We are pleased to present our keynote speaker for the American Ornithological Society 2025 (AOS 2025) meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.
elin kelsey, Ph.D.
elin kelsey & company; adjunct faculty member at University of Victoria
Sharing Stories of Hope: A special request
Keynote speaker elin kelsey has requested that we crowdsource hope before this year’s AOS annual meeting. Please share brief stories of hope and inspiration from where you are, in your circles. These can be successes in conservation, field work, research, education and outreach, or feel-good encounters that made you think differently about the world, or work or people from whom you draw strength day to day.
Please complete this Google Form to briefly describe your story via text (with or without a photo or video) or by uploading a short video (<1 minute seconds, please) or photo by 25 July 2025. elin will use these stories to craft her keynote address; she won’t use the videos, but rather the content.
All are welcome to submit their inspirational accounts, even if you aren’t able to attend the AOS 2025 meeting. With much uncertainty in the world, we all require hope to keep going – please share your stories that fill your bucket, big or small. Thanks in advance for your help in this special project.
Talk Title: “Why Evidence-Based Hope Matters in an Age of Climate Doom”
elin kelsey, Ph.D. is an award-winning author, speaker and thought-leader for the evidence-based hope and climate justice solutions movement. elin’s influence can be seen through the popularity of her book, Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical For Solving the Environmental Crisis (2020), and in the hopeful, solutions-focus of her clients, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other powerful institutions where she has served as a visiting fellow including the Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Kone Foundation, the Salish Sea Institute, the Cairns Institute, and Stanford University. She co-created the viral social media campaign #OceanOptimism and is currently leading intergenerational collaborations with climate influencers to make evidence-based hope more shareable online.
Her work as a best-selling children’s book writer, podcast host, film writer, and exhibit creator celebrates the resilience that exists within ourselves, and across species. elin is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Victoria School of Environmental Studies. She regularly leads workshops for environmental organizations, youth climate activists, educators, and community groups on evidence-based hope in communities around the world. Look for her newest book, How to Be Hopeful: Empowering Practices to Overcome Despair and Act for Climate Justice in Fall 2025.
For more, please visit www.elinkelsey.org.
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