Summit Recording
Climate & Preparedness 7/18/25
The first in the CEMTF 6th Virtual Summit Series: Climate, Readiness, Solidarity & Rights for All
9:00 AM
Land Acknowledgement
9:10 AM
Welcome
Speakers
9:15 AM
Oakland Alameda Shoreline Adaptation Strategies
9:35 AM
Climate & Know Your Rights
9: 55 AM
Strategizing to Spread Local Resilience Everywhere! Resilience Circles, Hubs, Spaces and Neighborhoods
10:15 AM
Building Block-based Teams for Climate Action and Resilience
10:35 AM
Emergency Preparedness for your Companion Animals
10:55 AM Break
11:00 AM
Community Energy for Resilience Hubs
Jessica Guadalupe Tovar, Executive Director, Local Clean Energy Alliance
11:15 AM
The Intersection Between Domestic Violence & Climate Change
11:30 AM
Climate, Health & Qigong
11:50 AM
Announcements & Closing
Welcome
Cheryl Davila
Founder & Chair CEMTF
Former Councilmember, City of Berkeley, CA
As a Councilmember (now former) Cheryl was a champion for the climate and humanity. Under her leadership the Climate Emergency Declaration (CED) passed & Fossil Fuel Free resolution unanimously in June 2018. The CED was the third in the world. Now over 2335 governments around the world have since declared climate emergencies.
Under Cheryl’s leadership, BPD got out of Urban Shield, banned flavored tobacco & changed the city limit signs to “Welcome to the City of Berkeley Ohlone Territory” signs, just a few of hundreds of accomplishments in her tenure.
Cheryl founded CEMTF in 2019. Did you know CEMTF was the brainchild of the prohibition of natural gas infrastructure in new buildings? True.
CEMTF is in its 6th year! We’ll be celebrating soon. Stay tuned!
Land Acknowledgement
Kim DeOcampo
Retired & Board Member
Sorgorea Te’ Land Trust
Kim DeOcampo, Tuolumne Mewuk, Houma-Chocktaw, African American activist who grew up in Vallejo and has worked extensively in the Native community for 35 years. Kim is a Board Member of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an Indigenous women lead trust that addresses food injustice, landback and climate change.
Kim is also a member of the Solano County Behavioral Health Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee as well as the Diabetes Council.
Currently, Kim is a retired caseworker from California Tribal TANF Partnership, an agency that provides social services to the underserved Native American Families in Solano County.
Check out Sogorea Te' Land Trust Youtube, which features discussions with Indigenous Matriarchs from around the world, discussing a variety of topics related to Indigeneity, sacred site protection, wellness, and reciprocity.
Speakers:
Oakland Alameda Shoreline Adaptation Strategies
Lauren Eisele
Community for A Sustainable Alameda
Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee Lead
Lauren Eisele, is an expert Bay Area waterfront planner, who has written Sea Level Rise Adaptation Guidelines, Climate Action and Resiliency Plans and Hazard Mitigation Plans for Alameda, the CCSFand several other Bay cities, and is a founding member of the Bay Climate Adaptation Network (BayCAN).
She is currently serving as the community outreach liaison for the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee, and will present the status of the OAAC projects underway.
Climate and Know Your Rights
Andrea Pritchett
Musician, Organizer & Teacher
Berkeley & National Copwatch
Thirty-five years ago Andrea Prichett helped establish the group "Copwatch" to resist the expanding power of police. She has co-facilitated "Community Based Police Accountability" classes at UC Berkeley for over 20 years and served on both the Berkeley Police Review Commission and the Berkeley Mental Health Commission.
Andrea is also known for her rich vocal performances and her political and topical songwriting style. Formerly with the nationally recognized folk trio “Rebecca Riots”, Andrea has continued to develop as a solo singer-songwriter and delivers a powerhouse performance with only her voice and guitar.
When she is not making music, Andrea is a middle school teacher in Berkeley, an organizer with Berkeley Copwatch, and a founding member of the national Copwatch movement that has been working for over 30 years to stop police misconduct.
Strategizing to Spread Local Resilience Everywhere! Resilience Circles, Hubs, Spaces and Neighborhoods
Susan Silber
Project Director
Collective Resilience
Susan's passion and expertise lies in working with solutions-based grassroots projects to help create a more resilient, healthy and equitable world. She is the founder and project director of Collective Resilience, a Berkeley-based nonprofit with the vision to build a movement of resilience hubs, spaces and neighborhoods that are rooted in ecological stewardship, climate resilience and community care for our most vulnerable populations.
Susan has more than 30 years of experience working as a program creator, consultant and educator in the fields of community resilience and environmental education, from writing Berkeley Unified School District's Sustainability Plan to serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica.
Building Block-based Teams for Climate Action and Resilience
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Natasha Juliana
Cool Petaluma Campaign Director
Cool Petaluma
Natasha Juliana grew up playing in the redwood forest and wondering at the miracle of the Milky Way. Her active imagination and love of building led to a career in architecture, lots of creative volunteer work, and the founding of an award-winning coworking space and community hub in Petaluma focused on the sharing of resources and ideas.
Trained by Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017, she began pivoting her career toward climate work. In January 2022, she helped launch Cool Petaluma, a grassroots nonprofit inspiring climate action through community building. As Campaign Director, her goal is to create replicable and adaptable models to share with other small cities so that together we can create a safe, healthy, and beautiful future for generations to come.
Emergency Preparedness for your Companion Animals
Kitty Jones
Community Building Lead
Direct Action Everywhere
Kitty Jones is an organizer with Direct Action Everywhere, a grassroots animal liberation organization. In addition to organizing for systemic change.
Kitty also does mutual aid and direct animal rescue. Often emergency preparedness focuses solely on human safety, so in this presentation Kitty will talk about how we can also prepare to help our animal friends in case of emergency.
Kitty leads DxE’s community-building efforts and organizes large events like the Animal Liberation Conference
Community Energy for Resilience Hubs
Jessica Guadalupe Tovar
Executive Director
Local Clean Energy Alliance
Jessica Guadalupe Tovar is the Executive Director with the Local Clean Energy Alliance and a longtime environmental justice organizer originally from East Los Angeles. Jessica has worked for over 25 years battling various polluting corporations; PG&E’s gas fired power plant in Bayview Hunterspoint, the Richmond Chevron Oil Refinery and many others. Her work focuses on investments for communities shut out of the clean energy economy and building new leadership for a just transition to bring, “Clean Power to the People!”
She currently promotes equity in clean energy as the cofounder of the The People's Clean Power Alliance, which has advanced local clean energy solutions by establishing a Community Choice program; Ava Community Energy, formerly known as East Bay Community Energy to replace PG&E in providing electricity and leveraging local clean energy investments for environmental justice communities. We advocated for a Local Development Business Plan--A roadmap for a Green New Deal for communities throughout Alameda and San Joaquin county and we organized* to uphold this commitment to local clean energy.
The Intersection Between Domestic Violence & Climate Change
Soukeyna Alberts
Community Service Coordinator
A Safe Place
Soukeyna Alberts is the Community Services Coordinator for A Safe Place, an organization dedicated to decreasing domestic violence by providing victims, survivors, and their children with a safe shelter and resources to break the cycle of violence through outreach and education to at-risk populations and diverse communities. With a Master's in Public Health from Touro University, Soukeyna brings a public health perspective to the intersection of violence prevention, community engagement, and systemic change.
Her work is informed by a strong foundation of academic and professional experience, including direct service and advocacy with diverse populations. These experiences have not only deepened her understanding of the complexities surrounding domestic violence but also shaped the lens through which she approaches this critical work.
Soukeyna is committed to addressing the root causes of violence and promoting holistic, community-based solutions. Today, she brings this passion and insight to explore the important and timely relationship between climate change and domestic violence.
Climate, Health & Qigong
Chef Chandra Collins
Plant forward Culinary Chef Instructor,
Author, & Breast Cancer Survivor, Nutrition Coach, Qigong Instructor, Speaker
Amid her own health crisis, she took a holistic approach in harnessing the power of her mind, body, and spirit. Her journey has fueled her commitment to crafting delicious and nourishing plant-based cuisine that wakes the taste buds, promotes well-being, invigorates the body, and boosts immunity.
Her journey from adversity to triumph underscores her deep belief in the transformative power of food. Chef Chandra’s classes are more than just cooking lessons; they are journeys into the world of flavors, textures, and colors that only plant-based ingredients can offer. Her warmth, knowledge, and culinary finesse make each session an unforgettable experience, empowering individuals to take charge of their health while savoring every bite.
Chef Chandra believes that by tuning into each of these areas of her life, she experienced a deep healing on multiple levels as well as transformational life changes. It is her passion to share healthy food and holistic health practices, including qigong, to educate and inform her community.
