Dr. Campbell Plowden has worked for the conservation of whales and tropical forests for over 25 years with organizations including Greenpeace, the Humane Society of the U.S., Amazon Watch, and the Environmental Investigation Agency. He has been a versatile campaigner by leading advocacy campaigns involving groups such as the International Whaling Commission, the World Bank, and the International Tropical Timber Organization. He conducted undercover investigations of pirate whaling, wildlife smuggling and illegal logging throughout South America and Asia. Plowden is a seasoned photographer in the field whose images of people and nature have appeared in more than 50 publications, websites, and exhibits.

Plowden began shifting his work from documenting and directly targeting environmental harm to creating alternatives for traditional rainforest communities when started a doctoral program in Ecology at Penn State University. During these studies, he worked and lived with the Tembe Indians in the eastern Brazilian Amazon for two years studying the ecology, sustainable harvest and marketing of non-timber forest products. These experiences led him to found the Center for Amazon Community Ecology in 2006. Since then Dr. Plowden has been using his skills as a researcher, fundraiser, organizer, public speaker, photographer, and incipient entrepreneur to conduct research and help traditional communities sustainably harvest and develop innovative value-added products as alternatives to economic activities that harm forests. These products include an aromatic oil distilled from the resin of the copal rainforest tree and guitar straps made from naturally dyed chambira palm fiber with the designs of jungle snakes.