Taleigh will facilitate a conversation on radical engagement with “the System” to open pathways towards sustainability. Global capitalism and war permeate the earth, air and water with toxins. Ecological disasters and climate change demand structural changes, not simply fringe alternatives. Yet often those with ecological consciousness retreat into enclosed ecotopic communities or vanguard activism. How can we open broad pathways toward a balanced and thriving future?

She will open with remarks that examine the nuances and contradictions of the Carbon Market and share some lessons learned from the Community Benefits Agreement she recently helped negotiate for the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.

Taleigh Smith organizes for green jobs and climate justice in the Bronx and beyond. Her most recent endeavor is Concrete Green, a worker-owned cooperative to promote urban sustainability and resilience to climate change.  She launched the first Bronx Youth Green Jobs Academy teaching environmental literacy and urban planning at Hostos and Bronx Community College. At the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, she manages Green Jobs Green New York, an innovative energy retrofit program designed to use carbon credits to create jobs.  In April of 2010, she led a delegation of forty-seven environmental justice activists to Cochabamba, Bolivia to participate in the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.  In 2012, she was selected as a research fellow on Climate Change and Public Health in Cuba.  A Green Cohort member of the Applied Research Center, she strategizes within national networks to build racial and gender equity in the emerging green economy.    An avid biker, gourmet vegetarian chef and lover of sunsets and moon rises, Taleigh seeks sustainability in personal, community and global practice.

Check out the full Speaker in Residence Series here.