Kristine Anastasio Manning

KRISTINE ANASTASIO MANNING CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Kristine Anastasio Manning, an environmentalist and author died April 29, 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She was 46 years old. The cause was neuroendocrine cancer. In her work and her life, Kristy sought to create an unspoiled place filled with the possibility and promise of peace and harmony. Her book "The Ecology of Place" described a world in which land is consumed sparingly, cities and towns are vibrant and green, local economies thrive, and citizens work together to create places of enduring value. After graduating from Harvard University, class of 1985, Kristy discovered the place she was meant to be while working at the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City. She continued her education at Duke University where she earned masters' degrees in Environmental Management and Public Policy. As Director and VP for Programs at Island Press in Washington, D.C., she focused on finding ways to protect the oceans she so loved and discovering ways to conserve functioning ecosystems around fast developing cities and towns. As a result of her tireless work and vision in the development of COMPASS, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, scientists, journalists, policy makers, and the public now have access to the latest information about the state of the oceans and ways to discover scientific solutions for the cumulative impacts of global climate change, pollution, overfishing, coastal development, and other activities that threaten our seas. In recent years, Kristy helped create and oversee her brother Trey Anastasio's non-profit endeavor, the Seven Below Arts Initiative- an Artist-in-Residence Program established to foster artistic development and support arts education in the state of Vermont. Kristy is survived by her loving husband, Michael Manning and son Jason of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and her mother, father, stepmother, and brother.