Established in Memory of Steven Manley (1958 - 1979).  While working for his second summer as a firefighter with the California Division of Forestry, Steve Manley and three other firefighters lost their lives on August 15, 1979, battling a brush wildfire near Santa Maria. He was a 21-year old Environmental Studies Major in his third year at UCSB at the time. Steve Manley was an active proponent of the protection, conservation and planned use of the environmental landscape. It was his field of study and way of life. His summer firefighting job was directly related to his desire to learn by doing in the protection of the land. He had a lifelong interest in the outdoors, the sea and physical activity. This lecture series is a celebration of his life.

39th Annual Steven Manley Memorial Lecture 

A U.S. Farm Bill That Is Fit For Purpose The “modern” version of the farm bill, a $787 billion program, has evolved incrementally since 1973. It affects everyone who eats and pays taxes, yet it is formulated in obscurity by a very narrow set of interests. The bill props up and protects an archaic agricultural and nutritional perspective and should be replaced by more illumined and scientifically-informed legislation. The problem? There is an entrenched agribusiness sector with a $1 trillion interest in keeping in place a system that they write to benefit them. Can this economic power be overcome?

Ricardo J. Salvador is Director and Senior Scientist of the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in Washington DC. He leads a team of scientists, economists, policy analysts and organizers to make the case that modern, sustainable practices can be highly productive while also protecting the environment, producing healthy food, and creating economic opportunity for all. He is a member of the Board of Agriculture and National Resources of the National Academy of Sciences, and of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food. He has advised a range of leading organizations in sustainable and equitable agriculture, including the Food Chain Workers Alliance, the Fair Food Program of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, The Land Institute, FoodCorps, National Farm to School Network, Center for Good Food Purchasing, Food System 6, and the HEAL Food Alliance.

He is an agronomist with a focus on sustainability and systems analysis. His undergraduate degree in agriculture is from New Mexico State University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in crop production and physiology are from Iowa State University. Prior to joining UCS, Ricardo worked for the Texas A&M University Extension Service, was on the Iowa State Agronomy faculty for 18 years (where with colleagues he established the first graduate program in sustainable agriculture within the Land Grant University System.) He subsequently became Program Director for Food, Health and Wellbeing at the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. At the Kellogg Foundation, Ricardo partnered with colleagues to create grant-making programs that addressed the connections between food and health, environment, economic development, sovereignty, and social justice.

Past Steven Manley Memorial Lecturers 

 

2023  

Ricardo J. Salvador
Director and Senior Scientist of the Food & Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington,D.C.
Board of Agriculture and National Resources of the National Academy of Sciences
International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food

2022   No Steven Manley Memorial Lecture this year
2021   No Steven Manley Memorial Lecture this year
2020   No Steven Manley Memorial Lecture this year
2019  

Alexis Bunten (Unangan/Yup’ik) Co-director, Indigineity for Bioneers

2018   Brenda Ekwurzel, Director of Climate Science for the Union of Concerned Scientists
2017   Charles Lester, Speaker, Lecturer, and former Director of the California Coastal Commission
2016   Charles Fishman, Author & Speaker, NY Times Bestsellers: "The Walmart Effect" and "A Curious Mind".
2015   Julia Marton-Levere, former Director General IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), Author, Lecturer
2014   Olivier De Schutter, Professor, Univ. of Louvain, Brussels and UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
2013   Paul Greenberg, Author & Speaker, NY Times Bestseller: Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food
2012   Jay Gulledge, Sr. Scientist & Director for Science & Impacts, Center for Climate & Energy Solutions
2011   Daniel P. Schrag, Director, Harvard University Center for the Environment
2010   Deb Callahan, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics & the Environment
2009   Richard Harris, Science Correspondent, National Public Radio (NPR)
2008   James P. Kennett, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Earth Science, UC Santa Barbara
2007   John W. Day, Jr., Distinguished Prof. Emeritus, Dept. of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State Univ.
2006   Robert Glennon, Morris K. Udall Prof. of Law & Public Policy, Rogers College of Law, Univerity of Arizona
2005   Christopher Flaviin, President, Worldwatch Institute
2004   Norman C. Ellstrand, Professor, Dept. of Botany & Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside
2003   Harriet Ritvo, Arthur J. Conner Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2002   Tundi Agardy, Director, Sound Seas, Washington, D.C.
2001   Cynthia Moss, Director, Amboseli Elephant Research Project, Nairobi, Kenya
2000   No Steven Manley Memorial Lecture this year
1999   Catherine Koshland, Professor, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley
1998   Mike Davis, Lecturer & Author, Los Angeles, California
1997   The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, Past Canadian Prime Minister
1996   Thomas Dunne, Professor, School of Environmental Science & Management, UC Santa Barbara
1995   William D. Ruckelshaus, Chairman & CEO, Browning--Ferris Industries, Houston, TX
1994   Herbert Bormann, Professor Emeritus, Yale School of Forestry, Yale University
1993   Bonnie J. McCay, Professor, Human Ecology / Anthropolgy, Rutgers University
1992   H. Patricia Hynes, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
1991   Dr. Arthur Rosenfeld, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, UC Berkeley
1990   Dr. Sherwood Rowland, Department of Chemistry, UC Irvine
1989   Ramachandra Guha, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, India
1988   Russell Peterson, President Emeritus, National Audubon Society
1987   Garrett Hardin, Human Ecology, UC Santa Barbara, CA
1986   Edith Brown Weiss, Professor Emeritus, Professor Law Center, Georgetown University
1985   Dr. David Morris, Executive Dir., Center for Local Self-Reliance, Washington, D.C.
James Pissot, President, Utah Audubon Society & Co-Founder, Utah Wilderness Association
1984   Professors Thayer Scudder - Dept.of Anthropology, CA Institute of Technology
James Anderson, Dept. of Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Steven R. Gliessman, Dept. of Ecology, UC Santa Cruz
1983   Professors Thomas C. Jorling, Director - Center for Environmental Studies, Williams College
Stanley Dundon, Department of Philosophy, CA Polytechnic State University
1982   Sally Ann Ranney, Founder & President - American Wilderness Alliance
1981   Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, Vice President - World Wildlife Fund