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Tag: 2019

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Speakers

Sarah Karush

SARAH KARUSH

Chapter Leader, Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Sarah has been volunteering with Citizens’ Climate Lobby since 2016. She works as a writer and editor for a nonprofit research organization and is a former reporter for The Associated Press. Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a non-profit, nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. Utilizing a consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations. By building upon shared values rather than partisan divides, and empowering our supporters to work in keeping with the concerns of their local communities, we work towards the adoption of fair, effective, and sustainable climate change solutions.

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Speakers

Nadia Nazar

NADIA NAZAR

Co-Founder, Co-Executive Director, & Art Director, Zero Hour

I love nature, the environment, and every soul in it. It is such a tragedy that something so beautiful and innocent is being destroyed. No one deserves to live in a world where nature has died and climate change is killing the world that we need. The issue of climate change is now simply about survival. Climate change is killing souls and it will continue to do so. This is not okay. So I am not waiting for someone else to save the future.” Nadia is a Girl Scout Senior who has been a vegetarian since age 12 and loves to paint and create art in her free time.

The Zero Hour movement started with our founder, 16-year-old Jamie Margolin. Frustrated by the inaction of elected officials and the fact that youth voices were almost always ignored in the conversation around climate change and the profound impact that it would have on young people, Jamie started gathering several of her friends in the summer of 2017 to start organizing something big, something hard to ignore! Nadia Nazar, Madelaine Tew, and Zanagee Artis joined her in her efforts.

Jamie realized that a national day of mass action, led by youth, would be an ideal platform to ensure that young voices were not only centered in this conversation, but that elected officials and adults would hear their voices loud and clear! By the end of the summer, young activists from across the country, from diverse backgrounds, had joined the team and the Zero Hour movement had started taking shape. Nadia now serves as the co-founder, co-executive director, and art director.

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Speakers

Justine Ammendolia

JUSTINE AMMENDOLIA

Explorer, National Geographic

Justine Ammendolia is a marine biologist, plastic pollution researcher and science communicator based out of Toronto, Canada. In 2014, she was awarded the National Geographic Young Explorer Grant to travel to Eastern Greenland to research Arctic seabirds and lived off-grid for 6 weeks. During this time, she fostered a deep passion for protecting the corners of our planet and their unique ecosystems, particularly those in our Northern environments. For the past few years while living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Justine helped develop the Placentia Bay Ocean Debris Survey, a research team focused on monitoring plastic pollution on the coastlines of Newfoundland. Using a combination of citizen science methods and working with locals, her work aimed to better understand the presence and movement of plastics in coastal waters. Justine is also passionate about sharing her knowledge and experiences in STEM with younger audiences and has keynoted a number of youth leadership events. Through her research and communication, Justine aims to inspire others to care about protecting our aquatic environments.

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Speakers

Liz Hoke

LIZ HOKE

Molecular Microbiology Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health

Liz Hoke is a molecular microbiology research fellow at the National Institutes of Health studying cryptococcal meningitis. Since attending WYSE herself in 2012, she obtained a Biology B.S. from the University of Minnesota in 2017. She has worked on a soil microbiology field study in Costa Rica for Kean University’s School of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, a behavioral toxicology study at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, and has done protein development work within the private sector. Outside of research, she has been a canoe guide for the National Parks Service, a communications assistant for UMN’s Institute on the Environment, an olive farm hand in Italy, and a holiday baker in Switzerland.

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Photographer

Anna Layden

Assistant Photographer

Anna Rose Layden is a third-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography, concentrating in Photojournalism, with a minor in Political Science from Rochester Institute of Technology in Henrietta, New York. She is an active member of the National Press Photographers Association, as well as the Asian-American Journalists Association of New York. Her work reflects a fascination with the extraordinary moments in everyday life, as well as coverage of current news events. She is constantly seeking out ways to further her understanding of the cultures around her, meet new people, and find the nearest Chick-Fil-A.

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Speakers

Denisse Guitarra

DENISSE GUITARRA

Maryland Conservation Advocate, Audobon Naturalist Society

Denisse Guitarra is the Maryland Conservation Advocate at Audubon Naturalist Society (Chevy Chase, MD). As an ornithologist, she has studied the impacts of climate change on birds and has been conducting bilingual bird walks in Maryland. She is now focusing on creating a bridge that connecting Latinx communities in Montgomery County, MD to science and advocacy. She holds a bachelor’s in biology from Hood College and a master’s in biodiversity, wildlife and ecosystem health from the University of Edinburgh.

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Speakers

Candace Garthee

CANDACE GARTHEE

Graduate Research Assistant, Honey Bee Initiative, George Mason University

Candace Garthee is the Graduate Research Assistant for the Honey Bee Initiative, a program at George Mason University that encourages social development and environmental protection through educational beekeeping. She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies and is currently working on her M.S. in Nutrition. Through the Honey Bee Initiative, Candace has found an opportunity to bring together her passion for food security and environmental sustainability by working on projects that teach low-income farmers how to generate an income through sustainable beekeeping methods.

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Speakers

Scott Peterson

SCOTT PETERSON

Co-Founder, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions

After 15 years on Wall Street, Scott joined a handful of other like-minded souls to launch the nonprofit Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) in 2013. Starting in the basement of a congregation in Oakton, Virginia, FACS has grown into a network of 70 congregations in Virginia’s largest jurisdiction — Fairfax County — that represent a wide spectrum of voters, including Jewish, Muslim, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other faith traditions. Through its programs, FACS helps congregations organize their own members into green teams while participating in campaigns of direct advocacy (visits with government representatives and staff, public testimony) and earned media (press events, letters to the editor, and op-eds). FACS has earned tremendous credibility and influence to move local elected officials.

Scott also serves as executive director of the investigative watchdog blog Checks and Balances Project, where he focuses on issues relating to climate change, government ethics and good government. His previous work as managing director of communications at New York Stock Exchange Regulation and director of communications at the Nasdaq Stock Market provides a valuable foundation for his current activities.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema and a Certificate in Financial Planning from Georgetown University.

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Counselor

Pat Money

Pat Money, Assistant Director of Admissions, Office of Admissions. Photo by Alexis Glenn/Creative Services/George Mason University

Student Support

Patrick Money is the Associate Director of Admissions for George Mason University. After starting as a student employee at the Admissions office, he has spent the last decade as a member of the Mason Admissions family helping students and families find the right college destination.

Patrick has lived in Northern Virginia his entire life and attended high school at Lake Braddock Secondary. He had an amazing experience as an undergrad while earning his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology here at Mason. This area is an incredible place for young people to explore options both professionally and socially – an opportunity he took in full, which ultimately led to a college career he thoroughly enjoyed and would not trade for anything.

One of his favorite memories was when he made his initial decision to come to Mason back in 2006 after he saw the Men’s basketball team reach the final four live at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.! (He still talks about it like it happened yesterday!!)

Patrick has a passion for higher education and even more so for George Mason University, and he hopes to share it with all those who are interested.

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Faculty Advisor Staff

Stephen Taglieri

STEPHEN TAGLIERI

Faculty Advisor

Steve Taglieri is a conservation and climate communications specialist graduated from George Mason University (Class of 2022). With a background in conservation biology and photojournalism, Steve has paired the two disciplines to assist eco-friendly organizations grow their online presence and outreach strategies. Steve has worked and written for the Smithsonian Zoo and Magazine, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Reverse the Red campaign, the Institute for Advertising Ethics, and the American Forest Foundation. Most recently, he founded Kingdom Multimedia LLC, a creative agency creating green impact through communications and marketing strategies. Actively working with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, Steve merges public relations, videography, and journalism to grow climate awareness at eco-oriented organizations that have not previously allocated resources to this mission.