Planet Renew

Ed Markey is a Member of Congress from the Seventh District of Massachusetts. He serves as the Ranking Democratic Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and is a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. One of the world’s foremost experts on energy and environmental issues, Rep. Markey is a leading voice for preservation of public lands, green job creation, clean energy, and fuel economy.

Jason Alexander is known for his starring role in NBC's Seinfeld, and is a Tony Award-winning actor, writer, comedian, producer, and singer.

Evanna Lynch is the Irish Actress who portrays character Luna Lovegood in four of the eight Harry Potter films. A long time fan herself, Lynch has been a strong supporter of the Harry Potter Alliance. Lynch has participated in various HPA campaigns directly and added her personal Harry Potter story to the fan-driven compilation book Dear Mr. Potter: Letters of Love, Loss, & Magic benefiting the Harry Potter Alliance.

Christina Lurie plays a leading role in the worlds of sports, entertainment, and philanthropy as co-owner of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary Inside Job, and President of the Eagles Youth Network. The Eagles recently announced a major initiative to green Lincoln Financial Field.

Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and author of a dozen books on environmental issues and the founder of the grassroots climate campaign, 350.org. The Boston Globe and Time magazine have both hailed him as one of the nation's leading environmentalists.

Melissa Annelli is the New York Times best-selling author of Harry, A History. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, and currently writing her second nonfiction book. Her first book, Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life: Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon, has been published in more than eight countries and four languages. She is also the Webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron, a Harry Potter fan and news site which has been praised by J.K. Rowling for their philanthropic efforts and their no-tolerance spoilers policy.

Ray Cooper served as Joint Managing Director of Virgin Records UK and Co-President of Virgin Records America. Over the course of his career, he helped grow and balance the careers of U2, Bob Marley and the Wailers, George Michael, Janet Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Meat Loaf, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Spice Girls, The Chemical Brothers, Shaggy, Fat Boy Slim, Lenny Kravitz, Gorillaz, Aaliyah, Ben Harper, Ideal, Beenie Man, N.E.R.D., Tina Turner, Van Morrison, Kelis, and Blur. He has been an instrumental force at the intersection of music and cause-related projects including Live 8, the "One" Campaign, and Live Earth.

Andrew Slack is the creator, co-founder, and Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance. He is also a comedian, actor, educator, and organizer. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, Andrew is dedicated to learning and extrapolating how modern myth, new media, and expressive therapy can transform our lives both personally and collectively.

Jamie Catto is a co-founder of Bondage for Freedom, a collective of cutting edge and artistic thinkers. Through this, he works toward making activism the driving art movement of this era. In addition, he is a founding member of two innovative bands, Faithless and 1 Giant Leap. He is also the creator of the award-winning documentary What About Me?, which chronicles his journey around the world armed with only a digital video camera and a laptop, interviewing people from across the globe.

Jonathan Prince is a writer/producer in television, features, and webseries. He has created, written, and produced the A&E series The Cleaner, the CBS series Cane, and the NBC Emmy winning series American Dreams. He wrote and produced the CBS.com/General Motors webseries Novel Adventures, the WB webseries Love 15, and is now in pre-production on the WB/MySpace Music webseries 8 Track.

John Green is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. John and his brother Hank have inspired the creation of the Nerdfighter community, “Nerdfighteria,” which has prompted countless videos and interactions by socially conscious and compassionate young intellectuals worldwide through the popularity of their shared YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers. The Vlogbrothers channel has been viewed more than 75 million times.

Hank Green is the founder of the environmental technology blog EcoGeek, which has been hailed by publications such as Time and the New York Times. He is also the co-creator of the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, which inspired the Nerdfighter online community. In addition to being scientifically minded, he has also recorded two albums of short, humorous songs, and serves as the co-founder of the independent record label DFTBA Records, LLC.

Harry and the Potters are best known for founding Wizard Rock in 2002, revolutionizing the filk music genre. Brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge started the band in 2002 and since then have played in hundreds of venues from libraries to doughnut shops and pedestrian bridges all over the world. In 2005, they helped co-found the HPA and in 2007 they launched the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club, the proceeds of which went to supporting literacy efforts worldwide.

Alan Lastufka, also known as “fallofautumndistro” on YouTube is the co-founder and President of the independent record label, DFTBA Records, LLC, and co-author of YouTube: An Insider’s Guide, which is currently in its second printing. A musician himself, he has written a number of singles (which have streamed more than one million times), and is the co-founder of the rock band The Caulden Road, which releases its first album in July. Lustufka has also worked collaboratively with a number other YouTube musicians, including Luke Conard, Christian Caldera, Tom Milsom, Mike Lombardo, and Ted Hu.

Shawn Ahmed is a native of Canada best known for starting The Uncultured Project, a one man campaign to raise awareness of Global Poverty and make the world a better place. Focusing mainly on rural Bangladesh, Ahmed’s work has been covered by CNN, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and Mashable. His goal is to use technology and the Internet to create a bridge between developed communities and struggling ones, and by doing so, to create a more interpersonal and engaging form of activism.

The Whomping Willows is one of the earliest bands of wizard rock. Started in 2005 by current HPA Board of Directors member, Matt Maggiacomo, The Whomping Willows have been touring the country for more than five years. The band has produced five full length albums and been featured on a number of wizard rock collections. Maggiacomo has been a musician for more than fifteen years and has played more than five-hundred shows with the Whomping Willows. Maggiacamo frequently tours to benefit various nonprofit organization including the Harry Potter Alliance and the This Star Won't Go Out Foundation.

Dan Brown, also known as the vlogger “Pogobat” on YouTube, got his start with a video that described how best to solve a Rubik's cube. Since then, his videos have included vlogs covering his trip to China, Barack Obama, and the innovative project Dan 3.0 which explored the social implications of an interactive and web-driven world by allowing his viewers to decide what he did for a year. He has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN.

Anthony Stewart Head is a British actor and musician best known for his roles as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Uther Pendragon in Merlin. In addition, he has appeared as a guest artist in numerous shows, including Monarch of the Glen and Doctor Who, and has released an album called Music for Elevators. Anthony Head has been a long time supporter of many causes including a number of Animal Welfare and Human Rights groups.

Tim Kring is a screen writer and television producer best known for creating Heroes. A California native, Mr. Kring was nominated for an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy in 2007, as the producer for Heroes, for which he was also named one of the Masters of Sci Fi TV. Mr. Kring’s other work includes the TV series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, and the new Fox series, Touch. He is also the co-author of the book Shift with Dale Peck, and is involved in a project called Conspiracy for Good, which, as Mr. Kring says, encourages users to “live the adventure, read the signs, fight the Bad Guys and make the world a better place in the process."