Chuck Buxbaum teaches biology, environmental science and evolutionary biology at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, where he also serves as Sustainability Coordinator for the school.  He has also taught environmental science and biology for elementary education majors at UNM, where he received his PhD in desert ecology in 2004.  His research involved studying the interactions between soils, geomorphology and climate in the northward spread of the Chihuahuan desert.  Chuck received a master's degree in Forest Resource Management from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where he studied changes in nutrient cycling in Adirondack forest ecosystems.  Prior to studies in upstate New York, Chuck worked as a waste management planning consultant to the New York City Department of Sanitation in the early 1990s.  He received his B.S. in Molecular Biology from Cornell University in 1987.  Chuck grew up in and environmentally conscious household.  In 1972, Chuck's mom started a neighborhood recycling center in their Brooklyn garage — Chuck would pull his little red wagon up and down the street collecting bags of cans and bundles of newspapers from all his neighbors.  42 years later, Chuck is doing the same with his students and colleagues.