Lamont C. Hempel

"A co-founder of Blue Planet United, Monty Hempel is the Hedco Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of Environmental Programs at the University of Redlands, in Southern California. His professional interests focus on environmental science and politics, sustainability, and marine environmental studies, with particular emphasis on international coral reef protection, human dimensions of climate change, renewable energy policy, wilderness preservation, and human population stabilization. His teaching and research is strongly interdisciplinary and guided by the goal of pragmatic idealism.

"Hempel is the former president of the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS) and serves on the boards and executive committees of several organizations, including the U.S. Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

"Prior to his Redlands appointment in 1999, Hempel was a faculty member and administrator in the School of Politics and Economics at Claremont Graduate University, specializing in environmental policy. In addition to his academic work, he has developed and directed model citizen involvement programs for state and local government (1975-76), served as a regional project manager for the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Program (1977-78), consulted at home and abroad on sustainable development (1980-present), and was a candidate for the United States Congress from California (1986).

"Hempel has served as a member of U.S. NGO environmental delegations to Brazil, China, Thailand, and Nepal. For the past eight years, he has led an annual one month university class/expedition to Palau to study marine ecology and sustainable development. In 2007, he was a faculty member on Semester at Sea (University of Virginia).

"Hempel’s publications include Environmental Governance: The Global Challenge (Island Press, 1996), Gandhi's Significance for Today: The Elusive Legacy (Macmillan, 1989, co-edited with John Hick), and Sustainable Communities: From Vision to Action (Hewlett Foundation/CGU, 1998). He has also written, filmed, and produced more than a dozen environmental video documentaries, with subjects ranging from coral reef protection in Palau to the world views of Desmond Tutu.

"Hempel has a Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate University, an M.A. in International Environmental Policy from the Claremont Graduate University, and a B.A. in Ecology and Public Policy (joint degree UWW, 1974) from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. "