Join us for Climate Day 2022!

Tuesday, March 8, 2020

RSVP HERE

Don't miss out on the best day of the year – inspiring speakers, real-world advice you can use, and the connections you need to make climate action possible. RSVP now to let us know you can make it!

Join industry leaders for inspirational keynotes, executive roundtables, workshops, networking, a rockin’ reception, and more.

RSVP for Climate Day NOW to let us know you will be there and to stay in the loop about the exciting program and speaker updates. We are offering morning and afternoon sessions as well as the evening reception, so you can register for whichever combination of events works with your arrival time and schedule

Stay tuned for more info! Join our mailing list to get updates sent right to your inbox.

Climate Day events are free with your exhibit hall badge but space is limited! If you haven't registered for Expo West yet, you can do so here.

Agenda

8:00 - 8:30 Breakfast, Resource Fair

8:30 - 9:00 Opening Remarks

Courtney Pineau, Climate Collaborative

9:00 - 10:00 Breakout Panel: Partnering with Distributors to Advance your Climate Efforts

Join us for a special roundtable to hear updates from Organically Grown Company, UNFI, and KeHE on their newest climate commitments, and how they are activating climate action up and down the supply chain. Learn more about partnering with your distributors to accelerate your own climate work. Spoiler alert! Collaboration is key to removing barriers to scale up climate action. Corinne Shindelar, Board Chair of the Climate Collaborative, will moderate this session.

Corinne Shindelar, Climate Collaborative - Moderator
Laura McCord, KeHE Distributors
Alisha Real, UNFI
Stephanie Morris, Jimbo's

9:00 - 10:00 Breakout Panel: Moving Beyond Commitment: The Path to Achieving High-Impact Net Zero Goals

Thousands of businesses have made commitments to achieve net zero emissions. What exactly does “net zero” mean? Is it the same as “climate neutral” or “climate positive”? Can it realistically be accomplished, or is “net zero” new language for greenwashing? Join Jim Giles, VP of Net Zero Programming from leading business and environment publisher Greenbiz as he leads a dialogue with an expert panel from prominent businesses that have made commitments to various forms of net zero. Find out how they are approaching the massive task of decarbonizing their supply chain, especially the challenge of the farming system, what the path looks like for their companies, and why you might consider setting a net zero target for your business.

Jim Giles, GreenBiz Group - Moderator
Jen McKnight, Airly
Katie Clark, Happy Family Organics
Nicole Rakobitsch, Organic Valley

10:00 - 10:30 Break & Resource Fair

10:30 - 11:45 Breakout Panel: The Imperative for Centering Justice and Equity When Building a Regenerative Climate-Friendly Supplier Network

To create the conditions for living beings and natural systems to flourish and regenerate, we must center justice and equity in our climate work. In this session, you will hear perspectives from leaders in agriculture, business, and manufacturing on how they are integrating a regenerative systems approach into their work and, in the process, deepening their commitment to justice and equity. You'll hear examples from our panelists on how once they started looking at their climate work through a justice and equity lens, it led them to a holistic, regenerative approach.

MaryAnne Howland, JEDI Collaborative - Moderator
Kara Boyd, Association of American Indian Farmers
Alison Czeczuga, Gaia Herbs
Karen Lickteig, B Lab

10:30 11:45 Breakout Panel: Policy: An Essential Tool to Scale Climate Action in Your Business

It is now abundantly clear that voluntary actions by businesses and individuals are not enough to achieve the level of emissions reductions and change at the speed necessary to avoid the worst impacts of our warming climate. Policy is essential if we are to scale solutions and must be a vital piece of business climate strategy. As job creators, businesses are a powerful constituency with access to and influence with lawmakers. In this session, speakers will address why the time is now for all businesses to use their voices to advocate for climate solutions, and how to participate in climate advocacy through the Climate Collaborative and with our partners. You’ll hear from groups working on Capitol Hill and throughout the nation on critical pending climate legislation, and what you can do to support passage of these bills. No experience necessary! Attendees are encouraged to ask questions and give input into future policy initiatives of the Climate Collaborative.

Nancy Hirshberg, Hirshberg Strategic - Moderator
Anne Kelly, Ceres
Aria McLauchlan, Land Core
Peg Willingham, Fairtrade America

11:45 -1:00 Lunch (On Your Own) & Resource Fair

1:00 - 1:10 Afternoon Welcome

Courtney Pineau, Climate Collaborative
Carlotta Mast, New Hope Network

1:10 - 1:30 Regenerate America -Soil is Our Common Ground

Come learn why shifting our nation’s agricultural system to one that is regenerative is critical. Regenerate America™ - soil is our common ground, is an unprecedented grassroots campaign working to ensure support for regenerative agriculture in the 2023 Farm Bill and beyond. Regenerate America™ is designed to unite citizens, farmers, ranchers, landowners, non-profits, and companies around the idea that soil is our common ground and that our future is dependent on the actions that we take today.

This initiative is stewarded by Kiss the Ground

Finian Makepeace, Kiss the Ground
Ian Sommerhalder, Kiss the Ground
Nat Kelly, Kiss the Ground
Gina Asoudegan, Applegate
Kara Boyd, National Black Farmers Association
Carrie Richards, Richards Grassfed Beef
Blake Alexandre, Alexandre Family Farms

1:30 - 2:00 One Heart, One Mind, One World: How We Can Shift Our Worldview to Strengthen Our Hearts and Minds for the Work Ahead

An epistemological approach to “Western best practices and Indigenous ways of knowing” by bringing the best of both worlds together through sharing indigenous cultural and societal technologies. The power of vision, story and our ancestors both plant and animal in its simplest essence. A journey back to who we are in which to move forward from “in a good way.”

Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

2:00 - 2:25 From Human Wholeness to Systems Transformation: How We Can Create the Conditions for Personal and Planetary Regeneration

Despite all we know about climate change, many companies are still at the starting gate from the perspective of taking action. From lack of clarity about what meaningful action looks like to immobilization due to overwhelm and stress, it is clear that to have impactful climate action people and organizations need tools AND support on creating the conditions for action. Lauren Yarmuth's work at the intersection of sustainability, health, and social justice points to a singular necessity; if we want to create the conditions for transformation we need to design the conditions within our organizations, teams, and relationships that promote human wholeness. She will be sharing her research, including most recently on behalf of Ashoka to reverse engineer the capacities that make up planetary changemakers. She will also be offering provocative questions and actionable considerations into how, amidst such rapid environmental change, burnout, disease, social fragmentation, and more; we can meaningfully shift ourselves and the lives around us. Lauren’s is a hopeful and grounded perspective into our personal interactions as a unit of change for building a better future for all.

Lauren Yarmuth, The Cultural Conditions Project

2:25 - 2:55 Redefining the Bottom Line for People and Planet

We live in troubled times as the realities of climate, care and community are in conflict in the market place and in our hearts. Strategies of unchecked growth and endless consumption have delivered us to a harrowing impasse and it will take all of us reimagining our roles to deliver for people and planet. It’s time for systemic solutions where the health of the community is paramount in our metrics, measurements and first, in our minds. Join if you are ready to do the work that really matters for a habitable planet.

Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, Environmental Grantmakers Association

2:55 - 3:25 Break & Resource Fair

3:25 - 4:15 C-Suite Roundtable: Building the Case for Climate Investments in Your Business

Climate initiatives and investments compete for a share of the budget with other priorities that may be seen as more core to the business including marketing, operations, and new product development. The stronger the business case for climate initiatives and investments, the more likely to get internal buy-in, support, and resources. But how do you win over the C-Suite? Join Jim Giles, GreenBiz Vice President, Net Zero as he leads a discussion with CEOs and CFOs that will illuminate ways to make a compelling business case for climate investments and assure that climate is seen as a core business priority. If you are looking to gain internal support for climate initiatives in your business and strengthen your business case, you will want to attend this session

Jim Giles, GreenBiz Group - Moderator
Ben Mand, Harmless Harvest
Rebecca Hamilton, W.S. Badger Company
Sara Newmark, Chief Operating Officer, True Grace

4:15 - 4:50 Consumers as Allies to Drive Climate Action and Create Business Value

There has never been a better moment to communicate your climate efforts, or to engage the people who buy your products and services in climate action. That is the message from renown communication scientist, Dr. Ed Maibach, Director of the Center for Climate Communication at George Mason University. Join this session to understand how to effectively engage your stakeholders in your climate journey and open up opportunities to create business value and impact. Dr. Maibach will pull from his latest research on the American public and their attitudes toward climate change and consumer activism. Dr. Maibach was identified in 2021 by Thompson Reuters as one of the world’s 10 most influential scientists working on climate change. As the former Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli, he is uniquely positioned to understand both the science of climate communications and the challenges and opportunities for brands. Calling all marketing professionals! You don’t want to miss this session.

Ed Maibach, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication

5:00 - 5:30 Keynote: Moving Beyond Overwhelm--How Business Leaders are Critical in Building a Transformative Movement for Climate Justice

Don’t miss this special keynote from Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr as he speaks to this critical moment and the need for business leaders to step up and use their voice to hold those with decision-making power accountable to our planet and people. We each have a part to play in creating a world that is more just and that operates in service to all, not just the bottom line. Learn how we as a community of businesses can create a transformative climate movement, because there will never be climate justice without racial justice.

Rev.Yearwood is the President and Founder of Hip Hop Caucus, a minister, community activist, U.S. Air Force Veteran, and one of the most influential people in Hip Hop political life.

He is also a national climate leader, successfully bridging the gap between communities of color and environmental issue advocacy. In 2018, he helped launch Think 100%, a climate communications and activism platform that challenges environmental injustices and promotes just solutions to the climate crisis. He is one of the most powerful speakers on climate justice we've ever heard--you do not want to miss his keynote!