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Conference Speakers

Greg Allen
Alan Abelsohn
Ralph Benmergui
Diana Bronson
Almuth Ernsting
Quentin Chiotti
Afsan Chowdhury
Kristen Corvers
Clare Demerse
Dan Dolderman
David Elfstrom
Jose Etcheverry
Sarah Forbes
Samuel Getachew
Kimia Ghomeshi
Barbara Haya
Lloyd Helferty
Chris Henschel
Sven Huseby
Gracen Johnson
Albert Koehl
Andrew James Knox
Gordon Laxer
Mark Lutes
Damon Matthews
Elizabeth May
Bill McKibben
Mike Morrice
Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu
Kjel Oslund
Khlaire Parré
David Pearson
Dick Peltier
Anthony Perl
Ronald Plain
Jim Prall
Corrina Serda
John Streicker
Mardi Tindal
Ralph Torrie
Andrew Weaver

Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming and alternative energy and advocates for more localized economies. In 2010 the Boston Globe called him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist" and Time magazine described him as "the world's best green journalist."

In 2009 he led the organization of 350.org, which coordinated what Foreign Policy magazine called "the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind," with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. The magazine named him to its inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers, and MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of 2009.

Bill is the author of many books including Eaarth, and Earth under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World.

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Bill McKibben
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Andrew Weaver
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Andrew Weaver

Andrew Weaver is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modeling and Analysis in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria. He was lead author in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and is currently the chief editor of the Journal of Climate. He lives in Victoria. Andrew is the author of many books including Keeping Our Cool and Hard Choices: Climate Change in Canada with Harold Coward.

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Elizabeth May

Elizabeth May is the leader of the Green Party of Canada and environmentalist, writer, activist and lawyer. She has been active in the environmental movement since 1970.

As Senior Policy Advisor to then federal Environment Minister, Tom McMillan, Elizabeth was instrumental in the creation of several national parks, including South Moresby. She was involved in negotiating the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer and new legislation and pollution control measures. Elizabeth is the author of over five books, Budworm Battles, Paradise Won: The Struggle to Save South Moresby, At the Cutting Edge: The Crisis in Canada's Forests with Maude Barlow and Frederick Street; Life and Death on Canada's Love Canal, and recently, How to Save the World in Your Spare Time. Elizabeth has been an Officer of the Order of Canada since 2005.

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Elizabeth May
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Ralph Benmergui

Ralph Benmergui

Ralph is an award winning broadcaster, journalist and documentary film maker. He is also Senior Advisor to the Green Party of Canada. Ralph currently hosts Benmergui in the Morning on JAZZ FM 91in Toronto weekday mornings from 6-10. As well Ralph is responsible for strategic communications and messaging for the Green Party and working on a new book about the environmental case for the Sabbath.

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Dick Peltier

Professor Richard Peltier has been chosen by the Franklin Institute to receive the 2010 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science. The Bower Award recognizes Peltier for fundamental advances in the understanding of Earth systems and for demonstrating profound interconnections between surface climate variability and the internal properties and dynamics of the solid Earth.

Dick is founder of the Centre for Global Change Science at U of T, and is known worldwide for his work in global climate change. He has developed powerful models using sophisticated mathematical concepts to depict what has happened to our climate over the past 600 million years and what is likely to happen far into the future if human behaviour does not change. His models are considered the gold standard for researchers trying to understand climate change.

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Dick Peltier
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Kjel Oslund
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Kjel Oslund

Kjel Oslund, originally trained as an architect, has spent most of hiscareer architecting and managing the development of large financial software systems instead of buildings. Kjel has long had an interest inenergy policy and the environment and has been active in various public interest groups. Kjel was a founding member of Post Carbon Toronto.

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Gordon Laxer

Gordon Laxer is the Director of Parkland Institute, a non-corporate, research network at the University of Alberta. Parkland is a highly visible institute in Alberta's heartland, that the Globe and Mail once called Alberta's 'unofficial opposition'. Gordon is Parkland's co-founder, and has been its only Director since 1996.

He is a Political Economy professor and has published over 34 journal articles and book chapters. Gordon is author or editor of five books, including Open for Business: The Roots of Foreign Ownership in Canada, which received the 1992 John Porter Award from the Canadian Sociology Association for best book written about Canada. Gordon was the Principal Investigator of a 6-year, $1.9 million research project: Neoliberal Globalism and its Challengers: Reclaiming the Commons in the Semi-periphery, the comparative Study of Canada, Australia, Mexico and Norway.

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Gordon Laxer
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Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu
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Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu

Until 2005, Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu was a full-time mother to five children with a strong commitment to human rights and a growing concern about the lack of appropriate policy to address the looming crises of climate change and energy scarcity. Then she realized that taking care of her children would require above all making sure they had a liveable future.

Adriana initiated and co-authored A Realistic Energy Plan for Toronto, organized talks by expert speakers, played a central organizing role in Power to Choose in 2007, the Canadians for Kyoto rally in 2007, and the Sunshine Walk for climate justice in 2008. She has given talks to diverse audiences on carbon pricing, global warming and human rights.

Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu is a life-long member of Amnesty International and is a founding member of the Toronto Energy Coalition. She is an executive member of Post Carbon Toronto, and active with a number of other local Toronto groups such as JustEarth, the Toronto Climate Campaign, and The Next Generation.

Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu is the Climate Critic for the Green Party of Canada and the nominated candidate for Toronto-Danforth.

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Jim Prall

Jim Prall has worked since 1986 as a computer programmer and system administrator. Currently Jim works at University of Toronto in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department.

Jim has an honors B.A. in political science and philosophy from Case Western Reserve Univ. in Cleveland, OH, and an M.Phil.F. in philosophy from the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. He has also taken courses recently at U of T in physiology, genetics, climate change and climatology, energy and society, and audited courses on power storage engineering, Canadian environmental policy, evolution and biogeochemistry.

Jim was co-author of a recent paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences entitled "Expert Credibility in Climate Change."

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Jim Prall
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John Streicker
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John Streicker

John Streicker is a member of the Green Party of Canada's cabinet as the advocate for Arctic and Northern Affairs. He is a professional engineer, climate change specialist, educator, and community volunteer. His current projects include leading a team to develop the climate change Adaptation Plan for Whitehorse, lecturing at Yukon College, and writing for Encyclopedia Britannica on the Arctic and on climate change.

As a climate change specialist, John's recent work emphasizes shared understanding and action on climate change. He has directed the Northern Climate ExChange, managing a series of research offices on impacts and adaptation in the three northern territories; worked as a consultant with the Yukon government to develop their Climate Change Action Plan; and made presentations to parliamentary and UN committees.

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Anthony Perl

Anthony Perl is Professor of Urban Studies and Director of the Urban Studies Program at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His research crosses disciplinary and national boundaries to explore the policy decisions that affect transportation, cities and the environment. He has published dozens of articles in scholarly journals and his work been awarded prizes for outstanding papers presented at the World Conference on Transport Research and the Canadian Transportation Research Forum.

His most recent book is Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil, co-authored with Richard Gilbert, recently released by New Society Publishers. Anthony is a member of the Board of VIA Rail, Canada's national passenger railway. He also chairs the Intercity Passenger Rail committee of the U.S. Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Research Council. Anthony is currently a Fellow of the Post-Carbon Institute, based in Santa Rosa, California.

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Anthony Perl
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Mardi Tindal
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Mardi Tindal

Mardi Tindal is Moderator of The United Church of Canada, a church known for its commitments to social and ecological justice. As spiritual leader of the church, she has chosen to focus on the healing of soul, community and creation. Ecological health, and the linkages between social and ecological justice - right relations - have been a long-time passion. In 1977 she was part of a national United Church report on the Environment which stated:

In order to love each other,
We have to love the garden;
In order to love the garden,
We have to love each other.

In December 2009 she was part of the World Council of Churches' delegation to the UN Conference of Parties in Copenhagen, after which she issued an Open Letter to Canadians, entitled Where is the Hope after Copenhagen?

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José Etcheverry

Prior to joining York University José taught environmental policy at Simon Fraser University and the Centre for Environment of the University of Toronto. He currently teaches about climate change and sustainable energy policies at the Faculty of Environmental Studies of York University.

José worked as a research and policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF).

José is a Member of the Chairmen Committee of the World Council for Renewable Energy, the Steering Committee of the Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance, the Windfall Ecology Centre, the research-oriented NGO Resource Efficient Agriculture Production (REAP Canada), and recently completed a term with the Renewable Energy Advisory Committee of Canada's Ecologo program.

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José Etcheverry
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Ralph Torrie
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Ralph Torrie

Ralph Torrie has been a pioneer and advocate for sustainable energy since the 1970s when he co-authored the first comprehensive analysis of efficiency and renewable energy potential in Canada. He was the Deputy Coordinator of the Energy Research Group of the United Nations University and the International Development Research Centre, and he represented Canadian environment, peace and development groups before the World Commission on Environment and Development. In 1988 he organized the energy workshop of the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere and drafted what became known as the Toronto Target for greenhouse gas emission reduction. In the 1990's he developed the rationale and methodology for local government strategies for greenhouse gas reduction now used worldwide.

He produced the first low carbon scenario analysis for Canada, which was one of the first such analyses done anywhere. In the last federal election he represented the Green Party in Northumberland Quinte West. He is currently Managing Director at Navigant Consulting.

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Greg Allen

Upon completion of his degree in engineering and studies in architecture, Greg Allen began his career in renewable energies industry, designing and building low energy solar houses. Greg set up Canada's first solar collector manufacturing operation. Subsequently he was president of Allen-Drerup-White Ltd., a highly respected low-energy building design and construction firm. He was also co-developer of the first Heat Recovery Ventilator, which resulted in the Air Changer Corporation.

Greg has worked on advancing sustainability for 30 years as a designer, builder, community planner, inventor, researcher, manufacturer, policy advisor, community activist and environmental consultant. As Senior Associate of Sustainable EDGE Ltd., his activities include advanced building systems, renewable energy applications, ecologically engineered treatment facilities, and sustainable community planning. Greg is a LEED Accredited Professional.

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Greg Allen
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David Pearson
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David Pearson

David Pearson is a Canadian scientist, academic and television personality. He is a professor of earth sciences and science communication at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, and was the founding director of Science North, the city's interactive science museum.

David has hosted two television series: "Understanding the Earth" for TV Ontario, and "Down to Earth" for Mid-Canada Television, as well as a weekly radio spot, "Radio Lab", on CBC Northern Ontario Radio. He is an invited member of the Osprey Writers Group. He received the Ward Neale Medal from the Geological Association of Canada for promotion of the Earth Sciences in Canada in 2001 and the McNeil medal for science communication from the Royal Society of Canada in 2003.

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David Elfstrom

David Elfstrom founded his own engineering firm in 2008 to focus on energy efficiency in buildings. He is driven to reduce fossil fuel consumption of buildings, especially homes and multi-unit residential buildings, in preparation for an energy-restricted low-carbon future.

In 2006 David completed the Sustainable Building Design & Construction program at Fleming College, where he worked on a team designing and building an outdoor education centre near Haliburton, Ontario. He applies a combination of engineering and principles of permaculture when addressing sustainability in buildings.

David is a volunteer with Post Carbon Toronto and is a director of the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition. In 2010 he founded Passive Buildings Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the Passive House standard to Canada. He is a licensed professional engineer and LEED Accredited Professional.

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David Elfstrom
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Lloyd Helferty
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Lloyd Helferty

Lloyd is the founder and President of Biochar-Ontario, is on the Steering Committee of the Canadian Biochar Initiative [CBI], and is an Advisory Committee member of the International Biochar Initiative.

Lloyd also runs his own private consultancy (Biochar Consulting,) where he provides advice and consulting services for clients who wish to undertake projects for land rehabilitation and remediation, for those who wish to undertake field trials with biochar, or for those who wish to monetize their carbon offsets, in addition to providing system integration, application, design and other services to clients from around the world.

Lloyd has completed Renewable Energy training workshops offered by the Kortright Centre for Conservation and is an advocate for the smart and sustainable use of technology, energy conservation, renewable energy, good community design, and the re-naturalization of our towns and cities. His most recent involvement in supporting small stove projects in Haiti and Africa is the latest of his many efforts at attempting to achieve some measure of sustainability within his community and around the world.

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Barbara Haya

Barbara Haya is finishing a PhD in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. She performed her PhD research in India on how the Clean Development Mechanism, a carbon offsetting program under the Kyoto Protocol, is working in practice in the Indian power sector. She has worked with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a number of non-governmental organizations including International Rivers and the Climate Action Network. She helped start CDM Watch, a watchdog organization monitoring the Clean Development Mechanism and advocating for more effective international policies to support climate change mitigation in developing countries.

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Barbara Haya
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Clare Demerse
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Clare Demerse

Clare Demerse researches and analyzes government policies to address climate change. She works with a range of stakeholders and acts as a spokesperson in the media. Clare joined the Pembina Institute's Climate Change Program in 2006 and became Associate Director of the program in 2009. The program is a centre of expertise on Canadian greenhouse gas reduction policy, with a particular focus on carbon pricing. Clare previously worked on Parliament Hill and holds a master's degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa. She is a 2008-2009 Gordon Foundation Global Fellow.

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Quentin Chiotti

Dr. Chiotti has worked in the area of climate change adaptation for 17 years. Quentin is a climate change adaptation consultant after spending 8 years as Senior Scientist with Pollution Probe and 7 years with Environment Canada's Adaptation and Impacts Research Group. He has contributed to three national assessment reports on climate change impacts and adaptation, provided advice on numerous climate and air policy initiatives, and has spoken frequently on climate change and air pollution through the media, as an Associate Member of the Graduate Faculty at the Centre for the Environment, University of Toronto, at workshops and conferences, and professional meetings. He has extensive experience in science and policy research and project delivery, and is currently co-leading the Weather-Water Information GATEWAY Project through the Ontario Regional Adaptation Collaborative. A former member of the Ontario Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation, Quentin was the co-lead author of the Ontario chapter in the report "From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate", and advises both Health Canada and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy on climate change adaptation.

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Quentin Chiotti
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Afsan Chowdhury
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Afsan Chowdhury

Afsan Chowdhury has had a parallel career in development work and the media. He has been active in multi-disciplinary research, media relations, journalism, and program development for two decades, and is one of the editors of an authoritative work on Bangladesh's War of Independence. He held a high position in UNICEF, but left to become a freelancer and social activist. He was also the BBC's correspondent in Bangladesh but left to concentrate on development-related work and to pursue social activism. In 1994, he established, HASAB, a funding nonprofit for organizations working in the area of HIV, STDs, and AIDS.

Chowdhury has had remarkable success in designing communications materials that appeal to both youth and elders alike. In 1995 he developed a fifteen-part sex education series for the BBC entitled "Sexwise," which aired in 1995-96. The first broadcasting of such a program in Asia, the series reached ten million listeners and became the most successful radio series in Bangladesh. The companion book to the series completely sold out of stores. His reputation as a media professional and development worker is firmly established. Chowdhury says that he cherishes freedom most and that is why he has dropped out of the conventional career tracks to do work that he finds directly relevant to his and other people's lives. Afsan Chowdhury is currently working as the senior editor of Daily Star.

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Sven Huseby

Sven was born in Oslo, Norway where his parents owned a fish store. In 1949 they moved to an Indian village on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska so his father could run a salmon cannery. Finally, they relocated to the Norwegian fishing community in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from Yale College, Sven was a teacher and administrator at The Putney School (Putney, Vermont) for thirty years.

After headmastering, he joined his wife, Barbara Ettinger, in producing documentary films with an emphasis on environmental themes. He also serves on several boards and is especially focused on educational outreach for non-profit organizations.

He and Barbara were excited to be selected as 2010 Environmental Heroes by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for their work with "A Sea Change" and the subject of ocean acidification.

When not working for their production company, Niijii Films, Sven can be found on his bicycle or joining Barbara and their two dogs for long walks. Home is the Mid-Hudson River Valley of New York State.

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Sven Huseby
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Andrew James Knox
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Andrew James Knox

Andrew Knox a founding member of Transition Toronto, an organization working with the international Transition movement's model to develop communities capable of thriving in a climate changed, post-peak oil world. Andrew has worked with Transition Town Totnes in the UK (the world's first Transition Town), is a member of Transition Canada, and is working with other cities to adapt the Transition model to the megacity scale. Andrew is a PhD candidate in the University of Toronto's Chemical Environmental Engineering program, focusing on domestic energy efficiency and renewable energy in the building sector.

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Kimia Ghomeshi

Kimia Ghomeshi is an Iranian-Canadian currently based in Toronto, Ontario. Her passion and commitment to environmental and climate justice was sparked after her participation in a Community Environmental Leadership Program in high school, and further ignited through her volunteer experiences in Costa Rica and Panama where communities are facing the devastating effects of large scale agricultural production. She has been involved with the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition since 2007, first as a council member and then as a campaigner. In the past year, she was part of the organizing team for Power Shift Canada, a climate change youth gathering that brought together 700 youth from across Canada, as well as the Canadian Youth Delegation to Copenhagen with a primary role in coordinating direct actions. She most recently coordinated CYCC'S G20 campaign, supporting youth mobilization and actions for climate and environmental justice. She is part of Rainforest
Action Network's Toronto chapter, working on the Freedom From Oil campaign, and a member of the Community Solidarity Response Toronto advocating for environment justice in the global extractive industry. She participated in the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Cochabamba, Bolivia, a people's summit hosted by the Bolivian government in direct response to the exclusion of indigenous peoples and the global south in Copenhagen. Inspired by the participatory, community-led process that made the people's summit a success, Kimia is organizing local people's assemblies on climate justice along with several other organizers to ensure that people in Canada are fully involved in determining real, rights-based solutions to climate change for their communities. Kimia believes that environmental justice will come from building a real participatory democracy in Canada, from a commitment to social equality for all, and only when we learn to live in harmony with mother earth.

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Kimia Ghomeshi
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Mark Lutes
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Mark Lutes

Mark Lutes has worked on climate change issues for more than two decades, in Canada, Brazil and internationally. He is currently Policy Coordinator with WWF International's climate change team.

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Gracen Johnson

Gracen is an undergraduate student at University of Guelph with extensive experience in social and environmental advocacy and event planning. She was Co-Director, External at Climate Day: Fill The Hill. She is majoring in International Development with an emphasis on the biophysical environmental, economics, and agriculture. She's interested in urban planning, sustainable communities, green architecture and retrofitting.

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Gracen Johnson
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Corrina Serda
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Corrina Serda

Finding 'your passion' is something that happened to Corrina at the age of 10. That's when she started to learn about the global impacts of climate change. A few years later, at the mighty age of 14, she is in the top 10 presenters trained by Al Gore, and has reached more than 35,000 people with her powerful presentation on climate change and environmental issues. She's won the Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year Award, and was honoured to be chosen as the Canadian representative of the Inconvenient Youth organization.

If each of the people in her audiences implemented only one of her suggestions and inspired two others to do the same, more than 100,000 green acts would have been achieved across Ontario.

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Dan Dolderman

Dan Dolderman is an Environmental Psychologist in the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto, with a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Waterloo.

For the past 10 years, his research and teaching have focused on the links between personal well-being and environmental sustainability.

He has designed environmental programs for the University of Toronto, regularly presents the psychology of behaviour change to groups ranging from student activists to Toronto City Council, and has consulted for Free the Children, an international youth organization devoted to promoting positive youth development and volunteerism.

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Dan Dolderman

 

Kristen Corvers

Kristen Corvers

Kristen is an ordinary concerned citizen based in Toronto. Sometimes an actor, sometimes a waitress, generally a cyclist and currently the CEO of the Toronto-Danforth Federal Green Party riding association.

She does not hold any specialized degree though she considers her activism effective and the need for change urgent. Kristen has done volunteer work for Amnesty International, The Stephen Lewis Foundation and Street Kids International.

She is so pleased to be moderating the free panel 'Across Borders and Generations'.

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Samuel Getachew

Samuel Getachew is an Ethiopian Canadian activist based in Toronto. He has a passion for Canadian and American politics. He has worked on many political campaigns including that of then Senator Barack Obama. He is also passionate about International development as well as community activism. He writes a column for Tzta newspaper as well as his writings have appeared in the Toronto Sun and the Ottawa Citizen. He is currently running for City Council from Ward 43 in Scarborough.

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Samuel Getachew
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Damon Matthews
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Damon Matthews

Dr. Damon Matthews is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography Planning and Environment. He obtained a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from Simon Fraser University in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Earth and Ocean Sciences from the University of Victoria in 2004. Prior to joining Concordia University in January 2007, he held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary, and worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford. Dr. Matthews currently teaches courses on the climate system, climate change and environmental modelling in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University. His research is aimed at better understanding the many possible interactions between human activities, natural ecosystems and future climate change, and contributing to the scientific knowledge base required to promote the development of sound national and international climate policy. Dr. Matthews holds several current research grants for projects to investigate the uncertainties associated with current terrestrial carbon sinks in the context of expected future climate changes. He has published a number of research papers in the area of global climate modelling, with particular emphasis on human land-use change and the role of the global carbon cycle in the climate system. In addition, Dr. Matthews is a contributing author to the recent Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was recognized with the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Chris Henschel

Chris is National Manager of Conservation and Climate Change for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. He has distinguished himself as a leading expert on forest carbon policy: he leads environmental NGOs in the global effort to establish international climate rules that encourage ecosystem protection and create accountability for forestry and land use emissions. He is also the Canadian environmental community's expert on forest climate policy. Chris maintains the Forests and Climate Change blog (www.climateforests.blogspot.com) and manages the Make Forests Count campaign (www.makeforestscount.org). He co-authored the recent paper, "Maintaining the Role of Forests and Peatlands in Climate Regulation" in the Forestry Chonicle.

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Chris Henschel
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Albert Koehl
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Albert Koehl

Albert is an environmental lawyer, adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and alternative transportation advocate.

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Almuth Ernsting

Almuth Ernsting co-founded Biofuelwatch in 2006. Since then, she has been researching and campaigning on issues relating to biofuels, biochar and wood-based bioenergy. Almuth has contributed to various joint publications, including "Agrofuels: A Reality Check in 9 Key Areas", "Agrofuels and the Myth of the Marginal Lands", "Climate Geo-engineering with 'Carbon-Negative' Bioenergy: Climate Saviour or Climate Endgame" and "Agriculture and Climate Change: Real Problems, False Solutions". She is based in Scotland.

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Almuth Ernsting
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Ronald Plain
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Ronald Plain

Ronald Plain is a strong believer in grassroots Aboriginal action. He co-founded the Aamjiwnaang Environmental Committee, an organization made up of community members spearheading the research and legal struggle in the area. The Aamjiwnaang First Nation began a long battle with oil companies, toxic waste and pollution, and the governments that fund all this. They blocked roads, hired experts, and led to financial losses measuring in the tens of thousands for the Petroleum industry.

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Mike Morrice

Mike Morrice is the Executive Director of Sustainable Waterloo, a not-for-profit that advances the environmental sustainability of organizations across Waterloo Region through collaboration.

Currently, Sustainable Waterloo is working with 25 local organizations — including Wilfrid Laurier University, Sun Life, and the Region of Waterloo — to help them set and make progress against voluntary carbon reduction commitments.

Mike is a 2008 graduate of Wilfrid Laurier, where he concurrently completed a BBA and a BSc in Computing and Computer Electronics. In 2009, Mike was selected by The Waterloo Region Record as one of Waterloo Region's Top 40 under 40.

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Mike Morrice
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Sarah Forbes
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Sarah Forbes

Sarah leads World Resources Institute's work on carbon capture and storage (CCS). She developed her expertise in CCS with 8 years of experience in program management and energy analysis at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and as a consultant with Potomac-Hudson Engineering. Her publications include Guidelines for Carbon Dioxide Capture, Transport, and Storage, work on regulatory frameworks CCS, the role of CCS in state climate change activities, and protocols for reporting CCS projects as greenhouse gas reductions. She previously led the education and roadmap development efforts for the Department of Energy's Carbon Sequestration Research Program.

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Alan Abelsohn

Alan Abelsohn is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and an adjunct at the Centre for Environment at the University of Toronto. He joined Health Canada as physician-epidemiologist in the Air Quality Health Index program in March 2009.

He graduated from the University of Cape Town Medical School, studied Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, and obtained a Diploma in Environmental Health at McMaster University in 1997.

He is co-author of: "Addressing the health effects of climate change: Family physicians are key", "A Curriculum in environmental health for family medicine" and "Urban sprawl and public health" for the Ontario College of Family Physicians; a series "Identifying and managing adverse environmental health effects" in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2002, and "Environmental public health tracking/surveillance in Canada: A commentary." in Healthcare Policy 2009.

He teaches at the Centre for Environment, and has designed two distance education courses for the Centre: "Environment and Human Health" and "Climate Change and Human Health".

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Alan Abelsohn
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Khlaire Parre
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Khlaire Parré

Khlaire Parré is the Director of Permits and Environmental Consulting for wpd Canada. Her role is to ensure the protection of the environment is of utmost priority as the company develops wind power under the Ontario Feed-In-Tariff Programs instituted under the Green Energy Act.

Khlaire was previously a Renewable Energy Consultant for the Ontario Renewable Energy Association, the organization that spearheaded the Green Energy Act. She is a frequent speaker on Renewable Energy and Community Power, educating individuals, communities and legislators on climate change. Khlaire has spoken on radio talk shows and has appeared on Public Broadcast Station. Her span of influence extends beyond the U.S and Canada to Africa, where she had the opportunity to represent the Climate Action Network at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Nairobi, Kenya.

Khlaire is highly committed to the advancement and adoption of renewable energy technologies and to Community Power. She was the first resident to install solar energy in the Outer Banks, North Carolina and pioneered to establish the first residential power permits. She founded a local Chapter of Chesapeake Climate Action Network and served as co-chair of the Mayor's Cool Cities Committee. She has been influential in the legislative process as well and spearheaded the introduction of green bills in the 2006 and 2007 Virginia legislation sessions.

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Diana Bronson

Diana Bronson is trained as a political scientist and sociologist and has a professional background in journalism and human rights.

She spent many years working with civil society groups fighting neo-liberal economic policies that favoured the corporate sector, increased economic inequality and ran roughshod over human rights and basic democratic considerations.

She has been involved in organizing around international and regional trade and investment liberalization agreements, Canadian mining companies.

She has also worked on Parliament Hill as a director of policy for the Leader of the New Democratic Party..

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Diana Bronson
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