Aziz Dehkan was born and raised in New York City. With a degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University, Aziz built an award-winning passive-solar house and started one of the first organic farms in New Jersey.

In management and development roles, Aziz has worked for social and environmental justice organizations including The Coalition for the Homeless, STRIVE, The Fortune Society, and Mother Jones. As a community organizer and Director of the NYC Community Garden Coalition, in response to structural racism, he has led the fight for land tenure and food security. Aziz served on the steering committee for the People’s Climate Movement rallies in NYC, Washington DC and #Sandy5. Dreaming of a free Iran, Aziz is tirelessly searching for progressive solutions that support justice, equality, and liberation.

“Making climate change an urgent priority across America needs a groundswell of local community support. The Covid19 pandemic has taught us that America’s structural system is fractured. The climate crisis affects everyone, but not everyone equally. We need to build roadmaps from which we can begin to create jobs with an economic policy that moves us away from nonrenewable energy. Working with unions and trades, we must adopt policies promoting job growth to ensure access to jobs for displaced fossil fuel workers. To protect the climate with just equitable solutions we must — together as a society and with coalitions — play leading roles in confronting the climate crisis. It is our moral imperative for future generations.”