The Spirit of Agriculture: Chapter Authors
Richard St. Barbe Baker (1889-1982) was a pioneer of the modern environmental movement. A graduate of Cambridge forestry school, he was assistant conservator of forests in Kenya and Nigeria for the British Colonial Office in the 1920s. He later become an international forestry consultant, popular lecturer and best selling author. He was dubbed “Man of the Trees” by the broadcaster Lowell Thomas and traveled the world to promote conservation and tree planting for over 60 years. For more information on his life visit http://www.manofthetrees.org/.
Dr. Austin Bowden-Kirby is a marine biologist and director of the Coral Gardens Initiative centred in Fiji. For more information visit http://www.counterpart.org/DNN/Default.aspx?tabid=63.
Paul Fieldhouse obtained his undergraduate degree in Nutrition from the University of Surrey, and his Master of Philosophy in Health and Human Behaviour through the Council for National Academic Awards at Leeds Polytechnic. Before immigrating to Canada in 1980 he was a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at Leeds Polytechnic [now Leeds Metropolitan University]. In Canada, Paul took up a post as Assistant Professor of Foods and Nutrition at the University of Alberta, where he continued to teach and write about these subjects. In 1989 Paul joined the Manitoba Ministry of Health. Currently he is nutrition policy analyst for the department, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Manitoba. Paul has written several textbooks on community nutrition and on food and culture, as well as publishing in academic journals and contributing encyclopedia articles on food and religion. He is currently undertaking interdisciplinary doctoral studies at the University of Manitoba on the topic of ‘Uses and meaning of food in the Bahá'í Faith”.
Ineke Gijsbers has an MSc in Agroforestry from the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands. She worked for several years in a sustainable land use project in Mali (West Africa) before coming to England in 1997, where she became a Bahá'í in 2000. She is an officer of the Bahá'í Office for Social and Economic Development for the UK (BOSED) and editor of its newsletter, Faith-in-Action. She is also a member of the Task Force for the Tierra Santa Orphanage in Honduras which is financially supported by the British Bahá'í community and BASED-UK.
Paul Hanley is a writer by profession, with a special interest in religion, science, agriculture and environment. His previous book Earthcare: Ecological Agriculture in Saskatchewan was published in 1980. He has been a newspaper columnist since 1988 and has published more than 1000 articles as a freelance writer. Hanley became a Bahá'í in 1975. A virtual commuter, he lives on a small holding in rural Saskatchewan, where he pursues an interests in lifestyles with a low environmental impact.
Plants, genetics and horticulture have occupied many of Paul D. Olson's waking hours since 1970. He encountered Bahá'u'lláh’s challenging message for humanity in 1986. Subsequently, he worked and studied in the Philippines, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. Paul completed his Ph.D. in Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA in 1997 and now works as a research scientist for a commercial seed company. In addition to striving to be a source of love, joy, and understanding, he endeavors to contribute his skills to improving global agriculture.
Nancy McIntyre has worked as a small market farmer and as registered lobbyist, testifying at legislative, congressional and gubernatorial hearings on sustainable agriculture issues. Over the past decade she volunteered on a daily basis, first with the Association for Bahá'í Studies Agriculture Seminar and more recently with EcoAg Service, started by John Bradley. She has been an active participant in the International Society for Agriculture and Rural Development and in the Rabbani Trust annual SED seminar and conference for the Americas. She now divides her time between a mountain farm in North Carolina and rural Hawaii.
Pascal Molineaux was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Switzerland. He pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Botany and Plant Pathology at the University of New Hampshire and a Master’s degree in International Agriculture and Development at Cornell University. After becoming a Bahá’í in 1988 and serving at the Bahá’í World Center in the Gardens Department, he went to Colombia to work with FUNDAEC. Since then, he has been a teacher in the FUNDAEC Rural University, helping to develop the contents for the courses on development at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. For more information on FUNDAEC visit http://www.fundaec.org/en/.
The Mongolian Development Centre is a Bahá'í-inspired non-governmental organization established in April 1993 with the objective of translating the spiritual principles found in the Bahá'í Writings into practice for the betterment of Mongolian society. For more information visit http://www.comminit.com/experiences/pds6-2001/experiences-568.html.
Iraj Poostchi is a professor of agronomy with over 40 years experience in teaching, research and extension in agriculture and rural development in both the developed and developing world. He was the founder and first head of the Department of National (Rural) Development at Shiraz University, director of its Rural Training Centre and the founder and first director of its Agricultural Experimental Station. He also started the International Society for Agriculture and Rural Development (ISARD). He has implemented more than 800 projects, programs, experiments and field trials in 25 countries. While in Iran he operated his own farm.
Dr. Gary Reusche has been an agronomist, development and management specialist since 1975. His career started as an academic in agricultural sciences in the US, followed by increasing experience as a development consultant, evolving in the mid-1980s into privatization issues and agribusiness. Agronomic specialization includes the seed industry, extension and training, and management. Project experience has been gained in some 50 countries over a range of rural development subjects. He has worked for a wide range of clients, including the European Union, IFAD, World Bank, GEF, USAID, FAO/UNDP, the SENTER (Netherlands), DGIS (Netherlands), DFID (UK), Abu Dhabi Fund, and the private sector. Currently, he is a freelance consultant living in the Russian Federation. For more information visit http://reusche.net/.
Fariborz Sahba, a Canadian citizen, was born in 1948 in Iran. He received a master's degree in architecture in 1972 from the Faculty of Fine Arts at
Tehran University. In Iran, Mr. Sahba was involved in the design of a wide range of prestigious buildings. In 1976, he was selected to design the Bahá'í House of Worship for the Indian subcontinent in New Delhi, India. This project, on which he worked for 10 years as architect and project manager, was described by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson as "one of the most remarkable achievements of our time, proving that the drive and vision of spirit can achieve miracles." With over 3.5 million visitors a year, this building, commonly known as the "Lotus of Bahapur," is one of the most visited sites in the world. In 1987, Mr. Sahba was selected to design 18 terraces as a majestic approach to the Shrine of the Báb. He was also appointed project manager to execute the Bahá'í World Centre building projects on Mount Carmel. The Terraces of the Shrine of the Báb received the 1998 Ephraim Lifshitz Award from the Municipality of Haifa and the 1999 Magshim Award from the Council for a Beautiful Israel. Mr. Sahba has received many international awards, among them the First Honour Award 1987 for "Excellence in Architecture" from the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, and Architecture, an affiliate of the American Institute of Architects. Articles about his work have been published in almost 400 magazines and newspapers throughout the world. For more information visit http://www.sahbaarchitect.com/.
P J Stewart graduated in Arabic and Hebrew at the University of Oxford in 1962 and in Forestry in 1965. After a year with the Food and Agriculture Organization he worked in forest management and rural development in Algeria from 1967 to 1974. Since returning to Oxford to teach, he has researched into the influence of religious beliefs and aspirations on interaction with the natural world. Of his own convictions he prefers to say with Lao-Tse, “A way that can be known is not the eternal Way.’
Michel Zahrai took his first degree in International Development at Clark University in the United States and his Master's degree in Development Economics at the University of East Anglia in England. After completing his studies, he worked for four years with a French non-governmental organization as the manager of a development project in Bolivia. For the last three years, he has been Controller, Europe, at the European headquarters of an American multination corporation. Born into a Bahá'í family, Michel is involved in the European Bahá'í Business Forum and the International Society for Agriculture and Rural Development. He lives with his Bolivian wife and young family in France.