Joanna Macy PhD, teacher and author, is a scholar of Buddhism, systems thinking and deep ecology. As the root teacher of the Work That Reconnects, Macy has created a ground-breaking framework for personal and social change that brings a new way of seeing the world as our larger body. To learn more, visit www.joannamacy.net.

Shawn Van Valkenburgh, Ph.D.: I am a sociologist and amateur activist who has participated in various climate justice movements and direct actions. I currently study popular media at USC. For me, Buddhist heart practices and meditations are contemplative insofar as they help create connections among beings.

Monique Myers’ work includes applied research and outreach education focused on climate change and coastal ecosystems. She led a team of UC researchers in collaboration with local government planners to complete the Santa Barbara Area Coastal Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment (SBA CEVA), which informs climate change planning in southern SB County. She was an author on California’s 4th Climate Assessment. She initiated/led CoAST SB, a local citizen science beach profile monitoring program that involves community members in addressing climate change through research that informs climate change modeling.

Kevin M. Gallagher is an author, attorney, and facilitator dedicated to repairing the human relationship to nature. He is the founder of Emergent Resilience, a non-profit organization that helps organizations, communities and individuals build resilience for a climate changing world. He is a national convener for the Council on the Uncertain Human Future and has trained with the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, the Center for Council, and the School of Lost Borders. Kevin spent a decade in Washington, D.C. working on climate change policy and international peace building.

John Foran, co-founder of the Eco Vista Transition Initiative: active since early 2019 with a mission of transforming Isla Vista into a nearly-carbon neutral, socially just, and vibrant eco-village by 2030. We work on 1) responding to food insecurity, enhancing gardening and permaculture, and reducing food waste, 2) learning how to design and build a circular economy of low-carbon services that show care for the community and might provide employment and opportunities, and 3) creating art, music, social media, news/zines, and activist scholarship. I hope we might deepen practices of guided retreats, yoga and meditation, talks and workshops, and cultural-spiritual events that celebrate and cultivate a regenerative and imaginative activism.

I am Michael Kearney, a Celt and a lover of birds and trees. I have worked for over 40 years as a doctor with people who are very seriously ill and at the end of their lives and have seen how, when someone feels “held” (meaning having a sense of deep inner security) by someone or something they trust; they are able to face uncertainty without fear. If my spiritual path were a tapestry, the two greenest threads are Buddhism and Living Earth connection practices, summarized by the Buddha and Mother Bodhi tree sitting together. What I wish to do with the rest of my life is to find ways to help young people to experience this in ways that will work for them, whatever unfolds.