Theme: Countdown

Countdown is a global initiative to champion and accelerate solutions to the climate crisis, turning ideas into action. The goal: To build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 in the race to a zero-carbon world – a world that is safer, cleaner and fairer for everyone. #JoinTheCountdown to a safer, cleaner, fairer future. Countdown invites collaboration from every organization, company, city and nation and from citizens everywhere. It is a movement open to everyone – and everyone has a vital role to play.

This virtual event invites leading thinkers and doers, scientists, activists, entrepreneurs, urban planners, farmers, CEOs, investors, artists, government officials, and others to share effective, evidence-based ideas for creating a zero-emission future. The goal of this global gathering is to identify the bold solutions that can be activated when people break out of their silos and rise to the challenge.

Countdown seeks to answer five fundamental, interconnected questions that help inform a blueprint for a cleaner future:

- ENERGY: How rapidly can we switch to 100% clean power?
- TRANSPORT: How can we upgrade the way we move people and things?
- MATERIALS: How can we re-imagine and re-make the stuff around us?
- FOOD: How can we spark a worldwide shift to healthier food systems?
- NATURE: How do we better protect and re-green the earth?

UC Irvine
92697
Irvine, California, TBD
United States

Chandra Slaven

AICP

Chandra Slaven is a land-use advisor, who recently recovered from COVID-19. In light of this experience, she has found herself questioning the value of healthier food as a form of preventive medicine and what important role land-use policy-making can play in this era of growing pandemics.

Emma Rose Cohen

CEO & Founder

Emma Rose Cohen, 34, is the CEO and founder of Final, the company that created FinalStraw—the world’s first reusable, collapsible straw that raised nearly $2 million on Kickstarter. Prior to launching Final, Emma earned a Master’s Degree from Harvard in Environmental Management and Sustainability and spent four years working in waste minimization at Los Alamos National Laboratory. In the last decade, Emma’s passion for sustainability motivated her to help create a nonprofit called Save the Mermaids, to educate children about the harmful effects of single-use plastics. Emma has also spoken about the harmful effects plastic straws have on the environment on the TEDx stage and in numerous podcasts. Emma’s love for both the ocean and the mountains has resulted in a semi-nomadic lifestyle—she calls Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Barbara, California, and Whistler, British Columbia home. Emma continues to lead Final’s entirely remote team as they develop an entire line of Foreverables.

Eric Steinberger

CEO

When he was 14, he started studying Physics and Computer Science online through MIT, YouTube, and by reading a lot. At 21, he has published 2 papers and has worked in research roles MIT, Facebook AI, TU Vienna, and Luxembourg University - all before without completing even an Undergraduate degree. Consequently, Eric understands the impact online education can have. With www.climate-science.com, he wants to help the next generation of brilliant climate enthusiasts learn how to solve the world’s biggest problem: climate change.

Steven Allison

Professor

Dr. Allison holds a PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and is a Professor of Ecology in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Earth System Science. In 2013, Dr. Allison was named an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America. As part of the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, Dr. Allison was named the UC Irvine Climate Action Champion in 2016. With funding from this initiative, Dr. Allison established the Climate Action Training Program and later the Ridge to Reef Graduate Training Program. Dr. Allison teaches introductory ecology and ecosystem ecology at the undergraduate level, and his research focuses on ecosystem responses to climate change. Dr. Allison is also building new mathematical models that incorporate feedbacks among microbial communities, carbon cycling, and climate change.

Wilford Welch

Keynote Speaker, Corporate Strategist, and Author on the Climate Crisis

Wilford is a keynote speaker, global systems thinker, author, and futurist. He has been exploring the driving social, political, economic, and technological forces impacting the world for more than five decades over the course of five international careers. He is the author of two recent books, In Our Hands – A Handbook for Intergenerational Actions to Solve the Climate Crisis, and The Tactics of Hope – How Social Entrepreneurs are Changing our World. He has a BA from Yale University, a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PMD degree from the Harvard Business School.