Carlo Petrini, the driving force of Slow Food, has been included in Time magazine's list of "European Heroes" as a great innovator. A principal founder of the organization in the 1980s, he has seen Slow Food grow into a global movement with more than 100,000 members in 150 countries. Slow Food operates its University of Gastronomic Sciences with bases in Pollenzo and Colorno (Italy); organizes enormously popular events such as the Salone del Gusto Food Fair and the Terra Madre conference in Turin; and funds promotion of "endangered" foodstuffs through its Ark and Presidia programs. Petrini is a regular contributor to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. In 2013, Petrini received the Champion of the Earth award, the United Nations highest environmental accolade.