Now that we’ve sprung forward, it’s a good time to think about how to create and maintain sustainable gardens. Top on that list is eliminating pesticides where we work, live and play. FOA is sponsoring Beyond Pesticides’ NYC forum on this issue April 5 and 6. Among the topics are “Creating Just Food Systems” and “Organizing for Local Policy Change.” Here’s where you can sign up to attend. Speakers are listed below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joan Dye Gussow, EdD, called the “Matriarch of the Local Food Movement;” nutritionist, educator, writer, gardener; adjunct professor, professor emeritus, former chair, Nutrition Education Program, Teachers College, Columbia University; author of seven books, including This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader, and Growing, Older; formerly: Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences; FDA’s Food Advisory Committee; National Organic Standards Board; Piermont, NY.

Peter Del Tredici, PhD, is an American botanist and author. He is a former senior research scientist at Arnold Arboretum for 35 years and a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Dr. Del Tredici is the author of the widely acclaimed Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A Field Guide (Cornell University Press, 2010).

Jeff Pettis, PhD, former research leader, USDA’s Bee Research Laboratory, groundbreaking researcher on the behavior and chemical ecology of honey bees; principal, Pettis and Associates, LLC; president, Scientific Commission on Bee Health, Apimondia (International Association of Beekeeper Associations); Salisbury, MD.

Virginia Rauh, ScD, deputy director, Center for Children’s Environmental Health, Columbia University; professor, Population and Family Health, Columbia University Medical Center; research on effects of toxic chemicals and conditions on developmental outcomes; New York City, NY.

Maida Galvez, MD, associate professor, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health and Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Director, Region 2 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU); Founding Director, New York State Children’s Environmental Health Center (NYSCEHC); New York, NY.

Routt Reigart, MD, professor emeritus, former director, Division of General Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina; co-author, Children’s low-level pesticide exposure and associations with autism and ADHD: A review; co-author, Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisoning, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); former chair, Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, EPA; Charleston, SC.

Sarah F Evans, PhD, assistant professor, Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Children’s Environmental Health Center, Institute for Exposomic Research, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.

Rella Abernathy, PhD, integrated pest management coordinator, City of Boulder, CO.