Senior Climate Innovation Fellow Pandora Thomas

As part of her fellowship, Pandora Thomas is leading and incubating two integral programs- Earthseed Farm and Marin People’s Plan.  Her expertise uniquely and skillfully navigates the intersection of Community-Driven Planning (CDCRP) and Nature-Based Practices where she emphasizes the benefits of applying ecological principles to social design.

Established in March, 2021, EARTHseed Farm is a 14-acre solar powered organic farm and orchard located on the ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Peoples of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in Sonoma County, California. With the permission and blessings from Graton Rancheria Tribe, the farm is operated and rooted in Afro-Indigenous permaculture principles and built on the long legacy of earth wisdom traditions of people of African descent. Learn More

The Marin City People’s Plan (MCPP) began as a grassroots African American organization in 2018 and is an example of site-based adaptation of the CDCRP approach. Climate Innovation has partnered with the MCPP since its inception, as the role of co-facilitator of the Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning through People’s Planning process. Learn more

Through Pandora’s work and approach, both of her programs, EARTHSeed Permaculture Center and Marin City People’s Plan, demonstrate and embody the core activities of CI’s work to:

• Build increased capacity among community-based organizations as well as systems leaders in key regions across California and the U.S. 
• Cultivate networks of leaders, experts and organizations, including the next generation of frontline community climate leaders, to advance community-driven climate resilience work and further power building for a Just Transition.
• Advance community-driven climate resilience planning approaches in the Bay Area that can serve as a model for process and policy innovations in California and across the country

Demonstrate the vision of community-driven design and ownership by creating the first black owned and operated working permaculture farm in Sonoma County where thousands of adults and youth annually reclaim their relationship to the Earth, their history and their future through learning about AfroIndigenous Permaculture.