Brighter Green Workshop at the Climate Convergence

Brighter Green has organized an exciting workshop as part of the Climate Convergence, kicking off Climate Week NYC.

Climate Convergence is an alternative summit leading up to the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City. Though the Convergence is local to New York, several events and movements are taking place around the globe. More information can be found in the flier below.

Specifics for this workshop:

Visual Realities of Climate Change: Food, Communities, and Landscapes

Investigate the effects of climate change seen in the short documentary film, WHAT’S FOR DINNER? (Chinese with English subtitles) and Carolyn Monastra’s photographs. Brighter Green executive director Mia MacDonald will introduce the event and the film WHAT’S FOR DINNER?. Carolyn Monastra will show some of her compelling photographs and discuss her documentation of climate change around the world. Hazel Zhang, creator of the successful Chinese blog VegPlanet, will discuss her experiences in China and Meatless Monday’s program director Morgan Johnson will talk about her work in the United States. Panelists will speak and engage audience members in a discussion of how changing eating habits and lifestyles are negatively impacting society and the planet. The discussion will be moderated by Mia MacDonald.

Panelists (bios and pictures below):
Morgan Johnson, Director of Programs and Research, The Monday Campaigns
Carolyn Monastra, Witness Tree Photography
Hazel Zhang, VegPlanet blogger

Moderator:
Mia MacDonald, Executive Director, Brighter Green

Morgan Johnson is a trained public health educator and researcher. Before joining the Monday Campaigns, Morgan developed programs for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and health departments across the state of North Carolina to help them prepare and respond to public health emergencies such as pandemics, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, and other manmade and naturally occurring disasters. Prior to her involvement in emergency management, Morgan played key roles in several successful public health initiatives, including the national rollout of an adolescent violence prevention program, the implementation of a standard for assessing physical activity and nutrition environments at daycare centers, and the broad adoption of mobile data collection and mapping technologies for the state of North Carolina and New York City. Morgan joined The Monday Campaigns in July of 2011 and leads implementation and evaluation of Monday programs in various community settings.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Carolyn Monastra received her MFA in photography from The Yale School of Art. After being on an artists’ residency in Iceland, she was motivated to begin The Witness Tree – documenting the effects of climate change around the world. Over the past four years she has photographed in thirteen U.S. states, seventeen countries, and on every continent. In 2012, she was trained by The Climate Reality Project to give slideshow presentations about the climate crisis. Carolyn’s awards include a travel grant from the English Speaking Union, a multi-media fellowship from BRIC, and a production grant from the Puffin Foundation. Her work is in the prestigious Marguiles collection in Miami and has been exhibited in venues across the United States as well as in China and Ireland. The artist currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Hazel Zhang is from Beijing but currently lives in New York City where she is studying Digital Marketing at New York University’s School of Professional Studies. She founded the well-known Chinese blog VegPlanet, which has over 20,000 followers! She returned to her hometown this past summer, and connected with Brighter Green’s Wanqing Zhou to be a panelist at the premiere of WHAT’S FOR DINNER? at Vegan Hut on June 15. While in New York City, she has been hosting vegan meetups and organizing events with groups such as Cruelty Free NYC and the NYC Lushan Society. She is committed to sharing all things wonderful about veggies and enjoys cooking, reading, and running.

Based in New York, Brighter Green is directed by Mia MacDonald, a public policy analyst and writer who has worked as a consultant to a range of international non-governmental organizations; including the Ford Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, the Green Belt Movement, the Sierra Club, and Save the Children as well as several United Nations agencies, among others—on issues of environment, gender, sustainable development, women’s rights and gender equality, reproductive health and population, and conservation and animal protection. She has published many articles in popular and environmental media, authored a number of policy papers and reports, and has contributed to four books, including Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai’s best-selling autobiography, Unbowed. She is a Senior Fellow of the Worldwatch Institute and has taught in the human rights program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the environmental studies program at New York University. She serves as a director on the board of Farm Sanctuary and chairs the board of the Green Belt Movement International – North America.  She received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a B.A. with honors from Columbia University.

Click here for the complete workshop schedule.