Speakers:
SEJ 15th Annual Conference, Austin, TX
Lake Travis Dam: Austin's concrete attempt to stop the water flow of Lake Travis. Photo by Ralph Barrera. Courtesy of the Austin American-Statesman.
Hosted by The University of Texas at Austin, September 28 - October 2, 2005
DRAFT: All Information Subject to Change
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Ackland, Len
Allen, Bill
Almanza, Susana
Alves, Rosental
Angelo, Claudio
Ayres, Robert
Baker, Linda F.
Bramble, Barbara
Brito, Manoel Francisco do Nascimento
Brown, Merrill
Brown, Travis
Butler, Larry and Sayle, Carol Ann
Ceballos-Lascuráin, Héctor
Davis, Joseph A.
de Alba, Miguel Ángel
Detjen, Jim
Diringer, Elliot
Dunne, Mike
Dydek, Thomas M.
Eilperin, Juliet
Esty, Dan
Friedman, Sharon M.
Garcia, Patricia Villone
Garrison, Andy
George, Christy
Gleick, Peter H.
Grossman, Elizabeth
Guerrero, Miguel Ángel Torres
Haj, George
Harris, Jay
Henry, Tom
Howard Jr., John L.
Ivins, Molly
Kastens, Kim
Kay, Jane
Kovarik, Bill
Mar, Bernardo Salas
McGarity, Thomas O.
McKinney, Larry
Metzger, Luke
Miranda-Castro, Leopoldo
Moyers, Bill
Mulero, Eugene
Nauman, Talli
Nicot, Jean-Philippe
Peregrina, Karla
Pérez, José Javier
Rabalais, Nancy
Richardson, Dick and Pat
Savage, J.A.
Simmons, Matthew R.
Thomas, Robert A.
Valadez, Juan
Viadas, Eduardo
Yudof, Mark G.
Zaldivar, Ángel Trinidad

Len Ackland
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE CRAFT: The Challenges of Teaching Environmental Journalism

Len Ackland is an associate professor of journalism and founding director and current co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to taking the university position in 1991, he served for seven years as editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which under his direction won the National Magazine Award in 1987. He was a Chicago Tribune reporter from 1978 to 1984 and a reporter at the Des Moines Register and other publications before that.

Bill Allen
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Biotech Crops: Promises and Hazards

Bill Allen is profesor y coordinador de periodismo agrícola en la University of Missouri-Columbia. Ha ejercido el periodismo desde 1977, trabajando principalmente para la Oficina de Noticias de la Ciudad de Chicago, United Press International, Louisville Courier-Journal y St. Louis Post-Dispatch, donde se desempeñó como reportero en las areas de ciencias, medio ambiente y medicina por 13 años. Obtuvo en 1996-97 la beca Knight para el Periodismo de Ciencias en el MIT y en el 2000 la beca Ford para el Periodismo Ambiental en Nicaragua por el International Center for journalists. Es autor de "Green Phoenix: Restoring the Tropical Forest of Guanacaste, Costa Rica" (2001, "El Fenix Verde: Restaurando el Bosque Tropical de Guanacaste, Costa Rica").

Bill Allen is assistant professor and coordinator of agricultural journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has been a journalist since 1977, working mainly for the City News Bureau of Chicago, United Press International, Louisville Courier-Journal and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he was a science, environment and medical reporter for 13 years. He was a 1996-97 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT and 2000 Ford Environmental Journalism Fellow in Nicaragua for the International Center for Journalists. He is author of "Green Phoenix: Restoring the Tropical Forests of Guanacaste, Costa Rica" (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Susana Almanza
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Susana Almanza is a founding member and executive director of PODER (People Organized in the Defense of Earth and her Resources), a grassroots environmental, economic and social justice organization.

Rosental Alves
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE LAW: Ten Years Later: Is NAFTA Delivering?

Rosental Alves is director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. He began his academic career in the United States in March 1996, after 27 years as a professional journalist, including seven years as a journalism professor in Brazil. He moved to Austin from Rio de Janeiro, where he was the managing editor and member of the board of directors of Jornal do Brasil, one of the most important Brazilian newspapers. He was chosen in 1995 from approximately 200 candidates to be the first holder of the Knight Chair in International Journalism. In 2002, Rosental received a $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation to create the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, a four-year project to work in training programs with journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Knight Center is based at the School of Journalism in Austin, but reaches thousands of journalists throughout the hemisphere. A working journalist since he was 16, Rosental was the first Brazilian awarded a Nieman Fellowship to spend an academic year (1987-88) at Harvard University. He taught journalism at Fluminense Federal University and at Gama Filho University, in Rio de Janeiro, beginning as a lecturer when he was 21.

Claudio Angelo
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Big Business and the Amazon

Claudio Angelo, periodista, escribe en temas relacionados a la ciencia y el medio ambiente desde 1998. Es el editor del area de ciencias de Folha de Sao Paulo, el diario de mayor circulación de Brasil. Ha publicado artículos en temas medio ambientales tan diversos como el cambio climático global o la deforestación del Amazonas. En el año 2003 obtuvo la beca Knight en Periodismo Científico en el Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Claudio Angelo has been writing about science and environmental issues since 1998. He is the science editor of Folha de Sau Paulo, Brazil's largest newspaper. He's published stories on a range of environmental issues, from global climate change to Amazon deforestation. In 2003 he was a Knight Science Journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Robert Ayres
Event: Thursday Tour —
Creative Ranching in Texas: From Conservation Easements to Scimitar-Horned Oryx

Robert Ayres is the managing partner of the Shield Ranch, a 7,000-acre cattle ranch located on Barton Creek 20 miles southwest of Austin. Since assuming management of the ranch in 1987, Robert has extended the ranch's tradition of conservation management to include new systems of rotational grazing, prescribed burning, active management of game and non-game species (including endangered species), preservation of cultural sites, and public access for research, education, and recreation. In 1998 and 1999, the Ayres family placed most of the ranch under conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy of Texas and the city of Austin. He was a founding member of the board of directors of the Hill Country Conservancy, and he currently serves on the board of trustees of the Nature Conservancy of Texas.

Linda F. Baker
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE NATION: Natural Gas Rush: Drillers Go for the Industry's New Sweet Spot, the Rocky Mountain West

Linda Baker is the community organizer for the Upper Green River Valley Coalition in Pinedale, Wyoming. The UGRVC advocates responsible, sustainable management of the wildlife, waters, and air quality of Wyoming's Upper Green, a vital portion of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Linda has lived in the Wyoming area for 24 years, and chairs the Pinedale anticline working group, a BLM federal advisory committee overseeing all natural resources that still occur in a field permitted for 900 gas wells.

Barbara Bramble
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE LAW: Ten Years Later: Is NAFTA Delivering?

Barbara Bramble is the National Wildlife Federation's senior program advisor in international affairs. Prior to her current position, Barbara was director of the Federation's Alianza para la Vida Silvestre, a program designed to help develop a public constituency for environmental protection and wildlife conservation in Mexico. She also founded and directed for 16 years NWF's International Department, which concentrates on the economic and social forces which affect wildlife, habitat and the environment. In 1998 Barbara served as the U.S. representative on the tri-national team of authors, designated by the heads of the three environmental agencies of North America, to report on the operations of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which was created by the NAFTA environmental side agreement.

Manoel Francisco do Nascimento Brito
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Big Business and the Amazon

Manoel Francisco do Nascimento Brito, "Kiko," periodista, recibió la beca de la Fundación Nieman para el Periodismo de la Harvard University en 1991. Comenzó su carrera en periodismo como fotógrafo a la edad de 15 años. Fue reportero, editor internacional, editor metropolitano, corresponsal extranjero, y editor ejecutivo del Jornal do Brasil, uno de los periódicos de Rio de Janeiro. También trabajó en la revista Veja como columnista y editor ejecutivo. Junto a otros dos profesionales fundó en 2004 el sitio internet O Eco, dedicado a la cobertura medio ambiental.

Manoel Francisco, "Kiko," was a Nieman Fellow, class of '91, and started his career in journalism as a photographer at age 15. He was a reporter, foreign editor, metro editor, foreign correspondent, and executive editor for Jornal do Brasil, a Rio daily. He also worked at Veja magazine as a columnist and executive editor. In 2004, he founded O Eco, a wire service dedicated to the coverage of the environment.

Merrill Brown
Event: Friday, Opening Plenary, 10:15 a.m. —
Is Journalism — Environmental or Otherwise — a Dying Idea?

Merrill Brown is the founder and principal of MMB Media LLC, a business consulting company. Merrill became the first editor in chief of MSNBC.com in August 1996 after serving as acting managing editor for the July launch of the service. During his tenure, the fledgling company grew to become one of the most visited news offerings on the Web, maintaining a position as the No. 1 online news provider since 1999. He serves on the board of The Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, the International Women's Media Foundation, and The Media Center, a division of the American Press Institute. He is a member of the Journalism Advisory Committee, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Travis Brown
Event: Thursday Tour —
Texas Energy: From Coal and Oil to Solar

Travis Brown has been Public Citizen's energy projects director since January 2003. He works primarily on renewable energy and air pollution reduction issues, and also co-manages the office's internship program. Prior to joining Public Citizen, Travis worked as a journalist for more than 20 years in Texas and California. Travis headed up two successful grassroots citizens groups in Texas: Cross Timbers Concerned Citizens battled water pollution from industrial dairies in north central Texas, while Neighbors for Neighbors continues to fight Alcoa over its air pollution and strip-mining activities in central Texas.

Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Larry Butler and Carol Ann Sayle are owners of Boggy Creek Farm, the only commercial organic farm operating in East Austin, Texas.

Héctor Ceballos-Lascuráin
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Ecotourism in the Americas

Héctor Ceballos-Lascuráin is a Mexican environmentalist, architect, and ecotourism and cultural tourism expert. He is currently the director general of the Programme of International Consultancy on Ecotourism (PICE) and special advisor on ecotourism to IUCN (The World Conservation Union), as well as advisor to the World Tourism Organization (WTO). In 1983, he coined the term "ecotourism" and its preliminary definition. His modified version of this definition was officially adopted by IUCN in 1996. He wrote the book "Tourism, Ecotourism And Protected Areas" (IUCN, 1996).

Joseph A. Davis
Event: Friday, Beat Dinner #1, 7:30 p.m. —
Meeting of SEJ's 1st Amendment Task Force and Potential Active Participants

Joseph A. Davis is SEJ WatchDog Project Director and TipSheet Editor and a free-lance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. He directs the WatchDog Project, an activity of SEJ's First Amendment Task Force that reports on secrecy trends and supports reporters' efforts to make better use of FOIA. He also edits TipSheet, a biweekly electronic newsletter of story ideas and sources co-published by SEJ and the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation (RTNDF). Davis was senior writer with the Environmental Health Center until 2002, where he was acting editor of EHC's Environment Writer as well as principal author of EHC's reporter's guide on the science of global climate change.

Miguel Ángel de Alba
Events:
Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Birds, Butterflies and Bats: Cross-Border Migration and Wildlife Management
and
Friday, Beat Dinner #5, 7:30 p.m. —
EJ in the U.S. and Latin America

Miguel Ángel de Alba trabaja como periodista desde 1972, desempeñándose tanto en el sector público como privado. Ha sido editor de publicaciones del municipio de León, del Archivo Histórico de León, del Club Rotario de León, y del Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos del Estado de Guanajuato, entre otros. El también ha trabajado como reportero en diversos diarios, como El Sol de México, El Universal y El Heraldo de México, así como también ha servido como corresponsal de guerra en los conflictos bélicos en Centroamérica.

Miguel Ángel de Alba has worked as a journalist since 1972, both in the public and private sector. He has been editor of publications for the county of León, the Historical Archive of León, the Rotary Club of León, and the School of Technological and Scientific Studies of the State of Guanajuato. He has worked as a reporter for several newspapers including El Sol de Mexico, El Universal, and El Heraldo de Mexico. He also served as a war correspondent during the civil wars in Central America.

Jim Detjen
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE CRAFT: The Challenges of Teaching Environmental Journalism

Jim Detjen joined the Michigan State University (MSU) journalism school faculty in January 1995 as the Knight Chair in Journalism, the nation's only endowed chair in environmental reporting. He is also the director of MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and MSU's environmental journalism program. He is the founding president of SEJ and a member of its board of directors. He is a co-founder of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) and served as its president from 1994 to 2000. Jim serves on the boards of directors of SEJ, IFEJ and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW).

Elliot Diringer
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE AIR: Global Warming Reality Check

Elliot Diringer is director of international strategies, Pew Center on Global Climate Change. He oversees the center's analysis of the international challenges posed by climate change and strategies for meeting them, and directs the center's outreach to key governments and actors involved in international climate change negotiations. Elliot came to the Pew Center from the Clinton White House, where he was deputy assistant to the President and deputy press secretary. He previously served as senior policy advisor and as director of communications at the Council on Environmental Quality, where he helped develop major policy initiatives, led White House press and communications strategy on the environment, and was a member of U.S. delegations to climate change negotiations.

Mike Dunne
Event: Thursday Tour —
Texas Energy: From Coal and Oil to Solar

Mike Dunne is a special projects and investigative reporter for the Baton Rouge Advocate where he has spent most of the last 27 years. He has covered the environment off and on for about two decades and is a two-time winner of the Scripps-Howard Edward Meeman Award for environmental reporting. He has worked on newspapers in Louisiana, Florida and Alabama. Mike is an adjunct professor of journalism at LSU and is the assistant editor of the SEJournal.

Thomas M. Dydek
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE AIR: Air Toxics: Under-Reported and Under the Radar

Thomas M. Dydek is the president and founder of Dydek Toxicology Consulting, a toxicology and engineering services consulting firm in Austin, Texas. He studies human health and welfare effects of environmental pollutants. Thomas works mainly on projects related to human health risk assessment for air quality permits, hazardous waste site remediations, and as an expert witness in toxic tort cases and in other legal matters.

Juliet Eilperin
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE LAW: What's in a Name? Updates on Clear Skies, Healthy Forests and Others

Juliet Eilperin covers the environment for the national desk at The Washington Post, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including oceans, forests and air quality. She joined the paper in 1998, first as its House reporter, where she has covered impeachment, lobbying, legislation, and two national congressional campaigns. She also just finished a stint as the McGraw Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, teaching political reporting to a group of undergraduate and graduate students.

Dan Esty
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE LAW: Environmental Enforcement: How to Cover the Issue and Why It Matters

Dan Esty is a professor of environmental law and policy at Yale University. He is the director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy as well as the Yale World Fellows Program. Dan is the author or editor of eight books and numerous articles on environmental policy issues and the relationships between the environment and trade, globalization, security, competitiveness, international institutions, and development. From 1989-93, Dan served in a variety of positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency including special assistant to the EPA administrator, deputy chief of staff of the agency, and deputy assistant administrator for policy. During his tenure at the EPA, Dan managed the agency's regulatory review process, coordinated inter-agency relations, and contributed to a number of policy initiatives including the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.

Sharon M. Friedman
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE CRAFT: The Challenges of Teaching Environmental Journalism

Sharon M. Friedman is professor and director of the science and environmental writing program in the department of journalism and communication at Lehigh University. She directed Lehigh's environment and society program from 1994-2004 and is now director of its new environmental studies program. Elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for her contributions toward furthering public understanding of science and technology, Friedman is currently a member of and risk communication expert for two National Research Council committees concerned with the health effects of radiation and nuclear waste storage. She is associate editor of the journal Risk: Health, Safety & Environment, and a member of the editorial advisory board of the journal Science Communication.

Patricia Villone Garcia
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Patricia Villone Garcia is an anchor/reporter for CTV News located in Prince George's County, Maryland. Since 1990, she has covered the environmental beat for a daily news program aired on local cable television.

Andy Garrison
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Andy Garrison is an independent filmmaker who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. Student documentaries from his East Austin Stories course can be seen online. Before moving to Texas he worked at Appalshop, a renowned documentary group in the Eastern Kentucky coal fields.

Christy George
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE NATION: Bush's Brain: W's Environmental Policy...from Texas to the White House

Christy George is a television documentary producer at Oregon Public Broadcasting, where she also hosts Oregon Territory, a weekly radio program. She created the business and the environment beat for Marketplace, a national business show on public radio. Before that, she worked for the Boston Herald and WGBH-TV. Her latest program, about volunteerism in the small eastern Oregon town of Union, premieres October 5, 2005.

Peter H. Gleick
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE GULF: Desalination: Getting Salt Out of the Seas

Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, CA. The institute is a research group addressing global environment and development problems, especially in the area of freshwater resources. Peter's research and writing addresses the connections between water and human health, the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources. In 2001 he was appointed to the water science and technology board of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of the biennial water report "The World's Water" (Island Press, Washington, DC), most recently in fall 2004.

Elizabeth Grossman
Event: Saturday, Mini-Tour #4, 2:30 p.m. —
Electronic Junk: Tackling E-Waste

Elizabeth Grossman is a freelance writer from Portland, Oregon, and the author of "Watershed: The Undamming Of America," "Adventuring Along The Lewis & Clark Trail" and "High Tech Trash" (forthcoming from Island Press).

Miguel Ángel Torres Guerrero
Event: Friday, Lunch Breakout Session, 11:45 a.m. —
Using Mexico's New FOI Measures to Reveal Cross-Border Environmental Threats

Miguel Ángel Torres Guerrero ha ejercido el periodismo y el fotorreportaje desde hace 30 años en medios locales, nacionales e internacionales. Es egresado de la Facultad de Economía de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y trabaja como jefe del Departamento de Evaluación de Prototipos en el Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI). Es cofundador y codirector de Periodismo para Elevar la Conciencia Ecológica, un proyecto de periodismo independiente que data de hace 11 años. Integrante del Grupo Consultivo para los Registros de Emisiones y Transferencias de Contaminantes en América del Norte, en la Comisión de Cooperación Ambiental del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, además forma parte de la Red Mexicana de Periodistas Ambientales desde su fundación a principios de 2004. "Los Efectos de la Industrialización y del Sector Maquiladora de Exportación en la Economía, la Salud y el Ambiente en Aguascalientes" es el título de una de sus investigaciones recientes. Ha ejercido el derecho a la información para solicitar consultas públicas sobre la instalación de confinamientos de residuos tóxicos y por hacer realidad su vigencia en la construcción de inventarios de residuos peligrosos en México, principalmente.

Miguel Ángel Torres Guerrero has 30 years of experience in journalism and news photography in local, national and international publications. He majored in Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and heads the Prototype Evaluation Department at Mexico's National Statistics, Geography and Data Processing Institute (INEGI). He is co-founder and co-director of the 11-year-old independent media project Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness. A member of the Consultative Group for North American Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers in the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, he also is part of the Mexican Environmental Journalists Network since its formation in 2004. "The Effects of Industrialization and the Maquiladora Export Industry on the Economy, Health and Environment of Aguascalientes" is one of his recent publications. He has exercised citizens' right to know in soliciting public consultation on hazardous waste disposal and in efforts to achieve implementation of a toxic release inventory in Mexico.

George Haj
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE CRAFT: Covering Disasters: From Forest Fires to Floods to Flares

George Haj is deputy managing editor/news at the Houston Chronicle, where he oversees the metro, state, national, foreign and projects staffs. Since joining the Chronicle in 2003, he has directed coverage of the Enron criminal prosecutions, as well as the newspaper's enterprise and investigative reporting into the BP refinery accident that killed 15 contractors. Before coming to Texas, George held editing positions at the Miami Herald, and helped direct coverage of a wide range of disasters, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and multiple hurricanes in the years that followed.

Jay Harris
Event: Friday, Opening Plenary, 10:15 a.m. —
Is Journalism — Environmental or Otherwise — a Dying Idea?

Jay Harris holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the founding director of The Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy, which is located at the school. From 1994 to 2001, Harris was chairman and publisher of the San Jose Mercury News. Harris is one of three persons holding the rank of Presidential Professor at Santa Clara University where he also teaches. He is also founder and president of Deep River Associates, an organization working to improve the health of communities and strengthen the vitality of democracy in America. He is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board of Directors and the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute.

Tom Henry
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE GULF: Desalination: Getting Salt Out of the Seas

Tom Henry is an award winning environmental writer for The (Toledo) Blade, where he has been employed since 1993. He focuses largely on the Great Lakes, nuclear power, air pollution and waste disposal issues. Tom learned something at the first SEJ conference he attended, in Utah in 1994, even after getting the only bedroom that had a hot tub outside a patio door and a view 10,000 feet up in the mountains.

John L. Howard Jr.
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE AIR: Global Warming Reality Check

John L. Howard Jr. joined Vinson & Elkins LLP in 2004 as a partner in the environmental and public policy groups. He advises businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations on how to successfully navigate and advocate before the White House, the Texas Legislature, and state and federal agencies. For eight years, John worked in the Texas governor's office and in the White House. From 2002 to 2004, John served as President Bush's federal environmental executive, chairing a White House task force that worked with federal agencies to improve their environmental stewardship, using such tools as management systems.

Molly Ivins
Event: Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. —
Opening Reception at the Driskill Hotel

Molly Ivins, best-selling author and widely syndicated political columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, says politics, particularly in Texas, is great entertainment — "better than the zoo, better than the circus, rougher than football, and even more aesthetically satisfying than baseball." She writes about press issues for the American Civil Liberties Union and several journalism reviews. She has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist three times.

Kim Kastens
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE CRAFT: The Challenges of Teaching Environmental Journalism

Kim Kastens founded and co-directs Columbia's dual degree program in earth and environmental science journalism, and was the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation grant that funded SEJ's journalists of color fellowship program from 2001 though 2004. Her current research centers on spatial thinking in the geosciences and applications of technology to geoscience learning.

Jane Kay
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE AIR: Mercury Rising: Covering the New Generation of Laws on Air Quality, Fish Safety and Consumer Warnings

Jane Kay, environment writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, has covered a range of stories from ancient redwood logging, threats to ocean resources and restoring the biological diversity of San Francisco Bay to chemicals in the environment and consumer products including mercury in fish and solvents in drinking water. She taught environmental reporting at the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, and then directed its environmental journalism program.

Bill Kovarik
Events:
Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Big Business and the Amazon
and
Friday, Beat Dinner #5, 7:30 p.m. —
EJ in the U.S. and Latin America

Bill Kovarik, board representative for the SEJ academic membership, is a professor of Media Studies at Radford University in southwestern Virginia where he teaches science and environment writing, media history, media law and web design. He has also served on the faculty at Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland. Kovarik's professional experience includes reporting and editing for Jack Anderson, the Associated Press, The Charleston (S.C.) Courier, The Baltimore Sun, Time-Life Books, Latin American Energy Report and Appropriate Technology Times. His books include "The Forbidden Fuel" (1982), "Mass Media and Environmental Conflict" (with Mark Neuzil, 1996), and "Web Design for the Mass Media" (2001). He is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University (1974), the University of South Carolina (M.A., 1983) and the University of Maryland (Ph.D., 1993).

Bernardo Salas Mar
Event: Friday, Lunch Breakout Session, 11:45 a.m. —
Using Mexico's New FOI Measures to Reveal Cross-Border Environmental Threats

Bernardo Salas Mar es Físico Matemático y trabaja como Profesor en el Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, calibrando equipos y realizando conteos de muestras en el "Laboratorio de Análisis Radiológicos de Muestras Ambientales". Ocupó el cargo de "Ingeniero de Protección Radiológica" en la Central Nuclear de Laguna Verde, donde fue despedido por sugerir el cumplimiento de los compromisos en materia de seguridad radiológica y nuclear. Actualmente, por su cuenta, investiga la intención de traslado de desechos radiactivos desde Laguna Verde hacia los EUA, así como el confinamiento a cielo abierto de mas de 100 toneladas de escoria metálica contaminada con Cobalto-60, en el desierto de Samalayuca, Chihuahua, entre otras investigaciones.

Bernardo Salas Mar is a physicist, and works as a professor in the Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Previously, he worked as an engineer at the Nuclear Plant of Laguna Verde, where he was fired after requesting compliance on nuclear and radiological security. Now he studies on his own the effects of the relocation of nuclear waste from Laguna Verde into the US as well as the dumping of other toxic waste in the desert of Chihuahua.

Thomas O. McGarity
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE AIR: Air Toxics: Under-Reported and Under the Radar

Thomas O. McGarity holds the W. James Kronzer Chair in trial and appellate advocacy at the University of Texas School of Law. He has taught environmental law, administrative law and torts at UT's law school since 1980. Thomas has written two books on federal regulation. "Reinventing Rationality" (1991) describes and critiques regulatory analysis and review that was put into place during the Carter and Reagan administrations. "Workers at Risk" (1993) describes and critiques the Occupational Safety and Health Act during its first 20 years.

Larry McKinney
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE GULF: Go With the Flow

Larry McKinney was born in 1949 and grew up near the small farming community of Coahoma; in west Texas during the 1950s "drought of record," that was a defining point for water development in the state. He is now senior director for coastal fisheries and aquatic resources in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Larry's responsibilities include management of marine fisheries resources; assessing and securing freshwater inflows to estuaries and instream flows for rivers and reservoirs; wetland conservation and restoration; endangered species conservation; and other issues related to the ecological health of Texas aquatic ecosystems.

Luke Metzger
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Biotech Crops: Promises and Hazards

Luke Metzger is the public interest advocate for the Texas Public Interest Research Group (TexPIRG). Luke lobbies legislators and state regulatory agencies and builds public support on a range of issues from clean air enforcement to affordable health care. He worked as a campus organizer for California's PIRG for two years before coming to Texas in 2000. His essay "Polluting the Brazos, Sullying the Soul of Texas" was chosen for publication in the college writing textbook, "The Longwood Guide to Writing." He is a member of the Solar Austin Steering Committee and the Pollution Prevention Advisory Committee of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Leopoldo Miranda-Castro
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Ecotourism in the Americas

Leopoldo Miranda-Castro works in the habitat restoration branch of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. In 1999, Mr. Miranda-Castro became the first coordinator of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service private lands habitat restoration program in the Caribbean. In 2003, he moved to work for the same programs at the Service's headquarters in Washington, DC.

Bill Moyers
Event: Saturday, Lunch and Keynote Address, 12:45 p.m.

Bill Moyers has worked as a journalist for decades, but is probably best known for his TV series like "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth," "The Language Of Life" and "On Our Own Terms: Death and Dying in America." Beginning as a cub reporter for the Marshall News Messenger at the age of l6, he went on to serve as a founding organizer of the Peace Corps, a special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, the publisher of Newsday, a reporter and anchor for public television, senior correspondent for the distinguished documentary series "CBS Reports" and senior news analyst for the CBS Evening News. Before his retirement in December 2004, Bill was managing editor and anchor of "NOW with Bill Moyers." His several books include "The Power of Myth," "Healing and the Mind" and, most recently, "Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times."

Eugene Mulero
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE LAW: CITES Update: Importation of Endangered Species

Eugene Mulero is a staff writer for the Daily Record in Parsippany, NJ. He investigates political, environmental and community issues for the paper's daily and Sunday editions. In April 2005, he broke a story about a police crackdown on Latino immigrants in Morristown. He also reported on the state effort to preserve the Highlands region and other development disputes.

Talli Nauman
Event: Friday, Lunch Breakout Session, 11:45 a.m. —
Using Mexico's New FOI Measures to Reveal Cross-Border Environmental Threats

Talli Nauman es editora asociada del Programa de las Américas de la organización sin fines de lucro, Internacional Relations Center (antes Interhemispheric Resource Center), establecido en Albuquerque, Nuevo México hace 25 años, en donde coordina el proyecto El Derecho a la Información y la Comunicación. Es cofundadora y codirectora del proyecto independiente, Periodismo para Elevar la Conciencia Ecológica (PECE), con sede en Aguascalientes, México, desde hace 11 años. Talli es integrante del Grupo Consultivo voluntario para los Registros de Emisiones y Transferencias de Contaminantes en América del Norte, para la Comisión para la Cooperación Ambiental, un organismo trinacional establecido de acuerdo con el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte. Integrante de SEJ, es también cofundadora de la nueva red electrónica de periodistas ambientales en México, PALnet, formado a principios del año 2004 y columnista ambiental de la edición diaria en México del Miami Herald, publicada por El Universal. Tiene licenciatura en Estudios Ambientales y Visuales de la universidad de Harvard-Radcliffe y maestría en Periodismo Internacional de la Universidad de California Sur. Talli es recipiente de la beca MacArthur por su periodismo de investigación en equidad de género en la protección ambiental en México. Oriunda de los Cerros Negros de Dakota del Sur, radicó durante los últimos 16 años en México, trabajando en periódicos y agencias de noticias nacionales e internacionales, así como promoviendo el periodismo ambiental y la cooperación trans-fronteriza de los ciudadanos.

Talli Nauman is the Americas Program associate and editor-at-large for the 25-year-old Silver City, New Mexico-based non-profit organization, International Relations Center (formerly the Interhemispheric Resource Center), where she coordinates the right-to-know and communications rights project. She is co-founder and co-director of the 11-year-old Aguascalientes, Mexico-based independent media project Journalism to Raise Environmental Awareness (JREA). Talli is a member of the volunteer Consultative Group for North American Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, for the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation, established in accord with the North American Free Trade Agreement. An SEJ member, she is also a co-founder of the new electronic network of environmental journalists in Mexico, PALnet, formed in 2004, and an environmental columnist for the Miami Herald's daily Mexico edition published by El Universal. She has a Bachelor's degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard-Radcliffe University and a Master's degree in International Journalism from the University of Southern California. Talli received a MacArthur Fellowship for her investigative journalism on gender equity in environmental protection in Mexico. A native of the Black Hills of South Dakota, she spent the past 16 years in Mexico, working in national and international periodicals and news agencies, as well as promoting environmental journalism and cross-border citizen cooperation.

Jean-Philippe Nicot
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE GULF: Desalination: Getting Salt Out of the Seas

Jean-Philippe Nicot's current interests include desalination, in particular the fate of the concentrate after desalination of brackish water. He is a researcher at the Texas Bureau of Economic Geology, and is also currently involved in CO2 underground storage.

Karla Peregrina
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 2, 3:15 p.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Biotech Crops: Promises and Hazards

Karla Peregrina es Profesora de Responsabilidad Social y Ambiental en la Universidad del Caribe, en el estado mexicano de Quintana Roo. Asimismo, Karla es bióloga y se ha dedicado al periodismo científico-ambiental, durante los últimos 6 años. Ha colaborado con algunos de los medios impresos más importantes del país, así como con la Academia Mexicana de Ciencias. Actualmente es colaboradora de la Unidad de Periodismo de la Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia de la UNAM, de la Agencia de Noticias SciDev, y de la revista ¿Cómo Ves?, entre otros. Se ha especializado en la cobertura de temas relacionados con bioseguridad y organismos genéticamente transformados.

Karla Peregrina is Professor of Social and Environmental Responsibility at the University of the Caribbean, in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Karla is also a biologist and has worked as a science & environmental journalist since 1999. She has collaborated with some of the most important written media in the country, and with the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Karla is currently collaborating with the Journalism Unit at the Office for Science Promotion at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the SciDev News Agency, the ¿Cómo Ves? Magazine, and others. Her specialty is the coverage of issues related with biosafety and GMOs.

José Javier Pérez
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Ecotourism in the Americas

José Javier Pérez has been working as a senior reporter for El Nuevo Día newspaper since 1991 and has been assigned primarily to environmental and infrastructure themes. In 1995 he won the Puerto Rico Journalist Association National Award for a series of reports relating to the water crisis that the island suffered. In 1998, the same organization recognized him for a special report that ultimately resulted in the prevention of a new hotel construction project targeting a protected forest. The same year he received a fellowship from the Iberoamerican Press Society (SIP) to attend a journalistic seminar offered by Gabriel García Márquez, a recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2000, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honored him with their Quality Award in a ceremony held in New York City and the Puerto Rico Quality Board honored him with a similar recognition of distinction.

Pérez graduated Magna Cum Laude from University of Puerto Rico where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Public Communication. He furthered his education earning his Master's Degree in Sciences in Environmental Management with a major in Environmental Planning (GPA 4.00). His thesis of some 200 pages consisted of a major investigation of the wetland mitigation process and implementation in Puerto Rico.

He is also co-host and weekly contributor for the television program 'Geoambiente' transmitted on the PBS station for Puerto Rico (channel 6). He contributes on a regular basis for TV and Radio Broadcasts for El Nuevo Día. Pérez also serves as professor of Journalism at the University of Puerto Rico, which is the major graduate institution on the island.

Nancy Rabalais
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 4, 11:15 a.m. —
THE GULF: Dead Zones: Updates on Impacts and Science

Nancy Rabalais is the executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. She is known for her work on the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone," a widespread and persistent area of low oxygen. She is a national associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and past chair of the ocean studies board of the National Academies' National Research Council. She received the 2002 Bostwick H. Ketchum Award for coastal research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and several research and environmental awards for her work on the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia.

Dick and Pat Richardson
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Dick and Pat Richardson are professors and researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Their primary focus is on soil food webs and restoration. They helped develop the Austin Hornsby Bend site, a project in East Austin that transforms sewage into compost. Their research includes prairie grasslands and the role of the dung beetle on soil microorganisms.

J.A. Savage
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE INDUSTRY: Green Energy: What Are The Paybacks And The Risks?

J.A. Savage has worked as an investigative reporter and editor for over two decades, co-authored two books on energy deregulation, and was a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. Savage also served as chief researcher for the book "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" (November 2003).

Matthew R. Simmons
Event: Saturday, Breakfast Session, 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. —
Covering Energy: Boom or Bust?

Matthew R. Simmons founded Simmons & Company International in 1974. He currently serves as a board member of Brown-Forman Corporation, the Center for Houston's Future, Houston Technology Center, ICIC and The Atlantic Council of The United States of America. Matthew is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

Robert A. Thomas
Event: Saturday, Concurrent Sessions 3, 9:30 a.m. —
THE CRAFT: The Challenges of Teaching Environmental Journalism

Robert A. Thomas is chair at the Loyola University Center for Environmental Communications. His career has been spent in the field of environmental education. He was founding director of the Louisiana Nature Center, served as vice president for environmental policy at the Audubon Institute, and taught various biology courses at the University of New Orleans from 1979-1996. In 1996-97, Robert continued as senior scientist at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species (ACRES, a facility which is part of the Audubon Nature Institute: the local zoo, aquarium, nature center, and species survival center), then joined the faculty at Loyola University New Orleans.

Juan Valadez
Event: Thursday Tour —
East Austin: Whose Other Side?

Juan Valadez is an East Austin resident and co-founder of the East Austin Stories course at The University of Texas at Austin where students have made a series of documentaries that can be viewed online. He is also the community youth organizer and director of the Center for Cultural Exploration. He will be acting as the official Spanish translator of SEJ's East Austin Tour.

Eduardo Viadas
Event: Friday, Concurrent Sessions 1, 1:30 p.m. —
THE BORDER AND BEYOND: Birds, Butterflies and Bats: Cross-Border Migration and Wildlife Management

Eduardo Viadas es periodista y director de Planeta Azul, un sitio web dedicado al periodismo ambiental. Actualmente curso estudios en el Programa LEAD sobre Desarrollo y Medioambiente en El Colegio de México. Eduardo trabajó previamente como reportero y productor en diversos programas en TV Azteca, Televisa y ABC Radio. También pública periódicamente en Rolling Stone y participa en Univisión de los Estados Unidos, con una cápsula sobre medioambiente.

Eduardo Viadas is a journalist and Director of Planeta Azul (Blue Planet), a web site focused on environmental journalism. Currently he pursues the LEAD Program in development and environment in El Colegio de Mexico. He worked previously as a reporter and producer in TV Azteca as well as Televisa and ABC Radio. He also publishes in Rolling Stone and participates in Univision with a program about the environment.

Mark G. Yudof
Event: Welcoming Remarks, 10:00 a.m.

Mark G. Yudof has been chancellor of The University of Texas System since 2002.Yudof came to the chancellor's office from the University of Minnesota, where he had served as president since July 1997. Mark is an authority on constitutional law, freedom of expression, and education law. He has written and edited books on free speech and gender discrimination, and most recently completed the fourth edition of his co-authored book, "Educational Policy and the Law."

Ángel Trinidad Zaldivar
Event: Friday, Lunch Breakout Session, 11:45 a.m. —
Using Mexico's New FOI Measures to Reveal Cross-Border Environmental Threats

Ángel Trinidad Zaldívar, Secretario Ejecutivo, Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública, es Mexicano, Licenciado en Derecho por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México con especialidad en Finanzas Públicas y Maestría en Administración y Gobierno, ha ocupado durante su carrera profesional diversos cargos entre los que pueden señalarse: Coordinador de Enlace Interinstitucional de la Secretaria Particular de la Presidencia de la República; Delegado de la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes en los Estados de Puebla y Morelos; Asesor y Coordinador de Enlace con las Delegaciones de la Subsecretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes, Asesor del Secretario de Desarrollo Social del Gobierno del Distrito Federal; Secretario Auxiliar del Lic. Luis Donaldo Colosio, Candidato a la Presidencia; Secretario Particular de la Secretaria de Turismo y paralelamente responsable de la Unidad de Enlace de Metas Presidenciales y Titular de la Unidad de Enlace para la Transparencia; Director de Planeación de CONASUPO; Secretario Técnico del Subsecretario de Planeación Educativa y Secretario de Actas y Acuerdos de la Comisión de Informática del Sector Educativo.

Ángel Trinidad Zaldívar, is a lawyer and holds a Master's degree in Administration and Government. He has worked in the Secretary of the Presidency, Secretary of Tourism and in the Government of Mexico City, among several other jobs. He was also the secretary of the former candidate to the presidency, Luis Donaldo Colosio. Currently he is the Executive Secretary of the Federal Information Access Institute.

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