Cris Gutierrez lives a voluntary simple life conscious of being a creature of the biosphere. In 1998, Cris gave up her car and since then has gone far by bicycling, walking and using public transit. A co-founder of Climate Action Santa Monica and the CASM Climate Corps Program Director, she leads the Climate Corps, teams of young environmental leaders from high school and college, to engage the community to advance climate resiliency and carbon neutrality. Cris is a Clean Power Alliance Community Advisor and a Santa Monica Community Gardens Advisory Group Member. Over the years, she has helped establish Santa Monica’s Sustainability Rights Ordinance that recognizes the rights of Nature and community rights as fundamental and has advocated for the abolition of nuclear weapons. For decades, she coached, taught or counseled young people from diverse backgrounds.
Cris has a B.A. with honors in Humanities/Renaissance Studies and an M.A. in Education from Stanford University.