The Plant a Trillion Trees Podcast

Katherine Mills, General Manager for Munstead Wood, is anexperienced heritage professional with 14 years in the National Trust. Having run some of the charity’s most significant and popular properties, including Nymans, West Sussex, and Polesden Lacey, Surrey, UK; Katherine was responsible for the final purchase and acquisition of Munstead Wood in April 2023. 

Since acquiring the property, Katherine has recruited a team of individuals to care for the house and garden, as well as develop plans for restoring Gertrude Jekyll’s home, providing future access, and securing its long-term future.

Jehane Samaha is the National Urban Nursery Specialist with the US Forest Service. She develops trainings and networking for both urban foresters and nursery growers to improve tree stock quality, enhance connectivity in the urban nursery pipeline, and promotes climate-adaptive genetics for urban trees.

Jehane is based in Philadelphia, serves on the board of UC (University City) Green, and previously worked at PHS (Pennsylvania Horticultural Society) and the Morris Arboretum.

She is an ISA Certified Municipal Arborist® through the International Society of Arboriculture, and completed a master’s thesis at UBS (University of British Columbia) on street tree species selection.

Della Fetzer is a biologist and entrepreneur. Her company, Rebel Cultures, partners with foresters, farmers, conservationists, greenhouses, and universities to develop low-cost and biodiversity-conscious propagation solutions for seed-scarce plants, and plants that can't be efficiently propagated from seed by using new approaches to tissue culture.

Jamie Biddle is the founding partner and CEO of VerdisInvestment Management, a single-family office. He sets the strategic direction of the firm, and overseas investment activities, operations, and finance. Jamie is behind portfolio construction, manager sourcing and selection, due diligence,and risk management. He is an active member of the Investment Committee.

Jamie brings more than two decades of investing and operating experience, across asset classes and industries. Prior to forming Verdis Investment Management in 2004, Jamie was President and CEO of Orcom Solutions. Orcom was an outsourced customer care and billing service for electric, gas and water utilities across North America. The company was originally purchased by a group of private equity firms (including the Blackstone Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners) led by Jamie and was sold to Alliance Data Systems (NYSE:ADS) in December 2003. Jamie began his career as a VC at EnerTech Capital Partners, funding technologies in energy and power.

He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Jamie is the Chairman and President of Andalusia Historic House, Gardens, and Arboretum and Vice-Chair of the Board ofTrustees and Chair of the Museum Committee of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Linda Langelo is a Colorado State University Extension Horticulture Specialist and host of the Relentless Gardener Podcast. The five counties under her care are in Northeast Colorado, where she assists homeowners and professionals with horticultural issues. She created a Facebook page titled, Garden the Plains to reach a broader audience with the help of Master Gardeners. The Master Gardener Program in the Golden Plains Area covers demonstration gardens, school and library programs, community gardens, and more.

During her 40 years in horticulture, she has worked in both private and public horticultural institutions. As Assistant Director of Horticulture at Salisbury State University, she helped implement an arboretum campus-wide that is still going strong today. Linda went on to be the Director at Adkins Arboretum early in its development, increasing its exposure to the local and surrounding communities. The arboretum also became a member of the American Public Garden Association under her tenure.

In July 2021, she was awarded the Lois Woodward Paul Memorial Award for her career achievements from Longwood Gardens Alumni Association as a fellow alumnus of the Longwood's Horticulture Program.

Linda is a member of Garden Communicators International,the American Public Gardens Association, a regular contributor to MarthaStewart.com, and Canada's Local Gardener. She has worked on diverse landscapes from public to private gardens including resorts and arboreta for 40years. Linda worked from New York to New Mexico, before arriving in the Golden Plains area of Colorado where she has spent the last 19 years of her career.

Her Relentless Gardener column has received a Laurel Award from Garden Communicators International.

Jay Worth started working in the Green Industry in college to earn money between semesters. He started mowing lawns for a landscaping company and then moved to a full-service landscaper. While attending University in Florida, he alsoworked on a palm tree farm and fell in love with the trees.

 During the Great Recession in 2009, he was recruited to sell lawn care door-to-door. Having no other job options, he took the offer. This was the beginning of his full-time career in the Green Industry.

After several years he took a break to work in media sales before returning to the Green Industry. Eventually, he landed at a full-service landscaping company doing Inside Sales for their lawn care and pest control programs. Jay gotpromoted to run all the marketing and grew his single Inside Sales position into an entire team of people.
While working there, he spent every chance he got outside with the Tree Care team. He met them on job sites, talked to them at the shop, and even spent time in the field during ISA Arbor Day of Service events.

He eventually connected with SingleOps, a software he’d used while working at one of the landscaping companies. He found it to be the best option for Tree Care and full-service Landscaping companies. So, when they wanted someone to create resources for business owners, he found it was an easy product to get behind.
Jay is passionate about best practices for healthy plants, sustainability, and being thoughtful stewards of the environment. He is also especially keen to help business owners and managers become more effective and efficient in their business practices. Jay sees no reason those two cannot coexist.

Kevin Zuidervliet is owner and grower at Octoraro Native Plant Nursery, in Kirkwood, Pennsylvania. His diverse professional experience and passion for horticulture began while traveling and working on organic farms in Australia and New Zealand. He leveraged his skills in an AmeriCorps VISTA position managing a community garden. Kevin continued to hone his plant knowledge at Shaffer Landscapes, in Middleburg, Pennsylvania before earning a place in the Professional Horticulture Program at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At Longwood, Kevin gained in-depth experience in woody plant propagation and management, later transitioning to a full-time Nursery horticulturist role.

Kevin has come full circle at Octoraro, where he is using his skill sets to create regional plant palettes for designers, ecologists, and others in the industry to maintain, enhance, and recreate lost habitats in the region.   

Bestselling author Randi Minetor writes for the Birdfinding and Best Easy Bird Guides series for Falcon Guides/Globe Pequot Press and is the author of Backyard Birding and Butterfly Gardening for Lyons Press.

Her most recent book, The Complete Language of Birds, is an encyclopedia that unites classic illustrations, science, folklore, and mythology about more than 400 bird species around the world.

Randi writes for Birding Magazine, is a regional report editor for North American Birds, and has served for three years as president of the Rochester Birding Association in New York State.

Angelique Robb graduated from Louisiana State University in Petroleum Engineering, working in the oil industry for many years in the USA and the UK.  

In 2008, she qualified as a landscape designer and launched a design and build company, Papillon Designs and Landscaping Ltd in Scotland, UK. Since then she has built up the company into a national award-winning practice. She is passionate about the industry and helping it 'raise the bar.'

In 2021, living in the USA again, she launched a media company to educate and inspire landscape professionals in the design + build + maintain disciplines in the southeast region under the name Pro Landscaper for the publication and FutureScape for the event - these were subsequently re-branded to SYNKD in 2022.  In 2022, SYNKD expanded to 26 states and has grown the in-person event, SYNKD Live, by 100% since its launch in 2023.  By highlighting the companies and leaders in our industry, SYNKD shows the way to those leaders looking to run their business better and increase the quality of their production.

Celine Colbert is Pennsylvania’s Tree Canopy Coordinator, dedicated to enhancing urban forestry and promoting sustainable tree management across the state. As a Board Certified Master Arborist with a background in forestry, Celine collaborates with local governments, organizations, and communities to implement effective tree planting and maintenance programs offering technical assistance, grant matchmaking, and tools such as the DCNR (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) TreeKeeper.

Jessica (J.J.) Käthe is the resiliency planting coordinator within the Climate Forestry & Carbon Unit at NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation).

J.J. is seeking input from agencies and organizations across the state for the New York State Reforestation Plan. The plan will act as a roadmap to achieving the Climate Act Scoping Plan goal of establishing 1.7 million acres of new forest by 2040.

She has experience working with invasive species management, greenhouse operations, volunteer coordination, data processing, and emergency preparedness from work in non-profit organizations in the private sector, and at the Department of Environmental Conservation.

J.J. holds BA and MS degrees in Geography from the (State University of New York System) SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Albany.

Tim Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer at the Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts. He leads the organization’s 45-acre Garden in the Woods in Framingham, Massachusetts; the Nasami Farm, a native plant nursery in Whately, Massachusetts; and the expanded seed-processing and storage facilities to support the new Northeast Seed Network. The Network is a regional initiative led by the Native Plant Trust to create a sustainable source of seed to meet the increased demand for native plants.

Johnson has an extensive background in environmental horticulture and biological science from his long-standing career in conservation and botanic garden administration and leadership at Smith College.

Johnson’s affection for native plants was born from a childhood spent exploring the great outdoors in Wisconsin. His appreciation for the importance of protecting the rarest of plants is from his graduate studies working with threatened orchids on the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

Dr. Anna Paltseva is a distinguished urban soil scientist and educator, currently serving as a professor in the Department of Agronomy at Purdue University. She earned her Ph.D. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Paltseva’s research focuses on urban soil contamination, particularly heavy metal pollution, and its impact on urban agriculture, ecosystem health, and public well-being. Utilizing advanced technologies, such as portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF), she works on innovative soil remediation strategies in urban environments.

Beyond her academic work, Dr. Paltseva is a prolific speaker, author of multiple peer-reviewed papers, and the founder of House of Soil, an initiative that connects soil science with regenerative fashion. She is also deeply involved in outreach and community engagement, promoting environmental education and sustainable land practices. As the author of the Urban Soil Guide, Dr. Paltseva provides practical advice for soil testing and management in urban settings.

Carlos Alvarez has been a part of the PowerCorpsPHL (Power Corps Philadelphia) team since March 2015 when he started as a crew leader supporting a group of young people completing various environmental sustainability projects in the City of Philadelphia. Since then, he has held many roles mainly focusing on developing the programs technical skills training. He enjoys working with program members onsite and taking advantage of every learning opportunity that presents itself during the various projects they are assigned.

Currently, Carlos is the Director of Social Enterprise Operations overseeing the installment and operation of the Philadelphia Reforestation Hub-Urban Wood Sawmill, a private and non-profit partnership with PPR (Philadelphia Parks and Recreation)  and Cambium Carbon designed to support the city’s goal to lower wood waste, improve its tree canopy cover, and meet their workforce development goals. The Reforestation Hub provides advanced training for PowerCorpsPHL members in Sawmill Operation and related fields in tree care. Carlos is working towards becoming a certified arborist and remaining an active member of the arboriculture community. 

Dan Lambe has committed nearly two decades of work to help solve some of the biggest issues facing people and the planet through trees. After being named CEO in 2022 after 19 years in leadership roles at the Arbor Day Foundation, Lambe launched an initiative to accelerate the nonprofit’s impact by planting 500 million trees with a focus on forests and neighborhoods with the greatest need. The ambitious goal, set to replicate the number of trees planted in the Foundation’s first 50 years in only five years, has helped spur remarkable growth within the organization and expanded the Foundation’s global reach. Lambe’s leadership is rooted in three guiding principles, including supporting a quality team, bringing an increased focus to planting trees, and instilling a belief that the Foundation’s work can make a lasting difference.

Lambe is a trusted thought leader in the sustainable forestry space, and he regularly speaks at conferences hosted by the United Nations, Sustainable Brands, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other high-profile industry events where trees and climate intersect. Lambe is also frequently used as a resource for top news outlets and has been featured on The Weather Channel, CNN, The Washington Post, Associated Press, TIME, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and NPR. Lambe is the author of the book Now is the Time For Trees and even helped set a Guinness World Record for the most people watering plants simultaneously.

Matthew Aghai is a climate tech executive with 20 years of professional experience spanning public, private, and academic ventures in reforestation and natural resource management across the globe.

He currently serves the teams at Mast Reforestation and its subsidiaries but also enjoys a variety of extracurricular functions including advising and speaking on environmental and sustainability topics, nature-based and technological solutions for greenhouse gases (GHG) mitigation, and opportunities to develop durable economic pathways for stewards and skilled workers in the fight against climate change.

Jessica Turner-Skoff is Longwood Garden's first Associate Director of Science Communications. She champions Longwood’s leadership in plant science and interprets Longwood’s scientific resources for multiple communication channels and audiences. Jessica is an internationally recognized, award-winning science communicator who is professionally trained as a conservation biologist. She came to Longwood after making significant contributions in science communications at The Morton Arboretum, serving as a Botany in Action Fellow for three years at Phipps Conservatory, and teaching science communication at collegiate and professional levels.

Jessica holds a Ph.D. in Biology from West Virginia University, an MS in Conservation Science and Sustainable Development from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a BS from Muskingum University. She is an Editorial Advisor for the Journal Plants, People, Planet. She was the 2020 Emerging Horticulture Professional from the American Horticultural Society, as well as a Chanticleer Scholar in 2022.

Annaliese Bischoff is a Western Massachusetts artist and landscape architect. For the past decade, she has been collecting drawings and etchings of trees by Frank A. Waugh, founder of the Landscape Gardening Program at what is today the University of Massachusetts Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning.

Annaliese received a bachelor’s degree in art from Brown University and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She began her academic career at Kansas State University, where Waugh had studied a century earlier. She taught for forty years at the University of Massachusetts department that Waugh founded.

Annaliese has received numerous awards and honors for her design and research work, including a Fulbright senior research award. Before her academic career, she worked propagating trees at a nursery in Rhode Island and for the U.S.D.A. Forest Service in South Carolina. The author of The Man Who Loved Trees (2024), she currently serves on the Frank A. Waugh Arboretum Committee at UMass Amherst, home to 8000 trees on campus, and teaches an honors discovery seminar on trees.

Marshall Green is a fourth-generation owner and the dedicated nursery manager at Primex Garden Center in Glenside, Pennsylvania. After growing up around Primex, Marshall attended New England Culinary Institute and pursued a career as a chef in Philadelphia. In 2014 Marshall came home to Primex where he settled in as the woody plants buyer and nursery manager. As the woody plants buyer, Marshall is well attuned to current plant trends and is always looking for the next ‘it’ plant. You can easily spot him in the nursery, typically donning a wide-brimmed straw hat, eager to help and share his extensive knowledge.

Patricia Gallagher is Professor Emerita of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University. She earned bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and geological sciences from Rutgers University, a master’s in civil engineering from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech. Her research expertise centers on geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering and sustainability.

At Drexel, Trish taught courses in civil and environmental engineering, geology, and sustainability.  Her course in sustainability, titled “Incorporating Sustainability Principles in Design” was inspired by her desire to teach design from a holistic, regenerative perspective that restores ecological balance and health in communities and ecosystems. The course explores how the concept of sustainability is fundamental to the planning, design, construction, operation, and renewal of resilient and sustainable infrastructure.

Trish believes we need to work in our own communities to restore functional ecosystems in urban and suburban areas. She began volunteering with the Abington Township Shade Tree Commission (STC) in 2019, became an acting commissioner in 2021 and was officially appointed to the STC in 2022. Currently, she co-chairs the STC. Trish is happiest in nature and spends her free time hiking and backpacking around the globe.

Since 2011 John Kennedy has been volunteering with the Abington Township Shade Tree Commission (STC) as an appointed commissioner and currently serves as co-chair. He has been an active Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Tree Tender since 2008. John regularly takes on a leadership role in formulating and delivering STC programs.  His volunteer emphasis has been on park and public space tree planting with the Tree Vitalize - PHS Tree Tenders bare root tree program.  Leading community volunteers to plant over 300 trees in parks and other public spaces in Abington Township.

 John’s commitment to the treescapes around us has inspired him to educate others on the importance of trees in our environment. Conducting hands-on training through demonstration and coaching on how to plant, prune, and care for trees.

 While employed full-time in the food service profession, John returned to school in 2006 as a part-time student to study horticulture. In 2015, he completed his degree at Temple University’s School of Environmental Design in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

He also holds a Certificate in Horticultural Therapy.  

Khomchalat Thongting (Kom) is a visionary entrepreneur hailing from a working-class background, who has dedicated 29 years to building a thriving computer and IT consulting business with a team of 45 professionals.

With a passion for sustainability and a drive for global impact, Kom has expanded his horizons by delving into the bamboo industry, cultivating 95 acres of bamboo and intercrops while conducting valuable seminars and workshops for local communities. KOM’s recognized expertise includes International Biochar Initiative (IBI) and carbon management skills, making him a true leader in both business and environmental stewardship. He is the co-founder of the Wongphai Company, Limited.

Saranrat Tanthiptham (Nui) is a versatile entrepreneur with a profound commitment to sustainability. Nui started her journey by excelling academically, graduating in Business Administration and Marketing from Bangkok University.

Climbing the corporate ladder, she achieved remarkable success at Aderans. Later, she co-founded a thriving computer hardware venture, serving prestigious clients like universities and embassies.

Nui's recent endeavors reflect her dedication to sustainability, including the co-founding of Wongphai Company, Limited, focused on eco-friendly initiatives and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles for sustainable income generation. Nui’s expertise is well-recognized through certifications like the IBI (International Biochar Institute), C-sink Manager, and Measuring Sustainable Development.

Ben Shardlow is the Board Chair for the Creative Enterprise Zone, a place-based non-profit organization dedicated to attracting and supporting creative people and businesses in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

As an urban planner and designer focused on complex public spaces, Ben has worked on developing innovative programs to grow the urban tree canopy in challenging sites for over a decade. In the largely-industrial Creative Enterprise Zone, Ben launched the 100 Trees Initiative, a slow and steady approach to planting and caring for trees that seeks a sweet spot between the scale of operation – a small non-profit can manage and the long-term impact.

Ben's day job is the Chief of Staff for the Minneapolis Downtown Council & Downtown Improvement District, where he has worked since 2012 addressing the root causes of a variety of public space challenges, including urban forestry.

Sandy and Julia Shettler are a mother-daughter team with Tree Action Seattle, which advocates for Seattle's trees at the neighborhood level and at City Hall.  

Sandy is a medical social worker with a background in public health. She focuses on the physical and mental health benefits of living near trees, and the need to bring these benefits to deforested and underserved urban communities. Julia is an electrical engineer by training and works in climate tech. She is deeply interested in preserving the natural environment as a common-sense solution to climate change.

Tree Action Seattle is a collective effort that was sparked by the City of Seattle’s July 2023 approval of the cutting of a large western red cedar. Nicknamed “Luma”, the Snoqualmie Tribe identified the tree as historic and culturally modified. This singular tree illuminated glaring flaws in Seattle’s tree code.

Activists nicknamed “Droplet” sat in Luma’s branches and did not leave until the property owner chose to protect Luma. The community that coalesced around Luma’s protection catalyzed a movement focused on transparency, accountability, and sound urban forest policy.  

Erica Kratofil is Co-Executive Director for The Giving Grove, where she helps lead a national network of urban community orchard and food forest programs. As a social worker, Erica is passionate about community vitality and the many ways that urban orchards benefit both people and the planet.

Erica is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has a master’s in social work and nonprofit management from Washington University in St. Louis. She has worked previously in education, food security initiatives, and community-based housing programs. She also served as a social work field instructor for the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Amy Stewart is the New York Times best-selling author of The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and several other popular nonfiction titles about the natural world. She’s also written several novels in her beloved Kopp Sisters series, based on the story of one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs and her two rambunctious sisters.

Her books have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into 18 languages.

She lives in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, a rare book dealer who can usually be found at his shop, Downtown Brown Books.

You might’ve heard Amy on NPR’s Morning Edition or Fresh Air or seen her profiled in the New York Times. Her checkered television career includes CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, the PBS documentary The Botany of Desire, and–believe it or not– TLC’s Cake Boss. (The cake was delicious.)

Amy’s 2009 book Wicked Plants was adapted into a national traveling exhibit that terrified children at science museums nationwide for over a decade. Even better, a few bars around the world are named after The Drunken Botanist.

It’s an honor just to be nominated, but it’s even better to win, and she’s won a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the American Horticulture Society’s Book Award, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award.

Amy travels the country as a highly sought-after public speaker whose spirited lectures have inspired and entertained audiences at college campuses such as Cornell and Harvard, corporate offices like Google (where she served tequila and nearly broke the Internet), conferences and book festivals, botanical gardens, bookstores, and libraries nationwide. 

Dr. Glynn Percival is the Senior Arboricultural Researcher at the Bartlett Tree Research and Diagnostic Laboratory. Dr. Percival primarily focuses on how environmental stress (drought, heat, and waterlogging) influences tree growth and susceptibility to pest and disease attacks. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers, magazine articles, and book chapters, and is an honorary lecturer at the University Reading and the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew in the UK.

Cyrus Copeland, a writer and nonprofit pioneer, planted his first tree as a tribute to his father—a red oak on the grounds of Valley Forge. Year after year he returned to the tree. But it wasn’t until Cyrus traveled to the West Bank and witnessed the deep relationship between Palestinians and their olive trees that an idea sparked: Could planting trees bring prosperity and balance to a high-conflict region? Collaborating with the Palestinian Farmers Union, he launched Treedom for Palestine, harnessing the power of the olive tree as a catalyst for change.

Copeland’s dedication to civic engagement stems from his parents, educators from Iran and America, who instilled in him the value of fostering understanding among diverse communities.

Cyrus began a decade-long career on Madison Avenue developing strategies for clients like Kodak, Chrysler, and Chase, but found his true calling as a writer and social change advocate. His most recent book, OFF THE RADAR (Penguin/Blue Rider), won him the Chautauqua Prize, and his writings have been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, NPR, and BBC.

Beyond his literary achievements, Cyrus is also a sought-after speaker and has delivered talks at conferences and cultural events worldwide.

Cyrus is an alum of Haverford College, Villanova, and Cornell University.

Dr. Christine Carmichael is the award-winning founder and principal of Fair Forests Consulting, LLC, which she began in July 2019. She is also the best-selling author of Racist Roots: How Racism Has Affected Trees and People in Our Cities—and What We Can Do About It.

She holds a Ph.D. in Forestry with a specialization in Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change and holds a Graduate Certificate in Community Engagement from Michigan State University. Dr. Carmichael has published research explaining why 25% of Detroit residents eligible to receive a free street tree between 2011-2014 chose to decline this offer. Since its inception, Fair Forests Consulting, LLC has partnered with several U.S. cities and urban forestry organizations to develop strategies to achieve environmental justice goals through urban tree planting, stewardship, and community engagement. 

Marielle Drennan is the owner of Champion Tree, a full-service plant healthcare company based out of King of Prussia, and servicing the Main Line and surrounding areas in Pennsylvania. Marielle is an ISA Certified Arborist® and a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Certified Pesticide Technician. Prior to forming Champion Tree, Marielle worked on her husband's pruning crew for several years.

She is a passionate collector of David Austin and antique roses, as well as a Pennsylvania Big Tree enthusiast. Marielle is a graduate of Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia where she majored in Mass Communications and double-minored in Studio Art and Film and Visual Culture Studies.

Cliff Drouet is a Forester with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) which is a federal agency under the Department of the Interior. Cliff is working with the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI). The program restores old surface mine sites throughout Appalachia by planting native seedlings and establishing wildlife habitats. This reforestation program was started in 2004 by OSMRE and it has evolved into a highly successful program with good seedling survivability and growth. Having native trees growing on old mine sites greatly improves air, water, and soil quality while providing wildlife habitat and recreation benefits on the site. The ARRI program partners with private landowners, federal, and state agencies, non-profits, academia, and corporations to restore old mine sites back to native forests across Appalachia.

John Perlin is a Professor and Visiting Scholar in the Department of Physics at University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization.

 Perlin says, “It is my hope that this edition of A Forest Journey will make clear the imperative humanity faces because losing our forests would not merely be the end of nature, it could mean the end of us.”

Originally published in 1989, the book’s comprehensive coverage of the major role forests have played in human life …….earned its recognition as a Harvard “Classic in Science and World History” and as one of Harvard’s “One Hundred Great Books.”

In this latest edition, Perlin cites data on how humanity has cut down half the trees on the planet in the last 12,000 years and that deforestation continues at an alarming pace with 15 billion trees removed per year. That’s 500,000 square miles of forested land lost since the first edition of A Forest Journey was released.

Perlin is also the author of three other books: A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology; From Space to Earth: The Story of Solar Electricity; and Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy.

Perlin lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Neelam Patil, M.Ed., MFA, is a Climate Literacy and Science Teacher in the Berkeley public school system.  She was awarded TIME Innovative Teacher of the Year 2022 by TIME Magazine based on her work teaching children they can do something about climate change. Ms. Patil spearheaded the planting of the first Miyawaki schoolyard forests in North America in Berkeley, California.  While teaching her students about deforestation, they wanted to do something immediate and impactful. They demanded, ‘Let’s plant trees!’, and the rest is history. 

Ms. Patil has been an educator since 2000. Her work specializes in empowering children to face the most pressing challenges of our time through climate resilience, mindfulness, plant based culinary education, and youth urban forestry. She is a certified SKY Breath instructor and recently founded a non-profit, Green Pocket Forests, whose mission is to green urban spaces using the Miyawaki method.

Robert Lundgren has a Bachelor of Plant Science and Fine Arts minor from the University of Delaware, and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked at landscape architecture firms, Olin and Andropogon and is now at Penn working as the University Landscape Architect within the Facilities & Real Estate Services Division, shepherding a variety of landscape projects on the 300-acre campus arboretum. He is an artist, an award-winning designer, and an avid naturalist. His responsibilities at Penn include research, campus planning, tree care and management, garden design, ecological and environmental initiatives, and maintenance protocols.

Dave Muffly has been planting trees (especially oaks) in the Bay Area and other California locations for more than 30 years. Dave began his tree career when he received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, at Stanford University. Moving from engineering to ecology, Dave managed native oak plantings at Stanford with the non-profit Magic, in a project that has yielded more than 4,000 established oaks in 40 years. Dave then branched into fruit trees, and urban tree plantings, with a special focus on street trees.

Dave subsequently became a Board Certified Master Arborist and designed/oversaw the 101 Freeway Soundwall planting as part of the East Palo Alto Tree Initiative led by the non-profit Canopy. This radical and experimental 1000-tree drought adaptation planting succeeded far beyond expectations and laid the foundation for the changes reverberating through the California tree nursery industry today. The East Palo Alto Tree Initiative became the proof of concept for the even more radically diverse plantings at Apple Park in Cupertino, where Dave spent seven years as Apple's Senior Arborist. Today Dave works as a senior arborist and horticultural futurist.

Daniel Hinkley is a plantsman, author, lecturer, nurseryman, and horticultural consultant.  He earned a B.S. in Horticulture and Horticulture Education from Michigan State University and an M.S. in Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington.  His first garden, Heronswood, near Kingston, Washington is now owned and operated by the Port Gamble SKlallam Tribe and is open to the public throughout the year. 

Dan's current garden, Windcliff, is just a few miles from Heronswood. It sits on a high bluff overlooking the Salish Sea.  For forty years, Hinkley has traveled the globe to similar climates to observe and preserve plants that deserve recognition as possible new additions to landscapes worldwide.  He has written four books and has been recognized by his peers in receiving numerous awards for his work, including the Liberty Hyde Bailey award from the American Horticulture Society, the Scott Gold Medal from the Scott Arboretum, and the Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society. 

Mr. Al Key has been involved in the green industry for 30 years as an owner of DeepRoot Green Infrastructure, LLC. Together with his partners, he co-invented the SilvaCell® and has received several patents for his inventions which address trees and stormwater management in the urban setting. He has written for a wide range of publications, including the Journal of Arboriculture and Civil Engineering News. As Vice President, he established a representative network nationwide, set up major distributorships, and has been instrumental on projects such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center, and the MIT SOMA Center at Kendall Square, Cambridge MA.  Mr. Key is a former Board Member of TreesNY, a Bronze Level Sponsor of the American Chestnut Foundation, a Forestry Committee member of the Wantastiquet Trout Club, and an Affiliate Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Doug Oster is Pittsburgh’s GardenGuru and is host of the popular radio show The Organic Gardener on KDKA radio every Sunday morning. He writes a gardening column for The Green Voice, the newsletter for Pittsburgh Earth Day.

Oster appears on KDKA-TV’s Pittsburgh Today Live as a contributor. He’s also the host of the Talking Trees podcast for the Davey Tree Expert Company along with starring and producing In Doug’s Garden, a weekly television show for CBS/KDKA Streaming.

Oster is proud to work as a consultant for Farm to Table of Western Pennsylvania/Buy Fresh Buy Local. In that capacity he teaches organic gardening classes, helps in the creation and maintenance of local gardens, and works with the team to help underserved communities.

In addition, Doug hosted, produced, and wrote the one-hour special “The Gardens of Pennsylvania” for PBS which won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary.

His fifth book, “The Steel City Garden; Creating a One of a Kind Garden in Black and Gold” demonstrates how to create a garden using Pittsburgh’s favorite colors.

The garden personality has a strong following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Oster’s most satisfying accomplishment was founding Cultivating Success, a garden program for foster and adoptive children.

John Grimshaw has been interested in plants his entire life, as both gardener and botanist. He holds a first class degree in botany and a doctorate in the ecology of the forests of Mt Kilimanjaro from Oxford University. His Tanzanian connections remain important, and he’s proud to be an honorary elder of the Maasai community of Lerang’wa, Tanzania. African plants remain an important botanical interest, but he is fascinated by all plants and has grown a huge diversity in his gardens. He has travelled widely to see plants growing in habitat. His first book was The Gardener’s Atlas (1998), recounting the journeys plants have made from their source to our gardens.
Working in The Netherlands for the seed company K. Sahin, Zaden. B.V., John was responsible for developing perennials and other plants for the seed trade. This gave him invaluable experience of commercial horticulture and management. Following that he joined Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire as Gardens Manager, where he was responsible for maintaining and developing the historic Elwes family garden, especially the snowdrop collection. He co-authored the monograph Snowdrops (2002) with M Bishop & A Davis, published by Griffin Press. Between 2004-2009 he was lead author of a major book on trees introduced in the past 35 years, entitled New Trees, Recent Introductions to Cultivation, with co-author Ross Bayton. It was sponsored by the International Dendrology Society and was published by RBG Kew, in May 2009.
In August 2012 he became Director of The Yorkshire Arboretum, North Yorkshire, with responsibility for the 120-acre arboretum and 20-acre Ray Wood, on the Castle Howard estate. This involves a wide range of management and administrative duties, fundraising and networking as well as active curation of the extensive collection. In 2021 the arboretum opened the country’s first dedicated Tree Health Centre, to raise awareness of the problems facing trees from diseases, pests and climate change. He was appointed MBE for ‘services to tree health and plant conservation’ in the 2024 New Year Honors List.

John is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Nomenclature and Taxonomy Advisory Group, the RHS Woody Plant and Gardens Committees, and in 2012 led the RHS review of the Award of Garden Merit.

He speaks and writes widely on horticultural and tree-related subjects. Other interests include the arts, cookery and poultry-keeping.

Richard McCoy is a 30-plus-year green industry professional, American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) Northeast Regional Representative and owner of Richard A. McCoy Horticultural Services Inc. established in 1995 and incorporated in 1998 as a conventional landscape company.

McCoy’s company began a transition to become one of New Jersey's first completely organic, ecological, and low-impact land care companies in 2005. Currently, McCoy Horticultural offers organic lawn and land care solutions, native plants, and green infrastructure design and installations. McCoy’s off-the-grid battery electric landscape maintenance is powered by a prototype self-designed solar trailer, and he uses autonomous robotic lawn mowing. 

Richard is a NOFA Accredited Land Care Professional, holds a Rutgers Organic Land Care Certificate and is an AGZA Certified Service Pro. McCoy is also an active New Jersey Nursery and Landscape Association member.

In addition, Richard is an advisor to many professional groups as well as being an organic, ecological, and low-impact land care educator to contractors, municipal and institutional workers on how to transition to alternative land care methods.

Mark Richardson is the Director of Horticulture for the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, Massachusetts. He leads a team of horticulture staff and oversees a living plant collection that spans sixteen distinct garden spaces, two conservatories, and over 100 acres of surrounding woodlands and wetlands. He has a passion for ecological horticulture and native plants, and he lectures on various topics including “How to Kill Your Lawn.” He is the co-author of the book Native Plants for New England Gardens (Globe Pequot, 2018).

Tim Boland is the Director of the Polly Hill Arboretum on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, West Tisbury, Massachusetts. Tim moved with his wife Laura and two children to the Vineyard in 2002. Before his move to the Vineyard, he was Curator of Horticulture at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.  A plantsman with wide-ranging interests, he is a nationally recognized author, photographer, and lecturer.

Tim has an undergraduate degree in Landscape Horticulture and a master’s degree in Botany and Plant Pathology from Michigan State University with a specialization in Plant Ecology and Systematics.  

Tim studies oak trees and has traveled the world to see oaks in their natural habitats. He is a board member of the International Oak Society, and Chair of the Oak Conservation and Research Committee.  

Tim is also active in assembling a modern flora for Martha’s Vineyard and adjacent islands. He is a plant collections advocate and serves on the Living Collections Advisory Committee of the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, MA.

In his position as director of the Polly Hill Arboretum, Tim guides the principal program areas of Living Collections, Education, Plant Conservation, and Community Ecology.

He is thrilled to see the transformation over the last several years of the Polly Hill Arboretum from a private garden to a community, regional, and national resource. A big part of this transformation is the dedicated work of the board, staff, and volunteers who so generously support the Polly Hill Arboretum through their time, and enthusiasm!

Jason Ross is the Managing Publisher of Wood Central - the world's largest news platform for forest-based news!  Wood Central has more than 170,000 users, with over 75% of users under 45, and 47% under 35! We cover all the news on the Wood Central website, across all media channels that interest our users, with fresh content from across the world updated all day, every day.

So whether it's the next generation of mass timber buildings, the carbon power in our lithium batteries, or even the use of Cold War technology in monitoring carbon stock across the world's forests - scroll over to Wood Central to stay informed about all the news that matters!

Jason has a passion for green buildings - probably why Wood Central is the only platform dedicated to writing up a new and unique project case study every day! As a former Green Star Accredited Professional (GSAP), he has been an active member in driving the adoption of Green Star projects in Australia - and is pushing for greener, cleaner, and more sustainable building materials ahead of the Brisbane Olympic Games.  He has advised the Queensland State Government on environmental protection, heritage, housing, and public works.

From 2018 until 2022, Jason managed the PEFC brands in the Australian and New Zealand markets and is passionate about growing the certification awareness and compliance across the Asia-Pacific region. Still, trying to figure out what forest certification is and why it matters?

An experienced spokesperson, Jason has presented to a variety of forums, including the United Nations (Australia and New Zealand), the Property Council (Australia), Master Builder (Australia), the Building Designer Association of Australia (BDAA), the Australian Institute of Building, the National Retailers Association, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and New Zealand (NZGBC), the PEFC Council (Geneva, Switzerland), the Wood Processors Manufacturing Association (New Zealand) and the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP).

Alec Charais is one of the most passionate people in horticulture today. Having grown up on a family farm, his love for plants grew into a rewarding career that today finds him collaborating with breeders and agents across the globe, searching for trees and shrubs that will beautify the outdoor living experience for everyone.  

At Bailey Nurseries, a family-owned fifth-generation nursery with growing operations in Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and Georgia, Alec leads the marketing and product development functions across the company. This includes successful consumer brands including First Editions® Shrubs & Trees, Endless Summer® Hydrangeas, and Easy Elegance® Roses – all brands that Bailey owns and manages worldwide. These brands are well known in many parts of the world and Bailey continues to breathe new life into their plants through extensive breeding and trialing to ensure people have lasting success.

In addition to his role as Chief Marketing & Product Development Officer at Bailey, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Garden Bureau and the Corporate Membership Committee of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Alec is passionate about bringing new ideas, people, and plants, to life!

Hal and I talk about some of the highlights of the podcast thus far. We think you will enjoy the overview if you have never listened to our podcast before. Below you will find a short list of some of the podcasts that you might want to listen to or relisten to – to see how our guests are making a dent in the climate crisis by their positive actions. We are grateful to all of our guests for sharing their amazing work! And we thank our listeners for tuning in and for all of your wonderful comments and suggestions.

We thank you!!  

Seth Lieberman co-founded Quiet Clean Philly; an all-volunteer organization dedicated to phasing out gas leaf blowers in the City of Philadelphia.  Seth’s activism and articles on the harms of gas leaf blowers have been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY’s Studio 2 and Radio Times, Channel 6 ABC Action News, The Chestnut Hill Local, The Weavers Way Shuttle, Planet Philadelphia, and The Jewish Exponent.  Seth is also active as part of a national network of municipalities seeking healthier and more sustainable communities through changing how we think about lawncare.    When not volunteering, Seth runs Leadership Breakthroughs, a leadership and strategy development business focused on academic medical centers. 

Dr. Bonnie Sager is a Consulting Clinical Physician to the New York State hospital system. She has lectured internationally on eyecare and has served as Vice President and advisor to several Visioncare companies.

As a clinician, she is concerned with the many detrimental health impacts that gas powered lawn equipment have on landscape workers and the general public.  She is actively working with communities, medical professionals, environmental groups, and legislators to change policy and promote more sustainable landscaping practices.

Dr. Sager and Dr. Lucy Weinstein are co-founders of Huntington CALM, (Clean Alternative Landscaping Methods) a Long Island-based citizens’ advocacy organization. 

Dr. Sager is also a co-founder of QCA  (Quiet Clean Alliance) a national organization dedicated to educating and changing public policy on gas lawn equipment.  Dr. Sager served on the advisory board of Noise Free America and has been featured in print, on television and radio addressing the topic Landscaping and Your Health.

Ron Kinney is the production manager at Monrovia’s Oregon nursery. Ron has a degree in Ornamental Horticulture from California State Polytechnic University and has been in the industry for more than 30 years. Part of his role as production manager includes responsibility for tree production, both in containers and in-ground field production, at Monrovia’s California and Oregon nursery facilities. 

Ron and his wife also manage and operate a 20-acre Hazelnut orchard in Oregon.

Ari Miller is the director of design at Hinge Collective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a public interest design firm that puts community engagement and public participation at the forefront of their practice.

As both a landscape architect and arborist, Ari has always advocated for the integration and restoration of natural systems in urban design. Over the course of his 17-year career, Ari has worked as an arborist at Morris Arboretum, as a green roof design specialist at Roofmeadow, and has also led large-scale civic design projects at OLIN Partners. At Hinge, he uses this experience to help communities find design solutions that best support human and ecological health in their own neighborhoods through the enhancement of public space and community-led planning. Some notable projects include the Philly Tree Plan, Resilient Communities Stormwater Initiative, Unity Park, and Frankford Pause Park.

Ari has also been adjunct faculty at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Jefferson University. 

Steven Kiiskila is the Crop and Growing Team Manager at Arbutus Grove Nursery, located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Each year his team grows 15 million container seedlings composed of 18 or more species, primarily for reforestation throughout Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. He has been involved in reforestation his entire career; from collecting seeds to organizing and monitoring tree planting programs, although his primary focus has been growing seedlings at various nurseries throughout British Columbia. While employed as a Seedling Reforestation Specialist, he advised nurseries and tree seed orchards on growing practices. In this role, he also guided foresters and others planting trees on seedling stocktype selection and planting practices and established numerous outplanting trials to search for answers in overcoming reforestation challenges.

Steven loves the combination of art and science used to grow forest seedlings, and the fact that as a grower he is always learning something new.

One of his favorite tree growing sayings is: “Growing trees is not rocket science, it’s much harder.”

He has a Master of Science degree in Forest Biology from the University of Victoria, a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, horticulture major from the University of Guelph, and a Horticulture Diploma from Olds, College.

Joe Lamb, founder of the Borneo Project, is a writer, activist, and arborist living in Berkeley, California. His poetry and essays have appeared in Earth Island Journal, The Sun, Caliban, Wind, Orion, and other magazines. His work is also included in the anthologies The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology, Robert Bly et al editors, and Veterans of War/Veterans of Peace, Maxine Hong Kingston editor. 

Joe has degrees in biology, ecology, and film. He has taught biology and ecology in the United States and in Mexico. He worked as a field organizer on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, and as a film distributor for The Video Project. For over forty years he has tended trees in the urban forest as co-owner of Brende and Lamb Tree and Shrub care. 

In 1991, under the auspices of Earth Island Institute, Joe founded the Borneo Project, an NGO that helps the indigenous peoples of Borneo secure land rights and protect their forest.

Honored by the Goldman Foundation as an “environmental hero,” Joe was featured in the San Francisco public television program, “Green Means.”

 For over 30 years the Borneo Project has helped indigenous peoples map their lands, bring their case to the court of public opinion, and press for the preservation of their forests through legal action. Learn more about the Borneo Project – see the link below.   Joe is firmly committed to trees as an essential part of any realistic strategy to help the world limit and mitigate the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change.