As a writer and communications consultant, I create diverse and compelling content and use the latest social media tools for successful outreach and campaigns, focusing on sustainability, transformation of our food system, public education, and social justice. As a permaculturist, I advocate for regenerative systems and re-localization.

My goals are to construct inspiring narratives, share under-told stories, co-create resilience, reconnect people to natural systems, motivate people to action, and to place issues within a broader context, linking the local with the global.

I write and act on a wide range of topics including sustainable food & food justice, sustainable cities, re-localization, climate change, the green economy, anti-militarism, and positive alternative projects and ideas. My work appears in Oakland Local, Truthout, Ecolocalizer, Huffington Post, Terrain: Northern California’s Environmental Magazine, MatadorChange, Planetsave, Food First, and Ethical Travel. I also have significant experience as a social change organizer, ranging from door-to-door canvassing for GOTV and anti-war campaigns to transit and urban ag work. Last year I organized an anti-war “plant-in” and helped to organize a food justice bike tour for 10/10/10.

My previous career was as an instructor in Philosophy and Religious Studies. I taught in the Humanities Department (Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Environmental Ethics, Comparative Religions, World History courses) at Sinclair Community College in Ohio. In addition to teaching, I also developed curriculum, interviewed and scheduled part-time faculty, maintained websites, co-edited the departmental student journal, and was faculty adviser to the philosophy student club.

For comments or writing assignments please contact me at: vanlenning@hotmail.com