Leah Temper

Background

About Leah Temper

I am a political ecologist and ecological economist with 10+ years of experience managing and leading international collaborative research projects on environmental, agrarian and climate justice issues. A focus of my work is creating interfaces between scientific and civil society communities through multi-media pedagogical tools, digital content, reports, blogs and documentary videos so as to create bridges between activist and research approaches to sustainability transformations. I am the Founding Director of the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice project an online digital platform and hybrid research project co-created with NGO partners, activists and community organizations that documents over 2300 cases of ecological conflict to date. I have over 20 peer-reviewed publications, and have co-edited the book Ecological Economics From the Ground Up. I have also been published in the New York Times and the Guardian. I have served as Director of International Programs at USC-Canada, leading the Seeds of Survival Program in 12 countries, focused on Plant Genetic Resources, farmer-led research and agro-ecological approaches for food sovereignty. Currently I am leading the ACKnowl-EJ project (Activist-Academic Co-Production of Knowledge for Environmental Justice (2015-2018) which examines the role of movements of resistance to extractive activities as forces that can promote a more sustainable and equitable economic system. I have directed and shot several documentary videos on socio-ecological issues such as de-growth, land-grabbing, food sovereignty, waste and recyclers rights and pipeline resistance.