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    Talking with Mary Batson-Leyser
 Mary Batson, founding director of the EcoRes Forum,
brings to the table a long history of environmentally
focused activities.

Raised in the American midwest, Mary credits her love of nature to a countryside upbringing and the guidance of her father, who passed along what he learned in training to be a conservation agent and his personal appreciation of the outdoor world.

Mary's childhood centered around nature, from planting trees through drifts of mid-winter snow to keeping the country road litter-free, from gathering wild asparagus for
a spring treat to learning to identify the flora and fauna around her rural home. A smile appears as she shares how Aldo Leopold's account of tracking wildlife through fresh snowdrifts stirs fond memories of exciting jaunts and an occasional mishap.

Special memories: One summer a severe drought had all but dried out Deer Creek, the small stream that runs through the family farm. Mary and her father saw that the once thriving freshwater mussel population along the creek banks was being rapidly "enjoyed" by overly indulgent raccoons (never known for self-restraint) and other predators as the few last-stand pools evaporated. The two launched an emergency rescue mission, placing the remaining mussels in a protective holding tank until the drought had ended and they could be reintroduced to the once-more singing waters of the stream.
Hiking the Grand Canyon, January 2007
Mary's environmental interests continued as she pursued studies in international NGO development, leading her to join, volunteer, and eventually work with a wide variety of environmental organizations in the US, Germany, and Ireland, where her personal research focused on the development of social justice movements and the role of the nonprofit sector in the 21st century. Since the early 1990s she has been active with a variety of nonprofit groups dealing with environmental and social justice issues.

In 2006 Mary decided to act on a need she had observed early on, the need for all stakeholders to be involved in the discussions and decision-making processes surrounding environmental issues. Tragically, far too frequently decisions result that deeply, and often unjustly, impact marginalized segments of society which are under-represented on — if not outright excluded from — these platforms.

With the support and encouragement of like-minded colleagues and friends, that year Mary opened the EcoRes Forum, a virtual platform for a series of e-conferences on the sociocultural issues surrounding climate change. Interest in the series has been intense. Mary laughs: "These are the kinds of challenges we like."

Mary sees the Forum as a cutting edge opportunity for increasing public dialogue and facilitating both internal and external change on a variety of levels, while simultaneously expanding and redefining the term "community." Stressing its "green factor," Mary points out the platform's inclusive nature (the online series is offered free of charge and registration is open to all). As for her role, Mary views herself as a facilitator: "The Forum is both a tool and a channel through which I can do what I've found I do best: asking questions and bringing together key players to work on collaborative answers, to broaden our understanding of these issues, and hopefully to bring about positive change that represents highest good for all involved."