Green Festival

Jackson bridges the gaps between environmental and social justice movements, starting first with bridging the generation divide. She has worked in various capacities, from a campus organizer to a community activist. Jackson is the product of a community supporting and empowering youth leadership, and went from cofounding the Progressive Student Coalition to serving as president for the Washington Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Grace Hearth is the collaboration between Keri Keifer of 'Oakland Hearth' and Jocelyn Jackson of 'With Grace.' Together we will nourish your special event with local and seasonal soul-warming food. Jocelyn comes from the prairies of Kansas and cultivated her love of food through large family gatherings, world travel, and transdisciplinary study and service with Art, Law, Environment and Yoga. Her experiences revealed the beautiful connection between whole food and whole earth wisdom.

The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Over the past forty years, he has played a pivotal role in virtually every movement for empowerment, peace, civil rights, gender equality, and economic and social justice. On August 9, 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Reverend Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Reverend Jackson has been called the "Conscience of the Nation" and "the Great Unifier," challenging America to be inc ...

Brima Jah shares yoga to re-awaken the rich inner world of voice, movement and wisdom that exists within all people. He draws inspiration from Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie, a deep love for dance, and his West African and Dutch Caribbean roots. He is grateful to his teachers Keith Borden and Jasmine Tarkeshi for sharing their light and wisdom. He is honored to both teach and study yoga at the Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Alexandra Jamieson has been seen on Oprah, CNN, 30 Days and The National Health Test with Bryant Gumble. She was also featured in the award-winning documentary Super Size Me. In her three books, Vegan Cooking For Dummies (Wiley, 2010), Living Vegan For Dummies (Wiley, 2009) and The Great American Detox Diet (Rodale, 2005), Alex offers remarkably sane – and tasty – advice on how to detox, live healthfully and feel fantastic. Alex now commands a matchless repertoire of nutritional wisdom and food savvy.She is a professionally trained healthy gourmet chef, having studied at New York City’ ...

Jamil has been a working actor since age 13. In 2007, he wrote and directed THE SON, a short narrative that debuted at the Urbanworld Film Festival, where he met his partner in Little Plow Films, Brittany Ballard. Jamil has participated in the Urbanworld Screenplay Competition with two projects: THE PYN, a satirical romp through the prison industrial complex, and MAKE A MOVIE LIKE SPIKE, a story of two best friends from Los Angeles who join the Marines and videotape their last 36 hours together before shipping off to Afghanistan. In addition to writing, directing and starring in MAKE A MOVIE L ...

Abby Jaramillo worked as a gardener and educator in the Bay Area for the past nine years. She started Urban Sprouts at Luther Burbank Middle School in 2004 with her colleague and friend and a group of dedicated teachers. Abby loves Urban Sprouts because she can share with young people the kinds of outdoor gardening experiences that have changed her life when she was a teen, trying to find peace in an urban environment. Abby has also worked on rural development projects in Ecuador and the Peruvian Amazon and worked in nonprofit funds development at Streetside Stories. She was trained in organic ...

Asher Jay is a designer, artist, writer and activist. She’s a staunch supporter of animal rights, wildlife conservation and sustainable development and she uses her fashion, art and writing to raise awareness. Through her extensive travels across the globe, and her studies in art history, she has developed an aesthetic sensibility that is amalgam of contrasting cultural influences. All her work is anchored by the deep commitment she harbors toward the realization of a collective future.Art for conservation is a spectacular way of educating and sensitizing the public about issues that are lar ...

Benjamin Todd Jealous is the 17th President and CEO of the NAACP. Appointed at age 35 in 2008, he is the youngest person to lead the century old organization. During his tenure, the NAACP's online activists have swelled from 175,000 to more than 600,000; its donors have increased from 16,000 individuals per year to more than 120,000; and its membership has increased three years in a row for the first time in more than 20 years. Jealous began his career as a community organizer in Harlem in 1991 with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund while working his way through college. In 1993, after being suspe ...

Jeff Smith is an environmental and renewable energy activist with 30 years' experience in grassroots campaigns and political organizing. A graduate of Northwestern University and Harvard Law School, he has tackled zoning, energy, environmental, and development cases, advised political candidates, not-for-profit groups, and local governments, and won a landmark case for Lake Michigan's public trust doctrine. Past president of a large community organization and a veteran board member of many others, he is intimate with political obstacles to progress. Jeff and allies successfully advocated for E ...

Barbara Jefferson is an African Ameri-Indian activist, facilitator, social entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed octopus. Her passions for justice, sustainability, spirituality, and personal empowerment have led to her working with organizations such as Generation Waking Up, Social Justice Fund NW, The Art Affect, One Becoming One, The Pachamama Alliance, and Common Action Consulting. She is deeply inspired by the role of mycelium in nature and strives to bring forth solutions to the world’s inequities by building empowering and wholistic networks that span across all lines of difference. She cu ...

Rev. Jeffrey is founder and CEO of the Black Dollar Days Taskforce in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood.

International bestselling author Jeffrey M. Smith is the leading spokesperson on the health dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). He documents how the world’s most powerful Ag biotech companies bluff and mislead the public and put the health of society at risk. Mr. Smith has counseled world leaders from every continent, campaigned to end the use of GE bovine growth hormone (rbGH or rbST), and influenced the first state laws in the United States regulating GMOs. Jeffrey is the author of Seeds of Deception and of Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Enginee ...

Jennifer Fernandez is an amateur homesteader and environmental enthusiast in San Francisco. She first became interested in the green life on a visit to a permaculture farm in El Salvador during her studies at the University of San Francisco. Jennifer was fascinated by the farm’s simple, affordable, and doable ways to stay green! She hopes to bring those aspects of permaculture to her SF apartment one day, and teach others about the importance of our impact on the planet. You can follow her experiments in homesteading on her blog: homesteadish.com

Ericka Jennings is CEO of Green Key Real Estate and a real estate agent practicing in the larger Bay Area. As an EcoBroker® and Certified Green Building Professional, Ericka brings her extensive knowledge of green building practices to every transaction. Viewing the home as a whole system has greatly influenced how she does business -- from advising clients on what green repairs and improvements they can make, to collaborating with other agents and vendors to support the transaction. Ericka obtained a Masters in Business degree from San Diego State University with a focus on Entrepreneurship ...

Kathy Jentz is Editor, Publisher and Founder of Washington Gardener Magazine. Kathy is a life-long gardener from a family of farmers and dedicated gardeners. Currently, she is President of the Silver Spring Garden Club and on the board of several other clubs and organizations. You can read Kathy's work in the Washington Examiner and Washington Woman in addition to regular guest spots on Channel 9, Channel 4 and WAMU radio.

MacGyverClass! is an after school program currently operating in four elementary schools in the Bay Area. This program encourages kids to indulge their natural creative abilities to address random challenges with simple recycled materials. Matthew Jervis is a graduate from the California College of the Arts and has been in professional practice as an artist, graphic designer and creative consultant in the Bay Area since 2000. He has been teaching MacGyverClass! to kids from K thru 5th grade for the last 5 years.

Jessica M. Jones, an Environmental Policy major, is the recipient of the 2011 Sonoma County Environmental Youth Activist Award and the Leadership in Sustainability Emerging Leader Award. She is the Associated Students President of Santa Rosa Junior College, the co-founder and President of the award winning club, “Students for Sustainable Communities,” the recent graduate of the Leadership Institute for the Ecology and the Economy and is working towards her certification as a Waldorf Teacher. Jessica has spoken at the 9th Higher Education Sustainability Conference, "Our Sustainable Future," ...

Jhamel Robinson is a young entrepreneur who grew up in the mean streets of Oakland, California. While many of his peers succumbed to the various lures of the streets, Jhamel chose entrepreneurship as his ticket out of poverty. Jhamel is an active member of the Hip-Hop activist community and collaborates with various organizations through out the nation. As a recording artist under the stage name J-Milli-on he has shared the stage with such superstars as KanYe West, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lemar, Dead Prez, Too $hort, Mistah F.A.B., Zion I, Incubus and Audio Slave. He is currently a student at Laney ...

National Organizer for Student Labor Action Project, Jimenez became an activist as a student around access to higher education and immigrant rights. He went on to do community organizing in Orange County around housing and tenant rights before moving into a campaign to unionize health care workers in Oregon and Southern California.

Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi is the Senior Community Organizer for the Green Buildings, Good Jobs Project at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). Prior to his work at LAANE, he was a director of youth organizing and civic engagement for the Community Coalition in South Los Angeles. In that capacity, he helped lead campaigns to win millions of dollars for South Los Angeles schools, coordinated several large demonstrations to fight budget cuts to California’s safety net and spearheaded an historic effort to bring school-based support services to at-risk youth. In addition to working with ...

Max Joel is the Director of the Energy Connections Program at Solar One, a non-profit green energy, arts, and education center based in New York City. The Energy Connections Program develops education, outreach, and community partnership projects in an effort to make all New Yorkers part of our city’s ambitious efforts to combat climate change and develop a clean, green economy. Ongoing projects include Clean Energy Connections, a discussion series and networking hub for NYC’s emerging cleantech economy, and Whole Building Education, which trains the managers, staff, and residents of low-i ...

Professor of Communication and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Johansen has authored several books, including The Global Warming Reference Desk.

Jones is a Community Organizer/Transportation Specialist. Jones is an experienced urban organizer who joined Developing Communities Project (DCP) Inc. on May 1st, to led the organizing to extend the CTA Red line from 95th to 130th Street. DCP is a faithbased organizing group serving the Greater Roseland communities.Through the years, Jones has worked extensively on grassroots campaigns in Englewood, West Pullman, Austin, South Shore, Brainerd, Uptown, and New City and across the city. His most recent work was at Friends of the Parks as Director of Neighborhood Parks and Community Relations. Jo ...

Perkins, a former economic hit man, is a founder and board member of Dream Change and the Pachamama Alliance, nonprofit organizations devoted to creating stable, sustainable and peaceful worlds. He has lectured and taught at universities on four continents including Harvard, Wharton and Princeton, and is a champion of environmental and social causes. Perkins's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller lists and has been published in more than 30 languages, details the clandestine operations that created the world's first truly global emp ...

John thinks different than most, as he chooses not to use the term food chain. A web refers to things dependent on each other, which is really what we are a part of, he says. Anderson, known as the Worm Man, is skilled in the art of vermicomposting, which creates compost with worms. Vermicompost is a rich soil amendment for area gardens. As a child growing up in Minnesota, Anderson's interest in gardening was evident, I was always digging in the dirt, he says. After immigrating to Colorado John completed CSUs Larimer County Training Programs and then became a Master Gardener and Composter Vol ...

Karen Y. Johns; President, The Johns Group Inc.Karen Y. Johns is a successful innovator with over 20 years of experience and leadership in the nonprofit, education and corporate arenas. The mission of the Johns Group is to work with corporations, educational institutions and nonprofits to build a diverse educational and workforce pipeline. Its strategy for effectiveness lies in connecting the right people with the right resources...for a change. The group also believes that the solutions to many of the challenges our society faces can be addressed through cross sector collaboration.Prior to ...

Vacillating between HipHop, Soul, Electronica, Reggae, World and everykind of rhythm in between, sultry voiced Jennifer Johns crafts stirringtunes that are both heartrending and headbobbing. The Oakland,California music powerhouse proved herself as a potent interpreter oftaboo desires with a passion for creating Electric HipSoul, on hercriticallyhailed debut, heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop,showing up ; coming singers/songwriters/lyricists/producers howits done.An exceptionally graceful artist, Johns got her start by hittinghigh notes in the church and school choirs, but it was her e ...

Wahleah Johns is a member of the Navajo (Dine) tribe and the community of Forest Lake, which is one of several communities atop Black Mesa,Arizona. Wahleah's work with the Black Mesa Water Coalition and NavajoGreen Economy Coalition has led to groundbreaking legislativevictories for groundwater protection, green jobs and environmentaljustice. As vice chair of the Navajo Green Economy Commission, she isdeveloping green economic opportunities in clean energy andtraditional economicpractices.

After nearly fifteen years in San Francisco and California environs, Executive Chef Wayne A. Johnson became Executive Chef of the Mayflower Park Hotel in 1999. He oversees all food activities for the hotel, Andaluca Restaurant and Bar and Oliver Lounge. Under his culinary supervision, Andaluca has won Seattle Magazine's Best Overall Restaurant Award and is listed in ZAGATS NW Restaurant Guide as Seattle’s Top 20 most popular restaurants. Andaluca features Northwest foods influenced by the flavors of the Mediterranean. With over 20 years experience in the food industry, Johnson is a board mem ...

Milicent Johnson is an idealistic realist with a passion for learning, laughing, and building community. Her passion for empowering communities to find meaningful solutions and resilience led her to work on asset building and economic development through education, policy, research, and community organizing with a focus on low income communities and communities of color. In her role at Shareable, Milicent's main objective is to network shareable urban designers, businesses, alternative economy and thought leaders with communities that are ripe for implementing sharing practices in order to str ...

Michael Johnson-Chase is the Director of the Green Career Training Program at Solar One. Responsible for program design and management, partnership development and employer cultivation, Michael built the training program from an idea in 2009 to serving 695 participants in energy efficiency, renewable energy and building operations and maintenance courses in 2011. A former university professor, Michael is past Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance and Associate Dean for the Peck School of Fine Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Michael has worked extensively at premier cul ...

Sadhu Johnston is the Commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Environment. He was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in July of 2005 after serving as the Assistant to the Mayor for Green Initiatives for one and a half years. His responsibilities include the overall management of DOE, which administers programs to protect and restore Chicago's natural resources; reduce waste; clean up brownfields; promote energy efficiency and reliability; educate the public about environmental issues; and enforce the City's environmental protection laws.As the Assistant to the Mayor for Green Initia ...

Jolda is Senior Vice President for Marcal Paper LLC, the nation's leading manufacturer of household paper goods from 100 percent recycled paper. An industry pioneer, Marcal has used recycled paper to make paper towels, napkins, facial tissue and bath tissue since 1950. Jolda is responsible for the Marketing and R;D efforts for the Marcal Small Steps brand.Jolda's 20plusyear track record of brand revitalization spans a wide range of consumer products, concentrating in food, household cleansers and OTC/HBA.Prior to Marcal, Jolda was Marketing Director at Gerber, where she led the revitalization ...

Talat Jonathan Phillips is the author of The Electric Jesus: The Healing Journey of a Contemporary Gnostic.He co-founded the cutting edge, transformational web-magazine Reality Sandwich and The Evolver Network, coordinating 50+ regional Evolver chapters. He is a spirituality blogger for "The Huffington Post" and a Bioenergetic Healer. www.TalatHealing.com

Pennye Jones-Napier is a Co-Founder of The Big Bad Woof holistic, eco-friendly pet supply stores started in 2005. She frequently writes and speaks on nutrition, raw feeding and well-care issues for companion animals. She is a volunteer with Red Rover for equine and companion animal sheltering / rescue work, and her company was honored as a Humane Business Hero by the Washington Humane Society in 2011. She and her partner started the 1st Benefit Corporation in 2010 (Maryland & the US) and the 1st certified B Corporation as a franchise entity in 2011. Prior to owning The Big Bad Woof, Ms. Jon ...

Benjamin P. Jordan, P.E., provides Civil Engineering and technical expertise for ecological projects that focus on sustainable energy resources. He has established four different worker cooperatives and nonprofits to assist municipalities in recycling energy such as vegetable oil, boutique alterative fuel distribution, green urban utility design and education and advocacy. Currently Mr. Jordan holds positions as a Professional Engineer for Rana Creek, Peoples Fuel Cooperative, Biofuel Recycling Cooperative, San Francisco Biofuels Cooperative, faculty of City College of San Francisco and Indige ...

Dennis A. Jose is a prize winning visual artist, author and performance artist who, over a 25 year period, has evolved a community arts hub both in Chicago and online at ArtLab123.com, which he, along with the Mobius Group, direct. For two decades plus, he has sought to evolve a sustainable, eco-friendly and people-friendly manner of directing his artistic and personal life as a student on the green-blue Earth that we share.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph identifies as father, husband, educator, artist,and second generation American. His roots are on Broadway (The Tap Dance Kid; Stand Up Tragedy), his grounding is in spoken word, (1999 National Poetry Slam Champion; HBO’s Def Poetry) and his recent internationally commissioned post-hip hop theater works include ‘red, black and GREEN: a blues’ and ‘the break/s.’ He is artistic director emeritus and founding program director of the literary arts nonprofit Youth Speaks, for which he curated the Living Word Festival, Life is Living, and Left Coast Leaning as well as th ...

Before joining the Shedd team, Michelle worked closely with scientists worldwide to develop volunteerbased research expeditions for the international nonprofit, Earthwatch Institute. While with Earthwatch, she traveled to Africa, the Caribbean, and Mexico to assist with field research on community health, Leatherback sea turtles, and whale sharks, respectively. Michelle also spent time with Walt Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom, New England Aquarium, and Museum of ScienceBoston as a conservation educator. Before embarking on her career, Michelle graduated with honors from the University of Wisc ...

Rachael Joy is a filmmaker and activist who is passionate about great storytelling and the environment. She is Co-Chair, of PGA Green West, the Producers Guild of America’s Green Committee on the West coast, helping lead the charge toward environmentally-conscious sustainable productions world-wide. As a producer of "It's Easy Being Green" for HGTV, Rachael shot with green luminaries such as Willie Nelson, John Cougar Mellencamp, Paul Newman, Daryl Hannah and renowned chef Alice Waters. She's produced stories covering the Solar Decathlon, 40th anniversary of Earth Day, climate change, sustai ...

Elijah Joy has mastered the art of storytelling through food. As expressed in thru his signature recipes, the raw and delectable Go Go Greens and his latest hit Aunt Gerty's Four Cheese Mac n Cheese. As a private chef, Elijah has wowed the likes of soul music legends Isaac Hayes, Erykah Badu, BB King, India Arie and others. He is currently staging Organic Soul Live a vegan pop up restaurant and retail store in Oakland/ San Francisco, New York City and Washington, DC. Organic Soul Live is pleased to be featured on the Good Food Stage this year connecting stories of love food family community an ...

Joy Smith is an international dance and fitness presenter and Zumba education specialist. She is a choreographer for music videos, TV, movies, musical artists and more in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Brazil, Japan and the US. Her awards include: International Presenter of theYear in Italy, Funk Instructor of the Year in France and Aerobic Instructor of the Year in Santa Cruz. ACE and AFAA faculty. She is the owner and director of The Santa Cruz Dance Company in Soquel, CA.

The Almighty J's is the name these Oakland siblings chose to represent their creative collaborative efforts. Ranging in ages from 5 to 9, the children sing, dance to their own choreographies, play the drums, and act. Recently, they performed in a musical theatre production featured at the last Greenfest, EnviroWar.

Siel is an environmental writer, activist, and founder of Green LA Girl (http://greenlagirl.com/), her blog about eco-friendly, sustainable living in Los Angeles. Siel has a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California, teaches at Loyola Marymount University and Otis College of Arts and Design, and lives in Santa Monica. Siel writes and speak about environmental and fair trade issues and is a Contributing Editor at BlogHer.com (formerly Green section editor) and previously headed up LATimes.com’s environmental blog, Emerald City. She served as editor fo ...

Adela joined the Homegirl team three years ago and quickly worked her way up to a leadership role. After a few years in prison, Adela utilized the opportunity at Homegirl to put her life back on track and become a loving example to her children.

Judith Martin is the founding chair of The Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.

Antonia Juhasz is the Director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange where she takes on Big Oil by uniting and advocating for communities on the front lines oil’s production, transport and refining. Juhasz is the author of several books, including: Black Tide: the Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill and The Tyranny of Oil: the World’s Most Powerful Industry—And What We Must Do To Stop It. Juhasz is the editor of The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report, 2009 and 2010 and the Wall Street Journal has named her "one of [Chevron's] most vocal critics." Juhasz appears re ...

Julie Anderson is a senior policy advisor for the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, where she arrived in April 2007. She concentrates on green economy, workforce development, global health, and industry cluster policies. Concurrently, Julie is an elected official, serving as a Tacoma City Council Member since 2004. For over 20 years, Julie has been known as an advocate for local government, a public servant, and commonsense administrator. Julie's past professional service comes from a wide variety of fields, including political strategy, human servic ...

Dhyana Justl is a dedicated yoga instructor and educator. She has been an explorer of yoga and theatrical arts for 14 years. The study and practice of many forms of yoga, meditation and theatre have led her to India, Nepal, England, France, The Yukon, New Mexico and California. She has acted, directed and led theatre workshops for kids across Canada and England. She has worked with Green Kids since 2003.Dhyana has been teaching yoga full time to kids, adults, seniors and adults with disabilities for 3 years. She holds a BA Honours Degree in Theatre and Religious Studies which lends to her play ...