Drawdown Festival 2022 Speakers

Damon Gameau is an award winning film-maker, author and passionate regenerator. He was a NSW nomination for Australian of the Year in 2020 for his film and book ‘2040’ and the regeneration movement that followed.

Paul Hawken starts ecological businesses, writes about nature and commerce, and consults with heads of state and CEOs on climatic, economic and ecological regeneration. He has appeared on numerous media including the Today Show, Talk of the Nation, Bill Maher, CBS This Morning and others, and his work has been profiled or featured in hundreds of articles including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, Forbes, and Business Week. He has written nine books including six national and NYT bestsellers: Growing a Business, The Next Economy, The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, Drawdown, and Regeneration. He is published in 30 languages and his books are available in over 90 countries. His latest book, Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, was published by Penguin RandomHouse September, 2021, his sequel to Drawdown,  He is the founder of both Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration (regeneration.org). Project Regeneration is the world’s largest, most complete listing and network of solutions to the climate crisis.

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Bill McKibben is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He founded the first global grassroots climate campaign, 350.org, and serves as the Schumann Distinguished Professor in Residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. In 2014 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the ‘alternative Nobel,’ in the Swedish Parliament. He’s also won the Gandhi Peace Award, and honorary degrees from 19 colleges and universities. He has written over a dozen books about the environment, including his first, The End of Nature, published in 1989, and the forthcoming The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at his Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened.

Natalie Isaac is the founder of 1 Million Women, a global movement of women and girls who take practical action to fight dangerous climate change by changing the way they live. Her first book, Every Woman’s Guide to Saving the Planet (HarperCollins/ABC Books, 2018), has been republished in the UK in 2020, and the US in 2021.

Since launching 1 Million Women in 2009, Natalie has dedicated herself to empowering women to act on climate change. Under her leadership, 1 Million Women has grown from scratch into a movement of over 1,000,000.

Natalie is deeply invested in building a better world for today’s and future generations. She believes we’re all living in the critical decade for climate action, and we’re all needed to drive transformational change by 2030.

Erica Cirino is a science writer, author and artist exploring the intersection of the human and nonhuman worlds, whose widely published photojournalistic works depict the numerous ways people connect to nature—and each other—and shape planet Earth.

In her presentations, Erica shares her firsthand experiences and insights from researching and writing her book Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis (published by Island Press, in October 2021), in which she documents plastic across ecosystems and elements; shares stories from the primarily Black, brown, Indigenous and rural communities that are disproportionally harmed by industrial pollution globally; and uncovers strategies that work to prevent plastic from causing further devastation to our planet and its inhabitants.

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Dr. Scott Carlin is an associate professor of geography at Long Island University’s LIU Post campus where he teaches sustainable development.   Dr. Carlin co-chaired the 66th United Nations Department of Global Communications NGO conference in South Korea in 2016, entitled Education for Global Citizenship: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for All.  He served on the Global NGO Executive Committee, a voluntary board of elected NGO representatives to the UN the past two years, and he co-chaired of the International Day of Education for Global Citizenship NGO Steering Committee until 2020.  He co-authored, “The Role of Civil Society in Advancing Global Citizenship” for UN Chronicle and a white paper, “GreenTech LIU: A Roadmap for a Collaborative SDG Campus.”  Dr. Carlin consults for the Long Island chapter of the NYS Centers for Children’s Environmental Health Centers and coordinates the Children’s Advisory Board on environmental health in Wyandanch, NY.   In 2022, Dr. Carlin joins the EvolutionaryLeaders.net team and their SDG Thought Leaders Circle.

Nicola Armacost has served as the Mayor of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY since 2019, and before that as Trustee since 2009. As Mayor, she has championed sustainability initiatives and building local resiliency to climate change. Under her leadership, Hastings-on-Hudson is currently the highest-ranking Clean Energy Community (CEC) and Climate Smart Community (CSC) in New York State. The municipality adopted the New York Stretch Energy Code, expanded financing for energy efficiency through Open C-PACE financing, passed a Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete Resolution, invested in EVs, alternative fuel infrastructure and resiliency planning, promoted “buy local” initiatives and dedicated over 85% of municipal-owned open space as parkland.

Mayor Armacost is also the Managing Director of Arc Finance whose mission is to link the fields of finance, energy, water and sanitation. Arc’s financial institution partners have provided access to clean energy for over 4.5 million people in a range of countries including Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nicaragua and Haiti. Arc’s partners offer financing for distributed solar, roof-top solar, e-vehicles as well as micro and mini grids. Previously, she worked at Women’s World Banking, a global microfinance network, and is an advisor to a number of companies focused on the off-grid energy space.

Luis has focused his electrical engineering expertise and diplomatic experience on the design, implementation and financing of long-term climate change and climate justice projects in Latin America. Now he is directing his talent to the exciting new partnership between the City of Ithaca, New York and the powerhouse energy transitioning group, BlocPower, to retrofit all of Ithaca’s buildings to achieve net zero by 2030.

Andrea worked 4 years with the National Resources Defense Council as Water Policy Analyst for the Latin America Project. Now with town government in Acton, Massachusetts, she has developed innovative energy outreach programs and guided the town to recent approval of an ambitious Climate Action Plan with 2030 targets.

Jordan is an energy law specialist with experience promoting microgrids, distributed energy resources, and utility reform. He worked for 5 years as staff attorney for the Pace Energy and Climate Center before joining LPDD.org , which is committed to promoting an incentives toolkit on climate action and to addressing legal obstacles to energy reform.

Brad retired from a career in physics, then created MassEnergize.org, a platform to scale household and community level climate action. Fifteen Massachusetts communities and organizations now use the platform, which provides a customizable framework of action ideas and networking options to drive change and measure carbon savings.

Michael Dunaway is a Future Professors Postdoc in the Sociology Department at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources and the Environment in 2020, where his research focus was on Indigenous energy sovereignty. His current research focuses on validating his doctoral research which examined ways that Native American tribes can assess which renewable energy technologies are most appropriate for their reservation. The goal of that research is to find ways for Native American tribes to determine which renewable resource technology is best suited for their reservation so they can better assert their freedom. He has been a NSF EPSCoR Fellow (2010), a NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2011), a NSF IGERT Trainee (2012), as well as an Alfred P. Sloan Diversity Fellow (2014). He graduated from Haskell Indian Nation’s University, cum laude, with a bachelor’s degree in American Indian Studies with an emphasis on sovereignty and decolonization theory. He also received his master’s degree from the University of Kansas in Geography with a focus on Indigenous geographies and a graduate certificate in Environmental Studies. Michael is a member of the Choctaw Nation and has been committed to mentoring students from Indigenous communities from around the world. In addition, he seeks to be a life-long teacher in and out of the classroom. His teaching focuses on active learning modalities and inclusive course design. In addition, Michael hopes to continue to create opportunities for Indigenous voices to be heard in academic spaces and create pathways for Indigenous scholars to succeed in academia.

A Southampton local, Alexandra Talty recently relocated to her hometown after seven years reporting in the Middle East. Covering the environment, waterways and food production, she writes regularly for The Guardian, the New York Times and Civil Eats, among others. In 2019, she was named a National Press Foundation Food and Agriculture Fellow. A 3rd generation surfer and volunteer ocean lifeguard, she also runs a hobby oyster farm in her spare time.

Jason Hansana-Cofield is an enrolled member of The Shinnecock Indian Nation, where he resides.   He is the Coordinator of Good Health and Wellness in Indian Country and the Coordinator for the Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program for The Shinnecock Nation.   

Mark Haubner is the Vice President of the North Fork Environmental Council, on the Steering Committee of Drawdown East End and chairperson of the Town of Riverhead’s Environmental Advisory Committee. He has been recycling newspaper since 1965, and not seeing everyone on the planet following his example, started learning Science Communication about 6 years ago. He got his Certificate in Sustainability and Behavior Change from the University of California at San Diego, saying the daily commute was grueling. Mark now writes Community Based Social Marketing programs for all of the organizations he leads and with a few other thoughtful people has started both a Food Waste to Compost and Zero Waste Initiatives for all of Long Island.

Elly Lessin is a Co-Founder of Drawdown New York City and Leader of Pachamama Alliance Programs such as the Gamechanger Initiative.
Her Environmental work includes: co-producing the first evening of Climate Week New York City every year, she’s a Climate Reality Leader and member of the Rural Green Township’s Environmental Committee in New Jersey.
Elly is a seasoned executive producer of international events. Her Fortune 100 Corporate Clients have included MasterCard, IBM, AXA, and Bristol Myers Squibb and many more.
Some of her work with the United Nations has been as the  Creative Director of the historic Inaugural Launch of UN Women in the General Assembly Hall and annually produces “International Women’s Day” Commemorations.

Lisa has been a member of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle advisory board, and recently served as president, direct and chief marketing officer at Talbots. Prior to that, she was executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Express. Lisa’s career also includes a 14-year stint at Bloomingdale’s as Former Senior Vice President-Marketing & General Merchandise Manager in a position as an OMNICHANNEL director.

Dorothy Reilly, M.Arch. is an environmental activist whose three primary interests are reducing global warming, health and wellness, and building community. She has organized many events including Inherit The Earth, the First New York Women’s Conference for Sustainability, and Drawdown100Women4Women. She is co-founder of both Drawdown East End and Carbon CREW Project. Her inspiration comes from Paul Hawken; climate change is happening for us and is our opportunity to come together collaboratively with creativity and build a thriving community.

Sheila Peiffer’s professional career was in the field of religious education, where she served as a parish director, chaplain and retreat director. She also gained experience in grassroots organizing, lobbying and social justice advocacy as she held many positions in Catholic Reform groups including the international Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) where she was Chair of the Board. She continues to represent WOC at the U.N., working for gender equity. Having always been concerned about climate change, she now devotes much of her time to guiding CREW sessions and helping the project scale.

Paul writes at the intersection of the environment and technology, seeking to help his readers escape screens and find emotional and ecological balance with their planet. He is the author of six books including the New York Times bestseller and Notable Book Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. His other books are The Climate Diet, Goodbye Phone, Hello World, The Omega Principle, American Catch, and the novel, Leaving Katya. He currently hosts the podcast Fish Talk.

Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, in Bridgehampton. The congregation is recognized as a Green Sanctuary congregation, committed to environmental justice.

Sean Barrett (he/him) is cofounder of Dock to Dish and The Montauk Seaweed Supply Company. He serves on both the Marine Resources Advisory Council at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and as advisor to the Federal Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. His community fisheries and kelp farming work has been featured in The Guardian, TIME Magazine, NPR, Grist, NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, and on PBS, ABC and the Smithsonian Channel while also being recognized by the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.

Indré Rockefeller is a member of the inaugural cohort at Columbia University’s Climate School and is the Co-Founder of Paravel, an industry-leading sustainable travel goods brand. Paravel’s work has been featured globally in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, Financial Times, The Washington Post, and Fast Company and is the recipient of the Global Vision Award for it’s leadership in sustainable design.

Indré is a Climate Reality Leader at The Climate Reality Project and her writing has appeared in National Geographic, Vogue, and New York Magazine.  Before launching Paravel, Indré held senior roles in the fashion industry following a career as a professional ballet dancer.

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Tela Loretta Troge, Esq. is a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation and a member of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Tribe. She is fighting climate change through the Indigenous women’s group Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, an intergenerational collective of water and land protectors. She recently organized the Warriors of the Sunrise Sovereignty Camp 2020 to raise awareness about the plight of the Shinnecock people. Tela graduated from Michigan State University College of Law with a Juris Doctor and certification in Indigenous Law and Policy from the Indigenous Law Program. She has been fighting for tribal sovereignty for the past 5 years as the attorney with the Law Offices of Tela L. Troge, PLLC.

Mark Junker works for the environmental department of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. He also writes a region-specific climate summary, pulling public data into readable charts and translating it into easily understandable language. His most recent summary, published in March, featured a section on flooding; people from more than a dozen homes had been evacuated as of March 14.

He drives around in a white, mud-splattered diesel pick-up and delivers these reports to tribal facilities in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa in the hopes that someone might pick it up and learn a few things.

Casey is the CEO of The Crop Project Inc. He had the honor to work on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, helped to organize a stem cell research conference, and coordinated (among many other good people) relief for the famine in Somalia in 2011. Beginning that year, Casey helped to build snack brand Health Warrior from scratch. Health Warrior worked to bring both ancient and regenerative crops to market. It was acquired by PepsiCo in late 2018. Casey is now working to expand the market’s access to regenerative crops, capture as much carbon as soon as possible, while restoring our soil, oceans, and communities of farmers, be they on land or water. Casey holds a BA in Religious Studies from Colgate University.

Brett Walter, Founder & CEO.  Brett is an award-winning software designer and a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and executive.  The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2016 was his impetus to found Climate Action Now and devote himself full time to climate action.

About the app: Climate Action Now app has been called an “activism power tool.”  The secret sauce is that the app makes it extraordinarily easy for users to take a climate action on their phones, typically in just seconds, and earn points towards a real tree in the process.  Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project determined that activists with the CAN app took 29 times more action with the app than activists without it and, as a result, is rolling the app out to their entire chapter membership, as is Elders Climate Action.

Dazzle Ekblad has served as a Climate Policy Analyst for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) since 2014. Originally from Minnesota, she works out of DEC’s central office in Albany leading the community engagement team at the Office of Climate Change. This team manages the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program and all its affiliated initiatives, including the zero-emission vehicle rebates, the CSC grants, the Climate Leadership Coordinators, and the CSC certification program. Dazzle holds a Master of Science in Natural Resources Policy from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, as well as a Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Outside of work, you’ll find Dazzle digging in her garden, cruising the streets on her electric bike, or scanning the sky for raptors.

Breana Rountree is a FIT alum and an active collaborator in the sustainable fashion community in NYC who also supports up-and-coming creatives and artists.

Lynn Arthur is a volunteer on Southampton Town’s Sustainability Committee, where she is Energy Chair. As Executive Director at Peak Power Long Island, a not-for-profit business, she provides consulting services to municipalities concerning the design and public education for NYSERDA programs including Community Choice Aggregation and Community Solar.

Samuel Levac-Levey, Venture Capitalist, Entrepreneur, with a background in  Mechanical Engineering and a future in innovation and solving Climate Change. Sam believes that we have a chance to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, and he’s  fighting to turn that belief into reality by supporting exciting climate startups through Starshot Capital, and by helping to lead one of the fastest growing climate communities, Work on Climate.

Tanja Hester is an activist and author of Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn, and Save as a Force for Change, and a stubborn Sierra Nevada gardener.

Freddie Catlow is CEO and co-founder of Planboo, they’re scaling up carbon removal with bamboo biochar. His background is in sustainable construction and has worked with bamboo in Sri Lanka and India for several years.

Adib Dada is the founder of theOtherDada Regenerative Consultancy & Architecture firm, engaged on rewilding cities by planting native Miyawaki forests in urban landfills through his initiative: theOtherForest, a nature-based tool for ecological and social regeneration

Susan Wilson is President of the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island & the North Fork. She strong proponent of the preservation of our natural resources and an enthusiastic member of Drawdown’ s Carbon CREW project.

William Shutkin has been at the forefront of the sustainability field for almost three decades. David Brower, the father of the modern environmental movement, described him as “an environmental visionary creating solutions to today’s problems with a passion that would make John Muir and Martin Luther King equally proud.” He is principal of Shutkin Sustainable Living in Boulder, CO, a sustainable real estate developer focused on green, mixed-use, mixed-income infill projects in cities. Shutkin is also on the faculty of the Masters of the Environment program at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he leads the Urban Resilience and Sustainability specialization. He is co-founder of the Boston-based environmental justice law center, Alternatives for Community & Environment, and, in 1999, founded New Ecology, Inc., with a mission to green community development in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Shutkin is the former president and CEO of Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, which the New York Times called the best business school to attend “if you want to change the world,” and was on the faculty of MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1999-2009. He is the author of the award-winning “The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century,” and “A Republic of Trees: Field Notes on People, Place and Planet.”

Model Towns Curator: Karen Root Watkins, a recent Carbon CREW member, is a retired public school and Montessori educator with a lifelong commitment to environmental education. She is active with Mothers Out Front and the Acton (MA) Climate Coalition.

Lena Tabori has been in visual book publishing since 1967 when she began her career at  Harry N. Abrams, Inc. She left, as their first female vice president, in 1980 to co-found her own publishing company, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, and her own book packaging and licensing firm, Welcome Enterprises where, with her partner Clark Wakabayashi, she continues to package books for publishers like Disney, Rizzoli & National Geographic, nonprofits like God’s Love We Deliver,  and organizations  like Turner Broadcasting.

In 1982 she won an Emmy for producing the animated film, Ziggy’s Gift.

In 1995, Welcome Enterprises created a publishing division, Welcome Books, for which she was Publisher until it sold to Rizzoli in 2014.

In November 2016, she co-founded a climate change website www.climatechangeresources.org, for which she is Publisher and CEO. Her weekly newsletter was just selected as one the top climate newsletters in the country.

She sits on a number of boards, including the Executive Board of The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents. She lives in East Hampton where she is a member of the Energy & Sustainability Committee advising the Town.

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