Angus Lindsay Wright (1945- Oct 21, 2022) was professor

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

and one of the founders of the Environmental Studies program at

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

, where he taught from 1972 to 2005. (

Wes Jackson Wes Jackson (born 1936) co-founded the Land Institute with Dana Jackson. He is also a member of the World Future Council. Early life and education Jackson was born and raised on a farm near Topeka, Kansas. After earning a BA in biology from K ...

was another of the founders.) Wright earned his Ph.D. in Latin American History from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1976 with a dissertation on "Market, Land and Class: Southern Bahia, Brazil, 1890–1942." He conducted research in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

with the support of

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and Doherty Research grants. Wright's first book was ''The Death of Ramon Gonzalez: The Modern Agricultural Dilemma'' (University of Texas Press, 1990). This book is available in an updated, second edition, published in 2005 by the

University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...

. Wright is the co-author of ''To Inherit the Earth: The Landless Movement and the Struggle for a New Brazil'', published in 2003 by Food First!. He joined ecologists

Ivette Perfecto Ivette Perfecto is an ecologist and professor at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on complex ecosystem dynamics and the application of ecological theories to agricultural systems. Early life and education Ivette Perfecto was born i ...

and

John Vandermeer John Harry Vandermeer (born 1940) is an American ecologist, a mathematical ecologist, tropical ecologist and agroecologist. He is the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Arthur F. Thurnau Profess ...

of the University of Michigan to write ''Nature's Matrix: Linking Conservation, Agriculture, and Food Sovereignty'', published in 2009 by

Earthscan Earthscan is an English-language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers. History The Earthscan Publications imprint was founded by th ...

Press of London, available in a second edition as of 2019. He also wrote numerous articles on environmental history and the social and environmental consequences of agriculture and of property ownership in the Americas. Wright served as president and board member of the ''Pesticide Action Network North America'' and the ''Institute for Food and Development Policy ''(

Food First Food First, also known as the Institute for Food and Development Policy, is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California, USA. Founded in 1975 by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins, it describes itself as a "people's think tank and ...

) and was chairman of the Board of

The Land Institute The Land Institute is an American nonprofit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, based in Salina, Kansas. Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial crops that "has the ecolo ...

Se

for documentation of his change in status from “member of Board” to “Chair of Board” from 2009 to 2017, and a member of the Board from 1993 to 2019. As a member of the ''Investigative Mechanism'' (an independent citizen review board) of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...

, he coordinated a study of Latin America's largest hydroelectric plant, Yacyreta. He lectured frequently at universities around the United States. From 2005 through 2007 he served as a lead author on the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, sponsored by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, and a variety of other institutions and organizations and now available in various forms from

Island Press Island Press is a nonprofit, environmental publisher based in Washington, D.C., United States, that specializes in natural history, ecology, conservation, and the built environment. Established in 1984, Island Press generates about half of its re ...

. His wife Mary Mackey is a fellow CSU Sacramento academic, poet and novelist.

References

Further reading