Seth Antonio Laxman (he/him) is a climate and transgender rights activist who lives on Lenape and Canarsie land, also known as Brooklyn, New York.
An expert in sustainability and environmental justice, he is passionate about making the world a better and more beautiful place through action and art.
Seth's art practice spans many mediums, he primarily focuses on documenting daily life through visual journals. Collaging, sketching, and to-do lists are some of his favorite ways to express himself. Additionally, Seth loves to photoshop things, capturing inside jokes with friends and making fun of corrupt politicians in digital collages.
As an activist Seth has been involved in numerous issues and campaigns, he started organizing in high school. Currently he works for Lush Cosmetics North America as an advocacy campaigner, growing the network of customers and staff who take action with lush on the issues of human rights, animal protection, and environmental justice.
Photo: Kade Alpers
Education
2017-2020
State University of New York at New Paltz | New Paltz, NY
Bachelor of Arts Double Major in Geography conc: Environmental and Spanish Language and Culture, minor in Disaster Studies, GPA: 3.93
2017
Graduated Nyack High School with advanced regents diploma
Certificates
2022
2021
2020
Yale School of Public Health, Climate change and health
Urban Green Council, GPRO Fundamentals of building green
Bard College Center for Environmental Policy, C2C Fellowship
Work Experience
Jan 2023- Present
Advocacy & Activism Campaigner, Lush Cosmetics North America
-
Supports the implementation and success of key values-driven campaigns and initiatives that are local, national and North American wide to both internal and external audiences.
-
Guides strategy to grow the network of customers who have taken action and develop a community of advocates.
-
Supports with the planning and execution of in-shop ethics events and activations.
-
Develops and maintain relationships with outside stakeholders.
Nov 2021-Dec 2022
Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
-
Collaborated with the digital and comms teams to help design and curate content for social media, develop digital campaign actions, develop public materials such as press statements, talking points, blogs, and act as a spokesperson on relevant issue areas in order to engage supporters across the country.
-
Coordinated the planning and execution of nonviolent direct action events to support campaign goals.
-
Built relationships with allies across the climate and progressive movement to lay the groundwork for a more connected, coordinated, and powerful movement infrastructure by participating in numerous movement spaces such as the People vs Fossil Fuels coalition and the Gulf South for a Green New Deal gathering.
-
Contributed to strategic planning, informed by knowledge of climate issues and the climate movement, politics, allies, and opponents.
-
Represented Greenpeace USA and the campaign in meetings, webinars, public events and with our members and in alliances and coalitions to support relationships with key constituencies, such as grassroots organizations, professional groups, and labor.
Dec 2020- Nov 2021
GIS & Data Analyst, Greenpeace USA
-
Worked on special projects team generating analysis in ArcGIS Pro to support distributed organizing, campaign, and development efforts throughout the organization.
-
Analyzed millions of records using a justice framework to deliver actionable insight into large quantitative and qualitative data sets.
-
Created engaging visualizations in Tableau and Excel from quantitative and qualitative data that generate strategic knowledge to guide growth.
-
Delivered presentations and visualizations to leadership and program staff, including an international workshop on environmental justice research.
-
Provided IT solutions and support across the organization.
May 2020- Dec 2020
Data Science Intern, Greenpeace USA
-
Produced maps in ArcGIS Pro and other visualizations in ESRI Insights and Tableau that guided strategy decisions for campaign teams.
-
Developed a model that calculates future return on ad spend by analyzing digital marketing metrics that now informs resource allocation decision making.
-
Executed a research project on leveraging GIS to connect with supporters based on environmental justice issues for presentation to Greenpeace International.
Nov 2020- April 2021
Social Media Manager, Parasol Structures
-
Performed market and industry research to create promotional social media posts that bolster network engagement.
-
Developed SEO strategy and identifies opportunities for brand growth.
Aug 2018- Nov 2020
Sustainability Ambassador, SUNY New Paltz Office of Campus Sustainability
-
Led the Carbon Neutrality team and managed team of Sustainability Ambassadors focusing on presenting to campus administrators regarding reaching carbon neutrality, compiling best practices of other institutions of higher education to craft a roadmap to reduce emissions, investigating carbon offset projects suitable for investment, and researching the IPCC, the Paris Agreement, and the CLCPA of NYS.
-
Prepared a greenhouse gas inventory with the carbon neutrality research team, generated recommendations for reaching carbon neutrality, completed data transition to web based emissions calculator SIMAP, conducted carbon accounting, and researched sustainability best practices in higher education.
-
Led the Student Outreach and Engagement team, created and implemented informational and materials to increase student involvement in sustainability initiatives on campus.
-
Designed campaigns for issues including plastic reduction, water conservation, food waste, and energy use. Facilitated communication between various working groups to synthesize respective goals and progress in order to create unity within the Sustainability Ambassador cohort.
-
Led Events team to raise awareness about sustainability and climate change on campus and utilized digital marketing to increase attendance.
-
Member of sustainability strategic planning committee, conducted research and stakeholder communication for the energy use and transportation focus groups throughout the development and implementation of the strategic plan.
Jan - May 2020
Disaster Management Intern, Orange County Office of Emergency Management
-
Through the SUNY New Paltz Institute for Disaster Mental Health, completed a practicum course in disaster management and mental health and internship in disaster management at Orange County Emergency Management.
-
Collaborated with fellow interns to complete all Tier II data entry using the E-plan reporting methodology, compiling all chemical reporting in the county to submit to the EPA and local fire departments.
-
Supported completion of office tasks such as creating folders for disaster preparedness awareness.
-
Completed several FEMA training courses: IS-100.C: Introduction to the Incident Command System and IS-700.B: An Introduction to the National Incident Management System, as well as several American Red Cross training courses: Concept of Operations Basics, Mass Care: An Overview, Disaster Cycle Services An Overview, Everyone is Welcome, Basic Food Safety, and Shelter Fundamentals, and a course in Psychological First Aid.
June 2018- Aug 2019
(seasonal)
Head of Art Department, Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp
-
Coordinated and trained team of 10 art staff in curriculum development.
-
Oversaw time, space, and materials management for the visual arts program.
-
Devised class schedules with other department heads, programming department, and camp leadership.
-
Created project focused lesson plans to allow students to best express their creativity and learn new skills in a variety of mediums with ages 8-16.
-
Worked as a Bunk Counselor, supervised safety and well-being of campers ages 10-12.
-
Facilitated conflict resolution for staff and campers.
-
Shaped and supported all-camp activities, including designing games, explaining rules, and insuring delegated tasks were performed so plans ran smoothly.
-
Guided international staff and campers in advancing their English language skills.
IT Proficiency: ArcGIS, ESRI Suite, Mapbox, Carto, Glide, Adobe Photoshop, Tableau, SQL, Python, Google Drive Suite, Excel, Microsoft Office Suite, SIMAP carbon accounting, Specify Archival Software, DSLR camera, and social media
Languages: English, Spanish (fluency in translation, speaking, reading, writing)
Transcripts and references available upon request