Carmiel Banasky

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Carmiel Banasky is an award-winning short-story writer and novelist who recently made the leap into television, staffing on the Amazon series, UNDONE. She is the author of the novel The Suicide of Claire Bishop, which Publisher's Weekly calls a "tour de force," and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, LA Review of Books, Glimmer Train, The Rumpus, and NPR, among other places. She specializes in climate sci-fi and fantasy in the TV and podcasts spaces -- she is currently adapting a feminist cli-fi fantasy novel, FROST AND THORN, and she is showrunning a climate sci-fi podcast at Wondery. She is the head writer of the Good Energy Playbook, a foundational guide for screenwriters in the age of climate change. She has spent time on a ship in the Arctic, studying and writing about climate change, and she once tried her damndest to open a Planned Parenthood in Mississippi.

Karen Toliver

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As Vice President of Animated Film for Netflix, Karen Toliver is responsible for the creative supervision of a number of upcoming features for the company, from inception to script, and through production. Those include Henry Selick and Jordan Peele’s Wendell & Wild, Lynn Wang & Jared Hess’ Thelma the Unicorn, Alyce Tzue’s Steps from Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Productions, as well as Frank Abney and Michael Francis Williams’ Tunga.

Toliver is also the producer of the Academy Award®-winning animated short film, ""Hair Love,"" directed by Matthew A. Cherry.

Anirudh Tiwathia

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Dr. Anirudh Tiwathia is a behavioral scientist and public policy expert who works on the design and evaluation of behavioral interventions to encourage climate action. At Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment, he specializes in the use of mass-media and entertainment to influence climate beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. In previous work, he examined the psychological underpinnings of liberal democracy and the antecedents of voluntary compliance. Anirudh has also worked for tech start-ups and in intergovernmental organizations like UNDP and UNICEF. He holds an MBA and PhD (Behavioral Policy) from the Booth School of Business; an MA (Public Policy) and a PhD (Cognitive Psychology) from the University of Chicago; and a BA (Cognitive Science) from Vassar College.

Ellis Watamanuk

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Ellis Watamanuk is a media impact producer and strategist working at the intersection of storytelling and climate action. He’s worked on campaigns for Blackfish, Paris to Pittsburgh, Other Side of the Hill, and more. In addition to his work in climate, he has led impact campaigns for films like Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, We the Animals, and A Thousand Cuts, and distributed films including The Miseducation of Cameron Post. As the Sr. Director of Entertainment at Rare, he brings the organization’s behavioral science expertise to the entertainment industry, leveraging the power of storytelling to create new cultural norms around climate.