Keynote Speakers
San Diego, CA
August 30th - September 2nd, 2026
The 2026 Speaker Lineup…
ANNE THERESE GENNARI
Anne Therese Gennari is a TEDx speaker, educator, and author of The Climate Optimist Handbook. As a workshop host and communicator, Anne Therese focuses on shifting the narrative on climate change so that we can act from courage and excitement, not fear.
With a background in environmental communications and a passion for emotional resilience, Anne Therese created The Climate Optimist to help people reconnect with their sense of purpose and possibility in the face of the climate crisis. Her mission is to inspire action through hope — not by sugarcoating reality, but by encouraging individuals to face the truth with courage, compassion, and creativity.
For more than a decade, she has been promoting climate optimism to help people cope with climate change and make decisions to create the climate-just future she believes awaits us. She has brought her message to schools, companies, and organizations, including Harvard, Columbia University, BMW, Tetra Pak, and the United Nations Global Compact.
ANNE’S KEYNOTE: “The Power of Perspective: Maximizing Influence in the Circular Economy”
The landscape of resource recovery is shifting faster than ever, and for those on the front lines of local government, the weight of climate change can feel like a constant, uphill battle. Between managing complex infrastructure and navigating the nuances of plastics and recycling, it’s easy to lose sight of the "why" behind the "work."
In this opening keynote, Anne Therese Gennari invites us to step back from the daily grind and reconnect with the profound importance of our roles. She challenges the traditional narratives of scarcity and struggle, offering instead a framework of Climate Optimism — a resilient practice that transforms uncertainty into a catalyst for innovation.
Drawing on tangible examples of how we can shift the story around waste and materials, Anne Therese explores what it means to move beyond simply minimizing footprints to truly maximizing our influence. Attendees will walk away with:
A Shift in Narrative: Moving from "managing a crisis" to "architecting a future."
Big Picture Energy: Tools to bring a renewed sense of purpose and positivity back to their communities and teams.
Inner Leadership: Practical insights on staying curious, connected, and energized while wearing the many hats required by public service.
This isn’t just a talk about what we do; it’s a session on how we choose to show up for the work that matters most. Let’s stop fearing the future and start building the one we actually want to inhabit.
MICHAEL MARTINEZ
Michael is a former 5th grade teacher, author of the children’s book, Composting for Community, father to Ezra and Diego, and the founder and Executive Director of LA Compost.
As a community composter he supports, schools, churches, community gardens, farmers markets, libraries, and parks to create compost systems to support soil health. He was exposed to soil health at an early age from the time he spent in his grandfather’s garden turning over rocks and logs to see the life that thrived underground, and how plants responded beautifully to growing in soil that was full of life. The seeds of LA Compost sprouted while he was working as a teacher. Excited to create more connections around food, soil, and community, he organized an after-school garden club to facilitate knowledge sharing opportunities across campus, and was transformed by the ways in which his students engaged with food and soil related topics. The early days of LA Compost included picking up food scraps from juice bars, coffee shops, and taco shops, and composting this collected material in friends and family members backyards. LA Compost has supported over 50 community compost locations across the county, ensuring that both the soil and souls who engage with it, are cared for. Michael cofounded the California Alliance for Community Composting, currently sits on the Board of Directors for the U.S Composting Council, and Food Exploration and Discovery, and was appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles to become a Commissioner for the Climate Emergency Mobilization Office.
