Interviews 2022

Dr. Riki Ott is a marine toxicologist and former Alaska commercial fisher ma’am who found her Path and Voice during the transformative crucible of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Accomplished in civic activism and grassroots engagement, she inspires youth and adults with accessible, science- and civics-based trainings, and with Stories, to engage people in working together towards a healthy democracy and a healthy energy future. Dr. Riki Ott currently directs two projects through Earth Island Institute: The ALERT Project and Ultimate Civics.

Marine Scientist Robin Hadlock Seeley of Maine speaks about her decades of scientific work on local seaweed, including the study of the safe limits to harvesting, rather than proposed extensive removal under the guise of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.  

Rajesh Purohit, of Hindu Climate Action, Oxford, UK, is currently working within the Analytics and Automation. Outside of work, he has a passion for teaching and learning about Sanātana Vedic Dharma (Hinduism) and how we can practically implement the divine thoughts of our Ṛṣi’s (Spiritual Scientists). His understanding of these teachings has led to an interest in driving environmental changes. The unity and message of Hinduism – Vasudhaiv Kutumbakum – to see the ‘World as One Family’ is the drive force and life breath of all our actions and activities.

David R. Loy is a professor of Buddhist and comparative philosophy, a prolific writer, and a teacher in the Sanbo Zen tradition of Japanese Buddhism. His books include Money Sex War Karma, A New Buddhist Path, and most recently Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. He is especially concerned about social and ecological issues. In addition to offering workshops and meditation retreats, he is one of the founders of the new Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center, near Boulder, Colorado. In June 2014, David received an honorary degree from Carleton College, his alma mater, during its 2014 Commencement. In April 2016 David returned his honorary degree, to protest the decision of the Board of Trustees not to divest from fossil fuel investments.

Clayton Harvey, 5th generational farmer, using gained Ancestral knowledge, meshed with modern-day garden techniques, Farmer Clayton is committed to educating, growing and fostering young Apache Farmers on the Fort Apache Reservation in East central Arizona.   Clayton was born and raised on White Mountain Apache Reservation, he is a descendant of the legendary Chief Alchesay (A-1), the last hereditary of the White Mountain Band and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for the capture and surrender of Geronimo.  Alchesay left a legacy of farming that Clayton continues today.  

Leah Penniman (li/she/ya/elle) is a Black Kreyol farmer/peyizan, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-Director and Farm Manager, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs - including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Leah has been farming since 1996, holds an MA in Science Education and a BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a Manye (Queen Mother) in Vodun. Leah trained at Many Hands Organic Farm, Farm School MA, and internationally with farmers in Ghana, Haiti, and Mexico. She also served as a high school biology and environmental science teacher for 17 years. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Pritzker Environmental Genius Award, Grist 50, and James Beard Leadership Award, among others. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land is a love song for the land and her people. 

Kathryn Manga, Project Coordinator Kilusang Magbubukid ng P{ilinas (Peasant Movement of the Philippines) Kathryn Manga is a community development worker, a researcher and a peasant’s rights advocate from the Philippines. She was born from a family of farmers in the Bikol region, south of Luzon. She worked as a researcher and international officer for IBON Foundation after she finished her studies from the University of the Philippines. In 2007 she pursued her passion for the theater and the arts and worked full time in community theater, advocating for farmers land rights. With her performing group Sinagbayan or Art for the People, she was able to teach young people especially from the rural areas, the value of theater and the arts in advocating for land, human rights and rural development. Having established the group with its regional chapters all over the country, she then decided shift to another aspect of community development work and volunteered to be a fulltime staff of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in 2018 where she is now a Project Coordinator. She is one of the conveners of the Agroecology X, a unique community of organizations, associations, sustainable agriculture practitioners and advocates, social entrepreneurs, organic food buffs, and many other believers and doers of agroecology. She also heads the secretariat of the year-long National Food Systems Summit happening in Manila in 2021. Kathryn is a Board Member of A Growing Culture, an organization that strives to democratize food systems by connecting, amplifying and resourcing those on the frontline of the fight for food sovereignty.  www.Peasantmovementph.com

Edgar Hayes is a Co-founder of the Freedom Farm Community. He is also a CRE (Commissioned Ruling Elder) candidate in the Hudson River Presbytery of NY. After retiring from the FDNY for 20 years, he is currently doing pulpit supply preaching through the Presbyterian Church in Orange County, NY. On the farm, he assist with growing organic produce to share with people in need, teach youth and young adults sustainable agriculture practices, and how to live out one’s faith. Edgar is a father of two teenage boys and help to raise them with his wife Ann.

Ann Rader, Co-founder, Freedom Farm Community, New York Ann is a wife, farmer, teacher, mother, mentor, hostess with the mostest, you name it, she can do it. She also holds an MA degree in Theological Studies from Wesley Theological Seminary. Ann has been involved with youth ministry and justice work for as long as she can remember. When she’s not playing in the dirt at the farm, Ann spends her time raising two teenagers: Micah and Josiah with her husband (Edgar) of 22 years.

Daniel Wanjama, Coordinator, Seed Savers Network, Kenya. Wanjama is the coordinator and  a steering committee member of the Global Open Source Seed System Initiative (GOSSI).  He is also a council member of the Intercontinental Network of Organic Farmers’ Organizations (INOFO). "I grew up in rural Kenya where everyone in the village was a small scale farmer. Childhood hunger triggered my interest to study agriculture later. I have close to 20 years’ experience providing advisory services to small scale farmers on seeds and agroecology. I founded the Seed Network in Kenya 10 years ago and my interaction with traditional seed keepers has made me a convert of seed systems managed by farmers. I follow the Agikuyu traditional spiritual practice. We believe a seed is life and life comes from God and that seeds should be commonly accessible to all and that no one should have exclusive rights over seeds.  I consider the current practice of patenting seeds evil." www.seedsaverskenya.org

Adelita San Vicenta Tello, is General Director of the Primary Sector and Renewable Natural Resources of SEMARNAT, Mexico. She is an agricultural engineer with a Master's Degree in Rural Development from the Autonomous Metropolitan University and she specialized in Economics of the Agri-Food System in Italy. Adelita San Vicenta Tello also holds a PhD in Agroecology from the University of Antioquia. Throughout ten years she held various positions in public administration linked to the rural sector in various institutions and levels of government. Adelita San Vicenta Tello was Technical Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources Commission in the LXVIII Legislature of the State of Morelos and joined the Counsel of Rural Development and the Environment in the LIX Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies. She has worked for various peasant and non-governmental organizations developing environmental education and planning programs for the sustainable management of natural resources. In 2007 she was one of the conveners of the "National Campaign Without Corn". She was director of Seeds of Life (Semillas de Vida), a group promoting agro-biodiversity and protecting native corn. San Vicente is also a convener of the Mexico-wide food sovereignty coalition Without Corn, There Is No Country (Sin Maíz, No Hay País) and a member of the Union of Scientists Committed to Society (Unión de Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad).