Friday Keynoter
Diane Wilson

Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper, began fishing the bays off the Gulf Coast of Texas at the age of eight. By twenty-four she was a boat captain. In 1989, while running her brother’s fish house at the docks and mending nets, she read a newspaper article that listed her home of Calhoun County as the number one toxic polluter in the country. She set up a meeting in the town hall to discuss what the chemical plants were doing to the bays and thus began her life as an environmental activist. Threatened by thugs and despised by her neighbors, Diane insisted the truth be told and that Formosa Plastics stop dumping toxins into the bay.

Wilson’s book, An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas, chronicles her brave campaign from the courts, to the gates of the chemical plant, and to the halls of power in Austin. PASA will be selling Diane’s book at the Conference and the author will be available for book signing.

Her work on behalf of the people and aquatic life of Seadrift, Texas has won her a number of awards including: National Fisherman Magazine Award, Mother Jones’s Hell Raiser of the Month, Louis Gibbs’ Environmental Lifetime Award, Louisiana Environmental Action (LEAN) Environmental Award, Giraffe Project, Jenifer Altman Award, and the Bioneers Award. She is co-founder of Code Pink and continues to lead the fight for social justice.

Saturday Keynoter
Mark McAfee

Mark McAfee founded Organic Pastures Dairy, California’s first raw milk dairy with certified organic pasture land and one of the few remaining family-owned and operated dairies in California. His principle: care for our cows and the environment, and our milk will be of the highest quality. Mark’s dedication to providing his herds with a

“stress-free” life spent grazing in certified organic pasture led him to design a revolutionary mobile milk barn. Organic Pastures products, including raw milk, butter, cream, cheese and colostrum are sold in stores throughout California and shipped nationally. The company has been recognized in independent National Farmers Organization tests as having the best milk taste of the dairies surveyed.

Mark is internationally recognized as an expert in raw milk production. He has spoken on this and the health benefits of raw dairy products in fifteen states and three countries. He invented the first “dietary supplements” made from fresh raw colostrum, and secured their certification from the FDA and DHS. Mark created and published the first international raw milk safety standards at www.rawusa.org.