Forest Council 2010 Speaker Bios and Photos
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney was the first African-American woman elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1988. Her first election to Congress came in 1992. She served in Congress until she was defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary. She regained the seat in 2004, and served one more two-year term. She was defeated in a notorious Georgia primary runoff after winning the most votes in the original primary.
Since then, she has traveled the world speaking out on social justice issues. For example, she sparked attention to the mistreatment of African-Americans brutalized on a bridge leading into New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. This incident now has proven to be true, and there have been investigations and a prosecution for what happened. She has spoken out loudly for honesty and transparency in elections, and has been involved in lawsuits to force voting machine manufacturers to release information on how they program their machines.
Cynthia campaigned for, and won, the Green party nomination for president in 2008. She was also a keynote speaker at the beloved Blanton Forest Heartwood Forest Council, where she appeared with the late Granny D and actor Woody Harrelson. She is one of the all-time great fighters for social justice in our nation’s history.
Corrine Whitehead
Corinne Whitehead’s volunteer efforts:
- Organized and acted as Chair of the first property owners association to defend against federal acquisition in the Land Between the Rivers. Organized and acted as Executive Secretary of the last Land Owners Association. Represented the group many times before U.S. Congressional Committees, and led the fight for Trial by Jury instead of a TVA commission for future TVA condemnation.
- Organized and acted as Executive Director for a County Housing Commission for 4 years to provide public and private funding for housing for displaced families.
- Organized and acted as Coordinator for three years for the first Kentucky Lakes Festival Association, Arts, Crafts and Folk Festivals at Ken-Lake State Park. Provided free productions of “Babes in Toyland,” Lakeside Singers, notable musicians, including Merle Travis, Ramona Jones and daughter, Jimmy Driftwood, and many others.
- Appointed term Kentucky Arts Commission.
- Appointed as Chair of the first Kentucky Earthquake Hazards Commission, which produced a statewide plan with US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia.
- Organized Coalition for Health Concern, 1985, served as Chair.
- Went with four US women from nuclear production sites to Russia and Siberia in 2001 to plan for an international conference.
- Coalition for Health Concern did a house by house health screening of residents within a 1.5 mile radius of Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
- International Conference of women in Tomsk, Siberia in 2002.
- Obtained internationally recognized Russian scientist, Sergei Paschenko, to come here and teach our members and obtain samples around the Paducah facility neighborhood. The samples were analyzed at the University of Novosibirsk, and a follow up report was made to the public.
- Have given over 250 presentations on New Madrid earthquake history and hazards to industries, universities, schools, and major civic groups in Kentucky.
- Chair Environmental Protection Committee, League of Women Voters.
- Past President, League of Women Voters of Kentucky.
Carter & Connelly
Curt Carter and Tom Connelley have been called "Illinois' preeminent folk warriors." Performing together since 1988, their music has seen a wide range of venues, from live radio, club, coffeehouse, and festival performances to political and environmental awareness benefits. Carter and Connelley has been featured on several performance series broadcast on public television in Illinois and shared the stage with comedians Richard Lewis and Al Franken, folk icons Trout Fishing in America and John Hartford, and rock and blues guitarists Larry McMurtry and Coco Montoya. They have also partnered with National Audubon, Wilderness Education Association, Heartland Bioneers, Illinois State Parks, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio state teachers conferences among many other local, state, and national organizations.
Curt Carter and Tom Connelley are energetic and insightful songwriters tackling social and environmental concerns through their music. Curt and Tom make sure everyone has fun in the process, telling humorous anecdotes along with original readings to complement the songs. Without preaching, they allow the listener to find the beauty and harmony of the natural world within one’s self. Carter and Connelley was recently given the honor of performing at The Shack along the Wisconsin River where Aldo Leopold, the father of modern conservation, wrote A Sand County Almanac. Curt and Tom are certified facilators with the national Leopold Education Project which allows them to guide teachers in incorporating the philosophies of Leopold in their classroom and field activities.
To be sure, fresh thought provoking and beautiful sounds will emerge from Carter and Connelley each time you hear them. Their first CD of 18 original tracks entitled Songs From The Seventh Direction features 4 original readings and 14 original songs woven into a cohesive musical statement expressing the songwriters' passion for our natural world, love of family, and respect for those who have gone before. The Seventh Direction is found within—these are truly songs from the heart. Happy Listening!
Hugh Muldoon
Hugh Muldoon's interests include environmental justice and community development. He has worked with the Illinois United Ministries in Higher Education and the National Campus Ministry Association for several years. He is a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd (United Church of Christ) in Carbondale. In the late 1990s, Hugh served as president of the Carbondale Rotary Club. In 2003, Hugh served on the City of Carbondale Human Relations Commission. On January 18 of this year, Muldoon was presented the Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Community Service Award during a unity service celebrating the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader. Muldoon, who has served over the years as director of the Interfaith Center, in peace and civil rights organizations, and with the environmental movement, to name just a few examples of his dedication, said it's a joy to serve.
The Ivas John Band
The purity of blues music captured Ivas’ attention the first time he encountered it through his father’s and brother’s record collections. “The first time I heard the blues, it was a discovery for me,” recalls Ivas. “What I discovered was the power of simplicity. It motivated me to start playing. I wasn’t a musician who branched off into playing the blues, I heard blues music and developed into a musician, because that’s what I knew I wanted to play.”
The Chicago-born Ivas John moved away from home to Carbondale, Il, where the then-eighteen-year-old guitarist quickly won his spurs backing Martin “Big Larry” Albritton (an original Alligator records Mellow Fellow) and harmonica legend Snooky Pryor’s son, Rip Lee Pryor. After six years of backing those and other local luminaries with his in-demand guitar work, John decided the time was right to from his own group and pursue a career as a frontman.
Now, after playing extensively throughout the Midwest and sizzling in over 200 live performances a year and sharing stages with such top-shelf acts as Leon Russell, Guitar Shorty, Nick Moss, Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials, and the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings to name a few, the Ivas John Band is quickly building a reputation as one of the region's most original and entertaining blues acts. The success of the band and their debut album Street Music recently earned them a spot on PBS as part of the nationally televised "American Roots" program.
Ivas, who plays a hollow-body guitar with very few effects, strives hard to eschew banal blues stereotypes. With a super clean, soulful voice and a highly stylized library of guitar chops, this music can please equally the casual bar patron or the scrutinizing critic who thought they had seen it all. Though he is an artist who understands the debt that is owed to his predecessors, and how important it is to honorably carry traditional music on, Ivas John is no copycat. “Avoiding the clichés is a conscious decision,” says Ivas. “I want the music to come across in that way, not just instrumentally, but lyrically as well. That’s the common thread that runs through all the songs—inspired words, inspired music.”
As such, fans will have a hard time pinpointing exactly in what blues style Ivas is playing. His voracious appetite for variety continues to be what sets him and the band apart in the current blues state of mediocrity. In a typical club set, the band will play songs ranging stylistically from Chicago to jump to honky-tonk to primal Delta blues and are just as comfortable handling an intimate ballad when lights are low. But listeners will not question that Ivas is playing blues -- it’s just his blues. —Chris Wissman, Editor in Chief, Nightlife Magazine
John Wallace
Captivating America with his colorful writings on nature, John Muir emerged over 100 years ago as the lone voice calling from the Wilderness for its protection. At a time when our nation's natural resources seemed inexhaustible to most, Muir spoke with a spiritual fervor on the virtues of conservation while unabashedly targeting the "enemies of wildness." That lone voice from the past will once again come to life at the Heartwood Forest Council where John Muir will return to the present around a campfire as John B. Wallace brings his spirit to life with a living history portrayal of the great conservationist entitled, “The World According to John Muir.”
Known as the Father of Yosemite, John Muir (1838-1914) made the American Wilderness his lifework. The self-described “Tramp” drew recognition for his wilderness expertise from presidents and poets alike. While Muir worked tirelessly in advocating the protection of some of America’s greatest natural heritage, he was a free spirit that was known to disappear for weeks in the mountains. He experienced and memorialized a wide array of amazing adventures from his boyhood throughout his life.
An environmental educator and forest activist, John Wallace received a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant and Soil Science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He has been an environmental educator for more than twenty years and was a featured speaker for the Illinois Humanities Council, Road Scholars Speakers Bureau for four years. Wallace is also a founding member of the Shawnee Audubon Chapter. Wallace has presented the "World According to John Muir" to audiences large and small at festivals, conferences, museums, and parks throughout the Midwest for nearly a decade.
On Friday night, May 28, John Muir will emerge from a wilderness setting at Camp Ondessonk to present an evening of wild adventure tales, gentle philosophical perspectives and impassioned pleas in defense of Wilderness.
Shane McElwee
Shane is a self-taught cook who lives in Ypsilanti, MI, where she works as a natural food sales representative. She's been cooking for Heartwood and other forest watch organizations since 1997. She started college at Ohio State University, then transferred to Ohio Universtiy in Athens, Ohio, to finish her B.S. in Wildlife Biology.
Andy Mahler
Andy Mahler first became involved in forest protection efforts in 1985 after encountering Forest Service clearcuts in the Hoosier National Forest near his southern Indiana home. As President of Protect Our Woods (1985-1991), a local grassroots forest protection organization he helped found, he led efforts to protect the Hoosier from off-road vehicle trails, timber sales, and oil and gas leasing. In 1991 he co-founded Heartwood and served as Heartwood Coordinator from 1991-1999. During that time, Heartwood used legal challenges to stop all logging on national forests in six Midwestern states. He continues to volunteer with Heartwood and has helped organize all twenty Heartwood Forest Councils.
Andy has been a regular speaker on college campuses and before grassroots organizations throughout the hardwood region. He has helped organize numerous forest protection organizations and networks, from small local efforts to regional and national organizations including the Dogwood Alliance and Save America's Forests. He has served on numerous Boards of Directors, including Greenpeace US, and has testified before Congress on several occasions.
In his community in Orange County, Indiana, Andy has been instrumental in starting the Lost River Community Co-op, which operates the Lost River Market and Deli, a member owned, natural foods grocery in Paoli, IN http://www.lostrivercoop.com/ with more than 725 members, and Orange County HomeGrown, which operates two successful farmers markets and a variety of other projects http://orangecountyhomegrown.org. He is also involved with efforts to stop the devastation of mountaintop removal coal-mining and recently partnered with musician Jason Wilber to produce the compilation Coal Country Music http://www.coalcountrymusic.com/, a companion to the award winning documentary Coal Country.
He and his wife, Linda Lee, own a rustic and eclectic farm and lodge called the Lazy Black Bear surrounded by the Hoosier National Forest in the rolling hills of southern Indiana where they raise, rehabilitate, and release orphaned possums and other critters. They host a variety of events at the Lazy Black Bear including house concerts, a two week permaculture course every summer, and the annual Heartwood Reunion, which takes place over the Columbus Day weekend in October every Fall.
Paul Yambert
For a variety of reasons, Paul has been a nature lover all his life. His older brother was allergic to dogs, so his household pets included a diverse collection of reptiles, amphibians, birds of prey, and arachnids. His family lived near the Smoky Mountains, numerous uncommercialized caves, and lots of lakes, so much of his life was spent outdoors. His growth spurt came early, so he looked mature (though he was not) and enjoyed the freedoms usually reserved for older kids. Hitchhiking to spend weekends hiking in the Smokies was a frequent and inexpensive hobby.
Among the proudest moments of his life were: convincing that stranger he had met in a botany class to marry him; being introduced as “an environmentalist before there was such a thing;" having the president of Wisconsin State University give him a letter to add to his dossier stating Paul's appointment as dean was the best appointment he had made during in his 42 years at WSU; being a charter member of the one and only Concept Zero Task Force.
Among his most embarrassing moments, other than being born naked, were: Editor’s note: THIS ENTIRE SECTION HAS BEEN REDACTED.
The heroes and heroines of his youth were and still remain: George Washington Carver, John Muir, Mahatma Gandhi, Helen Keller, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Abraham Lincoln, and Hassie K. Gresham (principal of Central High School).
Now, like Farley Mowat, Paul and his wife, Carla, have begun to spend more time observing, and less time fighting, environmental battles. However, they still attempt to keep their elected officials on the right track (too bad that politicians so seldom read their letters or agree with their conclusions). They still enjoy sharing thoughts with other, battle scarred veterans – and the younger folks who’ve picked up the torches. Illegitimus non carborundum!
Jeff Biggers
Author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek, The United States of Appalachia, and
In the Sierra Madre, Jeff Biggers has worked as a writer, educator, and
radio correspondent across the United States, Europe, India, and
Mexico. He served as co-editor of No Lonesome Road: Selected Prose and
Poems of Don West. His award-winning stories have appeared on National
Public Radio and Public Radio International and in The Washington Post,
The Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, and Salon, among many others
newspapers, magazines, and online journals. He regularly blogs for the
Huffington Post and Grist. A member of the multimedia theatre
performance company, Coal Free Future Project , Biggers is a frequent
speaker and performer at festivals, conferences and educational
institutions.
His work has received numerous honors, including an American Book Award, a Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, a Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism, a Plattner Award for Appalachian Literature, a Field Foundation Fellowship, and an Illinois Arts Council Creative Non-Fiction Award/Fellowship. He serves as a contributing editor to The Bloomsbury Review and is a member of the PEN American Center. In the 1990s, as part of his work to develop literacy and literary programs in rural communities in the American Southwest, he founded the Northern Arizona Book Festival. In the 1980s, Biggers served as an assistant to former Senator George McGovern in Washington, DC, and as a personal aide to Rev. William Sloane Coffin at the Riverside Church in New York City, where he co-founded the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing.
Raised in Illinois and Arizona, he earned a B.A. in History and English at Hunter College in New York City. He also studied at the University of California in Berkeley, Columbia University, and the University of Arizona. He currently lives in Illinois.
Rich Whitney
Rich Whitney, 54, is an attorney and partner in the Carbondale, Illinois law firm of Speir and Whitney. Born in Connecticut, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in telecommunications at Michigan State University in 1977. He has long been politically active in support of the labor, environmental, civil rights, women’s, and antiwar movements.
A magna cum laude graduate of Southern Illinois University School of Law, he now practices in the areas of employment law, civil rights, and criminal defense. In collaboration with former SIU law professor Donald W. Garner, Whitney was involved in nationwide legal battles to regulate tobacco advertising, on behalf of the public health community, including the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and Public Citizen. In his legal practice, he has also taken on challenging and sometimes controversial cases to protect First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, combating political patronage in employment, harassment, and unjust firings of coal miners, prison employees, police officers, and many other workers.
Whitney is also one of the founding members of the Illinois Green Party and wrote a good portion of the Party’s platform. In 2002, he ran for state representative for the Party in the 115th District, winning enough votes to make the party a legally “established” party in the District. He ran again in 2004, and in 2006 served as the Party’s first ever candidate for Governor, winning over 360,000 votes, about 10.5 percent of the total, more than enough to make the Green Party an “established” party under Illinois election law. Meanwhile, he has continued to be actively involved in local political battles to protect the environment and resist urban sprawl, as well as the ongoing effort to oppose the ongoing U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. He also has been active in his local ACLU, the Illinois Coalition for Peace, Justice and the Environment, and the Big Muddy Independent Media Center. He is also a member and supporter of Voices for Illinois Children, Greenpeace, and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, among other organizations.
David Nickell
David Nickell is an associate professor of philosophy and sociology at a community college in Paducah and raises and trains draft horses on his maternal grandparents’ farm near Smithland, Ky. Drawing upon his experience of being among the nearly 1,000 families forcibly relocated from their ancestral homeland for the Land Between the Lakes project, his main field of academic study has been the question of what it means to be native to place. Apart from watching his two daughters turn into wonderful young women, his main passion is trying to find a way to resist the now global assault on the remaining native peoples and intact ecosystems. He also derives a perverse pleasure of sorts from annoying people with crude attempts at making music.
Coal Country
Coal Country is a dramatic look at modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We hear from
miners and coal company officials, who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people. Both sides
in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations, and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a
deep love for the land, but MTR (Mountain Top Removal mining, which has leveled over 500 Appalachian mountains) is tearing them apart. We need to understand the meaning
behind promises of “cheap energy” and “clean coal.” Are they achievable? At what cost? Are there alternatives to our energy future?
Phil Short
Philip Short, a Southern Illinois native, fell in love with nature as a young boy enjoying the Ohio River bottoms, Cretaceous Hills, and Shawnee National Forest in a playground filled with giant fish, intriguing snakes, colorful birds, and wildflowers. His early ambition led him to pursue research interests in herpetology and ecology with a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in Zoology. He eventually gravitated toward education and earned a Ph.D. in Science & Environmental Education (EE). Phil has taught 6th grade – graduate students over the past 29 years in courses ranging from chemistry, physics, earth science, biology, ecology, and zoology to science education methods & issues and EE. Phil’s other hats include park ranger, field researcher, and director for various projects. He has conducted EE workshops and research from Virginia to Hawaii and from Canada to Suriname. Since 2006, Phil has been working to establish EE and ethnobotany as part of the national curriculum in Suriname – a tropical nation with over 80% forest cover but experiencing constant pressures from international mining and timber interests.
Phil was recently an invited author for the 40th anniversary of The Journal of Environmental Education. His article, “Responsible environmental action: its role and status in environmental education and environmental quality,” presents a paradigm for assessing the effectiveness of EE efforts on the basis of tangible measures of environmental quality. Some recognition received includes: Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teacher Award, Illinois Outstanding Biology Teacher Finalist, Illinois Environmental Educator Award, SIU-E Excellence in Teaching Award, IMSA Award of Excellence, and Audrey Tomera Outstanding Doctoral Student Award.
What Phil truly enjoys, however, is returning to his roots … the wild places of Southern Illinois that exist today because of the vigilant protection from the very folks who are Heartwood.
Duane Short
Duane Short is from tiny Brookport, Illinois, where he was groomed to be an ironworker that would build the world's longest bridge prior to becoming president of the United States. Duane had different ideas. Horrified by the prospect of being trapped in a career or profession that he would later detest, Short chose a “scenic” career path driven more by a desire to find passion than a job.
Duane discovered his passion only after having lived, studied, and worked in Illinois, Alaska, Arizona, and Texas. In 1992 Duane crawled his way back to Southern Illinois where he enjoyed 8 remarkable years of peace and refuge in a tiny cabin he named WalkAbout (located not far from Ondessonk). After repeatedly waking up to the dreamed scream of chain saws in the Shawnee National Forest immediately behind his cabin, Short learned what truly stirred his heart, mind, and soul.
Working in the medical field and conducting sleep studies at the time, Short attributes his own nightmares as his wake-up call to environmental activism. While seeking ways (however clumsily) to help local environmental groups like R.A.C.E., Shawnee Audubon, S. Illinois Sierra Club, and Friends of Bell Smith Springs protect the Shawnee National Forest, Short met his heroes and mentors, many of whom will be at the Forest Council.
The collective intelligence and integrity of the folks making up Heartwood and S. Illinois’ environmental groups, Short says, is largely responsible for the work he is doing today, as the Wild Species Program Director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Wyoming.
Short’s focus and passion is forest defense and wildlife protection in Wyoming and beyond.
In terms of formal education, Short managed to steal a bachelor's degree in Zoology from Northern Arizona University in 1984.
Scott Silver
Scott Silver has worked as founder and Executive Director of Wild Wilderness since 1991, a non-profit 501(c)(3) environmental organization that seeks to ensure that Wilderness areas, roadless areas, and other areas now substantially free of development will continue to provide outstanding opportunities for high quality, non-motorized recreation. In this capacity, Silver has focused his efforts upon educating the American public about changing attitudes in federal lands management philosophy that are leading toward increased "commercialization, privatization, and motorization" of our nation's forests, deserts, mountains, rivers, and streams. Frequent themes in Silver's work are what he calls "The Disneyfication of the Wild and the Corporate Takeover of Nature."
In 2006 Silver ran for the US House of Representatives in Oregon's Second Congressional District.
Earlier in Silver's career he was a Senior Scientist or Staff Scientist with several prominent biotechnology companies. He has made significant contributions in the fields of large scale enzymology and bio-rational insect control. Silver received his Honours Degree from the University of Manchester, England in 1975.