The Board
Jane Vosburg (she/her) is the Board President and a founder of Fossil Free California. She is a retired teacher with a CalSTRS pension. She finds it unconscionable and negligent for her pension fund to continue investing in an industry that has performed poorly for the last ten years while threatening the future of today’s students. Since her retirement in 2013, Jane has been a driving force behind Fossil Free California’s campaign to divest CalSTRS of its fossil fuel investments. In light of the recent NY State and Rockefeller Fund divestment announcements, Jane is hopeful about the prospect of finally influencing her pension fund’s Board Members to divest CalSTRS from fossil fuels.
Patrick Costello (he/him) is the Board Treasurer. He is a Certified Financial Planner™ and founder of Green River Sustainable Financial Planning, an investment firm serving individuals and entities that wish to lower the carbon footprint of their investments. He is also the author of the book "Low-Carbon Investing: Defending the Climate/Emphasizing Performance," published in 2018. As a board member, Patrick works to increase the visibility and economic support and assists in articulating the changes that CA Pension Plan Trustees must make to decarbonize their investment portfolios.
Peter Guastella (he/him) designs virtual reality training simulations that help workers learn how to perform their jobs. He joined Fossil Free California after the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report in 2021 warned that if we maintain our current carbon emissions trajectory, we were heading towards planetary disaster. With that stark warning, it felt like we had entered an "all hands on deck" moment in human history that required all of us to take a role in pushing hard on our political leaders to change course.
Christina Liu (she/her) is a climate justice organizer with Oil & Gas Action Network, where she campaigns against top fossil fuel funders. She has planned sit-ins, blockades, and lockdowns at banks, slaughterhouses, politician's offices, and more. She currently volunteers with Direct Action Everywhere, and serves on the board of Fossil Free California. Christina has a B.A's in Sociology and Legal Studies from UC Santa Cruz, where she focused on intersectional theory and civil liberties. She is passionate about climate justice, animal rights, and supporting youth organizers to take direct action.
Miguel Alatorre Jr (he/him) – Miguel is a third generation environmental activist who has been involved since he was a child in numerous battles against pollution and injustice in the San Joaquin Valley farmworker town of Kettleman City, California. Miguel helped found and mentor two Kettleman City youth groups KPOP, (Kids Protecting our Planet) and YPOP (Youth-Protecting our Planet) and is currently leading a Kettleman City Youth Environmental Justice Leadership Academy program on the weekends. Miguel helped to build campaigns to bring clean drinking water to Kettleman City, to reduce diesel truck emissions in his town, reduce pesticide drift from agricultural fields near homes, and opposing new permits for the infamous Waste Management Landfill in the Kettleman Hills – the largest such facility in the western US. Outside of organizing, Miguel enjoys spending time with his two crazy huskies and playing guitar, bass, drums, and piano to them.
The Staff
Miriam Eide (they/them) – Executive Director – is passionate about the intersection of labor and climate which they view as critical to implementing just solutions to the climate crisis. They also are part of Rich City Rays - a Richmond "kayactivism" group combining direct action with kayaking and reconnecting with the water. In summer of 2021, Miriam returned to their home state of Minnesota to join Indigenous leaders in fighting to stop the construction of the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. Miriam won the Hamrie Community Service award for founding a free menstrual cup program on the Macalester College campus where they graduated with degrees in Environmental Studies and International Studies. In their free time they enjoy climbing, swimming, backpacking, and reading – especially fantasy.
Luis Angel Martinez (he/him) – Campaigns Organizer – is an experienced organizer grounded in social and environmental justice principles. Spending his childhood in the community of Wilmington, CA where the neighborhood is surrounded by five refineries, peppered with oil wells, and neighbored by the Port of Los Angeles, Luis always had friends and family whose health was negatively impacted by the poor air quality caused by the fossil fuel industry. Motivated by this, Luis has been involved in local Los Angeles and Wilmington environmental justice organizing since the age of 15, including working with Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). Now at Fossil Free California, he uses his experience in grassroots organizing to mobilize frontline communities in pushing for fossil fuel setbacks, divestment, and phaseout at the local and state level.
Luis graduated from California State University of Los Angeles with a Masters Degree in Philosophy. Luis credits his philosophy studies with helping him bolster his social and environmental justice values. He also enjoys playing jazz standards on the piano, collecting vinyl records and visiting local LA bookstores that also engage in political organizing.
Sarah Norr (she/her) – Campaigns Organizer – is an organizer, educator, musician, artist, and mom living in Oakland, California. She worked for more than ten years as a labor and community organizer with UNITE HERE and the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, supporting leadership development and building power with workers and tenants around the Bay. In 2014, Sarah co-founded BoomShake Music, an Oakland-based organization that teaches culturally-rooted street drumming to youth and adults. With BoomShake, Sarah teaches Oakland public school students to drum and brings them out in the streets to play for social and environmental justice; she also coordinates operations and fundraising. In her free time, Sarah likes making art, being in nature, and hanging out with her six-year-old.
Shana DeClercq (she/her) – Communications and Engagement Lead – Shana taps into the power of story to shift public narratives. Her work is rooted in climate justice, racial justice, and disability justice, building toward a shared future that is abundant, sustainable, and joyful for everyone in our communities.
Shana lives in south Berkeley with her wife, Deborah, a founding member of a prominent Bay Area worker-owned cooperative.