The Allianz Knowledge Site's Who's Who features people and organizations that make a difference in the areas of climate change, microfinance, and demographic change.
Bibi Russell
Who’s that?
Founder of Bibi Productions: Fashion for Development
What does she do?
Bibi Russell’s work and business is focused on improving the economic conditions of the some 35,000 weavers, designers and artisans in her native Bangladesh who have worked for her company, Bibi Productions. She has also worked with Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank, particularly its Grameen Uddog handloom enterprise in Bangladesh.
Since the 1970s, Russell has tried to show the beautiful side of Bangladesh. As a model, she has appeared in top magazines, including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar. From the mid-1990s, Russell launched successful international shows and fashion lines abroad showcasing Bangladeshi craftsmanship and local textile manufacturing. In 1998, after heavy flooding in Bangladesh had made millions of people homeless and destroyed much of the country's silk and weaving industry, she founded the charity “Save the Weavers” to help rebuild the industry.
Russell was voted “Woman of the Year” by Elle magazine in 1997, and since 1999, has enjoyed two prestigious titles – Honorary Fellow of the London Institute and the UNESCO Special Envoy: Designer for Development.
Jeffrey Sachs
Who's that?
Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University
What does he do?
Sachs has become perhaps the world's best-known economist for his work on poverty and disease reduction in the developing world. Along with his duties as Quetetlet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, Sachs also directs The Earth Institute, which focuses the sustainability research carried out throughout the university. Sachs is also co-founder of Millennium Promise - a non-profit aimed at acheiving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa - as well as a special advisor to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
As an economics professor at Harvard University during the 1990s, Sachs helped find solutions to economic crises in various countries, most notably in Poland, Russia, and Bolivia. Since then, his work has become increasingly focused on addressing persistant poverty, hunger, and disease in the developing world, and finding an environmentally sustainable form of economic development. He advised former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, and has been a key figure in establishing the Millennium Villages, a group of nearly 80 villages across Africa where promising development and disease control measures are being be tested.
Sachs's bestselling book, "The End of Poverty" (2005), highlights some of the economic lessons learned from his work on various continents.
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Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
Who’s that?
Founder and director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research
What does he do?
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber is a leading scientist on climate change and an advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In 1991, he became founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), establishing the institution as one of Germany’s leading research centers on climate change. From 2001 to 2005 he also acted as a research director at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Schellnhuber is advisor and member of a number of national and international panels on environment and development matters. Among others, he contributed to the UN’s Climate Change Reports in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His work at the Tyndall Centre also earned him the title of a Commander of the Order of the British Empire awarded by Queen Elizabeth II. He is an elected member of the Max Planck Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Leibniz-Sozietät, the Geological Society of London, and the International Research Society Sigma Xi, among others.
He has written over 190 articles and about 40 books in the fields of condensed matter physics, complex systems dynamics, climate change research, Earth system analysis, and sustainability science.
What does he say?
Andrew L. Shapiro
Who’s that?
Founder and CEO of GreenOrder
What does he do?
Andrew L. Shapiro is a writer, lawyer, and consultant interested in the impact of new technologies such as the Internet. His book, "The Control Revolution," talks about how technology changes society. In 2000, he founded the strategy and marketing firm GreenOrder that aims to turn sustainability into a source of business value.
Prior to his work at GreenOrder, Shapiro was senior advisor to the Markle Foundation and a lecturer at Columbia Law School. He served as director of the Aspen Institute Internet Policy Project and is a fellow of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He is a co-founder of the Technorealism project, which raises public awareness about the impact of technology.
What does he say?
Nicholas Stern
Who’s that?
Lead author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
What does he do?
Sir Nicholas Stern is a British economist and academic. After serving as the chief economist and senior vice-president of the World Bank, he is now a civil servant and government economic advisor in the United Kingdom.
Due to his background in economic development and growth, Stern was appointed to conduct reviews on the economics of climate change in 2005. This culminated in the publication of the so-called Stern Review in October 2006.
The study gained global media attention for its thesis that climate change is an enormous market failure which will cause tremendous costs if left unattended. Stern called for policies that would enable market forces to develop low-carbon technologies to stop or at least mitigate climate change. The resulting costs, although in the billions, would be far below the costs of likely climate change impacts.
Stern holds a degree in mathematics and gained a Ph.D in economics. He has lectured at Cambridge University, the University of Warwick, and the London School of Economics. His research focused on economic development and growth, and he also wrote books on Kenya and the Green Revolution in India.
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Björn Stigson
Who’s that?
President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
What does he do?
The WBCSD is a coalition of around 200 corporations that share ideas and techniques on sustainable development. As president, Stigson emphasizes that sustainable development relies on three pillars: economic growth, ecological balance, and social progress.
Prior to taking his position at WBCSD in 1995, Stigson worked as a financial analyst at various international companies, both in his native Sweden and abroad. Presently, Stigson serves as an advisor to the Chinese government, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Dean’s Council of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is also a member of the board of the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Risk Governance Council. In 2007, Stigson was ranked 9th among the "100 Most Influential People in Business" Ethics by Ethisphere Magazine.
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> http://www.wbcsd.org
David Suzuki
Who’s that?
Award-winning scientist, environmental activist, and board member of the David Suzuki Foundation
What does he do?
For over 30 years, Canadian scientist David Suzuki has received many awards for explaining the complexities of environmental science and genetics in a compelling, easily understandable way.
In 1990, he established the David Suzuki Foundation, an independent charity to promote resource conservation and environmental protection. Suzuki is renowned speaker about climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
Since the 1970s, Suzuki had been outspoken about climate change, describing it as a very real and pressing problem, and openly criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.
Suzuki has published more than 40 books about science and environmental issues and has written, produced, and hosted several television and radio programs in Canada. He holds a biology degree from Amherst University and a doctorate in zoology from the University in Chicago. He has also received twenty honorary degrees from universities in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Michael P. Totten
Who’s that?
Senior Director at the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB)
What does he do?
At CELB, a branch of Conservation International, Totten advises businesses in the United States and abroad about the ecological and economic opportunities of energy efficiency, sustainability and climate-friendly investment.
Totten was advising the U.S. government about global warming long before the issue was grabbing headlines. During the 1980s, Totten was an instrumental figure in the drafting of the Global Warming Prevention Act of 1989.
He also served as co-director of the World Resources Institute's Management Institute for Environment and Business and executive director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology, which has since become one of the most-consulted sources on sustainable development on the Internet.
