Are you interested in making a tangible difference in your state and local policy? Passionate about food systems, waste, and/or climate change policy but don’t know where to start?
In this webinar, elected officials and advocacy groups shared tips and best practices for engaging in policy advocacy. Panelists focused specifically on waste, food systems, and environmental policy and provide practical strategies for making an impact on the state and local level.
This webinar featured a panel discussion followed by a moderated Q&A.
If you’re a composter, public servant, local businesses, urban or rural farmer, environmentalist, public interest advocate, or simply interested in getting involved in policymaking in your community, this webinar is for you.
This live webinar took place on:
September 19, 2024
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You can also watch the recordings of all our past composting-related webinars.
Panelists
Lorig Charkoudian Ph.D. – Member of House of Delegates, Montgomery County, Maryland
Lorig Charkoudian represents District 20 in the Maryland General Assembly, where she serves on the Economic Matters Committee and is Chair of the Unemployment Insurance Subcommittee. Lorig is a strong advocate for legislation promoting environmental justice, consumer protections, economic justice, criminal justice reform, pedestrian safety, and a sustainable food system. In addition to her role as Delegate, Lorig is the Executive Director of the Community Mediation Maryland. Lorig received her PhD in Economics from Johns Hopkins University, has been honored three times as Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Maryland Daily Record. She lives in Takoma Park with one of her two children, Raffi, and runs ultra-marathons.
Ida Eskamani, Senior Director of Legislative Affairs, State Innovation Exchange (SiX)
Ida V. Eskamani is a first generation Iranian-American and the daughter of working people. In her 14 years of organizing so far, Ida has built multi-issue solidarity coalitions, legislative champions, and successful campaigns challenging multinational corporations and extremists. She is currently Senior Director of Legislative Affairs for State Innovation Exchange, advancing racial, gender, and economic justice in state capitals across the country by building people-centered governance. Ida believes power can be built everywhere and that no community should be left behind. She proudly calls Orlando, Florida home.
Nick Lapis, Director of Advocacy, Californians Against Waste
Nick is CAW’s Director of Advocacy and has been with the organization since 2007. In that time, Nick has led CAW’s team of advocates in campaigns to pass groundbreaking laws that have positioned California as a global leader in reducing and recovering waste. By building strong coalitions, he has helped enact policies to reduce the impacts of climate change, recover organic wastes, reduce plastic pollution, and develop sustainable markets for recyclable materials. Nick also engages in policy development and research, representing CAW on a variety of boards, commissions, taskforces, and coalitions.
Moderator
Brenda Platt – Director, Composting for Community Initiative, Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR)
Brenda and her team at ILSR are supporting community-scale composters via forums, webinars, podcasts, guides, policies, training, and more. In 2017, the US Composting Council awarded her its H. Clark Gregory Award for outstanding service to the composting industry through grassroots efforts. In 2019, BioCycle magazine featured Brenda as one of its organics recycling trailblazers. She has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from The George Washington University.
Image credit: Katie Moum, Unsplash