9th Annual Sustainable Business and Design Conference
April 7, 2015
Keynote Speaker
Jon Bowermaster, Writer, Filmmaker, Adventurer
Featured Speakers
Andrew Faust, Permaculture Educator
Nancy Kohn, Directory, Greenthumb Program at NYC Department of Parks and Recreation
Joseph Trumpey, Associate Professor of Art and Natural Resources, University of Michigan
Jennifer Grossman, Founding President, FarmCo New York
Speakers and Presenters
Jon Bowermaster
Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council
and an award-winning writer and filmmaker. His ten-year OCEANS 8 project took him
and his teams by sea kayak on expeditions ranging from the Aleutian Islands to Vietnam,
French Polynesia to South America, and Tasmania to Antarctica, giving him a one-of-a-kind
look at the health of the planet's oceans and the lives of the billions of people
who depend on them. His film series documenting the project has shown in 150 countries
on the National Geographic Channel.
Recently named one of a dozen Ocean Heroes by the National Geographic Society, Bowermaster
continues to report, via his website Notes from Sea Level, on the world's coastlines and issues concerning the oceans.
Bowermaster's most recent books are Descending the Dragon, about his travels in Vietnam (National Geographic Books), and Wildebeest in a Rainstorm, profiles of conservationists and explorers (Menasha Ridge Press). His companion
book to the Jacques Perrin/Disney Nature film Oceans coincided with the film’s premiere on Earth Day 2010.
His most recent documentaries are Terra Antarctica, Rediscovering the Seventh Continent,
What Would Darwin Think? Man v. Nature in the Galapagos, and the prize-winning SoLa,
Louisiana Water Stories. His film Dear Governor Cuomo looks at fracking in New York
State; and Sink or Swim, Learning the Crawl in the Maldives considers why many coastal residents never learn to swim, though they live just a
few feet above sea level.
Bowermaster's 2014 film, On the Edge, Antarctica 3D, was the first 3D film to be shot there. He is at work on a new film, Dear President
Obama, due out in 2015, that takes a nationwide look at fracking.
Bowermaster lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Andrew Faust
Andrew Faust is one of the premier permaculture teachers and designers in North America,
with over two decades of experience in the field. Faust creates homes and communities
rooted in a sense of the sacred in the eastern Appalachian bioregions. He is turning
on hundreds of New Yorkers to the beauty of applying permaculture design to a wide
range of landscapes and projects.
Demonstrating in classes how to practice permaculture in the midst of America’s largest
city, Faust integrates his lifelong wisdom of “reading” the northeast corridor through
permaculture perspectives for clients and students. Being immersed in this landscape,
he can read it, sense it, and design/build in tune with the natural lay of the land.
This is possible only because he has homesteaded off the grid for eight years, with
an intentional pursuit of a deeper understanding of permaculture and all its facets.
“I am here on this Earth to help my fellow human beings achieve a higher quality of
life in sustainable, beautiful, and resilient ways,” says Faust.
Jennifer Grossman
With more than 20 years of strategic environmental legal work in both the public and
not-for-profit sectors, Jennifer Grossman is a conservation consultant in her own
firm. Now working with the Natural Resources Defense Council on a Regional Foodshed
Initiative, she is forging collaborative platforms between rural and urban communities
to establish sustainable economic growth through local agriculture.
Grossman is the founder and president of FarmCo New York, a Catskill-based company
creating economically viable and environmentally conscious family farm business ventures.
FarmCo’s initial venture, Mauer’s Mountain Farms, is the first and only New York State
farm raising heritage French jumbo guinea hens. A subsequent venture, Catskill Mountain
Dairies, is a unique producer of kosher organic farmstead yogurt.
Grossman is also a founding partner of Longdrift, an ecotourism company providing
unique angling adventures in Argentina.
Nancy Kohn
Nancy Kohn is the Director of GreenThumb for NYC Parks, where she oversees programming,
material and technical support provided to over 600 community gardens throughout NYC
and an additional 500 school gardens through the Grow To Learn program. She works
with city agencies and over 20,000 volunteer community gardeners, citywide, to develop
new garden sites, promote healthy living through programming and education in the
gardens, and support policies that enhance urban agriculture across NYC and nationwide.
Before joining GreenThumb, Nancy was with the School District of Philadelphia directing
one of the largest nutrition education programs in the country; emphasizing the importance
of healthy eating, nutrition education, and connecting children to their food source
with gardening. Nancy’s experience ranges from finance and clinical research before
making the leap to public health. She holds a BA from Temple University and an MA
from Columbia University. Nancy is passionate about creating strong, vibrant communities,
ensuring equal accessibility to open space and food, while improving the quality of
life for all New Yorkers.
Joseph Trumpey
Joseph Trumpey is an associate professor of art and natural resources at the University
of Michigan. He earned his A.B. in art and biology from Wabash College and his MFA
in medical and biological illustration from the University of Michigan. Trumpey was
chief medical illustrator for the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State
University. He founded and directs Michigan Science Art, one of North America’s largest
groups of science illustrators. The group's notable achievement is the 5,000 illustrations
for the award-winning Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Trumpey has worked with
numerous zoos, museums, and publishers.
As former director of international engagement, art and design, Trumpey is instituting
a school-wide international requirement. His teaching focuses on sustainability, culture,
experiential observation, and creative processes connecting nature to society. He
is a recipient of the University of Michigan’s Undergraduate Teaching Award and has
been a TedX speaker.
With an emphasis on biodiversity, modern agriculture, and ecological sustainability,
Trumpey's creative work has been exhibited in a wide variety of venues. His devotion
to these issues is evident in the fact that he, his wife, and his two daughters live
and work on a small farm dedicated to their own food production and the preservation
of genetic diversity in heritage livestock. He designed and built their solar powered,
off-grid, straw-bale home.