At just 17 years old, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a leader in climate activism, working as a youth leader, speaker, performer, author and hip-hop artist. As youth director of Earth Guardians, he works to support youth environmental activists in communities worldwide. His work has been featured widely in media outlets such as PBS, National Geographic, CNN, ABC, NBC, The Guardian and The Daily Show. Xiuhtezcatl published his first book, We Rise – The Earth Guardians Guide to Building a Movement that Restores the Planet, which is an action guide for organizing around climate change, environmental racism, fossil fuel extraction and industrial agriculture. Over the past six months, he and Earth Guardians youth leaders have been laying the groundwork for the platform EG Connect: Uniting Youth Worldwide, which will aggregate data and collect measureable evaluation metrics that can identify urgent needs for allocation of monetary and human resources. Xiuhtezcatl has been named to the Huffington Post Top 10 Movers and Shakers, Grist Top 50 Global Fixers, and the 2017 Univision Premio’s Ajente de Cambio Award.

Thomas Tsun-Hung Yee is an initiative officer at the Low Income Investment Fund whose role is to staff the LA THRIVES collaborative, where he coordinates local partners toward planning equitable and sustainable transit-oriented communities throughout Los Angeles County. Committed to community-based, equitable development that benefits the environment and health of all people, Thomas works to reduce the cost of housing and transportation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand the community investment system. In partnership with the Social Justice Learning Institute and other organizations, he is also part of the Strong, Prosperous and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC), which identifies links between health, housing security and homelessness, as well as environmental justice, climate strategies and public health so they can be addressed in a holistic manner. Prior to his current position, Thomas worked for more than a decade in community development, managing projects and overseeing the efforts of organizers, small business counselors and planners. Completed projects include 195 affordable housing units. Thomas holds a master’s degree in urban planning and a bachelor’s degree in biophysics from the University of Southern California.

Stephanie Speirs co-founded and runs Solstice, a United States-based energy company that expands affordable solar power to renters and low-income consumers using community-shared solar farms. The company has generated demand for 45 megawatts of community solar across 17 projects in multiple states. Solstice also invented the EnergyScore, a new, proprietary underwriting standard for solar customers that is simultaneously more accurate in predicting who will pay their utility bill and more inclusive of low-income Americans (than FICO credit scores, the industry standard). Previously, she spearheaded the impact investment fund Acumen’s renewable energy strategy in Pakistan and managed sales and marketing initiatives for d.light solar in India. She served as the White House official responsible for managing U.S. policy and strategy (including energy policy) in Yemen during the “Arab Spring.” Her work has been featured in Forbes and Fast Company and she was named one of Grist’s 50 Fixers of 2017 and Sierra Club’s Faces of Clean Energy. The child of immigrants and raised on welfare in America, Stephanie holds a master’s degree in business administration from MIT Sloan, a master’s in public affairs from Princeton University, and bachelor’s degrees in history and international studies from Yale University.

With Sea Shepherd, Captain Peter Hammarstedt created and piloted a “civilian offshore patrol vessel” program to help developing nations care for fish stocks in their territorial waters and sustain the health of the ocean. In 2014, Peter captained a boat that set the record for longest maritime pursuit in history, chasing an internationally-blacklisted vessel across three oceans and 10,000 miles before it was intentionally sunk by its captain off the coast of São Tomé and Príncipe. The dramatic chase was documented by the New York Times. Joint patrols between Sea Shepherd Global and law enforcement agents of African coastal states have resulted in the arrests of over 23 illegal fishing vessels over the past three years. Peter is the 2016 recipient of the Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal for Humanitarian Service, an award previously given to individuals such as Maneka Gandhi, Christine Townend and Jane Goodall.

As executive director of Amazon Frontlines, a non-profit organization he founded in 2015, Mitch Anderson oversees efforts to advance and defend indigenous peoples’ rights to land, life and cultural survival in the Amazon rainforest. Mitch also serves as executive director of the ClearWater project, an initiative providing access to clean water for indigenous villages affected by oil contamination in the Upper Amazon. Mitch has 15 years of experience supporting indigenous environmental justice struggles across Central and South America. He spearheaded international environmental campaigns against US oil giants, such as Chevron and Occidental Petroleum. The ClearWater project he founded has installed more than 1,000 rainwater harvesting systems in over 70 villages affected by oil contamination in the Upper Amazon. He has extensive experience supporting indigenous peoples in territorial defense efforts, including mapping initiatives, environmental monitoring, land patrols, legal trainings and direct action. His passions are writing, photography, treks in the woods and learning about the rainforest through the eyes of his three-year-old daughter.