Changemaker Speakers

LISTEN TO MS. VORAAKHOM'S ADDRESS (62 min)

Voraakhom, CEO and Founder of Landprocess and Porous City Network, is a pioneering Thai landscape architect renowned for her expertise in designing public spaces that address the climate crisis in dense urban environments. She led the creation of Bangkok's first critical green infrastructure project (Chulalongkorn Centenary Park), the Thammasat Urban Farm Rooftop (Asia’s largest urban farming green roof), and the Chao Phraya Sky Park. A passionate advocate for nature-based solutions, her trailblazing work has earned her the UN Global Climate Action Award: Women for Results; she Chairs the Climate Change Working Group for the International Federation of Landscape Architects; and participates in the Global Commission on Nature Positive Cities with the World Economic Forum. She has won numerous prestigious awards. She received her master's in landscape architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. 

LISTEN TO MR. HYMAN'S ADDRESS (49 min)

St. Louis-based Randall Hyman is a science writer, photojournalist, and professor who has published in Science, Nature, Smithsonian, The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, and National Geographic publications, to name a few. Four decades of reporting have taken him from the Arctic Ocean to tropical rainforests to Africa and inner Asia, where he documents climate change and field science. Social justice and Indigenous rights are important themes in his work, including women’s leadership in the Navajo Nation and the rising voice of the Sámi people in northern Scandinavia. As a Fulbright Scholar in Journalism and Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow, Randall's highly acclaimed work reminds us of the capacity of art – and artists – to change our perspectives, to inspire us, and to transport us into the beauty (and peril) of the far corners of an ever-changing planet. 

LISTEN TO MS. STEVENSON'S ADDRESS (57 min)

This year we recognize Sue Stevenson, Director of Strategic Partnerships and International Development for Barefoot College International for her pioneering work in empowering women-led innovations in education, technology, and healthcare aimed towards sustainable social and economic uplift. Sue has had a wide-ranging career with leadership roles in both the private and nonprofit sectors and spent a number of years as Director of Business in the Environment, a key part of HRH Prince Charles’ charitable organization engaged in promoting environmentally responsible, profitable businesses alongside multinational business and corporate partners. 

LISTEN TO MS. ROBINETTE'S ADDRESS (62 min)

Beth Robinette is the fourth generation of her family to work the Lazy R. After completing her studies at Western Washington University, she earned her MBA at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, an independent business school dedicated to using the tools of business for environmental and social good. Beth became the first second-generation certified Holistic Management educator in 2015, and has taught this science in Turkey, Mexico, Sweden, and throughout the US. Beth is co-founder of LINC Foods, a worker-farmer-owned cooperative food hub based in Spokane, and co-facilitator of the New Cowgirl Camp, a 5-day intensive course for women interested in learning regenerative ranching. 

LISTEN TO DR. SNOREK'S ADDRESS (75 min)

Dr. Julie Snorek holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. As a social ecologist, she has been developing an intricate understanding of social, ecological, and political transitions in the Sahel and Sahara where she has lived and worked for over twelve years with rural, nomadic and semi-nomadic societies. Throughout her research, Julie strives to engage in a co-production of knowledge and to support and enhance practices of sustainability.  Her all-campus talk explores on new patterns of development, a future of regeneration, sustainability, justice, and degrowth, with examples of how we can build a new ecology of care.

Dr. Benjamin Santer, an atmospheric scientist at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, focused our 2019 Changemaker lecture on "finding your voice", emphasizing that we cannot solve the problem of human-caused climate change if citizens are silent, fearful of the consequences of speaking science to power. He explained the science behind the nature and causes of modern climate change, including pointing out some of the key uncertainties in this type of work, and concluded with stories from his own career that have led him to believe that we all have a stake in advancing the science - and in using our own unique voice to help ensure a more sustainable world for all living things.

LISTEN TO MS. SILVESTRI'S ADDRESS (60 min)

Nikki Silvestri is the Founder and CEO of Soil and Shadow, a coaching and consulting firm that seeks to bring more impact to the work of social and environmental entrepreneurs. A nationally recognized thought leader and international speaker, her many honors include being named one of The Root's 100 Most Influential African Americans, and receiving ELLE Magazine's "Gold" Award and OxFam America's "Act Local, Think Global" Award. Her energetic presentation emphasized the dynamic intersection of ecology, economy and social equity - and also served as one of the Keynote Addresses at the College's 2018 Public Affairs Conference.

Dr. Jeffrey Kenworthy received his PhD from Murdoch University on the topic of "Driving Cycles, Urban Form and Transport Energy." He’s most well-known for the development of extensive international comparative databases on urban transport and land use in cities worldwide around the theme of automobile dependence and how to reduce it. He teaches courses and supervises graduate students in Curtin University in Australia and Goethe University in Germany. He is an author on more than 200 books and scientific papers, and has received the Australian Centenary Medal from the Australian Prime Minister’s Office for service to planning and sustainability in relation to public transport and urban form.  He is shown here with his son, Nathanael (C'19).

LISTEN TO DR. SANTER'S ADDRESS (90 min)

Dr. Benjamin Santer, an atmospheric scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, focuses on the use of statistical methods in climate science, and the detection and attribution of natural and anthropogenic “fingerprints” in observed climate records. During his second visit, Ben delved deeper into the evidence for a "discernible human influence" on the global climate system, the impetus behind the so-called warming hiatus, why natural causes alone cannot explain the profound atmospheric (and oceanic) changes that scientists are documenting, the Ten Life Lessons that the pursuit of science has taught him, and the importance of finding balance, peace, and serenity in a changing world.

LISTEN TO MR. AVIRAM ROZIN'S ADDRESS (78 min)

Mr. Aviram Rozin, Founder and Director of Sadhana Forest, was born in Israel in 1965, earned a Master’s degree in Psychology, and, in 2002, immigrated with his family to India, impelled by a quiet vision of planting trees to heal severely degraded land. It was not a financially lucrative idea, but he saw it as spiritually rewarding. In 2010, Sadhana Forest won Third Place in the prestigious Humanitarian Water and Food Award. Today the Sadhana Forest is active in India, Kenya and Haiti - and more than 90,000 trees later, we can see these forests from space! Yet the humble aim of this program remains unchanged: to introduce as many people as possible to sustainable living, to food security through ecological transformation, and to the rewards of rebuilding something that had been broken. 

LISTEN TO DR. HAUSDOERFFER'S ADDRESS (67 min)

Dr. John Hausdoerffer is Dean of Environment and Sustainability at Western Colorado University. He believes that peace between humans begins with a spiritual connection, and he calls for a new ethic that views all places as part of our home, all generations of all beings as part of our scope of responsibility, and all actions as potential expressions of human care for the world. In his own words, "environmental ethics insists on humans as more than bodies that consume bodies in a global economy, insists that we are wholehearted beings capable of understanding and caring for the complex local and global systems that sustain us."  

LISTEN TO DR. SANTER'S ADDRESS (106 min)

Dr. Benjamin Santer, an atmospheric scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, focuses on the use of statistical methods in climate science, and the detection and attribution of natural and anthropogenic “fingerprints” in observed climate records.  His research contributed to the historic “discernible human influence” conclusion of the 1995 Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is a recipient of the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award and a Distinguished Scientist Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Norbert Gerbier/ MUMM award from the World Meteorological Organization, and, in recognition of his “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research”, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.