Staff
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Co-Director
lily@350vt.org
Lily joined 350VT’s staff in 2017, and since the organization began shifting to shared leadership in 2019, her main areas of work have been organizational development and operations. She has also contributed to various educational and community-building projects at 350VT, like collective grief gatherings, a Just Transition study group, and the climate justice zine project. Since 2008, Lily has been involved in various groups and various forms of study related to permaculture, nonviolent communication, intentional communities, earth-based spirituality, and collective liberation. She lives in Burlington and goes to the lake and into the woods as often as she can. She loves making music, especially singing with other people.
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Empower VT Organizer
rebecca@350vt.org
Rebecca has worked as a volunteer for the past decade with various climate justice organizations including 350VT, Sunrise Montpelier, and Citizens for Climate Advocacy. She's also worked as the Community Climate Program Manager for Climate Economy Action Center of Addison County.As a parent of a jubilant and curious five year old, the effects of climate change have become more poignant and tangible in her family's day to day life. At the same time, Rebecca is buoyed by the way our movement is growing and changing; she is thrilled to be joining the 350VT staff and working with 350VT's thoughtful, caring, and dedicated base of volunteers. In this work, she wants to continue to learn how to genuinely center equity, anti-racism, and justice in our organizing spaces; work toward a just transition; and co-create a regenerative world.
Rebecca lives with her family on a hill in Northfield where she tends a rather wild no dig garden, explores the woods whenever possible, and tries to be present for the sweetness/difficulty of parenting.
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Families Rise Up Organizer familiesriseupmontpelier@350vt.org
Hannah grew up in Hartland, VT and now has a home with her family in Plainfield, VT. She is a clinical herbalist, homesteader, and mom. Hannah has cared about climate justice for as long as she can remember, and credits her parents for bringing her to large mobilizations and marches from a young age. She has been involved in activism for over a decade, including direct-action campaigns such as the Tarsands Blockade in TX and anti-fracking in PA, along with community and climate- justice organizing closer to home.Despite the overwhelming fullness of life with two little ones, Hannah believes she is a better organizer since becoming a mom; she is reminded multiple times a day about the importance of humor, compassion and patience, and she has to be efficient with her time, and clear about her priorities. Working toward the world she wants her kids to inherit is top of the list. She is passionate about connecting with other families to find joy and meaning, to build a network of support and community, and to embolden each other toward meaningful action for climate justice and collective liberation.
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Operations Director
robert@350vt.org
Robert grew up both in Vermont and Colorado, before ultimately settling in the Green Mountain State as an adult. Since 2009 he has made his home in Winooski, where he lives with his spouse and three cats. Robert received a BA in English from UVM, with minors in Political Science and Vermont Studies, but has spent most of his career working in operations and finance, primarily for political campaigns and nonprofits. Prior to joining 350Vermont he worked on both of US Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns and several years at Front Porch Forum, among other positions. Robert is a strong believer in the power and importance of local politics, and has served on both the School Board and City Council in Winooski, as well as on several local and regional commissions.
Interns
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Communications Intern
media@350vt.orgLex is a 350VT communications intern and a UVM student passionate about environmental advocacy and science. She is studying environmental studies with a minor in communications and film. She has been involved in other ecological projects back home in Delaware and is excited to get hands-on experience with environmental advocacy. Some projects she's worked on include participating in a dolphin count and interning with her local marine mammal rescue group (MERR Institutes), assisting in a whale necropsy (animal autopsy), interning with Cape Henlopen State Park, and working with Happy Whale, a nonprofit organization working on identifying whales and dolphins in a safe non-stressful way for these mammals. In her free time, she can be found outside skiing or home watching movies. Lex is so excited to start working with 350VT!
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Organizing Intern
intern@350vt.orgSky is a 350VT organizing intern and a student at UVM. They are studying environmental Studies and critical race & ethnic studies. Their prior organizing experience includes being an environmental justice organizer in high school called BSCAPE (Bucks Students for Climate), Action and Environmental Protection, working with Sunrise Pennenvironment, and Planned Parenthood's Rainbow Room on racial, environmental, and reproductive justice. Sky is also in many organizations at UVM, including the Prison Partnership Club, Run on Climate, and Disabled Student Union; they are on the executive board of Queer Student Union and are continuing to join more clubs on UVM's campus. Sky is motivated by a deep love of people, the planet, and life. They are so excited to join 350VT in organizing for a more equitable present and future for all Vermonters!
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Organizing Intern
intern@350vt.orgEmma is a 350VT organizing intern and a second-year student at the University of Vermont, where she is majoring in Environmental Studies with a double minor in Political Science and Philosophy. Her passion for activism and environmental advocacy has been deeply rooted in her endeavors since childhood. Originally from Upstate New York, she took on leadership roles in her high school’s Environmental Club, co-founded a non-profit called For Uighur Freedom, and was a Student Representative for the Energy Utility Commission. Her love for advocacy has only grown since. At 17 years old, she was a delegate at the Washington Youth Summit for the Environment, solidified her decision to commit her life work to environmental activism and politics. When she moved to Burlington as a student in Fall 2024, she joined a newly founded node of 350VT called the Climate Action Collective. CAC is a grassroots student-led group dedicated to climate political action in the Burlington area. Emma’s involvement has been a catalyst for her college experience. Now a Team Coordinator for CAC, she aspires to learn more about the strategy of non-profit organizations, grassroots activism, and campaign development. This summer, she worked as a Park Attendant at Emerald Lake State Park in Southern Vermont and spent August backpacking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. She believes you can never spend too much time outside. She is often found on mountaintops, swimming in lakes and rivers, cozied with a good book, creating art, or journaling. She is incredibly thrilled to be a part of the 350VT team!
Board
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Board Member
Heather has traveled and worked in many roles centered around community organizing, environmental education, and nonprofit management. She first connected with 350VT in 2019, when she took on the role of Families Rise Up organizer. She held this position from 2019-2022, working to help families with young children find a sense of place in the climate justice movement. She is immensely grateful for the community of families she has met through her work with 350VT who have helped her feel hopeful in an increasingly overwhelming world and who constantly inspire her to direct her anxiety to meaningful action.
These days her primary job is mom, though she is also a fervid gardener with a small market business. Heather feels incredibly lucky to have found home on a beautiful mountain top in Tunbridge where she can tend her garden and play in the woods every day with her kids.
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Board Member
Una Fonte first became interested in climate organizing at 14 when she went on 350VTs Next Steps Climate Walk. After organizing various climate initiatives at her school, including a sustainable purchasing policy, she worked with 350 Vermont as a summer fellow on sustainable and accessible transportation. Currently, she is studying environmental science and policy at Smith College while continuing environmental and disability justice organizing work on campus. Her work building disabled community with dis-organizing and furthering food justice with the Smith’s Food Rescue Network brings her joy. In her free time, she enjoys hula-hoop dance, theater, and reading.
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Board Member
Sean first became involved with food waste organizing while at school at St. Lawrence University— as well as the Divestment Movement. He attended The People's Climate March in 2015. Since then he has worked as a farmhand, farm to school educator, and as a project manager for residential and commercial solar companies within the state of Vermont . He is deeply passionate about targeting direct source carbon pollution and he has been actively organizing with 350VT's Chittenden Node for the past three years. You can find him wandering the Long Trail, sailing Lake Champlain, or tending to his garden when he's not organizing with 350VT.
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Board Member
Sarah became interested in climate organizing at a young age. Overwhelmed by the scale of the universe, the harm being done to our earth, and the systems of oppression that are so embedded in our society— as well as the beauty of every day and the gratitude that deserves, she began organizing in high school. Sarah was a leader in the movement to successfully divest the University of Vermont from fossil fuels in college. She has worked on many local and statewide Progressive campaigns. In her free time, Sarah enjoys painting, cycling, camping, and spending time with her cats.
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Board Member
Ita is a hot sauce connoisseur and can often be seen traipsing about town talking loudly, in the drama, interrupting hurtful remarks and breaking up fights. They are a founding member of CQ Strategies, which helps organizations become more culturally proficient and equity literate through education, resources, and on-going support.
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Board Member
Ali has been involved with organizing work since their time in high school where the pandemic truly invigorated her political awareness in the world. They helped to work with a local voting outreach group that helped register young voters throughout Bucks County, PA, which is where Ali is originally from. They are now a senior studying environmental studies and political science at University of Vermont and are working on a thesis related to environmental justice policy recommendations and migrant farmworkers in Vermont. In her free time, they dance salsa, play music, and read.
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Board Member
Maggie is an outdoor enthusiast and opportunistic eater, motivated by good food grown in healthy soil. Her engagement with combating the climate crisis emerged from working directly with the land as an organic farmer in some of the world's most beautiful natural landscapes including Vermont, the East End of Long Island, and Tuscany. She is equally likely to be found either contributing to carbon drawdown on her own property through gardening and land management with her husband and their two dogs, or peer-pressuring friends into running long distance races through Vermont's mountains and valleys. Maggie currently works managing agricultural development grants for Vermont's Agency of Agriculture and is excited to join the hard-working board of 350Vermont to support climate justice on the ground in her home state.
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Board Member
Jessica Van Oort is a writer and editor, and the social media coordinator for the Five Wits Press. She lives in Pawlet, VT, where she is on the Planning Commission and the Selectboard.