About the Author

Michael L. McKinney is Director of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also a Professor in the Geological Science Department and the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Department. Since 1985, he has taught a variety of courses, focusing on environmental science and biodiversity issues at the undergraduate level. Dr. McKinney has two master’s degrees, one from the University of Colorado at Boulder and one from the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1985. Since that time, he has published several books and dozens of technical articles. Most of his recent research has focused on conservation biology. Dr. McKinney has received several teaching awards and a prestigious University award for creative research. He is currently working on a book documenting the harmful impact of urban sprawl on native species. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. McKinney is very active in promoting environmental solutions where he lives, the Southern Appalachian bioregion. He is on the Board of Directors of the Foothills Land Conservancy, which is the major private land trust that creates wilderness preserves around the Smoky Mountain National Park. In 2001, Dr. McKinney received the Environmental Achievement award from the city’s main newspaper, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, given to the individual who has done the most to promote a better environment. Dr. McKinney is also an active member of the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, the East Tennessee Sierra Club (Harvey Broome Chapter), the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Tennessee Clean Water Network, and Ijams Nature Center. He writes a bimonthly column called the “Suburban Ecologist” in the Hellbender, the environmental newspaper of East Tennessee. Dr. McKinney lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he greatly enjoys hiking and promoting sustainable living. Robert M. Schoch, a full-time faculty member of the College of General Studies at Boston University, received his Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from Yale University in 1983. Since 1984, he has specialized in teaching undergraduate science, including environmental science, biology, physical science, geology, geography, and courses in science and public policy – with a strong environmental component in all courses he teaches. He is a recipient of his college’s Peyton Richter Award for interdisciplinary teaching, and serves as director of its Institute for the Study of the Origins of Civilization. Dr. Schoch is the author or coauthor of books both technical and popular, including Phylogeny Reconstruction in Paleontology; Stratigraphy: Principles and Methods; Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals; Voices of the Rocks; Voyages of the Pyramid Builders; Forgotten Civilization: The Role of Solar Outbursts in Our Past and Future; and Origins of the Sphinx. Keenly interested in how environmental factors have helped shape ancient and modern civilizations, and passionate in his assertion that understanding past environmental changes is important as we face future challenges, Dr. Schoch has undertaken fieldwork in numerous countries, including England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Malta, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chile (Easter Island), Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, India, Japan, and Indonesia. Besides his academic and scholarly studies, Dr. Schoch is an active environmental advocate who stresses a pragmatic, hands-on approach. In this connection, he helped found a local community land trust devoted to protecting land from harmful development, for many years serving on its Board of Directors. Furthermore, he takes an active part in “green” politics and for over a decade served as an elected member of the city council of Attleboro, Massachusetts. Logan Yonavjak is an investment professional who has worked with a variety of organizations on a suite of projects ranging from ESG product development, the development of social and environmental impact metrics methodologies, and a variety of renewable energy and conservation finance deals. She is currently the Manager of Research and Analysis at CREO Syndicate, a network of family offices focused on driving more private capital to solve global environmental challenges. More recently she worked at Morgan Stanley's Institute for Sustainable Investing, Align Impact, and the Yale Investments Office. Logan received her B.A. with Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Logan is a Startingbloc Fellow, a Property and Environment Research (PERC) Fellow and a Kinship Fellow. She has also been a freelance writer for Ashoka Changemakers, Forbes, ImpactAlpha, and Nextbillion, and is also the author of several books. Logan received her Masters in Forestry and MBA (with a concentration in Asset Management) from Yale in 2016. Logan currently sits on the Board of Slow Money NYC, which connects investors with local food entrepreneurs in NYC, and she is also an Advisor to the Yale Initiative on Sustainable Investing (YISF). Grant A. Mincy is an Instructor of Biology at Pellissippi State Community in Knoxville, Tennessee where he leads the Concepts of Biology curriculum, teaches General Biology and offers a course inConservation Science. He has also taught Physical Geology, Historical Geology and Environmental Geology. In the classroom, Grant includes information regarding issues of concern in his town of Knoxville and the Southern Appalachian Bio-Region in general. He also likes to discuss local environmental policy and new sustainable initiatives having great success in the area as well. Grant earned his graduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where he studied Earth and Planetary Science with a concentration in Conservation Biology and Environmental Science. During his time at UTK, Grant was Dr. McKinney's student and worked on many local and regional environmental research projects with his mentor. Grant is still very active in environmental issues. He serves as the Elinor Ostrom Chair of Environmental Studies and Commons Governance at the Molinari Institute and is also an Energy and Environment Advisory Council Member for the Our America Initiative. He has numerous popular publications on sites such as The Ecologist, Counter Punch and Resiliency and has published columns regarding environmental issues in numerous newspapers across the world, including the local Knoxville News Sentinel and the Knoxville Mercury. In addition, Grant regularly volunteers his time to Ijams Nature Center and encourages service learning in all of his courses. Grant's most important role is that of a husband and a father. In his free-time he likes to pass the time hiking away the day with his wife and three year old son in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.