Zero

Jean Wiener has worked on environmental and coastal marine issues since 1991 when he founded Haiti's first coastal marine environment non-profit the Foundation pour la Protection de la Biodiversite Marine. As Executive Director of FoProBiM, he specializes in coastal and marine sciences, environmental monitoring and management, and community development. Jean joins to share his wealth of knowledge...

Dianna Cohen is the Co-founder and CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition and a passionate advocate against plastic pollution. She is based in Los Angeles and uses plastic in her artwork to make a visual and social impact. She is interested in exploring plastic's materiality through modifications and the material's relationship to culture, media, toxicity, and the world at large. Dianna joins to share...

Linda Ding is a Chinese Canadian writer currently living in Kamikatsu, Japan. She is the co-founder of INOW, a transformative tourism program in Kamikatsu aiming to provide guests a chance to experience living in the famous zero-waste village as a local. INOW believes in empowering people to do things for themselves, introducing them to extraordinary teachers who still possess important skills of...

David Jackson is the Director of Marketing & Public Affairs at Winnow, a company that develops Artificial Intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half.  Trusted by thousands of chefs in 45 countries, Winnow is helping businesses like IKEA, Compass Group, and Hilton save 36m meals a year from trash.  David is a marketing p...

Timothy Kayondo is the Co-Founder of Aqua Methods Uganda. He graduated with a Bachelors in Industrial Chemistry, where he then spun out Aqua Methods and led the design, innovation, and implementation, of Eco Mobile purifiers to targeted communities. He joins Zero to explain how he converts agricultural wastes into activated carbon to help treat wastewater throughout Uganda. 

Sami Aaron is the founder of the nonprofit, The Resilient Activist. Their mission is to build resilience, optimism, and hope in response to the impact of the climate crisis by providing community, stress-relief, and nature-connected programming that supports positive ecological change. Sami joins to discuss the intersection of mental health and climate activism and shares how we can take a mindful...

George Ongkiehong is a marketer, climate activist, and is now running for a seat in local government.  He has spent decades in the advertising and marketing space, focusing on crafting various sustainability campaigns.  His campaigns have successfully eliminated free plastic bags at grocery stores, implemented new recycling programs, and recently worked to ban fossil fuel based ads. &nbs...

George Roter is the Managing Director of the Canada Plastic Pact, where he brings his leadership, organizational design, and social change skills with the goal of creating a circular economy in which plastic waste is kept in the economy and out of the environment. He previously served as CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada and Director of Open Innovation Programs at Mozilla.  George joins...

Justine Burt is the Program Lead for the Future of Work at Manzanita Works, a non-profit in Silicon Valley focused on improving the life for workers and their families.  She has spent 20 years consulting on sustainability behavior change for waste prevention, and is the author of The Great Pivot: Creating Meaningful Work to Build a Sustainable Future.  Justine joins Zero to highlight the...

Michael Cyr is a waste industry expert and entrepreneur based in New York City.  After years in commercial waste hauling he now educates on the  shortcomings of recycling and promotes waste reduction and reuse models.  He is the co-founder of Cup Zero - a reusable cup service for events,  venues, and cafes. Cup Zero provides a turn-key approach making the  switch to t...

Ana Pacheco is the Quality Assurance Manager at Homeboy Electronics Recyling - a social enterprise devoted to offering electronics recyling services while also offering employment opportunities for people who face systemic barriers at work. In her role, she handles operational logistics, customer accounts, and EH&S compliance.  Ana joins Zero to share her passion about the interplay of su...

Pat Mapelli is the Land Use Manager and Bay Restoration Lead for Graniterock.  He has specialized in several wetland restoration projects in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, and has managed projects from inception to completion, including multi-agency permitting, negotiations, land use change, land entitlements and construction. Pat joins Zero to share his wisdom on beneficially reusing...

Laura Vicaria is the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for MUD Jeans, the world's first fully circular denim brand.  Through its Lease a Jeans model, MUD Jeans challenges the idea of ownership and aims to demonstrate that there is an alternative to fast fashion.  Laura joins Zero to discuss her work to drive continuous improvement in MUD Jeans' sustainability objectives and success...

As the co-founder and CEO of Sanergy, Ani Vallabhaneni oversees Sanergy's expansion, manages local resources, and sets the overall strategy for the company.  With a background in technology and operations, he previously built startups in India and the United States, and turned around a chain of dialysis clinics for low-income patients in the Philippines.  Ani joins Zero to discuss his ex...

Cecile Pompei is a social entrepreneurship specialist with a passion for people and talent.  She is currently the Chief People Officer at Sistema.bio.  Her mission is to empower and grow people and operations, while fighting climate change and has done so for over 12 years in emerging markets (Asia, Africa, and Latin America).  Cecile joins Zero to shares her insights into the possi...

Pal Martensson has been in waste management for 20 years and in the Zero Waste movement for 15 years. He created the first ECO-Park in the world, Kretsloppsparken Goteborg, Sweden, that has been used as a model to public and private sectors worldwide. Pal is a board member of the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), Zero Waste Canada, and mentor and educator for the Let's Do It Movement. &nbs...