Episode 173 - 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.

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.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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.    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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.   --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support

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. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/plantatrilliontrees/support