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CUPID is excited to welcome the following speakers to our 2008 conference, to be held on February 15, 2008, in Jerome Greene Hall (116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue).

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Geoffrey Heal, Paul Garrett Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility at Columbia Business School, is noted for contributions to economic theory and environmental economics. Author of eighteen books and about two hundred articles, he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, Past President of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, recipient of its prize for publications of enduring quality and a Life Fellow, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Environmental Protection Agency and a Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Recent books include Nature and the Marketplace, Valuing the Future and When Principles Pay. He chaired a committee of the National Academy of Sciences on valuing ecosystem services, was a Commissioner of the Pew Oceans Commission, and is a Director of Petromin Holdings PNG Ltd. and Chairs the Advisory Board of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. He has been a principal in two start-up companies, one a consulting firm and the other in software and telecommunications.

DEBATE OVER CLIMATE CHANGE:

Manik Roy, Myron Ebell, and Kasey Jacobs, moderated by Steven Cohen

Manik Roy is the Director of Congressional Affairs for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, where he manages communication between the Center and the U.S. Congress. Dr. Roy has twenty-five years of experience in environmental policy, having worked, before coming to the Pew Center, for Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Representative Henry A. Waxman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Defense Fund. Mr. Roy holds a Ph.D. form Harvard University. He also hols a Master of Science degree in evironmental engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering, both from Stanford University.

Myron Ebell is director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He also chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, which questions global warming alarmism and opposes energy rationing policies.  Mr. Ebell has testified before seven House and Senate Committees, his writings have appeared in a variety of publications, and he has appeared as a guest on numerous television shows. He has debated then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, then-EPA administrator Carol Browner, and the head of the Sierra Club. Among numerous other recognitions, Greenpeace featured Mr. Ebell in "A Field Guide to Climate Criminals" distributed at the UN Climate Meeting in Montreal in December 2005. Rolling Stone named Mr. Ebell one of six "Misleaders" on global warming in a special feature, along with President Bush, Senator James Inhofe, and Michael Crichton. A native of Baker City, Oregon, Mr. Ebell holds a BA from Colordao College and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. He has also done graduate work at the University of California, San Diego and at Peterhouse, Cambridge University.

Kasey Jacobs, Program Coordinator with Citizens Campaign for the Environment and presenter for Al Gore’s the Climate Project. Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) is an 80,000 member supported non-profit, non-partisan organization working in NY and CT to build widespread citizen understanding and advocacy for policies and actions designed to manage and protect our natural resources and public health. In addition to her work with CCE, Kasey was chosen from a select group to participate in a rigorous training program, created by Nobel laureate Al Gore and the Climate Project. Each trainee took part in an intensive tutorial about issues surrounding the Climate Crisis, led by Gore and a team of renowned scientists and environmental educators, to be able to present a computer-based slide show to mass audiences, which became the basis for the best-selling book and documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth”. Before joining CCE and TCP Kasey received a BS in Environmental Science-Biology summa cum laude from LIU Southampton and did education and outreach for the Surfrider Foundation, an international organization dedicated to protecting the coasts.

Steven Cohen is the Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also Executive Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is a graduate of Franklin College of Indiana (1974) and the State University of New York at Buffalo (M.A., 1977; Ph.D., 1979).  Dr. Cohen has served as a policy analyst in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as consultant to the agency from 1981 through 1991, from 1994 to 1996 and from 2005 to the present. From 2001 to 2004 he served on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technology.  Cohen is the author of The Effective Public Manager (1988), Understanding Environmental Policy (forthcoming) and the co-author of several other books, as well as numerous articles on public management innovation, public ethics and environmental management.

PANEL ON BUSINESS AND MARKETS

Moderator: Eron Bloomgarden, United States country director, Ecosecurities, LLC.

Carter Bales is director emeritus of McKinsey & Company and special consultant to the recent McKinsey report on "Reducing Greenhouse Emissions: How Much at What Cost?"

Annika L. Colston is Vice President of Emission Reduction Projects at Blue Source, LLC. In this capacity, Ms. Colston is responsible for identifying and developing opportunities across several project types including methane capture and avoidance, fuel swithincg, carbon capture, transportation and emerging technologies. Prior to joining Blue Source, Annika was the US country director at Ecosecurities where for over four years she helped the company grow from a small advisory firm in a nascent carbon market to one of the leading portfolios of carbon credits. Her accomplishments include originating, developing and marketing the La Esperanza project in Honduras that received the first ever issued credits under the Kyoto Protocol's CDM. Annika developed 2E Carbon Access, a facility tailored to meet the needs of CDM projects that were considered too small to participate in the CDM. She managed the partnership between Ecosecurities and Cargill to identify, develop and operate projects worldwide. Ms Colston received her graduate degree from MIT and holds a BA from Boston University. She lives in New York City with husband Greg and son Grey.

Rena Gelb is currently the Vice President of Operations and Acting Director of Carbon Finance at Carbon Credit Capital, LLC (CCC), a New York based company developing sustainable carbon credits. Working with a team of both in-house and internationally experienced professionals, she leads strategic development, heads carbon finance and investment opportunities, and oversees the company's growth in India. On behald of CCC, Rena has negotiated strategic joint ventures for both developing sustainable energy projects and for trading carbon credits, including one with Bear Energy. Rena has attended both international and domestic conferences on carbon credits, and is often invited to speak on developing sustainable carbon credits and managing risk. Rena has an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she focused on finance and economics, with an emphasis on derivatives. Rena's previous work includes consulting and three years of teaching in NYC classrooms.

PANEL ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SECURITY

Mr Themba N. Masuku is Director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York. Mr Masuku, a national of the Kingdom of Swaziland, holds a B.Sc. in Agronomy and an M.Sc. in Agricultural Mechanization from the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA. Mr Masuku began his professional career in 1970 with the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland, working in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. In 1977, he was appointed Principal of a Farmer’s Training Centre. In 1984, left government service and joined the private sector, managing several pineapple and sugar cane plantations in Swaziland. In 1991, he rejoined the public sector as Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Government of the Kingdom of Swaziland. He subsequently became Minister for Economic Planning and Development in 1993. During this time he served as President of ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific States) during the Review of the 4th Lomé Convention. In 1996, he became the Minister for Finance.
In 1998, Mr Masuku joined FAO as Director of the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva, focussing his work on the WTO trade negotiations of the Doha Round and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Will Callaway serves as the Legislative Director and Director of Communications with Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national organization that works to protect human life from the gravest threats to health and survival by utilizing the expertise of medicine and public health.  He joined the staff in March 2006 and prior to that was the executive director for the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC), a position he held for five years.  At TEC Mr. Callaway led the fight for improved environmental regulations as part of Tennessee's promulgation of new air and water quality rules.  He earned his Master of Science degree from the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.  He worked as a staff member in the U.S. Senate for five years and has worked for several environmental advocacy organizations including the National Environmental Trust and the National Audubon Society. Additionally, Callaway was nominated for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee's third congressional district in 2000.

Nathan Currier, winner of the Academy Award for lifetime achievement, from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, as well as a winner of the Rome Prize for composition. The American Academy’s award citation mentioned the honesty and clarity of his music, as well as the direct impact, immediate appeal, and “breathtaking virtuosity” of his compositions.
Currier studied at Julliard and currently teaches music at Sweet Briar College and the University of Virginia. He came to his interest in climate change through the back door of gaia theory, a hypothesis postulated by the British scientist/philosopher James Lovelock. Gaia theory is an ecological theory that proposes that the living matter of planet Earth functions like a single organism. 
As a member of Al Gore's The Climate Project (http://www.theclimateproject.org/), Currier has been trained to show Al Gore’s famous slideshow: “An Inconvenient Truth” and has also created his own slideshow about global warming through the viewpoint of Gaia.  He premiered his evening length environmental oratorio Gaian Variations at Avery Fisher Hall with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He attended the Juilliard School, where he received his Doctorate in 1989, and served from 1991-2002 on the Juilliard Evening Division faculty. He currently resides in Virginia, and is serving on the faculty of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

Joshua Moses is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University, and holds a masters degree in community development from Cornell University.  He is a Ruth L. Kirschstein Fellow with the National Institute of Mental Health. He has worked with the New York State Office of Mental Health on the impacts of 9/11 on religious communities in NYC.  He is currently editing a book on collaboration between religious leaders and mental health professionals during disasters.  His dissertation, A New Age of Anxiety: Disaster, Religion and Mental Health in post-9/11 New York City, will soon be completed.

And more! This page will continue to be updated!