A sacred activist

Emily's commitment to Sacred Activism is inspired by the concept of Conscious Harmony -- evolving to higher consciousness through harmonious living with earth and all life. Emily's history is rich with activism, beginning when she founded nonprofit AWAKE Community near the turn of the century in honor of her little sister, Annie, who was killed by a drunk driver. In 2004, Emily toured with AWAKE Community and Rock the Vote along the campaign trail for 9 months -- educating about sustainability (including biodiesel and solar power), the importance of voting for young people, and also impaired driving prevention in conjunction with the Congressional Stop DUI Caucus. She produced sustainable, locally-sourced events on Capitol Hill in 2005 and 2006 on impaired driving prevention with an emphasis on creativity and art. From 2007 through 2010, she spearheaded Heal the Gyre (in partnership with the San Diego Puppet Insurgency) to spread awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean -- and initiated the No Plastic Pledge which has helped to ban plastic bags and water bottles in southern California. In 2009, she co-founded ArtisTech Media, that then took over operations of ccMixter from nonprofit Creative Commons, enabling free-sharing of open-source-music and its supporting software. She continues as ArtisTech Media’s CEO, and has focused this global community on collaboratively creating music with a message, developing musical talent around the world.  In 2011, she co-organized Occupy San Diego and chaired its music and organic gardening initiatives. Since 2013, Emily and her husband have led workshops and events about living sustainably, water conservation, healing the oceans, going vegan and zerowaste, organic gardening and permaculture, and raising monarch and swallowtail butterflies. Emily firmly believes climate justice and racial justice are intertwined. In conjunction with the Los Angeles City Council, in 2017 Emily and her husband John became chairs for the Cool Block program, leading their neighborhood to build sustainable resiliency - and their street continues as model for other neighborhoods in the city. To learn more about AWAKE, visit awakecommunity.us.