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Allison Quaid has spent the last fifteen years promoting environmental sustainability by working with more than 500 local governments, non-profits and businesses across the U.S. She currently heads Creative Eco-Catalysts, an environmental consulting and social marketing communications firm, and is Deputy Director and co-founder of Bay Area Climate Solutions.

Debbie Cook served eight years on the Huntington Beach, California City Council, serving as Mayor in 2002 and 2008. She held leadership positions on many regional boards and commissions including the Southern California Association of Governments, League of California Cities, and California Desalination Task Force. As the Democratic Party nominee for the 46th Congressional race in 2008, Debbie further expanded the region’s understanding of our energy vulnerabilities.

Debbie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Science from Cal State Long Beach, a Jurisdoctorate from Western State College of Law, and a license to practice law in California. Debbie is also a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and Great Valley Leadership Institute.

Debbie currently serves on the Board of Directors of Post Carbon Institute. Debbie continues to be active in her community educating the public, elected officials, and policy makers about the energy challenges facing the world.

Dr. Jason Bradford leads the farmland management program for Farmland LP, including sustainability planning and organic certification and management. In addition to his agriculture background, Jason is a highly-regarded ecological scientist and expert in sustainability and local food systems. After receiving his Ph.D., Jason taught Ecology at Washington University, and then worked on issues related to global ecosystem integrity through the Missouri Botanical Garden and U.C. Davis, with funding by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Jason was a leader of BioMERGE, a NSF funded research network of over 100 scientists from 17 countries integrating the study of biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Prior to joining Farmland LP, Jason founded and managed Brookside Farm, a successful certified organic farm in Willits, CA utilizing innovative low-energy farming techniques; hosted a radio program called “The Reality Report”; and served on the Boards of Directors for the Renewable Energy Development Institute (REDI) and Willits Economic LocaLization (WELL).

Martin J. Lawler is an immigration attorney and author of four books. A lecturer on immigration law, Martin has authored two op-ed articles for The Wall Street Journal and has appeared on National Public Radio. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America.

Nate is a well know authority on the overall resource depletion picture. He was, until recently, the editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most popular and highly-respected websites in the world for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and their implications for the future.

His talks address the opportunities and constraints facing the coming human transition away from fossil fuels. On the supply side Nate focuses on biophysical economics (net energy) and the interrelationship between debt based financial markets and natural resources. On the demand side Nate addresses the evolutionarily-derived underpinnings to conspicuous consumption, valuing the present over the future, and habituation to resource overconsumption and offers suggestions on how we as individuals and society can better adapt and mitigate to what's ahead.

Nate has appeared on PBS, BBC, NPR and many other radio stations and has lectured around the world on issues related to resource depletion.

Nate Hagens holds a Masters Degree in Finance from the University of Chicago. He is currently completing his PhD in Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. Previously he was President of Sanctuary Asset Management and was a Vice President at investment firms Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers.

Philip Jensen grew up in upstate New York and received a B.A. in applied mathematics from Harvard College. He recently retired from a career in computer programming, culminating with an exciting five years at Google, Inc. He now does extensive reading in an effort to understand the coming challenges for the human species.

Richard Heinberg is the author of nine books including:

• Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis (2009)
• Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007)
• The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse (2006)
• Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World (2004)
• The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003)

He is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost Peak Oil educators. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as The Ecologist, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, Quarterly Review, Z Magazine, Resurgence, The Futurist, European Business Review, Earth Island Journal, Yes!, Pacific Ecologist, and The Sun; and on web sites such as Alternet.org, EnergyBulletin.net, TheOilDrum.com, ProjectCensored.com, and Counterpunch.com.

He has appeared in many film and television documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour, and is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education.

More information about Richard can be found on his website.