Thursday, March 26th
After the largest dam removal project in U.S. history in which four out of six dams were removed from the Klamath River, an intertribal cohort of Indigenous youth became the first people in over a century to descend a 310-mile stretch of the river. In this talk, Coley will share her personal story of participating in that journey as one of the paddlers from the Klamath Tribes, while also raising the alarm about the imminent environmental issues facing her community, animal relatives, and sacred waters.
March 26th | 11:00 am to 11:10 am | Zellerbach Hall
Coley Kakols Miller
First Descent Youth Paddler
Coley Kakols Miller, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, is a Modoc and Klamath youth born and raised at the headwaters of the Klamath River watershed. A high school freshman living on her tribal territory in Southern Oregon and Northern California, Coley was among more than 30 young people who participated in the historic first descent of the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in history. She remains a passionate advocate for removing the last two dams on the Klamath River, working to ensure the Klamath Tribes’ treaty-protected resources are restored to provide for future generations.
Join Urban Tilth youth and staff in celebrating and co-creating powerful stories of seeds! Explore our carefully crafted collection of edible, floral, and native seeds while sharing stories, visions, and dreams with the farmers, herbalists, and land stewards that care for them! With Diana Leal, Lu Ledesma and Adam Boisvert.
March 26th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Adam Boisvert
Deputy Director | Urban Tilth
Adam Boisvert has spent the past 15 years creating community garden, school garden, and food production programs with the food justice organization Urban Tilth in Richmond, California. Currently, Adam serves as Urban Tilth’s Deputy Director and is an Instructor for the Urban Agriculture Academy at Richmond High School, a year-round Farm to Table elective course rooted in hands-on, experiential learning.
Diana Leal
Founder and CEO | Rana Sana LLC
Diana Leal, a 28 year old land and seed steward from Richmond CA, leads the Seed Saving and Herbal Medicine projects at Urban Tilth, and is the founder and CEO of Rana Sana LLC. For the past 9 years Diana has worked to reclaim and restore land-based knowledge in the city of Richmond by saving locally-adapted seeds and cultivating herbal medicine for her community.
Lú Ledesma
Activist, Educator and Urban Farming Practitioner
Lú Ledesma is a Richmond, CA-based community activist, educator and urban farming practitioner. With an academic background in Global Environmental Studies and having grown up in a highly polluted Contra Costa County refinery town, Lú is a passionate advocate for expanding green spaces in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods and in combating “food deserts” by growing nutritious, healthy food in local communities.
For 25 years, voices of young visionaries and leaders at Bioneers have called for change, inspired us with stories, and kept our focus on future horizons. The passion and perspective that only youth can bring have not only energized Bioneers over the years but have also helped shape the conference into what it is today. To honor and celebrate these 25 years of youth participation at Bioneers, we are passing the mic to some of today’s most dynamic young movement leaders driving change in their communities. Come join the Bioneers Youth Programs for our “conference within a conference.” Moderated by Britt Gondolfi and Kuliamai Aveiro Kalaniopio.
Waileia Uluwehi Kainoa Haili-Barawis & Chazlyn Mukini, Malama Aina Compostables
Malama Aina Compostables- Recycle Hawai’i & Ka’ū Global Learning Lab
This presentation aims to illuminate the often-overlooked struggles that accompany the idealized notion of “paradise.” We will discuss the consequences of land being appropriated for factories and developments that pose a threat to our environment. Central to this discussion are the powerful voices of the youth from Kaū, who demonstrate the monumental impact of collective action. By sharing their stories, we aspire to raise awareness about the critical issues at stake—our homes, our land, and the futures of generations to come. Together, we will engage the audience in recognizing the importance of solidarity in advocating for meaningful change and protection of our environment.“
Jeremiah Magallones & Khiara Kaleiwahea, Hanai Kai Ulu
We Are the System: Indigenous Youth Reimagining Regeneration
What happens when young people are trusted not only to participate in sustainability efforts but also to design and lead them? In this presentation, Jeremiah shares his journey as a young systems builder and offers a practical framework for educators, organizers, and innovators looking to empower youth leadership in climate solutions. Participants will explore how culturally grounded systems design can simultaneously address environmental justice, food security, and workforce development, while also fostering purpose, belonging, and intergenerational connections. This presentation invites audiences to move beyond mere youth engagement toward genuine youth governance and regenerative leadership.
Jasmine Smith, Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians
Future Matriarchs – The NAIWA Daughters Initiative
This presentation addresses the environmental and social challenges faced by tribal communities, highlighting threats to waterways, habitat loss, and cultural disconnection among the youth. With alarming rates of mental health issues and technology addiction, it is crucial to empower younger generations to preserve their heritage. The solution proposed is the establishment of NAIWA Daughter chapters across Turtle Island, aimed at nurturing a network of young Indigenous women as compassionate leaders. The mission emphasizes leadership development, cultural enrichment, and community service through four priority projects: Rights of Nature, Softball for Sovereignty, Aun” Tea” Time, and SHE-yo. Success has been measured through community engagement in the Rights of Nature project, promoting environmental stewardship and educating community members on critical issues. These initiatives also foster cultural reconnection, empower female athletes, and facilitate intergenerational knowledge sharing. By actively engaging with tribal leaders and the community, they are promoting cultural learning and working to incorporate traditional teachings into policy, moving forward with purpose.
Anvi Sharma
Moss is Magic
This project explores the potential of moss as a sustainable urban infrastructure solution in California, emphasizing its ability to absorb water and reduce heat. Inspired by a personal fascination with moss, extensive research revealed its impressive properties, such as certain species’ capacity to absorb up to twenty times their weight in water and lower surface temperatures by 10 to 15 degrees. Modular moss walls in Europe have shown reductions in particulate pollution by up to 30%. This initiative aims to implement moss in schools, sidewalks, and public spaces, addressing urban heat islands and enhancing air quality. The project aligns with California’s existing environmental programs, offering a realistic path for community-focused implementation. Moss may be small, but its impact could be substantial.
Charlie Van Schaick
Land & Legacy Initiative
Charlie Van Schaick is a high school junior from Chappaqua, New York, who is passionate about engaging young people in ecological and community wellbeing through Bioneers’ approach. Her work centers on raising awareness of local land, particularly Buttonhook Forest, a culturally and ecologically significant area that many students are unaware of. She is developing a student-centered initiative that emphasizes education over mere exposure, aiming to illustrate the history and significance of local land. This initiative includes creating learning spaces, organizing gatherings, and inviting speakers, especially Indigenous voices, to discuss stewardship’s relational and reciprocal aspects. Charlie believes that when young people perceive land as living and meaningful, their behaviors shift from abstract notions of stewardship to personal care. By fostering a generation that cares for land through understanding and respect, she hopes to cultivate a deeper relationship between youth and their environment, guided by Indigenous stewardship principles.
Esther
Native American Running Tradition: Movement, Identity, and Youth Leadership
For many Native Nations, running has never been just a sport. It is a cultural practice rooted in ceremony, communication, healing, and relationship to land. Today, Indigenous youth continue this tradition in contemporary spaces, using running as a pathway to holistic wellness, leadership development, and cultural continuity. As the Child & Youth Program Coordinator at Wings of America, a Native-led nonprofit with more than 35 years of history, I work directly with Indigenous youth across the Southwest and beyond. Wings was founded to protect and promote Native running traditions while creating equitable access to athletic and leadership opportunities. Through community-based running and wellness programs, youth are supported not only as athletes, but as whole people—mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Because running is a land-based activity, it naturally fosters respect for place, ancestral knowledge, and environmental responsibility. Youth participants build strength and endurance while also reconnecting to cultural identity and community values. Through mentorship, leadership development, and culturally grounded practices such as breath work, grounding, reflection, and honoring individual spiritual traditions, Wings runners grow into role models and advocates for their communities. This presentation will highlight how Indigenous youth are reclaiming movement as both resilience and resistance. It will share how running supports identity formation, confidence, and leadership, while also nurturing future protectors of culture and land. By centering Indigenous knowledge systems and youth voices, this work demonstrates that solutions to today’s challenges already exist within Native communities.
Gabriel Barnett and Marlett Hernandez-Fitch
Bayou Youth Leaders
Gabriel Barnett and Marlett Hernandez-Fitch of the Bayou Youth Leadership Project will present on the initiatives of their newly formed Indigenous and youth-led organization. This session will focus on the critical role of cultural connection and ancestral practices in cultivating youth spaces that advance environmental and social justice. By taking proactive steps to unite young individuals, we can prevent the loss of vital knowledge and traditions. This presentation aims to inspire participants to rediscover and share teachings that honor Mother Earth and all living beings. Attendees will be encouraged to engage in community-building and address important yet challenging topics, all while fostering an atmosphere of enjoyment. Through integrating traditional knowledge and community engagement, youth can recognize their potential as catalysts for change.
Xa’-tle T’sing Lincoln, Native Health in Native Hands
Native Health in Native hands empowers youth to become active leaders in cultural restoration by engaging with traditional ecological knowledge from elders and mentors. Through hands-on activities such as canoe building and harvesting plants, youth learn to care for our land and waters while deepening their connections to family, community, and their personal narratives. Their efforts to restore the Eel River and practice sustainable stewardship are crucial not just for today but for future generations. By participating in workshops and community gatherings, they gain a voice in cultural engagement, asking questions and sharing experiences with other youth. Ultimately, they strive to affirm that our traditions are vibrant and alive, as they work to protect their lands, revitalize language, and foster a strong sense of cultural identity.
Stella Bongiorno, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature
Raised in Western Europe within a worldview that framed nature as a resource to manage, extract, and control, Stella Bongiorno came to question the systems that separate humans from the living Earth. As climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and social instability intensify, she argues these crises are not isolated but symptoms of a deeper cultural logic rooted in separation from nature. Drawing on Indigenous worldviews that understand rivers, forests, and oceans as living relatives, Stella explores the growing global movement for the Rights of Nature, which seeks to recognize ecosystems as rights-bearing entities with the legal standing to exist, regenerate, and thrive. Through her work with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, she helps advance Earth-centered law, governance, and cultural transformation. Her talk invites audiences to reimagine humanity’s relationship with the planet—moving from extraction to reciprocity—and highlights the role of young people in transforming Western legal and cultural systems toward a more regenerative future.
Stella Bongiorno is the European Hub Coordinator for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, where she works to strengthen networks of youth leaders, lawyers, researchers, and advocates advancing the Rights of Nature movement across Europe. Her work focuses on promoting legal recognition for ecosystems—particularly water bodies—while supporting cultural and educational initiatives that reconnect Western societies with relational worldviews about the Earth. After completing her studies in Europe, Stella moved to Ecuador, where she encountered the Rights of Nature not only as a legal concept but as a lived practice embedded in community relationships with land and water. This experience shaped her commitment to advancing Earth-centered law and governance globally. She now works at the intersection of youth leadership, legal innovation, and cultural change to help reimagine humanity’s relationship with the living world.
Rojelin Capueta, Zero Waste Youth Advocate/ Recycle Hawai`i/ Ka`u Global Learning Lab. Aloha, I’m Rojelin Capueta, and I’m part of the REO program Public Relations team. I joined Malama Aina Compostables because I care and want to see the environment, the people, and the animals not just flourish, but thrive. Joining this program has given me so many opportunities to implement zero-waste practices to help my community and those around me. It has also allowed me to connect with dedicated and passionate people who share the vision of a sustainable future for Hawai’i. My skills are hardworking, adaptability, teamwork, and organization.
Roxie Castaneda , Zero Waste Youth Advocate/ Recycle Hawai`i/ Ka`u Global Learning Lab. Aloha, my name is Roxie Castaneda. I joined this program because I was looking for an experience in the career world but as I got more in depth with the program, I felt a moral obligation to reduce waste’s impact on the environment. I started to feel more motivated after witnessing the environmental damage firsthand such as seeing plastic pollution in oceans, parks and more. Experiences such as these inspired me to make a change and take action with this program. I also wanted to take action for my community as this program makes me feel a sense of belonging and having a shared purpose in this world. In my program, I work on the operations team, which includes more hands-on work, as well as, managing data and tracking the program’s progress.
Ahlyna Flores, Zero Waste Youth Advocate/ Recycle Hawai`i/ Ka`u Global Learning Lab. Waileia Uluwehi Kainoa Haili-Barawis, Zero Waste Youth Advocate/ Recycle Hawai`i/ Ka`u Global Learning Lab. Aloha, my name is Waileia Uluwehi Kainoa Haili-Barawis. I am a senior of Kau High and Pahala Elementary, I am a student athlete and a zero-waste youth advocate of malama aina compostables REO program. I have been in this program for almost 2 years, serving on the public relations team. I joined this program because I realized how terrible a place can get if not cared for. Seeing how other environments can harm the people that live there makes me have a strong urge to push through and make a change. It inspired me to stand up and say what needs to be said no matter if i come from a small town i will make a difference. I believe in One voice One mind One aina we can do whatever we put our minds too you just have to take the first step.
Jeremiah Magallones is a youth leader from Waiʻanae, Hawaiʻi who helped transform a simple school recycling effort into a thriving community-powered circular economy system. Through Community Cardboard Shred Days, youth exchange community cardboard for fresh produce, diverting thousands of pounds of waste from landfills while strengthening food security, farmer partnerships, youth employment pathways, and cultural stewardship of the land. Rooted in the Hawaiian principle of “hoʻihoʻi ʻāina i ka ʻāina” (returning land back to land), this model regenerates soil, nourishes communities, and builds leadership capacity in young people who are often excluded from decision-making spaces. Youth operate shredders, manage logistics, lead community workshops, and build small enterprises using compostable products created from diverted cardboard.
Chazlyn Mukini , Zero Waste Youth Advocate/ Recycle Hawai`i/ Ka`u Global Learning Lab. Aloha, My name is Chazlyn Mukini. I’m a senior at Kau High and Pahala Elementary School. I’m a part of the marketing and public relations teams. Coming from a small town and school we don’t usually get opportunities like these to help us get out of our comfort zone and prepare us for the ‘real world’. Being a part of this program has made a huge impact on my life. I’ve gained first hand experience working a part-time job as a high school student, deepening my understanding on zero waste and how proper waste management is important for the world, especially Hawaii, and helped me step out of my comfort zone and learn how to manage my time.
Jasmine Smith, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, is the founder and Chair of NAIWA Daughters, a youth-led nonprofit dedicated to empowering Indigenous young women in activism, leadership, and community engagement. Grounded in her cultural heritage and lived experience, Jasmine leads NAIWA Daughters in amplifying Indigenous voices and addressing racial and social injustices. Through her leadership, the organization has reached local, regional, national, and international platforms, advancing conversations around equity, inclusion, and Indigenous representation.
Aloha mai kakou, O Khiara Kaleiwahea Ko’u Inoa
I am a senior at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School on the island of Oahu and am also a Youth Lead within the non-profit organization, ‘Hanai Kaiaulu’. I am a passionate advocate for the environment and a follower of Jesus Christ. In Hanai Kaiaulu, I am given opportunities to teach others in my generation about the environment and how we repurpose and shred cardboard for our land’s benefit. With all the work I do in Hanai Kaiaulu, I am happy to say that I am part of the change that Hawaii so deeply needs. During my spare time, I enjoy volunteering in my community, painting, spending time with God and friends, and striving for the betterment of my home. My ultimate goals in life are to travel the world, own land with my own little farm, and be a faithful servant of God.
March 26th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Britt Gondolfi
Indigeneity Special Programs Coordinator | Bioneers
Britt Gondolfi, JD (Houma Descendant), a community organizer and mother, has worked with the Bioneers Indigeneity Program since 2017 as a facilitator for the Intercultural Conversation Program. She joined the Bioneers Rights of Nature initiative as an intern while in law school and subsequently as a Special Projects Coordinator to bring together tribal organizers, youth, and allies to advocate for the “Rights of Nature” in Indian Country. Britt, who recently ran for State Senate in Louisiana on a women’s rights platform, is the author of the children’s book, “Look Up! Fontaine the Pigeon Starts a Revolution.”
Kuliamai Aveiro-Kalaniopio
Educator, Cultural practitioner and Community Leader
Kuliamai Aveiro-Kalaniopio, a proud Hawaiian educator, cultural practitioner, and community leader from Waimea, has dedicated his life to the revitalization of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and the nurturing of Native Hawaiian identity among youth. For over three years, he has taught Hawaiian language at Kohala Middle School and works with ALPSS students in cultural practices, mālama ʻāina, and community-based leadership.
In 2025, following the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, an intertribal cohort of Indigenous youth became the first people in a century to descend a 310-mile stretch of the Klamath River. Their journey to the sea was a ceremony, a protest, and a living testament to the resilience of Indigenous peoples and the ongoing decolonization of the watershed. This panel brings together some of these youth paddlers who will share the story of this historic “First Return” descent. Witnessing salmon return to their ancestral waters for the first time in over 100 years ignited profound hope and serves as an inspiring example of how significant environmental victories can transform the lives, identities, and opportunities of young people who experience them firsthand.
The conversation will also highlight the ongoing work that still needs to be addressed. While four dams on the Klamath River have been removed, two major dams in the upper basin still degrade water quality and threaten the survival of the nearly extinct C’waam (Lost River sucker) and Koptu (shortnose sucker) species, as well as the long-term viability of the recently returned salmon (C’iyaal’s). Hosted by Juliette Jackson, JD, author of Stop Killing the Klamath. With: The Klamath Youth Council: Coley Miller, Melia McNair and Taeliah Eggsman.
March 26th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Berkeley Ballroom, Residence Inn
Panelists
Juliette Jackson
Indigenous Rights Advocate
Juliette A. Jackson, J.D, LL.M, an enrolled member of The Klamath Tribes, is an Indigenous rights advocate specialized in energy and environmental law who works at Henkels Law, LLC in Portland, Oregon and also serves as Executive Director of Maqlaqs Gaa’tkni, a native-led nonprofit based in Chiloquin, Oregon. Jackson is also part of the Protecting Mother Earth (PME) Collective, a joint partnership between the Indigenous Environmental Network and Earth Law Center. Her law review article Stop Killing the Klamath: Rights of Nature Protections with Tribal Law, the National Historic Preservation Act, and Collaborative Management Strategies for a Tribe on the Front Lines of Climate Change, has attracted substantial attention in the field of tribal environmental justice.
Coley Kakols Miller
First Descent Youth Paddler
Coley Kakols Miller, a citizen of the Klamath Tribes, is a Modoc and Klamath youth born and raised at the headwaters of the Klamath River watershed. A high school freshman living on her tribal territory in Southern Oregon and Northern California, Coley was among more than 30 young people who participated in the historic first descent of the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in history. She remains a passionate advocate for removing the last two dams on the Klamath River, working to ensure the Klamath Tribes’ treaty-protected resources are restored to provide for future generations.
Melia McNair
Youth Council Secretary | Klamath Tribes
Melia McNair, 15, of Klamath, Modoc, and Filipino ancestry, a sophomore in the Dual Language Immersion program at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, OR, is currently the Klamath Tribes Youth Council Secretary and a passionate advocate for free-flowing rivers, environmental justice and human rights. An experienced paddler, she participated in the historic first kayaking descent of the almost undammed Klamath River in the summer of 2025. Melia also enjoys dancing and singing at powwows and has been practicing taekwondo since she was five years old and is currently an instructor.
Taeliah Eggsman
First Descent Youth Paddler
Taeliah Eggsman, 16, an enrolled Klamath and Modoc tribal member from Chiloquin, Oregon, who was exposed to kayaking with the Rios to Rivers organization as a child, was a participant in the historic, 310-mile “first descent” of the newly (almost) undammed Klamath River by young Indigenous kayakers from a number of tribes in the region.
Join our Hawaiʻi youth leaders for an energetic hour of hula and line-dancing! Learn basic hula steps, line-dance moves, and enjoy moving together to music that celebrates culture, connection, and community. No experience needed—just bring your aloha and get ready to have fun!
March 26th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
E Ala e Kohala/R.I.S.E. Initiative
Hawaiian Youth Leadership Collective
E Ala e Kohala/R.I.S.E. Initiative is a Hawaiian youth leadership collective propagating the traditional culture and values of their ancestors rooted in stewardship, aloha ʻāina, and the Rights of Nature. Their initiative brings together students and youth groups from throughout the islands to connect, build relationships and engage in activism.
Business owner and MMA fighter, Amir, will offer an introduction to self-defense techniques. Join us to get some cardio in and learn some moves!
March 26th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Amir Lacy
Certified Fitness Coach
Amir Lacy got into fitness at age 16. He started with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and won multiple local and national tournaments. He went on to learn under the tutelage of world class teachers, and, at age 20, became a certified fitness coach.
Visionary and expressive culture is a queer lineage that thrives across the expanse of time, even as we enter an era of emboldened prejudice against the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Despite this difficult period, we know that we have the opportunity to contribute to the legacies of our movements by our continuing defiance against erasure, resistance to pacifying our power, and celebration of our self-expression and existence. Come join this intergenerational mixer to connect with like-minded LGBTQ+ community members, with optional prompts to guide reflection and protection for those most vulnerable among us. We offer this event as a place to empower one another, to grieve, to connect, to dream, and to strengthen our roots and stay grounded against all challenges. This is a space dedicated for LGBTQ2SIA+ folx, but allies are welcome. Hosted by Orion Camero, former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, and Aguila Barajas of Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program.
March 26th | 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager | Narrative Initiative
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
Aguila Barajas
| Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry Program
Aguila Barajas, an activist affiliated with Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program based in Stockton, CA, is a permaculture practitioner, land steward, confectioner of natural medicines, and plant wisdom educator.
Friday, March 27th
Kyle Trefny was 18 years old in 2020 when skies in the San Francisco Bay Area and much of the Pacific Coast turned orange with wildfire smoke. He will share how that moment led him to become a wildland firefighter and to join other youth in creating FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), dedicated to imagining and building a future beyond intense wildfires and their devastating health impacts, a future of healthy communities and livelihoods that recenters Indigenous leadership in land management. Kyle will reflect upon the power of questions, of friendship, of breaking negative cycles, of art, of mentors and elders, and of taking leaps of faith in life.
March 27th | 11:00 am to 11:09 am | Zellerbach Hall
Kyle Trefny
Co-Founder | FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen)
Kyle Trefny is an organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), which started out with a GoFundMe campaign and a petition and became a dynamic, influential youth-led organization that has helped bring about the historic involvement of firefighters and Indigenous fire management practitioners in governance processes and engaged hundreds of young people in fire research. A faculty research assistant at the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program, Kyle is also active in movements for Indigenous sovereignty, queer rights, and climate justice and was a recipient of a 2025 Brower Youth Award.
Join us for EARTH BODY, a joyful movement journey in which the ideas and inspiration we encounter at Bioneers can come alive through our bodies. Together, we’ll explore simple, accessible movements that reconnect us to ourselves as earth and the earth as body. No dance experience is needed, just curiosity and an open heart. Through playful, eco-somatic practices, we’ll move from thinking into feeling and from inspiration into embodied activation, using imagery from the natural world and the experiential knowledge-sharing of the conference. Whether you’re standing, seated, or moving in your own way, you’re welcome here to adapt with your body’s sovereignty!
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Rulan Tangen
Founding Artistic Director | Dancing Earth
Rulan Tangen, after an international dance career in ballet, modern dance, opera, circus, film and TV, and surviving cancer, became the Founding Artistic Director of Dancing Earth, dedicated to nurturing new generations of global Indigenous performing artists to become cultural ambassadors and conduits for social change as well as creating theater that functions as contemporary transformative ritual. Rulan has more recently launched EARTH BODY: Movement for all, a project open to people of all ages, backgrounds and capacities that encompasses eco-somatic workshops, retreats, coaching, and creative process facilitation, all in the spirit of regenerative worldmaking.
Join poet Gabriel Cortez for a poetry-writing workshop in which we will make space to process ongoing injustices impacting our communities and draw upon the natural world for inspiration in creating a more just and sustainable future. This highly interactive workshop is open to participants of all experience levels, middle-school age and up. All you need is something to write with and a willingness to connect with others, get creative, and share from the heart.
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Gabriel Cortez
Poet, Educator and Organizer
Gabriel Cortez, a widely published, award-winning Bay Area-based poet, educator, and organizer, is the inaugural poet-in-residence at The Ecology Center, Shelterwood Collective, and Art Farm at West Dry Creek, where he uses poetry to uplift local legacies of resistance rooted in environmental justice and food and land sovereignty. A long-time arts educator who brings 15+ years’ experience working with youth and adult writers, he regularly leads writing and performance workshops, provides one-on-one coaching, and offers professional development opportunities for educators.
“Chisme isn’t mere gossip. It’s verbal doses of human contact that connect us. In a world that’s chaotic and impersonal, chisme laces its way into our emotional DNA, helping us feel less alone.” – Julie Calidonio
True to a rainbow, queerness carries a spectrum of perspectives, with many gradients of experience. Alongside the magic and joy of our liberated identities, we are often also moving with wounds, questions, thoughts, and processes that can be challenging to navigate alone. This space is dedicated to providing a sanctuary for discussions, witnessing, and peer support as we work through and with who we are — especially in the current challenging moment. Come as you are (all emotions and experiences welcome) to speak, be heard and to hear, so we can make medicine for each other in the shared journey of being queer. This space is dedicated to the LGBTQIA+2S experience and those respectfully honoring that intention. Facilitated by Orion Camero, Little Manila Rising Urban Forestry Program, a former Brower Youth Awards winner and Spiritual Ecology and Intercultural Leadership Institute fellow; and Aguila Barajas of Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program.
March 27th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | The Marsh Cabaret
Panelists
Orion Camero
Action Lead Program Manager | Narrative Initiative
Orion Camero, a queer visual storytelling educator and cultural organizer of Filipinx ancestry with roots in California’s Central Valley, is the Action Lead Program Manager for Narrative Initiative, a story-based social change organization focused on maximizing opportunities to nourish and grow narrative power, equip narrative changemakers, and bond communities to pursue long-term progress for social justice. Orion, a former Brower Youth Awards winner, Spiritual Ecology Fellow and Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, also stewards the California Allegory, an epic collaborative image that acts as a centerpiece for intersectional justice education and cross-movement pollination.
Aguila Barajas
| Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry Program
Aguila Barajas, an activist affiliated with Little Manila Rising’s Urban Forestry program based in Stockton, CA, is a permaculture practitioner, land steward, confectioner of natural medicines, and plant wisdom educator.
4:45 pm: Youth Program – Youth of Color Caucus
Facilitated by Brandi Mack, Minkah Taharkah and Alondra Aragon
The BIPOC Youth Caucus is a safe and brave open forum where youth of color have an opportunity to listen to one another and share the real issues that come with holding their identities in social and environmental movements as well as in the world at large. Facilitators will seek to help youth deal with their struggles and aspirations and find paths toward healing.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Brandi Mack
Holistic Health Educator
Brandi Mack, a traditional ecological designer with a deep passion for personal growth and community building, is deeply committed to creating a healthier, more sustainable world for future generations. A holistic health educator, therapeutic massage therapist, permaculture designer, living systems thought leader, and mother of three daughters, she has a long track record of facilitating transformative experiences and blending nature-based solutions with mindful practices to foster connection, reflection, and growth.
Minkah Taharkah
Director of Arts Programming | California Farmer Justice Collaborative
Minkah Taharkah, a Leimert Park/Los Angeles-based self-described “earth steward, multiplicitous artist and intuitive healer,” works with the California Farmer Justice Collaborative on network building, resource sharing, and overall support for new and established BIPOC farmers. Minkah also works with The Butterfly Movement, an enterprise dedicated to empowering Black women and girls through comprehensive pathways of personal development, fostering entrepreneurship via small business incubation, and advocating for social equity and justice.
Alondra Aragon
Community Organizer
Alondra Aragon, a community organizer since she was 15, has dedicated more than a decade working with environmental and youth justice movements. As a member of the Hummingbird Farm collective, she seeks to: create a space for the community to reconnect with the land and traditional local ecological knowledge; move toward a just transition by growing healthy food, restoring local ecosystems, practicing herbal healing, and providing job training; and build alternative community governance structures.
Bioneers is inherently a community of mentors – rooted in learning, teaching and sharing ideas. The “Community of Mentors” space at Bioneers is an intergenerational container that offers youth the opportunity to be in small group mentoring sessions with Bioneers presenters. Hosts from Weaving Earth work with the presenters to create an interactive space to dialogue and share their life experience with youth who are seeking guidance on their path to activism. We are thrilled to welcome organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, 2025 Brower Youth awardee, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), Kyle Trefny to the Community of Mentors space this year to be in mutual peer mentorship and dialogue around the multiple dimensions of heat and fire this generation experiences.
March 27th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Upstairs in The Marsh
Panelists
Kyle Trefny
Co-Founder | FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen)
Kyle Trefny is an organizer, artist, wildland firefighter, and co-founder of FireGeneration Collaborative (FireGen), which started out with a GoFundMe campaign and a petition and became a dynamic, influential youth-led organization that has helped bring about the historic involvement of firefighters and Indigenous fire management practitioners in governance processes and engaged hundreds of young people in fire research. A faculty research assistant at the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program, Kyle is also active in movements for Indigenous sovereignty, queer rights, and climate justice and was a recipient of a 2025 Brower Youth Award.
justine epstein
Board Member | Weaving Earth
justine epstein, an organizer, facilitator, and rites of passage guide whose work focuses on transforming legacies and systems of ancestral harm through ancestral/cultural healing, wealth redistribution, social justice organizing, embodiment and deep ecology, is the founder of The Mending Circle as well as a board member and graduate of Weaving Earth's adult program.
Sam Burris DeBoskey
Lead Farmer | Art Farm at West Dry Creek
Sam Burris DeBoskey, a farmer, carpenter, and rites-of-passage guide dedicated to growing, building, and imagining resilient and flourishing communities, is currently the lead farmer at The Art Farm at West Dry Creek growing food at the intersection of art, agriculture, and social justice. He has been a long-time colleague of Weaving Earth, which is instrumental in creating and managing Bioneers’ youth programming.
Saturday, March 28th
Born of resistance, resilience, and ancestral strength, Indigenous women are rising, reclaiming leadership, re-aligning with nature, and challenging the imposed dysfunctions of colonial patriarchy. Jasmine Smith, 16, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee and founder and Chair of NAIWA Daughters, has lived this movement since birth, appearing before tribal and state legislatures all the way to the UN, embodying her refusal of the exclusion of Indigenous youth voices in the struggle for our collective future. She issues a bold call to restore Indigenous youth to their rightful place as valued leaders, knowledge-holders, and essential advocates for the living world.
March 28th | 10:50 am to 11:00 am | Zellerbach Hall
Jasmine Smith
Founder and Chair | NAIWA Daughters
Jasmine Smith, 16, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is an internationally recognized Indigenous youth leader, poet, and Founder and Chair of NAIWA Daughters, a youth-led nonprofit advancing Indigenous young women’s leadership, advocacy, and civic power. Jasmine has delivered keynote addresses at the Model United Nations Conference, working with Italian ambassadors, spoken before the Tennessee State Senate, working with Knox County representatives, and introduced the nation’s first all-female, second youth-led Rights of Nature resolution. A two-time Tennessee Civic Essay Award winner, she is a guest lecturer at the University of Tennessee, United World College in Costa Rica, and other academic institutions. Through her work, Jasmine bridges Indigenous knowledge, youth leadership, and environmental justice.
When UN leaders failed to pass a meaningful global plastics treaty, young organizers from across Hawaiʻi and Louisiana’s Cancer Alley came together to confront plastic pollution from both ends of the pipeline, i.e.—where it’s produced, and where it washes ashore. In this skill-building interactive, participants in the Bioneers Native Youth Ambassador Program from communities severely harmed by the plastic cycle will share their proven strategies to modify personal behavior, advocate for sustainable plastic policies, build zero-waste systems, and advance efforts to phase out single-use plastics. This youth-led interactive is for anyone living on the frontlines of endemic pollution or climate catastrophe—and for anyone who wants to learn from and support them. With: Lael Kylin Judson from Rural Roots Louisiana and Kona Smith and Chazlyn Mukini from Recycle Hawai’i.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Lotus Cafe, Dharma College
Panelists
Lael Kylin Judson
| Rural Roots Louisiana
Lael “Kylin” Judson, a junior honor student at The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a resident of Ascension Parish, has lost loved ones to pollution-related illnesses and works with Rural Roots Louisiana on Environmental Justice issues centered around Cancer Alley, a region disproportionately impacted by industrial toxicity. Kylin aspires to becoming an Environmental Lawyer dedicated to addressing systemic inequities and protecting vulnerable communities.
Kona Smith
Social Media Manager and Videographer | Recycle Hawai'i
Kona Smith, a young activist from Kaʻū, the southernmost and largest district of the island of Hawaiʻi (one of the six original districts of ancient Hawaii on the island, known as moku), is part of a youth group, Recycled Hawai'i, focused on achieving “zero waste” in their community and protecting and preserving its culture and historical memory. Kona is the social media manager and videographer of the group.
Chazlyn Mukini
Zero Waste Youth Advocate | Recycle Hawai`i/Ka`u Global Learning Lab
Chazlyn Mukini, a senior at Kau High and Pahala Elementary School (founded in 1881, the first high school established on the Big Island of Hawaii and the third public high school established in Hawaii), is a Zero Waste Youth Advocate and part of the marketing and public relations teams at Recycle Hawai`i/Ka`u Global Learning Lab.
Learn how to write, produce, and make “beets” with “eco-hip-hop” artist and Grammy-nominated music educator, DJ Cavem. We will cover beat-making, song composing, sampling, and writing lyrics, all in service to raising awareness about environmental sustainability, community-building, food justice, health, and wellness through music.
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita
Music Educator and Vegan Chef
Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita, Ph.D., a Grammy-nominated music educator, “eco-hip-hop” pioneer, and celebrity vegan chef with a doctorate in Urban Ecology, fuses hip-hop with sustainability, using music as a catalyst for social and environmental change. He has performed at the White House; shared stages with Mos Def, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, and Wyclef Jean; delivered six TEDx talks; and been profiled in many publications, including Oprah Magazine, Forbes, and People. His albums include The Produce Section, BIOMIMICZ and KONCRETE GARDEN.
Learn how to produce your own zines and collages! Zine and collage-making are great, super accessible ways to express yourself and find your creative voice. You can use materials you already have at home to quickly generate powerful educational, personal, and political messaging that you can share with your community. Get ready to cut, glue, draw, fold, and design your own project to take home with you!
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm | Kinzie Room, Brower Center
Join us for the grand finale of the weekend—an Open Mic session that celebrates the vibrant voices and talents of our youth. This event creates a sacred and empowering space for truth and healing, where young folks are invited to share their thoughts and talents. This Open Mic welcomes all expressions. Guiding us through the evening is the Hip Hop and R&B artist and activist, Jada Imani, who will add her unique flair to make it an unforgettable experience.
March 28th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Tamalpais Room, Brower Center
Panelists
Jada Imani Carter
Hip-Hop Artist and Community Organizer
Jada Imani Carter, a longtime member of the Bioneers Youth Program, is this year on the Program’s Design Team and is co-hosting the Youth Orientation as well as hosting the renowned Open Mic session. Jada, a hip-hop artist and community organizer with deep roots in the Berkeley and Oakland arts and activism scenes, creates transformative spaces where young people can share their voices, connect, and build power through creativity. She has spent over a decade leading workshops, curating events, and fostering intergenerational dialogue through music and storytelling.
