Gary Paul Nabhan
Encyclopedia
Gary Paul Nabhan is an agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, and writer whose work has focused primarily on the plants and cultures of the desert Southwest
. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement.
A first generation Lebanese-American, Nabhan was raised in Gary, Indiana
. He served as Director of Science at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
and co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH
, a nonprofit conservation organization that works to preserve indigenous
southwestern agricultural plants as well as knowledge of their uses. Nabhan was the founding director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University
. In 2008 he joined the University of Arizona
faculty as a Research Social Scientist with the Southwest Center, where he now serves as the Kellogg Endowed Chair in Southwestern Borderlands Food and Water Security.
Nabhan won the John Burroughs Medal
for distinguished natural history writing. He was also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He was named an Utne Reader
visionary in 2011.. He has also been honored with two honorary PhD.s, and lifetime achievement awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, the Quivira Coalition, the Chefs Collaborative, Edible Communities and the Western Parks Association.
The unifying theme of Nabhan's work is how to avert the impoverishment and endangerment of ecological and cultural relationships,while celebrating the traditional ecological knowledge of the agrarian communities. He has played a catalytic role in the multicultural, collaborative conservation movement, being one of the co-authors of its populist manifesto, Finding the Radical Center. Nabhan was among the first creative non-fiction writers to link the loss of biodiversity to the loss of cultural diversity. In his book with Stephen Trimble, The Geography of Childhood, he was among the first popular writers to show concern with the loss of children's access to the natural world. He has been a significant contributor in calling attention to the environmental issue of pollinator decline
. He founded the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign, the Migratory Pollinators Conservation Initiative, and now attempts to restore nectar corridors for pollinators in bi-national watersheds around his home in Patagonia, Arizona, which he calls the "pollinator diversity capitol of the United States." In addition to the articles and books on pollination ecology for which he has been sole author or editor, he co-authored with Stephen L. Buchmann one of the key works on the topic - The Forgotten Pollinators from Island Press (1996).
Nabhan farms a diverse set of heirloom fruit and nut varieties from the Spanish Mission era and from the Middle Eastern homelands of his ancestors, as well as heritage grains and beans adapted to arid climates. He is a champion of water harvesting, which he implements in his own orchard and gardens, and he has written introductions on this topic in permaculture books by Bill Mollison and Brad Lancaster.
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement.
A first generation Lebanese-American, Nabhan was raised in Gary, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
. He served as Director of Science at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a museum and zoo founded in 1952 and located in Tucson, Arizona. It contains a museum and two miles of walking paths on of this property, and is one of the most visited attractions in Tucson...
and co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH
Native Seeds/SEARCH
Native Seeds/SEARCH, founded in 1983, is a nonprofit conservation organization located in Tucson, Arizona in the United States.In the words of its mission statement, it seeks "to conserve, distribute and document the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seed, their wild relatives and the...
, a nonprofit conservation organization that works to preserve indigenous
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
southwestern agricultural plants as well as knowledge of their uses. Nabhan was the founding director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University
Northern Arizona University is a public university located in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and has 39 satellite campuses in the state of Arizona. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.As of...
. In 2008 he joined the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
faculty as a Research Social Scientist with the Southwest Center, where he now serves as the Kellogg Endowed Chair in Southwestern Borderlands Food and Water Security.
Nabhan won the John Burroughs Medal
John Burroughs Medal
The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs , is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural history....
for distinguished natural history writing. He was also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He was named an Utne Reader
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
visionary in 2011.. He has also been honored with two honorary PhD.s, and lifetime achievement awards from the Society for Conservation Biology, the Quivira Coalition, the Chefs Collaborative, Edible Communities and the Western Parks Association.
The unifying theme of Nabhan's work is how to avert the impoverishment and endangerment of ecological and cultural relationships,while celebrating the traditional ecological knowledge of the agrarian communities. He has played a catalytic role in the multicultural, collaborative conservation movement, being one of the co-authors of its populist manifesto, Finding the Radical Center. Nabhan was among the first creative non-fiction writers to link the loss of biodiversity to the loss of cultural diversity. In his book with Stephen Trimble, The Geography of Childhood, he was among the first popular writers to show concern with the loss of children's access to the natural world. He has been a significant contributor in calling attention to the environmental issue of pollinator decline
Pollinator decline
The term pollinator decline refers to the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide during the end of the twentieth century....
. He founded the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign, the Migratory Pollinators Conservation Initiative, and now attempts to restore nectar corridors for pollinators in bi-national watersheds around his home in Patagonia, Arizona, which he calls the "pollinator diversity capitol of the United States." In addition to the articles and books on pollination ecology for which he has been sole author or editor, he co-authored with Stephen L. Buchmann one of the key works on the topic - The Forgotten Pollinators from Island Press (1996).
Nabhan farms a diverse set of heirloom fruit and nut varieties from the Spanish Mission era and from the Middle Eastern homelands of his ancestors, as well as heritage grains and beans adapted to arid climates. He is a champion of water harvesting, which he implements in his own orchard and gardens, and he has written introductions on this topic in permaculture books by Bill Mollison and Brad Lancaster.
Books
- Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine by Gary Paul Nabhan 2008 ISBN 9781597263993
- The Desert Smells Like Rain
- Cultures of Habitat
- Why Some Like It Hot: Food, Genes, and Cultural Diversity
- Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation
- Cross-pollinations: The Marriage of Science and Poetry, Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods
- Gathering the Desert
External links
- Official Site: Gary Nabhan
- Whole Terrain link to Nabhan's articles published in Whole TerrainWhole TerrainWhole Terrain: Journal of Reflective Environmental Practice is an environmentally-themed literary journal that's published approximately once a year by Antioch University New England . Each volume explores emerging ecological and social issues from the perspectives of practitioners working in the...