Staff

Zenobia Barlow, cofounder and executive director. See Board

Lisa Bennett, communications director is a former fellow at Harvard University's Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy in the John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has contributed to several non-fiction books, authored research reports, and written more than 3,000 articles for newspapers and magazines. Numerous media outlets and organizations have cited her research, including USA Today, The Atlantic Monthly Online, and the Brookings Institute. She has spoken at the National Press Club and appeared on the BBC, C-SPAN, Hardball, and many other programs.

Karen Brown, creative director, has been associated with the Center since 1999. Karen's primary area of creative interest is in communicating with general audiences on issues of ecology, education, and re-localization. Her work has been included in the Smithsonian Institute and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and featured in the New York Times, Architectural Digest, and on The Today Show.

Jim Koulias, deputy director, is a former bilingual/multi-cultural elementary school teacher with a degree in intercultural communication. After teaching for 10 years, in 1987 he embarked on a career in the nascent computer-based filmmaking industry, developing techniques for documentary films and television. Since 1995 he has been a producer and senior project manager overseeing Web-based communications strategies and websites for businesses around the world. He has lived in Mexico, Japan, and France.

Michael K. Stone, senior editor, was managing editor of Whole Earth magazine and the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog before joining the Center's staff. Previously, he wrote for several publications, including The New York Times and the Toronto Star, and served on the staffs of the Lt. Governor of Illinois and the Illinois Arts Council. He was a founding faculty member at World College West in northern California. His responsibilities there over 19 years included codesigning and directing the program in Meaning, Culture, and Change, and serving as academic vice president and interim president.

Alice Lee Tebo, administrative and communications assistant, recently moved to the Bay Area from New York City. She was a senior reporter at Entertainment Weekly magazine for the past eight years. Previously, she was assistant beauty and fashion editor at Woman's Day; she has also worked in book publishing and media market research. Alice earned a B.A. in psychology from Princeton University and studied abroad at the University of London.

Jacob I. Wright, Ph.D., program coordinator, serves as researcher and assistant for the Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability initiative. He holds a degree in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where his work focused on worldviews and the intersections of mythology, ecology, and psychology. He is a founding fellow of the Imaginal Institute. A native of Northern California, he has always had a passion for the particularities of place, be they the landscapes, flora and fauna, indigenous cultures, or more recent historical arrivals and events. His interests include educating for sustainability, localism, and food systems issues.

Consultants

Michael Ableman, CEL Food and Farming Advisor, is the founder of the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens and currently directs the historic Foxglove Farm in British Columbia. Ableman and Zenobia Barlow, cofounder and executive director of the Center for Ecoliteracy, recently joined a delegation from the Nobel prize-winning Grameen Bank in Jamaica to discus the central role of food practices in alleviating poverty. He is also the author of several books, most recently Fields of Plenty: A Farmer's Journey in Search of Real Food and the People who Grow It (Chronicle Books, 2005).

Jeannette Armstrong, CEL consultant on traditional environmental wisdom, is executive director of the En'owkin Centre in British Columbia, is an Okanagan Indian who has studied traditional teachings under the direction of Okanagan elders for many years. She has produced video and dub poetry; her many books include the Whispering in Shadows, Slash, Breath Tracks: a Collection of Poetry, and The Native Creative Process, on which she collaborated with renowned architect Douglas Cardinal. Jeannette was appointed as one of seven indigenous judges to the First Nations Court of Justice called by the Chiefs of Ontario. She received Ecotrust's Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership.

Leslie Comnes, education writing consultant, specializes in science and environmental education programs. She has written and edited teacher guides and curriculum materials for numerous local and national organizations including Council for Environmental Education, the Exploratorium, Life Lab Science Program, North American Association for Environmental Education, and Project Learning Tree.

Nobuko Yamada, accounting consultant, created the bookkeeping system for the Elmwood Institute, and managed the Center for Ecoliteracy's finances and records from its founding until her retirement in 2004. She previously studied spinning, dyeing, and weaving in England and Sweden, and served as administrator and circulation manager for an arts magazine in Canada. She has practiced meditation for 25 years, and teaches yoga at locations in the Bay Area.