SYMBIOFUTURES

SYMBIOFUTURES

A world-building gathering with food, drinks, and new friends – where nature, technology, and people grow together.

💬 Our best machines are made of sunshine – Donna Haraway

At SYMBIOFUTURES, you’ll explore nature-tech – from cyborg tools to alternative energy, and the messy middle in between. Together, we’ll unpack power, bias, and future-building, asking: who gets to build the future and what does it run on? You’ll leave with fresh ideas, new friends, and maybe a contact in your phone saved as “Solar-Powered DJ.”

Here’s What’s Waiting for You

🍧 Bites with a side of conversation: Because the future is easier to talk about with something tasty in your hand.

🛜 Friends you haven’t met yet: Leaders, activists, designers, changemakers, all ready to say, “Oh, I’ve heard of you!”

🖐🏽 Hands-on futures: Real talk on power, bias, repair & possibility. Warning: may cause hope and unshakable motivation.

This Is For You If…

You’ve ever said:

• “What if tech actually helped the planet?”
• “I want to meet cool people without awkward small talk.”
• “Yes, I will attend if there are snacks.”

Last year sold out. Fast. Like refreshing the ticket page fast. So don’t wait to grab yours. We’re excited to welcome you back because..honestly, the future is not as fun without you in the room.

AGENDA

Doors Open 6 PM

Panel Starts 7–7:45 PM

Book Signing 7:45-8:15 PM

Networking 7:45–9 PM

Speakers: Isabelle Boemeke, Kalpana Arias, Branden Collins, Kiana Kazemi, Scott Lathorp, Isaias Hernandez

Music from Devaraniii

Installations from Will Elliot and Biocrafting Studios

Demos from Nowadays On Earth on glitch

Tables from Interspecies Library and Future Generational Tribunals

About The Symbiocene:

Your go-to for world-building futures, the Symbiocene is a multi-media summit and satellite event series that creates impact-driven events on culture, ecology, technology, and sustainability, working with grassroots communities, conferences, festivals, artists, and changemakers.

We’re co-creating futures you actually want to live in through culture, ecology, tech & sustainability. Co-founded by Kalpana Arias (Nowadays On Earth) & Isaias Hernandez (Queer Brown Vegan ).

Meet your Speakers and Moderator:

Whitney Bauck is an award-winning climate and environment journalist. She currently serves as print editor at the climate and culture magazine Atmos and is a contributing writer for the Guardian. She has reported in the past for the New York Times, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, Grist, New York Magazine, MIT Technology Review, Rappler, Slate, and Vogue Philippines, among others. She’s also a frequent panelist, emcee and public speaker at venues like New York Climate Week, Princeton University, and Georgetown University. Whitney was previously a fellow at the Solutions Journalism Network and the Metcalf Institute, and was a 2024 Covering Climate Now award winner. When she’s not at her desk working on stories about climate solutions, you can find Whitney nerding out about fungi with her local mycological society.

Isabelle Boemeke is the Founder and Executive Director of Save Clean Energy and the creator of the online persona Isodope. Through Isodope, Boemeke has taken a uniquely subversive approach to harness the power and scale of social media to inform the next generation of leaders and builders about the massive potential of nuclear electricity to help solve global climate crises. Her education and advocacy efforts have expanded beyond the digital sphere into the real world, where she led a successful grassroots campaign to delay the closure of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California. In 2021, she delivered a TED Talk that has since been viewed nearly 2 million times, explaining why nuclear electricity is our best chance to replace fossil fuels. In recognition of her influence on the global energy conversation, the following year she was named a TIME Magazine Next Generation Leader. RAD FUTURE is Boemeke’s provocative debut: a scientific and unconventional manifesto positioning nuclear electricity as a key solution to the climate emergency.

Kalpana Arias is a guerrilla gardener, technologist, nature rights activist and food grower, writer, speaker and the founder of Nowdays and PLAY, a social enterprise fighting for urban nature. Kalpana campaigns for the right to grow, nature rights and tech for good, and has spent over 10 years researching how technology and nature can work together from biomaterials and AI to robotics and other nature-based tech. She has delivered a global TED talk, spoken at the United Nations, featured on Evening Standard's 30 under 30 list of Climate Activists On A Mission To Save London and Vogue, and is a trustee for GROW charity and National Park City. Kalpana is currently an environmental consultant for corporations and governments and works with leading charities, institutions, brands and grassroots change-makers. Check out their latest project glitch.

Scott Lathrop is an elder of yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Tribe and is the founder and CEO of Native Nuclear, a nonprofit led by Native professionals working in the Nuclear energy sector. Scott has an established focus on building relationships between tribal communities, the nuclear power industry, and governmental leaders to ensure mutual benefit from the growing nuclear power sector. Scott is an alumnus of California State Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo and is a member of the university’s President’s Council of Advisors, the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel, Cuesta College Foundation Board, and ytt Northern Chumash nonprofit. With decades of experience in nuclear operations and community engagement, Scott leads Native Nuclear as its Chief Executive Officer and is a national speaker on the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in nuclear policy. Scott established Native Nuclear with the mission to educate both general and tribal communities about the complete life cycle of nuclear power and combat fear of nuclear development with knowledge. He aims to highlight the minimal environmental impact of nuclear energy and emphasize its importance as the most viable alternative to replace fossil fuels.

Isaias Hernandez is an environmentalist, educator, and creative devoted to improving environmental literacy through content creation, storytelling, and public engagements. Isaias is more commonly known by his moniker, Queer Brown Vegan: the independent media platform he started to bring intersectional environmental education to all. His journey to deconstruct complex issues, while centering diversity and authenticity, has resonated with a worldwide audience. He also collaborates with other leaders from the private and public sectors to uplift and produce stories of change for his independent web series, Sustainable Jobs and Teaching Climate Together. He is currently working on his first-ever debut book, Dear Environmentalist, set to be published in April 2027 with Hachette Book Group under the Timber Press imprint.

Branden Collins is a transdisciplinary artist, designer, researcher, archivist, philosopher and product designer. Branden spent over a decade leading a collaborative creative studio and medialab called The Young Never Sleep. He spent 4 years as an Art Director, product strategist and Brand architect at Snap Inc (Snapchat). While at Snap, I worked in their R&D department, SnapLab, leading the launches of 4 generations of their spatial computing wearable product, Spectacles. After leaving Snap, Branden was motivated to merge my passions for science, technology, art and systems design more intentionally, looking to develop his own ecosystem of products, experiences, narratives and research practice, all geared toward more equitable outcomes for tech.

Kiana Kazemi is a digital strategist working at the intersections of AI, social media, and social impact. She is the Director of AI Strategy at Vocal Media, where she leads the development of AI-driven creative tools and strategies that reimagine how stories are told and shared across platforms. Previously, she co-founded Carousel, a creative agency for mission-driven brands, and Intersectional Environmentalist, where she grew the community to millions monthly and consulted organizations like the U.S. EPA, and several Fortune 500 companies. She is recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2023, Kiana’s work has been featured in Vogue, Forbes, ELLE, CNBC and more. She now serves as a board member of Intersectional Environmentalist, faculty at UC Berkeley’s PH101 course, and a California Academy of Sciences Creator for Nature fellow.

About Our Sponsors:

Stephanie Dillon Art Studio

Stephanie Dillon is an artist, writer, poet, and cultural thinker, or as she calls it, an “Ideator” whose work unearths the unspoken and confronts the ache of being human. She writes and creates from the thresholds of survival, loss, and reinvention, offering sharp reflections on vulnerability, resilience, and the weight of what goes unsaid. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, Dillon’s creative journey began not as a career move, but as an act of defiance...an urgent need to document what it means to live through what almost broke you. Her writing asks hard questions: When does empathy become enabling? Can beauty coexist with suffering? Her work blurs the lines between memoir and manifesto, weaving together fragments of lived experience, emotional clarity, and cultural critique. She is a contributing writer to publications like Rolling Stone Culture Council and Forbes, where she explores leadership, identity, and modern survival through a deeply personal lens. She doesn’t believe in tidy endings or easy answers, only in the courage to speak what’s been buried. Learn more about Stephanie Dillon here.

ISODOPE

Isodope sits at the intersection of art, science and activism, inspiring humans to solve the world’s problems with optimism.

The Isodope persona was created to advocate for nuclear energy as a solution to climate change and energy inequality. Learn more here and check out Isabelle Boemeke's latest book Rad Futures here.

About The Venue:

FARM ONE

Farm One is a neighborhood farm. And we've just expanded our roots to include a brewery and taproom! Our main location at 625 Bergen Street in Brooklyn, New York, is now a chic hub of urban farming innovation, brewing craftsmanship, and amazing culinary experiences.

At our core, we cultivate unique microgreens, specialty herbs, edible flowers and premium salad greens for chefs, restaurants and consumers. These ingredients will also influence our brewery program.

Our vertical farm operates indoors year-round, nestled right in the heart of the city, ensuring that we provide the freshest and most flavorful produce. Visit our Brew Lab to purchase greens, embark on a farm tour, savor craft beer, wine and other cocktails, and immerse yourself in live events. Learn more here.

Queer Brown Vegan + Nowadays On Earth

Isaias Hernandez & Kalpana Arias

Questions?

Email us at contactsymbiocene@gmail.com or go to symbiocene.io

There will be photographers and videographers at the event to help us share our efforts. If you would not like your photo to be included, please let them know on site.