Ferdinando Villa holds a Ph.D. in theoretical Ecology and had a long parallel career as a scientific software designer and engineer. After working in many fields of Ecology, from theoretical Island Biogeography to spatially-explicit Decision Analysis, he joined the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. He has since expanded the focus of his research to the interface of policy, ecology and economics, concentrating on artificial intelligence approaches to assist environmental decision making and natural system assessment and valuation. Dr. Villa currently leads the ARIES project (Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services), which is producing a next-generation web application meant to make environmental decisions easier and more effective. Along with ARIES, Dr. Villa collaborates with many other projects including the Long Term Ecosystem Research project and the SEAMLESS (System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling; Linking European Science and Society project), financed by the EU. His research on high-performance computer simulation and mathematical modeling applied to community and ecosystem ecology earned him collaborations with UNESCO, the European Union, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and several international organizations such as the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in Fiji. He has collaborated with international institutions and governments on environmental assessment methods, and continues to do research in basic ecology, protected areas planning, and related fields. He is the author or coauthor of 110+ scientific publications and a number of major open source software packages.


Herman E. Daly is Emeritus Professor at the University of Maryland, School of Public Policy. From 1988 to 1994 he was Senior Economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank. Prior to 1988 he was Alumni Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University, where he taught economics for twenty years. He holds a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. He has served as Ford Foundation Visiting Professor at the University of Ceará (Brazil), as a Research Associate at Yale University, as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, and as a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in Brazil. He has served on the boards of directors of numerous environmental organizations, and was co-founder and associate editor of the journal Ecological Economics. His interest in economic development, population, resources, and environment has resulted in over a hundred articles in professional journals and anthologies, as well as numerous books, including Toward a Steady-State Economy (1973); Steady-State Economics (1977; 1991); Valuing the Earth (1993);  Beyond Growth (1996) ; Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics (1999) ; Ecological Economics: Theory and Applications (with J. Farley, 2003) ; and Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development (2007). He is co-author with theologian John B. Cobb, Jr. of For the Common Good (1989;1994) which received the 1991 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas for Improving World Order.


John de Graaf, co-author of WHAT'S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY?, is the national coordinator of TAKE BACK YOUR TIME, an organization challenging time poverty and overwork in the U.S. and Canada (see www.timeday.org) and a frequent speaker on issues of overwork and over-consumption in America. He is often a guest lecturer on college campuses. John is the co-author of the best-selling AFFLUENZA: THE ALL-CONSUMING EPIDEMIC (Berrett-Koehler, 2001/2005—now published in eight other languages as well.). He is the editor of TAKE BACK YOUR TIME (Berrett-Koehler, 2003) and of the children’s book, DAVID BROWER: FRIEND OF THE EARTH (Henry Holt, 1992). He also wrote the first chapter (“Childhood Affluenza”) of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ seminal book on childhood, ABOUT CHILDREN (2004). His articles have been published in dozens of magazines. John has worked with KCTS-TV, the Seattle PBS affiliate, for 24 years, as an independent producer of television documentaries. More than 15 of his programs have been broadcast in Prime Time nationally on PBS. He is also the recipient of more than 100 regional, national and international awards for film-making, including three Emmy awards. Prior to his work in TV, John was Public Affairs Director for KUMD Radio in Duluth, Minnesota. He has taught documentary film production at The University of Washington and The Evergreen State College. He has also taught on Time, Consumerism and Sustainability issues at Evergreen. John lives in Seattle, Washington.