First hour - International Focus - Update on UN Climate negotiations COP 20 in Lima, Peru. We will be talking to activists who were in Lima.
Claire Greensfelder is a lifelong environmental, peace and safe energy activist, educator, political campaigner, and journalist. Claire presently serves as Policy and Organizational Consultant to the International Women’s Earth and Climate Initiative (IWECI) and to the international, multi-media exhibit-Conversations with the Earth: Indigenous Voices on Climate Change (CWE).
Jane Lapiner is a dancer, the Artistic Director of The Human Nature Theater Company. Recently, Human Nature has produced two shows about climate change, both comedies, and is currently working on its third. Jane lives on a small farm in the lower Mattole River Valley. Jane teaches a variety of dance and theater classes in the schools and community and has helped produce over the years a number of excellent school shows for local touring.
David Simpson is a graduate of the University of California in Berkeley. He majored in English and HIstory. He performed with the San Francisco Mime Troupe in the mid-1960's where he met his life partner, Jane Lapiner. David was a co-founder of the Mattole Salmon Group, the Mattole Restoration Council and the Institute for Sustainable Forestry. He has been a producer and performer in all of Human Nature's shows and has done bioregional standup comedy throughout the Shasta bioregion. David and Jane have attended five of the last six United Nations Conferences of the Parties of the UNFCCC.
In the Second Hour - We focus on national, sub-national, state, local communities, individual responses to climate change
Jeff Conant - directs Friends of the Earth’s international forests program, which seeks to protect forests and the rights of forest-dependent peoples by addressing the root causes of forest destruction, and knowledgeable on Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and California’s AB32. Jeff has written frequently for outlets such as Alternet, Corpwatch, Earth Island Journal, Yes!, Race, Poverty and the Environment and Z Magazine.
Cynthia Kaufman - Cynthia has a doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and teaches Philosophy and Women’s Studies at De Anza College in Cupertino. Director of the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement at De Anza College where she also teaches Philosophy. She is the author of two books on social change “Getting Past Capitalism: History, Vision, Hope and Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change. She is a climate justice activist and social change activist, having worked on issues such as tenants’ rights, police abuse, union organizing, international politics, and most recently climate change.
Peter Asmus - Peter is an internationally known expert on energy, a principal research analyst at Navigant Research. Formerly, he was a senior research analyst contributing to Pike Research’s Smart Energy practice, with a focus on wind energy as well as emerging energy distribution models such as micro grids and virtual power plants. Asmus has 20 years of experience in energy and environmental markets, as an analyst, writer, and consultant. Peter is also a KWMR programmer.