Thursday, March 28th
Introduction by Nina Simons, Bioneers co-founder and Chief Relationship Strategist
One of the Southeast U.S.’ and Gulf South’s most renowned veterans of climate justice struggles as an activist, community organizer, coalition-builder, and award-winning litigating environmental and human rights attorney, Colette Pichon Battle, born and raised in Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, focuses on creating spaces for frontline communities to gather and advance climate strategies that help them steward their water, energy, and land responsibly. She will draw from her decades of experience fighting for equitable climate resilience to unearth historic lessons and expose the root causes of the inequities and imbalances that characterize our relationships to the natural world and to each other. Colette will argue that we must expand our understanding of what a genuine Climate Justice movement needs to encompass if we are to succeed in innovating a better future, and why such struggles as gender and migrant justice are inextricably connected to human rights for clean air, clean water, sovereign land, and community control of justly-sourced sustainable energy.
March 28th | 11:41 am to 12:04 pm | Zellerbach Hall
Introduced by
Nina Simons
Co-Founder and Chief Relationship Strategist | Bioneers
Nina Simons, co-founder of Bioneers and its Chief Relationship Strategist is also co-founder of Women Bridging Worlds and Connecting Women Leading Change. She co-edited the anthology book, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and most recently wrote Nature, Culture & The Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Nina teaches and speaks internationally, and previously served as President of Seeds of Change and Director of Strategic Marketing for Odwalla.
Keynote
Colette Pichon Battle
Vision & Initiatives Partner | Taproot Earth
Colette Pichon Battle, a generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, is an award-winning lawyer and prominent climate justice organizer. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Black and Indigenous communities were largely left out of federal recovery systems, Colette led the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy (GCCLP) to provide relief and legal assistance to Gulf South communities of color. After 17 years at GCCLP’s helm, as frontline communities from the Gulf South to the Global South face ever more devastating storms, droughts, wildfires, heat, and land loss, she co-founded Taproot Earth to create connections and power across issues, movements, and geographies.
Introduction by Nikola Alexandre, Co-Creator & Stewardship Lead at Shelterwood Collective
Taylor Brorby grew in the dynamic shortgrass prairie of western North Dakota, a youth that coincided with the brutal physical and psychic scarring of his surroundings by the coal and oil industry, a fate not made any easier by being a young gay boy enthralled by classical music, art, fishing, and poetry. From here, Taylor became a brilliant poet, writer and dedicated activist, one of the most eloquent and profound critics of the fossil fuel industry in the nation, penning, among other works, the extraordinary memoir: Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land, the powerful essays in Civil Disobedience, and co-editing: Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America. He will share some of his life story and seek to inflame us with the passion we will need to stop the carbon-burning Leviathans from destroying the biosphere.
March 28th | 12:14 pm to 12:37 pm | Zellerbach Hall
Introduced by
Nikola Alexandre
Co-Creator & Stewardship Lead | The Shelterwood Collective
Nikola Alexandre, Co-Creator & Stewardship Lead of the Shelterwood Collective, is a Black queer forester with MA degrees in both Forestry and Business Administration from Yale who founded Conservation International’s Ecosystem Restoration Program. After attending a nature-based healing gathering following the Pulse massacre, Nikola committed his life to tending the earth and reclaiming land stewardship as a way of nurturing a future for the communities he belongs to, which led to his co-founding the Shelterwood Collective in Sonoma County.
Keynote
Taylor Brorby
Author & Activist | Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land
Taylor Brorby is the author of: Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land; Crude: Poems; Coming Alive: Action; and Civil Disobedience; and is co-editor of: Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America. Taylor's work has appeared in many leading publications, including The NY Times, LitHub and Orion, and he has been supported by several prestigious fellowships, including from the MacDowell Colony and the National Book Critics Circle. He also serves on the editorial boards of Hub City Press and Terrain.org, is a contributing editor at North American Review, and teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Alabama.
We simultaneously face two related existential crises—climate breakdown and radical threats to democracy worldwide. The climate emergency demands a fundamental restructuring of governance keyed to both biospheric realities and to addressing obscene inequality. Can democracy withstand climate chaos? Is a reformed and stronger democracy our best hope to make it through the long emergency ahead of us? What’s needed? Hosted by Ben Davis, Wend Collective and Civic (Re)solve. With: Chief Oren Lyons, Indigenous Rights and climate leader, Faithkeeper, Onandaga Nation, Haudenosaune; Colette Pichon Battle, co-founder of Taproot Earth; Jennifer Riley Collins, Southeast Regional Administrator for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Freight & Salvage
Panelists
Colette Pichon Battle
Vision & Initiatives Partner | Taproot Earth
Colette Pichon Battle, a generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, is an award-winning lawyer and prominent climate justice organizer. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Black and Indigenous communities were largely left out of federal recovery systems, Colette led the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy (GCCLP) to provide relief and legal assistance to Gulf South communities of color. After 17 years at GCCLP’s helm, as frontline communities from the Gulf South to the Global South face ever more devastating storms, droughts, wildfires, heat, and land loss, she co-founded Taproot Earth to create connections and power across issues, movements, and geographies.
Oren Lyons
Member Chief | Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy
Oren Lyons, a Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan who serves as a Member Chief of the Onondaga Council of Chiefs and the Grand Council of the Iroquois Confederacy (i.e. the Haudenosaunee peoples), is an accomplished artist, social and environmental activist, and author; a Professor Emeritus at SUNY Buffalo; a leading voice at the UN Permanent Forum on Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples; and the recipient of many prestigious national and international prizes including The UN NGO World Peace Prize. Oren also serves on the boards of several major nonprofit organizations and social enterprises; is founder and Principal of One Bowl Productions, a purpose driven film and TV production company; and is an All-American Lacrosse Hall of Famer and Honorary Chairman of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team.
Jennifer Riley Collins
Southeast Regional Administrator | United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Jennifer Riley Collins, a retired US Army Colonel whose last assignment was Military Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs at the Pentagon, is the Southeast Regional Administrator for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, representing a large portfolio of programs and services and over 900 employees. She works throughout the Southeast with congressional delegations, state and local officials, stakeholders, and HUD employees, seeking to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. Previously, Jennifer served as Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Advisor to the Federal Co-Chair of the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and founded her own consulting firm, J. Riley Collins Consulting, LLC.
Ben Davis
Founder | Civic (Re)Solve
Ben Davis founded and leads Civic (Re)Solve, a ten-year program of the Wend Collective designed to foster enduring civic capacity in service of a thriving and representative democracy across the U.S. Ben joined the Wend Collective after co-founding OnSight Public Affairs and working for 15 years in public-policy, political consulting and campaign management in the Mountain West. He currently specializes in strategy development, communications, and leadership driven by collaboration and trust.
Friday, March 29th
We spend a lot of time talking about the ecological crisis, and not nearly enough talking about real, workable solutions. If the ultimate goal is to keep fossil fuels in the ground, how must we transform our economy to make that possible? Award-winning activist and innovative educator, Sage Lenier, one of the most impressive young leaders to emerge in recent years, takes to the stage to shed light on what a realistic and just transition looks like, and the role we can each play in leading us towards a more circular and equitable economy.
March 29th | 10:30 am to 10:41 am | Zellerbach Hall
Keynote
Sage Lenier – Youth Keynote
Founder and Executive Director | Sustainable & Just Future
Sage Lenier is an activist working to build an education system that enables the next generation to become climate solutionists. She got her start teaching her own program at UC Berkeley, which broke records for largest-ever student-led class. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The World Economic Forum, and Teen Vogue, and has brought her to speak at public forums around the world. TIME Magazine named her a 2023 Next Generation Leader for her work with Sustainable & Just Future.
The UN Conference of the Parties (COP) 28th gathering on Climate Change wrapped up in December of 2023. Indigenous Peoples presence has increased every year, and we have become the second largest civil society delegation at COP, second only to oil & gas lobbyists. Indigenous Peoples have played a critical role in these spaces for decades, utilizing the deep-rooted knowledge our communities hold concerning the effects of climate change and the connections to our intimate relationships with land and water. Our beliefs tell us how to keep systems in balance, contrary to the ideologies of capitalism that have spread across the globe. We know climate change is driving extreme weather and the 6th mass extinction on Earth, yet governing bodies are still not doing enough to mitigate greenhouse gasses. Promises are starting to be made with attention to the recommendations of Indigenous Peoples, our knowledge systems, and our rights, but they continue to be negated by policies that subsidize the carbon-based economy. Indigenous Peoples require more than just political action but recognition of our sovereign inherent and internationally affirmed rights to turn this crisis around. Join us to learn how Indigenous climate activists impact national and international negotiations and policies to address climate change and what you can do to support the movement. Moderated by Eriel Deranger, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Climate Action. With Jayce Chiblow, Director of Education and Programming with Indigenous Climate Action; Mak’wala Rande Cook, Ma’amtagila hereditary chief and founding Director of the Awi’nakola Foundation.
March 29th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn
Panelists
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
Indigenous Climate Action | Co-Founder and Executive Director
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), a leading global figure in Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice activism, is the co-founder and Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action and is a member of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. She also sits on a number of boards of notable non-profit organizations (including Bioneers) and activist groups. She has organized divest movements, lobbied government officials, led mass mobilizations against the fossil fuel industry, written extensively for a range of publications and been featured in documentary films (including Elemental).
Jayce Chiblow
Director of Education and Programming | Indigenous Climate Action
Jayce Chiblow, an Anishinaabe from Garden River First Nation, Ontario, with backgrounds in Biology and Environmental Studies, is currently Director of Education and Programming with Indigenous Climate Action (ICA), an Indigenous-led organization guided by a diverse group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, water protectors and land defenders from across Canada. She previously worked at ICA in a variety of other roles that supported the creation, dissemination and implementation of its Toolkit and Climate Leadership Program.
Rande Cook
Founding Director | Awi’nakola Foundation
Makwala Rande Cook (Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw), born in ‘Yalis (Alert Bay) on the west coast of Canada, holds chieftainships from his maternal and paternal lineages. He is the founding Director and Director of Arts for the Indigenous-led Awi’nakola Foundation, a registered Canadian charity charting a pathway for the conservation of biological diversity through decolonization, art and progressive Western science. The foundation’s land-based work in service to Indigenous communities began in support of the Ma’amtagila’s legal challenge to halt the illegal treaty negotiations over their territories and to bolster Ma’amtagila’s jurisdictional assertion according to Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Potlatch Law.
Saturday, March 30th
Oil, gas and coal are driving the climate crisis yet have, incredibly, largely been ignored in climate talks and policies. That’s starting to change. Millions of people are coalescing around the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to end the expansion of fossil fuels, phase out existing production, and accelerate a just transition to clean energy and low carbon solutions. Join a panel of civil society, government and Indigenous leaders in a conversation about the growing momentum for a Fossil Fuel Treaty and how this global initiative is shaping the climate conversation, removing industry’s social license and compelling decision-makers to finally take action to end the era of fossil fuels—fast, fair and forever. Hosted by Cara Pike, Senior Communication Advisor to the Fossil Fuel Treaty, founder/Executive Director, Climate Access. With: Osprey Orielle Lake, founder/Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network; Eriel Deranger, Founder and Executive Director, Indigenous Climate Action; Michael Brune, Climate and Campaign Strategist; Eduardo Martinez, the Mayor of Richmond; and Bryony Worthington of Worthington and Associates.
March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Goldman Theater, Brower Center
Panelists
Cara Pike
Founder and Executive Director | Climate Access
Cara Pike, the founder and Executive Director of Climate Access, is a leading thinker in climate communications with 20+ years’ experience. Her expertise has been sought by nonprofits, academic institutions and government agencies including the City of Boston, the State of Vermont, EPA, FEMA, Urban Sustainability Directors Network, the Union of Concerned Scientists and others. Her studies and toolkits on environmental engagement translate complex issues into actionable strategies that are helping thousands of climate advocates more effectively frame sustainability issues and promote behavior change. Cara is also co-founder and Senior Communication Advisor to Climate Access’s partner organization, Re.Climate.
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger
Indigenous Climate Action | Co-Founder and Executive Director
Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), a leading global figure in Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice activism, is the co-founder and Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action and is a member of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. She also sits on a number of boards of notable non-profit organizations (including Bioneers) and activist groups. She has organized divest movements, lobbied government officials, led mass mobilizations against the fossil fuel industry, written extensively for a range of publications and been featured in documentary films (including Elemental).
Michael Brune
Director | Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation
Michael Brune, a leading national environmentalist for 25+ years (including as Executive Director of the Sierra Club for 12 years and of the Rainforest Action Network before that), has led some of the most effective environmental advocacy initiatives in U.S. history, including the Sierra Club’s massively successful Beyond Coal campaign, which resulted in the retirement of more than two-thirds of U.S. coal-fired power plants. Brune currently directs the Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation and advises several other NGOs and early-stage clean energy companies, and he also serves on the boards of SOLARCYCLE and Outdoor Afro.
Osprey Orielle Lake
Founder and Executive Director | Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International
Osprey Orielle Lake, the founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. Osprey, who sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Free Non-Proliferation Treaty, is the author of The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis.
The Black Hive, a cohort of Black Climate Justice experts who draw from their collective experience and knowledge to assess how climate change and ecological destruction impact Black communities in the U.S. and across the Global Black Diaspora, are also at the heart of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL). In this session some leading activists and leaders affiliated with the Hive will share their insights about Black futures in climate and environmental justice struggles, as well as discuss the Parable of the Movement campaign, inspired by the legacy of the late visionary author Octavia Butler. Hosted by Aya de Leon, climate author/publisher, lecturer at UC Berkeley; Devin Murphy, Mayor Emeritus in Pinole, CA; The Reverend Michael Malcom, Executive Director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light and an ordained United Church of Christ Minister.
March 30th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | The Marsh Theater
Panelists
Aya de Leon
Author and Activist
Aya de León, Berkeley’s current Poet Laureate, who has published ten novels and teaches creative writing UC Berkeley, co-founded Fighting Chance Books to provide a forum for writers who want to tell the story of how we can still save our planet. Aya and her work have been featured in a wide range of prominent publications, including The NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Ebony, and Def Poetry. Her social justice activism has spanned four decades, including working on climate, race, gender, harm reduction, and anti-nuclear issues. In 2022, she organized a groundbreaking online conference: “Black Literature vs. the Climate Emergency.”.
Devin Murphy
Mayor Emeritus | Pinole, CA
Devin T. Murphy, a collaborative leader who dedicates his efforts to constructing a regenerative economy fostering prosperity while preserving natural systems and promoting a just, inclusive democracy, has 10+ years’ experience in environmental and civic advocacy. He has worked with Sol Community Village, Communities for a Better Environment, and The Black Hive@Movement, and currently serves on the City Council and as Mayor Emeritus in Pinole, CA, as well as on the boards for MCE Clean Energy, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and the West Contra Costa Transit Authority (WestCAT).
The Reverend Michael Malcom
Executive Director | Alabama Interfaith Power and Light
The Reverend Michael Malcom, M.Div., MBA, Executive Director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light and an ordained United Church of Christ Minister, is: the former Senior Pastor of Rush Memorial Congregational UCC in Atlanta, GA; founder of the Environmental Justice non-profit, The People’s Justice Council; Environmental Justice Minister for the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ; and a board member for the Southeast Climate and Energy Network.
