Skagit Valley College Mount Vernon Campus hosts annual Sustainability Fair

Skagit Valley College’s Mount Vernon Campus will host its annual Sustainability Fair on May 28, 29, and 30 with the following free presentations:

Tuesday, May 28, 12:30, Laura Angst Hall 125
Dr. Dave Peterson, is a Research Biologist with the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Seattle and is Affiliate Professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington. He has conducted research on fire ecology and climate change throughout the western U.S., has published over 200 scientific articles and three books, and as a contributing author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He completed the forest sector report for the 2013 National Climate Assessment and is author of, Climate Change and United States Forests. Dave lives on his family’s tree farm in the Finn Settlement area of Skagit County.

Wednesday, May 29, 11:30, Phillip Tarro Theatre
Leigh Newman-Bell, is the Farm to Community Fellow at VIVA Farms in Mount Vernon. Founded in 2009, Viva is the convergence of GrowFood and the WSU Latino Farming program. Called a “farm incubator,” its mission is to help farm workers, interns, and market gardeners make the transition to farm ownership. The VIVA farm is in its third year of organic certification, so each farmer needs to follow organic methods and maintain records for their parcel.

Thursday, May 30, 11:30, Phillip Tarro Theatre
Rosalinda Guillen, of Community to Community Development, is a recognized farm worker and rural justice leader. She began working in Skagit fields at age 10, and has worked within the labor movement with Caesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers of America. She has represented farm workers in dialogues of immigration issues, labor rights, trade agreements, and strengthening the food sovereignty movement. She works to build a broader base of support for rural communities and sustainable agriculture policies that ensure equity and healthy communities for farm workers.