Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Founder | Green Gal

Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.

| Cornucopia Food Forest Garden

John Valenzuela, a horticulturist, consultant and educator who focuses on a diversity of productive trees, shrubs, vines and other perennials, growing an “ecosystem of abundance” with his Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens, has taught permaculture for 30 years, from Hawai’i to California, Washington state and Central America. He is actively engaged with the non-profit California Rare Fruit Growers organization.

Environmental Architect

Stuart Muir Wilson, an environmental architect, lecturer, writer, development consultant, Permaculture teacher and mushroom grower with a special focus on ecological justice issues, has worked at both international and grassroots levels in Mexico, Germany, Nepal the U.S. and Australia on a range of projects that seek to catalyze positive environmental and social systems change.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Founder | Green Gal

Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.

Co-founder | Yisrael Family Urban Farm

Chanowk Yisrael, co-founder of the Yisrael Family Urban Farm in Sacramento’s South Oak Park neighborhood, gave up a life in corporate America to become an award-winning, pioneering urban homesteader. Director of Urban Organic Sustainability for Hip Hop is Green, a plant-based hip hop multimedia organization, he also serves on the board of the South Oak Park Community Association and Slow Food Sacramento.

Director | Yisrael Family Urban Farm

Judith Yisrael, Director of the Yisrael Family Urban Farm in Sacramento’s South Oak Park neighborhood (a classic “food desert”), is an herbalist, award-winning community educator and mother dedicated to sharing her knowledge of nature’s power to heal—physically, emotionally and psychologically. A member of the American Herbalist Guild, she is also a master soap maker whose handmade skin care products are available at retail outlets throughout Sacramento.

Co-Owner/Farmer | Rise & Root Farm

Karen Washington, co-owner/farmer of Rise & Root Farm, has been a legendary activist in the community gardening movement since 1985. Renowned for turning empty Bronx lots into verdant spaces, Karen is: a former President of the NYC Community Garden Coalition; a board member of: the NY Botanical Gardens, Why Hunger, and NYC Farm School; a co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS); and a pioneering force in establishing urban farmers’ markets.

Co-Director | Soil Born Farms

Shawn Harrison is the founder and Co-Director of Soil Born Farms, a non-profit urban farming and education center located in Sacramento, CA, which provides hands-on training at its 55 acre urban farm and at school gardens in the community to educate youth and adults about the connections between food, health and the health of the environment.

Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers

Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.

Founder | Flourish.ink

Christiana Musk, whose background spans environmental and social entrepreneurship (including as a founding partner of Green Mountain Energy) and non-profit and foundation leadership, currently curates the Flourish content for the Near Future Summit and advises several food initiatives. An operating partner at Satori Capital, a sustainable investment firm, she was formerly Executive Director of Food Choice Taskforce and led the food system program for Avatar Alliance Foundation. (flourish.ink)

| Cornucopia Food Forest Garden

John Valenzuela, a horticulturist, consultant and educator who focuses on a diversity of productive trees, shrubs, vines and other perennials, growing an “ecosystem of abundance” with his Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens, has taught permaculture for 30 years, from Hawai’i to California, Washington state and Central America. He is actively engaged with the non-profit California Rare Fruit Growers organization.

Founder | Kindred Herbs

Cameron (Cami) Salomon, a plant caretaker and conservationist who, in 2018, founded Kindred Herbs, a specialty nursery dedicated to growing a diversity of medicinal herbs from around the world, is dedicated to defending biodiversity and combating plant overharvesting and habitat loss.

Founder | Green Gal

Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Restorative Food Systems Director | Bioneers

Arty Mangan, Bioneers' Restorative Food Systems Director, joined Bioneers in 1998 as Project Manager for the Restorative Development Initiative. A former board president of the Ecological Farming Association and member of the Santa Cruz GE Subcommittee that banned GE crops, Arty has worked with farmers and agriculture since 1978, first as a partner in Live Juice and later with Odwalla, where he was in charge of fruit sourcing.

W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in Sustainable Food Systems | University of Arizona

Gary Nabhan, Ph.D., is a world-renowned, award-winning agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan brother and orchard-keeper. A leading pioneer in the local food and heirloom seed-saving movements, he co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH; helped create Ironwood Forest National Monument; was founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments; and founded the Center for Regional Food Studies. Author of 30+ books, his most recent is: Food from the Radical Center: Healing Our Lands & Communities.

Co-Owner/Farmer | Rise & Root Farm

Karen Washington, co-owner/farmer of Rise & Root Farm, has been a legendary activist in the community gardening movement since 1985. Renowned for turning empty Bronx lots into verdant spaces, Karen is: a former President of the NYC Community Garden Coalition; a board member of: the NY Botanical Gardens, Why Hunger, and NYC Farm School; a co-founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS); and a pioneering force in establishing urban farmers’ markets.

Executive Director | Greenhorns

Severine v T Fleming, Executive Director of Greenhorns and a leading organizer and cultural worker within the young farmer movement for 12+ years, co-founded the National Young Farmers Coalition, FarmHack and Agrarian Trust. A part-time farmer and board member of the Schumacher Center for New Economics, her work has spanned many media to celebrate, bundle and broadcast the voices and life-ways of young agrarians.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief | Civil Eats

Naomi Starkman is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Civil Eats, a daily news source for critical thought about the American food system. A former Journalism Fellow at Stanford, she co-founded the Food & Environment Reporting Network, worked as a media consultant to many leading publications, and served as the Deputy Executive Director of the City of San Francisco's Ethics Commission.

President | The Democracy Collaborative

Ted Howard, co-founder (in 2000) and President of The Democracy Collaborative, an action-oriented progressive think tank, has been named one of “25 visionaries who are changing your world” and identified by the Guardian newspaper as “the de facto spokesperson for community wealth building” internationally. He is co-author of the new (2019) book, The Making of a Democracy Economy.

Founder | Green Gal

Melissa Ott Fant is a writer, organic gardener, baker, and consultant based in Reno, NV. After working in higher education sustainability for years, she apprenticed at the UCSC Farm and received her Permaculture Design Certificate in 2017. Her business, Green Gal, provides marketing services to socially/environmentally conscious businesses, and depending upon the season also offers organic sourdough bread, vegetables, and flowers to the local community.

| Cornucopia Food Forest Garden

John Valenzuela, a horticulturist, consultant and educator who focuses on a diversity of productive trees, shrubs, vines and other perennials, growing an “ecosystem of abundance” with his Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens, has taught permaculture for 30 years, from Hawai’i to California, Washington state and Central America. He is actively engaged with the non-profit California Rare Fruit Growers organization.

Founder | Santa Cruz Permaculture

David Shaw, a permaculture and whole systems designer, facilitator, and educator, founded Santa Cruz Permaculture and the Right Livelihood College at UC Santa Cruz, a partnership with the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He supports communities locally and globally to transform their shared future through strategic dialogue and collective action.

Doctoral Candidate in Geography | UC Davis

Marcus Renner, a doctoral candidate in Geography at UC Davis, previously coordinated sustainability efforts at two different college campuses and currently coordinates UC Davis' Community Economies Collaborative, a faculty/student reading group. With a background in environmental studies and playwriting, Marcus' current focus is on the intersection of local economies and the arts, and how UC-Davis can facilitate the development of community economies in the surrounding region.

Leader | SolutionCraft

Brennan Blazer Bird, an ecological educator, natural builder, water harvester, and “appropriate techie,” has led a diverse array of artistic and ecological projects around the world. He founded the Peace On Earthbench Movement (POEM), which seeks to inspire youth to transform plastic waste into art, and is currently leading an ecological design, build, and education venture called SolutionCraft. (earthbench.org, solutioncraft.org)

Mauricio Rivera integrates a background in civil engineering with a passion for regenerative systems. He designs small and large scale water systems in Sonoma County, California, pushing the effectiveness of low impact development, rainwater harvesting, decentralized onsite water reuse, and habitat restoration.

Biologist | Dig2Grow

Anne Biklé, a biologist, science communicator, and public speaker, investigates and writes about connections between people, plants, food, health, and the environment. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers and radio, and her soil-building practices have been featured in independent and documentary films. She is the co-author, along with David Montgomery, of The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health, which you can read an excerpt of here. 

Agronomist | Green Cover Seed

Dale Strickler, a leader in the soil health movement, author of The Drought Resilient Farm and Managing Pasture, is an agronomist working for Green Cover Seed, the nation’s leading cover crop specific seed company. He previously taught agronomy at Cloud County Community College and worked for several companies, including Land O’Lakes, Star Seed, and Valent USA. He also runs his own ranching operation near Jamestown Kansas.

Professor | University of Washington

David R. Montgomery, a Seattle-based MacArthur Fellow and professor of Geomorphology at the University of Washington and the author of award-winning popular-science books that have been translated into nine languages, is an internationally recognized geologist who studies landscape evolution and the effects of geological processes on ecological systems and human societies.

Regenerative Rancher | Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC

Doniga Markegard, author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild, has extensive backgrounds in wildlife tracking, wilderness survival and Permaculture. She is a leading “regenerative rancher” who, with her husband and children, owns and manages Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC, which leases over 10,000 acres of Bay Area lands, using practices that build soil, sequester carbon, capture and purify water, enhance wildlife habitat, and revitalize communities.

Co-Director | Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s WATER Institute

Kate Lundquist, co-director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s WATER Institute and the Bring Back the Beaver Campaign in Sonoma County, is a conservationist, educator and ecological artist who works with landowners, communities and resource agencies to uncover obstacles, identify strategic solutions, and generate restoration recommendations to assure healthy watersheds, water security, listed species recovery and climate change resiliency.

Agronomist | Green Cover Seed

Dale Strickler, a leader in the soil health movement, author of The Drought Resilient Farm and Managing Pasture, is an agronomist working for Green Cover Seed, the nation’s leading cover crop specific seed company. He previously taught agronomy at Cloud County Community College and worked for several companies, including Land O’Lakes, Star Seed, and Valent USA. He also runs his own ranching operation near Jamestown Kansas.

Government Affairs Administrator | Monterey One Water

Mike McCullough, currently the Government Affairs Administrator for Monterey One Water, has worked on various components of the Pure Monterey Groundwater Replenishment Project (which provides a clean, safe and sustainable source of water for domestic and agricultural use by using advanced water recycling technology, replenishment of the groundwater supply and protection of the environment) for the past 6 years.

Professor | University of Washington

David R. Montgomery, a Seattle-based MacArthur Fellow and professor of Geomorphology at the University of Washington and the author of award-winning popular-science books that have been translated into nine languages, is an internationally recognized geologist who studies landscape evolution and the effects of geological processes on ecological systems and human societies.

Co-Founder | Sowing Circle LLC Intentional Community and the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

Brock Dolman, co-founder of the Sowing Circle LLC Intentional Community and the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC), co-directs OAEC’s Permaculture/Resilient Community Design Program, Wildlands Program and WATER Institute. A wildlife biologist, restoration ecologist and renowned innovator in watershed management and Permaculture, Brock integrates wildlife biology, native California botany, watershed ecology with education about regenerative human settlement design, ethno-ecology, and ecological literacy in his work.

Director | Trout Unlimited's California Water Project

Mary Ann King, a leading expert on water and natural resources law and policy who has published extensively on the topic, is the Emeryvill, CA-based Director of Trout Unlimited's California Water Project, where she develops and implements cooperative streamflow projects with landowners and water users along the California coast, with a special focus on the Russian River watershed.