Kal Penn has traveled the country reporting on businesses, initiatives, researchers, and communities transitioning to clean energy. He analyzes the full scope of climate solutions from ESG investing and electric vehicles to new forms of energy and “greener living.”

In this talk, he explores the critical topics connected to climate change and gives audiences a better understanding of the ways policymakers, consumers, and businesses can tackle these issues together.

“What possessed you to go from acting in huge movies to working in the White House?” It’s a valid question Kal gets all the time. As the Harold and Kumar star-turned public servant-turned college professor-turned actor again has learned, life doesn’t have to be a series of mutually exclusive decisions.

In a talk that’s equal parts funny, eye-opening, and inspirational, Kal uses his own groundbreaking experiences and plenty of funny social context to debunk the myth that success requires you to pick one lane and stay in it. He shares his experiences balancing a number of careers with a life in public service, including plenty of behind-the-scenes stories from his time on R-rated movie sets to briefings in the Oval Office.

President Barack Obama’s historic ascent to the Presidency was marked by record political participation from young people. As an active member of the campaign’s youth outreach team and the Obama White House’s first Liaison to Young Americans, nobody has a better understanding of young activation than Kal Penn.

Kal will discuss his unprecedented role in forever changing the way campaigns and government engage young people and the ways in which important - and sometimes divergent causes and organizations - can and must unify to engage the next generation. In our era of unprecedented polarization and negativity, Kal shares his thoughts on learning to come together again for a hopeful future.