Mark Haubner is taking his local environmental expertise and lifelong pursuit for meaningful impact to the global stage.
After 45 years of involvement with the North Fork Environmental Council, and nearly five years as the group’s president, Mr. Haubnerannounced his retirement to pursue new ventures.He will officially step down from the role in early May.
However, this is not a final goodbye, as he will continue to support NFEC’s various environmental projects and initiatives, and be of aid to other East End environmental groups.
“It’s fake retirement,” the uber-volunteer joked.
His relentless advocacy centers around educating the public that all of the Earth’s natural systems are intertwined, and that the solutions to the ecological problems facing the North Fork are also intertwined with each other. This next chapter for Mr. Haubner answers a calling to promote eco-literacy and bioregioning on a more worldwide scale.
With this extra time, he plans to host classes and workshops on several national and international platforms includingBio4Climate.org, India-basedShaktify.INandSeacoast New Hampshire Permacultureto widen his reach and engage with a more targeted audience. He said he also wants to use more of his experience in creatingcommunity-based social marketing programsat a bioregional level with global impacts.
“We’ve got international superstars on our roster,” he said. “If we can get Fort Collins [in] Colorado, Riverhead and somewhere in India to talk about what they’re doing for sustainability at the same time, then we have that global reach.”
A self-proclaimed “Climate Disruption Effectivist,” Mr. Haubner dedicates his days to myriad nonprofit organizations, all of which focus on protecting the North Fork environment. To just name a few, he continues to serve as co-chair of the Town of Riverhead Environmental Advisory Committee and is a member of Suffolk County Council on Environmental Quality.
Mr. Haubner’s passion for the planet started at a young age,he previously told the Riverhead News-Review.He’s been recycling newspapers since he was 11 years old. He credited his mother, aunt and uncle for inspiring him to be more conscious about the impact humans have on the planet.
The North Fork Environmental Council began in 1972 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. In 1980, he formed a friendship with NFEC’s late founder Anne Lowry and first got involved as a volunteer.
Source: The Suffolk Times
