OUR TEAM
Stephen Loughin
Board Member & Executive Secretary
Stephen is a retired scientist, having worked on the NASA missions to Saturn (Cassini) and Pluto (New Horizons). His research involved materials used to convert heat into electricity to power these spacecraft for their lengthy voyages. Additionally, he taught physics for over a decade at Saint Joseph’s University and was also a co-founder and director of the American Reading Company, which provides literacy programs for schools across the country. He holds degrees in applied physics, electrical engineering, and materials science from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been active in Quaker Eco-Justice causes for over 20 years now.
Bruce birchard
Board Member
Bruce joined the Religious Society of Friends in 1967 while a student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. After getting an MA in anthropology at the University of Chicago, he moved with his wife, Dr. Demie Kurz, to Philadelphia. There they both joined Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. He worked for the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Friends Peace Committee from 1974 to 1984, then as National Coordinator of the Disarmament Program of the American Friends Service Committee from 1984 to 1992, and finally as General Secretary of Friends General Conference from 1992 until 2011. In his retirement, he has been involved with several Quaker organizations, including Quaker Voluntary Service, Right Sharing of World Resources, the Urgent Call to the Religious Society of Friends (focused on protecting the integrity of U.S. elections), the PYM Eco-Justice Collaborative, and most recently the new Quaker Action, Mid-Atlantic Region.
burt Dallas
Board Member & Co-Treasurer
Burt is a civil engineer who has worked on affordable housing and has been active in the environmental movement in NY and PA for many years. He has served on Radnor Meeting's Climate Action Committee to reduce its carbon footprint. Burt has represented Philadelphia Yearly Meeting at Friends Committee on National Legislation and been a part of PYM's Eco Justice Collaborative.
Ruth Darlington
Board Member
Ruth Darlington is a member of Medford Monthly Meeting in New Jersey and active in their Climate Change Group. She also serves as the climate change witness voice on the Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting Steering Committee. For more than a decade, Ruth has been a member of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) Eco Justice Collaborative (EJC), and she currently serves as co-clerk with Patricia Finley.
In her role as a representative from PYM to Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW), Ruth serves as clerk of the QEW FCNL/Environmental Policy Working Group as well as serving on the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s General Committee. Ruth was a members of the Climate Change Sprint, which led to the approval of the PYM Climate Witness.
Ruth is a member of the GreenFaith Circle of South Jersey and volunteers with Food & Water Watch NJ to advocate for climate justice. .
Patricia Finley
Board Member & Co-Treasurer
Pat is a member of Old Haverford Friends Meeting, has served as clerk of the PYM Eco-Justice Collaborative since 2011, and has been a social justice and anti-war activist for 60 years. She currently serves as a Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Climate Witness Steward.
Pat is a retired academic who taught Behavioral Sciences and Research Methods at the American University of Beirut. Pat is also a founding member of Quaker Action Mid-Atlantic Region and a member of the Friends Ending Gun Violence Collaborative. Primary motivators for Pat's work are reverence for creation and whimsy. We especially need whimsy for human creation.
Joe Kirkenir
Board Member
Joe Kirkenir took advantage of his time earning an English degree at Gettysburg College by engaging with diverse viewpoints through powerful literature and by rallying the campus community around great causes. Upon graduation, he began his career in nonprofit fundraising, eventually earning a Certified Fundraising Executive certification. Joe’s passion for fundraising extends to his robust volunteer life, where he has served on several boards and committees. Joe lives in Huntington Valley, PA, with his wife, Mandy, his son, Bodhi, and two cats, Victor and Nona. He serves as the Director of Development and Communications for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and is a member of York Monthly Meeting. In addition to nonprofit fundraising, his passions include ultrarunning, reading, and cooking.
Bryan Miller
Board Member
Bryan Miller is the executive director of Heeding God's Call, a regional faith-based organization working to prevent gun violence across the Mid-Atlantic. He previously led Ceasefire NJ, where he helped pass landmark legislation including New Jersey's one-gun-a-month law and the Child-Proof Handgun Law, contributing to the state's reputation for having some of the nation's strongest gun laws. Bryan holds a B.A. from Dickinson College and an M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and brings a background in federal government and international trade to his advocacy work.
Liz Robinson
Board Member
Liz is the Executive Director of the Philadelphia Solar Energy Association (PSEA), a nonprofit dedicated to expanding solar statewide. PSEA works on public policy and program implementation, particularly at the state and regional levels, and provides STEM education to increase students’ understanding and engagement in solar energy and related technologies. Before coming to PSEA, Liz founded and directed the Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) for more than 30 years. ECA provides energy efficiency, education, workforce development, home repair, and bill payment assistance services to thousands of low-income households every year in PA and Delaware. Liz co-founded and directed the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance (KEEA), the energy efficiency trade association for Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She also managed the Energy Cooperative Association of Philadelphia (ECAP), expanding it to a regional organization and taking it into the renewable energy market.
pAMELA HAINES
Member
Pamela Haines, an active member of her Quaker meeting in Philadelphia, is passionate about the earth, relationships, integrity, paying attention, and repair of all kinds. She enjoys connections with Northern Ugandans, youth climate activists, childcare teachers, and urban farmers, among others. As a writer, workshop leader, and speaker, she seeks to demystify the connections between economics and daily life, challenge people to claim their power and act on their values, and call them to wonder and thanks. The author of Money and Soul, co-author of Toward a Right Relationship with Finance; Debt, Interest, Growth, and Security, she has also written three Pendle Hill pamphlets, three volumes of essays for the Wuaker Quicks series, three volumes of poetry, and many articles. Her blog and podcast can be found at pamelahaines.substack.com.