Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society and a former Guggenheim Fellow. In 2000 he was awarded the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society for major long-term contributions to the field of animal behavior. Marc is also regional coordinator for Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots program, in which he works with students of all ages, senior citizens and prisoners, and also is a member of the Ethics Committee of the Jane Goodall Institute.

The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter is based on Marc Bekoff’s years of experience studying communication patterns of a wide range of animals, this important book shows that animals have rich emotional lives. Not only can animal emotions teach us about love, empathy, and compassion, argues Bekoff — they require us to radically rethink our current relationship of domination and abuse of animals. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories and anecdotes of animal grief, joy, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that commonsense experience has long implied. The author also explores the evolutionary purposes of emotions, showing how science is discovering brain structures that produce emotions, how we can track an evolutionary continuum based on shared brain structures between species, and how new information is being revealed by noninvasive neurological research techniques. Filled with Bekoff’s light humor and touching stories, The Emotional Lives of Animals is a clarion call for reassessing both how we view animals and how we treat them.

We welcome Anne Paris, Ph. D., author of Standing at Water's Edge.

Dr. Paris is a clinical psychologist in private practice who specializes in helping artists and other creative people reach their full potential. She is an adjunct professor at the Union Institute graduate psychology program and founded the Cincinnati Center for Self Psychology, a training and education center for mental-health professionals. Dr. Paris lives in Cincinnati.

We welcome Bill Plotkin, author of Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World.

Bill Plotkin has been a psychotherapist, a research psychologist studying non-ordinary states of consciousness, a rock musician, river runner, professor of psychology, and mountain-bike racer. He is the founder and president of Animas Valley Institute. Since 1980 Bill has guided thousands of people through initiatory passages in nature. Currently an ecotherapist, depth psychologist, and wilderness guide, he leads a variety of experiential, nature-based, individuation programs.

He is also the author of Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World (2008), and Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche (2003). His doctorate in psychology (1976) is from the University of Colorado at Boulder.