Expert Q&As

Rob Hopkins, TransitionCulture.org Posted By Paul McGinniss

Rob Hopkins is founder of Transition Network, "an evolving exploration into the head, heart and hands of energy descent." He is considered the founder of the Transition movement, and TED: Ideas Worth Spreading called his work "a radically hopeful and community-driven approach to creating societies independent of fossil fuel." Hopkins teaches permaculture and natural building, and established the first two-year full-time permaculture course in the world, at Kinsale Further Education College in Ireland. He is author of several books, including Energy Descent Pathways and The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience. His blog has been voted one of the top green blogs in the United Kingdom, and recently Hopkins was named by The Independent newspaper as one of the U.K.'s top 100 environmentalists. Hopkins lectures and writes widely on peak oil and Transition. He lives in Devon, England, and is a keen gardener.

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Q&A: Steve McDougal , 3Degrees Posted By Laura Formanek

Steve McDougal is co-founder of 3Degrees, one of the leading providers of Renewable Energy Certificates and carbon offsets to green building professionals. Through his business and personal efforts, McDougal has made a strong commitment to sustainability. In 2005, he was awarded with the Green Power Beacon Award at the Green Power Leadership Awards Ceremony. Today, he leads the Green Power and Carbon Balancing Services group as well as educates environmental professionals on the value of Renewable Energy Certificates.

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Q&A: Roger Doiron, Kitchen Gardeners International Posted By Paul McGinniss

Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI), a Maine-based nonprofit network of over 20,000 individuals from 100 countries who are sowing the seeds of a healthy, sustainable and food-secure world in their own backyards. In February 2008, KGI started and led a high-profile public awareness and advocacy campaign called "Eat the View" to create a kitchen garden at the White House. The successful campaign attracted over 110,000 signatures on a White House garden petition and resulted in a new "victory" garden at the White House. Doiron is also a freelance writer, photographer, videographer, and public speaker specializing in gardening, cuisine, and sustainable food systems. His work has appeared in many media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Organic Gardening magazine, and Mother Earth News.

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Stan Cope, Bonnie Plants Posted By Susan Piperato

Bonnie Plants was started in 1918 in Alabama by Bonnie and Livingston Paulk. Today, nearly 100 years later, Stan Cope, grandson of the Paulks leads the company. The Cabbage Program was started to encourage and engage children in the joy of gardening. The program teaches children not only lessons in gardening and growing their own food, but it also teaches life lessons of responsibility, nurture and commitment. Coincidentally, back in 1917 after much hardship, the Paulks planted cabbage seed, their cabbage crop was the crop that finally led to profit and increased business.

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