Julia 'Judy' Bonds, born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, is a coal miner's daughter and the director of Coal River Mountain Watch. Over the past six years, Bonds has emerged as a formidable community leader against the horrible destruction of mountain top removal mining.
"When powerful people pursue profits at the expense of human rights and our environment, they have failed as leaders," Bonds has said. "Responsible citizens must step forward, not just to point the way, but to lead he way to a better world." See Judy in a news broadcast on coal and mountaintop removal mining here.
As the longest serving administrator in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Carol Browner carried the EPA into the 21st Century by partnering with business leaders, community advocates, and government officials. Recognizing the connection between a healthy environment and a strong economy, she led the fight to redevelop abandoned urban properties and built bipartisan support for the landmark Food Quality Protection Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Prior to joining the EPA, Browner served as secretary of Florida's Department of Environmental Regulation. She also served as legislative director to Senator Albert Gore, Jr. and on the staff of Senator Lawton Chiles.
Gillian Caldwell is Co-Founder of WITNESS and Director of 1 Sky Campaign. A filmmaker and attorney, she was formerly Co-Director of the Global Survival Network, where she coordinated a two-year undercover investigation into the trafficking of women. Gillian received a BA from Harvard University and a JD from Georgetown University. She is a recipient of the 2000 Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Award, was named one of 40 Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs by the Schwab Foundation, a 2003 Tech Laureate by the Tech Museum, and a Special Partner by Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. She speaks English and Spanish.
Majora Carter is connecting poverty alleviation and the environment in ways that benefit both concerns, demonstrating clean-tech solutions for our most persistent urban public health and global climate needs by creating positive physical environments, demonstrating cool and green roof technologies, working to replace an under-utilized expressway with local-value driven development, and, through the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program, creating a skilled green-collar workforce with personal and economic stakes in their urban environment. Majora was born, raised, and continues to live and work in the South Bronx. She founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 to fight for environmental justice through innovative, economically sustainable projects that are informed by community needs. She earned a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship for her vision, drive, and tenacity as an urban revitalization strategist.
Faith Gemmill is a Pit River/Wintu and Neets'aii Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village, Alaska, and is outreach coordinator for REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands). The REDOIL network addresses the disproportionate impacts of the fossil fuel industry on Alaska native sovereignty, self-determination, subsistence, human and ecological health, and climate change. Faith previously worked on behalf of the Gwich'in Nation for over ten years to address the impacts of oil development on the birthplace and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which is located within the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The final mandate of the Gwich'in elders and leadership is to build awareness and solidarity "in a good way" to promote permanent protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Faith continues her work today as a public spokesperson, press and tribal liaison, and human rights advocate.
Van Jones is working to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. His dual roles have given him a unique perspective on the country's problems and its potential solutions. Under the slogan "green jobs, not jails," Van today is calling for green economic development in urban America, and his visionary efforts are already meeting with practical success, from te introduction of the Green Jobs Act in Congress to the newly launched Green For All campaign to spur the growth of eco-friendly job opportunities for all Americans. See a video of Van Jones here.
Paul Loeb has spent thirty-five years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment—exploring what makes some people choose lives of social commitment, while others abstain, and how to keep on for the long haul. His newest book is The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, named the #3 political book of 2004 by the History Channel and American Book Association, winner of the Nautilus Award for best social change book. He’s also the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time, Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy & Action on the American Campus, Nuclear Culture, and Hope in Hard Times. He’s written for practically every major American newspaper, been interviewed on every network, and lectured on social change at 400 colleges and universities His 2002 talk to the American Association of State Colleges & Universities inspired that association’s 200-campus American Democracy Project. See www.paulloeb.org or click here to hear a live talk.
Bill McKibben is a writer and activist on global warming, alternative energy, and the need to reshape our economy and our communities. His first book, The End of Nature, was the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has been printed in more than 20 languages. In late summer 2006, Bill helped lead a five-day walk across Vermont to demand action on global warming that some newspaper accounts called the largest demonstration to date in America about climate change. Beginning in January 2007, he founded Step It Up 2007 to demand that Congress enact curbs on carbon emissions that would cut global warming pollution 80 percent by 2050. Last April, With the help of six college students, he and the Step It Up team successfully organized 1,400 global warming demonstrations across all 50 states of America and gained the support of environmental, student and religious groups. Step It Up 2007 has been described as the largest day of protest about climate change in the nation's history, and is now happening again on November 3, 2007, including events at Power Shift and throughout Washington, DC.
Evon Peter is former Chief of the Neetsaii Gwich’in from Arctic Village in northeastern Alaska. He has served as the Co-Chair of the Gwich’in Council International and on the Executive Board of the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council. Evon is an advocate of Indigenous Peoples rights, youth, and a balanced world, active as a speaker, strategist, writer, and organizer. His experience includes work within the United Nations and Arctic Council forum representing Indigenous and environmental interests.
Betsy Taylor is Chair of the 1 Sky Campaign. From 1998 until early 2006, Betsy served as founder and President of the Center for a New American Dream. She helped found the Environmental Grantmakers Association, a group of over 350 foundations and donors, and served as its Vice-President. More recently, Betsy helped launch the Iraq Peace Fund – a coordinated philanthropic response to the threatened invasion of Iraq that was the primary funding vehicle for pre and post-war advocacy for peaceful conflict resolution. In early 2003, she helped convene forty progressive leaders who together launched the National Voice – a short-term effort to maximize progressive non-partisan voter registration and participation in the 2004 elections. She has an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and is a member of Adelphi Friends Meeting and is married with two children in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Mike Tidwell is founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. He is also an author and filmmaker who predicted in vivid detail the Katrina hurricane disaster in his 2003 book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast. His newest book, focusing on Katrina and global warming, is titled The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America’s Coastal Cities. Tidwell’s most recent documentary film, “We Are All Smith Islanders,” vividly depicts the dangers of global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and DC. In 2003, Tidwell received the Audubon Naturalist Society’s prestigious Conservation Award. A long-time resident of Maryland, he lives in Takoma Park with his nine-year-old son Sasha.
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. is a minister, community activist, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life. A powerful and fiery orator, Rev. Yearwood works diligently and tirelessly to encourage the Hip Hop generation to utilize its political and social voice. He currently serves as President of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, DC, a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that inspires and motivates those born after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Rev. Yearwood was also the National Director of the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign in which he organized a coalition of national and grassroots organizations to advocate for the rights of Hurricane Katrina survivors. More recently, Rev. Yearwood has become an important figure in the peace movement as an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq and the Bush Administration and led a "Make Hip Hop Not War" national tour to engage more young people in the movement for peace. See a video of Rev. Yearwood here.
Billy Parish, Co-Founder and Coordinator of the Energy Action Coalition, has brought together over 40 diverse, youth-led organizations into a joint campaign to catalyze the transition to a clean energy economy called The Campus Climate Challenge. Billy was a 2004 Brower Youth Award Winner, 2005 Rolling Stone magazine "Climate Hero," Mother Jones magazine's 2006 "Student Activist of the Year," and was recently named a "Fellow" by Ashoka, the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. A co-author of the report "New Energy for Campuses," a guide for colleges and universities on how to cost-effectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions, Bill works to train students and equip them with the tools they need to implement local climate solutions. Billy has taken four years off from Yale, where he was co-chair of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition and was majoring in Ethics, Politics & Economics. Born in New York City, Billy now lives in Flagstaff, AZ.
Jessy Tolkan - Campaigns Director
Jessy is a rock star of youth voting and empowerment. At UW-Madison she worked to organize student vote coalitions in 2000 and 2002, helping to elect Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to office, and engaging students in local politics through her own bid for the Madison City Council at age 19. After graduation, Jessy worked as the Wisconsin State Director for the New Voters Project, helping to produce one of the highest youth voter turnout rates in the country. She is coordinating Energy Action Coalition's organizing efforts to make Power Shift the best conference yet of the new century and the coolest gathering of young people working for change anywhere.
Kassie Rohrbach - Operations Director
Kassie is one of the co-founders of the Energy Action Coalition. She graduated from Connecticut College in 2003, where she led a student campaign to purchase renewable energy. Today, the college purchases 100% of the campus' electricity from Green-e certified wind power. Prior to joining EAC's central staff, Kassie spent three years at the Center for Resource Solutions working on the Green-e Renewable Energy Certification Program. She's helping spearhead the Power Shift effort to help the youth movement grow and take the lead on transforming our world.