Alan Thein Durning is the founder and executive director of the Sightline Institute

Sightline Institute

The Sightline Institute is an independent, non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington, U.S..Focusing on environmental policy, it was founded in 1993 by activist and author Alan Durning...

, (formerly Northwest Environment Watch), a non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Durning grew up in Seattle, spent his high school years in Chevy Chase, Maryland

Chevy Chase, Maryland

Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland. In addition, a number of villages in the same area of Montgomery County include "Chevy Chase" in their names...

, and attended Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

 during the mid-1980s. From 1986 to 1993, Durning worked as a researcher at the Worldwatch Institute

Worldwatch Institute

The Worldwatch Institute is a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Worldwatch was named as one of the top ten sustainable development research organizations by Globescan Survey of Sustainability Experts.-Mission:...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. In 1993, Durning returned to Seattle and founded Northwest Environment Watch.

Durning is the author or coauthor of dozens of books and articles. His published books include:

• How Much Is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth
• This Place on Earth: Home and the Practice of Permanence
• The Car and the City
• Misplaced Blame: The Real Roots of Population Growth
• Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things
• Tax Shift
• Green Collar Jobs: Working in the New Northwest

Durning's newspaper and magazine articles have appeared in mainstream newspapers such as the New York Times and magazines such as the Utne Reader

Utne Reader

Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...

. Durning has been a commentator on National Public Radio, and has lectured at universities, conferences, and at the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

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External links

• http://www.sightline.org/about/staff/alanbio
• http://www.worldhungeryear.org/publications/whyint.htm