Staff
Chris Clarke, Executive Director of the Desert Advocacy Media Network and host of 90 Miles from Needles; the Desert Protection Podcast, is a longtime environmental journalist and desert activist. His work has been published in dozens of outlets in the US, Japan, and the United Kingdom. As editor in chief at Earth Island Journal from 1998 through 2007, Chris broke a number of stories that were subsequently picked up by mainstream publications such as the New York Times, on topics ranging from the impact of veterinary anti-inflammatory drugs on India’s vulture population to the contributions of overfishing to population crashes in ocean-going bird populations. As Environment Editor at KCET TV in Los Angeles, Chris reported extensively on the dawn of utility-scale solar in the California desert. His work prompted coverage of that issue in the global press. Chris has also been a nationally syndicated garden columnist for the defunct Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, and a fanatic desert advocate since 1984.
Chris is also a member of the DAMN Board of Directors, which he serves as Secretary-Treasurer.
Board of Directors
Luke Basulto (Board President) has deep roots in the Mojave Desert. He was born and raised in Barstow, California and grew up exploring the desert mountains around his little hometown. Luke has worked for numerous environmental agencies and organizations over the course of his career including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Mojave Desert Land Trust, and The Wildlands Conservancy. He is currently the California Desert Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association in Joshua Tree, CA where he lives with his partner Gabrielle and their daughter Isabelle.
Brooke Binkowski is an award-winning veteran journalist whose most recent work involved taking on multiple global disinformation narratives and their worst purveyors. She worked for years as a humanitarian and post-conflict reporter at the U.S.-Mexico border, and as a breaking-news reporter for KPCC and the legendary KNX in Los Angeles. Her work has been published in the Washington Post and the New York Times, Foreign Policy and the Christian Science Monitor, and aired on NPR, CBS, and CNN. She left daily reporting in 2015 in order to run counterdisinformation sites Snopes and TruthOrFiction. She also serves as an expert witness in high-profile cases against disinformation purveyors, most recently the Sandy Hook case against far-right broadcast personality Alex Jones, which ended in nearly a billion-dollar judgement against him. In 2017 and 2018, Binkowski exposed Facebook’s ties to destabilizing democracies throughout the world.
Matthew Crotty is a nonfiction producer, writer, director and founder of Ahra Films. He has a decade of experience crafting beautiful, socially conscious documentaries and multimedia projects. During his time working in public media, he created a wide range of original documentaries and docu-series including historical biographies, artist profiles, social movement histories, as well as films about environmental justice issues and Indigenous peoples. He has won 23 Los Angeles Area Emmy® Awards, 17 LA Press Club Awards and 10 Golden Mike Awards®.
Caroline Partamian is a sound and visual artist living in the California High Desert. She is the co-founder of Other Desert Radio, a community arts radio station. She also runs a small press, Weird Babes, and co-runs the Armenian Creatives collective and press.
Audrey Scheere is a marketing and management professional based in “It’s a dry heat” Tucson, AZ. Her professional path has included global marketing, media strategy, and corporate event production. She is currently the studio manager at BRINK, an award winning creative agency specializing in provocative and impactful storytelling. Audrey is also an active Certified Tourism Ambassador through Visit Tucson & the TAI, Scrum Alliance Certified Agile Leader, and Certified Kanban Coach.
Emeritus Staff
Alicia Pike co-founded 90 Miles from Needles and the Desert Advocacy Media Network in 2021. Her voice and perspective were crucial in getting this organization off the ground. She left DAMN in November 2023 to pursue other interests.