BEN MATES, managing director of the Robert G. Hemingway Foundation, is a long-time student of holism, metaphysics, and spirituality. Ben has a B.A. in English from the University of Utah and a Legal Assistant Certificate from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Ben’s work experience includes four years in Sao Paulo, Brazil as an English teacher, two years as a paralegal in a personal injury law firm, and nine years as a regulatory analyst in the interstate natural gas pipeline business. Ben lives in Salt Lake City, takes frequent bicycle rides into local canyons, and enjoys skiing and hiking in the mountains around Salt Lake. He is a vegetarian and a vegetable gardener. Ben is a long-time member and organizer of food co-ops, food buying clubs and community-supported agriculture. Ben is married and has two teenage children. He has participated in the annual Bioneers Conference for the last five years.

EDWIN FIRMAGE makes his living as a fine art photographer in Salt Lake City, Utah (res est sacra miser). He studied classics at Princeton and holds an M.A. in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology from U.C. Berkeley, where he was a Mellon Fellow. From 1986–1989, he was a Rotary Foundation scholar at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He is the author and publisher of Red Rock Yellow Stone, an award-winning combination of photographs of the American West and haiku from Japan. Ed is a board member of HEAL Utah, an alliance of citizens and organizations working to protect the health of Utahns from nuclear and toxic waste. For more about Ed, visit his Trunity website, Edwin Firmage Photography.

CARROL FIRMAGE is a homemaker and mother of four. She holds a B.S. in English and history from the University of Utah, where she is presently a graduate student in environmental humanities. Carrol taught history at Olympus High School (SLC) and English at the Salt Lake Community College. The principal force behind her family's garden, Carrol hopes to become a master gardener.