John DeGraaf
This year's featured speaker is nationally acclaimed John
DeGraaf, author, filmmaker, speaker and activist with a
mission to help create a happy, healthy and sustainable
quality of life for America. John has been a keynote speaker
at numerous conferences and has lectured in more than one
hundred American universities and in other countries
including Brazil, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, Canada,
Hungary, Mexico and Austria (upcoming in September, 2017).
Videos of some of his speeches can be viewed on his
website; johndegraaf.com. Others are available on line in
written form. We are extremely pleased and honored to have
him back at WOYP this year!
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Walter Simpson
Climate Change – What Can We Hope for? What Should We Do Now?
Walter Simpson is an energy professional and environmental educator who served for 26 years as Energy Officer at the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB). At UB, he led a nationally recognized campus energy conservation program credited with over $100 million in savings. He also founded and directed the UB Green Office, UB’s environmental sustainability office, and taught many college-level energy and environmental courses.
After studying engineering at Lehigh University, Walter received a B.A. in philosophy from Boston University, and master’s degrees in philosophy and environmental studies from UB. He is editor/co-author of The Green Campus: Meeting the Challenge of Environmental Sustainability and author of Cool Campus! A How-to Guide for College and University Climate Action Planning. A former director of the Western New York Peace Center, he first became interested in the energy issue when he realized that energy waste and foreign energy dependence could cause war as well as environmental harm.
Walter has had a lifelong interest in railroads, and, with the assistance of many experts, has applied his knowledge of energy to the subject of diesel-electric locomotives—producing this groundbreaking, comprehensive volume. He and his wife Nan reside in a super-insulated solar home in Amherst, New York. Their son Jay works in law enforcement and their daughter Skye is a writer and editor.
The author can be reached at enconser@buffalo.edu.