Wenonah Hauter, Author

Wenonah Hauter has been active in the environmental movement and an advocate for sustainable food production for three decades. An early voice in the fight against food irradiation, she has been a key strategist in preventing irradiation from being widely commercialized.  With her new book, Zapped! Irradiation and the Death of Food, Hauter takes the next step, illuminating why agribusiness has renewed the push for irradiation and why consumers should be concerned.

Hauter has been on the forefront of several issues. One of a handful of public interest advocates to speak out against electricity deregulation, she predicted the damage to the environment from increased reliance on coal power plants; the  accelerated construction of new power lines; the increased cost of electricity and the revival of the nuclear power industry. In 1999, she was named to Numark Associates’ list of the “Nuclear Top Ten,” ten people in the nation thought to most influence government policy on nuclear power issues—and was the only name on the list from a nonprofit advocacy group. She also was one of the first U.S. based environmental leaders to identify water privatization as an emerging issue in the late 1990s and has been one of the main campaign strategists for keeping water services public.

Today, Hauter serves as the Executive Director of the consumer group Food & Water Watch, which challenges the corporate control and abuse of food and water resources. The 50-strong nonprofit consumer rights group has campaigns in the areas of food and seafood safety, oceans preservation, and clean water access for all. As executive director, Hauter masterminds the organization’s strategy for achieving its goals both domestically and internationally. The relatively young organization has already become a trusted source in its areas of expertise, providing in-depth information for policy-makers, media and grassroots leaders alike. She also lives on her family’s working organic farm 40 miles west of Washington, DC.

Prior to her work with Food & Water Watch, Hauter directed the Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program at Public Citizen from 1997 to 2005. Focusing on water, food, and energy policy, she was responsible for the $1,000,000 program’s long-term vision, as well as building allies in the movement internationally and across the United States. From 1996 to 1997, she served as Environmental Program Director at Citizen Action, where she worked with the organization’s 30 state-based groups and ran a campaign that resulted in the building of wind turbines in several midwestern states. From 1989 to 1995 she was at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where, as a senior organizer, she coordinated broad-based, grassroots sustainable energy campaigns in several states. Early in her career, Hauter worked in several capacities to provide nutrition to low-income elderly in Virginia.

Hauter holds an M.S. in Applied Anthropology, Environmental Focus, from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in Sociology from James Madison University.