Sustainably Growing the Local Food Economy

BryonySchwan is the Executive Director of The Biomimicry Institute, a non-profitorganization that promotes the new science of biomimicry. Biomimicry studiesnature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solvehuman problems. Bryony is also an affiliate faculty member of the University ofMontana where she teaches community organizing in the Environmental StudiesProgram.

Previously,Bryony worked for 11 years as the Executive Director and then as the NationalCampaigns Director for Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) a non-profitenvironmental justice organization that she founded in 1995. WVE works on thelinks between toxic pollution and women's and children's health. From 2001 to2004, Bryony co-founded and coordinated Coming Clean, a national alliance ofhealth and environmental groups.

Bryonywas born in Zimbabwe and moved to the United States in 1981. She has a BA inFine Arts from the University of Natal in South Africa and an MS inEnvironmental Studies from the University of Montana. Bryony’s work has takenher around the world from speaking on chemical policy in Europe to lobbying atthe United Nations Treaty Negotiations on Eliminating Persistent OrganicPollutants (POPs) in South Africa. She has received several awards for her workincluding an AWR Conservation Award, the Len and Sandy Sargent Award for EnvironmentalActivism and Montana's Jeannette Rankin Peacemaker of the Year Award (2002).

Bryony is also the founderof the Women's Institute for Leadership Development in Women (WILD Women) andthe Young Women’s Outdoor Leadership Project (now called GUTS! Girls UsingTheir Strengths). Bryony co-produces "In Other Words," a weeklyfeminist radio show on Montana Public Radio. She has served on the board ofmany organizations including the Social Justice Fund Northwest and the Alliancefor Sustainable Jobs and the Environment (a national labor/environmentalliance). She currently serves on the board of Greenpeace USA.