Britt Wray, PhD is a science writer and broadcaster who is currently researching the intersection between the climate crisis and mental health. She is the author of Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction (published in 2017 by Greystone Books in partnership with The David Suzuki Institute) and is working on her second book Generation Dread: How to Handle and Harness Eco-Anxiety in An Uncertain Future (Knopf-Random House, 2021). She has been a contributing host on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s national science TV show The Nature of Things, co-host of the BBC podcast Tomorrow’s World, and contributing host to Canada’s national science radio show CBC Quirks and Quarks.

Britt has produced dozens of narrative science radio documentaries for BBC Radio 4, CBC Radio 1, WNYC’s Studio 360, and Love and Radio. She holds a BSc in Biology (hons) from Queen’s University, a Master’s of Interdisciplinary Arts, Media and Design from OCAD University and a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Copenhagen. Britt is a TED Resident, a Logan Nonfiction Fellow, Mesa Refuge Writer in Residence, Brocher Foundation Researcher in Residence, and has been a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Arthur L Carter Institute for Journalism and Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is also a TED speaker. TED Talk is called “How climate change affects your mental health”. Find her on Twitter @brittwray.

I am an author, community organizer, activist, leader, public speaker, and student. I started my activism career when I was 14, and am the founder and Executive Director of a national youth movement for climate justice called “Zero Hour”, which is putting on student mobilizations to call for an end to business as usual on climate change. I am also a plaintiff on the Our Children’s Trust Youth v. Government lawsuit in my home state of Washington, suing my state for their active worsening of the climate crisis.

With my activism, I strive to center the voices of youth on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and make sure that the climate crisis is tackled in an intersectional way that doesn’t leave underprivileged people behind. My identity as a queer mixed-race latina and daughter of a Colombian immigrant and an Ashkenazi Jew influences my activism and passion to fight for those who are marginalized.

I’m the author of Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It (June 2020, more information is here)

Natalie Mebane always knew she enjoyed the outdoors and wanted to make her career protecting the places she loved. She grew up loving both the U.S. and the Caribbean and has family in both. She has a Bachelors in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland College Park and a Masters in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from the Blekinge Institute of Technology. She found her passion for organizing after attending the first Power Shift conference in 2007.

Since then, Natalie has worked for the government of Trinidad and Tobago at the Environmental Management Authority and for the 5th Summit of the Americas, she has been a grassroots organizer with campaigns in VA and PA, she previously worked for the Sierra Club as the dirty fuels lobbyist and is currently the Associate Director of U.S. Policy at 350.org, working to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Marinel Sumook Ubaldo is a 22-year-old climate justice activist from the Philippines. She is the founder of Youth Leaders for Environmental Action Federation, who organized the first climate strike in Tacloban in May 2019. Last year, Marinel testified as a community witness for the Philippines Commission on Human Rights investigation on corporate responsibility, and whether climate impacts can be considered violations of Filipinos’ rights to life, water, food, sanitation, housing and self-determination.

She is one of ten youth activists featured in Amnesty International’s 2019 global letter-writing campaign, Write for Rights. Find out more about her story and how you can support her call for climate justice, and a writer for Teen Vogue. 

After graduating from the Green School in Indonesia, Clover worked with Impossible Foods founder Pat O’Brown to develop national youth strategy, led marketing campaigns for Leaders’ Quest in London, and consulted companies at Volans alongside John Elkington, global authority on business as a force for good. In 2019, she launched Force of Nature to mobilise the emerging generation of leaders. Through thought leadership, in-school programmes, and targeted campaigns, they’re helping young people overcome feelings of powerlessness and realise their potential to inspire change.

Juan Carlos is a climate policy wonk, activist and serial social entrepreneur whose work is informed by his upbringing in El Pajaro, Panama, a rural village in Central America´s Dry Corridor, where he endured the early impacts of the climate crisis, as the region is constantly, severely stricken with droughts. He is the Founder of Climate Resilient, a think tank developing paradigm-shifting solutions to prosper undeterred by the climate crisis. At age 23, he became the youngest Head of a Country Delegation to Paris Agreement negotiations.

In 2018, Mr. Monterrey was selected by President and Mrs. Obama as an Inaugural Obama Scholar. He is leading a global movement to include climate provisions in national constitutions, beginning in his native Panama where the provisions he co-drafted were adopted by the President and his Cabinet as the government’s official proposal on the climate crisis and constitutional reform.

Juan Carlos currently serves as an Adaptation Specialist at the UN Environment Programme’s Office for Latin America and the Caribbean; Co-founded Fund 17, a microfinance enterprise in New Orleans, USA; and Co-Created and currently advises the Youth Climate Network of Panama. Juan studied International Development Policy at the University of Chicago and Economics at Tulane University.

Andrea Manning, 20, is an advocate and organizer in various movements. She currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Zero Hour Music team, on the Board of Directors for The HAPPY Org, and as an Inclusion Fellow with the Athens-Clarke County Government. 

Experienced Youth Activist with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization realm. Skilled in Youth Activism, Student Leadership, Public Speaking, Environmental Awareness, and has a strong interest in International Relations. 

Education Specialist at the World Bank: 9+ years of supporting education projects in South Asia, Middle East and Africa. Experienced in offering technical and advisory assistance to client countries, conducting quantitative and qualitative research, incentivizing achievement of results through financing and designing projects based on a strong understanding of World Bank instruments, policies and processes.

Founder of gaming studio, GRID – “Gaming Revolution for International Development”​ and “Gaming Revolution for Inspiring Development”. GRID is a social Initiative that aims to leverage low-cost mobile games to educate, engage and empower. Been recognized on stage at sessions moderated by US President Bill Clinton at CGIU 2015 and 2017 and have talked about the role of mobile games in behavior change at several high level forums, including two Tedx events.

Dr. Alison Wood is an assistant professor of Environmental Engineering at Olin College of Engineering. Her academic interests include water and sanitation, interdisciplinary thinking and approaches to environmental and sustainability problems, and decision making in complex systems. Dr. Wood is also pursuing her interests in the areas of equity and justice through education and engagement with context and values. She serves as the Director of Olin’s Grand Challenges Scholars Program and the Director of the Babson-Olin-Wellesley Sustainability Certificate program, among many other internal and external engagements.  

After graduating from Harvard University with a B.A. in Dramatic Literature, Dr. Wood worked professionally in theater and wrote and recorded two musical albums. She then returned to school to study engineering, earning a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Rutgers University. Dr. Wood then went on to earn a Master of Science in Engineering in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, while working with the Austin chapter of Engineers Without Borders.

Her love of learning was first fostered by an unusual elementary school education that was deeply interdisciplinary with a substantial arts curriculum, which has informed all her subsequent thinking about the potential for education to transcend conventional models. Her teaching at Olin continues to inspire her to realize the potential for education in the twenty-first century.

Dr. Joshua Schoop is the Deputy Director of the Day One Project, an initiative dedicated to democratizing the policymaking process working with new and expert voices across the science and technology community, Dr. Schoop has worked with various public sector and international organizations including the United Nations, Department of State, and USAID developing and implementing innovation strategies and developing innovation policy. He has conducted research and evaluated youth and workforce development strategies in various global settings. Prior to his current role, Dr. Schoop served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University. He holds a masters and PhD from Tulane Law School in International Development.

Bjørn Ihler is an international counter extremism expert, technologist and activist working as a editor, writer and filmmaker to develop spaces for dialogue and peace-building between people and communities who are radically different. In 2016 Ihler co-founded the Khalifa Ihler institute which works for peace through knowledge, technology and design. Since 2016 Ihler has also been part of the Kofi Annan Foundation initiative Extremely Together and exploring means of countering violent extremism as one of ten young leaders in the field from across the world. Ihler is building his work on a foundation in communication, technology, data and computational sociology as well as his academic background in peace and conflict studies.