Biographical notes
Antonello La Vergata is professor of this history of philosophy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and Chairman of the Italian society for the study of relations between science and literature (SISL). His fields of study concern relationships between philosophy, science and political ideologies, with particular reference to evolutionism and the themes of war, aggression and the environment. His main publications include: L’equilibrio e la guerra della natura. Dalla teologia naturale al darwinismo, Naples, Morano, 1990; Nonostante Malthus. Fecondità, popolazioni e armonia della natura, 1700-1900, Turin, Bollati Boringhieri, 1990; Guerra e darwinismo sociale, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2005; Colpa di Darwin? Razzismo, eugenetica, guerra e altri mali, Turin, Utet Libreria, 2009

Biographical notes
Jan Boersema - (1947) got his academic training as a biologist, major ethology, at the University of Groningen and lectured on biology and environmental sciences at the same University. He graduated in theology at on a thesis titled: The Torah and the Stoics on Mankind and Nature (English edition published with Brill, Leiden, 2001). In 1994 he became Reader in Environmental Science and Philosophy at Leiden University and at the same time Secretary General of the Council for the Environment at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. At the same ministry he became a cofounder and member of Forum a think-tank operating from 1999 - 2002. In 2002 he was appointed as special professor, and in 2005 as full professor, at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he is based at the IVM (Institute for  Environmental Studies) His inaugural lecture entitled Hoe Groen is het Goede Leven (How Green is the Good Life) in which he developed a new theory on the ecological history of Easter Island was held in October 2002. His current research is focused on the relation between sustainability, nature, culture, worldviews and religion. Running title “How Green is Progress? His publications cover a wide range of subjects in the environmental field. With Wim Zweers he edited Ecology, Technology and Culture (White Horse Press, Cambridge 1994) He is editor in chief of two textbooks on Environmental Science: Basisboek Milieukunde (Boom, Amsterdam 1984, 1992) and Principles of Environmental Sciences (Springer Publishers, 2009). In 2003 he became Editor in Chief of Environmental Sciences.
In 2009-2010 he was elected visiting fellow at St Edmunds College, University of Cambridge UK.

Biographical notes
Marco Missaglia teaches International economics at the University of Pavia, where he coordinates the Higher School in Cooperation and Development. He focuses on international cooperation and development economics.

Biographical notes
Giuseppe Ferrari is secretary of the Studies Centre for the Culture of Peace and Sustainability at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. His research interests focus on environmental ethics and he teaches philosophy and history in secondary schools.