Treva Gear and Adam Antonio Colette

Dr. Treva Gear (Adel, GA) and Adam Colette (Asheville, NC) cover the environmental justice and economic impacts of large-scale industrial logging on the US South, with a particular focus on the wood-pellet biomass industry that has rapidly expanded across the region over the past ten years. Their webinar focuses on how the biomass industry perpetuates a history of placing extractive and polluting facilities within communities of color, why we need to view forest conservation through a renewed lens of environmental justice, and will highlight a present day case-study from the community in Adel, GA. 

Speaker Biographies 

Dr. Treva Gear - Founder and Chair, Concerned Citizens of Cook County

Dr. Treva Gear is the founder and chair of the Concerned Citizens of Cook County, a community grassroots organization in Adel, Georgia. She is an Army veteran, an educator, and a community organizer. She believes in being the change that she wants to see in the world and doesn’t mind “getting into good trouble.” Dr. Gear holds a doctorate in Adult and Career Education from Valdosta State University.

Adam Antonio Colette - Program Director, Dogwood Alliance

Born into a family of organizers and change-makers in rural Eastern Kentucky, Adam's career developing campaigns, shifting public policy and supporting local action has been a life-long journey. For over 15 years, Adam's professional work has expanded across the climate and social justice movements to stop coal plants, protect public water systems, keep Southern Forests standing, and to build the long-term community power it will take to realize a more just and equitable world. In his spare time, Adam runs a popular relationship podcast with his wife and is an avid whitewater canoeist.