we live in a time in history when
multiple cataclysmic forces converge
racism misogyny homophobia extreme
income inequality and our changing
climate just to mention a few and while
all of these are extremely concerning it
is out of this concern that an
unprecedented opportunity emerges this
moment really demands that we show up
stand up and step up like never before
so many of us have been waiting to get
involved wanting to take action but what
were we waiting for well we were waiting
for the horrible thing the worst case
scenario that it would inspire us to
finally take action and that is the
great gift of this moment if we treat
climate change as the true planetary
emergency that it is it will be a
galvanizing force for Humanity a force
that puts the long-term success of all
of us over the short-term economic gains
of a very few a force that no matter
what your political party is your race
your gender a force that will inspire us
all to get involved to be engaged to be
active participants in creating the
world we want for me wanting to make a
difference began in fourth grade so I
ran for office
honestly I didn’t know what
sergeant-at-arms
even was or why we needed one in grammar
school but I knew that participating was
important my dad took me aside and said
Heidi if you’re gonna run for office you
need a slogan and a slogan that rhymes
well there’s not a whole lot that rhymes
with Heidi but my tea does so it was
vote for Heidi because Heidi is my tea
and that’s stuck and it was the 1970s
and with my amazing Wonder Woman posters
and my supercool slogan I thought for
sure I was gonna win but I didn’t and I
thought that that would probably be the
end of my admittedly pretty short
political career after high school I
moved to San Luis Obispo to go to the
local junior college and then to attend
Cal Poly University almost right away I
got married and soon after that my
daughter Zoe was born and a couple of
years later Jack was born
I know they’re pretty great I started to
look at my life through the lens of
being a mother and tried to figure out
what it meant to raise kids in today’s
world I really felt that the best thing
that I could do to create a better world
was by raising better people soon after
they were born I became a multitasking
single mom an overworked house cleaner
and a b-level artist as I scrub the
floors of other people’s homes day after
day with my two kids in tow I would
dream about what my life might be like
when they grew up I thought for sure I
would be living in Berlin and an
artist’s loft making paintings and
drinking cocktails but then as so often
happens some guy comes along and alters
all your plans
it’s one of my guys when former vice
president and early climate champion Al
Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth came
out it really changed the trajectory of
my life it was through his work that I
began to understand the urgent nature of
climate change and I realized that my
children’s lives were at stake and that
all of our children’s lives are at stake
and that I knew it wasn’t gonna be
enough for me just to understand that
fact that I had to do something because
whatever issues inspire us knowledge
alone isn’t enough because knowledge
without action is meaningless so I
wanted to get involved and I kept
looking around waiting for someone to
follow waiting for someone to take the
lead here locally and as no one emerged
I started to wonder could that person be
me but I didn’t think that I was at all
the kind of person to do this type of
work it was essential to me to be my
true self and while I was an expert in
getting kids to wake up and get out the
door I had no experience and getting
groups of people to wake up to the world
and get involved but it turns out what I
lacked in experience I made up for
encouraged even though I was really
scared of what that was going to look
like I don’t want to speak in front of
groups
I was afraid of being judged of messing
up of not knowing enough but the
important thing for me and the important
thing for all of us is not to get it
right it’s not to win it’s to begin
begin exactly how we are and where we
are so I grabbed one of my favorite
dresses got a trusty clipboard put a
rose in my hair and headed out the door
to try and figure out how to be the
leader that I had been looking for
I started small I joined with groups of
people that shared my concerns I
organized marches I started groups I
left groups
I joined groups I had important
conversations with people of all types
of viewpoints after a while I still felt
like I wasn’t quite doing enough and I
wanted to do more so I tried new things
not all of them were successful I went
to Texas to join the tar sands blockade
errs a group of really committed
extremely disheveled eco anarchists
living in the woods trying to put a stop
to this pipeline as you might imagine I
was so out of place there that I’m
pretty sure that they thought that
either the FBI or their parents had sent
me to spy on them
other things I tried were more
successful though I joined a group
called 350.org one of the most renowned
international groups on climate change
all right and we were able to put a stop
to dangerous oil train set to roll
through this community this came after
years of organizing and dedicated work
all of this really in an attempt to get
our elected officials to do the right
thing
activists spend a lot of time outside
the halls of power hoping that those
inside make the right decisions I
realized that we needed to not just be
on the outside demanding the right thing
but on the inside doing the right thing
because it’s not enough just to march in
the streets we need to march on to our
school board and into our city halls and
onto Congress to make the changes that
we really need because we need elected
officials that care more about the next
generation than they do about their next
election
so I was ready not only to show up but
to step up in a way that I might be able
to make a bigger impact and the 2014
state assembly race was my opportunity
my opponent was a gas station owning
fossil fuel money taking longtime
politician and I knew I didn’t really
stand a chance to win in the traditional
sense but I also knew this was a great
opportunity to make a change and I
learned that it’s really not political
experience but really it’s political
will that we need to make an impact by
the end of my campaign my gas station
owning competitor was posing in front of
giant solar fields talking about
renewable energy yeah and I knew then
that even though technically I had lost
ultimately this campaign had been a
victory but after that I was certain
this time that was it that’s the end of
my political career for sure but later
that year I went to a conference and
across a crowded room I met the man who
would become the love of my life
[Applause]
I see you’ve got some competition for
that
he’s my ride-or-die he’s my ride-or-die
I so admired the way that Bernie had
transitioned from activists to elected
and loved how he was able to inspire a
whole new generation of people to get
engaged I was sitting in the front row
at the National Convention when he said
his goodbyes and left the stage it was
devastating and so disappointing and I
was one of those people that you might
have seen on TV with tears streaming
down my face clutching my future to
believe in the sign in my hands and in
that moment I really felt like giving up
but Bernie’s parting words kept ringing
in my ear
don’t get mad go home and run for office
so
I did both at first I got mad and I
stayed mad and I didn’t leave the house
for three days but on that third day
instead of giving up I got up grabbed my
clipboard put the rose back in my hair
and decided once again to run for office
and after a really short campaign with
very little political experience and the
odds stacked against me I was elected
mayor of San Luis Obispo by 46 votes
after that election someone I had never
met before I came up to me and said wow
you make me feel like literally anyone
could be mayor
and I’d like to think that was a
compliment
because if I can be mayor you can be
mayor and that means no matter what
issues inspire us we can do literally
anything so many of the things I have
been fighting for for so long on the
outside things people would tell me over
and over again were impossible the city
is now bringing to life we’ve committed
to being a NetZero city which is a city
that creates as much renewable energy as
it takes to support all that live here
and for the first time in our history
climate action is one of our major city
goals we’re fighting to create more
affordable housing in the hopes of
diversifying our city and we are a
welcoming city which means that we stand
in support of undocumented people here
we’ve created safe routes for cyclists
and have adopted a core philosophy of
better relationships with both the
campus and the community and yes we are
fixing the potholes
yeah a potholes a community really gains
and strength by the ideas and intention
intentions and character of its people
engagement is an essential aspect to
democracy and at a time when it is more
difficult than ever to be politically
engaged the people of San Luis Obispo is
engagement is at an all-time high yeah
[Applause]
we often show up for one another when
there’s been a disaster as we’ve seen in
the aftermath of so many recent
tragedies it’s in the everyday moments
that we need to show up because standing
in solidarity with people is more than
just a sentiment it’s more than posting
on Facebook
solidarity takes action because
ultimately solidarity is a verb it’s
when immigrant children’s rights are
threatened that we need to speak up for
those whose voices are oppressed it’s
when mosques are burned that we need to
stand hand in hand with our Muslim
friends to talk about what freedom
really means it’s when people of color
are killed across this country that we
need to listen to their voices to
understand what it looks like to support
them and it’s when queer students in our
own backyard are discriminated against
that we need to step up and be active
allies not silent bystanders and it’s
also in our our elderly neighbor is
alone
and we bring her a cup of tea and
conversation and it’s when we invite our
friends and neighbors over to share meal
around our table this is how we build a
movement one cup of tea at a time the
friendships I have made the
relationships I have built and the
unexpected moments of joy are now what
bring meaning to my life because while
we are building this movement this
movement is building us people that take
active and engage dances in their
communities they make great elected
officials they can get it done they can
galvanize the community they are the
consensus builders and the visionaries
we need to make change showing up will
lead us towards our true destiny towards
the thing that we’re born to do we must
show up maybe for you that’s showing up
to a meeting or a conversation or a
march maybe for you that’s stepping up
to a board position in your organization
or mentoring a young person maybe for
you that’s looking at your life through
the lens of social justice to be part of
creating a more fair just and
sustainable world maybe for you as it
was for me it’s running for office this
is where our stories will unfold this is
how we create a life of purpose a life
of meaning it doesn’t matter our age or
gender or our experience it doesn’t
matter whether we won or lost in fourth
grade our potential doesn’t hinge on
what we already know it hinges on what
willing to do so when something speaks
to you so deeply that you must act then
act do the thing you can’t not do this
is how we make the impossible the
inevitable thank you
[Applause]
multiple cataclysmic forces converge
racism misogyny homophobia extreme
income inequality and our changing
climate just to mention a few and while
all of these are extremely concerning it
is out of this concern that an
unprecedented opportunity emerges this
moment really demands that we show up
stand up and step up like never before
so many of us have been waiting to get
involved wanting to take action but what
were we waiting for well we were waiting
for the horrible thing the worst case
scenario that it would inspire us to
finally take action and that is the
great gift of this moment if we treat
climate change as the true planetary
emergency that it is it will be a
galvanizing force for Humanity a force
that puts the long-term success of all
of us over the short-term economic gains
of a very few a force that no matter
what your political party is your race
your gender a force that will inspire us
all to get involved to be engaged to be
active participants in creating the
world we want for me wanting to make a
difference began in fourth grade so I
ran for office
honestly I didn’t know what
sergeant-at-arms
even was or why we needed one in grammar
school but I knew that participating was
important my dad took me aside and said
Heidi if you’re gonna run for office you
need a slogan and a slogan that rhymes
well there’s not a whole lot that rhymes
with Heidi but my tea does so it was
vote for Heidi because Heidi is my tea
and that’s stuck and it was the 1970s
and with my amazing Wonder Woman posters
and my supercool slogan I thought for
sure I was gonna win but I didn’t and I
thought that that would probably be the
end of my admittedly pretty short
political career after high school I
moved to San Luis Obispo to go to the
local junior college and then to attend
Cal Poly University almost right away I
got married and soon after that my
daughter Zoe was born and a couple of
years later Jack was born
I know they’re pretty great I started to
look at my life through the lens of
being a mother and tried to figure out
what it meant to raise kids in today’s
world I really felt that the best thing
that I could do to create a better world
was by raising better people soon after
they were born I became a multitasking
single mom an overworked house cleaner
and a b-level artist as I scrub the
floors of other people’s homes day after
day with my two kids in tow I would
dream about what my life might be like
when they grew up I thought for sure I
would be living in Berlin and an
artist’s loft making paintings and
drinking cocktails but then as so often
happens some guy comes along and alters
all your plans
it’s one of my guys when former vice
president and early climate champion Al
Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth came
out it really changed the trajectory of
my life it was through his work that I
began to understand the urgent nature of
climate change and I realized that my
children’s lives were at stake and that
all of our children’s lives are at stake
and that I knew it wasn’t gonna be
enough for me just to understand that
fact that I had to do something because
whatever issues inspire us knowledge
alone isn’t enough because knowledge
without action is meaningless so I
wanted to get involved and I kept
looking around waiting for someone to
follow waiting for someone to take the
lead here locally and as no one emerged
I started to wonder could that person be
me but I didn’t think that I was at all
the kind of person to do this type of
work it was essential to me to be my
true self and while I was an expert in
getting kids to wake up and get out the
door I had no experience and getting
groups of people to wake up to the world
and get involved but it turns out what I
lacked in experience I made up for
encouraged even though I was really
scared of what that was going to look
like I don’t want to speak in front of
groups
I was afraid of being judged of messing
up of not knowing enough but the
important thing for me and the important
thing for all of us is not to get it
right it’s not to win it’s to begin
begin exactly how we are and where we
are so I grabbed one of my favorite
dresses got a trusty clipboard put a
rose in my hair and headed out the door
to try and figure out how to be the
leader that I had been looking for
I started small I joined with groups of
people that shared my concerns I
organized marches I started groups I
left groups
I joined groups I had important
conversations with people of all types
of viewpoints after a while I still felt
like I wasn’t quite doing enough and I
wanted to do more so I tried new things
not all of them were successful I went
to Texas to join the tar sands blockade
errs a group of really committed
extremely disheveled eco anarchists
living in the woods trying to put a stop
to this pipeline as you might imagine I
was so out of place there that I’m
pretty sure that they thought that
either the FBI or their parents had sent
me to spy on them
other things I tried were more
successful though I joined a group
called 350.org one of the most renowned
international groups on climate change
all right and we were able to put a stop
to dangerous oil train set to roll
through this community this came after
years of organizing and dedicated work
all of this really in an attempt to get
our elected officials to do the right
thing
activists spend a lot of time outside
the halls of power hoping that those
inside make the right decisions I
realized that we needed to not just be
on the outside demanding the right thing
but on the inside doing the right thing
because it’s not enough just to march in
the streets we need to march on to our
school board and into our city halls and
onto Congress to make the changes that
we really need because we need elected
officials that care more about the next
generation than they do about their next
election
so I was ready not only to show up but
to step up in a way that I might be able
to make a bigger impact and the 2014
state assembly race was my opportunity
my opponent was a gas station owning
fossil fuel money taking longtime
politician and I knew I didn’t really
stand a chance to win in the traditional
sense but I also knew this was a great
opportunity to make a change and I
learned that it’s really not political
experience but really it’s political
will that we need to make an impact by
the end of my campaign my gas station
owning competitor was posing in front of
giant solar fields talking about
renewable energy yeah and I knew then
that even though technically I had lost
ultimately this campaign had been a
victory but after that I was certain
this time that was it that’s the end of
my political career for sure but later
that year I went to a conference and
across a crowded room I met the man who
would become the love of my life
[Applause]
I see you’ve got some competition for
that
he’s my ride-or-die he’s my ride-or-die
I so admired the way that Bernie had
transitioned from activists to elected
and loved how he was able to inspire a
whole new generation of people to get
engaged I was sitting in the front row
at the National Convention when he said
his goodbyes and left the stage it was
devastating and so disappointing and I
was one of those people that you might
have seen on TV with tears streaming
down my face clutching my future to
believe in the sign in my hands and in
that moment I really felt like giving up
but Bernie’s parting words kept ringing
in my ear
don’t get mad go home and run for office
so
I did both at first I got mad and I
stayed mad and I didn’t leave the house
for three days but on that third day
instead of giving up I got up grabbed my
clipboard put the rose back in my hair
and decided once again to run for office
and after a really short campaign with
very little political experience and the
odds stacked against me I was elected
mayor of San Luis Obispo by 46 votes
after that election someone I had never
met before I came up to me and said wow
you make me feel like literally anyone
could be mayor
and I’d like to think that was a
compliment
because if I can be mayor you can be
mayor and that means no matter what
issues inspire us we can do literally
anything so many of the things I have
been fighting for for so long on the
outside things people would tell me over
and over again were impossible the city
is now bringing to life we’ve committed
to being a NetZero city which is a city
that creates as much renewable energy as
it takes to support all that live here
and for the first time in our history
climate action is one of our major city
goals we’re fighting to create more
affordable housing in the hopes of
diversifying our city and we are a
welcoming city which means that we stand
in support of undocumented people here
we’ve created safe routes for cyclists
and have adopted a core philosophy of
better relationships with both the
campus and the community and yes we are
fixing the potholes
yeah a potholes a community really gains
and strength by the ideas and intention
intentions and character of its people
engagement is an essential aspect to
democracy and at a time when it is more
difficult than ever to be politically
engaged the people of San Luis Obispo is
engagement is at an all-time high yeah
[Applause]
we often show up for one another when
there’s been a disaster as we’ve seen in
the aftermath of so many recent
tragedies it’s in the everyday moments
that we need to show up because standing
in solidarity with people is more than
just a sentiment it’s more than posting
on Facebook
solidarity takes action because
ultimately solidarity is a verb it’s
when immigrant children’s rights are
threatened that we need to speak up for
those whose voices are oppressed it’s
when mosques are burned that we need to
stand hand in hand with our Muslim
friends to talk about what freedom
really means it’s when people of color
are killed across this country that we
need to listen to their voices to
understand what it looks like to support
them and it’s when queer students in our
own backyard are discriminated against
that we need to step up and be active
allies not silent bystanders and it’s
also in our our elderly neighbor is
alone
and we bring her a cup of tea and
conversation and it’s when we invite our
friends and neighbors over to share meal
around our table this is how we build a
movement one cup of tea at a time the
friendships I have made the
relationships I have built and the
unexpected moments of joy are now what
bring meaning to my life because while
we are building this movement this
movement is building us people that take
active and engage dances in their
communities they make great elected
officials they can get it done they can
galvanize the community they are the
consensus builders and the visionaries
we need to make change showing up will
lead us towards our true destiny towards
the thing that we’re born to do we must
show up maybe for you that’s showing up
to a meeting or a conversation or a
march maybe for you that’s stepping up
to a board position in your organization
or mentoring a young person maybe for
you that’s looking at your life through
the lens of social justice to be part of
creating a more fair just and
sustainable world maybe for you as it
was for me it’s running for office this
is where our stories will unfold this is
how we create a life of purpose a life
of meaning it doesn’t matter our age or
gender or our experience it doesn’t
matter whether we won or lost in fourth
grade our potential doesn’t hinge on
what we already know it hinges on what
willing to do so when something speaks
to you so deeply that you must act then
act do the thing you can’t not do this
is how we make the impossible the
inevitable thank you
[Applause]
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