Teens Turning Green: Empowering Youth to Create a Greener Future


MA seniors Cora Went, Mari Vial-Golden, and Michael Perlstein will lead a panel of policymakers and industry experts in a discussion about the work of Teens Turning Green, the groundbreaking organization working to empower youth to eliminate the dangers of exposure to toxic chemicals in their daily lives.

Featured panelists include Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan; Stacy Malken, author of Not Just a Pretty Face and co-founder of National Campaign for Safe Cosmetics; Debbie Raphael, San Francisco Department of the Environment and Toxics Reduction/Green Building Program; Karl Palmer, Manager, Pollution Prevention and Green Technology, Department of Toxic Substances Control.

State of the State of California

Featured Panelists: State Assemblyman Jared Huffman

State Assemblyman Jared Huffman will engage in conversation with Marin Academy biology teacher Mark Stefanski about the political and fiscal health of California and the role of different groups in making policy and generating reforms. On the table for discussion will be potential long-term reforms, such as eliminating the two-thirds vote requirement for passing the state budget, reestablishing increased local control of the delivery of services, lowering the vote threshold for local taxes, and exploring the possibility of a State Constitutional Convention.

Keynote Assembly
Eric Schlosser

Eric Schlosser – author of the books Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness, a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, and a co-producer of the film FOOD INC. -- will speak about the need for critical thinking amid the disinformation spread by government agencies, the media, and powerful corporations.

Afghanistan: US Policy at the Crossroads
Featured Presenter: Norman Solomon, journalist, author, and Executive Director, The Institute for Public Accuracy

Journalist Norman Solomon – author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Are Spinning Us to Death and Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters With America’s Warfare State will reflect on his recent visit to Afghanistan and engage students in conversation about possible directions for US policy in the region.

Working Conditions for Latinos
Featured Panelist: Douglas Mundo, Executive Director, Canal Welcome Center

The Spanish V/VI Honors classes will put on this informative session, in which they will share their research on social justice issues for Latinos working in the US and Mexico. They will focus on working conditions in domestic work, agriculture, the hotel / restaurant industry and maquiladoras (factory assembly plants). The students will be joined onstage by Mr. Douglas Mundo, the Executive Director of the Canal Welcome Center in San Rafael, which serves hundreds of families with a variety of programs.

Bridging the Worlds: Six Months in Ramallah
Featured presenter: Lev Plaves, MA ’06/Wesleyan University ‘10

MA alum Lev Plaves ’06 will discuss his semester and summer living in Ramallah, the vibrant heart of the Palestinian West Bank and his ongoing efforts to build understanding between cultures through recognition of our shared humanity. Lev studied at Birzeit University and worked at Amideast, a non-profit that promotes greater cultural cooperation throughout the region.

Holy Hullabaloos: Church, State, and The Constitution
Featured presenter: Jay Wexler, Professor of Law, Boston University

Professor Jay Wexler of Boston University Law School will discuss his recent book Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church-State Wars and shed light on how the Supreme Court approaches the issue of religious expression in public life in their handling of First Amendment cases. Professor Wexler will present a case study and engage in conversation with students about how these issues appear in our daily lives.

Spreading The Word: Documentary Film and Democratic Society
Featured Presenters: Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, co-producers and co-directors of The Most Dangerous Man in America

Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, co-producers and co-directors of The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers are nationally known documentary filmmakers whose cogent and inspirational films deal with the themes of personal risk, conscience, and commitment to ideals. In this session they will present clips from "Most Dangerous Man" and talk about the vital role documentary film plays in a democracy. Daniel Ellsberg's defining act - leaking the government's classified history of the conflict in Southeast Asia, popularly known as the Pentagon Papers - remains a landmark in the annals of personal conscience, national security, and press freedom.