I first met Erika Bailey-Johnson about 8 years ago when she chaired the organizing committee for the Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (aka UMACS). It took one conversation with her to convince me of two things: First, Erika is a force of nature — if one looks up “change-maker” in the dictionary, one won’t find a picture of Erika in the entry but one really should. I’m fairly certain that Erika is involved in one way or another with every single project in the Upper Midwest that’s related to sustainability education. And, second, Erika has a unique, comprehensive, and innovative way of thinking about sustainability (take a look at the below link to Bemidji State University’s Sustainability webpage for more information about that).

Erika serves in a number of roles related to sustainability, she’s: the Sustainability Director and Director of Niizhoo-gwayakochigewin at Bemidji State University, a member of the boards of Fresh Energy and Happy Dancing Turtle, and a founding member of the City of Bemidji’s Sustainability Committee. In the past, she served on Governor Mark Dayton’s Committee on Pollinator Protection.

Links: https://www.bemidjistate.edu/offices/sustainability/ https://www.happydancingturtle.org/our-story https://www.bemidjistate.edu/directory/facstaff/gw8458qa/ https://fresh-energy.org/board-of-directors/erika-bailey-johnson https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/women-energy-erika-bailey-johnson-bemidji-state-university https://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/departments/niizhoo-gwayakochigewin/