Convergence 2017

Thanks for participating in ZWYC 2017!

Schedule

Our 2017 Keynote Speakers

Jordan Figueiredo is an Anti-Food Waste Activist and Creator of the Ugly Fruit and Veg Campaign from Castro Valley, California. Jordan harnessed the power of social media to highlight how 20-40% of fruits and vegetables are wasted due to the cosmetic standards of consumers and grocers. The Campaign, through Change.org, has been successful in petitioning Whole Foods Market and Walmart to sell ugly produce. Along with more than 145,000 people in 190 countries, you can follow The Ugly Fruit And Veg Campaign on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Jordan also served as a board member of the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA).

Jared Blumenfeld is a lawyer (UC Berkeley) who has worked for environmental and animal welfare non-profits, was the director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, and most recently served as the Regional Administrator for the EPA during the Obama administration. Jared is a strong zero waste advocate on the front lines banning plastic bags and styrofoam, curbside collection of compostables, and touting public education as the key component of changing behavior. He is excited to engage ZWYC '17 on using local zero waste initiatives as an organizing tool to defeat climate change and energize democracy.

Breakout Sessions & Speakers

This year’s convergence includes an incredible lineup of speakers who will be speaking about a range of topics such as reducing food waste, the psychology of waste, as well as policy vs. individual action to combat climate change.

Zero Waste Education & Outreach Speakers:

Alisa Healy, a Climate Corp Fellow with Alameda County, works as their Green Child Care Coordinator to teach and develop a youth waste education program.
Faustina Mutata, the Environmental Education Coordinator at RethinkWaste and developed an award winning Environmental Education Program at the Shoreway Environmental Center, which targets youth and adults alike to conserve natural resources and be dutiful environmental stewards.
Franklin High School Plastic Club, participants in the Monterey Bay Aquarium Plastic Pollution Summit and National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and student-educators on the topic of the harmful effects of plastic pollutants in the ocean and landfills.

Green Career Panel:

Felisia Castanada, Education Specialist at Recology SF and nearly six years experience in, both the public and private sector, as an environmental educator with a focus on resource conservation, recycling, and composting.
Justine Burt, a Sustainability Consultant at Apparel and has 16 years of experience in the Bay Area working on waste prevention, recycling and reuse with businesses and government.
Natalie Calhoun, Compost & Recycling Associate at Climate Corps Bay Area at Alameda County who has interned for Recology, and is currently working to introduce compost and recycling to the 200 County office buildings.
Leo Kenny, Principal Voice at Planet Singular and has been involved in sustainability, circular economy, environmental technology development and addressing waste treatment and reduction efforts for several years.

Social Equity & the Zero Waste Movement:

Steven Sherman, a source reduction specialist and Alameda County Recycling board member who will speak about recent travels promoting the inclusion of equity issues when designing zero waste programs for communities.
Allie Lalor and Sharon Chen of UC Berkeley will address issues of the accessibility of zero waste in terms of cost, culture, and convenience, and examine the ways by which zero waste facilitates, rather than resists consumerism.

Student Research & Action:

Jocelyn Tsai, a student at the Marin School of Environmental Leadership at Terra Linda High School, currently researching the psychology behind waste, how companies trick people into buying useless items, and how to create a campaign to promote composting.
Nathan Roll, a student at the Marin School of Environmental Leadership who is piloting an environmentally-focused enterprise which removes the need for people to purchase a certain packaged product.
Scott Silva, a Zero Waste Research Center Associate at the UC Berkeley Zero Waste Research Center who is working on a project that involves implementing a campus materials recovery facility (MRF), as well as a 3D printing research project, and is involved in a composting project that involves aquaponics.
Chonsa Schmidt, Waste Diversion Intern at Santa Clara University Center for Sustainability who wants to make composting and recycling more available around her college campus.
Bianca Champenois, with Engineers for a Sustainable World who designed and built mechanized compost turners for co ops made out of a unique material.

Zero Waste Manufacturing: Rethinking and Redesigning:

Peter Mui, founder of FixitClinic which holds repair workshops around the country to encourage critical thinking around consumerism and designing for durability.
Maura Dilley, Program Manager at Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute and works specifically on Fashion Positive, an initiative within C2C, focused on systemic shifts toward circular apparel.
Christopher Slafter, Waste Prevention Program Associate at Clean Water Fund and will present on source reduction programs like ReThink Disposables as a way to inspire young people to take action and find ways to engage in source reduction at home, school, or work.

Policy vs Individual Action: What Works When?:

Christie Liu, Sustainable Packaging Program Manager at Cisco Systems and sustainable lifestyle blogger and will discuss the issue of packaging waste and how she hopes to inspire others to develop less wasteful habits.
Melissa Romero, Policy Associate at Californians Against Waste will discuss policies around the world and in California that were used to influence waste reduction.
Kathryn Kellogg, Zero Waste Ambassador and Creator of Going Zero Waste, a website that provides individual actions that anyone can take to live a more zero waste lifestyle including seasonal recipes, DIY beauty, organic cleaning, and tips for living with less waste.

Reducing Food Waste: Pro Tips & Success Stories:

Marv Zauderer, the founder and chairman of Extra Food, a county wide food recovery program in Marin County which has organized, recovered, and delivered nearly 1M pounds of food from 150+ businesses and organizations to 83 sites across Marin.
Aubrey Hills, Zero Waste Coordinator at UC Berkeley Cal Dining and has coordinated projects such as a waste-sorting competition, a food donation program, and sustainability training sessions.
Zoe Heller, manages the Zero Waste Section at the US EPA's Pacific Southwest Office and will share some great tools from the EPA that provide resources and tips on reducing food waste.

Implications of Waste Generation on Climate Change:

Ahmina Maxey, the US & Canada Regional Coordinator with the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and works to support communities that are fighting back against the polluting industry of waste incineration, and advocating for zero waste alternatives.
Jessica-Jane Robinson, CEO and Founder of Resilience Birthright, Inc. which was created to raise awareness, empower and inspire community action, and facilitate programs and multimedia projects to help solve climate change, the trashing of the planet, planet restoration, and uplifting the collective consciousness of the planet.

The Psychology of Waste & Behavior Change:

Jessian Choy, currently works with the SF Department of the Environment, has researched how to trick people try new things since 1999, and will share how to make people listen to you, even if they don’t want to.
Katie Patrick, Environmental Engineer and Designer at her company Hello World Labs which applies data-driven, gamification and behavior-change techniques to solve the world’s biggest environmental problems.
Jackie Nunez, Founder and Project Manager at The Last Plastic Straw will discuss the absurdity of single use plastic through the catalyst of the plastic straw, a tipping point from awareness to action