Rebecca Sanborn Stone is a Senior Associate for Communications at the Orton Family Foundation, an operating foundation working to build vibrant and sustainable communities. Her work involves researching, writing about, and helping to build a national network of organizations and individual working for positive community change.
Rebecca holds a BA in biology and English from Williams College and a Master's degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES), where she was a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and focused on land use, conservation planning and ecology. Prior to joining the Orton Family Foundation, she taught at theMassachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Southern Vermont College, Vermont Academy, and thePhillips Exeter Academy Summer School. She has also worked as a consultant and freelance journalist, writing on environmental issues for publications including E Magazine and Northern Woodlands. Rebecca is a native of coastal New Hampshire and now lives in Vermont.
Rebecca first joined the Foundation in 2006 and returned in 2008 as a Senior Associate. In the interim, she worked as a consultant and taught ecology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and environmental studies at Southern Vermont College. Rebecca holds a BA in biology and English from Williams College and helped found the Williams Social Choice Fund for socially responsible investing. She also earned a Master's degree in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES), where she was a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow and focused on land use, conservation planning and ecology. She also worked for the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry and was a Teaching Fellow at FES and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Before graduate school, Rebecca was a teacher in the English Department of the Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School and in the Science Department at Vermont Academy, where she was also a dorm parent, outdoor instructor and coached ice hockey, lacrosse and rock climbing. She writes on environmental issues for publications including E Magazine and Northern Woodlands. Rebecca is a native of coastal New Hampshire and now lives in Bethel, Vermont with her husband and daughter.
From Breadbasket to Food Desert
The rural Midwest produces much of our nation's food supply, and yet small towns in the heartland and around America are increasingly and ironically becoming food deserts - places where citizens have little access to fresh, healthy foods.
Cattle vs. Subdivisions
Arizona's long-standing open range laws allow cattle to roam freely, but the state is now reconsidering the laws as residents of the West's suburban subdivisions are growing more frustrated by encounters with roaming cattle.
Another City Bans Plastic Bags
Telluride, CO just became the latest U.S. city to ban the distribution of plastic shopping bags, following on the heels of communities in California, North Carolina, Alaska, Connecticut, and Washington.
New York Town Makes English the Law
Jackson, New York and several other small upstate towns have entered the immigration wars by passing a law requiring all official town business to be conducted in English.
New York City Takes Over Governor's Island
The City has reached a deal to take over 172-acres of undeveloped land from the State, and redevelopment possibilities are flooding in - public park, high school, commercial buildings, NYU satellite campus, and more.