Carson Chavana, Board Chair
cdchavana@utexas.edu
Hey ya’ll! My name is Carson and I’m from Austin, Texas. I am currently a senior at The University of Texas at Austin and am double majoring in Geography and Rhetoric/Writing. I chose these majors because I wanted to go into environmental journalism but I’m realizing that I will be happy if I do any sort of environmental advocacy work (that maybe also allows me to write a wee bit as well).
Austin summers have been especially hot the past couple years, and as a canvasser, I’d often find myself greeting people with a smile, wave, and sweat-drenched clipboard. One experience in particular gave me a palm-to-the-forehead experience in realizing the importance of organizing. A man saw my pathetic little self making my way up to his door, attempting to hide from the sun, and greeted me with a smile and a “hold on – let me get my checkbook,” before hearing the campaign we were working on. As I walked away from his house, quenched with homemade lemonade and satisfied with a modest check for the campaign, I realized that I could have gotten this man more involved than I had let him be. It was then that I recognized that I needed to get some community organizing skills under my belt.
I’ve been interested in working for the environment for as long as I can remember though it wasn’t until I did the Greenpeace Organizing Term (that’s what it was called in my day) that I realized I needed to kick my eco-warrior mode into high gear. Since the GOT, I remained active in the Student Network as a campus coordinator and attended the Greenpeace Activist Summit this past year. As a member of the student board, I couldn’t be happier continuing to meet the amazing people involved in this movement. I am BEYOND excited to get some kick-ass things done this year with inspiring student activists from across the country.
Abbie Rogers, Online Communications Coordinator
abigailrog@gmail.com
Hiya! My name is Abbie and I am a proud native of Winchester, VA, a quaint but growing apple-producing town nestled into the Shenandoah Valley. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, let me give you a mental image: The Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge mountains, to the west by Appalachians, to the north by the Potomac River, to the south by the James River, and somewhere through the middle, the a little crick we like to call the Shenandoah River kind of meanders through. It sounds beautiful because it is, and I had the best scabbed-knee childhood a girl could ever ask for there. To me the mountains and the river were benign castle walls defining my safe space; always keeping the bad out, away from me and the ones I loved most.
Fast forward a few years later and I’m in college at The University of Mary Washington, just over those mountains to the east. I’ve just joined the environmental club on campus and for mostly friend-making purposes, I sign up to a to attend a three-day mass mobilization in DC called against something called “Mountain Top Removal.” I figured I’ll chant a little, listen to some bluegrass and call it a day, right? Wrong. It changed my life. I listened to the shaking voices of Jane Branham and other Appalachian residents whose mountain homes were being blown up to serve a insatiable corporate greed for cheap energy. I heard horror stories of rivers running red, from cadmium, arsenic and mercury leaching. I saw scientific evidence of entire species disappearing--including humans who lived there, who--if the blasting, and the poisoned water and the law suits didn’t kill them—had twice the risk of getting cancer than any other person in this country.
I spent the majority of that weekend in total shock, if not a minor depression. You’d never know it because I came back to school with a smile on my face, and I attribute my restored optimism solely to the presence of one man, or speaker rather, named Tim DeChristopher. Tim told me and others under the trance to wake up and realize we were not alone, but fingers connected to a greater hand, which in turn had the power to unite into an unbreakable fist and fight for justice.
What more do you need really? I’ve since devoted my life to organizing, through which I hope to create a just and livable future for all. Organizing on campus brought me to National Powershift, National Powershift brought me to Greenpeace, and now I’m happy as a clam (not to mention BEYOND honored) to be on their Student Board! My goal this year is to really get to know and be a resource to as many of you as possible; we, young bucks, are this movement, and if we’re going to get through the tough times ahead, we might as well have a few inside jokes to get us there.
Final Disclaimer: I don’t just organize. I’m a human too, who thoroughly bango-pickin’ knee-slappin’ bluegrass music, butternut squash, anthropology and people who talk as fast as I do. Think you can keep up?
Grant Collier, Greenpeace Semester Alumni Coordinator
gr.collier@gmail.com
Hi my name is Grant. Born and raised in the suburbs of Hampton Roads in Southeast Virginia since September 1989. I grew up skateboarding, roller-blading, biking, and doing every other thing to pass the time with hood rat friends in the cul-de-sacs of my hometown of Hampton.
I attend James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and am finishing up my senior year working on my Geographic Science Major and Urban and Regional Studies Minor.
After learning about environmental issues in high school, I was on the road to activism before I knew it! Being PowerShift Coordinator at my school in spring 2011 brought me to apply for the GPS, and I was a part of summer session one this summer. I am looking forward to working on increasing the strength of this awesome network as a GSAC.
My two happy places are either on the tip top of a rad snowcapped mountain- me sitting in snowboard gear gazing over the beauty in utter bliss ready to tear up the powder, or in the rainforests of Costa Rica taking pictures of monkeys and intriguing plant-life. Funny thing- both of them are at risk of disappearing if it wasn’t for the incredible work that Greenpeace does and that is why I love Greenpeace. Let’s kick some ass this year!
Lana Guardo, Greenpeace Semester Alumni Coordinator
lguardo@yahoo.com
My name is Lana, I’m working as one of the two Greenpeace Semester Alumni Coordinators on 2011-2012’s Greenpeace Student Board, and guess what, I love the environment! But that’s not all I love.
I love action, and passion and drama and heart wrenching stories that thrust whoever hears them into such a fit of compassion, that they can’t help but change the way they think about this planet, and the way they treat it.
This past year, I have heard so many captivating stories, from young community members being abused by the coal industry, to student activists standing up in the name of what they believe in. With each story told, I take another mental step towards understanding how powerful and commanding the youth of this nation has become in this environmental movement.
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York—BroOkLYN!—and I am currently a junior, studying Ethology and Media Communication at The City College of New York. I completed the Greenpeace Semester in the spring of 2011, and have since been traveling the country to support our friends protesting the likes of mountain top removal, big oil, and nuclear power. This past summer, I represented Greenpeace at The United Nations International Youth Leadership Conference, where I spoke to over 200 international students about opportunities for young people to take action and become empowered to solve both local and global environmental issues.
I’m a campus coordinator at City College and I have two cats. I love my bike, partner yoga, and talking to people! And I am oh, so excited for this year!
Brinkley Hutchings, Trainings Coordinator
brinkley89@gmail.com
Hi my name is Brinkley. I grew up in coastal Alabama, spending my afternoon and weekends exploring the beautiful creeks and beaches there. I jumped to the East coast for school at UNC-Wilmington, where I have been studying Environmental Science and English for the last three years. Here, I am an officer in UNCW ECO and a community organizer for a local campaign to stop the building of a toxic cement plant (stoptitan.org).
I have been aware and acting upon environmental issues ever since I can remember. This was primarily due to my father, Tom, who instilled in me at a young age, the passion to “do the best we can” in protecting the place where we live. When I was a Freshman at UNCW, I joined UNCW ECO and began learning about climate change and how our pollution in the US not only affecting us, it’s affecting people around the globe. I went to the 2009 UN Climate Negotiations and it was there I was faced with the fact that the change we need for a safe climate is truly in our hands. I have been fully committed to our movement ever since and am so honored to work with Greenpeace students who understand what is at stake and aren’t going to accept what’s less that necessary to protect future generations.
Outside of environmental work, I love to swim, sail, practice yoga and go on outdoor adventures with my friends. If you are ever in Wilmington or Wrightsville Beach, NC, let me know so I can show you around!
Ren Ostry, Actions Coordinator
renostry1@gmail.com
Hi! My name is Ren Ostry. I’m a junior at Ithaca College studying environmental studies and community organizing! I live in Ithaca, NY where I love to spend time at second dam, my favorite of the gorges in Ithaca. I also love Watching Netflix with (or without) my roommates, visiting microbreweries, and binging on any not-so-healthy-but-still-vegan treats.
I first became interested in social and environmental justice organizing after a trip to Mumbai. The social inequality riddled with environmental devastation brought me down hard. When I came back to the states I learned what an organizer was, and realized that I had the ability to rally like-minded people into direct action and measurable change in our communities, state-wide, nationally and even globally.
…And how better to work on these issues than with fellow Greenpeacers?! Greenpeace knows that education and mobilization are how to create movements. Greenpeace has given me all the support and resources I could ask for and I can't imagine not paying that forward. The people I meet and the places I explore through this organization remind me countless times why I do what I do. This year, I’m so excited to keep on roaring loudly with operation tiger and watching tons of schools across the country make the switch to more sustainable paper policies!