Who We Are
Philip
Botwinick is the founder of Local Energy Solutions. He
was born and raised in Brooklyn and Queens and graduated from
Baruch College with a BBA in Statistics and Accounting. For over
20 years he worked as a Systems Analyst in the financial world.
The economic downturn after September 11, 2001 forced him to reevaluate
his life goals. He returned to bookkeeping for small businesses
to allow him time to educate himself in sustainability and energy.
During 2003-2004 he was Co-Election Supervisor for the first Local
Advisory Board election for WBAI. In 2005 -2006 he took on the
role of Conference Coordinator for the three day Local Solutions
to the Energy Dilemma Conference held at Cooper Union in April
2006. He holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from the Permaculture
Research Institute. He’s in the process of transforming
his life to leave as small an impact on the planet as possible
by reducing his consumption and buying seasonal and locally grown
food.
Sharon Kimmelman,
has been a NYC school teacher and health rights advocate. A
West Side Community Garden member since 1981, she now teaches
it's school outreach programs, planting food gardens with children
from nerby schools and leading hands-on field trips for visiting
classes on how community gardens function. She established a
"Butterfly Lane" to feed and harbor pollinators, "The
Little Tree Trust", a nursery for PlaNYC's million new
trees by 2030, and created two board games to teach about composting.
To support her greening projects she has taken Citizen Pruner,
Master Composter and Urban Permaculture Design courses. Her
vision is for urban neighborhoods to meet peoples' needs through
fostering self-appreciation, meaningful contribution and respectful
cooperation on common ground.
Tom Nielsen
keeps both feet planted in nature and society. He has been a
librarian for the past 12 years, working at the US EPA Region
2 Library and the Information Research Center at Hazen and Sawyer,
PC, an environmental engineering firm. Currently, Tom is Member
Services Manager for the Metropolitan New York Library Council
(METRO) where he handles all new and existing members and is
planning and implementing an expansion of membership to individual
librarians. Tom is also revitalizing his relationship with the
Earth. He assists his dairy farmer friend, Deb Tyler, in her
old life skills workshops, such as Keeping a Family Cow, and
Eggs-perience Chickens. He recently completed a permaculture
design certificate course taught in New York City by Christopher
Robin Healy and practices permaculture principles by helping
out on farms in High Falls, NY and Cornwall, CT. Tom is also
knowledgable about food issues and peak oil and is featured
along with is partner in the documentary, Escape from Suburbia:
Beyond the American Dream.
|