John Passacantando

Passacantando's career has taken him from Wall Street to philanthropy to a leading role in the global fight to stop climate change. He worked for Jude Wanniski -the "high priest" of supply side economics - and is a committed practitioner of non-violent civil disobedience as taught by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. He has a master's degree in economics from New York University, as well as a record of a dozen arrests for engaging in peaceful protest. He has been quoted in every major newspaper, appeared on most major news programs and has been a regular commentator on environmental issues for Fox News programs.

Passacantando just completed eight years as executive director of Greenpeace USA, the longest serving director in the history of the organization. In addition to select speaking engagements, Passacantando is now developing a series of business ventures under the theme From Crisis to Opportunity. He is also working on a book that explains the economic crisis to a lay audience while proposing the development of a modern economy that draws on the creative powers of citizens.

"In a world of falling trade and disintegrating confidence people have in large institutions from banks and oil companies to auto companies and utilities, some citizens have begun to build a new economic order. This new economy will break from the rigid 20th century model of global trade and rising debt levels that drove successive rounds of consumption, wars and ecological destruction. The new economy will instead build on regional connections, resilient food, water and energy sources, leveraging the most creative abilities of citizens, all built on a sustainable ecological base. It's happening now and it doesn't cost, it creates wealth."