MEET THE TEAM
Joanna Campe, Executive Director
In the early 1980s, I felt strongly I wanted to make a contribution to healing the Earth and did not want to leave the fate of the Earth in the hands of the "experts." In so many words I asked the universe to give me a task. Soon after a friend gave me the book The Survival of Civilization by John Hamaker and Don Weaver. What had previously been "dirt" under my feet became for me a vast micro-universe that is the basis of all life. As an individual wanting to make a difference I felt the tremendous importance of John's work and joined together with him, Don Weaver and others to get the message out.
In 1995 I received a grant to create the non-profit organization Remineralize the Earth which facilitates the networking of a worldwide grass roots movement concerned with regenerating soils, forests, health and stabilizing the climate through remineralization. I have collected research on remineralization from all over the world, produced a newsletter for many years and the magazine Remineralize the Earth (1991-1998), co-produced the European part of the documentary film Stopping the Coming Ice Age and have networked to policy makers and scientists since 1984. In 1994 I co-organized a conference at the USDA headquarters in Washington that included the USDA, the National Aggregate and Stone Associations and directed a two-year research project. I have been a speaker at conferences in the United States and Europe (including England, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary) and Central America and recently spoke at the World International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) and made radio and television appearances to promote remineralization worldwide.
Dan Kittredge, Director of the Real Food Campaign
I grew up on an organic farm, and have been an organic farmer professionally for 10 years. I am currently co-manager at the Many Hands Organic Farm in Barre, MA. and manager of Spencer Brook Farm in Concord, MA. In the Winter of 2004-5 I worked in India with Vandana Shiva organizing small farmers in India to develop more sustainable farming practices. In the Winter of 2003-4 I worked on the Dennis Kucinich For President campaign doing media and outreach in New Hampshire. Since 2004 I have been working with David Yarrow on remineralization work with the company SeaAgri. Prior to that I have worked in Central America, Siberia, and with Native Americans in the American southwest to implement more sustainable agricultural practices.
I understand the lack of micronutrients in the soil, food and our bodies as a primary cause of disease in the environment, agriculture, and our health. I see the work of Remineralize the Earth as a very practical medium through which to redress these imbalances. I look forward to much proactive, creative and productive work here and know that those few committed citizens if using the resources at their disposal wisely can have a great impact. I am the director of Remineralize the Earth's Real Food Campaign.
Don Weaver, Co-Author of The Survival of Civilization
I have for 30 years been an ecologist, researcher, writer, and organic grower concerned with the health and survival of humanity and the Biosphere. I think that humanity must quickly emerge as the wisely generous species on Earth if the growing momentum of eco-climatic and health degeneration is to be reversed. I am grateful to have met the brilliant ecologist John D. Hamaker in 1978, being thrilled to learn how local and global soil remineralization with natural gravel (mixed rock) dust, to grow high-quality crops and trees, is such a powerful and practical foundation for regenerating the socio-ecosphere. John and I subsequently collaborated to author The Survival of Civilization, produce 11 issues of Solar Age or Ice Age? Bulletin, plus write numerous articles for the magazines Remineralize the Earth, Acres USA, Living Nutrition, and others.
John Hamaker died in 1994 at age 80, but his devotion to saving humanity from the vast and generally unforeseen consequences of soil demineralization helped inspire me to keep sharing his crucial insights, along with others supportive of "Earth Regeneration" and "Reverence for Life." From 1997-2002 I researched and wrote To Love And Regenerate The Earth: Further Perspectives on The Survival of Civilization, which includes additional Hamaker writings in its 540 pages. Both Hamaker-Weaver books remain free at www.remineralize.org as a planetary public service. I continue "promoting" the books and assisting Remineralize the Earth and its worldwide network in various ways. Let me know if I might assist you in your/our work for the health and regeneration of humanity and the Earth.
Jim Cory, Web Developer
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Jim Cory is the founder of and lead analyst at Horizon Mapping, providing consulting services to nonprofits regarding web development and mapping online. Before 2008 he worked for the commercial GIS consulting firm GeoAnalytics, Inc, where he designed and built spatial databases and wrote programs to integrate enterprise databases. Prior to that he worked at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources doing GIS database and application development.
"I continue to look for ways of promoting sustainability and wise use of the land. Through my work as a web consultant, I find I can help organizations with a similar mission get the word out, get people involved, and nudge the world towards a better place. The challenge of the 21st century is to reign in excessive consumption and waste and create a world our children can thrive in. Remineralize the Earth, with its effort to create a community of rockdust practitioners is helping to bring new vitality to soils without depleting critical natural resources. This is one step on the path we need to follow."
Pedro Antonio Ruiz Castro, Spanish News Correspondent and Science Writer
Since I finished my degree in Biochemistry in Spain I have been working in Biomedical Research, including my PhD in Biological Sciences at the Technical University of Munich and two postdoctoral fellowships in Germany and the United Kingdom. My work is focused on signal transduction and gene expression regulation in the context of inflammation and fibrosis. Living in Germany and the United Kingdom has given me the opportunity to learn and extensively practice both German and English.
The idea of reversing soil depletion by remineralization with rock dust, based on the vital importance of trace minerals to plant growth and health, struck me with its apparent simplicity and yet profound significance. As several authors have already remarked, rock dust is probably the only way to extensively restore mineral richness in soils depleted by centuries of intensive farming. I share my passion for Science with an equally strong one for languages and writing and I feel fortunate to be able to combine all three in this worthwhile initiative.
Kevin Bay, Hampshire Intern 2011
When a bout of illness in the Spring of my first year as a college student took
away the good health I had previously taken for granted, I began the journey of
becoming more aware of my body and self, and learning to cultivate a healthy
lifestyle. At around the same time, I became fascinated with ecological
interactions in the natural world. These experiences threw me head first into
the complex worlds of nutrition, sustainability, health, and spirituality, just
to name a few. Since then I have been learning at an incredible pace, and my
interest in small-scale community based food production, fermentation, and
integrated ecological systems has brought immeasurable joy into my life.
I enjoy seeing my world through the lens of the ecological, biochemical, and
microbiological sciences and using this along with a more intuitive perspective
to gain a holistic view on pertinent issues in individual and ecological health,
and I hope to see RTE continue to share the vision of the world as an
interconnected, ecological symphony. I hope to contribute to RTE's effort to
raise awareness on simple, natural ways to encourage the health of individuals
and ecosystems across the globe.
Rebecca Burnham, Hampshire Intern 2011
I have been involved with sustainable agriculture informally all throughout my life, volunteering with non-profits and farms and devoting energy towards personal sustainable practices. As a high-school sophomore I attended an experiential education semester in Brevard, North Carolina and experienced my own “eye-opener”, if you will, where I began to truly notice the world and its myriad of problems. My desire for a just, sustainable and healthy future has increased exponentially as time goes on and since coming to Hampshire College in 2009, my literacy and erudition of the issues involved grows with it.
I am intensely interested in what I call ‘the politics of food’—the political, social, economic and health implications of everything from unsustainable farming practices to poor nutrition to community exploitation from international agricultural corporations. I really believe in the mission and goals of RTE, remineralizing the soil that is steadily slipping away from us and educating communities on these issues. Sustainable agriculture is vital for the future and for any kind of change anyone wishes to make in our world. We are what we eat and I am excited to work with RTE to help improve that.
Jesika Breitenfeld, Intern, 2010
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| Photo credit: Dasha Gaian |
Wenlu Zhang, Administrative Assistant and Webmaster
In Chinese my name is
. Wen (文) means literature and culture. Lu (璐) means beautiful jade, something pure, lustrous and tough. My parents named me Wen-Lu, hoping that their daughter would grow to possess the nature of jade, peaceful, calming and graceful. I was born and grew up in Tianjin, one of the biggest cities in Northeastern China. I went to Nankai High School in Tianjin, one of the most prestigious schools in China which has many notable alumni, including Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of China and Wen Jiabao, the sixth and current Premier of China.
In 2010, I graduated from University of Massachusetts in Amherst with honors. My fields of interest and studies include finance, marketing, information technology (IT) and Mathematics. I became interested in sustainable environmental development a few years ago. Living in the Pioneer Valley area a couple years makes me realize the importance of maintaining the ecological balance and human well-being around the world. I find that the idea of Remineralize the Earth to regenerate soils and to stabilize the climate is inspiring and fascinating. I have always wanted to do something for society and I am very happy and excited to join such a wonderful nonprofit organization and work with a great team with members from all over the world. I look forward to learning more and contributing my best to help RTE spread the word to become more accessible and move on to the next level.