Jonathan Franzen has written that in the face of worsening climate disruption we need to “maintain functioning democracies, functioning legal systems, functioning communities…Any good thing you do now is arguably a hedge against the hotter future, but the really meaningful thing is that it’s good today. As long as you have something to love, you have something to hope for.”

Jonathan, Mireya, Lynda and Rick will reflect on what gives us hope in these times.

• Jonathan Franzen is a bestselling novelist, essayist, and journalist. A long-time board member of the American Bird Conservancy, he has received the EuroNatur Prize and the Utah Award in the Environmental Humanities for his conservation advocacy.
• Mireya Gomez Contreras is the Co-Leader of Esperanza Community Farms in Watsonville and the mother of two young children. A daughter of farmworkers, Mireya is a graduate of UCSC with 20 years of service to non-profits and community organizing work.
  
• Lynda Marín leads the local chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby. Her history of activism ranges from civil rights and anti-nuclear weapons advocacy to recently organizing with Laguna Creek neighbors to protect her community against the CZU fire.
• Rick Longinotti is Co-chair of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation and a teacher of Nonviolent Communication

Read about the lawsuit to stop Highway 1 expansion.