WHO WE ARE
Our Mission
The charitable purpose of Dwelling On Carbon is twofold: First, to develop innovative strategies for carbon sequestration and water conservation in urban landscapes to mitigate the climate crisis; second, to educate people about cooling our planet by creating graphic representations and telling stories that provide glimpses of a healthier world for all who live here.
Our approach to the climate crisis utilizes the principles of regenerative agriculture. We know that building healthy soil with polyculture landscapes will address many issues, from better water infiltration and water-holding capacity, to increased carbon sequestration, biodiversity, the potential to grow healthier foods, and cooling the urban heat island with plant evapotranspiration, and reducing water vapor in the atmosphere.
Our Values
We value caring for our planet and for each other. We believe that our daily actions make a difference - choosing to recycle, planting a regenerative garden, riding a bicycle, or taking public transportation instead of driving a car all add up. We don’t see ourselves as separate from nature; in the words of the poet Susan Griffin (The Roaring Inside Her, 1978):
“We are nature. We are nature, seeing nature. We are nature with a concept of nature. Nature weeping. Nature speaks of nature to nature.”
OUR BOARD MEMBERS
Judith Seid
For over 25 years, Judith L. Seid, Partner and Founder of Blue Summit Wealth Management, has been passionately using Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) for her clients. Judith has been recognized for her long-standing commitment to sustainable & ethical business and community service with numerous awards. Winner of the SRI Advisor of the Year award, Judith firmly believes that “We can influence corporations to change their policies by seeking investments in companies with positive practices and products and by being proactive investors.” Judith seeks to help her clients connect the dots between their money and their purpose in life.
Judith assists in managing a select group of clients, concentrating on wealth management and financial planning strategies for families, business owners, inheritors, and retirees.
Judith makes a difference in her community and has been actively involved with the Challenged Athlete’s Foundation, the Outdoor Education Foundation of San Diego, the YWCA, and the San Diego Environmental Health Coalition. Judith founded a financial literacy certification program in San Diego for victims of domestic violence, for which she was recognized by the National Financial Planning Association with the Heart of Financial Planning Award.
Judith has three grown children and in her spare time, she enjoys cycling, swimming, zydeco music, and backpacking in the Sierras with her husband Matt.
Pamela Berstler
Pamela is a nationally recognized expert on soil and water management who developed the Watershed Approach, a regenerative landscape strategy, and grew it into a nationwide movement with twelve guidebooks on the subject. Agencies and municipalities throughout the western U.S. have adopted its principles as their landscape standards.
For fifteen years, Pamela has helmed G3, Green Gardens Group, an award-winning EPA Professional Certifying Organization that educates and certifies property owners, policymakers, and landscape professionals in irrigation and rainwater capture. Prior to G3, Pamela spent a decade as a licensed landscape contractor with an award-winning bespoke design-build firm specializing in innovations for sustainable cities.
Pamela didn’t come to landscape and agriculture by direct route, as she first took a detour through a career in derivative securities trading and raising private equity for technology and media companies. Pamela has also provided vision and leadership in executive and organizing roles with non-profit organizations such as the Pacific Horticulture Society, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, and the Surfrider Foundation. Drawing on her degree in Psychology and Organization Design from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, Pamela is deeply committed to the reinvigoration of American entrepreneurship through regenerative land management and agriculture.
Mariana Melcon
Mariana Melcon earned her M.Sc. in Biological Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2004, followed by her Ph.D. in Natural Sciences at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, in 2007.
She continued her own research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, mentored students, and collaborated with the Argentina-based not-for-profit organization Fundacion Cethus. There, she pioneered a new research line (bioacoustic) in the country and participated in such organizations as the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission and the United Nations. After earning an MBA at the University of California, San Diego, in 2014, she worked at HP, leading a team of data scientists.
Tia Walker
Tia is a sought-after global strategist and business consultant.
Armed with more than two decades of business management and marketing experience, which has added to the bottom line of Fortune 500 companies such as Du Pont, Levi, Gore-tex, Platinum Guild, and others.
Consulting with design & build teams in future city projects, eco-cities, tiny house developments with a goal of reinventing how we create healthy, sustainable communities. A visionary on projects designated for Indonesia, Costa Rica, Europe, and throughout the US.
Tia has the ability to structure, manage, and coordinate complex cross-enterprise projects. From aeroponic tower garden farms to microgrid technology, Tia has collaborated with industry leaders to advance technology that is in service to improving the lives of community members globally.
She is passionate about working with non-profits to assist them with creating sustainability by taking a more entrepreneurial approach.
OUR FOUNDER
Rosalind Haselbeck (She/They)
Rosalind has been working on climate advocacy since 2005, when they began volunteer work in the open space canyons and became interested in stormwater mitigation and carbon sequestration. Her background is in Biology — they received their PhD from the University of California, Irvine, in 1992 and went on to do postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego, and then spent several years teaching and leading student research at the University of San Diego. She founded her first company, Building Green Futures, in 2007 and founded Catching H2O in 2016. From 2017 to the present, they have been co-owning and running Catching H2O with their long-time colleague and friend, Brook Sarson. Their work focuses on the design and installation of rainwater and greywater systems for water conservation and includes education and outreach.
The initial formation of Dwelling On Carbon in 2021 was for a blog about nature-based carbon sequestration solutions to the climate crisis. In January 2024, Dwelling On Carbon became a non-profit corporation that implemented holistic solutions and education. At this time, Rosalind ended her role as partner/owner of Catching H2O in order to focus on Dwelling On Carbon. They will continue to provide technical consulting for Catching H2O and hope to collaborate on grant-funded projects that include carbon and water.
When Rosalind isn’t working on Dwelling on Carbon, they are at the dojo pursuing aikido training (recently promoted to black belt) or out on their bicycle exploring local canyons and watersheds and doing bicycle fundraisers for climate awareness for Climate Ride.
