It’s difficult for us to imagine how it must feel to see your family and friends hungry, thirsty, and dying. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to see one after one of your precious animals die of thirst. But after being thrown into a drought of unprecedented severity this is exactly what Dalmas and many of his Maasai community had to endure.

Having practiced his traditional rites as a Maasai young man, Dalmas went to a local rural primary school and then continued on to Moi University to complete Bachelors and Masters Degrees. He then worked at a public university for seven years but it wasn’t long before he felt a loss of identity and a deep longing for his old home and life.

He recounts: ‘I love my culture, I love livestock, especially cattle and sheep and I felt the only life for me was to go back to the village and be a herder. This is a life of peace and fulfillment.’

The Maasai people of East Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania along the Great Rift Valley on semi-arid and arid lands. The Maasai occupy a total land area of 160,000 square kilometers with an estimated population of 841,622 people. Dalmas is from Kajiado County in Kenya.

The Maasai, are pastoralists which means they graze animals for both income and food. Their grasslands have long supported a semi-nomadic lifestyle that provides a healthy diet of meat, milk, herbal soup, some honey, and occasionally fresh blood – the perfect ‘primal diet,’ This nutrient-dense high protein diet has produced some of the world’s finest human physical specimens. Maasai people are renowned for being very tall and muscular, practically disease-free and definitely win the prize for biggest warm smile full of perfect pearly teeth!

The traditional Maasai sense of community is incredibly strong, is well organized and usually functions harmoniously. The women are responsible for the homes – simple ‘kraals’ of mud, sticks, grass, and dung arranged in a circle surrounded by protective thorns – collecting water and milking livestock. The men offer protection and security as warriors or wisdom and organizational structure as elders. Boys are traditionally responsible for herding the cattle, sheep, and goats with the help of the warriors when droughts of trouble take them further afield or if families decide to send the boys to school.

Dalmas says: ‘The leader of each age set is selected by elders who scrutinize family background and genealogy to see whether the potential candidates’ families are people who love peace and justice and show qualities of braveness.’

As healthy people, medical intervention is rarely required however highly effective treatments even for fractures and tumors – come in the form of herbal remedies; the skills of healers are still highly valued above and beyond more Westernised forms of medicine.

So Dalmas started a plan to leave his employment and return to be a Maasai herder and raise grass-fed beef cattle in the traditional pastoral system. He took a bank loan and managed to accumulate enough money to build a herd of 127 cows, he resigned from his job and returned to his Maasai community.

Dalmas remembers: ‘The community was so happy and our elders really loved that, after getting a University degree I was coming home and investing in our village. I become a role model for our young people and was highly respected for understanding what is really important in life; community, good health, and a sense of identity.’

But after several dry years the ultimate disaster struck, the drought became so severe that everything changed. The watering holes, rivers, and wells dried up and the animals – the main source of nutrition for the Maasai – started to die. Eventually, 90% of all the livestock belonging to the community died; Dalmas was left with only 14 cows.

Dalmas remembers: ‘my community was reduced to beggars who depended on food relief to survive, this food was poor quality and a very different from what we were used to so made us sick. I saw children die of malnutrition and lack of water and old people dying of starvation.’ ‘People started coming to me for help, I had a little money so helped buy food, but the food was being sold expensively by exploitative business people who hoarded it in order to raise demand to increase their profits.’

Even though Dalmas lost his livestock along with it his dream, he has vowed to help his people protect themselves from future droughts that a changing climate will inevitably strike.

Dalmas has created a non-profit organization called ‘Ildalalekutuk Maasai Action for Development.’ His organization looks for partners to solve the problems and bring about a liberated, independent, and prosperous Maasai society.

One of the core objectives of the resilience measures being investigated is the use of ‘holistic planned grazing’ which has been shown to regenerate grasslands that are turning into desert. Holistic planned grazing makes grasslands more resilient to drought and flooding.

Clara I. Nicholls is a Colombian agronomist with a Master in Entomology from the Colegio de Posgraduados, Chapingo, México and a Ph.D. in Entomology and Biological Control of Insect Pests from the University of California Davis. She is a Permanent Lecturer on Sustainable Rural Development in Latin America at the University of California, Berkeley.

She also teaches at Santa Clara University, and various universities in Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua, Argentina, Spain and Italy. Currently she serves as co- director of CELIA (Latin American research center of Agroecology (www.celia.agroeco.org), she is an honorary president of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA- www.socla.co) and is the Regional Coordinator of REDAGRES (www.redagres.org) A network of Latin American researchers exploring ways to evaluate and enhance resiliency of farming systems to climate change.

Her research has centered on enhancing plant biodiversity of farms to provide habitat and foster natural enemies of insect pests in a range of farming systems. She is also working on methodologies to evaluate the resilience of farms to climate change and based on such assessments in designing agroecological interventions to enhance the adaptability of farming systems to climatic extremes.

She is the author of 4 books (among them Biodiversity and pest management in agrecosystems) and of more than 50 scientific journal papers.

Tom B.K. Goldtooth (born July 27, 1953) is a Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader within the climate and environmental justice and indigenous movement. Tom is active in local, national and international levels as an advocate for building healthy and sustainable Indigenous communities based upon the foundation of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Tom has served as executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996 after serving as a member of the IEN National Council since 1992.

Tom (Dibe'lizhini' Clan) is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He is also huŋka Bdewakantonwan Dakota from Minnesota. He is known by his Dakota name of Mato Awaƞyaƞkapi, given to him by Pete Catches Sr. (Petaġa Yuha Mani), a Lakota holy man of the Spotted Eagle Way of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Tom currently resides near the small town of Bemidji, Minnesota. Bemidji is located close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota.

Starhawk is an American writer, teacher and activist. She is known as a theorist of feminist Neopaganism and ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and for On Faith, the Newsweek and Washington Post online forum on religion. Starhawk's book The Spiral Dance (1979) was one of the main inspirations behind the Goddess movement. In 2012, she was listed in Watkins' Mind Body Spirit magazine as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People.

Responsible for Latin America area within ECODES (Ecology and
Development Foundation)

More than ten years working in public policies for development cooperation about
climate change, water, and environmental sustainability. Especially linked with Latin
America, in several posts: bilateral agency, three years working in Peru and currently
responsible for Latin America area within ECODES (Ecology and Development Foundation)

Peter Rosset is a professor of agroecology at the ECOSUR Advanced Studies Institute in Chiapas, Mexico (www.ecosur.mx), and is in the process of retirement from the staff team of La Via Campesina International (www.viacampesina.org). He is co-author of the book “Agroecology: Science and Politics” (www.fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/agroecology).

Katie Cantrell is the Founder and Board Co-Chair of the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, an educational non-profit dedicated to creating a more just, compassionate, and sustainable food system. Katie has led workshops at Ivy League universities, government agencies, and Fortune 500 corporations. Her materials have been translated into six languages and used as a resource by advocates around the world.

Brock Dolman is a co-founder of the Sowing Circle, LLC Intentional Community & Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (www.oaec.org), where he directs the Permaculture Program, Wildlands Program and the WATER Institute in Sonoma County, California.

He is a wildlife biologist, permaculture designer, and watershed ecologist. Brock has worked as a Permaculture educator and consultant numerous internationally in Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, U.S. Virgin Islands, Spain, Brazil, China, Canada, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cuba and Haiti & and widely in the U.S.A. He was one of the core co-facilitators for the International Permaculture Convergence 8 (IPC8) Design Course in Sao Paulo, Brazil and IPC11 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and has co-taught over 80 Permaculture Design Certificate Courses since 1995. He has been featured in the award-winning films: The 11th Hour by Leonardo DiCaprio; The Call of Life by Species Alliance; and Permaculture: A Quiet Revolution by Vanessa Shultz; Russian River: Al Rivers. In October 2012 he gave a City 2.0 TEDx talk:(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izf6D1LQlFE).

For over a decade he has served as an appointed commissioner on the Sonoma County Fish & Wildlife Commission. In 1992 he completed his BA, graduating with honors from the University of California Santa Cruz with the Biology Department and Environmental Studies Department.

Moderator

Kandi Mossett is from the Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara tribes in North Dakota and is the Just Transition and Native Energy and Climate Campaign Coordinator for the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), has emerged as a leading voice in the fight against environmental racism and the many links from climate and energy justice, food sovereignty, water protection and Indigenous-based just transition. Kandi will be the moderator of this Indigenous plenary drawing upon one of her powerful messages, “Above all, fight to protect all life; be a voice for all those that can’t speak and never give up hope. Always remember, you’re not guaranteed change when you make your voice heard against injustice; but you’re guaranteed to fail if you remain silent.”

Topic: ``Traditional Agriculture``

Ed Mendoza is an Indigenous farmer, permaculturist, teacher and a Native American Church ceremonial leader. A graduate of Cal Poly’s school of agriculture, Ed has taken both traditional and modern agricultural knowledge and incorporated them into his own unique discipline. For over 50 years, Ed has nurtured a relationship with the soils, plants and spirit guides of California and the Southwest. He served as an advisor for The Native American Farmers Association. For the past two years, Ed has been working on a documentary series called “Water of Life Journeys”, which explores his travels as a farmer and cultural researcher through Columbia, Cuba and Mexico.

Topic: ``Loss of Biodiversity and it connection to Diseases that Humans were not exposed to in the past``

Linda Black Elk is of Dukha/Catawba descendant and is an ethnobotanist and food sovereignty activist at United Tribes Technical College. Her teaching focuses on the uses of plants as food, medicine, and materials, and the skills and protocols necessary for the identification, harvesting, preparation, protection, and preservation of sacred plants. She currently resides on occupied lands of the Mandan and the Oceti Sakowin with her Lakota husband and children.

Topic: ``The Oil Industry Crises and the opportunity that this represents to Change the Paradigm``

Dallas Goldtooth is an Isanti Dakota and Dine’ man from the village of Cansayapi within the territory of the Oceti Sakowin. He is the national Keep It In The Ground campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network, focusing his work on uplifting and supporting frontline Indigenous communities fighting fossil fuel extraction on Indigenous lands. He has traveled extensively across North America as a public speaker and organizer, addressing the needs and issues that affect Indigenous peoples today. He is a film producer, playwright, actor, and a comedian. He co-founded The 1491s, an all-indigenous social media group that uses comedy and satire as a means of critical social dialogue. He is also a Dakota language activist, cultural teacher, dedicated father and loving husband.

Mark Squire has one of the most celebrated resumes in the organic food industry. Since 1977, he has been a co-owner and manager of Good Earth Natural Foods in Fairfax California. An “organic oasis,” as one of OCA readers nominating the store described it, Good Earth provides a wide selection of produce, much of it sourced from within a 100-mile radius.

But it’s Squire’s passion for organics and his dedication to preserving and raising organic standards, growing the organic industry and working to keep GMOs out, that set him apart.

Here are just a few of Squire’s accomplishments over the past few decades:

• Played a pioneering role in developing the state’s organic certification standards. In the 1980s there were no certified organic standards in California. Realizing that the standards were a necessary prerequisite for the state’s organic food movement, Squire worked with like-minded retailers, farmers and other advocates to assemble and codify production practices and allowable inputs and to educate farmers about these new standards.

• Served on the Board of Directors for the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), an organization that took on the task of further developing California’s fledgling standards. Squire helped write some of the original organic certification standards that are still in place today in the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program today.

• Serves on the Board of the Non-GMO Project, which he was instrumental in creating. Concerned that GMOs weren’t addressed under organic standards, because the standards were written before GMOs came on the market, Squire reached out to other like-minded food retailers to create what would eventually become the Non-GMO Project.

• Helped write Measure B, the Marin County initiative that prohibits the outdoor cultivation of GMOs. The measure passed by 61 percent of the popular vote in 2004.

• Served from 1988-1993 on the board and then on staff of the Organic Crop Improvement Association. OCIA was at that time the largest certifier of organic foods worldwide. Squire oversaw international certification staff training and operations for both farm and manufacturing

I am a Scientist for Future from Kenya and I am 31 years old. I am a construction manager by training, however, my research in the context of the climate resilience theory fostered a new interest. Due to risks occasioned by climate change, there’s a great need for adaptation and climate resilience. Consequently, I started Loabowa limited. I consult on matters relating to carbon & waste consciousness, and climate resilience. This is with particular emphasis on micro-grids- for food, water and energy. Covid-19 is a reminder that we need to unlearn our dependence on centralized supply chains and re-learn a new dependence on localized ones which are more resilient, for a better ‘new normal’ reality post covid-19. I also offer myself to various environmental movements as a scientist from sub-Sahara Africa- focusing on ‘climate change’ content contribution. This has led to an e-book of nature stories for kids. It also birthed an African initiative (Loabowa Kind) that aims to form climate friendships- of activists and organizations. The networks enable collaboration on continental climate action- empowering ordinary people with day-to-day activities that make a difference. They also enable us to explore the essence of environmental governance in Africa. Through collective advocacy, and by the agency of Loabowa Kind, an open letter to the AU and its leadership was recently submitted (it got 1400 supporters).

Miguel A . Altieri received a BS in Agronomy from the University of Chile and a Ph.D in Entomology from the University of Florida. He has been a Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley since 1981 in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management ( www.agroeco.org )

He served for 6 years President of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology ( www.agroeco.co). He is the author of more than 230 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.

Mr. Seth J. Itzkan is one of the world’s leading voices for soil restoration as a climate solution. With his colleague, Karl Thidemann, Seth is co-founder and co-director of Soil4Climate Inc., an educational outreach organization dedicated specifically to advancing the scientific, legislative, and public awareness efforts toward soil enhancement. The Soil4Climate Facebook group has approximately 19,000 members from over 100 nations, hosting discussions with scientists, practitioners, and policy activists. Soil4Climate was one of the original “civil society” organizations in the French 4p1000 soil carbon initiative and Seth was a featured speaker at the 1st “4 per 1000`` North America Online Regional Meeting in 2020. Soil4Climate has a chapter in Kenya working with the Maasai to implement Holistic Planned Grazing. Seth is a Climate Advocacy Advisory with the Savory Institute and has appeared many times at public events with Allan Savory. Seth considers himself an “environmental futurist” and has a degree in “Studies of the Future” from the Studies of the Future Program at University of Houston-Clear Lake. Seth is a TEDx speaker on restoring grasslands with planned grazing. He, and his colleague, Karl Thidemann, have co-written articles and papers with 350.org founder Bill McKibben, and Tufts University Professor Emeritus and IPCC lead author and Nobel Peace Prize sharer, William Moomaw, Ph.D.

He served for 6 years President of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (www.agroeco.co). He is the author of more than 230 publications, and numerous books including Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity, Pest Management in Agroecosystems and Agroecology and the Search for a Truly Sustainable Agriculture.

Jorge E. Vera is a professor of thermodynamics at the Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cordoba. He is also a researcher and part of the development support staff at CONICET. He is a researcher on term generation through the use of sustainable alternative fuels. HE designs gasification equipment, supercritical fluids, and effluent treatment through wetlands.

Marianela is a professor of physics at the Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cordoba. She is a researcher in the area of valorization of agricultural and urban waste by biomass gasification for thermo-generation of energy.

Henri Audirac MS. in engineering and photogrammetry has worked for 43 years in photogrammetric projects that include cadastral mapping and management with land tenure registration in Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Belize. He is president of CartoData (www.cartodata.com), a private mapping firm in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Mr. Audirac is currently interested in implementing water management and agroforestry projects in small communities.

Marta Astier is a professor at the Center of Environmental Geography, UNAM, Campus Morelia, México and the head of the research group Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. She is the creator of Red Tsiri, a women's cooperative for native maize products fair trade.

Eduard Müller leads the Regenerate Costa Rica initiative. Member of the Scientific Council for Climate Change of Costa Rica and councilmember of Global Wellbeing Economy Alliance.

Tom Duncan is the CEO of Earthbanc, a Green Digital Banking and Investment Platform that is launching soon and has a crowdfunding campaign at https://earthbanc.io Earthbanc is venture-backed by EIT Climate-KIC Nordic, the co-architects of the multi-trillion European Green New Deal. The climate fintech company is also in a Central Bank Blockchain Fintech Sandbox, which gives it a fast track to digital banking and investment licenses, in addition to issuing green bonds and regenerative land funds directly onto money issuance platforms that Central Banks can utilize. The first green bond that Earthbanc issued is called a Grow Bond, which sequesters 2 tonnes for every $100 invested, via planting mangroves and delivering 75% cheaper finance to small businesses in emerging markets, to support them to plant, protect and maintain the trees. Tom is co-author of 'Regenerating Agriculture to Sustain Civilization' with Allan Savory, and also the author of Pathways to Integrated Ecological Farming, both published in the landmark book 'Land Restoration', 500 pages of the world's leading regeneration experts on practices, principles, and methodologies. The book is used in Universities and Colleges around the world to train the next generation of regenerative farmers and graziers. Tom worked in China with AusAID in 2004, on a massive land and water restoration project covering 18.7 million hectares across the Inner Mongolia Plateau and Northern Central China Plans. His Lunar Calendar was used by 40M farmers across vastly different ecosystems, with handy regenerative management tips for building soil, optimizing plant growth, and managing water systems. He is a Research Fellow at George Mason University, Center for Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, Advisory Council to Ecosystem Restoration Camps, and Steering Committee at Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security in partnership with UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Beatriz is an architect who works for agroecology and the ecological transition from the territorial ordering. She considers that progress in ecological awareness, networking, and cooperation for the conservation of life on the planet, constitute a path of territorial, ethical intelligence, essential for humanity. She coordinates the Observatory O-AUPA (Urban, Peri-Urban Agriculture and Agroecology) of Cordoba, Argentina. She is a researcher at INTA (National Institute Agricultural Technology) and FAUD-National University of Cordoba.

Miguel Robles is the founder and core organizer of the annual Soil Not Oil International Conference; previously he organized 4 editions of the “Justice Begins with Seeds Conference”. Artisan, poet, farmer, permaculture designer and activist, he has founded several organizations in Mexico and the US and launched countless campaigns of great social impact, during his continuous involvement in various social struggles related to globalization, democracy, human/immigrant rights and in recent years focused in environment 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 on immigrant rights, on which he was the main advocate of the implementation of City ID Cards in cities like San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and that were the model adopted by the city of New York. In 2007 he created the Latin American Alliance for Immigrant Rights that launched the first Response Alert Network in case of ICE raids, which received over 100 calls a day at the time. In 2009 he launched a campaign to stop the car impoundment against unlicensed immigrant drivers in Northern California that in six months forced most major cities in Northern California to change their policies about car impoundment.

In 2011 he became increasingly involved in environment/Non-GMO advocacy co organizing the conference Justice Begins with Seeds. 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 the Co-founder of the Bay Area Latin American Solidarity Coalition (BALASC), and one of the founding members of the Californians for GE Food Labeling Coalition. He is a strong supporter of a ban to prevent planting Genetically Engineered Corn in Mexico and worked closely with the leaders behind it, until the new president AMLO make a public statement saying that Mexico does not need GMO corn and that is out of question.

For years he hosted educational radio programs 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. After many years living in the Mission District of San Francisco and Portland Oregon, he moved back to Mexico where he currently works on his agro-ecological project in San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas, called Yok Jinix where he lives with her dog Sombra.

LaSalle has served as the first CEO of Rodale Institute, Executive Director of the Allan Savory Center for Holistic Management, consultant, advisor, and research coordinator for the Howard Buffett Foundation in Africa on soils and food security for smallholder farmers.
He is Professor Emeritus of California Polytechnic State University, Adjunct Professor CSU Chico, and former President/CEO, of the California Agriculture Leadership Program.

Paigelynn Trotter, regeneratively grazes goats, sheep, and cattle in Sonoma and Marin County. Her grazing efforts focus on nutrient cycling to build soil and increase the potential for carbon capturing.

Ecological goals and considerations:

• Seasonal fuel reduction
• Balancing invasive species populations
• Vegetation productivity and carbon capture potential
• Soil building by way of nutrient cycling
• Increasing biodiversity through diversified impact and disturbance
Ecological goals and considerations:

• Seasonal fuel reduction
• Balancing invasive species populations
• Vegetation productivity and carbon capture potential
• Soil building by way of nutrient cycling
• Increasing biodiversity through diversified impact and disturbance

Luis is a professor of Thermodynamics at the Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences of the National University of Cordoba. He is a researcher in the area of alternative energy and thermal processes specialized in gasification and synthesis gas production.

Natalie has dedicated her career to supporting efforts to heal and restore community agroecosystems as a basis of circular bioeconomy at the bioregional level. Her experiences over the past 15 years - including serving as IRD's South Sudan Country Director and now Danish Refugee Council's East Africa Regional Resilience and Livelihoods Coordinator - have shaped her approach to livelihoods and community wellbeing and deepened her resolve to tackle the root causes of ecological degradation and the community destabilization, conflict and armed violence that can come with it. Natalie believes that building systems-based resilience for households, communities and regions can happen by applying design and regenerative thinking to all contexts, including the natural, built, social and economic environments in which we work.

Jonnes Ellijah Mlegwah aka Mlesh is a 2016 graduate of 8-month internship course at ECOLOGY ACTION in GROW BIOINTENSIVE farming method from California, USA. He holds a Diploma in Management and Development from Daystar University and a two-year certificate on Biointensive Agriculture from Manor House Agricultural Centre.

Mlesh is the coordinator and founder of the Garden of Hope Community-Based Organisation, a grass-root non-profit Organization in Taita Taveta County that was born to help restore and build sustainable community food systems, health, and environmental resiliency in the wake of Climate Change. Their focus is to share knowledge in GROW BIOINTENSIVE and REGENERATIVE FARMING methods, ENVIRONMENT, and BIODIVERSITY Conservation.

He is currently developing a demonstration farm which is the hub for GROW BIOINTENSIVE and other Ecological farming methods in the Coastal region of Kenya. The farm is the Center for Training and Research for adoption and diffusion of the GROW BIOINTESIVE and other Ecological farming technologies at “MANGA” in Ngolia Ward, VOI Sub County.

He is a trainer, a facilitator, a Change Agent, a manager, mobilizer, and a servant leader enabling the Community to identify their needs, Potentials, Limitations by themselves and improve their quality of life. This helps them gain greater control over themselves, their environment and their future, in order to realize the full potential of human life that God has
made possible.

He aspires to see a healthy community that is deeply rooted in taking care of their environment and growing healthy food from healthy soils.

A physician who believes in the universal human right to live a healthy, productive life that
allows everyone to fulfill their potential while being good stewards of our planet so that
future generations will be able to enjoy the same rights. Committed to working with
underserved populations, with interests in sustainability, health equity, and human rights
and in comprehensive health care systems based on prevention. Established a healthcare
system to serve indigenous peoples living in conditions of extreme poverty in the highlands
of the Andes in Ecuador and supported the strengthening of the healthcare system in Liberia post-Ebola. Former Minister of Health of Ecuador, currently Associate Professor of Medicine,
University of Massachusetts Medical School. Urban farmer and permaculture enthusiast.

Dr. Cynthia Daley is a professor within the College of Agriculture at California State University, Chico, and currently serves as the Rawlin's Endowed Professor for Environmental Literacy, and the Director for the Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems.

Cindy is originally from Illinois, where her family has been actively engaged in the farming profession for more than four generations. She completed her
undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois, her doctorate at the University of California Davis.

She joined the CSU Chico, COA faculty in 1997, and later founded the Organic Dairy Education & Research Program in 2006. Seeing the need to grow the ecological farming movement, Daley went on to co-create the Regenerative Agriculture Initiative in 2016 and guided this program to Center status in May of 2019.

The new Center for Regenerative Agriculture & Resilient Systems is a consortium of interdisciplinary faculty and farmers who recognize the ecological benefits of regenerative farming practices including water conservation, soil fertility, and carbon sequestration. The Center's guiding principle is that agriculture, when done regeneratively, can be the solution to soil degradation and climate change.

Considered a leading brand-building architect, Larry Kopald spent over twenty years at some of
the world's leading advertising agencies overseeing advertising for companies ranging from
American Express and McDonald's to Honda and Pepsico. Although coming up on the creative
side, strategic analysis and development were always a critical part of his mission. During his
time at agencies Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, DDB, and his own THINK Larry helped launch multi-billion dollar brands such as Acura, Oracle, and Chicken McNuggets, among others.
In 2008 Larry co-founded Kopald/Stranger, a change agency committed to growing businesses
while simultaneously creating positive change in the world. Kopald/Stranger counts Nike,
Patagonia, Walmart, and 3M among its clients.

In 2014, as new data began to emerge linking soil health to climate change, food, and water
security and supply chain stress Larry combined his corporate experience with his
environmental commitment (Director of Greenpeace, Oceana, 1% For The Planet) and co-
founded The Carbon Underground, which today is considered a global leader in the movement
to transform food and fiber agricultural systems.

Larry’s strategic work has twice been profiled in the Harvard Business Review, and his creative
work has been nominated for both Grammy and Emmy awards.

Larry is currently a Senior Fellow at USC’s Marshall School of Business and served on the
White House Panel on Social Innovation under President Obama.

Leidy Casimiro Rodríguez, PhD in Agroecology, Titular Professor at the University of Sancti
Spíritus. She is the coordinator of the Food Culture of the International Project Biomas Cuba and a member of the National Group of Permaculture Facilitators in Cuba and of the Slow Food International Movement and the SOCLA movement. She is also the coordinator of the Sustainable Food Movement in Cuba.

Omar Masera is a professor of Energy and Ecotechnology at the Instituto de
Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, National University of Mexico where
he leads the Group on Ecotechnology Innovation and Bioenergy. He works on small-
scale bioenergy, climate change mitigation, rural ecotechnologies, and sustainability.

Dr. Esther Ngumbi is an Assistant Professor, Entomology Department, and African-American Studies Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. She is a native of Kenya and earned her Ph.D. from Auburn. She is an entomologist (chemical ecologist) and her research over the years has focused on understanding the multifaceted uses of chemical signals (both volatile and non-volatile) by herbivores, natural enemies, plants, and their associated microorganisms and insects.

Believing that global sustainability issues like those of hunger and food insecurity affect all of us, Dr. Ngumbi has stepped up both as a researcher and a food security advocate and a senior fellow with the Aspen Institute New Voices and has continued to demonstrate visionary and inspirational leadership in the pursuit of a sustainable future-where hunger and food insecurity become history.

Dr. Ngumbi is a thought leader and has contributed immensely to global discussions in several areas including science policy, agricultural development, food security, gender issues, youth leadership, global education and sustainability through over 150 opinion pieces published in several media outlets including Scientific American, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, Times Magazine, Nature, SciDev. Net, Los Angeles Times, The Conversation, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and WIRED.

A firm believer “that the future of science, so important to the prosperity of our world depends on the skillful mentoring of each new generation by the one that precedes it” Dr Ngumbi has served as a mentor to many students and several organizations including Clinton Global University Initiative and President Obama’s Young African Leadership Initiative. She is the recipient of several national and international awards including the Society of Experimental Biology President’s medal, Emerging Sustainability Leader Award, women of courage award, a finalist for President Clinton Global Hunger Leadership Award, and named by One World Action as one of the 100 powerful women who change the world. She serves on several boards and is a member of the Entomological Society of America Science Policy Committee.

Esther believes that everyone has a right to live a dignified life and has a right to an education, especially women. Education empowers individuals, and therefore, as long as she lives she will continue to use her education as a voice for the voiceless, and use her intellect to serve the needs of the hungry, the poor, and the needy! Esther has a huge heart, an unstoppable passion, and a deep commitment to developing Kenya, Africa, and our global community world-wide.

Juan Garay is medical doctor from Spain. He worked as a rural doctor in Africa, coordinated
the EU policy in Global Health and is now the head of EU cooperation in Cuba. He is
professor of Global health and bioethics in several universities in Europe and the Americas,
his main field of research is on equity and he also writes literature, music and cares for
nature.

Willem Ferwerda worked 8 years at SNP Natuurreizen (from start-up to scale-up) in business development, sales, and as expedition leader to remote areas in Latin America and Europe. From 1995-2000 he joined IUCN Netherlands as manager of the Tropical Rainforest Grants Program, funding conservation projects in 40 countries.

He served for 12 years as executive director of IUCN Netherlands, focusing on business impacts on tropical ecosystems, conservation and restoration projects, and land rights issues, mainly through supporting NGOs and working with scientists, companies, and governments. In 2005 he founded Leaders for Nature (with McKinsey and Egon Zehnder), a business network of business leaders in The Netherlands, Switzerland, Brazil and India. In 2010 this led to an agreement between the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW) and IUCN on biodiversity.

During a sabbatical in 2012 Willem Ferwerda developed and published the '4 Returns Framework’: a practical model on integrated ecosystem management and restoration. In 2013 he founded Commonland together with entrepreneur Wijnand Pon (COmON Foundation), IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, and Rotterdam School of Management. Commonland actively develops long-term landscape programs with farmers, landowners, local people using regenerative business cases, that generates inspiration, social, natural, and financial capital (4 Returns).

Ferwerda is CEO of Commonland and serves as a board member and advisor in several international environmental organizations. His ambition is to mainstream ecology in business and government agendas based on system change and practical experiences. In 2016 he headed the Dutch Sustainability Leadership Top 100. In 2019 he received the Dutch Groeneveld landscape award.

Ferwerda studied biology, tropical agriculture, and environmental science at the Free University and the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands; and specialized in tropical ecology at the Universidad Nacional in Bogotá, Colombia.

He is married to Petra and has a daughter and son who both study in The Netherlands. Although raised in the city of Amsterdam, Willem Ferwerda is a nature lover and field guy since he was a kid. It brought him to many remote places on the globe.

Rhamis Kent is a consultant with formal training in mechanical engineering (University of Delaware, B.S.M.E. ’95) and permaculture-based regenerative whole systems design serving as a registered certified Permaculture Design instructor with PRI Australia. He is a former co- director of the Permaculture Research Institute (PRI), a member of Permaculture Sustainable Consulting Pty Ltd (PSC), and on the Supervisory Board of The Netherlands-registered non-profit Ecosystem Restoration Camps.

Rhamis currently serves as a Trustee and an Implementation Team member at Plant for Peace Foundation (UK) and was a key contributor to the India-based Shivansh Farming initiative of the Hans Foundation.

Rhamis has taught Permaculture Design (formal Certification and short Intensive courses) in Palestine/Occupied West Bank, Greece, Ethiopia, Yemen, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Spain, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Australia, and The United States (Michigan, California & Vermont). He has also performed additional consultancy work on projects in Spain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Somaliland, and Western Sahara.

Alexis Baden-Mayer is a lawyer and activist who has been the political director for the Organic Consumers Association, and its associated legislative and electoral advocacy group Citizens Regeneration Lobby, since 2005. She has also represented Regeneration International, an organization with roots in OCA's Cook Organic, Not the Planet campaign, in Washington, D.C. since the global coalition was launched in 2014.

Components of great service to Riverside’s Invitation to Cooperatively Owned Landscape/Foodscape Businesses. From Paul’s extensive resume:
• Agroecology Educator and Researcher, MESA, from May of 2016-2019.
• Staff Research Associate, UC Berkeley (2017-present)
• Co-Designed curricula for:
• “Bay Area Farmer Training”, a collaboration between MESA and Planting Justice
• On-line course for farmers on climate resilience funded by Western ERME
• Facilitated a “Training of Farmer Trainers” funded by Healing Living Systems and Grow Riverside
• Ph.D., UC Berkeley (2013) Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; BS, UC Berkeley (2004) Major: Conservation and Resource Studies/Sustainable Agriculture; Minor: Forestry
• Language Fluency: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese

Don Tipping has been farming and offering hands-on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm since 1997. Seven Seeds is a small, organic family farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon, on a forested mountainside with rushing spring-fed creeks and nestled among old-growth forest wilderness.

We produce fruits, vegetables, seeds, herbs while raising sheep, ducks, chickens, and people! The farm has been designed to function as a self-contained, life regenerating organism with waste products being recycled and feeding other elements of the system. Lauded as one of the best examples of a small productive Biodynamic and Permaculture farms in the northwest by many, Seven Seeds helps to mentor new farmers through internships and workshops. In 2009 we began Siskiyou Seeds, a bioregional organic seed company that grows and stewards a collection of over 600 open-pollinated flowers, vegetable and herb seeds, and is constantly breeding new varieties that we distribute nationally.

Don is active in the Seed Stewardship movement and educates regionally on seed saving through the Biannual Seed Academy, the Student Organic Seed Symposium, Seed Schools and numerous conferences. He sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and contributes to the Open Source Seed Initiative.

While raising a family and managing a diverse seed farm and distribution business occupy much of his time, Don is keenly aware of the eroding Agrarian landscape and believes in rekindling a thriving culture of cottage industries that inspire Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share and is wholeheartedly devoted to seeing this emergent regenerative economy and culture increase and thrive.

Theo is a native Californian. HLS’s mission: “Climate Stability through Agroecology.”

Theo foci:
Proof of Concept: Local Foodshed Resilient Community—a Municipality, Riverside, CA

Inviting all people to participate in Systems to Heal the Climate: Full Moon Healing Action Network (FMHAN)(Contact: Gerardo Marin (geractivacion@gmail.com) to honor our living systems and capture carbon in the soil to grow nutrient-dense food).

Positions Held:

International Experience:
Direktorin die Kommunicationszentrum der Stadt Nuernberg, Germany, 1971-2
Founder, Export Profiles, an export management consultancy representing renewable energy to South and South-East Asia, and the People’s Republic of China. 1981-86

US-Based Experience:
Field Representative for CA Assemblyman and Congressperson, Leo J. Ryan, 1975-6
Project Manager in the National Office of Kaiser Permanente, 1992-1999
Founded three Corporations and two NGOs.1981-present

Memberships:
Founded International Society of Art, Science and Technology, USA (Leonardo Journal)(1981)
Member US Social Investment Forum (2004-present)
Mounted International Prize: “Our Daily Bread, What does it REALLY Cost?” (2004-6)
Member Foundation for Shamanic Studies (2005-present)
Systems to Heal the Climate: Founded 2012; now 5/6 Holders and 2020: FMHAN (above)
Founding Member US Slow Money (2008); Facilitated formation: Slow Money NoCal (2010-present)
Participant/Plenary Moderator: Justice Begins with Seeds; SOIL NOT OIL (2011-present)
Member: Slow Money NoCal: SOIL Group: Slow Opportunities to Invest Locally: Innovator: Direct Relationship Driven Investor: Local Food, Farming and Finance Infrastructure Investor (20 Infrastructure Investments; Champion: 5 enterprises)(2011-present)
Candidate Coordinator: Biomimicry Int’l Design Contest: Food Systems 2015 (w/Fairfield, Iowa)
Graduate: Urban Farmer Training Program, 2017
HLS: Associate Member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (2018-present)
Education: BA, UC Riverside: Major: Art History; Minor: Physics; CA Community College Teaching Credential; Ongoing Education: Climate Studies; Social Equity; Sustainable Economics; Agroecology
Languages: English, German, studying Spanish; Chinese/Japanese Art: Shodo and Sumie; lost language

Darryl D. Morin is the President and CEO of Advanced Wireless, Inc. (AWI) providing unified enterprise mobility (UEM) solutions to corporations, schools, and healthcare providers. These solutions include wireless LAN, wireless voice-over-IP, mobile computing, and wireless intrusion prevention technologies. AWI serves hundreds of customers in 50 states in addition to Puerto Rico, and in thirteen countries around the globe. These customers include Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Crate and Barrel, Rockwell Automation, MilliporeSigma, True Value Hardware, and more.

In addition to his professional responsibilities, Mr. Morin is committed to serving others. Through Advanced Wireless, Inc., he created AWI’s “Wireless School Initiative”. This initiative has already provided over $850,000 worth of WLAN equipment and technical services to schools in Southeastern Wisconsin. Darryl has also brought in over $1,000,000 in additional grants to Wisconsin to improve academic outcomes for children in low-income areas.

Mr. Morin has visited with numerous presidents, foreign heads of state, legislative leaders, and cabinet secretaries to discuss and advise on such issues as education, economic development, healthcare, and immigration. Mr. Morin has given national interviews on ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, Telemundo, and Univision Channels and has been quoted in publications ranging from the New York Times, Washington Post, Journal-Sentinel and more.

In addition, Mr. Morin serves as National President of Forward Latino, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Hmong American Peace Academy (K-12 charter school), Board Secretary of Employ Milwaukee, is a Co-Founder of the Justice for Immigrants Committee of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Co-Founder of the Latino-Jewish Alliance, Co-Founder of the Community Coalition for Quality Policing, Co-Founder of the 80% Coalition Against Gun Violence, serves on the Boards of the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and is a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee and the Advisory Board of La Casa de Esperanza. For his efforts, Mr. Morin has received numerous local, state and national awards for his volunteer work and was named the 2019 BizJournal Diversity Champion, UMOS Hispanic Man of the Year, HPGM Community Service Leader of the Year, name to United Way of Greater Milwaukee Philanthropic Five, named a State of Wisconsin “Friend of Education,” 2019 Milwaukee Business Journal Diversity Award, and was awarded the LULAC Cesar Chavez Award and more.

Mr. Morin is a graduate of the University of North Texas where he was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Most importantly, Mr. Morin is a proud husband and father of two sons.

Rachel Parent is a youth activist whose passions include food and climate, social justice, animal rights, responsible consumption, and environmental protection. In 2012, Rachel founded Kids Right to Know, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating youth, about the connection between food production and climate change, with a focus and transparency in the labelling of Genetically Modified Food in Canada and the USA.

She has given dozens of television, radio, magazine and online interviews, including a well- publicized debate about GMO labelling with celebrity host Kevin O’Leary on CBC Television.

In Addition she has given two TEDx talks presentations. She has been internationally recognized as an environmental speaker and awarded for her work, including the Rob Stewart Youth Eco-Hero Award, Elle Quebec Magazine Woman of the Year, Post City Magazine Toronto most inspiring Women of 2017, Toronto NOW Magazine's Eco-Heroes, along with a long list of recognitions and awards. Rachel is presently dedicated to the development of a Monarch Butterfly conservation program. She is the Director of Gen-Earth Events, an environmental platform dedicated to education through film and activism, with the goal of motivating youth to learn about organic regenerative climate solutions to help make the world a better place for humans, animals and our planet.

Mackenzie is the Founder and Executive Director of Herbicide-Free Campus, an organization with the mission of eliminating herbicides from schools. Her campaign resulted in the entire University of California system going glyphosate-free, and HFC now has campaigns at 18 schools in 10 states. Mackenzie worked with a coalition to get herbicides banned from every public school in Hawaii. She is also a Food Sovereignty Research Assistant for the FAO and a Food Research Fellow for Data For Progress, where she writes food and agriculture policy for the Green New Deal.

Jonathan is the founder and steward of Hotlum Eco-regeneration Camp. Recognizing at an early age that human society and civilization’s activities were out of balance with the Living Systems of Earth, he began seeking ways to return to a more balanced way of being. This life quest has led to deeper questions rather than immediate answers.

Growing up in the Los Padres National Forest and roaming the mountains of California led him to know that becoming accustomed to our world, rather than seeking to change the world around us, was the only sensible way to live. Jonathan became fascinated with how humans change within a lifetime as well as trans-generationally. Yet, growing up in a family afflicted by trauma, addiction, and assimilation, he experienced firsthand how the personal, the familial, one’s community, and society are interwoven into the fabric of the ecological systems in which we either thrive or languish.

Jonathan sought answers in many fields, recognizing that only a systems approach to systemic challenges offered any elucidation. Being introduced to the field of ecopsychology was, for him, perhaps the seminal unification towards overcoming the challenges of reconciliation between the human and the More-than-Human World.

Jonathan holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. He has studied multiple modalities for the treatment of trauma. He obtained a professional certification from TeraSoma Ecopsychology Training Institute. Jonathan is especially interested in modern wilderness rites and authentic processes of initiation into purpose and offerings to the greater Whole.

He currently offers wilderness retreats and is offering integrative and clarifying practices of iRest-in-Nature and Ecostential Inquiry, which he is developing.

When not facilitating Jonathan can-not-be-found combing the slopes of Mount Shasta, exploring rivers of the Western United States, or spending time on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Lauren is the Co-Founder of Hotlum Eco- regeneration Camp on the slopes of Mt. Shasta, California, USA. She is a lifelong naturalist, outdoor educator and wilderness guide on both rivers and trails throughout the United States.

Her love for the land started as a Camp Fire Girl, at the 200 acre Camp Takahano in West Virginia. She built trails, maintained campsites, trimmed trees, hung rope swings, and built bridges at Takahano, all while exploring the streams, mountains, and trails. She identified every edible berry, snake, salamander, toad, and mammal there by age 10, and shared her findings with anyone who would take the time to see what she had discovered.

This childhood love of the land led Lauren to obtain a BA in Animal Behavior and Environmental Studies, and an MA in Environmental Leadership. She also holds a certificate as a transformational wilderness guide and coach, and is a certified ski instructor. After having a career as a naturalist,
wilderness guide, and environmental educator she started her Colorado based transformational canoe outfitter - The River’s Path.

Her lifelong love of the natural world is the foundation for her work at Hotlum. Since childhood, Lauren has sought other opportunities to get to know places as deeply as she knew Takahano. She brings her naturalist and guiding background to the realization of Hotlum’s vision. She is well on her way to identifying every plant, animal, bird, amphibian and reptile at Hotlum, as well as learning the geologic and human history of this 120 acre wilderness camp on the slopes of Mt Shasta, California.

In working to restore Hotlum with the people who visit, Lauren intends to foster a deep connection to the biosphere while regenerating the land to a flourishing, healthy forest that will benefit generations to come.

Tom Newmark was CEO of the dietary supplement brand New Chapter, which was acquired by Proctor & Gamble in 2012. Since that time, Tom has focused on environmental activism with specific attention on regenerative agriculture.

Tom is the co-owner of Finca Luna Nueva Lodge, a farm and ecolodge in the mountainous rainforest of Costa Rica that teaches regenerative agriculture. (www.fincalunanuevalodge.com)

He is the co-founder and board chair of The Carbon Underground, co-founder of the Soil Carbon Initiative and a founding member of that standard’s Design Team, past board chair of the Greenpeace Fund USA, and a founding member of the Leadership Council of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University – Chico. He is also the past board chair of America Botanical Council, publisher of the peer-reviewed journal HerbalGram. In his past, he was also a corporate attorney and entrepreneur, from which he claims to be recovering.

Sierra Robinson is a 17 year old homeschooler, environmental activist, permaculture teacher, and farmer that lives in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, Canada where she has been helping her family and community move towards regenerative practices since she was eight years old.

Having witnessed the effects of climate change on her health and her home, Sierra has been working with Earth Guardians (EG) National Youth Council and Abundant Earth Foundation and organizing through her local EG crew to encourage widespread direct actions. She is very active in the youth climate change movement and is one of 15 youth across Canada who are plaintiffs on the lawsuit La Rose v. Her Majesty The Queen brought against the federal government to require that action be taken to address climate change. Sierra has been involved in organizing climate strikes in the Cowichan Valley with the local Earth Guardians crew. Our most recent strike on Sept 20, 2019 had over 1000 people attend. Sierra has previously spoken at TEDX Youth Seattle, Globe 2020 Conference, Planet Home, WAGIN and will be attending Nordic Future conference in Finland as a speaker. Sierra also regularly speaks at schools and universities on permaculture, food security, water crisis and youth activism.

With 30 years of experience in utilities, energy trading, markets and risk management, Seth is leveraging core skills with new paradigms to address complex social, economic and environmental challenges facing communities today. The water-energy-food nexus sits within a social-environmental and economic context that requires good public policy and stewardship for sustainable, just and equitable outcomes for all communities.

• Seth left the Lasalle Street Canyon (Chicago’s Wall Street) in 2013 to become a social entrepreneur.
• He is a cofounder of GC-Solutions, a startup water treatment company based in Durango, CO.
• He consults with Healing Living Systems and on securities crowdfunding.
• Seth was a co-founder and executive director of the Riverside Food Systems Alliance, a nonprofit focused on building healthy and sustainable communities in and around Riverside,
• California. Seth serves as a co-chair on the Capital Access Team for the California Economic Summit
• Seth is an advisor for Silicon Valley Clean Energy, a community choice aggregator serving Santa Clara County.

Carmen worked for UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health on the COSECHA Study (CHAMACOS of Salinas Evaluating Chemicals In Homes And Agriculture). The three-year study, funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program, measured the pesticide exposure of pubescent females living near fields to determine factors associated with higher or lower exposure rates. In the Youth Council, she collected field samples, conducted interviews, and advocated for at-home pesticide alternatives to agricultural communities. Carmen continues advocating for safe pesticide alternatives and protective measures for Hispanic/Latinx field workers in her community.