Board Of Advisors

George Archibald
        Co-Founder, International Crane Foundation
David Bengston
        Ecological Economist and Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota
Thomas Breckenridge
        Financial advisor and concerned grandfather
Dr. Vijoya Dasgupta, M.D. 
        Physician, State of Wisconsin
Lowell Erdahl
        Bishop, St. Paul Area Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (retired)
Richard Flint
        Attorney and conservationist
Richard Grossman, M.D.
        Practicing obstetrician and gynecologist
Thomas Hale, M.D.
        Author and medical missionary in Nepal
Jim Klobuchar
        Writer, author and adventurer
Camilo Mora
        Professor of Geography, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Alexandra Paul
        Actress and sustainable population advocate
Karen Shragg
        Environmentalist, naturalist, and author
Dick Smith
        Australian businessman, philanthropist, and sustainable population advocate
Liz Todd
        Concerned citizen
David L. Trauger
        Ecologist, and Professor Emeritus, Virginia Tech
Charles A. Weinstein
        Director of the Hill Center for Ethical Business Leadership

Former Advisory Board Members

Alan Anderson
        President, Anderson's China Shop 
Albert A. Bartlett
        Professor Emeritus of Physics, University of Colorado
Roger Bengston
        Businessman and historian
Norman Borlaug
        Nobel Peace Prize laureate and "father" of Green Revolution
Nina Leopold Bradley
        Director, Aldo Leopold Foundation
Walter Breckenridge
        Professor and Director of the Bell Museum of Natural History, University of Minnesota
Tessa Bridal
        Businesswoman and author
Ulf S. H. Christiansen
        Norwegian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates
John B. Davis
        Former college president and school superintendent
Gwen Frostic
        Poet, naturalist, printmaker and publisher
Greg Krueger
        Assistant Professor of Education, Augsburg College
Hugh Iltis
        Renowned botanist, conservationist and early proponent of population reduction
Sister Marlys Jax
        Assisi Heights Catholic Community
Ed McGaa, Eagle Man
        Oglala Sioux lawyer, writer, and lecturer
William G. Milliken
       Former Governor, State of Michigan
George Pillsbury
        Retired businessman and former Minnesota state senator
Father Tim Power
        Pastor, Pax Christie Catholic Community 
Gretchen Quie
        Former First Lady, State of Minnesota
Arthur Rouner
        Senior Minister Emeritus, Colonial Church of Edina
        United Church of Christ
Sister Mary Zirbes
        Field of Social Justice

Board of Directors

Craig Blacklock, Nature photographer and videographer

Craig Blacklock is a second generation, nationally recognized landscape photographer. His father, Les Blacklock, lectured about overpopulation 50 years ago, when the world population of over 3 billion was already in severe overshoot. Craig has witnessed first hand the ramifications of that overshoot in many of his beloved wild places being converted for human use, and in the loss and decline of many species of wildlife. Craig is an only child and father of one child, and passionately advocates for voluntary single child families.

 

Lukas Eddy, Registered nurse and environmentalist
 

Lukas serves as the board chair of WPB. He’s worked for many environmental causes, from fisheries protection with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to organizing protests against mangrove ecosystem destruction in Mexico. Currently, Lukas is a nurse on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. He carries a strong clinical knowledge base, with an interest in sexual and reproductive health. He holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado and a MS in Nursing from the University of Arizona.

 

Suhei Eddy, Community relations specialist and environmentalist

Before coming to World Population Balance, Suhei worked with Amigos de Sian Ka'an (one of the largest environmental NGOs in her native Mexico), and CONAF, the National Forest Corporation of Chile. Seeing both organizations suffer environmental losses from growing populations, she decided to come tackle the cause, instead of just the symptoms, of so many environmental problems by joining World Population Balance.

 

Barbara Franklin, Librarian and environmentalist
 

Barbara credits her father, Walter Breckenridge, wildlife artist, Audubon lecturer and Director of the Bell Museum of Natural History with her concern for overpopulation and WPB. She grew up on the Mississippi River in Brooklyn Park indoctrinated with his warnings about the perils of overpopulation, which unfortunately have come to pass. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Iowa and a Master’s from the University of Minnesota and worked as a librarian for 35 years at Baltimore County Public Library. She still works part time for Ramsey County Library and has served on the WPB Board since she moved back to Minneapolis in 2002.

 

 

Edmund Levering, Environmentalist, peace and justice activist
 

 

Ashleigh Moody, Sales and marketing specialist
 

Ashleigh serves as the Secretary and Treasurer on the Board of Directors and as the Business Manager for WPB. She is passionate about many social and environmental justice topics and advocates for them through her passions. She has a Bachelor's of Fine Art in Photography, is a level 2 Sommelier, and a Certified Functional Nutritional Therapist. She adventures full-time in her camper van with her Pyr Oliver working with clients in her practice and enjoying all nature has to offer.

 

Florde Maria Ward, Banker (retired), humanitarian and environmental activist

Born in Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Florde María, a CPA, is a passionate humanitarian environmentalist who also speaks a few languages. Having traveled to over 70 countries she has immersed herself in the cultures and profound beauty of the natural world. Florde's wish is that we engage in thoughtful conversation about how we as individuals and as a population influence and affect this glorious planet.

 

 

Staff

Dave Gardner, Executive Director

Dave is director of the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. Having produced films for PBS and dozens of Fortune 500 companies during a long career as a professional filmmaker, Dave now focuses his communication skills on helping our modern, growth-addicted society rediscover what really matters in life. He comments on the media at growthbiasbusted.org, speaks regularly on college campuses and to other groups, does media interviews, produces short films, and hosts the nationally syndicated radio series, Conversation Earth.

 

Dana Olson, Office Manager

Dana is originally from California where her mother was a member of Zero Population Growth in the late 60's and early 70's. She now resides in Minneapolis with her Husband, Dog, and Cat.  She has previously held positions with the Minneapolis Health Department, a nationally televised home shopping network and once worked as a Production Assistant for American Idol! She is looking forward to helping raise awareness of how overpopulation is driving climate change and how we can create lasting change through education.

 

Alan Ware, Research, Writing, Speaking

Alan assists with website research, writing, social media, and public presentations.  He understands the crucial role that population balance must play in creating a more sustainable future.  In addition to population issues, he follows the unfolding and intertwined financial, energy, and environmental crises and the broader predicament they point to: the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.

 

Carolyn Sherer VandenDolder, Fellow

Carolyn assists with writing, special projects, events, and public presentations. A peace and social justice activist since young adulthood, she now understands how population exacerbates virtually all other problems facing our modern society and is the root of many of them. She is delighted to be working on such a vital issue and to be associated with such dedicated, gifted people.

 

Suhei Eddy, Social Media Assistant

Suhei designs informative, educational graphics for WPB and also partners with other groups on social media to spread overpopulation awareness, including in Latin America. Before coming to World Population Balance, Suhei worked with Amigos de Sian Ka'an (one of the largest environmental NGOs in her native Mexico), and CONAF, the National Forest Corporation of Chile. Seeing both organizations suffer environmental losses from growing populations, she decided to come tackle the cause, instead of just the symptoms, of so many environmental problems by joining World Population Balance.

 

Jem Randles, Fellow

Jem's eyes were opened to the impact of numbers by Al Bartlett's 'Exponential Function' lecture. He worked for UK charity, Population Matters, in a volunteer capacity for 5 years. Jem is joint editor of WPB's 'Ending Overshoot' publication and manages WPB's social media. A Chartered Engineer, Jem describes himself as "retired early from corporate life" to "farm for wildlife" on his 12 acres on the west Wales coast. He also volunteers for Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, on surveys and data.

 

David Paxson, President Emeritus

David Paxson is a national leader on the sustainable population issue. He has participated at international meetings - including the United Nations Population Conference in Egypt - and has spoken to groups across the United States.

He graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Economics and a concentration in Environmental Education and Policy. He worked at the Center for Population Studies at the University of Minnesota.

In 1991 David retired from the financial field and founded World Population Balance. Some members are strongly pro-life and others are pro-choice. They have respectfully agreed to disagree about the very difficult issue of abortion in order to focus time and energy on the critical issue of balancing  human numbers with finite and declining vital resources.

Past and present members of the World Population Balance Board of Advisors include: Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace laureate and "father" of The Green Revolution; Sister Mary Zirbes ("zur-bees"), retired from the Office of Social Justice of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul; Dr. Tom Hale, medical missionary in Nepal since 1970, and William Milliken, former Governor of Michigan.

David has spoken to over one hundred Rotary clubs and is a life member of the Rotarian Action Group on Population & Development where Rotarians promote population awareness and organize World Community Service projects that include family planning and sustainable population. He has made two trips with club members to South America to work on humanitarian service projects. He also participated in a joint Rotary and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) conference in New York.

David is hopeful. He believes that as people learn the realities about our overpopulation crisis relative to Earth's declining vital resources, they will move toward a truly sustainable global and national population.