Archives: People

Janet started her career as a “Hospitalist doctor” working in hospitals treating patients with heart attacks, strokes, and other serious illnesses. After seeing how patients were sometimes harmed by medical errors, she got deeply involved in improving hospital systems to deliver safer care and led many national quality and safety initiatives. At the peak of her medical career, she was unexpectedly called back to her family farm to help wind down the company and lease the farm out. She planned on being away for a few months, and 8 years later, she is still there. She is still a doctor, but sees patients only one day a week. On all the other days, she is practicing Preventative Medicine on the farm. By providing fresh, beautiful, organic vegetables and fruits that taste delicious, she is helping people lead healthier lives. Most of the produce you get in grocery stores are produced for shelf life, not flavor. They are genetically engineered to look beautiful, last longer, and transport well. And this is why many children don’t eat as many fruits and vegetables as they should! Janet is delighted to be providing fresh, organic Fuji Apples to K-12 schools for the first time. The apples don’t look as perfect as the genetically engineered and pre-packaged varieties, but they taste so much better! What gives you hope in this upside down world? Courageous, thoughtful, and resilient people give me hope. My parents, at 101 and 97 years old are one example. They have endured a lot of prejudice and hardship but never gave up their dreams. People who fight for justice and do the right thing despite putting themselves at risk, i.e. whistleblowers inspire me and give me hope.

Charles Orgbon III’s journey as an environmentalist began in 2008 — he was only 12-years-old. Charles noticed his school’s littered campus, and wanted to organize an effort to resolve the problem. He later developed Greening Forward, which would become a leading organization in the United States devoted to training and funding environmental leaders, ages 5-25. Greening Forward has distributed tens of thousands of dollars in funding to youth environmental projects that plant trees, build compost bins, install rain barrels, monitor streams, recycle tons of waste, and advocate for a number of other environmental issues. Today, Charles continues to serve on the Board of Directors for Greening Forward, and he has expanded his impact to working with the corporate sector. As a consultant at EY, he helps his clients identify climate risks, mitigate climate risks, and prepare for a more sustainable, equitable future. Creatively, Charles is an accomplished writer, having written children’s literature, comics, articles, and songs. He is represented by Bookends Literary Agency.

At age nine, Nalleli Cobo engaged in community activism for the first time. Growing up across the street from AllenCo Energy, an oil well in her community, Nalleli noticed her health took a turn for the worse. What began as headaches intensified to body spasms and heart palpitations. She worked with her community to create a grassroots campaign called People Not Pozos (wells)
in hopes to permanently shut down AllenCo energy. Nalleli is a co-founder of the South Los Angeles Youth Leadership Coalition, which successfully sued the city of LA for violation of the California Environmental Quality Act and environmental racism. In early 2020 she was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer after almost a year of treatment including surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments she is officially cancer free. Cobo continues to fight to defend the health, safety, and environment for her community and generations to come.

Arianne Teherani, PhD is Professor of Medicine and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the University of California, Center for Climate Health and Equity. Arianne also serves Director for Program Evaluation and Education Continuous Quality Improvement and Education Scientist in the Center for Faculty Educators at the UCSF School of Medicine. Arianne’s research has informed local and global conversations, research agendas and policies in educational equity and education for climate change and health. She studies the role of educational practices in perpetuating disparities and evaluates interventions aimed at creating equity during health professions education. She launched and co-leads the Equity and Justice in Education Initiative. Arianne’s research also focuses on education as a core solution to the climate change and health crisis. She examines practices and interventions that emphasize local and community-engaged education to learning, clinical practice, and sustainable thinking. work examines outcomes of successful endeavors to train health professionals and practicing clinicians to educate their students and patients about climate-health impacts, the role of health systems science education in prompting decarbonization, and the carbon footprint of ongoing, often unquestioned education practices. She was the co-led for Climate Change and Health course for medical and pharmacy students for many years. She developed and led the University of California-wide Climate and Health Education Faculty Development Initiative which trained faculty members in health science schools to integrate climate and health into their ongoing courses. She currently serves on the Global Climate Leadership Council Faculty Engagement tam and chairs the UC Sustainability and Diversity, Justice, and Equity Advisory Council. Arianne’s research has been featured in venues such as National Public Radio, KTVU, and the Huffington Post. She was the recipient of the UCSF Faculty Sustainability Award and the UC Sustainability Champion Award. Dr Teherani was named the University of California Faculty Climate Action Champion – an award given to one faculty member at each University of California campus in recognition of their contribution to the mission of sustainability and carbon neutrality. 

Stephen Kirk is a second-year International Development and Environment student at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and current Project Green Course participant. His passion for the environment began when he started pursuing photography as a way of capturing the world through his own lens, focusing on nature and its endless beauty. He continued this nature-focused work through hikes, mountain biking, and fundraising events for the non-profit sector. He is passionate about climate justice, responsibility, and advocating for organisations and governments to change for the better. After Stephen graduates, he hopes to work in the non-profit sector in making projects and organisations more environmentally friendly and efficient, policymaking for environmental protection, and meeting the 1.5º C Paris Agreement target. He spends his free time in nature, focusing on mental health, reading, and enjoying the beauty of our world. He believes, “The only way humans will survive in the future is if we work together, connected, with nature. It is paramount that environmental justice must be served for all of the damage that has been caused and is to be caused to our world.”

Dr. Jessica Shade is the Director of Science Programs at The Organic Center where she directs projects associated with communicating and conducting research related to organic agriculture. During her tenure at The Organic Center Dr. Shade has collaborated on diverse research programs ranging from applied solutions to on-farm challenges to methods for improving environmental impacts of agriculture. Some of her most recent collaborations include projects aimed at mitigating climate change, decreasing agriculturally-mediated nutrient pollution, increasing on-farm biodiversity, and developing integrated pest management solutions for organic growers. Dr. Shade developed and leads the Center’s signature conference event, Organic Confluences, which brings together policy makers, researchers, farmers, industry members, and other non-profits to address and overcome challenges faced by the organic sector. She has also been an invited speaker to a wide range of events including academic conferences, farmer meetings, industry expos, and TEDx and received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.