Breakout Sessions 17-20: Organic: A Climate Hero | Deep Dive: Your Contribution to Climate Change and What You Can Do | Combating Food Deserts In Urban Areas | Everyday Eco Habits for Everyday People 

Breakout Sessions 17-20 

Organic: A Climate Hero, Sponsored by The Organic Trade Association and The Organic Center

Jessica Shade -Director of Science Programs, The Organic Center, | Paul Schiefer, Sr. – Director of Sustainability, Amy’s Kitchen | Doug Crabtree – Owner-Operator, Vilicus Farms

Moderated by Aaronica Cole

Stage 1

Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time. Its effects are becoming evident through shifting weather  patterns and related increases in natural disasters. Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change – but not all agriculture. Organic farming practices help mitigate climate change by increasing soil health while dramatically decreasing nitrogen pollution.  In this session, we’ll share an approachable scientific briefing on organic’s climate benefits, along with perspectives from Organic Trade Association members, including an organic farmer and an beloved family-owned brand.

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Deep Dive: Your Contribution to Climate Change and What You Can Do, Sponsored by Stonyfield 

Stage 2 

Nancy Hirshberg (The Climate Collaborative)  & Lisa Drake (Stonyfield)

Still wondering what you can do to help address the climate crisis? Join long-time sustainability leaders Lisa Drake and Nancy Hirshberg in this one-hour intensive training that will help you better understand how we each contribute to climate change and the most important steps we can take to make a difference. The workshop will also cover lessons learned on best practices in climate communications so you can most effectively speak about climate action to your followers.

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Combating Food Deserts In Urban Areas 

Najee Ellerbe

Stage 3 

This workshop will discuss the paradox of food deserts and what can be done to combat food deserts in urban areas across the U.S.

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Everyday Eco Habits for Everyday People 

Kim Lewand Martin

Stage 4

Kim has spent her entire career in environmental protection, as an environmental lawyer and running environmental nonprofits. Along the way, friends would ask what simple things “everyday” people could do to protect the earth. So she started a blog to share super simple “eco-habits” ANYONE can adopt that can make a HUGE difference to protecting our earth!  You do not need any special skill or even extra time and it doesn’t matter where you live or what your income is.  You just need to be open to SMALL tweaks in your habits that add up to BIG effects.