Organizing Team
Miguel Robles is the Co-Founder/Project Director of Biosafety Alliance, the Founder & Core Organizer of
the Soil Not Oil International conference; previously he organized 4 editions of the “Justice Begins with
Seeds Conference”. He has founded several organizations and launched countless campaigns of great
social impact, during his continuous involvement in various social struggles related to globalization,
democracy, human/immigrant rights and environmental and food justice. He is a very well know activist
throughout the Latino/social justice networks in California and other states where he has been invited to
present in conferences & community events about his work. He was the field organizer for Spanish
speakers in 2012 during the historic Prop. 37 campaign in California, in which Latino vote in support of
GMO Labeling reached 61%, the highest in the vote preferences by ethnicities. He is a strong supporter of
the moratorium to prevent planting Genetically Engineered Corn in Mexico. For years he hosted a weekly
educational radio program in Spanish at a commercial radio station in San Francisco and the greater Bay
Area in which he educated about urban farming, sustainability, environmental & food issues.
the Soil Not Oil International conference; previously he organized 4 editions of the “Justice Begins with
Seeds Conference”. He has founded several organizations and launched countless campaigns of great
social impact, during his continuous involvement in various social struggles related to globalization,
democracy, human/immigrant rights and environmental and food justice. He is a very well know activist
throughout the Latino/social justice networks in California and other states where he has been invited to
present in conferences & community events about his work. He was the field organizer for Spanish
speakers in 2012 during the historic Prop. 37 campaign in California, in which Latino vote in support of
GMO Labeling reached 61%, the highest in the vote preferences by ethnicities. He is a strong supporter of
the moratorium to prevent planting Genetically Engineered Corn in Mexico. For years he hosted a weekly
educational radio program in Spanish at a commercial radio station in San Francisco and the greater Bay
Area in which he educated about urban farming, sustainability, environmental & food issues.
Contact Information: soilnotoilcoalition@gmail.com
Hana has been involved with soil from a young age, eating dirt in her family’s garden. Growing up in Illinois, she deeply experienced the vastness of industrial agriculture. In past years, she has worked on organic farms, guerilla-gardened, studied permaculture, soil science and horticulture. Lush greenery accompanies her travels, and right now she lives on a mini-farm near Santa Cruz, California. After a run-in with cancer and founding the activist group CancerFam, she has come to the conclusion that we must heal the planet as we heal ourselves.
Contact Information: hana@soilnotoilcoalition.org
Bunker is a video producer, community organizer and enjoys bringing clean water to plants and people. He has has been pollinating small scale organic farms and gardens across Turtle Island for the past 5 years. In 2017 he helped live-stream and coordinate video teams at the Soil Not Oil conference and the Building Resilient Communities Permaculture Convergence. Sharing knowledge and sustainable agriculture are deeply important to brining balance back to our mother earth. Watch his most recent film: http://CommonsFilm.co
Contact Information: bunker@survivalmediaagency.com
As a campaign manager of San Francisco Mayoral candidate Francisco Herrera during the 2015 election, they obtained the 2nd place in vote preferences. He is the organizer of Las Hormigas Organicas, a project that facilitates workshops on urban agriculture among immigrant families. He also organizes the annual Day of the Dead Festival in the Mission District in San Francisco and for many years he was the core organizer of May Day in San Francisco and Oakland California. Over the years, Miguel has co-founded several organizations. He currently hosts the radio program Flashpoints in Spanish at KPFA (Pacifica Radio). Originally from Argentina, he has been active in social justice movements since the early 1970’s, he was political prisoner for 5 years during the infamous Argentinian “Dirty War”.
Contact Information: miguel.perez@soilnotoilcoalition.org
Jay considers himself an “old hippie.” His parents were trapeze artists who bought their own circus and toured South America. Jay spent his adult life in Australia, working in credit management in the corporate sector for 25 years. Jay left corporate Australia for environmental work after reading the 1987 Brundtland Report, “Our Common Future.” He adopted a lifestyle of a “planetary steward” on a 116-acre heavily forested property in the Clarence Valley, New South Wales, Australia. From 2000 to 2015, Jay did pro bono volunteering at the Clarence Environment Center before deciding to return home to the United States in May 2015 to do his best to persuade, cajole, and convince all Americans of the urgency to tackle climate change as a planetary emergency.
Contact Information: jay@soilnotoilcoalition.org
Juan Rodriguez has been a long time grassroots organizer with Soil Not Oil Coalition and Director of Proyecto Eco-Tierra a community organization established in the area of Westlake-Pico Union in Los Angeles. Proyecto Eco-Tierra works on different campaigns against GMOs and pesticides in the very low-income communities. Some of their activities include: working on different campaigns to avoid the use of pesticides in the community, organizing workshops for tenants’ right, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs and popular education. They are working on a campaign to preserve the tradition of the corn as a culture of the indigenous migrant communities and to develop self-sufficiency and autonomy within their community. Juan is also the coordinator of the Street Vendors Union of District 1.
Contact Information: juan@soilnotoilcoalition.org
Jon Katz combines broad expertise in technology with a passion for social and environmental justice. Since 1996 he has split his time between the US (currently Berkeley) and the mountain village of El Limon, Dominican Republic, where he is accepted as a full member of the tight-knit community. He co-founded the Rural Alternative Center of El Limon (CAREL), and his work with village built and operated micro-hydroelectric mini-grids has resulted in 45 systems that serve over 15,000 Dominicans. Inspired by the 2015 Soil Not Oil conference, he is currently starting a participatory project to sequester atmospheric CO2 through regenerative organic agriculture.
Contact Information: jon@soilnotoilcoalition.org
Chris is a seasoned environmental and social activist and has worked in sustainable community development and ecotourism for 18 years.
She coordinated The Ecotourism in Ontario Conference & the 10th Annual Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Conference with Fleming College and The Ontario Ecotourism Society. As Event Coordinator at The International Ecotourism Society she organized the 1st ever Ecotourism in the U.S. Conference in Bar Harbor, Maine and a 'Celebration of Ecotourism' fundraising event in Washington D.C.
Chris specializes in hotel management, capacity building and event coordination and has been an advisor and coordinator on International ecotourism and community development projects in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Dominica and has worked with The Northern Edge Algonquin, Jungle Bay Resort & Spa, Rosalie Bay Resort, USAID and Solimar International.
She is currently volunteering on several permaculture and organic gardening projects and makes her home in Ontario, Canada and Chiapas, Mexico. This will be her second year working with Soil Not Oil Coalition.