Steering Committee & Staff

Meet The Steering Committee

Our Steering Committee is made up of the leaders of our campaigns and committees, or members who bring special experience and expertise in fighting the climate crisis.  All of them are volunteers who are committed to creating paths to effective action on the part of committee members.

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Mimi Bluestone

Renewable Brooklyn College & Arts / Ideas / Events

Mimi Bluestone leads 350Brooklyn’s Renewable Brooklyn College work group and co-leads the Arts Ideas Events group. She’s worked as a journalist and as a Brooklyn teacher, sings in the New York City Labor Chorus, and is a United Federation of Teachers retiree delegate. She’s lived in the Bronx and Manhattan but loves Brooklyn the best.

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Kevin Fisher

Administrative Committee

Kevin Fisher, moved to Brooklyn in 1994, and has raised two wonderful daughters here with his wife Heidi. He is a trained epidemiologist who worked in HIV prevention advocacy for two decades. He graduated from Brown University and received his JD from New York University School of Law and his master’s from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is an avid long-distance walker, playwright and short story writer.

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Wendy Fried

Treasurer

Wendy is 350Brooklyn’s treasurer. After a career in law, she worked as a financial journalist and wrote about the greed of corporate executives, which turns out to be a thing. Every day she draws inspiration from the 350Brooklyn community, from climate justice activists all over the world, and from nature—whether in Prospect Park or, less frequently, on a mountaintop.

Sara Gronim

Sara Gronim

Admin Team, Legislation Committee

Sara is the lead for the Legislation Committee and also heads the Administrative Team. A retired professor, she taught environmental history, among other things, for many years. She has lived in Brooklyn for forty years and is deeply committed to ensuring that all living beings in Brooklyn and elsewhere can thrive in the years to come.

Photo: Erik McGregor

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Delia Kulukundis

City Action, Power Hour

Delia helps organize Power Hour at 350Brooklyn and wants to see New York pass climate legislation that would make other states jealous. A dedicated conservationist trained as a landscape architect, Delia has worked to expand New Yorkers’ access to outdoor space, and joined the climate movement while protesting the Williams pipeline that had been proposed for New York Harbor. To relieve stress, Delia enjoys running through New York City and enjoying the food it has to offer (preferably at the same time)

Kathy Malone

Kathy Malone

City Action, Power Hour

Kathy has been a devotee of City Action/Power Hour since “Climate Week” of April 2021 when she decided to throw everything climate against the wall to see what stuck. Power Hour is what stuck. Her climate activism began when she realized that the climate crisis was the big umbrella issue over everything she cared about. Having originally come to New York to study fashion and work in wardrobe, being a tree hugger was the biggest surprise to herself.
Come for the climate, stay for the camaraderie, Join Power Hour!

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Lynn Neuman

At-Large Member

Lynn Neuman is honored to be a long-standing member of the Steering Committee and was the primary 350Brooklyn liaison with the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice, which won historic gains for the Gowanus community in the rezoning of the area. As an artist, Lynn directs Artichoke Dance Company and runs an eco-arts activism training program building a cadre of artists working to combat climate change across the globe. Lynn enjoys walks in the park with her dog, Seraphina. 

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Molly Ornati

People Vs Fossil Fuels

Molly leads the People vs. Fossil Fuels workgroup with the help of Michele and an awesome crew!  Digging into understanding the details of how utilities like Nat Grid and Con Ed are fighting the green transition has been an important part of our learning curve and guides our actions. We are also excited to align with international fights, like the biggest planned pipeline in the world, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, to support the rural East African communities whose homes, livelihoods, and water supply are at risk.  Molly finds walking the lesser-known trails of Prospect Park and seeing live music is the best way to find balance in these wild times.

Ella Ryan

Ella Ryan

350Brooklyn Families, Website team

Ella is a co-lead of the 350Brooklyn Families group, and is also on the website subcommittee. A recent transplant from the UK, she is a freelance web applications developer and mom of two. She remembers having nightmares about “global warming” at age 5, so when her own children were born years later and the situation had only gotten worse, she felt the need to be more actively involved.

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Jan Thompson

Plastic Free Team

Jan is co-lead of the Plastic-free Team. She grew up in a small oil town in Oklahoma. Her father, who worked as a chemist in the refinery, consequently suffered health problems. An advocate for animal rights in her early years, she has since turned her eye to the interdependent web of all beings. She co-created the “Diorama of Extinct Homosapiens” exhibit and action at the Museum of Natural History with FUUB minister Ana Levy Lyons. Her day job is Digital Project Manager and she currently does work for the Whitney Museum of American Art.

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Leslie Tu

Media Committee

Leslie (she/her) joined 350Brooklyn in 2016 and currently co-leads our magnificent Media Committee. She came to climate action early on for the animals and stayed for the pursuit of environmental justice – as well as the inspiring community of fellow activists. A UX developer by day, she loves to obsess about substance and styling in equal measure. Outside of 350BK, she enjoys volunteering with her local library and roaming around the city to take in music, poetry, and culture in all forms.

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Laurel Tumarkin

350Brooklyn Families

Laurel is a co-lead of 350Brooklyn Families Group. She has a background in policy advocacy and currently works for a local climate group. Laurel is the parent of two children who inspire her climate activism and look pretty cute at marches.

Ieva Zadina

Ieva Zadina

At-Large Member

Ieva, born on a farm in Latvia, moved from Michigan to Brooklyn in 1968. After careers in teaching, publishing and ordained ministry, this phase of her life is devoted to falling in love with the Earth again, learning from it how to live ecologically, and how to protect it from human-caused harm.

Our Staff

As 350Brooklyn has grown, we have been able to add part-time support staff, each of whom works ten hours/week. Our Administrative Assistant is funded by our monthly subscribers.  Our Development Director and our Social Media Associate are both funded by the Tides Foundation through NY Renews regrants.  We are deeply appreciative of both our member support and our foundation support.

Climate activists gathered on June 14, 2023 at Brooklyn Borough Hall for a teach-in and art action highlighting successful initiatives implemented this year to combat the climate crisis, reduce consumers' energy expenses, and expose the obstructive climate hypocrisy of National Grid and ConEdison at both the city and state levels. The Brooklyn event coincided with more than 50 actions across the country, called by the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, in angry response to Biden’s approval of the liquified natural gas (LNG) and Willow oil projects in Alaska and the debt ceiling deal that fast-tracks the Mountain Valley Pipeline. (Photo by Erik McGregor)

Willow Parchment

Administrative Assistant

Willow (she/her) joined 350Brooklyn winter of 2023 as an Administrative Assistant. She lives in Bed-Stuy and is an environmental enthusiast, avid reader, budding horticulturist, and dance lover. She’s passionate about climate and racial justice, and strives for a greener, equitable, and fulfilling future for all.

Managing our documents, carrying out special projects, and a thousand other things, Willow keeps us on track. 

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Lori Vroegindewey

Development Director

Lori (she/her) joined 350Brooklyn in Winter 2023 as Development Lead. She is helping 350Brooklyn grow its capacity to pursue effective climate action through planning and fundraising. Prior to 350Brooklyn, she worked with performing arts non-profits.

Lori lives in Greenpoint and is a mom, gardener, master composter, bike enthusiast, and climate activist. She is also currently pursuing a masters degree in Library and Information Science at Queens College, CUNY.

Petya Georgieva Miller

Social Media Associate

Petya Georgieva Miller joined us in September as our paid ten hour/week Social Media Associate.  Petya has a broad background in communications, branding, PR, and advertising.  During that period she also became a yoga teacher and earned a MA in Psychology. In 2019 she made a career pivot, ditching her corporate job and directing her skills towards supporting meaningful causes dedicated to environmentalism, climate change, and sustainability. She recently published a children’s book about sustainability without eco-anxiety called Healthy Earth.