Dr. Vanessa Timmer is the Executive Director of OneEarth Living, a Vancouver, Canada-based nonprofit ‘think and do tank’ advancing sustainable everyday living around the world. OneEarth Living collaborates with partners to transform how people live their lives – what they need, what they consume and produce, and what they aspire to – enabling everyone to live good quality lives within their fair share of our planet’s resources. They partner with sustainable living leaders, policy-makers, artists, funders, researchers, youth, and practitioners, and support people taking action in their communities. Vanessa is also a Senior Research Fellow at Utrecht University with the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, the Urban Futures Studio, and Pathways to Sustainability. She holds a Doctorate and studied at Queen’s University, Oxford, UBC and Harvard.

Vanessa is a Working Group co-lead in the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee for the United Nations 10YFP Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme. She is a Board member of the Canadian National Zero Waste Council. OneEarth Living is a global leader on sustainable lifestyles through the Beacon for Sustainable Living co-led with the Hot or Cool Institute. In Canada, OneEarth Living leads sustainable lifestyles initiatives in SW British Columbia in partnership with Vancity and in Québec in partnership with Recyc-Québec. OneEarth Living works with cities to enable sustainable living in partnership with C40 Cities and BCIT Centre for EcoCities. From 2007 - 2017, she and her sister Dagmar co-hosted the award-winning The Sustainable Region TV show for Metro Vancouver. In 2018, she received the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Environmental Sustainability.