2006 Canadian Trash in Michigan Workshop: Speakers

Updated: April 5, 2006

Canadian Trash in Michigan: A Workshop
Speakers

Shelley Carroll
Web page | councillor_carroll@toronto.ca

Councillor Carroll has been a resident of the Don Valley East area of Toronto, off and on, since 1967. Before entering politics, she left the banking world to stay home with a special needs child and ended up in the daycare business. She spent many years involved in parent and school board politics through the North York Parent Assembly.

She was elected to Toronto City Council in November 2003 representing Ward 33 (Don Valley East). She is on a number of municipal boards, the most important being the Chair of Works Committee. So far, Councillor Carroll has overseen the introduction of the Green Bin program to North York, the improvement of relations with the Michigan and American governments, and the initiation of the official search for Toronto's post-Michigan solution.

Robert Cook
OWMA Web site | rcook@owma.org

Mr. Cook is a graduate of the University of Waterloo with an Honors Bachelor of Environmental Studies degree and was a candidate in the Masters of Arts in Environmental Studies program at Waterloo. After nineteen years as President of the Aggregate Producers Association of Ontario, in 1999 he joined the Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) - a non-profit industry group representing the private sector of the waste management industry.

As Executive Director of OWMA, Mr. Cook is responsible for the overall management & operation of the Association, government advocacy initiatives at all levels of government, and the development of public policy positions relative to the private sector view of waste management issues. He resides in Barrie Ontario.

Rod Muir
Sierra Club of Canada Waste Diversion Web site | rodmuir@sympatico.ca

As a former marketing executive in the foodservice and grocery industries, (great exposure to packaging and organics) and the individual responsible for Kentucky Fried Chicken home delivery service, (garbage collection tough ha! - try 30 minutes or it's free) Rod Muir brings a unique perspective to the solutions to the challenge of diverting residual solid waste.

As Founder of Waste Diversion Toronto and the Waste Diversion Campaigner for the Sierra Club of Canada Rod is hoping to put his evil powers to good and is providing recommendations to various levels of government regarding their waste diversion efforts - he's just not sure anyone's listening - yet!

Julia Ya Qin
Web Site | ya.qin@wayne.edu

Ms. Qin is an assistant professor at Wayne State University Law School, where she teaches international trade law, international business transactions, international finance, and Chinese law. Ms. Qin received her LL.B degree from Peking University and LL.M and S.J.D. degrees from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining the Wayne State faculty, Ms. Qin practiced years in the field of international business law. She also served as a judicial clerk to the late Chief Judge Dominick DiCarlo of the United States Court of International Trade.

Ms. Qin has published widely in the area of international trade law. Her most recent article, Defining Nondiscrimination under the Law of the World Trade Organization, is forthcoming in the fall 2005 issue of Boston University International Law Journal. She is also the co-author of the op-ed piece "Tariffs: One Way to Stop Trash," Detroit Free Press, January 3, 2006.

Katherine O. Razdolsky

Ms. Razdolsky is currently a law student at Wayne State University Law School and Research Assistant to Professor Julia Qin. In 2003, she graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Minor in Spanish. Last summer, Ms. Razdolsky was a legal intern to the Honorable Julian A. Cook of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and in 2002, an international trade intern at a U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center.

Her involvement in this issue began last fall when she selected "Trade in Trash" as a topic for her paper in Prof. Qin's International Trade Seminar. Ms. Razdolsky co-authored ""Tariffs: One Way to Stop Trash," Detroit Free Press, January 3, 2006. She continues to research this topic.

Mike Rogers
Web site | Contact Form

A 1985 graduate of Adrian College in Michigan, Congressman Rogers has had a varied career in public service. He was a U.S. Army officer/company
commander (1985-88). He then went into law enforcement as an FBI Special Agent investigating public corruption as a member of the Chicago Bureau's
organized crime unit (1988-94). He returned to Michigan in 1994 and was elected to the Michigan Senate where he served as Senate Majority Floor
Leader (1999-2000). During the early 1990s, he helped establish E.B.I. Builders, Inc., a family-owned home construction business in Brighton.

In 2001 he went to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving constituents in Michigan's 8th Congressional District. He is Majority Deputy Whip and
serves on two major committees: the Energy and Commerce panel and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Since his election, Congressman
Rogers has been Michigan's point man on Canadian solid waste imports in the House of Representatives. He is a co-sponsor and advocate of H.R.2491:
"International Solid Waste Importation and Management Act."

Michael E. Unsworth
Web site | unsworth@msu.edu

Mr. Unsworth is currently Assistant Director of the MSU Canadian Studies Centre and is also Canadian Studies Librarian. He has degrees from the Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses of Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. He has a number of publications, concentrating on military history. Mr. Unsworth has twice been awarded research grants from the Government of Canada.

His involvement in this issue began in 2003 when he started the "Canadian Trash in Michigan" website. Mr. Unsworth has spoken on the topic at academic meetings in Vancouver, Ottawa, and St. Louis and has given lectures to classes at MSU and Franklin College of Indiana. His essay, "'Dirty Diapers and Canadian Bacon Scraps:' Ontario's Trash in the Michigan Consciousness," will appear in the forthcoming Canada from the Outside In: Images, Perceptions, Comparisons (International Council for Canadian Studies). His is currently revising an article on this topic for the American Review of Canadian Studies.

Bradley S. van Guilder
Ecology Center Web "Zero Waste" site | bradvg@ecocenter.org

Dr. van Guilder has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in applied mathematics, engineering and physics from the University of Wisconsin. He has taught at Rowan University, Richard Stockton College, and the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. Since leaving academia in 1998 he has worked for nonprofit advocacy organizations. He currently works as a community organizer for the Ecology Center, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit environmental advocacy organization. Dr. van Guilder provides technical and organizing assistance to residents with concerns on Solid Waste, Air Quality, Toxics, Land Use and Environmental Justice.

His activity in this issue coincides with his employment at the Ecology Center. He has worked with residents from across the state calling for a complete overhaul of Michigan's antiquated Solid Waste Policy. Dr. van Guilder feels that out-of-state trash is the most visible symptom that the Michigan's present policy (implemented in 1988) has failed the residents of the state.