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Ruth DeFries
Author, The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Nature Crisis
Ruth DeFries is the author of The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Nature Crisis (Sept 2014, Basic Books), which traces humanity’s journey from food-collecting foragers to grocery store-shopping urban dwellers. She is Denning Family Professor at Columbia University in the Earth Institute and Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology.
DeFries has received many honors for her research on applying satellite data to track the human imprint on tropical forests and agriculture. She received a MacArthur Fellowship “genius” award in 2007 and is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest scientific honors in the United States, among other prestigious awards. Her interests include writing about food, people and the environment for popular audiences.