Coast Summit ‘25: Healthy People | Healthy Planet

Thank you for joining us for the third annual Coast Summit as we celebrate the visionary leaders pioneering solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

This year’s theme was "Healthy People, Healthy Planet," which highlighted the vital link between personal well-being and environmental regeneration. The Coast Summit brought together leaders from sustainability, adventure, business, wellness, and storytelling in a format that blended the energy of a trade show with the insights of a summit.

This wasn’t just a gathering—every year, it is a launchpad for people and ideas shaping the future.

The day opened with a morning coffee reception and a land acknowledgment ceremony led by Adelia Sandoval of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation. Wes Carter, President of Atlantic Packaging and founder of A New Earth Project, welcomed the audience to the third annual Coast Summit. This set the stage for Charles Eisenstein’s keynote introduction, which highlighted how caring for the planet starts with transforming how we relate to each other and the natural world, urging a move from separation toward connection, regeneration, and a deeper sense of shared purpose.

Key Panels and Speakers

Laguna Beach High School – Student Support Collective

The Laguna Beach High School Student Support Collective (SSC) is a student-led group focused on mental health, well-being, and community connection, aiming to create a campus where students feel supported and less alone. It hosts events like the community picnic and awareness campaigns, such as its film on mental health signs that received a statewide honorable mention, to encourage kindness and open conversation about mental health struggles and prevention. The SSC is also actively involved in promoting a positive and inclusive school environment by organizing events and awareness initiatives focused on issues such as bullying prevention. Student Panelists: Audrey Peterson, Emily Yang, Samiyah Sadhal, Sokka Molteni

Listen to the full conversation of LBHS Sutdent Support Collective>>

Modern Alchemy: One Year Later

Modern Alchemy: One Year Later reunites four leading innovators transforming waste into resources—Chase Kahman of St3ms, Gary Bencheghib of Sungai Watch, David Stover of Bureo, and James Merrill of Stoked Plastic—to share how their work has evolved since last year’s powerful Coast Summit debut. Together, they offer real-world updates on scaling regenerative materials, advancing river and ocean cleanup, developing circular product systems, and navigating the funding and adoption challenges shaping the next generation of sustainable materials.

Guided by moderator Lyn Tally of A New Earth Project, this candid and energizing conversation gives audiences a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the breakthroughs, barriers, and meaningful progress made over the past 12 months—revealing what it truly takes to rebuild the materials economy from the ground up.

Listen to the full conversation of Modern Alchemy: One Year Later >>

From Soil to Soul: Local Food, Global Roots, and the Communities That Nourish Us

Food is a powerful connector—between land and people, tradition and innovation, local and global. Brings together leaders from across regenerative agriculture and community-driven food systems to explore how nourishing the land ultimately nourishes people, culture, and collective well-being. The session opens with short films from The Ecology Center (San Juan Capistrano), Big Green (San Antonio), and The Yogi Foundation’s global storytelling project The Theory of Spice, featuring farmers from Guatemala, Sri Lanka, and India who cultivate cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger. These films highlight intimate stories of place and purpose—showing how food brands can champion justice, transparency, and reciprocity throughout the supply chain.

Guided by moderator Lauren Wood, President of The Yogi Foundation, the conversation brings together Briana Buckles (Global Senior Sustainability Manager, Yogi Tea), Evan Marks (CEO, The Ecology Center), and Pastor Linda Carmen Bryant and Elder Raymond Bryant (San Antonio Million Garden Project, Big Green Partners). Together, they dive into how healthy soil creates healthy food, how food fosters resilient and empowered communities, and what it means to grow in deeper relationship with the Earth and with one another.

Listen to the full conversation of From Soil to Soul >>

The Power of Story: Building Bridges to the Future

The Power of Story explores how a single narrative can spark possibility, shift perspective, and quietly move people toward a better way. The session opens with Built to Vanish—a film featured on Leonardo DiCaprio’s YouTube channel and created by Cruz Foam, Imagine5, and A New Earth Project—which follows a breakthrough material made from upcycled food waste. Featuring professional skier and New Earth Advocate Cody Townsend, the film challenges audiences to see packaging not as waste, but as something regenerative and meaningful.

Led by moderator Jason Jackson of Atlantic Packaging, the conversation brings together Ben Suliteanu (Imagine5 Video Journalist), Gaby Scott (Film Director), Emilia Anderson (Cruz Foam), and Cody Townsend to explore how stories travel from creative spark to cultural impact. Together, they examine how powerful narratives can open minds, deepen connection, and inspire belief in what’s possible—reminding us that meaningful change often begins with the courage to tell a different story.

Listen to the full conversation of The Power of Story >>

Financial Fitness: Redefining Wealth by Rewriting the Script

Financial Fitness digs into what it truly means to feel resourced—not just financially, but emotionally, mentally, and relationally. This session reframes money as energy, story, and inherited patterns rather than simple math, inviting a more honest and compassionate conversation about how our financial lives shape our overall well-being.

Moderated by Michael Eustace (Managing Director, UBS Financial Services), the discussion brings together Becca Schusler (Director of Wellness, Atlantic Packaging), Cherie Kloss (Chair, Cryofuture), and Breene Murphy (President, Carbon Collective). Together, they explore topics like shifting from scarcity to sufficiency, navigating comparison, reframing investing through an impact lens, and finding clarity and gratitude—even in uncertainty—showing that real financial fitness isn’t about what you have, but how aligned your money is with your values, freedom, and joy.

Listen to the full conversation of Financial Fitness >>

The Healing Path: Methods and Modalities for Integration, Insight, and Wholeness

The Healing Path explores the many ways people across cultures and traditions process life’s profound experiences—grief, trauma, transformation, awakening, and rebirth—through practices ranging from ritual and ceremony to movement, plant medicine, talk therapy, meditation, and more. This open, inclusive conversation invites participants to consider what healing truly looks like, what supports it, and what helps us turn insight into lasting change.

Guided by moderator Betty Aldworth (Co-Executive Director, MAPS), the session weaves together perspectives from Kat Gordon (Herbalist, Plant Spirit Guide & Ceremonialist, Yarrow Resilience Institute), Dr. Joseph McCowan (Lead Therapist, Compass Pathways), and Allie Runkel (Licensed Psychotherapist). Together, they explore the full landscape of healing modalities—breathwork, somatics, integration coaching, peer circles, and nature immersion—reminding us that healing is not a trend but a lifelong practice, and integration is for anyone seeking greater clarity, wholeness, and ease.

Listen to the full conversation of The Healing Path >>

Closing Keynote: Healing the Helper

For over 15 years, Laguna Beach native Jon Rose has provided clean water to disaster zones and war-torn communities through his organization, Waves for Water. From Haiti to Afghanistan, to the frontlines of countless climate disasters, he has been exposed to profound levels of suffering—and carried the invisible weight of it all, until that weight became too much to bear. Through his brokenness, a new trajectory emerged—one of radical inquisition and exploration into the depths of trauma and the psyche. In this closing keynote, Jon reflects on what he’s learned about trauma, resilience, and reverence, and invite us to consider a new kind of wellness—one rooted not in self-optimization, but in deep listening, ancestral knowledge, and the courage to heal. Lastly, he teases his most personal project to date, UNPACKING, a new documentary series that follows his journey to confront the accumulated trauma of his humanitarian work by exploring the depths of indigenous culture and tradition. It’s raw, intimate, and urgently relevant in a time when burnout and disconnection are widespread—even among those trying to do good.

Listen to the full conversation with Jon Rose - Healing the Helper >>

Inspiration and Impact

Coast Summit ‘25 concluded with a closing reception, offering attendees a chance to reflect on the day's discussions and forge connections for future collaborations. The event reinforced the power of community, innovation, and passion in tackling the planet’s most urgent environmental challenges. With a growing network of thought leaders and changemakers, the summit continues to drive meaningful action for a more sustainable world.

Thank you to Vibe Organic Kitchen for providing our guests with a delicious lunch and to Nirvana for catering a gourmet charcuterie board for our happy hour to follow the day!