Board of Directors

I live in Colorado and enjoy frequent mountain hikes in the summer and skiing in the winter. I founded SaveTheSprings to help shift my hometown’s priorities away from destructive physical expansion and toward sustainability and quality of life. I ran for city council in Colorado Springs on a “sustainability rather than endless growth” platform. I’ve served on several non-profit boards but I’m currently focusing all my energy on completion of Hooked on Growth. I devote a lot of time to writing and editing this documentary project, and significant time to speaking to various groups about the subject of the film. Through my production company, Visions West, I’ve been directing documentaries and business films for 30 years.

I’m a California-girl at heart, but love the scenic beauty found throughout the American West. I’m happy to be putting my finance and bookkeeping skills to work for this non-profit documentary project. I’m learning a lot about sustainability, and can honestly say this project had some influence in my decision to trade in an SUV for a compact hybrid. It’s amazing to watch Dave’s commitment and skill as a director, and I’m really glad for the opportunity to meet such a dedicated board of directors. They have an amazing depth of knowledge and range of experiences. In my spare time I enjoy Yoga, skiing, and hiking the mountains of Colorado.

I’m a transplanted Texan and have lived in Colorado Springs for more than half my life. I’ve volunteered in the Master Garden program locally and am the landscape chair for my homeowners association. An avid gardener for many years, in recent years I’ve been an advocate for xeriscape gardening. This entails planning and growing the landscape around your home and community with an emphasis on water conservation, but with the utilization of water-wise designs and drought-tolerant plants to make lush, beautiful, colorful gardens and yards. Contrary to many people’s belief, xeriscape does not mean rocks and no grass! I believe our parks, gardens and yards can be maintained sensibly without losing our quality of life, thus my interest in the sustainability of our community resources.

My commitment to working for a sustainable future is grounded in my love of my children and my desire for them to enjoy rewarding lives. Over the course of a varied career this commitment has found expression in:
- persistent advocacy for clean, renewable energy;
- designing and building resource efficient and solar homes;
- the practice of environmental law with am emphasis in land conservation;
- grassroots organizing and providing technical assistance to public interest organizations.

These days my wife and I work toward a sustainable, local food system from our family farm in western Colorado. At Mesa Winds Farm we understand that healthy food begins with our stewardship of a healthy farm ecology. We are also committed to education: of ourselves, our helpers, and fellow farmers to better understand ways to work with nature and to grow the best fruit of which we are capable; of our customers, that they appreciate the importance of healthful foods in their lives and their role in this “revolution” in agriculture.

Film is a powerful medium with the capacity to deliver the message of sustainability to vast audiences. I am pleased to be working to enhance Citizen-Powered Media’s effectiveness in our shared mission.

Max Eisele grew up on a farm in Kansas and has lived in cities most of her life. She has returned to farming on Colorado’s Western Slope. She and her husband, Wink Davis (who is also a Board Member), have a sweet organic farm of apples, peaches and grapes. Her various occupations included painting, teaching, website development, and community activism. Currently her attention is focused on growing food crops, winemaking, and creating edibles in a commercial kitchen. “I’ve always believed you are what you eat,” says Eisele. “And maybe we can be no better than where we live. With better information and awareness, people can change what goes into their bodies and what goes on in their communities.”

As a former environmental education center executive director, I firmly believe environmental stewardship begins with education, and that education begins with awareness and involvement. As the naturalist Robert Ingersoll so wisely observed, “In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences.” Unless we fully experience our connection to nature and each other, we cannot fully appreciate our role in preserving the future – for ourselves, our families and the entire family of this great blue planet. I’ve had the unique privilege as an Air Force pilot to travel high above much of the Earth’s surface and see first-hand the beauty of our natural world, and also the consequences of how we’ve treated it. I’ve also had the honor of meeting many of our world’s peoples and experiencing their warmth, generosity and diversity. I’ve also experienced how we have misunderstood and mistreated each other. We live in a delicate balance with this place we call home and my personal commitment is to do all I can – whether it’s through art, facilitation, mediation or education, to raise awareness and develop positive and sustainable solutions for meeting the challenges of our future. My hope for Citizen-Powered Media is that we can help facilitate a greater understanding of each other, our limited natural resources and our journey together – and inspire cooperative efforts to secure a long healthy future for our peoples and our planet.

I’m majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Earth Sciences and Spanish at Dartmouth College. I wanted to become part of this project because of my passion for all things outdoors. In my spare time I love to hike, backpack, camp, and snowboard. I’ve also tried caving, climbing, rafting, sea kayaking, waterskiing and wakeboarding. I also enjoy travel immensely. I’ve been to Spain, Mexico, and Belize in recent years. Next on the list is going to Costa Rica in February of 2008 to study sustainable development and tropical ecology for three months.

I had never been particularly active in my community until I moved from Portland, Oregon to Colorado Springs eleven years ago. I think the shock of coming from a state that has one of the most successful land use programs in the country to a community that has never met a development it didn’t like finally spurred me to get involved. The need is everywhere!

My current passion and interest is energy –>more specifically, how we move from a fossil-based energy society to a renewable-based energy society. As we make this transition, we must come to grips with our never-ending desire to grow – the planet is only capable of accommodating so much.