Speakers

Presenting, our keynotes:

Ethan Burke, Bio Tour

Ethan Burke is co-founder of BioTour, an environmental education non-profit and adventure that travels the United States on a recycled vegetable oil and solar-powered school bus. The program has reached 46 states and held more than 120 educational events at colleges, K-12 schools, and conferences. During the 2008 election season, BioTour was on the campaign trail with two buses and 13 crewmembers, promoting environmental sustainability through active democracy in coordination with the PowerVote campaign.

Ethan is Lead Educator for the Alliance for Climate Education in Southern California. ACE offers cost-free science-based climate presentations to high schools in the regions surrounding San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Boston. Alliance for Climate Education aims to inspire, educate and empower students in the fight against global warming because we believe that young adults can have a substantial and near-term positive impact on the global climate crisis.

In addition to BioTour and ACE presentations, Ethan has also delivered keynote addresses and participated in panel discussions for Congressional Youth Leadership Council and the Global Young Leaders Conference.

Ethan strives to promote a healthy environment and a just and prosperous society. His passion is exploring, whether it be geographic landscapes, cultures, ideas, athletics, music, art or some other aspect of this fascinating existence.

AshEl Eldridge, Alliance for Climate Education

AshEl Eldridge, a native of Chicago, is currently an Oakland, California based artist, educator, organizer, and spiritual activist. He was Outreach Associate and a Cultural Director of Green For All's Public launch called Dream Reborn and Spotlight Events Coordinator for Green Jobs Now: A National Campaign to Build the New Green Economy.

He performs spoken word, rap and sings nationally with conscious Hip Hop, Dub, Reggae and Electronica bands includingWisdom and Bassnectar. He has shared stages with, Steel Pulse, KRS-One, STS9, Michael Franti, Midnite, Ozomatli and more. In addition to being a music, poetry, and meditation facilitator with Art in Action, where he works to empower low-income youth from urban communities. Most recently, Art in Action has teamed with organizations such as Will.i.Am's Pea Pod Foundation to create Oakland's Green Youth Media Center. He has also combined the world of art, music and community healing with ecological sustainability within the CommuniTree Movement. Additionaly, he is the co-founder of Oakland Resilience Alliance which works to create food justice, water conservation, and a diverse transition town movement.

His work aims to cultivate the links between both local and global movements for social justice, spiritual awakening and ecological healing through "edutainment" and other compelling ways to captivate youth and highlight their inherent connection to societal transformation.

Patrick Brown, Green For All

Patrick Brown has spent the last 9 years working with OAI to train underserved communities to work in environmental health and safety. His primary function as Senior Instructor is to be responsible for training 80+ individuals per year to meet state requirements to receive licensure in Lead and Asbestos abatement. While at OAI, he has also been integral in the development of new curriculum including mold awareness, Hazardous communication and Hazwoper updates. Other duties include trainer evaluation and coordinating green initiatives within OAI’s 5 training sites nation wide. With a background in construction and lead abatement, Mr. Brown has recently focused on making jobs in the new green economy safe. As the number of green jobs grows and green technology advances it is important to him to keep worker safety at the forefront of this movement. Mr. Brown hopes that by doing such we can avoid the workplace injuries and marginalized health that were characteristic of the last pollution based economy.

Rep. Rachel Storch, Missouri House of Representatives (District 64)

At age 32, Rachel Storch was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. A native St. Louisian, Rachel grew up in the district she now represents. She graduated from the John Burroughs School and attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she graduated cum laude with an A.B. in American History and Literature. She received her law degree from Washington University School of Law, where she was an Olin Fellow in Law and an Associate Editor of the law review.

Rachel serves on three committees in the Missouri House: Budget; Ways and Means; and Appropriations for Transportation and Economic Development. She is also a Deputy Whip for the Democratic Caucus. Following her first year in the legislature, Rachel was recognized as "Best Local Politician" by the Riverfront Times and "Best Up-and-Coming Politician" by St. Louis Magazine. She also received "Legislator of the Year" awards from Paraquad and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri.

Rachel has committed her adult life to fighting for the people of Missouri. She had the privilege of working for both Mel and Jean Carnahan. In 2000, Rachel was the Director of Operations on Governor Carnahan's campaign for the United States Senate against John Ashcroft. Subsequently, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Jean Carnahan in Washington, D.C. Rachel was the senior policy advisor for Senator Carnahan on a range of issues, including education, crime and public safety issues, and judicial nominations. Rachel also served as Legal Counsel and Director of Policy to Senator Ken Jacob, the Democratic Leader in Missouri's State Senate. She worked closely with Senator Jacob and other legislators to strengthen Missouri schools, protect the environment, promote urban development and preserve critical healthcare programs like the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Prior to her work in politics, Rachel was a public interest attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri where she focused on health care and welfare issues affecting low-income Missourians. She also served as an Americorps*VISTA attorney at Legal Services for a year after graduating from law school.

Jessy Tolkan, Energy Action Coalition

Jessy Tolkan serves as the Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition, a coalition of 50 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Energy Action Coalition leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses, high schools, and in local communities to build models of the clean energy future. Under her leadership the Energy Action Coalition is growing a generation-wide movement to stop global warming, by advocating for green jobs, stopping new coal plants, and making young people's voices heard in the policy debate around global climate change. Jessy has spent most of her career working to build power amongst the millenial generation. In 2004, as state director for the New Voters Project, Tolkan helped to register more than 130,000 young voters and produce one of the highest youth turnout rates in the country. She's been featured in Time Magazine, Hard Ball with Chris Matthews, and Vanity Fair Magazine. Jessy helped to plan the largest youth gathering on global warming in our nation's history - POWER SHIFT 2007, a conference that brought together more than 6000 youth representing all 50 states, and culminated with the largest single lobby day on capitol hill focused on global warming. Most recently, Jessy spearheaded POWER VOTE, a campaign to mobilize 1,000,000 young voters are climate and energy issues in more than 30 states across the country.

Prior to her work at the Energy Action Coalition, Tolkan worked with leading advocacy and grassroots organizations including: United States Student Association, Young Democrats of America, and Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. Tolkan received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Political Science and African America-Studies. In 2006, Tolkan was named one of the REAL HOT 100 Women in America, for her work with young voters.


	The Campaign The Conference The Energy Action Coalition The EAC Legislative Ask Register for the Conference Schedule Speakers Workshops Community Organizing Central Materials and Resources Speakers Presenting, our keynotes: <!--StartFragment--> Ethan Burke, Bio Tour Ethan Burke is co-founder of BioTour, an environmental education non-profit and adventure that travels the United States on a recycled vegetable oil and solar-powered school bus. The program has reached 46 states and held more than 120 educational events at colleges, K-12 schools, and conferences. During the 2008 election season, BioTour was on the campaign trail with two buses and 13 crewmembers, promoting environmental sustainability through active democracy in coordination with the PowerVote campaign. <!--StartFragment--> Ethan is Lead Educator for the Alliance for Climate Education in Southern California. ACE offers cost-free science-based climate presentations to high schools in the regions surrounding San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Boston. Alliance for Climate Education aims to inspire, educate and empower students in the fight against global warming because we believe that young adults can have a substantial and near-term positive impact on the global climate crisis. In addition to BioTour and ACE presentations, Ethan has also delivered keynote addresses and participated in panel discussions for Congressional Youth Leadership Council and the Global Young Leaders Conference. Ethan strives to promote a healthy environment and a just and prosperous society. His passion is exploring, whether it be geographic landscapes, cultures, ideas, athletics, music, art or some other aspect of this fascinating existence. AshEl Eldridge, Alliance for Climate Education <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--> AshEl Eldridge, a native of Chicago, is currently an Oakland, California based artist, educator, organizer, and spiritual activist. He was Outreach Associate and a Cultural Director of Green For All's Public launch called Dream Reborn and Spotlight Events Coordinator for Green Jobs Now: A National Campaign to Build the New Green Economy. He performs spoken word, rap and sings nationally with conscious Hip Hop, Dub, Reggae and Electronica bands includingWisdom and Bassnectar. He has shared stages with, Steel Pulse, KRS-One, STS9, Michael Franti, Midnite, Ozomatli and more. In addition to being a music, poetry, and meditation facilitator with Art in Action, where he works to empower low-income youth from urban communities. Most recently, Art in Action has teamed with organizations such as Will.i.Am's Pea Pod Foundation to create Oakland's Green Youth Media Center. He has also combined the world of art, music and community healing with ecological sustainability within the CommuniTree Movement. Additionaly, he is the co-founder of Oakland Resilience Alliance which works to create food justice, water conservation, and a diverse transition town movement. His work aims to cultivate the links between both local and global movements for social justice, spiritual awakening and ecological healing through "edutainment" and other compelling ways to captivate youth and highlight their inherent connection to societal transformation. Patrick Brown, Green For All Patrick Brown has spent the last 9 years working with OAI to train underserved communities to work in environmental health and safety. His primary function as Senior Instructor is to be responsible for training 80+ individuals per year to meet state requirements to receive licensure in Lead and Asbestos abatement. While at OAI, he has also been integral in the development of new curriculum including mold awareness, Hazardous communication and Hazwoper updates. Other duties include trainer evaluation and coordinating green initiatives within OAI’s 5 training sites nation wide. With a background in construction and lead abatement, Mr. Brown has recently focused on making jobs in the new green economy safe. As the number of green jobs grows and green technology advances it is important to him to keep worker safety at the forefront of this movement. Mr. Brown hopes that by doing such we can avoid the workplace injuries and marginalized health that were characteristic of the last pollution based economy. Rep. Rachel Storch, Missouri House of Representatives (District 64) At age 32, Rachel Storch was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. A native St. Louisian, Rachel grew up in the district she now represents. She graduated from the John Burroughs School and attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she graduated cum laude with an A.B. in American History and Literature. She received her law degree from Washington University School of Law, where she was an Olin Fellow in Law and an Associate Editor of the law review. Rachel serves on three committees in the Missouri House: Budget; Ways and Means; and Appropriations for Transportation and Economic Development. She is also a Deputy Whip for the Democratic Caucus. Following her first year in the legislature, Rachel was recognized as "Best Local Politician" by the Riverfront Times and "Best Up-and-Coming Politician" by St. Louis Magazine. She also received "Legislator of the Year" awards from Paraquad and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Rachel has committed her adult life to fighting for the people of Missouri. She had the privilege of working for both Mel and Jean Carnahan. In 2000, Rachel was the Director of Operations on Governor Carnahan's campaign for the United States Senate against John Ashcroft. Subsequently, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Senator Jean Carnahan in Washington, D.C. Rachel was the senior policy advisor for Senator Carnahan on a range of issues, including education, crime and public safety issues, and judicial nominations. Rachel also served as Legal Counsel and Director of Policy to Senator Ken Jacob, the Democratic Leader in Missouri's State Senate. She worked closely with Senator Jacob and other legislators to strengthen Missouri schools, protect the environment, promote urban development and preserve critical healthcare programs like the Children's Health Insurance Program. Prior to her work in politics, Rachel was a public interest attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri where she focused on health care and welfare issues affecting low-income Missourians. She also served as an AmericorpsVISTA attorney at Legal Services for a year after graduating from law school. <!--EndFragment--> <!--StartFragment--> Jessy Tolkan, Energy Action Coalition* <!--EndFragment--> Jessy Tolkan serves as the Executive Director for the Energy Action Coalition, a coalition of 50 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Energy Action Coalition leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses, high schools, and in local communities to build models of the clean energy future. Under her leadership the Energy Action Coalition is growing a generation-wide movement to stop global warming, by advocating for green jobs, stopping new coal plants, and making young people's voices heard in the policy debate around global climate change. Jessy has spent most of her career working to build power amongst the millenial generation. In 2004, as state director for the New Voters Project, Tolkan helped to register more than 130,000 young voters and produce one of the highest youth turnout rates in the country. She's been featured in Time Magazine, Hard Ball with Chris Matthews, and Vanity Fair Magazine. Jessy helped to plan the largest youth gathering on global warming in our nation's history - POWER SHIFT 2007, a conference that brought together more than 6000 youth representing all 50 states, and culminated with the largest single lobby day on capitol hill focused on global warming. Most recently, Jessy spearheaded POWER VOTE, a campaign to mobilize 1,000,000 young voters are climate and energy issues in more than 30 states across the country. Prior to her work at the Energy Action Coalition, Tolkan worked with leading advocacy and grassroots organizations including: United States Student Association, Young Democrats of America, and Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. Tolkan received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Political Science and African America-Studies. In 2006, Tolkan was named one of the REAL HOT 100 Women in America, for her work with young voters. <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->
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