Who We Are

Since our launch at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, EarthAction has served as one of the world's largest collaborative networks, uniting citizens and organizations to work for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Our global Action Network includes over 2,600 organizations in 165 countries, along with thousands of dedicated policymakers, journalists, and citizens.

Our model is simple but powerful: we plan and execute global campaigns in support of our partners, turning widespread concern into focused, effective action.

For three decades, this model of collective action has played a key role in bringing about numerous global successes. Our network has been instrumental in influencing landmark international treaties like the Montreal Protocol and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; securing the preservation of vital ecosystems from Canada’s Clayoquot Sound to the Lopè Forest Reserve in Gabon; and advancing human rights by helping to establish the ICC and raising the recruitment age for child soldiers. Our success is a testament to the combined efforts of our partners and the power of a united global community.

Successes

We are grateful to all those that have provided the support that has enabled EarthAction to carry out these campaigns, and to our Partners, other organizations, individual members, national legislators and journalists who have taken action as part of these campaigns. Our successes represent their combined efforts.

Our Staff

Lois Barber

Co-Founder & Executive Director

Lois Jewel Barber is Co-creator and Executive Director of EarthAction which was launched in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio. In 1986, she founded 2020 Vision, a US peace and environment organization that has recently come back to her as a project of EarthAction with its new name, 2020 Action. She helped to found and serves as Co-chair of the Alliance for Renewable Energy, a coalition of groups, businesses and individuals promoting the world's most effective renewable energy policies in North America. She served as Creative Director of the World Future Council Initiative that laid the foundation for the creation of the World Future Council, a global forum to protect the rights of future generations. Lois received a BA degree from Indiana University and an MA degree from the University of British Columbia. She lectures widely and has received many awards including the “Giraffe Award” for “Sticking One’s Neck Out for the Common Good”, the “Woman of Distinction Award” from the National Women’s Education Association, and was one of 16 global citizens featured in the book, Planet Champions—Adventures in Saving the World. Lois is also an artist, using her talents to celebrate the wonder and beauty of the natural world.

Jesse Stamell

Project Coordinator: Indigenous Solidarity Fund

Jesse Stamell was born in Boston studied law and public policy at Trinity College before working with advocacy organizations while helping build a startup internet company in New York City. The work mattered, but something in him kept pointing toward a path with more heart. After a fellowship at London Business School and meeting his future wife in Paris, Jesse’s path led him to Colombia.

What was meant to be a short trip turned into fifteen years. In the mountains of Antioquia, Jesse learned from elders, myths, and ceremonial traditions that reshaped his understanding of community, healing, and responsibility. He co-founded and directed the Eagle Condor Alliance, the first retreat center of its kind in Colombia dedicated to ethical elder-guided ceremonial work and cross-cultural learning. During those years he became a Sundancer, vision quester, ceremonial fire keeper, singer, and a mentor for mental health and integration processes.

Around a fire in 2010, Jesse met Javier Idárraga, a writer, poet, singer, musician, handyman, healer, and friend to many. Together they founded the Indigenous Solidarity Fund, an initiative devoted to protecting the dignity and well-being of wisdom keepers and supporting reciprocity between communities and the elders who have shaped their lives. Their work centers on restoring balance, harmony, and integrity in the relationship between human beings and the earth.

After fifteen years in Colombia, Jesse returned to Western Massachusetts with his wife Ghazaleh and their two sons, Yaku and Cyrus. Today, he offers mental health support, coaching, and integration counseling to individuals while also partnering with US based trades companies, including construction, roofing, and renovation businesses, to build new standards of wellness, mentorship, and cultural coherence within the trades.

He remains rooted in fire circles, community work, teaching, and helping people find ways to live well with themselves, with each other, and with the world around them.

Board of Directors

Lois Barber

President and Executive Director of EarthAction. Lois is also the founder and President of 2020 Vision, a US grassroots organization with 30,000 members that educates and mobilizes citizens on US environment and military policy issues. Lois served as the Creative Director of the World Future Council Initiative, which created the World Future Council, a global forum to protect the interests and rights of future generations. The World Future Council was launched in May 2007. She currently serves on the International Steering Committee of Global Action to Prevent War. Prior to her work with 2020 Vision she founded and directed three other social change organizations.

Jan Roberts

Jan graduated from the University of South Florida in 1974 with a BA in Psychology and in 1976 with an MA in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling.  In 2008, she was admitted to the Ph.D. Program. Program for Leadership Management & Administration with emphasis on Sustainable Development at Greenleaf University in St. Louis, MO. Her career as a social entrepreneur began with the creation of social change agencies for women in Tampa, Florida, in the late 1970s. She was counselor and then director of the Women’s Resource Center for women offenders, and was co-founder of the Centre for Women (formerly Women’s Survival Center) for displaced homemakers and women in transition.  In the ’80s, Jan co-founded Behavioral Medicine Consultants, Inc., which offered holistic treatment to people who were being legally addicted to prescription drugs. In the ’90s, Jan was a partner in a private psychological practice and then founded the grassroots community-building organization, the Institute for Ethics & Meaning. In 2000, Jan was recognized at the International Launch of the Earth Charter at The Hague Peace Palace as leading the major grassroots effort in the United States. In 2005, Jan founded Earth Charter U.S. with the mission to inspire, educate, and engage people in making the Earth Charter’s vision and principles for sustainability a reality through policy initiatives, community actions, and personal behavior changes. That same year, Jan launched Earth Scouts, a scouting program for boys and girls aged 3 to 13. Jan serves as NGO delegate to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, and Advisor to Earth Charter International based in Costa Rica. She is the author of A Community Spirit of Caring Begins with You, published by IUniverse.com in 2000.

Jackie Smith

Jackie is Associate Professor of Sociology and Peace Studies, and a Senior Fellow in Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame.  She is the author of a book on globalization and popular movements, entitled Social Movements for Global Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), and co-author of Global Democracy and the World Social Forums (Paradigm Publishers, 2007).  She has co-edited three books and more than 40 articles on transnational activism, including Coalitions Across Borders: Transnational Protest in a Neoliberal Era (with Joe Bandy), which explores how people have developed organizations and techniques to build transnational alliances among people of widely varying cultural, political, and economic backgrounds. 

Tom Pelletier

A 30-year veteran of direct mail fundraising, Tom has written more than 2,500 successful fundraising letters for a wide range of non-profit organizations, including international development agencies, cancer centers, homeless shelters, and environmental organizations.  His writing has won numerous awards, most recently the 2007-2008 Renewal Package of the Year Award from the Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association.  He also writes about science and nature and has served as a volunteer and/or board member for organizations such as EarthAction, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, and the Urban Ecology Center.

Anne Zill

Anne is the Founder and Director of the Center for Ethics in Action, which is focused on women’s leadership and the ethical compass that guides us.   She has been a foundation program associate with the Stewart Mott Charitable Trust for more than 30 years.  Earlier she was the News Director and Producer with National Educational Radio (NPR’s predecessor).  She has published articles in The Washington Post, Barnard College Alumnae Magazine, Washingtonian, and The Maine Times, among other publications.  She is a graduate of Barnard College with a Master’s Degree in journalism from American University. In 1974, she co-founded the Women’s Campaign Fund and served as Board Chair and/or Co-Chair for many years.  She was also the sole founder of its tax-deductible sister entity, the Women’s Campaign Research Fund, in 1982. In 1974, she also co-founded the Fund for Constitutional Government and has been its President for many years.  This publicly supported entity sponsors investigative journalism reports and projects, such as the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), to promote an open, honest, and accountable operation of government.

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Contact Us

Whether you have a question about our campaigns, an idea for a partnership, or simply want to learn more, we would love to hear from you. Please fill out the form to the right, and a member of our team will be in touch shortly.