List of Speakers

Every month, Save the Pine Bush volunteers make a vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner with salad, garlic bread and delicious deserts. Everyone is invited to attend!

After dinner, we have a speaker. Here is a partial list of the speakers who have visited Save the Pine Bush over the years.

Ward Stone speaks at the Save the Pine Bush Dinner in February 2016.

Our Favorite Butterfly, the Karner Blue

David MacDougall Author of
A Field Guide to the Karner Blue Butterfly
(Lycaeides melissa samuelis) Natural History, Identification, & Conservation of a Regional Treasure
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Changing SEQRA: Why Standing Matters

Katherine Nadeau from Environmental Advocates, Wednesday, January 21 2009

Current Research on the Spread of Lyme Disease

Melissa Stone, PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program at the State University in Albany, Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Reptiles and Amphibians

Diana Strnisa, Educator from Five Rivers, Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Solid Waste Management Planning

Resa Dimino, Special Assistant in the DEC Commissioner’s Policy Office, Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What is Happening to the Bats?

Ward Stone, NYS Wildlife Pathologist, Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Special book signing for, Son of Mountains-My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect, by Yassin Aref, Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Speakers:Shamshad Ahmad, professor of physics and president of Masjid As-Salam Mosque; Kathy Manley, attorney; Jeanne Finley, editor of the book; Steve Downs, attorney

Sometimes they put innocent men in prison. Yassin Aref is one of those men. This book is the story of a UN refugee who sought peace and freedom in America. A Muslim imam entrapped in a phony “sting” concocted by the FBI, accused of aiding terrorism, & sentenced in 2007 to 15 years in federal prison. Yassin Aref is currently incarcerated at the Communications Management Unit in Terre Haute, Indiana (also known as “GitMo in the Midwest”). This story is of an Iraqi Kurd who has struggled all his life just to survive. In 1970 Yassin was born to illiterate farming parents, grew up under the rule of Saddam Hussein, encountering tremendous poverty, brutality, and repression; as a teenager, he sympathized with the Kurdish peshmerga (freedom fighters) and risked his life opposing the dictator’s genocide against the Kurds.

Read special essay for Save the Pine Bush written by Yassin Aref, In the Shade of a Tree

Understanding the Old and New Technologies for Dealing with Trash and Garbage

William Peruzzi, PhD, an expert on solid waste technologies

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Proposed Habitat Restoration for the Rapp Road Landfill

Steven I. Apfelbaum, M.S., Principal Research & Consulting Ecologist, President & Owner, Applied Ecological Services

with a brief introduction by Willard Bruce,
Commissioner, Albany City Department of General Service
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Solid Waste Policy in New York State

Val Washington, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Deputy Commissioner of the divisions of Solid and Hazardous Materials, Environmental Remediation and Mineral Resources

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Energy Policy, the Iraq War and Global Warming

Jeff Jones, Coordinator of the New York State Apollo Alliance

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

New York State’s Most Successful Predators: Fishers & Coyotes
Roland Kays, Curator of Mammals, NYS Museum, May 16, 2007

Earth Week Celebration

Susan Lawrence of the Sierra Club, Steve Breyman, from Citizens’ Environmental Coalition
and Katherine Nadeau from Environmental Advocates, April 18, 2007

Habitat Management During the COVID Pandemic – An Update

Neil Gifford, Conservation Director, Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission

Wednesday, April 21, 2007

Habitat Management & Restoration for the Karner Blue Butterfly – An Update

Neil Gifford, Conservation Director, Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

University at Albany Goes Green in “Fits and Starts”

Professor George Robinson, Member of the University Task Force on Environmental Sustainability

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Enough Trash-Talking! Time for a Holiday Party

Piano by Millie DiBlasi,
Magician Larry Lessner, Music by Cavanaugh & Kavanaugh and Terri Roben

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Global Warming, Energy Use & Solid Waste Management

John Waffenschmidt, Vice-President & Business Development, Covanta Energy
Wednesday, November 8, 2006

The Car-Free Lifestyle Guide to the Capital Region

Gregory
Rosenthal
, Author

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Real Solutions to Dealing with Solid Waste

Steven J. Davis, Senior Program Administrator, RPI Recycling and Solid Waste Programs

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Reduce the Waste Stream and Reduce Dependance on Imported Oil

Susan Caumont and Jeff Beller, Hosts of the WRPI Energy Show

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The Pine Bush and the Landfill — Where do We Go From Here?

The Honorable John J. McEneny, Member of the NYS Assembly, 104th District
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Recycling & Composting

Debbie Jackson, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Comparative waste management practices:
Models from three very different systems; Albany NY; Dresden Germany; Yambol Bulgaria

Willard Bruce, Commissioner, Albany City Department of General Services
Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The movie “Gone Tomorrow The Hidden Life of Garbage” by Heather Rogers was shown

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Albany’s Garbage Challenge: No Magic Bullet

Laura Haight, New York Public Interest Research Group

Wednesday, March 15, 2005

The Comparative Impacts of Landfills and Waste-to-Energy Facilities

Jack Lauber, Environmental Engineer
Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Integrating the Landfill into the Pine Bush
Pollution, Garbage, Money, and Survival of the Pine Bush Ecosystem

Dr. George Robinson, Associate Professor of Biology, University at Albany

Wednesday, January 18, 2006