Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement: Distinctive Elements from the Founders of the Movement

About Michelle Gale De OliveiraMike BenfieldMiriam KennetSandy Irvin

Editor's Biographies Professor Michael Benfield is one of the four co-founders of the People Party which is what is now the international Green Party and movement. He has been a delegate to UNCTAD for the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council a Founder Member of the Community Land Trust and advisor to the trustees of the Walter Segal Self-Build Trust which promotes the use of timber frame structures for low-cost self-build housing and other community structures. As a member of the Faculty of Building's prestigious Low Cost Housing Committee he presaged many of the sustainable building issues now coming to the fore.Professor Benfield is a frequent speaker at environmental timber construction and housing-orientated events nationally and internationally.He is former chair of the UK TFA's Construction Industry Training Committee and currently serves as a board member of the national New Homes Marketing Board the Home Builder's Federation (Wales) executive the Wales Forest Business Partnership and Wood Knowledge Wales which he chairs. He is also managing director of the Benfield ATT Group (Advanced Timber-Frame Technology) Chartered Building Consultants and Chartered Surveyors who design manufactures and build engineered timber frame structures for housing schools leisure hospitality health care etc. and provide 'one stop' professional services for timber-frame projects. Miriam Kennet has just visited Athens on a fact finding visit. She is the Director and Co-founder of the Green Economics Institute. She is a graduate member of the Environmental Change Institute Oxford University where she took courses on Ethics and Philosophy. She speaks on Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility including at the Oxford Union and at Leeds University. She is the editor and author of 100s of articles book chapters and books in many languages. Miriam recently was named as one of the 100 most powerful women making change globally by a leading poverty charity in London. She is the founder and Director of The Green Economics Institute and the International Journal of Green Economics and runs regular conferences on Green issues held at Oxford University. Michelle S. Gale de Oliveira (USA and Brazil) a Director of the Green Economics Institute UK & a member of the Law School of the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a specialist in Human Rights Law Peace-Building and Developing Countries. Founder of the Gender Progress Consortium. Her writing has been featured in Europe's World one of the foremost European policy magazines. She lectures and speaks regularly in Africa Europe and Latin America. She has led delegations to the Kyoto Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP15/16) in Copenhagen and Cancun and the RIO+20 United Nations Sustainable Development Conference where she ran three popular side events on green economics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other contributors Helene Albrecht (Germany and UK) is a musician and a teacher and recently completed her studies with an LLB in Law at Westminster University and is now a specialist in 'Environmental Law and Policy'. In recent years Helen has focussed on interactions between different legal regimes and contact points and gaps between international regional and national legislation with particular focus on energy and food supply. She has published and given presentations for The Green Economics Institute and also the Westminster Law Review. Her continuous musical activities support Helen's search for people's own resources and capacities in addressing current economic-environmental shortcomings and re-shaping the organisation of our global community. Eyad Mohammed Atya is a Professor in the Economics Department of Zagazig University Egypt. Professor Michael Benfield is a Founder of the Green Movement Director of Benfield ATT Group and is one of the four co-founders of the International Green Movement. Recognised as an environmentally sustainable industry leader he was a delegate to UNCTAD for the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council a founder member of the Community Land Trust Association and an advisor to the Trustees of the Walter Segal Self Build Trust. Rose Bridger's book about aviation 'Plane Truth' was published in October 2013. She recently spoke at a conference at the Green Economics Institute's event at the House of Commons to the chair of the Transport Select Committee. Rose also has extensive experience in food and the environment aboutwhich she has produced a large volume of writing and she has worked on Local Agenda 21 and environmental policy in London and Kirklees. Dr Susan Canney has worked on a variety of nature conservation projects in Africa Asia and Europe (living for several years in Niger and Tanzania) and as a research officer for Sir Crispin Tickell at the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy & Understanding. With MAs in Natural Sciences Landscape Design and Environmental Policy and a Doctorate for understanding the drivers behind changing human land use and its impact on a protected area in Tanzania her current research activities are centred on the use of spatial techniques for understanding human impact on ecosystems and wildlife. This understanding is used to find sustainable solutions in order to manage human-wildlife conflict; plan and implement conservation strategy; and develop participatory approaches to conservation management. Current projects include assuring a future for a unique population of elephants in the sub- Sahara of Mali as Project Leader of the WILD Foundation's Mali Elephant Project. Based in Oxford University's Zoology Department she teaches global ecology and is interested in the shift in scientific perspective presented by systemic approaches such as Lovelock's Gaia Theory; and in exploring the implications of this shift for society its institutions as well as for the individual's experience of Nature. She is the Secretary and a Co-founder of the Earth System Science Special Interest Group of the Geological Society of London and of the Gaia Network. She teaches on the issues surrounding the notion of valuing nature for the Green Economics Institute and is a member of their Biodiversity Group. 6 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement Tom Chance is a specialist administrator for the Greens in London's City Hall supporting the former Deputy Mayor of London and Baroness Jenny Jones as well as Darren Johnson GLA in the London Assembly and so is at the forefront of implementation of Green ideas and political philosophy. He has previously worked for a consultancy on the environment and the built environment and been involved with a number of direct action groups. When not writing policy papers or delivering leaflets Tom enjoys contributing to OpenStreetMap tending his small vegetable patch and learning the piano. Chit Chong has been an environmental campaigner and environmental professional for over two decades. He has been a member of the Green Economics Institute since it started. He was the first Green Councillor to be elected in London and is now a member of the Alliance for Future Generations which seeks to promote the representation of future generations in the decision making processes of today. He works as an environmental consultant helping organisations and individuals to reduce their emissions from their buildings. Alan Cunningham trained in Public Administration and has worked as an Administrative and an Information officer. Following early retirement for family reasons he has served on two regional working parties for public health campaigning for local action on health inequalities the better application of public health policy by NGOs and for recognition of the links between Public Health Practice and Sustainable Living. He has developed a local area profiling system that has been praised by MPs and by Health Observatory staff. He is an associate member of the Faculty of Public Health and of IUHPE. W. Thomas Duncanson Ph.D.(Australia) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Millikin University in Decatur Illinois USA. His research and writing has focused on the speech thought of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy as well as issues of communication ethics and public moral argument. In recent years Duncanson has written primarily about environmental advocacy and economic rhetoric. David Flint is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Cass Business School London. He has spent thirty years studying Information Technology and its application and interpreting his findings for senior managers in business and public service. He has written two books and a great many reports advised hundreds of organisations and lectured on four continents. He has served as a trustee of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service the UK's leading abortion provider and was founding chairman of Education For Choice originally a charity providing educational resources relating to abortion and birth control and now part of Brook. Per Gahrton is a Swedish politician. He was one of the founding members of the Swedish Greens a member of the Swedish Parliament and the European Parliament. He is the authour of over 35 books. Volker Heinemann is an economist who studied at the Universities of Goettingen Kiel and Nottingham. He is a specialist in international and developing economics monetary economics and macroeconomic theory and policy. He is author of the book Die Oekonomie der Zukunft The Economy of the Future a book outlining a green structure for a contemporary economy that accepts the pressing changes that are needed to outdated current economic thinking. He is co-founder and Director and CFO of the Green Economics Institute a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales trained at PWC and other major Institutions 7 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement and is a Deputy Editor of the International Journal of Green Economics. He is a popular radio and TV speaker in Europe and a former Die Gruenen Councillor. Richard Holcroft is an economist and mathematician at the University of Durham researching in aspects of transport and its environmental and socio-economic impacts. He recently ran a Green Economics Institute conference at the House of Commons on transport and climate change chaired by Louise Ellman MP chair of the Commons Transport Select Committee and to whom he presented his report on transport policy and he also presented it at the Oxford Union. Richard was our delegate for the Kyoto Protocol Climate Change Conference COP 19 in Warsaw in November 2013. Additionally he has worked in freight management at SMC Industrial an international engineering company in the Netherlands. Sandy Irvine writes about Green Ethics and is active in Newcastle and originally joined the then Ecology Party back in the early 1980s. He is an active member of the national charity Population Matters. Amongst other published work he co-authored the book A Green Manifesto and a pamphlet Beyond Green Consumerism for Friends of the Earth. Prior to retirement he worked in a local Further Education college where his specialism was Film Studies. His M.Sc. was a thesis on reforesting the uplands. Recently he has been very active in local land use battles triggered by the pro-growth strategies of local and national government. Miriam Kennet is a specialist in Green Economics. She conceived and ran the world's first Green Economics and Health and Well Being Retreat. She is the Co-Founder and is CEO of the Green Economics Institute She also founded and edits the first Green Economics academic journal in the world the International Journal of Green Economics and she has been credited with creating the academic discipline of Green Economics. Green Economics has been recently described by the Bank of England as one of the most vibrant and healthy areas of economics at the moment. She was taught about ethics at Oxford University during her studies there. She is a member of Mansfield College and the Environmental Change Institute both at University of Oxford. The BBC has made a special programme about her life and work. She runs regular conferences at Oxford University about Green Economics. Publishing regularly and having over 100 articles papers and books. She has been featured in the Harvard Economics Review and Wall Street Journal as a leader. Recently she was named one of 100 most powerful unseen global women by the Charity One World. She is also a regular and frequently speaks at public events of all kinds most recently to the North West Region of the National Health Service on the latest ideas in Health and Well Being. She is a popular after dinner speaker and has advised in the Uk Parliament and the Bank of England and in Brussels on the Eurozone crisis the high speed rail and the general economics situation. She has taught lectured and spoken at Universities and events all over Europe from Alicante to Oxford and Bolzano and to government officials from Montenegro and Kosovo to The UK Cabinet Office Transport Department National Government School and Treasury and spoken in Parliaments from Scotland to Austria and The French Senat and Estonia. She is also very active in spreading Green Economics in Asia China and all round Africa where people find it may be one of the beacons of hope at the moment in an age of Austerity and Cuts as it provides a completely new way of looking at the world. She is on the Assembly of the Green European Foundation. She has a delegation to the UNFCC COP Kyoto Climate Change Conferences and headed up a delegation to RIO + 20 Earth Summit: Greening the Economy in RIO Brazil where she is very active. She regularly speaks on TV around Europe. 8 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement Ryota Koike is a researcher from Japan and he analyses post-Fukushima Japanese energy policies. He has a broad range of academic interests from peace development and environmental and nuclear issues. He is a regular speaker and a trainer in workshops and a popular lecturer on green economics and energy policy and was co author of our book Green Economics and Energy Policies (2012). Clive Lord was a founder member of the English and Welsh Greens in 1973. He served as a Probation officer for 30 years retiring in 1994. He is author of 'A Citizens' Income - a Foundation for a Sustainable World' (2003) and our book Green Economics and Citizens Income (2012). Professor Dr Maria Alejandra Madi holds a PhD in Economics. She works at the intersection between macroeconomics finance and socio-economic development. Professor at the State University of Campinas Brazil she is currently Director of the Ordem dos Economistas do Brasil and Counselor at the Conselho Regional de Economia - SP. Besides her participation as co-author in chapter books edited by the Global Labor University she is a regular author with the Green Economics Institute. Michelle S. Gale de Oliveira is a director of the Green Economics Institute UK.She is a member of the Law School of the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) holding an MA in Human Rights Law with a focus on Islamic Law Peace-Building and Developing Countries specifically South Sudan. Founder of the Gender Progress Consortium she holds degrees in Political Science and International Relations from Richmond the American International University in London (RAIUL). She is a deputy editor of the International Journal of Green Economics. Her writing has been featured in Europe's World one of the foremost European policy magazines. She lectures and speaks on Human Rights Environmental and Social Justice Gender Equity International Development and Green Economics internationally. She also ran a conference on women's unequal pay and poverty in Reading UK lectured at the Oxford University Club on the human rights of land reform is a regular speaker at international conferences and has appeared in the media in Africa Europe and Latin America. In 2010/2011 she was a delegate to the UNFCCC's COP15/16 in Copenhagen and Cancun and in 2012 led a delegation to the United Nations' RIO+20 Sustainable Development Conference where she ran our three side events on green economics. Don O'Neal is a Mathematician and a specialist in Environmentalism and Society. He is Treasurer for the Oxfordshire Greens and is a political columnist for The News and The Vincentian national newspapers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is a co-founder of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines greens and a Trustee of the Green Economics Institute. He recently led an expedition to climb the highest mountain in St Vincent. Gillian Orwell is a writer management consultant & chartered accountant volunteer and philosopher. She studied History at Oxford University including a finals paper on nineteenth century social and political thought covering Marx Weber Durkheim Hegel J.S. Mill and others. She was Trustee and Treasurer of the Forestry Stewardship Council UK 2005 - 2009. She has been an active member of the Transition movement since 2008 has led many community environmental projects particularly in the energy sector and is currently Chair of Transition Tynedale. In 2011 she founded H.E.L.P. a group of Lady Philosophers who meet once a month in Hexham (the E has multiple definitions) with the determined intention of learning more about the world before she has to leave it. 9 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement Vyacheslav Potapenko is based at the National Institute for Strategic Studies of Ukraine and a chief consultant (from 2010); Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv docent (2000-2004); The National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy docent (1999-2000). Professional. He specialises in green economics natural capital governmental management green politics environmental security Chernobyl rehabilitation and nuclear issues and geospace analysis. He revisited Chernobyl recently and recorded the current situation there. He is a co-author of our book Green Energy Policies with Ryota Koike (Japan). Dr Rupert Read studied PPE at Balliol College Oxford and enjoyed the blend of philosophy politics and economics. He studied for several years at Rutgers University (NJ USA) he lectured for two years at Manchester and landed a permanent job at University of East Anglia in 1997 where he has stayed for the last decade. Maria Delfina Rossi is a young academic and green activist. She has an honours degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Masters of Research in Economics in the European University Institute. Delfina works in the European Parliament for a Green MEP and was also the co-spokesperson of the Federation of Young European Greens. Professor Doaa Mohamed Salman (Egypt) of the Faculty of Management Sciences Modern Sciences and Arts University (MSA) Egypt is a regular contributor to our Green Economics Institute work our academic journal and led our Youth in Action EU Programme at Oxford and Glastonbury. She is an Associate Professor Modern Sciences and Arts University MSA Egypt. She holds a PhD in International Economics. She earned her BSc (1994) MSc (1999) and PhD (2004) from Ain Shams University Egypt. Her current research interests relate primarily though not exclusively to the following areas: development institutional setting and the role of entrepreneurs to robust economic systems. Dr. Doaa as a certified trainer she participated in Education Development Program for Egyptian universities (EDU Egypt) for three consecutive years which is a milestone in bridging the employability gap. She is a member of Egypt Political and Economic Association and Middle East Economic Association and a member in the Middle East Economic Association (MEEA). She is a reviewer of numerous academic journals including China-USA Business journal. She has taught trained and lectured recently post and underground program in many Egyptian universities. Her current research interests relate primarily though not exclusively to two areas: development and growth and effective role of institution. Her research appears in journals such as : European Journal of Economics Finance Journal of International Business & Finance International Journal of Green Economics and International Journal of Development and Conflict. She can be reached at Modern sciences and art university MSA Egypt. John Stewart was named by the Independent on Sunday as the UK's 'most effective environmentalist' in 2008. He has worked in the transport field for 30 years campaigning at a local national and international level and he makes regular appearances in the media. He is the lead campaigner of Stop Heathrow Airport Expansion and chair of HACAN Clear Skies. In that capacity he was a central figure in the coalition which defeated plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. He also chairs Airport Watch the network of community and environmental organisations opposed to the aggressive expansion of aviation and he is President of UECNA the European body which represents airport campaign groups in Europe . Since its inception in 2000 he has chaired UK Noise Association. He was prominent in the campaigns against road building in the 1980s and 1990s co-founding 10 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement and chairing ALARM the national network of 250 community groups which helped destroy GBP23 billion national roads programmes. He is a past chair of Campaign for Better Transport and RoadPeace the body which campaigns on behalf of road traffic victims. For nearly a decade he was a Board Member of Transport for All the body campaigning for fully accessible transport. He is the author of a number of publications including Why Noise Matters published by Earthscan in 2011 and Victory Against All the Odds the seminal account of how the Heathrow third runway campaign was won. David Taylor is the Co-Founder of Earthspirit with Bettina Von Coels (Germany Portugal and UK). The centre providesone of the most important spaces in the Uk for Green Education and Green Health Courses to take place. He runs the centre with Francoise his partner (France and the UK). The Green Economics Institute runs many of its courses and retreats at the centre and takes students there for field trips as it has very good and practical green systems in place. David is a life long green activist. He was influential in the Glastonbury music festival litter pick and in founding the Green Gatherings Green CND and also the Library of Avalon. He is a well known very accomplished and popular national speaker on green issues specialising in a more natural human centred and more feeling approach to professional activities. He has appeared on many TV and radio broadcasts and taught Miriam Kennet about Green issues and how to speak in public. He has also had a high profile in green politics. He is increasingly worried about runaway climate change and the effects it will have on his two children and he is currently seeking to unite disparate elements of the green movement to work more closely together in the face of humanities' most catastrophic threat in historic times and to address the threat from the current mass extinction of species. Trude Blomseth Thy works in Telecommunications and in her spare time is a green campaigner and policy maker active both in Norway and is a Representative of the Norwegian Greens the European and International level. She is a Trustee of the Green Economics Institute. She was educated at the University of Oslo and lives in Norway. Dr David Tyfield is a lecturer at Lancaster University and author of the Nesta report Game- Changing China: Lessons from China on Disruptive Low Carbon Innovation Bianca Madison-Vuleta is a specialist in holistic ecological and sustainable living. She has been actively involved in the work of numerous national and international human rights and environmental NGOs as a committed and inspired campaigner fundraiser and public speaker. A passionate humanitarian and environmentalist and Co-founder of The Sustainable Planet Foundation Bianca works tirelessly to be the change in the world. She also is a regular writer in our books and an active member of our Trustee board. Dr Hans-Guenter Wagner is an economist and educationalist who teaches management and Chinese language at the University of Co-operative Education in Plauen (State of Saxony Germany). Dr. Wagner worked many years in China and Albania where he was in charge of development aid projects in the field of vocational education and higher learning. His current research focus is on bioeconomics and the business ethics of Eastern religions. John Whitelegg is Professor of Sustainable Development in the Stockholm Environment Institute University of York. He edits the journal World Transport Policy and Practice and runs a sustainable transport company (Eco-Logica Ltd) based in Lancaster. He is the author of ten books on transport including Critical Mass. Transport Environment and Society in the 11 The Philosophical Basis of the Green Movement 21st Century Pluto Press 1997 and Greening the Built Environment (with Maf Smith and Nick Williams) Earthscan 1998. He has worked on transport projects in India China and Australia and carried out projects for the European Commission and European Parliament. He is also a greens councillor on Lancaster City Council. Amana Winchester worked for the Green Economics Institute full time and edited our academic journal as well as two of our books the Womens Unequal Pay and Poverty book and our Green Economics Voices of Africa Book. She was a local Parish Councillor and a teacher in Berkshire. She now works for Bycability teaching people to cycle safely and is a prominent local campaigner. Tracy Marchioness of Worchester is a campaigner for the greening of food farming agriculture and cruelty free farming that opposes agribusiness. She is a patron of International Society and Culture a trustee of the GAIA Foundation The Schumacher Society and the UK Soil Association. Professor Laszlo Zsolnai is professor and director of the Business Ethics Center at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He is chairman of the Business Ethics Faculty Group of the CEMS (Community of European Management Schools-The Global Alliance in Management Education). He is Research Affiliate at the Cannon Chair of ESC Rennes Business School in Farnce. He serves as editor of the Frontier of Business Ethics book series at Peter Lang Publishers in Oxford