What I learned from Life

It is a story about a young boy (Paul F. O’ Connell) that grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota that had significant success in his professional life, while overcoming many barriers along the way. He was fortunate to have a caring wife and family that supported him. Without many resources, Paul was able to obtain advanced college degrees that resulted in understanding the importance of integrating sustainable and environmental concerns with economic returns on forest and agricultural lands. Earlier jobs were with a city and a private firm, but most of his career was with the Federal government and World Bank. With the U.S. Forest Service he led a small group of analysts that incorporated recreation, wildlife habitat, pollution issues and landscape view concerns with traditional uses of public lands i.e. timber, minerals and grazing—now called multiple use. Paul also worked at the national level promoting sustainable agriculture practices that resulted in a research and education program called SARE—where less fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides and hormones were used to produce food and fiber. Both these efforts had considerably push-back by commercial interests. These ideas were also included in rural development projects at the World Bank—where Paul worked for 12 years.