Willa Blythe Baker, Natural Dharma Fellowship
Lama Willa Blythe Baker, PhD, is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship in Boston, MA and its retreat center Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH. She was authorized as a dharma teacher and lineage holder in the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism after twelve years of monastic training and two consecutive three-year retreats. At present, Willa writes, teaches, guides meditation retreats and develops curriculum for lay Buddhists interested in cultivating a deep meditation practice in daily life. Her teaching interests include embodied mindfulness, non-dual awareness and compassion.
More Resources:
Website: https://naturaldharma.org/teachers/lama-willa-miller/
Recent Article: https://www.lionsroar.com/the-opposite-of-grasping-is-intimacy/
Podcast: https://podcast.mindandlife.org/willa-miller/
Dekila Chungyalpa, Loka Initiative, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dekila Chungyalpa is the Co-Founder and Director of the Loka Initiative, a capacity-building and outreach platform at the University of Wisconsin – Madison for faith leaders and culture keepers of Indigenous traditions who work on environmental and climate issues. Dekila began her career working on community-based conservation in the Himalayas and went on to work on regional climate change adaptation and free flowing rivers in the Mekong region for the World Wildlife Fund. In 2008, she helped establish Khoryug, an association of over 50 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries implementing environmental projects across the Himalayas under the auspices of His Holiness the Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2009, Dekila founded and led WWF Sacred Earth, a 5-year pilot program that built partnerships with faith leaders and religious institutions towards concrete conservation results in the Amazon, East Africa, Himalayas, Mekong, and the United States. She received the prestigious Yale McCluskey Award in 2014 for conservation innovation for her work and moved to the Yale School of Environmental Studies as an associate research scientist, where she researched, lectured and designed the prototype for what is now the Loka Initiative. In 2018, in partnership with many faith and Indigenous leaders as well as Dr. Richard Davidson, Dr. John Dunne, Dr. Jonathan Patz, Dr. Paul Robbins and others at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, she developed and launched the Loka Initiative with a singular vision: that inner, community, and planetary resilience are interdependent and we cannot achieve any one of these goals without working on the other two. She is originally from the Himalayan state of Sikkim in India and speaks five languages: Sikkimese, Tibetan, Nepali, Hindi and English.
More Resources:
Recent Articles: https://www.humansandnature.org/at-the-center-of-all-things-is-interdependence
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUDAiy9cZWs
Podcast: https://podcast.mindandlife.org/dekila-chungyalpa/
Elissa Epel, University of California, San Francisco
Elissa Epel, Ph.D, is a Professor, and Vice Chair, in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at University of California, San Francisco. She studies psychological, social, and behavioral pathways underlying chronic psychological stress and stress resilience that impact cellular aging and metabolic health, as well as how contemplative and biobehavioral interventions can promote stress and social resilience. She co-leads the UCSF Climate and Mental Health Task Force, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine Presidential subgroup focusing on Climate and Health Inequities. She is President of Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, member of National Academy of Medicine.
Elissa helps lead the UCSF Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center, the NIH Stress Measurement Network and the new NIH Emotional Well Being network. Elissa serves as the co-chair of the Mind & Life Steering Council and is a Mind & Life Fellow. She served as co-chair of the 2021 Summer Research Institute (“The Mind, the Human-Earth Connection, and the Climate Crisis”) and previously served as the co-chair of the 2019 Summer Research Institute (“Exploring Mental Habits: Contemplative Practices and Interventions for Individual and Social Flourishing”) and the 2017 Summer Research Institute (“Intersubjectivity and Social Connectivity”). She is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Telomere Effect.
More Resources:
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Telomere-Effect-Revolutionary-Approach-Healthier/dp/1455587974
Research Articles: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Epel+ES&cauthor_id=29494257
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaYXynucFmM
Podcast: https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/elissa-epel
Christiana Figueres, Global Climate Leader
Christiana Figueres is a Costa Rican citizen and an internationally recognized leader on climate change. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 to 2016. During her tenure at the UNFCCC, Ms. Figueres brought together national and sub-national governments, corporations and activists, financial institutions and NGOs to jointly deliver the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, in which 195 sovereign nations agreed on a collaborative path forward to limit future global warming to well below 2°C, and strive for 1.5°C, in order to protect the most vulnerable. For this achievement Ms. Figueres has been credited with forging a new brand of collaborative diplomacy and received multiple awards. Since then Ms. Figueres has continued to accelerate the global response to climate change. Today she is the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast “Outrage and Optimism” and is the co-author of the recently published book, “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.” Ms. Figueres sits on multiple executive and advisory boards and is a frequent public speaker and media commentator. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the London School of Economics. She lives in Costa Rica and has two fantastic daughters.
More Resources:
Website: http://christianafigueres.com/
Book: https://globaloptimism.com/the-future-we-choose/
Recent Article: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/22/opinions/climate-crisis-biden-summit-figueres/index.html
Research Articles: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Christiana-Figueres-2009537069
Public Video: http://christianafigueres.com/#/videos
Podcast: https://globaloptimism.com/podcasts/
Roshi Joan Halifax, Upaya Zen Center
Roshi Joan Halifax is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her Ph.D. in medical anthropology in 1973 and has lectured on the subject of death and dying at many academic institutions and medical centers around the world. She works with dying people and their families, and teaches health care professionals and family caregivers the psycho-social, ethical and spiritual aspects of care of the dying. She is Director of the Project on Being with Dying, and Founder of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. She is also founder of the Nomads Clinic in Nepal.
She studied for a decade with Zen Teacher Seung Sahn and was a teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh, and was given Inka by Roshi Bernie Glassman. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and founder of Prajna Mountain Buddhist Order, her work and practice for more than four decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Her books include: The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof); The Fruitful Darkness, A Journey Through Buddhist Practice; Simplicity in the Complex: A Buddhist Life in America; Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Wisdom in the Presence of Death; and Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.
Roshi Joan Halifax is a Mind & Life Founding Steward and a Mind & Life Fellow.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.upaya.org/about/roshi/
Recent Article: https://www.lionsroar.com/are-we-in-a-global-rite-of-passage/
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky1Xp_eJ4jc
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/Wx0ZY-roshi-joan-halifax/appearances
Katharine Hayhoe, Texas Tech University
Katharine Hayhoe is an accomplished atmospheric scientist who studies climate change and why it matters to us here and now. She is also a remarkable communicator who has received the American Geophysical Union’s climate communication prize, the Stephen Schneider Climate Communication award, the United Nations Champion of the Earth award, and been named to a number of lists including Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Thinkers, and FORTUNE magazine’sWorld’s Greatest Leaders. Katharine is currently the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law and co-directs the Climate Center at Texas Tech University. She has a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Toronto and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Illinois and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Colgate University and Victoria University at the University of Toronto.
More Resources: http://www.katharinehayhoe.com/wp2016/
Book: Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
Research Articles: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LwiZJosAAAAJ&hl=en
Public Video: https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it?language=en
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/KYpwd-katharine-hayhoe/appearances
Thupten Jinpa Langri, McGill University
Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., received his early education and training as a monk and obtained the Geshe Lharam degree from the Shartse College of Ganden Monastic University, South India. In addition, Jinpa holds a B.A. with Honors in philosophy and a Ph.D. in religious studies, both from Cambridge University. He taught at Ganden Monastery and worked as a research fellow in Eastern religions at Girton College, Cambridge University.
Jinpa has been the principal English translator to His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 1985 and has translated and edited numerous books by the Dalai Lama, including The New York Times’ bestseller “Ethics for the New Millennium,” “Transforming the Mind,” “The Universe in a Single Atom: Convergence and Science and Spirituality,” and “Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World’s Religions Can Come Together.” His own published works include — in addition to papers in both English and Tibetan — “Songs of Spiritual Experience” (co-authored); “Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Philosophy: Tsongkhapa’s Quest for the Middle View;” “Mind Training: The Great Collection;” and “The Book of Kadam: The Core Texts,” the last two titles being part of The Library of Tibetan Classics. Jinpa’s Tibetan publications include “Chos kyi snang ba gsar pa” (A New Light on Dharma), a first-ever introduction to Buddhism in vernacular Tibetan, as well as the recently published comprehensive modern Tibetan grammar entitled “bod skad kyi brda sprod gsar bsgrigs smra sgo’i lde mig” (A Modern Tibetan Grammar, Key Opening the Door of Speech).
Jinpa is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University, Montréal. He is also an executive committee member of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at the School of Medicine, Stanford University, and the main author of CCARE’s Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) program. Jinpa is a board chair of the Mind & Life Institute. He is the Founder and President of the Institute of Tibetan Classics and the General Editor for The Library of Tibetan Classics.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.compassioninstitute.com/teachers/dr-thupten-jinpa/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Heart-Courage-Compassionate-Transform/dp/1101982926/
Recent Article: https://www.lionsroar.com/set-your-intention-rejoice-in-your-day/
Research Articles: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Thupten-Jinpa-2014033313
Podcast: https://podcast.mindandlife.org/thupten-jinpa/
Lyla June
Lyla June is an Indigenous musician, scholar and community organizer of Diné (Navajo), Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) and European lineages. Her dynamic, multi-genre presentation style has engaged audiences across the globe towards personal, collective and ecological healing. She blends studies in Human Ecology at Stanford, graduate work in Indigenous Pedagogy, and the traditional worldview she grew up with to inform her music, perspectives and solutions. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree, focusing on Indigenous food systems revitalization.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.lylajune.com/
Book: https://www.commonword.ca/ResourceView/82/19399
Public Video: https://www.lylajune.com/videos
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/M7UdW-lyla-june/appearances
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher who has a life-long interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. Having grown up in an ecumenical Christian community that bridged a new kind of monasticism for families with working with the poor, at the age of 25 she entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and spent 15 years living as a nun under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She received the lamp transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh and became a Zen teacher in 2007 and is also a teacher in the Vipassana Insight lineage. Today she sees her work as a continuation of the Engaged Buddhism developed by her teacher as well as the work of her parents, inspired by their stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. on desegregating the South. She is author of the forthcoming We Were Made for These Times: Skillfully Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption (Parallax, October 2021) and editor of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children. She provides individual spiritual mentoring, teaches and leads retreats internationally and is known for interweaving art, play, nature, ecology and embodied mindfulness practice in her teaching. She especially feels called to share the Dharma with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, activists, educators, youth, artists and families. She lives in New York. Visit kairajewel.com to learn more.
More Resources:
Website: http://www.kairajewel.com/
Recent Article: https://www.lionsroar.com/in-times-of-crisis-draw-upon-the-strength-of-peace/
Public Video: https://www.scienceandwisdomofemotions.com/live-guided-practice-and-qa-kaira-jewel-lingo/
Ed Maibach, George Mason University
Edward Maibach is a Mason Distinguished University Professor and Director of the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. His research and practice focus on enhancing public and policymaker engagement in climate change by activating trusted groups of professionals—including health professionals, TV weathercasters and other journalists—and climate educators. Ed previously served as the Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, and Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli. He is currently a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/portfolio-view/edward-maibach-4/
Recent Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266727822030002X
Research Articles: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?cmd=search&term=Edward+Maibach
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUNS-VS6k_I
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/6jk7v-ed-maibach/appearances
Karen O’Brien, University of Oslo
Karen O’Brien is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is also co-founder of cCHANGE, a company that supports transformation in a changing climate. Her research has emphasized the social and human dimensions of climate change and implications for human security. Karen’s current work focuses on the relationship between climate change adaptation and transformations to sustainability, with an emphasis on the role of creativity, collaboration, empowerment, and flexibility. She is particularly interested in the role of beliefs, values, worldviews, and paradigms in generating conscious transformations to sustainability, including an exploration of the potential for “quantum social change.” O’Brien has participated in four reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and in 2019 and 2020 she was named by Web of Science as one of the world’s most influential researchers of the past decade. In 2021 she was co-recipient of the BBVA Foundations Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Climate Change.
More Resources:
Research Articles: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QYHHdbEAAAAJ&hl=en
Barbara (Bobbi) Patterson, Emory University
Bobbi Patterson’s scholarship focuses on lived religion and place, human and earth ecosystems, and pedagogy, particularly those involving community-based partnerships. Her scholarly training and teaching engages Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions and practices, American Religious cultures, feminist and womanist approaches to women’s spiritual practices, and methodologies and methods. She presents and leads workshops on effective teaching and learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as contemplative teaching and learning strategies including ethical decision-making. Her recent pedagogical publications describes pertinent assessment strategies. Bobbi authored the book Building Resilience Through Contemplative Practice: A Field Manual for Helping Professionals and Volunteers.
Bobbi’s B.A. is from Smith College with a major in Religion. Her Masters of Divinity degree is from Harvard Divinity School, and her Ph.D. is from the Institute of Liberal Arts, an Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. from Emory University.
Bobbi is a member of the Mind & Life Steering Council and served as the co-chair of the 2020 and 2021 Summer Research Institutes.
More Resources:
Website: https://bobbipattersonresilience.com/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Resilience-Through-Contemplative-Practice/dp/0367133776
Research Article: https://bobbipattersonresilience.com/related-articles-essays/
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj6aLh4fBEg
Podcast: https://podcast.mindandlife.org/bobbi-patterson/
Donald Perovich
Dr. Perovich’s research interest is understanding the Arctic system and its role in global climate change. The central focus of his research is simple to state: where does all the sunlight go? More precisely, how does the incident solar radiation interact with sea ice and snow? This simple statement belies the rich complexity and importance of the topic. The interaction of solar radiation with snow and sea ice is intimately interrelated with the physical and morphological properties of snow and ice and forcing from the atmosphere and ocean. Through the positive ice-albedo feedback, solar partitioning affects not only the Arctic system, but global climate as well.
More Resources:
Research Articles: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KCKeU1AAAAAJ&hl=en https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Donald-K-Perovich-33797252
Podcast: https://www.nhpr.org/post/dartmouth-researchers-analyze-data-arctic-expedition#stream/0
Matthieu Ricard, Karuna-Shechen
Matthieu Ricard, Ph.D., is a Buddhist monk at Shechen Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. Born in France in 1946, he received his Ph.D. in Cellular Genetics at the Institut Pasteur under Nobel Laureate Francois Jacob. As a hobby, he wrote “Animal Migrations” in 1969. He first traveled to the Himalayas in 1967 and has lived there since 1972, studying with Kangyur Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, two of the most eminent Tibetan teachers of our times. Since 1989, he served as French interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is the author of “The Monk and the Philosopher,” with his father, the French thinker Jean-Francois Revel; “The Quantum and the Lotus,” with the astrophysicist Trinh Xuan Thuan; “Happiness, A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill;” and “Why Meditate?” He has translated several books from Tibetan into English and French, including “The Life of Shabkar” and “The Heart of Compassion.”
As a photographer, Ricard has published several albums, including “The Spirit of Tibet,” “Buddhist Himalayas,” “Tibet,” “Motionless Journey,” and “Bhutan.” He devotes all of the proceeds from his books and much of his time to 120 humanitarian projects involving schools, clinics, orphanages, elderly people’s homes, and bridges in Tibet, Nepal, and India. He supports these projects through his charitable association, Karuna-Shechen. Ricard is devoted to the preservation of Tibetan cultural heritage. He has been deeply involved in the work of the Mind & Life Institute for many years, and is a Founding Steward of the Mind & Life Institute.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.matthieuricard.org/en/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Our-Animal-Neighbors-Compassion-Creature/dp/1611807239
Research Articles: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Matthieu-Ricard-2162950292
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuw_rrgKaFk
Podcast: https://www.resources.soundstrue.com/podcast/matthieu-ricard-finding-inner-freedom/
Jonathan Rose, Jonathan Rose Companies LLC
Jonathan F.P. Rose’s business, public policy, teaching, writing and not-for-profit work focuses on creating more environmentally, socially and economically resilient cities. In 1989, Mr. Rose founded Jonathan Rose Companies LLC, a multi-disciplinary real estate development, planning, project management, and investment firm, to address the challenges of the 21st century. Jonathan has led the firm’s vision, program and growth, developing award winning new projects, investment funds and city plans to model solutions integrating the issues of affordable housing, community development, culture and the environment. The firm is one of the largest acquirers of affordable and mixed income housing in the nation.
He has received the MIT’s Visionary Leadership Award, The Urban Land Institute’s global award for Excellence and many other awards for his work. Mr. Rose’s book on how to create resilient cities, “The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life,” was published by Harper Wave in 2016, and won the 2017 PROSE Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work by a Trade Publisher. Inspired by the book, Bhutan is now re-planning its capital city, Thimphu as a Well-Tempered City.
Mr. Rose and his wife Diana Calthorpe Rose are the co-founders of the Garrison Institute, serves on its Board and leads its Pathways to Planetary Health program. The Institute connects inner transformation with outer solutions to relieve suffering in the fields of trauma, education and the environment.
Mr. Rose is a Trustee of Enterprise Community Partners and serves on the New York Federal Reserves’ Regional Advisory Board. He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects and Honorary Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Mr. Rose graduated from Yale University in 1974 with a B.A. in Psychology and
Philosophy, and received a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1980.
Mr. Rose plays bass and blues harp in the Raga/Jazz/ Blues Band Jog Blues.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.rosecompanies.com/about/leadership/
Public Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tov84Ab7sCs
Vandana Shiva, Founder, Navdanya
Dr. Vandana Shiva is trained as a physicist and did her Ph.D. on the subject “Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory” from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She later shifted to interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore. In 1982, she founded an independent institute, the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in Dehra Dun dedicated to high quality and independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times, in close partnership with local communities and social movements. In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. In 2004 she started Bija Vidyapeeth, an international college for sustainable living in Doon Valley in collaboration with Schumacher College, U.K.
Dr. Shiva combines the sharp intellectual enquiry with courageous activism. Time Magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental “hero” in 2003 and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia. Forbes magazine in November 2010 has identified Dr. Vandana Shiva as one of the top Seven most Powerful Women on the Globe.
Dr. Shiva has received honorary Doctorates from University of Paris, University of Western Ontario, University of Oslo and Connecticut College, University of Guelph. Among her many awards are the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award, 1993), Order of the Golden Ark, Global 500 Award of UN and Earth Day International Award. Lennon ONO grant for peace award by Yoko Ono in 2009, Sydney Peace Prize in 2010, Doshi Bridgebuilder Award, Calgary Peace Prize and Thomas Merton Award in the year 2011, the Fukuoka Award and The Prism of Reason Award in 2012, the Grifone d’Argento prize 2016 and The MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2016, Veerangana Award 2018, The Sanctuary Wildlife Award 2018 and International Environment Summit Award 2018.
More Resources:
Website: https://www.navdanya.org/site/
Movie: https://vandanashivamovie.com/
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/KRonb-vandana-shiva/appearances
Bonnie Waltch
Bonnie Waltch is a producer, director, and writer for documentaries and museum exhibit media. Most recently, she produced and wrote the one-hour international television documentary, Earth Emergency, and series of five short films, Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops. Other work includes Super Reefs: The Future of Coral for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and exhibit media for the Pikes Peak Visitor Center, the Tennessee State Museum, the Mob Museum, and the National World War II Museum, among others. She has produced and written television programs for Nova/BBC, Scientific American Frontiers, and Discovery Channel. She also served as Executive Director of Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit fiscal sponsor. She holds a B.A. in Semiotics from Brown University.
More Resources:
Christine Wamsler, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies
Christine Wamsler is Professor of Sustainability Science and director of the Contemplative Sustainable Futures Program.
The aim of the Contemplative Sustainable Futures Program is to create space and opportunities for learning, networking and knowledge development on the role of inner dimensions and transformation for sustainability. It consists of three building blocks: education, networking and research activities. The latter also includes research on the interface between the mind, mindfulness and the climate crisis, such as the ActivateChange, Mind4Change and TransVision projects.
Fields of expertise: Christine is an internationally-renowned expert in sustainable development and associated (inner and outer) transformation processes, with more than 20 years of experience. Her work has shaped international debates and increased knowledge on personal, organisational and policy transformations in a context of climate change. She has led many international projects and published about 200 academic papers, book chapters, and books on these issues. Her publications are regularly cited and used for practice, theory and policy development, including by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Her recent publications on inner-outer transformation for sustainability can be found here (under the heading ‘publications’).
Professional experience: Christine is currently Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) in Sweden. Previously, she worked as co-director of the Societal Resilience Centre and at the Global Development Institute of the University of Manchester, UK. In parallel to her academic research, Christine works on an ongoing basis as a consultant for different governmental and non-governmental organisations. Places where she has worked include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, India, Kosovo, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Sweden, Tanzania, Togo and the UK.
Educational background: Christine holds a postdoctoral lecturer qualification (Habilitation) in Sustainability Science (Lund University, Sweden) and a PhD on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. Her Master’s degree is in International Humanitarian Assistance (University of Bochum, Germany), and postgraduate training includes Project Evaluation (University of the Saarland, Germany), Emergency Management (Charles Sturt University, Australia), and Community Disaster Risk Management (International Disaster Risk Management Centre IDRM, the Philippines). Christine is trained as an Architect and Urban Planner, with a specialisation in International Urban Development Planning (University of Stuttgart, Germany & Ecole d’Architecture Paris-Belleville, France).
More Resources:
Website: https://www.contemplative-sustainable-futures.com/
Recent Article: https://christine-wamsler.medium.com/what-story-do-you-want-to-live-710ee8a91e29
Recent Research Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378021001527; and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901120304706 & for an overview of recent articles see: https://www.contemplative-sustainable-futures.com/general-3-1
Full Background Materials: https://media.mindandlife.org/srimedia/2021/wamsler-resources.pdf
Kyle Whyte, University of Michigan
Kyle Whyte is George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Previously, Kyle was Professor of Philosophy and Community Sustainability and Timnick Chair at Michigan State University. Kyle’s research addresses moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and problems of Indigenous justice in public and academic discussions of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the anthropocene. He is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
Kyle has partnered with numerous Tribes, First Nations and inter-Indigenous organizations in the Great Lakes region and beyond on climate change planning, education and policy. He is involved in projects and organizations that advance Indigenous research methodologies, including the Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup, Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians’ Climate Change Program, and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. He has served as an author on reports by the U.S. Global Change Research Program and is former member of the U.S. Federal Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science and the Michigan Environmental Justice Work Group.
Kyle’s work has received the Bunyan Bryant Award for Academic Excellence from Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, Michigan State University’s Distinguished Partnership and Engaged Scholarship awards, and grants from the National Science Foundation.
More Resources:
Website: https://seas.umich.edu/research/faculty/kyle-whyte
Research Articles: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xRBh4VIAAAAJ&hl=en
Podcast: https://www.owltail.com/people/7dLT8-kyle-whyte/appearances