About the Directors
In 1999, Peter Turrell and Donna Pascoe created the Millennium Institution, a place for education, research development and a bringing together of minds to advance ideas on future sustainable living. Through the Millennium Institution, a large pool of intellectual capital has been able to address current issues and search for practical, sustainable answers for healthy and responsible living.
Peter grew up on a farm ( part conventional and part Organic) outside Grand Valley Ontario. His father was a chemist and physicist and was responsible for showing him the roots of how things work in the the natural world. His family have been farmers and herb growers for generations here and in England. He grows contract herb crops for medicinal research and in conjunction with this, has developed advanced composting techniques. This methodology was put to use in composting toilet design and followed by complimentary innoculants. Over the years Peter has researched, lectured and studied in the fields of Appropriate Technology, Pedology, Oligocheatology, Biodynamics, conventional Agronomy and Natural Philosophy. He is also an accomplished sculptor with an international clientele.
Donna was raised in a small rural town that was expropriated for a new airport in 1975. Though the airport never materialized, her family and the whole town had moved on. She had to re-establish her 130 year old family roots, thereby realizing the important roll of community and the effect on humans and environment of shortsighted actions taken in the name of progress. This continues to influence her life and her career choices today.
Donna has worked in architectural design in the residential housing industry for 25 years, and currently maintains a successful 15 year practice with her Architectural and Graphic Design Co. that focuses on sustainable, alternative and efficient house designs and interiors. Her work is on an international scale, and she has been featured twice in Canadian House and Homes magazine since 1996 . Also in Builder (American) magazine in Feb. 2003 with Peter in an alternative energy article. She was the featured artist in Woodcarver magazine in 2000 for her wood scupltures.
Donna's ongoing interests and research includes Art, Theology, Philosophy, Nutrition and Environmental issues. Her fields of formal study in Herbal medicine, Anthropologyand Archaeology, Architecture, Interior design and Early Childhood Education provide a well rounded look at our past, present and future to provide a better quality of life for ourselves and the environment.
We have all been made well aware that our current state of human evolution has a very limited 'shelf-life'. If our children are to inherit our current standard of living, it must be achieved through a greater Global Conscience. Environmental and economic sustainability are elemental in our research. Through this work, we strive to push our world and its children to a better and more certain future.
Their current project is one of these ideas.
Peter Turrell and Donna Pascoe
Directors of the Millennium Institution