Juliana Birnbaum

Trained as a cultural anthropologist and skilled in four languages, Juliana Birnbaum has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Nepal, Costa Rica and Brazil. In 2005 she founded Voices in Solidarity, an initiative that partnered with Ashaninka indigenous tribal leaders from the Brazilian Amazon to support the development of the Yorenka Ãtame community-led environmental educational center featured in the book. She has written about ecovillages, native rights, and social justice issues in a variety of newspapers, indigenous journals, and anthologies including E-The Environmental Magazine, Bridges Journal, El Reportero, The Rising Nepal, World Rainforest Movement Bulletin, Quechua Network, and Cultural Survival Quarterly. She was the first graduate of the Cornerstone Doula School, one of the most rigorous natural birth programs in the U.S., focusing on a holistic model of care. She is engaged variously as writer, editor, teacher, midwife assistant and mother when not attempting new yoga poses or learning how to garden.