“If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that your actions matter.”
John is an environmental activist and sustainability specialist who aims to connect people to opportunities for positive impact in order to engage the broader public in widespread systemic change. He serves as Executive Director of Earth Day Initiative, a nonprofit organization that aspires to bring the spirit of the first Earth Day into the 21st Century. The organization hosts annual Earth Day events to funnel millions of people into the environmental movement and recently hosted two consecutive years of virtual Earth Day events with guests and partners like Bill Nye, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Al Gore, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kyra Sedgwick, Fridays for Future, and March for Science. John also hosts Earth Day Initiative’s Parts Per Million podcast on being a climate communicator and oversees the organization’s sustainable food negotiation simulation program and its green building publication.
With over 10 years of experience in sustainability, wellness, and real estate, John runs a real estate brokerage practice that connects interested buyers to the full range of benefits of healthy green homes and works with developers and sellers to effectively market such features, including better air quality, more natural light, soundproof interiors, non-toxic fixtures and furnishings, reduced energy consumption, resilient energy systems, and lower operating costs. He has overseen the sustainability-and wellness-focused communications and marketing materials for healthy and green real estate projects to ensure that they connect with a wide range of audiences. John has served as an adjunct professor at NYU with a course titled Marketing Green Homes, which looks at how a variety of green and healthy building features and standards (including LEED, Passive House, and WELL) resonate with home buyers in order to build overall demand for more sustainable buildings.
He has been featured as an expert on sustainability topics by a variety of media outlets, including CNN, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, MSNBC.com, and the New York Times. John graduated with a B.S. in International Politics from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.