Blue Community Program Team & Contributors

Dr. Noel Brown is on the Governing Board of the International Oceans Institute (IOI), Director General of the Waves of Change Campaign, and President of Friends of the United Nations. Dr. Brown also directs the IOI Ocean Governance, Policy, Law and Management Training in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Previously, he served as Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), North American Regional Office and U.N. Headquarters office for UNEP. He remains with UNEP as a Senior Consultant. Dr. Brown is also Chairman of the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism, a founding member of the Aspen Global Change Institute and the International Council for Local Environment Issues, Chairman of the Rene Dubos Center for Human Environments, and he serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Rivers Environmental Educational Network, the Climate Institute, the Earth Communications Office, the Rainforest Alliance, Global Education Associates, Trust for the Americas, and of their environmental and educational organizations.

Dr. David W. Randle is Managing Director of the International Ocean Institute Waves of Change campaign, co-facilitator of the Global Healing Initiative and president and executive director of the WHALE Center.  As the first ordained environmental minister in the world, Dave has successfully coordinated a national campaign to preserve water, wildlife, and wilderness areas on behalf of the Pitkin County Commissioners, served as political and environmental adviser to John Denver and initial program development coordinator for John Denver's Windstar Foundation, was selected as one of the five lead off witnesses for hearings by the U. S. Presidential Commission for a Peace Academy & Conflict Resolution, and helped lead a team of 150 persons at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  During the Salt Lake Olympics, Dave worked with UNEP & URI to develop the Earth and Faith Leadership Development Program that was piloted in the Olympic Village in Salt Lake City and which received an Olympic Award and an award at the United Nations.

Dr. Reese Halter is an award winning conservation scientist, father, best selling author, syndicated science writer and TV documentary nature host  He holds a Ph.D.from the University of Melbourne, Australia.  In the late 1980's Reese founded Global Forest Science as a charitable international forest research foundation. He donated the first seed money to the foundation which has grown to a team of 165 international scientists. 

Dr. Reese Halter covered the Gulf oil spill extensively with many of his reports seen on MSNBC and other News media outlets including OPEDs calling for more sustainability.  He is currently a faculty member at California Lutheran University.

Basil G. Smith- CPA, MBA, is a highly energetic, innovative and results-oriented public relations, fundraising and financial professional with outstanding success in executive management, international relations and business development, raising funds, contributing to corporate profitability and viability during periods of start-up, growth and major transition. He is also an associate professor at the University of Phoenix.

He holds an MBA degree in Management from St. Thomas University, Florida, and a CPA license from Florida and extensive training in Sales, Public Relations and Fundraising.  His technical skills include a variety of word-processing, spreadsheet and general ledger software applications as well as the selection and implementation of key computerized information systems.

David South is president and founder of Monolithic Inc.  David invented the Monolithic Dome which has been used for agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential purposes since 1975.  With over 30 years experience in dome construction, he is the top person in the world for effective construction management of dome structures.

The Monolithic Dome has been rated by FEMA as near absolute protection, meaning that it is 100% fire proof, tornado proof, insect and mold proof and can withstand hurricanes up to 300 MPH.  With all these benefits it also uses only 25% the energy as conventional construction, requires less maintenance, insurance.  Construction costs are comparable conventional buildings of 2000 sq ft or less and considerably less for larger buildings.

Stan Doerr joined ECHO after working with World Vision where he served three years in Mauritania.  Stan has lived in or worked in over 45 countries around the world in community development and agriculture and has a Master of Science degree from the University of Texas.

ECHO originally founded as Educational Concerns for Haiti Organization is now known as Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization and has expanded its sustainable agricultural work beyond Haiti to the larger Caribbean and other tropical climates of the world. 

Dr. Thomas L. Crisman, Patel Professor of Environment, University of South Florida.   Prior to becoming the Patel Professor of the Environment at University of South Florida, with a joint appointment in the Patel Center for Global Solutions and the Department of Integrative Biology, Dr. Crisman was a professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida for 30 years and Director of the Howard T. Odum Center of Wetlands for 11 years. He is a broadly trained aquatic ecologist specializing in water management of the tropics and subtropics and the use of appropriate low technology solutions for drinking and wastewater treatment. His research has focused on water management in Florida, Africa, Central and South America, Asia and the Caribbean and Mediterranean basins, and he has served as a consultant to the governments of Spain, Poland and Greece, the United Nations and numerous international agencies. He is currently Chair of the Board of Advisors of the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation through a State Department appointment. He has authored 177 articles, books, book chapters and reports, delivered 243 scientific presentations globally.

Brian Bartel is General Manager of Easy Energy LLC.  Prior to this position h was president of a Phoenix-based office equipment company for 17 years.  Brian grew a small Office Equipment Company into a multi-million dollar enterprise.  During his 20+ years as a resident of the “Valley of the Sun” Brian has been a proponent and user of solar technology, where the sun can be harnessed for energy an average of 300 days of each year.  His interest in renewable energy expanded in 2002 as he developed reverse hydrogen fuel cell technology that has since been patented for use in small engines as a substitute for natural gas or propane.  In 2007 Brian started a manufacturing company that produces Photovoltaic solar thermal panels that produce electricity and heat from the same panel.  The electricity is distributed to the grid or stored in the form of hydrogen and the heat produced from the panels is stored in water.   Brian is the driving force behind developing renewable applications and expanding business operations.

JOHN LEHNHARDT recently retired as the the Animal and Environmental Policy and Standards Technical Director for Animal Programs and Environmental Initiatives, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide.

John started his career as an elephant and seal/sea lion keeper over three decades ago. John soon observed that the negative care of animals was leading to stress of the elephants that resulted in a high number of deaths of trainers.   He then developed a protocol to allow elephants to live more naturally that revolutionized the care of Elephants around the world.  The net result of John's contribution is that elephants and other animals are now living more peacefully and in harmony with their natural instincts and trainers are no longer being killed from poor standards.

John was responsible for the environmental initiatives of Disney Parks and Resorts around the world, John still maintains at the core of his approach to environmental issues strategies for harmony and peaceful coexistence with nature.

Dr. Sálvano Briceño was appointed the Director of the Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in June 2001.

His career spans over several decades and has focused on the management of environmental and sustainable development programmes at the United Nations, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Government of Venezuela.

Prior to joining UN/ISDR, Mr. Briceño was the Coordinator of the BIOTRADE and GHG Emissions Trading Initiatives of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva (1999-2001). Before that, he was Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) secretariat (1996-1999), following several years as the Coordinator of Intergovernmental and Institutional Support of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) where he was responsible for assisting the Executive Secretary with management; legal; information support, external relations and interagency relations of the organization (1991-1996). Further UN experience includes five years with UNEP's Caribbean Environment Programme at Kingston, Jamaica, where he collaborated closely with the Pan-Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Programme (1987-1991).

Rebecca South has been captivated with Domes since the age of three. She grew up watching her father develop Monolithic Dome Industry along with his brothers, Barry and Randy. At age six moved into an 8,000 square foot Dome home in Menan, Idaho where she gave tours to about 100 people a week.

In 2005, she became President of Domes for the World Foundation. Ms. South presided over the project to assist the earthquake devastated community of Ngelepen in Indonesia. The project rebuilt a community for 800 people ahead of schedule and under budget.

Dr. Don Mellman - The mission of Don’s 36-year healthcare career has always been to provide access to the highest quality care; first, during his 26 years of private practice as a board certified neurosurgeon on a doctor-patient basis, and then, additionally, for the last ten years in policy and management on populations of patients both in the United States and abroad. Closely aligned with this mission are his concerns with the ethics of the business of healthcare and issues of social and economic justice.

He has a particular focus on systemic problems that lead to adverse patient outcomes. He creates successful professional relationships through the encouragement, development and mentoring of physician and executive managerial and leadership skills. To assist in resolution of conflict in all varieties of healthcare issues, he is a qualified arbitrator and a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Mediator.

Dr. Lynn Ringenberg is an Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Her academic career spanned 20 years at USF with 13 years in private practice. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska, Graduate studies in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Medical School at the University of Nebraska and residency training in pediatrics at the University of Florida, Gainesville and Bowman Gray in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  She received a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 2001 and retired from the Army in 2003 in the rank of colonel. Dr. Ringenberg’s interests and passions lie in medical education and underserved healthcare. She co-founded Physician’s for Social Responsibility (PSR) Tampa Bay with Dr. Don Mellman in 2008.

Ana Paula Tavarasis the Senior Vice President Worldwide of Rainforest Alliance, an international conservation organization with headquarters in New York and work in 70 countries.  Recently, she has been involved in initiatives to increase production of sustainable products and services in Latin America and promote greater linkages with mainstream global markets.  She has been leading the organization’s development division for nine years. Prior to joining the Rainforest Alliance, Ana Paula was a founding partner at New Frontiers Group, a financial services group in São Paulo promoting investment funds for biodiversity, sustainable forestry, carbon sequestration and renewable energy. 

Ronald Sanabria - Vice President Sustainable Tourism, Rainforest Alliance, has worked with the tourism industry on certification, productivity, quality assurance and sustainability since 1992. He joined the Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Agriculture program in 1998, and two years later began developing the organization's tourism program.

During his tenure with the Rainforest Alliance, Sanabria has coordinated projects in a dozen Latin American countries, supporting sustainable tourism training and technical assistance for hundreds of tourism businesses and community-based operations while connecting them with the marketplace.  With support from the Multilateral Investment Fund, Sanabria led the creation of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas, which today has more than a hundred members representing 25 countries in the Americas. Internationally, he represents the Rainforest Alliance in the Tourism Sustainability Council (TSC) and the World Heritage Alliance.

Dr. John C. Ogden, USF Emeritus Professor of Integrative Biology and Adjunct Professor USF College of Marine Sciences. Dr. Ogden is an expert on the ecology and management of coral reefs and associated ecosystems. He is particularly interested in ecosystem-based management, marine protected areas, and the use of zoning tools for management and conservation. He was President of the International Society for Reef Studies and is a founding board member of the Florida Ocean Alliance. He has served on many boards and committees, currently the Technical Advisory Committee for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, The Ocean Conservancy Board, and the Federal Advisory Committee on Marine Protected Areas. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

 Photo: IllumiNations © Walt Disney World