Wenonah Hauter

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Wenonah Hauter
Born (1954-05-09) May 9, 1954 (age 69)
United States
Occupation(s) Organizer, author

Wenonah Hauter (born May 9, 1954) is an environmental organizer and environmental writer as the author of two books. Hauter currently serves as the executive director of Food & Water Watch, a non-governmental organization which she founded. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

At the age of 11, Hauter's family moved to a farm in Virginia, where they lived in poverty. [2] Her worldview was shaped by the pressing issues of the day—the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights and Women's movements. [3]

Hauter initially attended community college before transferring to James Madison University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She later studied at the University of Maryland where she received a Masters in Applied Anthropology. [4]

Activism

In the early 1990s Hauter worked as a senior organizer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, coordinating sustainable energy campaigns in the Midwest and opposing the deregulation of electric utilities. [5] After leaving Union of Concerned Scientists, she worked at Citizen Action as Environmental Program Director, during her tenure Citizen Action joined a coalition which outlined a "POWER FOR THE PEOPLE" plan. This blueprint encouraged increased competition in the electric utility sector, as well as state control of transmission lines and larger renewable energy portfolios. [6] [7]

She later became the director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Program, which fought for food and energy policy reform and against water privatization. [8] [9] [10] During her work with Public Citizen, Hauter called for the shutdown of the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, highlighting its history of safety violations and resulting fines. [11]

Her work with Public Citizen formed the foundation for Food & Water Watch, which she left Public Citizen to found in 2005. In founding the organization, she sought to foster organizing around the country with a focus on moving people to action on issue of food and water. Energy would later also become a major focus of the organization. [12] She has been critical of genetically modified food, highlighting the possibility of unintended effects of the technology. [13] [14]

In 2012 she was recognized as a Food Hero by Vegetarian Times as someone "dedicated to organizing the grassroots on big-picture issues that affect the natural world and people's health". [15] Food Tank recognized her as a woman who is “inspiring others and creating a better food system around the world.” [16]

Hauter was strongly critical of the environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration. [17] [18]

Bull Run Mountain Farm

Wenonah Hauter and her husband Leigh are the owners of the Bull Run Mountain Farm in Fauquier County, Virginia. [19] Situated on land originally purchased in the 1960s by Wenonah's father, William Bates, the farm is now run as a community-supported agriculture (CSA) enterprise. [2] Starting in the 1990s, the land was the subject of a complex legal dispute between the county, the Hauters (who owned eighty percent of the property), the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (which owned the other twenty percent), and the Hauters' neighbor Lavina Currier. [19] The dispute, which involved land ownership, back taxes, and property boundaries, was finally settled in 2005. [20] The property lines were again amended in 2009. [21]

Books

Frackopoly: The Battle for the Future of Energy and the Environment (2016) chronicles the history of the energy policy that regulated the development of fracking, arguing that great leniency was given to the oil and gas industry. The book also documents recent movements against the fossil fuel industry, including a detailed case study of the successful campaign to ban fracking in New York and the Standing Rock Sioux protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline. [22]

Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America (2012) is an exploration of the effect of corporate consolidation on farming and food in the United States. In the book, Hauter criticizes factory farming and catalogs how mergers in the agricultural industry have changed food consumption and production. [23]

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References

  1. ↑ "Interview with Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch - NYC Food Policy Center". NYC Food Policy Center. 2016-06-22. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  2. 1 2 DeWalt, Rob (Apr 19–25, 2013). "Seeds of a New System". Pasatiempo: The Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 2017-12-15– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Wenonah Hauter, director of Food and Water Watch, answers questions". Grist. 2006-01-31. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  4. ↑ Hogan, Samantha. "Oil, gas industry under fire in new book 'Frackopoly'". The Frederick News-Post. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  5. ↑ "About Wenonah - Wenonah Hauter". Wenonah Hauter. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  6. ↑ Watchdogs and Whistleblowers: A Reference Guide to Consumer Activism, p. 206.
  7. ↑ "Wind Energy Weekly Vol 15, #703, 24 June 1996". 1996-06-24. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  8. ↑ "Irradiation: Anything Goes". www.multinationalmonitor.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  9. ↑ "Testimony of Wenonah Hauter, Director: Public Citizen's Energy Program" (PDF). October 6, 2004.
  10. ↑ "New Orleans Water Privatization Bids Defeated". www.iatp.org. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  11. ↑ Weisenfeld, Bernie (1999-03-28). "On TMI anniversary, critics call for shutdown of Salem reactors". Courier-Post. p. 21. Retrieved 2017-12-15– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Horn, Steve (June 6, 2016). ""Frackopoly": An Interview with Food and Water Watch's Wenonah Hauter on Her New Book". Desmogblog. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
  13. ↑ Jalonick, Mary Clare (2010-09-21). "FDA weighs debate on altered salmon". The Times (Munster, Indiana). p. 35. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  14. ↑ Doering, Christopher (2015-02-17). "USDA approves apple that won't turn brown". The Des Moines Register. pp. A11. Retrieved 2017-12-15– via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "The New Food Heroes". Vegetarian Times. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  16. ↑ "22 Inspirational Women in Food and Agriculture". Food Tank. 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  17. ↑ "'Egregious Handout' to Corporate Polluters as Trump EPA Moves to Accelerate Pipeline Approvals With Attack on Clean Water Act". Common Dreams. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Jake (2019-08-30). "'Sociopathic disregard for our future': Trump EPA set to gut restrictions on planet-warming methane emissions". NationofChange. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  19. 1 2 Shapira (2002-01-20). "On Va. Mountain, A Fight Over Taxes; Wealth, Land Use at Center of Dispute". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-12-16 – via Highbeam.
  20. ↑ Minutes: Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Regular Meeting Of The Board Of Trustees. June 30, 2005 - via townhall.virginia.gov
  21. ↑ Minutes: Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Board Of Trustees Meeting. January 22, 2009 - via
  22. ↑ "Frackopoly". Truthdig: Expert Reporting, Current News, Provocative Columnists. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
  23. ↑ "Wenonah Hauter, Author of "Foodopoly," Discusses Why Corporate Control of America's Food System Affects YOU". PR Watch. 2013-03-04. Retrieved 2017-12-15.
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