Speakers

Shared Planet always features a range of speakers from across the world. In recent years we have welcomed speakers such as Tony Benn, Kumi Naidoo, Caroline Lucas MEP and Michael Meacher. Shared Planet 2006 included the following inspiring speakers…

Maria Adebowale

Maria Adebowale is Founder & Director of Capacity Global, a non governmental organisation working on environmental and social justice, diversity and sustainable development through its research, advocacy, and community programmes.

She has published numerous articles on environmental justice and public participation. Maria is also Chair of Waterwise and is the Access and Inclusion Commissioner for English Heritage and a Matron of the Womens Environment Network. Maria is a former Commissioner of the UK Sustainable Development Commission .

More on Capacity Global

Dr Masias Cowper

Dr Masias Cowper is a South African AIDS Activist whose work has been recognised by Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan.

Diagnosed as HIV positive in 1993, Dr Masias Cowper has spoken out at the highest levels for the rights of those living with HIV/AIDS and on the need for action on new policies and laws. The United Nation Secretary General Kofi Annan gave her special recognition during the UN General Assembly on HIV and AIDS 2000, for the brave stand in breaking the silence and boundaries to fight for the rights of individuals infected and affected around the world.

In 2004, Dr Cowper became the first black woman, living well and healthy with HIV, to receive the prestigious ‘Nelson Mandela Health and Human Rights Award’ for her continued commitment and dedication to serve the world on issues related to Health and Human rights. She now lives in UK, is the Vice Chairperson of the African HIV Policy Network (AHPN), a board member for the UK Coalition of People living with HIV/AIDS and volunteers for a number of charities such as Christian Aid and South African Voices against AIDS.

Justin Forsyth

Justin Forsyth is Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Special Adviser on poverty, climate change and trade. Until 2004, he worked for Oxfam in various roles for nearly 13 years. In his last position he was Director of Policy and Campaigns at Oxfam GB. Before that he spent 4 years in Washington DC as Oxfam International Advocacy Director. He started working for Oxfam as an adviser on Namibia and South Africa. He holds a BA (Hons) in History and Politics from Oxford Brookes University and his interests include tennis, cooking and Africa.

Sharon Sian Looremetta

Sharon has been working for Practical Action for over 10 years. She has extensive experience in community development having worked on pastoral programmes, building technologies and primary healthcare provision in the Maasai regions of Kenya, Tanzania and with the Kenyan Government. Sharon has travelled extensively promoting the positive culture of the indigenous communities of Kenya.

James Marriott

Co-Director of PLATFORM. For nearly twenty-five years PLATFORM has combined the arts and activism to make projects that address social and ecological justice. Since the mid 90`s under the banner of ‘90% Crude’, PLATFORM has been tackling the London-based oil & gas industry and its impact on climate change, human rights abuses and environmental destruction. This autumn sees the launch of three projects :

“Remember Saro-Wiwa Living Memorial” - a public sculpture dedicated to all those who have suffered from oil production in the Niger Delta -
“And While London Burns”- an operatic audio walk in The City of London, exploring the links between finance, BP and climate change.
“The Oyal Bank of Scotland” - a campaign to pressure RBS, ‘the oil & gas bank’, to stop funding climate chaos and forcing open the carbon frontier.

George Monbiot

Image © JK the Unwise

Best selling author, regular columnist in the Guardian and People & Planet favourite George Monbiot will open Shared Planet 2006.

Students who heard George speak at the G8 Summer Festival last year said “George Monbiot…was awesome and very very inspiring and impassioned”. If you want to do your background reading, get yourself a copy of his new book, Heat: How to stop a planet burning

More on George Monbiot: * monbiot.com * On Wikipedia * George’s Guardian Column

Mark Steel

Mark Steel has written and performed in three series of The Mark Steel Lectures for BBC Radio 4, all of which have been repeated on BBC 2.

The Mark Steel Lectures was nominated for a BAFTA and Royal Television Society Award. Mark has been performing stand-up comedy for over twenty years. In that time he has had numerous television appearances including Have I Got News for You. Subversive, witty and erudite, Mark is also an acclaimed author and regular columnist for The Independent.

Jo Swinson MP

Jo Swinson was brought up in Milngavie, and later graduated from the LSE with a First Class Honours degree in Management

Jo was elected to the House of Commons in May 2005 in her home seat of East Dunbartonshire, with a majority of 4061 over Labour. Earlier this year she was given the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland for the Liberal Democrats.

She was elected member of the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Executive in 2002 and recently took over as Chair of the Liberal Democrats´ Campaign for Gender Balance. She previously stood against John Prescott in the 2001 General Election in Hull East.

Jo is a member of Amnesty International, and lists her interests as Corporate Social Responsibility, protecting the environment and increasing participation in politics. Her hobbies include hiking, reading, ceilidh and salsa dancing.

At 26, Jo is the youngest MP in Westminster