Conference Speakers

Julian Agyeman

Julian Agyeman Ph.D. FRSA is a Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. He is the originator of the concept of 'just sustainabilities,' the full integration of social justice and sustainability, defined as: the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems.

As an ecologist/biogeographer turned environmental social scientist, he has both a science and social science background which helps frame his perspectives, research and scholarship. He thrives at the borders and intersections of a wide range of knowledges, disciplines and methodologies which he utilizes in creative and original ways in his research.

He was co-founder in 1988, and chair until 1994, of the Black Environment Network (BEN), the first environmental justice-based organization of its kind in Britain. He was co-founder in 1996, and is now Editor-in-Chief of Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability and was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA) in the same year. The mission of the RSA is to enrich society through ideas and action. In 2016 he became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS).

He is Series Editor of Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice published by Zed Books and Co-Editor of the series Routledge Equity, Justice and the Sustainable City. He is also Contributing Editor to Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development and a member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education. In addition, he is an Affiliate at the Civitas Athenaeum Laboratory at KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, a Studio Associate at The Studio at the Edge of the World, University of Tasmania Creative Exchange Institute and a Senior Scholar at The Center for Humans and Nature, Chicago.

His publications, which number over 160, include books, peer reviewed articles, book chapters, published conference presentations, published reports, book reviews, newspaper articles, Op-Eds and articles in professional magazines and journals. His books include Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World (co-edited with Robert D Bullard and Bob Evans: MIT Press 2003), Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice (NYU Press 2005), Environmental Inequalities Beyond Borders: Local Perspectives on Global Injustices (co-edited with JoAnn Carmin: MIT Press 2011), Cultivating Food Justice : Race, Class and Sustainability (co-edited with Alison Hope Alkon: MIT Press 2011), Introducing Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice (Zed Books 2013) and Incomplete Streets: Processes, Practices, and Possibilities (co-edited with Stephen Zavestoski: Routledge 2014) and Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities (co-authored with Duncan McLaren: MIT Press 2015).

Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi's writing has appeared in Wired Magazine, High Country News, Salon.com, OnEarth Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. His short fiction been anthologized in various "Year's Best" collections of short science fiction and fantasy, nominated for three Nebula Awards, four Hugo Awards, and won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best science fiction short story of the year. His short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories was a 2008 Locus Award winner for Best Collection and also named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly.

His debut novel The Windup Girl was named by Time magazine as one of the ten best novels of 2009, and also won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Compton Crook, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Internationally, it has won the Seiun Award (Japan), The Ignotus Award (Spain), The Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis (Germany), and the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (France).

His debut young adult novel, Ship Breaker, was a Micheal L. Printz Award Winner, and a National Book Award Finalist, and its sequel, The Drowned Cities, was a 2012 Kirkus Reviews Best of YA Book, A 2012 VOYA Perfect Ten Book, and 2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist.

He has also written Zombie Baseball Beatdown for middle-grade children, about zombies, baseball, and, of all things, meatpacking plants. Another novel for teens, The Doubt Factory, a contemporary thriller about public relations and the product defense industry was a both an Edgar Award and Locus Award Finalist.

His latest novel for adults is The New York Times Bestseller The Water Knife, a near-future thriller about climate change and drought in the southwestern United States.

Stewart Brand

Stewart Brand is co-founder and president of The Long Now Foundation and was a co-founder of Global Business Network. Now Brand, a lifelong environmentalist, wants to re-create -- or "de-extinct" -- a few animals that've disappeared from the planet, through the Revive and Restore project. He created and edited the Whole Earth Catalog (National Book Award), and co-founded the Hackers Conference and The WELL. His books include The Clock of the Long Now, How Buildings Learn, and The Media Lab. His most recent book, titled Whole Earth Discipline, is published by Viking in the US and Atlantic in the UK. He graduated in Biology from Stanford and served as an Infantry officer.

Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel is the author of four novels, most recently Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner award, and won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award. She lives in New York City with her family.

Sherri L. Smith

Sherri L. Smith is the author of several award-winning young adult novels, including the 2009 California Book Awards Gold Medalist, Flygirl-a World War II adventure the Washington Post named a best book of the year, and Orleans, a "cli-fi" adventure set in a future, post-disaster New Orleans. Her novels appear on multiple state lists and have been named Amelia Bloomer and American Library Association Best Books for Young People selections. Sherri was a judge for the 2014 National Book Awards in Young People's Literature and is a three-time writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook writers' retreat. She's worked in comic books, animation, and construction. Currently, she teaches in the MFA Writing program at Goddard College and the Children's Writing MFA program at Hamline University. Her latest books are the middle grade historical fantasy, The Toymaker's Apprentice, and the young adult noir mystery, Pasadena. Learn more at www.sherrilsmith.com