keynote speakers

matthew pierre-louis

matthew pierre-louis

MIT, Freshman

Matthew is a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying mechanical engineering and materials science and playing volleyball. He loves building projects of all kinds, his favorite being electric skateboards. He also enjoys exploring new places, snowboarding, lifting, listening to music, and nature. Having participated in the Youth Climate Summit as a student, Matthew can attest to the impact that the summit had on him and how it inspired him to uphold high standards of sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

nehal bajaj

nehal bajaj

YCAT, High school junior

Nehal is a junior in high school from Somerset, NJ. She is extremely passionate about environmental justice, mental health, and education reform. Nehal serves as the Director of Finance at the Youth Climate Action Team where she is advocating for increased climate curriculum in public schools. She is also the Senior Director of Internal Departments at the National STEM Honor Society. In her free time, she enjoys writing, dancing, and watching The West Wing. 

HEALTH

Kristen Vacca

Kristen Vacca

NYS DOH Public Health Specialist, Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology

Kristen Vacca is the Project Coordinator for the New York State (NYS) Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) program at the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH). She graduated from the University at Albany with a Masters in Public Health degree with a concentration in Social Behavior and Community Health in 2017. She specializes in the communication of climate and health and is the lead evaluator of climate and health projects for the BRACE program
Rebecca Weston

Rebecca Weston

Founder, Climate Psychology

Rebecca Weston, LCSW and JD lives in the metro-New York area and is a practicing clinician and Co-President of the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. In this capacity, Rebecca organizes and provides support for climate aware mental health clinicians. She speaks frequently about the mental health impacts of the climate crisis, the varied ways in which climate mental issues are interwoven with systems of inequity, the psychological underpinnings of climate denial and the need to open compassionate space for people to engage their emotions and step forward into action.

Ashley Guardado

Ashley Guardado

Ashley is a queer Latina, activist, organizer and poet from a large blended family with roots in New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Mexico. Her dedication to climate justice was born from the experience of directly witnessing the effects of environmental racism in her family and community in their hometown of Chester, Pennsylvania. As the Program Associate for the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), Ashley is passionate about sharing her voice to raise the significance and power of resisting with compassion, intention, and purpose through a just and equitable lens. What she loves most about her work is collaborating with frontline women around the world united in resistance movements and climate solutions. In her freetime, you might find her in nature, moon-gazing, or spending time with loved ones as she navigates her personal journey of healing and transformation. Ashley is a masters graduate with degrees in Social Work and International Relations from New York University and the City College of New York, respectively.

FOOD & WASTE

Anthony Marinello

Anthony Marinello

Founder, Dropseed Native Landscapes

A native of Nassau County, Anthony spent his childhood summers upstate exploring the backwoods and creeks of the Hudson Valley. It is there that he developed an appreciation of nature and yearned to bring a bit of that wildness back to Suburbia. He spent his teenage years researching the wildlife and plants that inhabited the New York Metropolitan area. After High School he studied Biology at Nassau Community College and began gardening with Native Plants. He then continued his studies by earning a Permaculture Design Certificate through the Center for Bioregional Living, headquartered in Ellenville, NY. In 2020 he founded Dropseed Native Landscapes to provide Long Islanders with the guidance and ability to transform their Island into a Native Plant Oasis to sustain both humans and wildlife alike. He was recently featured in Newsday and The Long Island Herald for his work as a Native Plant Gardener as well as his work educating the public on the ecological benefits of native plants. In January of 2021, Anthony was voted in as a Board Member of the Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI).
sonia arora

sonia arora

Sonia is an activist, teaching artist and poet. Her activism has focused on educational equity, immigration rights, public safety/police reform and climate change. She has been teaching literature, writing, and humanities for more than 25 years. Her work as a teaching artist takes her into classrooms across Long Island, New York City and Philadelphia where she explores oral history, narrative, poetry, and activism. She has received numerous grants from New York State Council on the Arts, Leeway Foundation, Hearts and Ed Foundation.  She has published short fiction, poetry and essays and is currently getting her MFA in Poetry at CUNY Queens College. With funding from the Huntington Arts Council, she is working on a collection of poems inspired by the movement of ReWilding and looks forward every spring and summer to the native flower meadow seeded by her husband Raju.

NEHAL BAJAJ

NEHAL BAJAJ

YCAT, High school junior

Nehal is a junior in high school from Somerset, NJ. She is extremely passionate about environmental justice, mental health, and education reform. Nehal serves as the Director of Finance at the Youth Climate Action Team where she is advocating for increased climate curriculum in public schools. She is also the Senior Director of Internal Departments at the National STEM Honor Society. In her free time, she enjoys writing, dancing, and watching The West Wing. 

TRANSPORTATION

Erika Richards

Erika Richards

Director of Marketing and Communication for Nassau County, New York’s Public Transit Authority : Nassau Inter-County Express…also known as NICE BUS

Erika has been with NICE since its inception in 2012 and has a 30+ year background in marketing and design.  She is in charge of NICE’s branding, marketing, customer experience, and Title VI compliance.  She is passionate about the improving Nassau’s livability and viability thru public transit.
Frank Wefering

Frank Wefering

Director of Sustainability at Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI)

Greenman-Pedersen, Inc. (GPI) – an engineering and planning firm with its headquarters in Babylon. He went to high school in Münster which is a city in the Western part of Germany with 300,000 residents and 500,000 bicycles. Frank studied economics at the University of Münster and North Carolina State University. He focused on environmental economics and sustainable development when these topics were just introduced to curricula. Frank has worked in Europe, the U.S. and in international development specializing in the application of sustainability principles to transportation and urban mobility projects. He recently developed GPI’s first Sustainability Policy and the company’s first Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability program. Frank lives in West Islip with his wife and two sons. He still likes to cycle, but his favorite outdoor activity has become walking, especially in the off-season on the Robert Moses State Park beaches.
Alex Esposito

Alex Esposito

CEO and Co-Founder

Alex started on a hunch that shared, electric rides would help alleviate parking congestion at the beaches, Circuit (formerly The Free Ride) has evolved into a last-mile mobility solution that’s embraced by cities across the US.  Prior to Circuit, Alex worked as a consultant for Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and in marketing for Vistaprint (Nasdaq: CMPR). He holds a BS in Finance and an MBA from Bentley University.   A Forbes Next 1000 Entrepreneur, he’s been a featured contributor at Smart Cities NY, LA CoMotion, 20-20 Cities Boston, Urban-X and LACI.  Alex is based between Circuit’s NY and FL offices.
Thandi Nyambose

Thandi Nyambose

NY Project & Partnerships Manager

Thandi is a city planner based in Brooklyn with a background in public health and transportation. As Project Manager for Circuit’s upcoming electric shuttle programs in the Rockaways and in Brentwood, LI, she is eager to accelerate social change through greener, more equitable infrastructure. Prior to joining Circuit, Thandi spearheaded Bird’s shared micromobility programs through partnerships across the northeast, including pilots in Newark and Bronx.  She has worked in neighborhoods across NYC and holds a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard Graduate School of Design. 

MAJORS / CAREERS

Andrew Fagerheim

Andrew Fagerheim

Columbia Student

Andrew is a junior Earth & Environmental Engineering major at Columbia University who serves as an undergraduate student representative in his department and Vice President of Columbia’s chapter of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. Andrew also works as a research assistant at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the Ocean Transport group, studying ocean mixing across scales. Looking to the future, he is interested in applying to graduate school programs in environmental science. While growing up in Homer, NY, Andrew was involved in youth-driven climate action projects at his school, co-founded the annual Central New York Youth Climate Summit, and served as the Assistant Coordinator for the Village of Homer’s sustainability taskforce.

Marjaneh Issapour

Marjaneh Issapour

Director of Renewable Energy and Sustainability Center at Farmingdale State College

Marjaneh is a professor of Electrical Engineering Technology and a former  Associate Dean of the Innovation and Economic Development in Sustainable Energy and the Director of Renewable Energy and Sustainability Center (RESC) at Farmingdale State College (FSC) a Campus of State University of New York . 

She is the leader in workforce development and training programs in Renewable Energy in New York State. Most recently she has lead a team of faculty in development and deployment the first state approved certificate program in “Wind Turbine Technology” , and “Sustainable Energy “ . In addition to her contributions as a renewable energy expert In higher education, she has a great passion for working with the young people from disadvantaged community.

In order to ensure that the renewable energy and Off Shore Wind industry has the diverse future workers, she has been getting more involved with K-12. She is working on programs focused on engaging the young people from disadvantaged communities in the offshore wind space. All of her efforts in the workforce training is through the lens of Justice, Equity , Diversity and Inclusion. 

Caitlin Orellana

Caitlin Orellana

Director of Education Science Museum of Long Island

Caitlin graduated from Schreiber High School in 2006, and while attending SUNY Purchase, accidentally fell upon pursuing environmental science as a major. This unexpected turn and an incredible environmental science professor unlocked her interest and passions. She shared these passions as a peer advisor to freshman students and graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies in 2010. After graduation, she entered the world of teaching at the Science Museum of Long Island and gained experience with environmental education interning with the NYSDEC in Albany. After expanding her experience in managerial and administration skills at Old Westbury Gardens and Bailey Arboretum, she recently returned to SMLI as the Direction of Education.

Jeff Lichenstein

Jeff Lichenstein

Founder Next in Natural, Private Equity/Venture Studio and Consultancy

Jeff is a 15 year resident of Port Washington along with his wife Kim and 4 daughters ranging in age from 11 to 21.  Jeff’s career mission has always been to help make the world a better place, organically.   He was the founder and CEO of a company called Gourmet Guru which was a consulting and distribution company that helped launch brands like Chobani and Beyond Meat.  He sold Guru to UNFI which is the country’s largest natural food company in 16’. In 17’ he launched Next In Natural which is a hybrid Private Equity / Venture Studio.  Next invests in and operates 5 natural and organic food companies including Lavva Plant Based Yogurt and Sky Top Organics which partners with local Amish Farmers to help promote their Regenerative Organic Products. Jeff believes that we are what we eat, breath, and learn and is very passionate about giving back to the community to raise the bar of those areas.