Tad Patzek, Professor of Geoengineering at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining Berkeley in 1990, he was a researcher at Shell Development in Bellaire, Houston, where he worked on the enhanced oil recovery methods and evaluated the future of U.S. energy supply from tar sands, heavy oil, oil shale, and coal.  Shell Development was created and managed for 20 years by Dr. M. King Hubbert, who in 1956 predicted that oil production in the U.S. would peak in 1970. Dr. Patzek has a Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the Silesian Technical University in Poland, where he also studied engineering physics. His Ph.D. thesis was on optimization and control of chemical reactors. He came to the U.S. as a Fulbright fellow at the University of Minnesota to work on computational fluid mechanics. Dr. Patzek’s current research involves mathematical modeling of earth systems with emphasis on fluid flow in soils and rocks. He is also working on the thermodynamics and ecology of human survival and energy supply schemes for humanity.  Currently, he teaches courses in hydrology, ecology and energy supply, computer science, and mathematical modeling of earth systems at micro and mega scales.  He is an Editor for Transport of Porous Media, and an Associate Editor of Energy Tribune. He is also an active participant in the global debate on biofuels and their environmental and social impacts. Dr. Patzek is a coauthor of some 200 papers and reports, and is currently writing four books.

Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley. Miguel received a BS in Agronomy from the University of Chile and a Ph.D in Entomology from the University of Florida. He has been a Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley since 1981 in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. Dr. Altieri served as a Scientific Advisor to the Latin American Consortium on Agroecology and Development (CLADES) Chile an NGO network promoting agroecology as a strategy for small farm sustainable development in the region. He also served for 4 years as the General Coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme's Sustainable Agriculture Networking and Extension Programme which aimed at capacity building on agroecology among NGOs and the scaling-up of successful local sustainable agricultural initiatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia In addition he was the chairman of the NGO committee of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research whose mission was to make sure thar the research agenda of the 15 International Agricultural Research Centers benefited the poor farmers of the. Currently he is advisor to the FAO-GIAHS program ( Globally Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems) a program devoted at identifying and dynamically conserving traditional farming systems in the developing world. He is also Director of the US-Brasil Consortium on Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Development (CASRD) an academic-research exchange program involving students and faculty of UC Berkeley, University of Nebraska, UNICAMP and Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina. He is also the President of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA). He is the author of more than 200 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.

Eric Holt-Giménez, Executive Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy. Food First is a “peoples’ think-and-do tank” dedicated to eliminating the injustices that cause hunger and environmental degradation. Previously, Eric worked as Latin American Program Manager at the Bank Information Center in Washington, D.C., where he monitored the projects and the policies of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. He has held positions as a lecturer in International Development and Agroecology at the University of California and Boston University’s Global Ecology program. Throughout the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, Mr. Holt-Giménez lived and worked in Latin America where he helped organize and train farm leaders, in agroecology and was a consultant to non-governmental organizations, government ministries, and foreign aid agencies. In his path-breaking participatory research, “Measuring Farmer’s Agroecological Resistance to Hurricane Mitch,” 2,000 farmers documented the superior sustainability of agroecologically-managed farms to conventional farms in Central America. His recent book, “Campesino a Campesino” chronicles nearly thirty years work with Latin America’s Farmer to Farmer Movement for sustainable agriculture. Mr. Holt-Giménez holds an M.Sc. in International Agricultural Development and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies.

Judith Mayer, Project Coordinator of the Borneo Project. A Borneo Project founding member, Judith has worked with NGOs and communities in Borneo since 1987. She focuses on issues related to land rights, community and resource mapping, and natural resource planning. A practicing environmental planner with extensive experience in the United States and Southeast Asia, Judith has taught at Humboldt State University and Virginia Tech, balancing community action at home and abroad with teaching and research. Judith holds a PhD in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Her current research focuses on social causes and impacts of recent fires in Kalimantan.