Phyllis "Phiphi" Kaplan is an environmentalist, the founder of the NGO Sawah Bali (foundation to conserve Balinese rice paddies), and a former trustee of The Nature Conservancy (VT) who's worked to conserve agricultural land and habitats from destruction. She has appeared on NPR, CNN, and UNESCO.
Her commitment to land conservation and organic agricultural practices started early in her teens with her own organic gardening of flowers and vegetables. In college, she was part of a group “getting back to the land”, as they naively cleared half of an acre and planted enough food for the entire town! She utilized an empty field in a blighted area to feed the community. Agrarian land was integrated into the landscape, as it was intrinsic to the culture of Vermont. Originally brought up in Long Island and New York City, Phiphi moved to rural Vermont to obtain a BA from Bennington College. After college, she moved to Manhattan and quit her job of utility after six months to start Ziba Designs Inc. On a shoestring budget, Phi started designing and manufacturing hand-painted and hand-screened fabrics, wallcoverings, rugs, and tableware sold exclusively to architects and the interior designer trade or luxury stores. Her designs were innovative as they were a marriage of fine art and design. The business rocketed to success. She also did pro-bono work for the first Ronald McDonald house in NYC during this time. Out of town children with cancer could stay with their family on the upper east side as they received treatment. Ziba Designs gained additional visibility through her involvement with The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). Well known fashion designers used her fabrics for wearable clothing on the runway at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Despite her success, Phi was disturbed that she was creating “stuff” for the 1-2% of the population. The rich and famous. It was glamourous but it lacked substance. She had been born, raised, and mentored to do something deeper. NYC reflected the time period for the disarmament treaty and the AIDS epidemic. Phiphi participated in both the preparation for and the marches in midtown Manhattan. She also took care of many friends as they died an ignoble death. Ziba Designs Inc had a good 15-year run, but Phi was ready for a change.
Moving to Vermont, Phi visited the library. Books have always been an unbroken thread in her life. When she was asked to become a Trustee of the Bennington Library, she wrote the grant to The Gates Foundation to supply technology to rural libraries while serving as president. The daily number of library attendees skyrocketed. Libraries remain the only democratic institution for equal access in the US.

As a professional garden and landscape designer her work provided the creative exploration of “a sense of place”.
Land conservation activism became Phyllis’ focus, as a trustee of the Vermont chapter of The Nature Conservancy, active supporter of the Vermont Land Trust, founding member of the Bennington Regional Preservation Trust, and member of the Bennington Planning Commission. Vermont was at a crossroads, only 4 hours away from Manhattan and a prime market for second homes. That pressure signalled a clarion call to protect open land, food security, and the necessary economic restructuring in agriculture so farmers would not sell their land.
Vermont had strong zoning laws, political will, and used the legal mechanisms to protect open land/habitats and its dairy industry. Economic development through value added products (ie: Ben + Jerry ice cream, French inspired cheeses, or sheep’s knitting wool) were sold at lively farmers’ markets and retail stores. This was the model that inspired her to found Yayasan Konservasi Sawah Bali. Both Bali and Vermont had international recognition and cache for such small geographical footprints. None of this was new to Phi, as her father and uncle had used conservation easements to protect agricultural land in 1969-70.
Phiphi has done a great deal of interviews, panels, lectures, and teaching, including a traveling road show/workshop called “Crisis in Bali. Where is the Water Going?” In 2018, she was a CUNY (City University New York) lecturer, and in January 2020, SAGE published her case study, titled "Sustainable Agriculture in Bali: Environmental Justice and Social Equality.” She has regularly written editorials, letters to editors, newsletters, a blog, grants, brochures, and press releases.

The film "Sawah" is about our organization,and relationship with farmers.
https://www.facebook.com/VolunteerGuideBali/videos/1250515145035154/

Interview: Women in the Arena
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1177217/episodes/15860074.

My personal LinkIn Page has information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phyllis-kaplan-sawahbali/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yayasansawahbali/