Central Coordinators
Shadia Fayne Wood is the founder and Co-Coordinator of Project Survival Media. She began at age seven as an advocate for justice and the environment to address the cancer cluster in her community due to the high levels of toxic waste. She started off in an eight-year campaign to pass state legislation on toxics in NYS which passed in 2003. In recognition of her efforts, she received the prestigious Yoshiyama Award from the Hitachi Foundation and the Brower Youth Award from the Earth Island Institute. Shadia worked for the Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative Youth (EJCC) as the youngest Campus Climate Challenge Coordinator in the Energy Action Coalition. She has managed media teams for both national summits on climate change Power Shifts ‘07 and ‘09 and the UN Climate Negotiations in ‘08 and ‘09.
Madeline Kovacs, Project Survival Media Co-Coordinator, has been a youth climate movement organizer and leader for five years, attending regional Midwest youth movement-building summits and events like Powershift ‘07 and ‘09. In college, she helped to develop campus renewable energy projects, received a Lilly research grant to study labor/environment coalition building, presented at the 2008 Pawlenty Governor’s Forum, and studied Amazon Resource Management and Human Ecology in Brazil. In 2009, she served as the Midwest Outreach Coordinator for the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions. She has a degree in Political Science and a minor in Environmental Studies from Macalester College, where she received the Dean of Students Community Recognition Award for co-organizing a Focus the Nation 2008 campus event that drew 600 people. Madeline presently also serves as the Working Films Community Engagement Coordinator for the new documentary film Dirty Business by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Ellen Choy is an environmental justice activist, youth organizer and independent DJ out of Oakland, CA. She worked as a lead organizer and director of the Climate Literacy Training Program with the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC). Recently, she became a dedicated youth organizer and mentor, training the new generation of community leaders by working with high school students in Oakland, through after school programs and music. She is an active contributor on checktheweather.net, and a graphic designer. As an aspiring hip hop/funk/soul DJ and as a co-founder of C.A.K.E. Presents – an all-female-of-color promotions company – she has also worked to promote progressive music and art in the Bay Area as a vehicle for change. She is recent graduate with honors of UC Berkeley, with a degree in Conservation and Resource Studies.
Africa Team Leaders
Sena Alouka has extensive experience working with communities and facilitating multi-stakeholder participation as the Executive Director of Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement and Coordinator of the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC). As an environmental journalist, he has received several awards including the 2002 IUCN-Reuters Prize for Environmental Media. Sena has also worked in radio specifically with Radio Hakuna Matata and Radio Tropik. Since 2003, he has run a weekly TV Program in Lomé, Togo called ECO-DEVELOPPEMENT. In 2008, he created a video-documentary production company called ‘Films Verts du Togo’ which has produced several video documentaries and recorded dozens of TV Programs.
Hazem Saleh is an environmental activist working in the field of development for the past several years at the Wadi Environmental Science Centre (WESC) dedicated to progressive outdoor environmental education. Their work is to empower students to re-define the relationship between self and surroundings. Within the organization, Hazem is the project manager of a local annual event, World Environment Day, which is used to build public awareness about environmental issues and to encourage them to play a positive role toward environment. I believe that campaigns have the power to urge political leaders for action and create a deeper impact in the community behavior toward environmental issues we are facing.
Europe Team Leaders
Robert van Waarden is a Dutch/Canadian photographer based in Amsterdam and Montreal. His work focuses on climate change photography, travel photography and magazine photography. His clients include National Geographic Traveler, the British Council and Canadian Geographic. He has covered multiple UN Climate Negotiations and is the lead photographer in the International Youth Delegation. Van Waarden believes in the power of photography to make a difference. He believes that by documenting the youth movements of the globe and sharing through visual media he can help shift the world towards a more sustainable future.
Joao Scarpelini is a 23 year-old Brazilian-Italian activist. He is the Institutional Development Manager in Peace Child International’s headquarters. His unique background working as a consultant, advocate, trainer, media-maker and social entrepreneur on a diversity of issues has helped guide his passion of engaging youth on urban sustainable development efforts. He has more than 10 years of experience working with different movements. Joao was also a columnist for one of Brazil’s most successful magazines and currently is a guest blogger for the World Bank Youthink initiative. Joao was one of the official youth delegates at COP10 in Argentina, as part of the official government delegation. Currently, he represents Latin America at the UN-HABITAT Youth Advisory Board, advising the UN Human Settlements Programme on youth engagement in urban and rural sustainable development.
South America Team Leader
Eugenia Capalbo is a 22 year old Argentinean who was born into a family of journalists, and has been working and exploring media – her biggest hobby- for the past 10 years. She has written several columns and articles for national newspapers, blogs and other online platforms; produced and edited documentaries and collaborated in the edition of books for a well-known independent publisher. Currently, she works for Peace Child International coordinating the network and all its’ programmes and youth-led projects happening in Latin America. Last couple of months, she split her time to work managing a publication called “Energy Revolution – Climate Change and the Post Carbon Futures” that will be launched in Copenhagen and right now, is involved in training a group of young people to advocate for youth-led low-carbon development.
Efraim Neto is a 23 year-old journalist focused on environmental issues. He is a moderator for the Environmental Brazil Network. Efraim is also a member of the Executive Secretariat for Portuguese speaking countries on the International Movement for Water and Youth. He has reported on environmental issues for multiple Brazilian newspapers, blogs, and other online platforms in Latin American. Currently, he is a Council Member for the Brazilian Campaign on Climate Change – TicTacTicTac.org.br. As a youth, Efraim has decided to expand his work as an environmental jounalist to include and uplift the many perspectives young people have on climate change.
North America Team Leader
Amy Dewan is a recent clean energy soldier/alum from the University of Maryland. She has worked for Greenpeace, interned with the Environmental Justice Climate Change initiative, and spoke at the first PowerShift. Since graduating with a degree in Political Science, she has worked on a farm in Northern California. In her spare time she enjoys stenciling, painting, and exploring creative forms of dissent. She hopes to use her knowledge of politics, environmental justice and farming for direction on this documentary on farmers surviving in the face of climate change.
Jack Lenk is a photographer, filmmaker and communication designer based in New York. His documentary work has dealt with a wide range of issues, from Native American cultural heritage preservation to the economic health of coffee-growing communities in Central America. He works as a film producer and editor with the Providence, Rhode Island -based film studio, Animal LLC. Jack’s award-winning environmental photography has been exhibited and published in books and magazines. His degree in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design grounds his belief in the power of human ingenuity to change our world for the better.
Antarctic and Arctic Team Leader
Zoë Caron is the co-author of ”Global Warming for Dummies” and Editor on ItsGettingHotInHere.org. She is a research associate with the Eco-Efficiency Centre at Dalhousie University and sits on the Board of Directors of Sierra Club Canada. She has worked with non-profit companies and organizations within sustainability, education and social mobilization and was a founding member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. Zoë has been named in the Top-30-Under-30 to watch in Halifax, Top 50 Canadian Green List, and profiled with colleagues in Vanity Fair’s Green Issue. With an academic background in international development and environmental science, Zoë attends United Nations Climate Change Conferences and was aboard the Students On Ice International Polar Year 2007 Expedition to Antarctica.
Asia Team Leaders
Yong Ping Loo is an advertising design undergrad from Singapore, currently pursuing his honors at London College of Communication. His firm background in mass communications, the art of broadcasting, advertising and graphic design has facilitated him to be an effective media practitioner. In his line of work. he has ran a campus television station, his own t-shirt company, was in charge of Singapore’s National Day website and has embarked on a number of freelance projects with clients in Singapore, London and Japan. COP14 was his first official engagement with the international climate change scene as the key media designer/producer with the International Youth Delegate representing Singapore. A strong believer in ethical consumerism and climate change, he believes that design and creativity has the power to change the world. Check out iampingpong.com to view his portfolio and find out more about him as he doesn’t like talking about himself in a third person =)
Farah Salka is a human rights activist. She is the Program Director of IndyACT, the League of Independent Activists. She has been a writer for various media outlets on different social issues throughout Lebanon and the Arab World. IndyACT is a global organization that searches the world for leading environmental, social and cultural activists and provides them with any possible support they might require to achieve their objectives. IndyACT is focusing its campaigns in the Arab region, and they are currently supporting activists that are working on: climate change, endangered species, migrant domestic workers, no smoking, youth empowerment, feminism and human rights.
Ekta Kothari is an environmental film maker and an activist from India heading the creative wing of a grass-root climate action project in Kolkata, India – Switch ON, where she was. Early 2009, they launched the – Why New Coal, Climate Ride 2009, India – questioning India’s growth based on fossil fuel and highlighting alternatives for its sustainable growth. Ekta was the project coordinator and also documented the cycle ride from Kolkata to New Delhi, through the coal capital of India, Jharia, and interviewed many energy and sustainability experts to put together a film on the issue – Why New Coal. She has studies direction from Film and Television Institute of India.
Mayank Bubna has been working as a freelance journalist for the past several years, covering war and armed conflict. His assignments have taken him to Somalia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Kenya, Mozambique, Liberia and Ghana. He has reported for TIME.com, The New York Times, Dan Rather, World Politics Review, and CNN Traveler. He has a Masters degree in Political Science from New York University. Mayank is currently based in New Delhi, India as he is going to pursue a post graduate degree in International Law.
Australia Team Leader
Daniel Simons is a writer, filmmaker and environmental activist. He has worked with various organizations such as Greenpeace Melbourne, the Sustainable Living Foundation, the Centre for Sustainable Leadership, and Change the World. He is currently working with feature film director David Novak (Burning the future) on his latest project called Climate Chess.