Sam Thomas teaches in the environmental studies and religious studies programs at California Lutheran University. He started the SEEd Project (Sustainable Edible Education) on the Thousand Oaks campus, which includes a 1/2 acre farm, an apiary, a vermicomposting program, and an outdoor classroom. Sam is also a leader in other campus sustainability efforts. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Yale University, and has published and presented widely in religious and environmental studies. “As Baba Dioum said, ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.’ I have come to love this region deeply by getting to know its wild places, which the people of ForestWatch work so diligently to protect and preserve.” Sam also loves backpacking, fly fishing, and both wild and urban nature. In his spare time he designs and builds custom furniture from sustainable and reclaimed domestic hardwoods.
