Initial Publication Date: June 28, 2022

Fall 2022 Steering Committee

This group of MCC Educator CoP Community Members developed programming for Fall 2022.

Patrick Arnold is the Founder & CEO of 10 Billion Strong, an environmental leadership movement dedicated to training the next generation of environmental leaders. Patrick has been working at the intersection of international development and education for more than a decade and finds the most inspiration when he's collaborating with emerging leaders who are trying to protect our planet. He has BA and MA degrees from American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC and recently completed several post-graduate certificates on environmental issues from Cornell, Oxford, and the University of California Berkeley. He moved to St. Louis after living in the Bay Area for 13 years and is committed to making a positive impact on the environment in the Midwest region.

 Mark Dittrich MN Department of Agriculture.Farmed with Margaret until I was 29 years old. Then earned a BS and MS at UW-Madison. Represent the Department of Agriculture regarding drainage and water storage. Outreach work varies from carbon credit and capture to drainage and soil conservation. We have four grandchildren, ages 4-21 years old. Climate change will dramatically impact their lives and their resulting choices. I'm working on concepts and emerging designs to capture, filter and recycle surface water.  

Hope Gribble is Green Schools Manager for the U.S. Green Building Council – Missouri Gateway Chapter. In this role, she supports K-12 schools in advancing practices throughout their campuses, curriculum and culture that reduce environmental impact, improve human and environmental health, and increase sustainability literacy by engaging schools in the Green Schools Quest, Missouri Green Schools, and Sustainability Institute for Educators programs. A collaborator and connector, Hope has served on the Experiential Education Exchange board, Missouri Environmental Literacy Advisory Board, and Center for Green Schools advisory committee for the 2021 Green Schools Summits. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts, and Missouri State Teaching Certification (Art/K-12) from Webster University, as well as LEED AP Operations & Maintenance and Green Classroom Professional credentials.  

Lindsey Kirkland supports on-going climate change education programs for K-12 educators and public audiences. As the education manager, she also develops a vision for and provides strategic coordination for programs focusing primarily on professional development for teachers and informal educators. Lindsey is adjunct faculty at Hamline University and supported the development of their Climate Literacy Certificate, a contributing author of NSTA's Connect Science Learning journal, and an active member of Climate Literacy and the Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) and Clean Energy Education Summit (CEES). Lindsey has served as an environmental educator with the AmeriCorps program the NJ Watershed Ambassadors, worked as a naturalist and education program coordinator for the NJ Audubon Society, and assisted in program development for museums, universities, and new nonprofit organizations in the United States and Australia. Lindsey holds a BS in Environment, Conservation and Fisheries Sciences from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and a MEd in Science Education from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. In her spare time Lindsey enjoys running, hiking, cooking, traveling with her husband and her dog.  


Seth Spencer is the Teach Climate Network at Climate Generation, helping the education program to create powerful professional development opportunities for educators across the country. He recently returned to his home state of Minnesota after five years in coastal Alaska and was able to see firsthand the negative impacts that climate change is having on rural communities. Seth has a Bachelors in History from St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict and a Masters in Education from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He is excited about sharing his experiences in environmental education and positive youth development with the climate change education community.  


Alli Parrish (Wenman) is the Regional Climate Outreach Program Manager at UW - Madison Division of Extension. In this role, she facilitates the process to create evaluation frameworks to demonstrate climate impact for Extension's agricultural outreach programs across the Midwest. Alli holds her B.S. in botany and her M.S. in environmental conservation, both from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She has been involved in understanding climate justice concerns with Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts and in professional development in the climate adaptation sector with the American Society of Adaptation Professionals.