Top 10 Speakers

Green Festival is where your community comes together to engage with today’s leading authors, celebrities, visionaries and activists renowned both Seattle, and around the world. You will be inspired by the people you meet; enlightened by the workshops you participate in; and empowered by the skills and knowledge you discover.

Here are ten highlights from the 125 talented and innovative speakers you can connect with at Seattle Green Festival this May 21 - 22 hosted at the Qwest Event Center:

Dr. David C. Korten - Saturday 12pm, Main Stage

Dr. David C. Korten is the author of Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth (August 2010), and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community (2006). Korten is board chair of YES! Magazine; co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, founded in late 2008 with the Institute for Policy Studies; a board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE); founder and president of the People-Centered Development Forum (also known as the Living Economies Forum); a founding associate of the International Forum on Globalization; and a member of the Club of Rome. He lives with his life partner, Fran, Executive Director and Publisher of YES! Magazine, on Bainbridge Island, WA.

Jourdan Keith - Sunday 1:30 pm, Community Action Pavilion

Keith is the founder and director of Urban Wilderness Project (UWP), providing culturally based storytelling, restoration and wilderness programs rooted in social change. Keith's work as a literary artist, environmental educator, community organizer and social justice advocate informs her ongoing development of the R U An Endangered Species?™ curriculum and community workshops.

Keith Tucker - Saturday 1 pm, Green Living Stage

Keith Tucker is a social activist, journalist and entrepreneur. He is the visionary force behind the documentary film project "Pursuit of a Green Planet, where Hip Hop Meets the Green Movement." Pursuit of A Green Planet is the first documentary about Hip Hop culture and its relationship to the Green Movement. In the film Keith Tucker will become a living experiment as he makes the radical transition from your average American diet and lifestyle to one that is truly vegan, organic and green.

Shannon Quimby - Saturday 1:30 pm Green Building & Renewable Energy

HGTV Designer, Author, and Eco Decorating Expert Shannon Quimby has been sharing sustainable decorating and design ideas across the country for the past 19 years. You can catch her on CBS KOIN Studio 6, and read her DIY column in "The Oregonian," Homes and Gardens section.

Rep. Dennis Kuchinich - Sunday 2pm, Main Stage

Since being elected to Congress in 1996, Kucinich has been a tireless advocate for worker rights, civil rights and human rights. In Congress, Kucinich has authored and co-sponsored legislation to create a national health care system, preserve Social Security, lower the costs of prescription drugs, provide economic development through infrastructure improvements, abolish the death penalty, provide universal prekindergarten to all 3, 4, and 5 year olds, create a Department of Peace, regulate genetically engineered foods, repeal the USA PATRIOT Act, and provide tax relief to working class families. 

Kucinich has been honored by Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters as a champion of clean air, clean water and an unspoiled earth. Kucinich has twice been an official United States delegate to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (1998, 2004) and attend the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lisa Taylor - Sunday 1:30 pm Sustainable Home & Garden

Lisa Taylor, author of Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals, lives in Seattle, Washington with her partner, son and 3 chickens on their city farm. She is Education Program Manager for Seattle Tilth and spends most days growing and eating plants with children. She is passionate about teaching children and their parents where their food comes from and how to care for living things.

Ron Harris-White - Saturday 2:30 pm, Community Action Pavilion

Ron Harris-White is Executive Sponsor and co-lead of the Seattle Parks Urban Food Systems Committee.  Seattle Parks and Recreation, through its Healthy Parks Healthy You Initiative, has taken a leadership role in ensuring children and families have nutritious food choices that promote health, reduce the incidence of obesity and certain diseases and promote wellness. For the past few years, Ron’s assignments have involved the City of Seattle’s grassroots climate action campaign and the development of Seattle’s Race & Social Justice Initiative.

Edward Humes - Saturday 3pm, Main Stage

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, Edward Humes' latest book is Force of Nature: The Unlikely Story of Wal-Mart's Green Revolution (Harper Collins, May 2011). His other books include the PEN Award-winning No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year In the Life of Juvenile Court, the bestseller Mississippi Mud, and Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul, now under development at HBO.

Shefali Raganathan - Sunday 3:30 pm, Green Building & Renewable Energy

Ranganathan is the Director of Programs at Transportation Choices Coalition, a statewide non-profit focused on bringing residents more opportunities to take transit, walk or bike. A self described transportation geek, Ranganathan joined the Transportation Choices team in 2007, working on education and outreach efforts throughout Washington State helping residents chose transportation alternatives that work for them.

Rob Holmes - Sunday 1 pm, Green Living Stage

Rob Holmes is the Founder and President of Green Living Project™ (GLP) and has a diverse background in international conservation, sustainable tourism, media production and business. He has built and managed GLP to be a leading media production and marketing company, showcasing global sustainability-related initiatives.