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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Mayor of Fargo
Mr. Walaker began his career in 1962 with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, where he was involved in the construction of Interstates 94 and 29. He also worked on several City of Fargo projects, including the conversion of University Drive and 10th Street into one-way streets. The City of Fargo hired Mr. Walaker in 1974 as a civil engineer responsible for supervising public works projects. In 1989, he became the City's Public Works Operations Manager. A few years later, this position was expanded to include forestry, fleet management and emergency management responsibilities; the position title became Director of Operations. Mr. Walaker served in that position until his resignation in May 2006 to enter the political arena. The Mayor's current activities include serving on the Board of Directors of the Red River Zoo, Plains Art Museum, NDSU Team Makers and Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center. He is a member of the American Public Works Association, the American Water Works Association, the Water Pollution Control Federation, the American Legion, the Sons of Norway, and the FM Symphony. His past board memberships include Hospice of the Red River Valley and United Way of Cass Clay. Mr. Walaker and his wife, Mary, (a retired teacher) have two adult children and two grandsons. Protecting our climateFargo Mayor Dennis Walaker wants to build an increasingly "green" city. He believes protecting the environment is a key part of being a city leader. Mayor Walaker is part of Mayors for Climate Protection, a group of more than 400 mayors in 43 states taking action on global warming. Mayor Walaker encourages you to review the climate protection fact sheets listed below to learn more about global warming. All the links below lead to PDF files; you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them.
You can learn more about climate protection and global warming at www.coolmayors.org.
Voters elected Mike Williams to the Fargo City Commission in June 2004. Williams was born and raised in Fargo, the youngest of 10 children. He is happily married to Susan, who he calls the "best thing ever." Williams is an insurance adjuster/risk manager and director of auxiliary services for Greenfields Energy (a developing new business venture). His interests include reading, public policy, home improvement projects, walking, biking and being outdoors. You can reach Commissioner Williams by e-mail at mjwilliams@cityoffargo.com or by phone at (701) 241-1310.
Arjun Makhijani is President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1972, specializing in nuclear fusion.
A recognized authority on energy issues, Dr. Makhijani is the author and co-author of numerous reports and books on energy and environment related issues. He was the principal author of the first study of the energy efficiency potential of the US economy published in 1971. He is the author of Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy (2007).
Among other honors, he received the Jane Bagley Lehman award of the Tides Foundation in 2008. He was named a Ploughshares Hero, by the Ploughshares Fund in 2006. In 2007, he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor granted to, at most, one-half of one percent of APS members. He has many published articles in journals such as The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and The Progressive, as well as in newspapers, including the Washington Post.
Dr. Makhijani has testified before Congress, and has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, CBS 60 Minutes, NPR, CNN, and BBC, among others. He has served as a consultant on energy issues to utilities, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Edison Electric Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and several agencies of the United Nations.
Dr. Seielstad's tenure at UND will be recognized by his many achievements as well as the many distinguished titles he has held. Upon his arrival in 1993, Dr. Seielstad served as Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Space Studies and was later named the Associate Dean of the Center for Aerospace Science and Director of the Earth System Science Institute. In 1997, he was named the first ever Oliver Benediktson Professor of Astrophysics. In recent years, Dr. Seielstad was appointed Senior Advisor to the President of UND and served in the position of Director for the Northern Great Plains Center for People and the Environment where he directs the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium (UMAC). His cardinal accomplishment at UND came in founding and managing UMAC, which he established in 1994. UMAC is a preeminent research partnership between five universities in Montana, South Dakota, Idaho, and North Dakota working in collaboration in order to serve societal needs through the development of practical applications in Earth System Science information. UMAC has helped collect vital data on complex global environment and climate issues and has led to the development of real world products using satellite imaging, like Agriculture Cameral, which helps educate and bring about solutions for ranchers and farmers on a wide variety of agri-business issues. Multi-university consortiums are very rare because universities compete as much as they collaborate. The growth, success, and longevity of UMAC in large part is due to the vision, leadership, and commitment of Dr. Seielstad. Even before his arrival at UND, Dr. Seielstad was a notable radio astronomer spending time at the University of Alaska, Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory in Bishop, California, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Physics from Dartmouth College and received his PhD in Physics from the California Institute of Technology. More recently, he served as Chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Deep Space Network Working Group and was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to serve on the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Active Archive Advisory. He has had over 70 published articles and is the author of two books and the editor of two more. On a personal level, I have been privileged to enjoy George and his wonderful wife, Delores, as friends. For someone of his distinguished scientific and academic achievements, I have also found George and Delores to be warm hearted, caring, down to earth individuals who shared an extraordinary commitment to make things better. At an earlier point in his career, George almost won a seat in Congress. When that avenue to effect change was not available, he redoubled his efforts in his own work leaving a legacy of accomplishment that is truly incredible. His impact will be felt by generations to come, by the students he taught, the people that he worked with, and all those who have had the time to get to know him. I wish George and Delores, all their family, the very best and offer my hope for continued success and happiness in the coming years.
The Intertribal COUP Council has representatives from eleven Tribes located in a four-state area in the Northern Plains including : South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska. They provide policy analysis and recommendations, as well as workshops on telecommunications, climate change research, Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) hydropower allocations, energy efficiency, energy planning, and renewable energy, with a heavy emphasis on wind energy development.
The policy work of Intertribal COUP includes specific proposals to support renewable energy development and energy efficiency. As team member of the Intertribal Energy Network, Pat has worked in tribal government and Indian programs in various capacities over the past 30 years and was the 2007 winner of the Award for Courage through the World Clean Energy Awards.
Intertribal COUP has most recently begun working on sustainability in housing through the Train the Trainers Straw Bale Building Program. This program of courses is offered through the cooperation of the Intertribal COUP, Sinte Gleska University, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, United Tribes Technical College, and the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, with the One World Design Development Center for Appropriate Technology and GreenWeaver Inc. Through the program experts use straw bale building design to discuss strategies that offer healthy indoor air quality, use of local building materials, resource efficiency, and economic development opportunities through job training and business development.
Just Wind defines itself as a grass roots wind farm developer with real ties to the communities it serves. “We are not only in the business of developing wind farms, but in growing the communities,” sites Jeff Metzger, founder and president.
PLENARY PANEL SPEAKERS:
During the early 1990’s, Tom worked within the state of Minnesota Governors Task Force on Solid Waste; and served as an alternate representative to the Region 5 - Great Lakes EPA Tribal Operations Committee, which advises the EPA on tribal environmental policy. He recently finished a 2-year term as chair of the EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) Indigenous Peoples Sub-Committee. Tom brings years of experience to this position, having worked on Native issues for more than thirty years in local, regional, national and international areas.
From a Native student leader in 1971 at Arizona State University, to a military tour in the U.S. Army and to developing Native programs in social services, child and family protective services throughout the 1980’s, Tom has applied his professional academic training in social work practice from Pacific Lutheran University in initiatives to build sustainable community development.
Since his participation and leadership in the First National People of Color Environmental Justice Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. in 1991, to the 8th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues this past May 2009, Tom has become an environmental justice leader at the local, regional, national and international levels. He co-produced an award winning documentary film, Drumbeat for Mother Earth, which addresses the affects of bio-accumulative chemicals on Indigenous peoples. From the strength of his community organizing experience he has brought the local issues of environmental and economic justice and the rights of Indigenous peoples to the international level through United Nations treaty making bodies and conventions on issues including: persistent organic pollutants, climate change, mineral extraction, protection of biodiversity, globalization, and water. He is active on many other Indigenous, environmental and social justice organizations including: Honor the Earth Campaign, Just Transition Alliance, Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiative, Grassroots for Global Justice, Crisis Climate Campaign, Global Indigenous Water Working Group, Tar Sands Working Group, and the International Indian Treaty Council.
According to Peter, “I went into the mountains an evangelical minister, but I came out an environmental activist. I believe God made a good earth and I am called to be a good steward; to protect the fruitfulness and connectedness of creation.” Peter returned to school for a Masters degree in social marketing, combining his three passions – nature appreciation, social marketing and Christian theology and began to create an alternative framework for Christians to engage nature, compared to the “dominion” theology perpetrated by the far right. Though an evangelical, Peter also works with Catholics, Orthodox, mainline Protestants, and Jewish leaders. Peter also serves as Vice-President of the Christian Environmental Council and sits on the Board of Directors of the White Cloud Council. He is also part of the Noah Alliance, a coalition with Paul Gorman of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE), and Jim Ball of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN). Peter worked as the Northwest representative for the Evangelical Environmental Network and for Target Earth before starting Restoring Eden in 2001. Peter’s success in reaching the church community with a message of environmental stewardship has been featured on Lehrer Newshour, CBS Evening News, CNN, Outside Magazine, Utne Reader, Charisma, and Christianity Today amongst others. In addition, he has also been interviewed for numerous local newspapers, Christian newspapers, and radio talk shows.
Over the years, Clayton’s work has taken him to five continents across our Mother Earth. He has been on the front lines of stopping industrial society's assault on Indigenous Peoples lands to extract resources and to dump toxic wastes.
Based out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Clayton is involved in many initiatives to support the building of an inclusive movement for Energy and Climate Justice. He serves as board chair of the Collective Heritage Institute (CHI), which hosts the annual Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California.
Mike currently works for his band studying traditional land use and speaking out against tar sands development. Last year there were over 20 deaths in his community of 1,200 people. Many were cancer-related deaths, which Mercredi said are linked to the oilsands activities in nearby Fort McMurray.
Heather is a member of the World Indigenous Youth Working Council to develop an international indigenous youth organization-Indigenous Youth Secretariate and organize the next World Indigenous Youth Conference. She was a founding member of INIYA (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Youth Alliance) on developing an international network. She has previously been a member of the United Nations Environment Programmers Youth Advisory Council. She is currently a board member of Honor the Earth Foundation. She brings ten years of youth organizing to IEN. Heather currently is the community facilitator for Aboriginal Visioning for the North End.
The TCCC is a project slated to involve more than 40 Tribal Colleges across Canada and the U.S. The goal of the program is to leverage the power of young Indigenous people to organize on Tribal college campuses and high schools in order to win Clean Energy policies at their schools. The challenge itself is a project of Energy Action, which is a coalition that unites a diversity of over 50 organizations in an alliance that supports and strengthens the clean energy movement among students and young people in the United States and Canada. The partners of Energy Action work together to leverage our collective power to create change for a clean, efficient, just and renewable energy future.
Bruce Baizel is the Oil & Gas Accountability Project Senior Staff Attorney & Policy Advisor with Earthworks. He received his law degree in 1986 from the University of Denver College of Law, has a BA in Biology and a Masters in International Relations. Bruce has worked with Dine CARE, a Navajo action group, and Round River Conservation Studies, groups he staffed and represented for eleven years.
AFTERNOON PRESENTATIONS AT NDSU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AUDITORIUM:
Dr. Wong-Gibbons’ is a research scientist with an educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Florida State University, a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from Wake Forest University, and postdoctoral training in Molecular Biology and in Epidemiology from the University of Iowa. Her work with Plains Justice focuses on education and outreach regarding the public health risks of environmental contamination, particularly with respect to air and water quality. Her interests include the effects of the environment on human health as well as moral and ethical implications of human impacts on the environment.
Dr. Wong-Gibbons also serves as the Executive Director for the Iowa Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), an organization of more than 60,000 pediatricians committed to promoting the optimal health of infants, adolescents, and young adults through advocacy, education, and outreach.
Roland served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era. After his military service he became a Vietnam War protestor, and later became involved in the Veterans for Peace, Anti-Nuclear, Sanctuary, United Farm Workers and other movements going on to participate in the first Veterans For Peace Iraq Water Project trip. He was involved with trying to stop the Palo Verde Nuclear Plants in Arizona as well as with and Nuclear Initiatives in 7 states. He was a Policy Advisor to an Arizona utility regulator from 1985-1999 and helped pass the Arizona Clean Elections in 1998. Roland’s current focus is global warming and oil depletion and the U.S. war response thereto. He ran as a statewide “clean” candidate in 2002 and has worked on climate justice and environmental justice issues since.
WORKSHOPS PRESENTED BY:
Grand Aspirations grew out of a number of grass-roots initiatives in St. Paul, Minnesota by a group of Macalester students in MacCARES, a campus group. In the Twin Cities, students, labor groups, city officials, businesses, non-profit organizations, and community members have been collaborating on various climate positive initiatives for the past two years, generating a number of ongoing and rapidly growing initiatives with little institutional infrastructure. As we began to work more and more closely with grassroots youth leaders around the country, we became increasingly aware of the common need for organizational infrastructure to support and empower the grand aspirations of dedicated youth leaders in many communities across the country. The power of these youth initiatives is sweeping; through collaboration and partnership, our efforts are creating climate positive solutions around the world. In order to create a public face, scale-up, ensure the longevity and sustainability of existing projects, and foster the emergence of new projects, Macalester students established a formal non-profit organization, christened Grand Aspirations, which serves as an incubator or “think-and-do tank” for bold grassroots initiatives that would otherwise have no recognizable institutional infrastructure.
Workshop Title: Harnessing Your Leadership Power to Build a Strong, Inclusive Community
Grand Aspirations empowers, connects, and supports youth leaders as they create innovative, self-sustaining, and inter-dependent initiatives that systemically integrate climate and energy solutions, economic security, and social justice.
"How to Green/Democratize a University" This workshop, led by Students for a Democratic Society (Univ. of North Dakota chapter), will discuss radical social theory and how it applies to promoting environmental and social justice.
Camille Cyprian is a community organizer, activist, artist and leader in several youth organizations and campaigns. She is the training organizer for
Leadership development is hugely important to building a progressive community that can WIN—especially for an issue campaign like Green Jobs. This session delves into positive and negative leadership qualities and behaviors, discusses the importance of multiple kinds of leadership, and introduces concrete strategies for intentional leadership development. (Courtesy of Wellstone Action & Green For All).
Jason Schaefer, Education Coordinator - Jason grew up in North Dakota, receiving a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of North Dakota in 2003. He has been involved in numerous environmental campaigns as well as youth advocacy and education work. His work is solution-oriented and seeks to build trust amongst a wide-array of stakeholders. "There are no silver bullets," says Jason, "we need silver buckshot to meet our climate and energy challenges." During the 2007 and 2008 To Cross the Moon (2XtM) snowkiting expeditions across North Dakota, Jason and the all-volunteer 2XtM crew traveled to over 40 communities and spoke to over 10,000 people. Jason's workshop, "Extreme Awareness, Environmental Education and Extreme Sports" will focus on unique and positive ways to talk about climate change and renewable energy.
WHAT WE CAN DO:Colleges and universities spend over $4 billion each year on food. This figure represents a significant portion of the national food system - one that young people can directly influence. Students are making a difference! There is a growing movement of college students working to address food issues on campus. At least 300 institutions already have college farms, fair trade initiatives, or farm-to-cafeteria programs, and the number is growing every day. If we act together we can amplify our voice and our power. Real change will come from the grassroots and students can lead the way.
This is being done in conjunction with the International 350 Day of Action. Learn more by visiting: www.350.org 
Additional Topics and Invited Guest Speakers Include:
Looking ahead to 2010: How the Green Vote Can Shape the Agenda; Trainings on Organizational Development, Fundraising, and Leadership Development in Grassroots Organizing; The FM Bike Workshop: Community Empowerment and Collaborative Organizing; and the list goes on!
Would you like to get involved? Contact Us @ : Northernplains@powershift09.org |
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The current mayor of Fargo is Dennis Walaker. Voters elected him to a four-year term in June 2006. This is Mr. Walaker's first term as mayor. Mayor Walaker is a Fargo native who graduated from Leonard High School (Cass County) in 1959 and attended North Dakota State University. 
