Zero

Sami Aaron is the founder of the nonprofit, The Resilient Activist. Their mission is to build resilience, optimism, and hope in response to the impact of the climate crisis by providing community, stress-relief, and nature-connected programming that supports positive ecological change. Sami joins to discuss the intersection of mental health and climate activism and shares how we can take a mindful approach to addressing climate change. 

George Ongkiehong is a marketer, climate activist, and is now running for a seat in local government.  He has spent decades in the advertising and marketing space, focusing on crafting various sustainability campaigns.  His campaigns have successfully eliminated free plastic bags at grocery stores, implemented new recycling programs, and recently worked to ban fossil fuel based ads.  He is now campaigning to join the local council in Den Hague, Netherlands.  George joins to speak about his concern for the planet, passion to make a positive impact, and views on how best to effect change. 

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George Roter is the Managing Director of the Canada Plastic Pact, where he brings his leadership, organizational design, and social change skills with the goal of creating a circular economy in which plastic waste is kept in the economy and out of the environment. He previously served as CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada and Director of Open Innovation Programs at Mozilla.  George joins Zero to discuss the value of taking a systems view to creating a circular economy.

Justine Burt is the Program Lead for the Future of Work at Manzanita Works, a non-profit in Silicon Valley focused on improving the life for workers and their families.  She has spent 20 years consulting on sustainability behavior change for waste prevention, and is the author of The Great Pivot: Creating Meaningful Work to Build a Sustainable Future.  Justine joins Zero to highlight the influence that work, and workforce development, can have on creating a circular economy.

Michael Cyr is a waste industry expert and entrepreneur based in New York City.  After years in commercial waste hauling he now educates on the  shortcomings of recycling and promotes waste reduction and reuse models.  He is the co-founder of Cup Zero - a reusable cup service for events,  venues, and cafes. Cup Zero provides a turn-key approach making the  switch to the circular economy seamless and easy.  Michael joins Zero to open up our trash bin, talk about the materials that are thrown in there, the global journey that some go on, and the steps we can take to improve recycling and reduce the amount of material thrown in the trash. 

Ana Pacheco is the Quality Assurance Manager at Homeboy Electronics Recyling - a social enterprise devoted to offering electronics recyling services while also offering employment opportunities for people who face systemic barriers at work. In her role, she handles operational logistics, customer accounts, and EH&S compliance.  Ana joins Zero to share her passion about the interplay of sustainability and green job creation. 

Pat Mapelli is the Land Use Manager and Bay Restoration Lead for Graniterock.  He has specialized in several wetland restoration projects in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, and has managed projects from inception to completion, including multi-agency permitting, negotiations, land use change, land entitlements and construction. Pat joins Zero to share his wisdom on beneficially reusing materials in the construction sector - primarily dirt - as a way to restore wetlands. 

Laura Vicaria is the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for MUD Jeans, the world's first fully circular denim brand.  Through its Lease a Jeans model, MUD Jeans challenges the idea of ownership and aims to demonstrate that there is an alternative to fast fashion.  Laura joins Zero to discuss her work to drive continuous improvement in MUD Jeans' sustainability objectives and successes bringing circularity to the fashion industry.

As the co-founder and CEO of Sanergy, Ani Vallabhaneni oversees Sanergy's expansion, manages local resources, and sets the overall strategy for the company.  With a background in technology and operations, he previously built startups in India and the United States, and turned around a chain of dialysis clinics for low-income patients in the Philippines.  Ani joins Zero to discuss his experience implementing waste management ventures in Kenya, scaling start-ups, and beneficially reusing waste materials.

Cecile Pompei is a social entrepreneurship specialist with a passion for people and talent.  She is currently the Chief People Officer at Sistema.bio.  Her mission is to empower and grow people and operations, while fighting climate change and has done so for over 12 years in emerging markets (Asia, Africa, and Latin America).  Cecile joins Zero to shares her insights into the possiblity of making both a positive social and environmental impact, and how anyone can become more involved in social entrepreneurship.