Navigate back to the Earth Week schedule here. Speaker bios are arranged by date.
Monday April 18th
David Mendoza
David brings deep expertise in state and local government policy and advocacy. Currently, he is the Director of Advocacy and Engagement for The Nature Conservancy in WA overseeing state and federal lobbying and policy communications staff. Prior to TNC, he was the founder of Inclusive Solutions a policy, advocacy and communications consulting firm. While representing Front & Centered, a statewide coalition of communities of color, David led the development of the now enacted HEAL Act, WA’s state foundational environmental justice law, served as a Co-Chair of the state Environmental Justice Task Force. He has been recently appointed by Governor Inslee to the Environmental Justice Council tasked with overseeing implementation of the HEAL and Climate Commitment Acts.
https://www.washingtonnature.org/
Gregg Small
Gregg Small brings nearly 30 years of experience working on climate, environmental, and public policy issues, including 25 as an Executive Director. At Climate Solutions, Gregg oversees a staff of more than two dozen policy experts, campaigners, innovators, and researchers across Washington and Oregon, providing strategic direction for one of the most effective regional climate and clean economy organizations in the nation. Under his leadership, Climate Solutions and our many allies have successfully passed some of the best climate policies in the United States.
https://www.climatesolutions.org/
Sam Wilder (on behalf of City of Bellevue Utilities)
Sam Wilder (she/her) has been in the sustainability and resource conservation field for twenty-five years. She is a graduate in Environmental Resource Management from Penn State University, with a minor in Education. Through City, County and State programs in Washington, she has worked with residents, businesses, property managers and schools on a variety of waste reduction and sustainability topics. As a professional educator, she has given over 2,000 presentations to school classes, school assemblies, neighborhood associations, residents and businesses. She has assisted over 1,200 businesses with eco improvements. She has worked as a consultant for City of Bellevue for twenty-two years on a range of programs and has taught the Greener Living community classes for ten years. In June, 2017 she was certified as a Climate Reality Leader through Al Gore’s Climate Reality Corps.
Jamie Stroble
Jamie is a passionate environmental and climate justice educator, policy advocate, program director, community organizer, facilitator, and speaker. She has over a decade of experience working in environmental justice-related fields, including youth programming, leadership development, intergenerational immigrants & refugee programs, affordable housing & community development, food justice, air quality & environmental health, and creation of equitable community partnerships.
As a movement builder, she is always looking for ways to support new leaders, and strategize around affecting change. From working with youth in the Chinatown/International District to leading leadership development programming for an API community organization, she has long been committed to building the next generation of BIPOC environmental leaders. From 2016-2021, she led the development of a first ever climate justice framework as part of King County’s 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan, and created the Climate Equity Community Task Force, to center frontline communities and BIPOC voices in community-driven climate policy-making. Her next ventures involve scaling up impact on environmental justice, equitable processes, and developing BIPOC leaders.
Jamie is based in Seattle on the current and ancestral lands of the Duwamish tribe and Coast Salish people, and was raised in Hawai’i – the lands of the Kānaka Maoli. She stays grounded through her connection to water and outrigger canoe paddling.
Dr. Sonya Remington Doucette
Sonya Remington Doucette is in her 9th year at BC. She teaches Chemistry and Environmental Oceanography, manages the Climate Justice Across the Curriculum project, advises the Student Climate Justice Club, coordinates the Sustainability Concentration, and chairs of the Sustainability Curriculum Committee. Teaching is her passion. Prior to BC she taught at North Seattle College, UW Tacoma, the Program on the Environment at UW Seattle, and the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. She brings climate and environmental justice issues into science courses so students learn about the social relevance of science and how to use it to address societal challenges. At BC, she does this in General Chemistry and CHEM 272 (Undergraduate Research in Chemistry). Prior to BC, she worked with undergraduate students on carbon and nutrient cycling in an urban wetland (North Seattle CC) and lake (UW Tacoma) and heavy metal contamination of urban soils (ASU, Hope House Farms Phoenix).
Karen Joy Fletcher
Karen Joy Fletcher, MPH, writer, adventurer and Qigong instructor, loves sharing her passions of Qigong, Earthgym and nature connection with people around the world. She is a personal student of ZY Qigong Grandmaster Xu Mingtang, has trained with him at Shaolin Monastery in China and traveled with him worldwide. Also a student of Master Chinese Medicine doctor, Dr. Zhao Fuxue, she serves as his interpreter when in the U.S. Inspired from extensive training with Mick Dodge, she offers qigong and Earthgym movement programs at schools, retreat centers, conferences and more throughout the U.S. and abroad. Karen also leads Qigong, Tea & Nature Retreat trips in Western China.
Tuesday April 19th
Kent Short
Kent Short is an Emeritus faculty member in the Science Division at Bellevue College and has taught courses in oceanography, meteorology, and environmental science. His specialty for many years has been global climate change and its implications. Prior to coming to Bellevue College, Kent worked at the federal agency NOAA, and at several large and small environmental consulting companies. Kent is a member of Emericorps, a group of retired BC faculty dedicated to responding to the climate crisis and other environmental and social justice causes.
Wendy Pickering
Wendy Pickering is an Emerita member of the English Language Institute faculty at Bellevue College. Throughout her teaching career, she integrated environmental sustainability and climate justice into her course curriculum at every opportunity. Wendy has a life-long passion for spending time in the natural world and for sharing its wonders with students, family, and friends, believing that we will protect what we truly love. Wendy is a member of Emericorps, a group of retired BC faculty dedicated to responding to the climate crisis and other environmental and social justice causes.
Dr. Helen Taylor
Dr. Helen Taylor is a psychologist and an Emerita member of the psychology faculty at Bellevue College. Among other courses, she has taught positive psychology, abnormal psychology, and social psychology. She is interested in the impact of climate and environment on our mental health and well-being. Helen is a member of Emericorps, a group of retired BC faculty dedicated to responding to the climate crisis and other environmental and social justice causes.
Imam Jamal Rahman
Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker and author on Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith relations. Along with his Interfaith Amigos, he has been featured in The New York Times, CBS News, BBC, and various NPR programs. Jamal is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Imam at Interfaith Community Sanctuary, and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He travels nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops. Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community building and activism. Website: www.jamalrahman.com
Rich Lang
Rev. Rich Lang is Pastor of Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Kirkland, Washington. He has been a pastor for 33 years serving congregations in LaConner, Bay View, Spokane, Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood and at Seattle’s University Temple. He has also served as the Seattle-Tacoma District Superintendent overseeing the ministries of 50+ churches (2015-2019).
For eight years he wrote a bi-weekly column for Real Change called Faith, Politics and Culture. His ministry has been highlighted in the books Natural Saints and Fixing America. He has received the Gertrude Apel Pioneering Spirit Award by the Seattle Church Council, Taking the Bull by the Horns by Sustainable Ballard, the Rauschenbusch Center’s Spirit and Justice award, and was named one of Spokane’s 100 heroes by Spokane’s Volunteers of America (1995). He has been arrested twice for homeless advocacy, and was intentionally targeted with pepper spray by the Seattle Police Department during the Occupy marches.
He is married to Cathy for 39 years, has two adult sons Michael and Andy both of whom carry on the family values of solidarity with the poor, with unions, and with all who work for peace with justice.
Camila Matamala-Ost
Camila Matamala-Ost is an environmental communications professional who lives in South Seattle. Growing up in the Baha’i community in the Pacific Northwest kindled a lifelong love of nature as well as a dedication to social justice and the unity of humanity. Outside of her work at Pierce Conservation District, she spends her time mentoring middle schoolers and facilitating community conversation groups, when she’s not making music or crocheting.
Yohanna Kinberg
“I want our community members to embrace me, their rabbi, as part of their wellness team, as a cheerleader, teacher, friend and co-worker in making our world a better, safer, and more compassionate place.”
Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg has served as Kol Ami’s rabbi since 2014. Before coming to Kol Ami, she was an assistant rabbi and director of education at Temple B’nai Torah in Bellevue, Washington for 11 years. Rabbi Kinberg is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and a member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. She is involved with JStreet, Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Services, Faith Action Network, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and a variety of other organizations working towards peace, justice, sustainability, and interfaith connections.
Rabbi Kinberg loves working with people of all ages and stages. Children, elders, babies, teens… people who are in the midst of celebration and those who are in the midst of crisis. In addition to providing pastoral care for our members, She offers spiritual direction and small group classes for anyone who wants to study specific topics.
BJ Cummings
BJ Cummings (she/her) founded the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and manages community engagement for the University of Washington’s Superfund Research Program. She is the author of The River That Made Seattle: A Natural and Human History of the Duwamish, and she was awarded the River Network’s national River Hero award for her work leading community-based clean up and restoration of the Duwamish River.
Firdous Layla Khezrian
Firdous is a first-year student at BC and is adamant to bring positive change to the discussion around climate change in the BC community. She believes that education is empowering when facing detrimental issues such as global warming and wants to share her knowledge with those around her. Firdous is honored to be the Climate Justice Club President and hopes that the BC community feels more equipped in their fight against global warming.
Ted Spence
Ted Spence is a veteran of three decades of software engineering through a variety of industries. He has led projects at large companies such as Facebook, Knowledge Adventure, Vivendi Universal, and AST Computer; and helped to develop startups such as Lockstep, Avalara, and EEDAR. He currently teaches data analysis techniques at Bellevue College and writes for tedspence.com. He lives in West Seattle with his wife and daughter and has been known to bike down to Alki whenever the weather permits.
Wednesday April 20th
Joshua Wright
Joshua Wright is an 18-year-old environmental activist and filmmaker. He is an organizer with the Rainforest Flying Squad, a direct-action group dedicated to defending old growth forests. In 2020, he helped launch the Fairy Creek Blockades, which have become the largest active civil disobedience in Canadian history. Multiple articles and interviews have been published on this topic in The Seattle Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Globe and Mail to name just a few sources.
Elena Maans-Lorincz
Elena is a librarian at Bellevue College who in a past career life was a sustainability coordinator at a four year university just outside of Chicago, IL. Her work in sustainability back in Chicago and her work as a public library librarian in Yakima, WA, have shaped how she views her role as a librarian and educator. Striving to incorporate climate justice, and sustainable values are a part of her librarian identity, along with showing folks how to find that research article they need for class. In her spare time, Elena enjoys nature walks with her family, gardening, and trying new recipes in the kitchen.
Peter Prescott
Peter Prescott teaches in the Health and Physical Education, Outdoor Recreation Leadership, Health and Wellness BAC and Allied Health programs and has been at Bellevue College for over 20 years. He is the primary guide for all Outdoor Recreation Leadership Adventures and seemingly countless Wellness Center adventures. Peter received his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington, and his Masters in Sports and Exercise Leadership with a focus on Education from Seattle Pacific University. Certified affiliation with Wilderness Medical Institute, American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education, Leave No Trace Master Educator and a member of the Washington State Wellness Advisory Board. Peter grew up locally on Vashon Island and sees the northwest as his dream playground; skiing, surfing, backpacking, biking, and running. Get Out There…
Rachel Weigelt
Rachel Weigelt is the owner and operator of Frayed Threads Mending, a textile mending, repair, and tailoring shop focused on sustainability and extending the life of our clothes. Her studio is located in northeast Seattle and you can find her at www.frayedthreadsmending.com or @frayedthreads_mending on Instagram or Facebook.
Thursday April 21st
College Issues Day- No speakers currently
Friday April 22nd
Karrin Peterson
Karrin Peterson (aka Prof. Pete) is a professor of English and a self-taught gardener. She likes the challenge of growing food where plants usually do not grow … or when plants are not supposed to grow. And she is addicted to the NASA food in space program news.
Brandon Blake
Brandon holds a BA in International Affairs and Arabic from Florida State University. Instead of becoming a diplomat, Brandon listened to all of his mentors and instead became a teacher after graduating college. Brandon was a preschool teacher for 15 years before switching over to Humane Education 5 years ago, first as a volunteer and later as a professional. He is also an artist who specializes in multilingual calligraphy and calligraffiti, and a musician who plays several instruments. Brandon lives with his rescued dogs and cats.
Last Updated April 19, 2022