Greg Bowman, Bally, PA, is the on-line editor of The Rodale Institute's online magazine, New Farm (www.newfarm.org). This role engages him in many issues of global sustainable and organic agriculture, and in the online educational work of the Institute. He helped to establish and continues to help plan the annual Farming with Values that Last conference, a Christian sustainable farming event. Bowman has written farmer-oriented books for the U.S. Department of Agriculture on alternative weed management and cover crop use; worked in therapeutic horticulture; coordinated a statewide global climate change campaign within the broader faith community, and served in leadership of the Bally Mennonite Church. He is interested in building durable and life-giving connections between local farmers and all Christian institutions that offer food services, such as schools, colleges and retirement centers.
Contact information: gebowmandejazzd.com
P.O. Box 490
Bally PA 19503
Luke Gascho, Goshen, IN, is executive director of Merry Lea
Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College and holds degrees in
biology, Christian school administration and educational leadership.
Luke is grateful for the way three major interests of his life merged
when he accepted his current position: educational leadership, care of
the earth, and theology. “Working to help form Mennonite Creation Care
Network is another way of engaging these three interests,” he says.
Luke frequently works on sustainable building issues and has been deeply involved in the design and construction of a "green" facility at Merry Lea. He enjoys many opportunities to speak on sustainable building principles and gives tours of Merry Lea’s facility. Luke also enjoys reading and speaking about the connection between faith and stewardship of the earth. He envisions people from many backgrounds within the church making a commitment to caring for the earth in new and deeper ways. Luke is always looking for ways to learn about the earth and how it functions. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, planting trees, and photographing nature.
Dave Hockman-Wert, Corvallis, OR, is a geographic information systems (GIS) analyst with the U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. Dave has earned an M.A. degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, with an emphasis on the role of religion in motivating sustainable behavior. His research focused on the environmental attitudes and behaviors of Amish and Mennonite farmers in Belleville, Pennsylvania.
In the past, Dave has worked with sustainable forestry in southern Oregon and watersheds in central Pennsylvania. Presently, the idea of responsible consumption energizes him. Dave challenges his ingrained Mennonite tendency toward frugality with the mantra, "Cheaper isn't always better." He's learning to vote with his dollars, purchasing products and services that support the kind of world he wants to live in.
Contact information: dhwertyahoo.com
Joanne Moyer, Lethbridge, AB, has bachelors’ degrees in environmental studies and theology and has recently completed a master’s degree in Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her master’s thesis studied attitudes toward old-growth forest. More generally, Joanne is interested in the intersection of faith and environmental issues, environmental ethics and the ways various cultures understand the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Joanne’s work experience includes five years with summer camps and serving as a research writer for Mennonite Central Committee's 7 Days website. Her work was later published as Earth Trek.
Contact information: moyerjoanneyahoo.ca
David Neufeld, Winnipeg, MB, is the past chair of the Mennonite Environmental Task Force. Presently, he is director of community planning services for the Government of Manitoba, which involves encouraging rural communities to do proper land use planning. David has a Ph.D. in Planning from the University of Waterloo.
Remaining faithful to living more with less is a personal environmental challenge that David takes seriously. This year he is buying a household share in a local small-scale vegetable farm, and is enjoying walking to work.
Contact information: eraconsultingyahoo.ca
Jennifer Halteman Schrock, Goshen, IN, coordinates public programs at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center. She is active in Christian education and worship planning at Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship and has also used her M.Div. as a curriculum writer. Just Eating: Practicing Your Faith at the Table is her most recent publication. Her next project is a Summer Bible School curriculum focused around care for the earth and God’s love for all creatures.
Jennifer enjoys gardening with native plants and has many friends in the plant kingdom. She loves outdoor travel and learning about ecology and natural history.
Contact information: jenniferhsgoshen.edu
Jim Smith, Goshen, IN, is a church relations manager and advocate system manager at Mennonite Mutual Aid. He has also served as a pastor. Jim has a personal interest in creation care and has experience teaching biblical and theological creation care perspectives to congregations. How can congregations implement creation care theology in practical ways? What forms of ministry might grow out of a focus on creation care? These are questions that intrigue Jim.
Contact information: jim.smithmma-online.org, 1-800-222-5054 ext. 330
H. James Smith
MMA
1110 N. Main St.
P.O. Box 483
Goshen, IN 46527
Fax: (574) 537-6639
www.mma-online.org
Amy Thut,
Goshen, IN, has a master’s degree in environmental education from Antioch New England Graduate School and teaches environmental science and biology courses at Bethany Christian High School. Last year, she and her classes installed native wetland plants in a retention basin on the school property and now have their own outdoor laboratory. Amy has also worked on watershed protection and land use planning in Philadelphia and worked with youth in farm and wilderness programs. Last summer, she led canoe trips in the Minnesota boundary waters with Wilderness Wind, an organization that helps people nurture their relationships to God and creation through wilderness living.
