.

Paul Isley, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Economics - Grand Valley State University

Paul Isely received his Bachelor of Science in Physics and Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He followed with his Ph.D. in Economics at Purdue University, where he was an instructor in the economics department. His research and teaching interests are in Macroeconomic Policy, Technological Change, and International Economics.

Joshua Miller

Sustainability Director at Spectrum Health

Josh Miller graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Sustainable Business and a second major concentration area of Environmental Studies. He grew up in the nearby town of Rockford and graduated from Belding High School. During his years at Aquinas, Josh was an accomplished athlete achieving All-Conference, All-Regional, and Academic All-American status on the men’s cross country team. He also distinguished himself academically and graduated magna cum laude in December.

Josh completed his internship at Sustainable Research Group (SRG) of Grand Rapids in the fall of 2006, where he conducted research supporting the Michigan Mercury Switch Program, alternative energy technologies, and the BIFMA furniture sustainability standard initiative. Upon completion of the SRG position, Josh began a year-long internship at Metro Health Hospital. His primary responsibilities at Metro included internal education and marketing for the employee carpool program, bio-based cafeteria product research, and general grant writing.

In December 2006, Josh was hired as the Sustainability Coordinator for Spectrum Health of West Michigan. Responsibilities include managing the organization’s comprehensive environmental management system, overseeing collection and analysis of hospital sustainability indicators, assessing management of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and providing internal sustainable business education and training to Spectrum's 13,000+ employee workforce.