Aaron Fernando works with Bay Bucks, a local currency and business community in the Bay Area of California. He is now passionate about money reform and believes that local currencies address a wide range of problems including inequality, environmental degradation, and the erosion of social capital. He formerly worked in the nonprofit sector in Washington DC, spent some time traveling in Southeast Asia, and ultimately moved to the Bay Area specifically to work with Bay Bucks and promote local currencies. Aaron sees the Bay Bucks currency as a well-designed tool to build trust between members and increase community resilience. He is an advocate for new economic thinking, writes for Sri Lanka’s leading business magazine about these issues, and hopes to become a thought leader on money reform. Aaron holds a B.A. in International Development & Social Change with a focus on Economics from Clark University.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Transforming Money to Benefit Society

Aaron Lehmer-Chang, who comes out of the San Francisco Bay Area’s social and environmental justice movement, is a veteran of fair trade fights. He participated in the “Battle of Seattle” in 1999 where union members, environmentalists, and global justice activists shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, and organized against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement with a student, labor, and community alliance. Aaron co-founded a regional eco-justice organization, Rooted in Resilience (formerly Bay Localize), which works to build equitable, resilient communities. He holds a Master’s in Globalization and the Environment from Humboldt State University. Aaron’s background includes working for Van Jones’ Ella Baker Center for Human Rights as State Policy Director, for Julia Butterfly Hill’s Circle of Life Foundation, for David Brower’s Earth Island Institute, and with the Student Environmental Action Coalition.

Will Wiltschko is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science. At UCLA, Will worked as a student organizer for civil rights and studied the theory and philosophy behind nonviolence. He was a legal intern with the ACLU in Southern California, where he planned community outreach strategy within the state of California, fighting school districts in response to D.J. v. State of California on issues of equitable access to English Learner programs. Will was also recently a staffer on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Presidential campaign, where he was the lead field organizer in Southwest Virginia. He ran operations out of the Southwest Virginia regional field office, where he trained and recruited hundreds of new volunteers.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Protecting Democracy from the TPP

2016 Convergence RED Talk Presentation: Gaia U: 10 Years of Supporting EcoSocial Designers. What’s Next?

2016 Convergence Panel: Our 200 Year Plan: Designing our Future Together

Chinese Galactic Cosmonaut

Alpha Lo is co-editor and co-author of the Open Collaboration Encyclopedia. He also helped to found the Gift Circle Network, and has created a number of social and economic architectures, amongst them Facilitator Improv, Empathic Dashboard, Sorry Circles, Coupon currencies, and the Participatory Commons.

Friday, Oct 6| 4:30| Bioregional Hub

How to Design New Social Architectures

aManda was raised between the Bay Area and Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Her bi-cultural upbringing has had a strong influence in her believes, values and how those manifest through her work in the world. This led her to spend a decade between Santa Fé New Mexico, Oakland, Bahia Brazil and Southern India working on various arts and ecological development projects. It was during this time that she saw one can’t address long-term sustainable development without first addressing short-term economic development. In 2013 she received a gMBA in Social Enterprise driven by the belief that the current paradigm of ‘development’ can be transformed into one that is valued based on ecological regeneration and social equity.

Since 2009 she has been engaging with young leaders to address the problems in their own communities by supporting the development of youth-led social enterprises. Responsible for the Youth Hub programming, she works to translate MBA level content into culturally relevant curriculum.

She currently serves on the board of The Hood Incubator & is a Steering Committee member of Oakland’s Youth Ally Alliance.

 Saturday, Oct 7| 11am| Bio-regional

From the margins to the center: Role of youth in the Next Economy

2018 Convergence Workshop:Designing the Regenerative Economy

2016 Convergence Panel: Cannabis Cultivation: Sustainability Practices for the Future

Brennan Blazer Bird is an ecological educator, natural builder, and solutioncrafter who has led a diverse array of artistic and ecological projects around the world. For the past 5 years Brennan has taught youth and community members to transform plastic waste into an artistic community-gathering place (www.earthbench.org). Brennan is also starting a fossil-fuel-free ecological kitchen classroom called SolutionCraft (www.solutioncraft.org). Currently Brennan lives at an ecological collective in Oakland, CA and is a full-time Garden and Sustainability Educator at Alta Vista School in San Francisco.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Appropriate Cooking Technology – The Fossil-Fuel-Free Meal!

Bryan Arturo is a permaculture land steward working at East End Eden in Ojai, CA. After studying Business Management & Entrepreneurship in Chicago, he worked at regenerative projects and facilitated socially impactful gatherings throughout Latin America. Bryan supported NuMundo‘s global impact center database since it’s inception and is organizing The Sustainable Living Tour occurring October 2016.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Regenerative Enterprise & the 8 Forms of Capital

Cannabis farming has not embraced sustainable practices, but with the evolving regulations, sustainable farming is becoming more common place.

In the past, cannabis farmers have not been considered to be sustainable, let alone farmers. Due to legal and enforcement issues, Cannabis farmers have struggled in the past to plan and develop beyond 12 to 18 months. As the State passing new legislation and develops licensing requirements and local jurisdictions do the same, the farming environment for the cannabis cultivator begins to stabilize. Sustainable and regenerative practices are being embraced by the farmer. The investment horizon for the cannabis farmer is beginning to extend to multiple years. Cannabis farmers can now realize returns on investments in terms of years instead of months.

As State legislation produces new regulations and licenses, cannabis cultivation has now become a commodity crop under the State Department of Food and Agriculture.  Sustainable practices are being embraced. This workshop brings cannabis farmers and sustainable practice service providers together to discuss this transition.

Presented By: Arthur Deicke, Larry Shaeffer, Asa Shaeffer, Naaman Hagman, Daisy Ozim

Catherine Nkolo Lebongo is a teacher, creative, and activist who is fascinated by how design and social enterprise have the power to elevate everything—from products, to systems, to spaces. As an international, multicultural, woman who studied system nuances and societal constructs, Nkolo teaches the principles of Design Thinking, and how to apply the human-centered design process with an equity mindset, to build the regenerative communities we hope to see in our lifetimes. Her personal mission is to live an abundant life saturated in bliss, gratitude, and learning while artfully weaving spiritual growth and conscious bionomics into the collective reality.

Design Thinking for Equitable Communities

Chaz’s passion and knowledge comes from working in the solar energy field for over seven years, as well as having been a pioneer in the alternative energy for off-grid living segment in the 1980’s.
He is a life-long entrepreneur, starting and advising three successful business. Chaz also spent time in the telecom/Internet field as a business development manager and sales executive.
His experience as a builder and electrician help him administer complex designs in solar equipment. Chaz has completed an AA in electronics technology, while continuing his education with business and solar/electrical courses.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Solar & LEDs for New Closed Loop Agriculture

2016 Convergence Workshop: Land Access- Bring Back the Commons

The Cogarden platform enables a ‘Do It Together’ food gardening experience. Connecting food growers that share fence, or are miles from each other. Cogardeners help in creating a Community to Consumer food supply chain, that makes neighborhoods resilient, and culturally diverse. Sunil, Founder, Cogarden will introduce the Cogardening framework, its socio-cultural impact, and eco-commerce potential. Join us. Let’s Cogarden.

Presented by: Sunil R Nair and Rob Bennaton

Sunday September 18th | 3:30 – 4:30 PM | Bioregional Hub

What are the ways in which we can cooperate and collaborate to make a stronger, more resilient economy? How can we ensure that we are integrating economics within the greater context of life and what is important? Koreen is a businesswoman and farm owner who has collaborated with investors, activists, seekers, suburbanites and many others to create cooperative economics that at its core, focuses on caring for the earth, people, and our future and will share some of the most successful actions she is aware of, and how this can be expanded.

The workshop will focus on building bridges between people with money, and people without it, people from different communities, and on different scales. Koreen will share her own experiences as well as other successful models, in a short, to the point presentation focused on actions that people can do themselves.

Presented By: Koreen Brennan

Saturday September 17th | 3:30 – 3:50 PM | Solar Panel: El Sol

As the social, economic, and environmental impacts of climate change become more pronounced, Community Choice energy can be a powerful vehicle for democratizing energy, spurring local sustainable economic development, and building more resilient communities. This workshop will consist of a 20 minute slide presentation followed by group discussion on the relationship between local renewable energy and community empowerment. Participants will learn about Community Choice energy and the role it can play toward a just transition to a new economy, and the vision for the Community Choice program under development in Alameda County.

Presented by: Megan O’Neil and Colin Miller

Sunday September 18th | 9:30 – 10:30 AM | Yurt

Crystal employs strategy and implements operations for organizations working on building regenerative systems. She has worked in variety of sectors, including public, private, and development sectors, driving strategy decisions for startups, non-profits and C-suite. Her experience in sustainability consists of resource recovery, energy management, and clean technology. She was also the Associate Producer for Charles Ferguson’s new film, Time to Choose, on climate solutions. She worked extensively with Ferguson on the renewable energy sector in both China and the U.S. Her passion is to inspire and empower individuals to create a regenerative world together. This is why she is also building a digital platform to help community leaders collaborate to bring solution to life effectively with the NorCal Community Resilience Network. She believes that every single individual today is well-equipped to create a world they want to see.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Leadership and Innovation Embodiment

Daisy Ozim, is the Director of Resilient Wellness, a holistic health education and services program. In addition she is a co-founder of Earth Healing Collective. She has been involved in community based outreach and advocacy and civic youth engagement, since her late teens. As a seasoned health advocate, based in San Francisco bay area, she’s a fierce proponent of health and wellness as well as decolonizing all aspects of the public health sector. As Vice President of the San Francisco Legalization Taskforce, she is a champion for communities impacted by failed policies produced by the war on drugs and strong environmental justice regulations. As an environmentalist, her passion is to see communities of color getting involved in environmental advocacy.

2016 Convergence Panel: Cannabis Cultivation: Sustainability Practices for the Future

David Casey is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Political Economy of Industrial Societies, with concentrations in Global Poverty & Practice and Energy & Resources. David has lived and worked in seven countries in Latin America, where he has built an extensive network of connections to individuals and organizations. His work has focused on marketing, social networks, experience design, and event production. He is the co-founder and CEO of NuMundo, a platform that connects people and impact centers, encouraging resource sharing on the web and on the ground to catalyze planetary regeneration and individual transformation. NuMundo has recently been accepted into Startup Chile, a prestigious business accelerator facilitated by the Chilean government. With his strong vision and clear articulation and conviction, he is able to attract wide support from multiple sources in the form of donated labor, land, and financial capital. Among other things, David is also the founder and co-producer of Cosmic Convergence, an annual gathering of art, music, tribal technology, education for conscious living, and Mayan culture on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, and a co-founder of Tribal Alliance Retreat in Costa Rica. David successfully bridges the worlds of technology startups, permaculture, international development, and retreat and festival production.

2016 Convergence Workshop: Networking the Transformational Ecosystem

Let’s talk about Design and Social Justice. We know that design has the power to elevate everything it touches—from products, to systems, to spaces. But when it comes to our greatest challenges around economic equity, access, and inclusion, what roles does design play in advancing equitable communities? Can design catalyze positive change and lasting impact when it comes to solving real problems and human needs? Join us for a discussion focused on how design can support social progress and a just future for all.

They will observe, learn, and discuss the difference between Equality & Equity. They will explore their own agency, and how they can use data such as historical conflicts, to analyze a relevant equity issue, and communicate their findings. They will form this “issue analysis” (engaging in discourse and working in groups) to answer core questions important to their communities. The Design Thinking process involves using “manipulatives” (tangible objects) to make examples of ideas, sharing observations among groups, and also documenting observations/ideas in many different ways: sketches, photos, journaling, audio.

Friday Oct 6| 2pm| Bioregional Hub

Presented by Catherine Nkolo Lebongo