(Highlights) JEAN WEINER

(Highlights) JEAN WEINER

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Goldman Environmental Prize Winner
Founder of Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine in Haiti

We’re coming out of one of the worst times for resource exploitation, waste and everything related to that waste of resources, so trying to set the example, especially for my kids, recycling, trying to be reasonable about purchasing things, about where things end up after you’re done using them, just in general being careful about what you do, what impacts there are down the line. Even for them already, they’re 18 and 20 now–What are you going to do to try to protect the planet for your kids? Already trying to put that mindset for them because it’s very difficult for our generation to change the way it has done things for so long, but trying to at least bring that change. Be responsible, be reasonable, think about the impacts.


JEAN WEINER

JEAN WEINER

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Goldman Environmental Prize Winner
Founder of Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine in Haiti

We’re coming out of one of the worst times for resource exploitation, waste and everything related to that waste of resources, so trying to set the example, especially for my kids, recycling, trying to be reasonable about purchasing things, about where things end up after you’re done using them, just in general being careful about what you do, what impacts there are down the line. Even for them already, they’re 18 and 20 now–What are you going to do to try to protect the planet for your kids? Already trying to put that mindset for them because it’s very difficult for our generation to change the way it has done things for so long, but trying to at least bring that change. Be responsible, be reasonable, think about the impacts.


(Highlights) AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

(Highlights) AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

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Poet & Author of World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments

I think something happened in 2016, where I just snapped. There was a lot of a hateful news going around with American politics, and I didn’t know how to answer a lot of my kids questions then. Something I know I can do is to tell them things that I loved about this planet or things that I loved in other people because all they saw or heard about was just this weird ugliness, school shootings, leaders who were saying ‘build that wall’ to anybody who looked different than them, and so I remember the night I shut myself up in my office after the kids went to bed and just started writing about plants and animals that I loved from my childhood.

AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

AIMEE NEZHUKUMATATHIL

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Poet & Author of World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments

I think something happened in 2016, where I just snapped. There was a lot of a hateful news going around with American politics, and I didn’t know how to answer a lot of my kids questions then. Something I know I can do is to tell them things that I loved about this planet or things that I loved in other people because all they saw or heard about was just this weird ugliness, school shootings, leaders who were saying ‘build that wall’ to anybody who looked different than them, and so I remember the night I shut myself up in my office after the kids went to bed and just started writing about plants and animals that I loved from my childhood.

(Highlights) SAMUEL MYERS MD, MPH

(Highlights) SAMUEL MYERS MD, MPH

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Founding Director of Planetary Health Alliance
Principal Research Scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

I think the environmental community has been guilty of a lot of catastrophism, a lot of statements like ‘Game Over for the Planet’, and we’ve painted a lot of very dark pictures about where we’re going, but when you look across these different sectors and all the solutions that are out there, there’s no reason to believe that our grandchildren couldn’t live in an incredibly exciting world.

SAMUEL MYERS MD, MPH

SAMUEL MYERS MD, MPH

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Founding Director of Planetary Health Alliance
Principal Research Scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

I think the environmental community has been guilty of a lot of catastrophism, a lot of statements like ‘Game Over for the Planet’, and we’ve painted a lot of very dark pictures about where we’re going, but when you look across these different sectors and all the solutions that are out there, there’s no reason to believe that our grandchildren couldn’t live in an incredibly exciting world.

MARTIN VON HILDEBRAND

MARTIN VON HILDEBRAND

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Indigenous Rights Activist
Winner of Right Livelihood & Skoll Awards
His Fundacion Gaia Amazonas has been named #40 NGOs of the World

I went to the Amazon and I got a canoe and I started rowing into the forest. It was absolutely like going back into the 17th century! I went around for six months on my own and that was fantastic because in this part of the Colombian rainforest there were absolutely no roads, no towns, no electricity, no flowing water. You are with the indigenous group. They are all still in their loincloths. They speak different languages. I went through about eight different ethnic groups. They all spoke different languages. I couldn’t understand what they said. They couldn’t understand what I said, but we got along well.

(Highlights) GIULIO BOCCALETTI

(Highlights) GIULIO BOCCALETTI

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Author of Water, A Biography
Natural Resource Security & Environmental Sustainability Expert

The problem doesn’t really reside there. The problem is that people have gotten used to thinking about water as a technical issue that can be solved by somebody sitting in a room somewhere with a white coat. The reality is that the history of water shows that this is probably the most political and salient issue of society–How we share the resources that make it possible for us to live is a fundamentally political problem. And in nations that live together under a social contract is fundamentally a constitutional problem. So my hope is that we elevate water to a much higher level of political discourse.

GIULIO BOCCALETTI

GIULIO BOCCALETTI

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Author of Water, A Biography
Natural Resource Security & Environmental Sustainability Expert

The problem doesn’t really reside there. The problem is that people have gotten used to thinking about water as a technical issue that can be solved by somebody sitting in a room somewhere with a white coat. The reality is that the history of water shows that this is probably the most political and salient issue of society–How we share the resources that make it possible for us to live is a fundamentally political problem. And in nations that live together under a social contract is fundamentally a constitutional problem. So my hope is that we elevate water to a much higher level of political discourse.

(Highlights) IBRAHIM ALHUSSEINI

(Highlights) IBRAHIM ALHUSSEINI

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Founder and CEO of FullCycle Fund

Is it okay that you benefit at the expense of everyone and everything else? Is that a way that you really feel like you are winning at life? If not, then reconsider what you’re doing and just realize that we all live in this inextricably connected closed sphere in the middle of space. Anything that harms one area harms every area. There is nobody who can escape dirty air, dirty water, dirty food, economic political disruptions, etc. We’re all in this together. So don’t fool yourself by thinking somehow you’re going to come out this unscathed and having ‘won’ while everybody else loses.

IBRAHIM ALHUSSEINI

IBRAHIM ALHUSSEINI

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Ibrahim AlHusseini was born in Jordan and raised in Saudi Arabia by parents who are Palestinian refugees. He emigrated to the United States in the 1990s to attend college at the University of Washington and he currently resides in Los Angeles. 

AlHusseini is a venture capitalist, sustainability-focused entrepreneur, and environmentalist. He is the founder and CEO of FullCycle, an investment company accelerating the deployment of climate-restoring technologies. AlHusseini is also the founder and managing partner of The Husseini Group.

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk, Justin Hayes & Daniel Soroudi with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this podcast was Daniel Soroudi. Digital Media Coordinator is Hannah Story Brown.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process.

(Highlights) NICK MEYNEN

(Highlights) NICK MEYNEN

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Senior Policy Officer Economic Transition at European Environmental Bureau
Author of Turning Point: The pandemic as an opportunity for change

Now with this crisis even the IMF, even the economists are saying we’re not going to go back to the neoliberal era. And they were defending this era for decades. So, I have hope that maybe we can now transition to something like a Wellbeing Era, where countries are already saying “we want to be a wellbeing economy. New Zealand is telling every ministry: Tell us how you are improving the wellbeing of the New Zealand people. So that means wellbeing has become the cop who rules over the others. There are countries like Bhutan who have thirty years of experience of doing that. They call it Gross National Happiness.

NICK MEYNEN

NICK MEYNEN

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Senior Policy Officer Economic Transition at European Environmental Bureau
Author of Turning Point: The pandemic as an opportunity for change

Now with this crisis even the IMF, even the economists are saying we’re not going to go back to the neoliberal era. And they were defending this era for decades. So, I have hope that maybe we can now transition to something like a Wellbeing Era, where countries are already saying “we want to be a wellbeing economy. New Zealand is telling every ministry: Tell us how you are improving the wellbeing of the New Zealand people. So that means wellbeing has become the cop who rules over the others. There are countries like Bhutan who have thirty years of experience of doing that. They call it Gross National Happiness.

EARTHLIFE AFRICA w/ Thabo Sibeko, Ulrich Steenkamp & Bongiwe Matsoha - Highlights

EARTHLIFE AFRICA w/ Thabo Sibeko, Ulrich Steenkamp & Bongiwe Matsoha - Highlights

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Earthlife Africa is a non-profit organisation, founded in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1988, that seeks a better life for all people without exploiting other people or degrading their environment. We want to encourage and support individuals, businesses and industries to reduce pollution, minimise waste and protect our natural resources.

EARTHLIFE AFRICA

EARTHLIFE AFRICA

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Earthlife Africa is a non-profit organisation, founded in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1988, that seeks a better life for all people without exploiting other people or degrading their environment. We want to encourage and support individuals, businesses and industries to reduce pollution, minimise waste and protect our natural resources.

What is a Worm Hotel? ROWIN SNIJDER on Community Composting - Highlights

What is a Worm Hotel? ROWIN SNIJDER on Community Composting - Highlights

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Founder of Le Compostier, Creator of “Worm Hotels” for Community Composting

Know first of all that we are not separate from nature, but that we are part of it. To not even think of what is the benefit for me from it. I find it a very beautiful the concept of the food forest. Like you're actually building soil, and then the surplus is that you get some food back. To focus more on giving than on taking, especially for children.

What I like to teach my children–really look at what is your talent, what drives you and how you think you can use that to improve and to create more harmony. I think is very important. Do not think so much about what others expect from you, but what is really driving you? I think that's very important to find out and go for it.

ROWIN SNIJDER

ROWIN SNIJDER

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Founder of Le Compostier, Creator of “Worm Hotels” for Community Composting

Know first of all that we are not separate from nature, but that we are part of it. To not even think of what is the benefit for me from it. I find it a very beautiful the concept of the food forest. Like you're actually building soil, and then the surplus is that you get some food back. To focus more on giving than on taking, especially for children.

What I like to teach my children–really look at what is your talent, what drives you and how you think you can use that to improve and to create more harmony. I think is very important. Do not think so much about what others expect from you, but what is really driving you? I think that's very important to find out and go for it.

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming w/ McKENZIE FUNK - Highlights

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming w/ McKENZIE FUNK - Highlights

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Journalist & PEN Literary Award-Winning Author of Windfall

As a parent and especially through all this reporting, what I’ve tried to do is think through these solutions and these fixes we have for everything and make sure that we’re not forgetting…that we’re thinking about other people. Capitalism won’t do it. Self-interest isn’t going to do this for us. As silly as it is to think that empathy will do or caring about your fellow humans will do it, I don’t know what else there is to hope for. I don’t believe that people do stuff purely out of rational self-interest, this libertarian idea that I was quietly pushing against the entire time in Windfall. That we do things just for ourselves or just to make money–that’s not been the reality of my lifetime.

McKENZIE FUNK

McKENZIE FUNK

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Journalist & PEN Literary Award-Winning Author of Windfall

As a parent and especially through all this reporting, what I’ve tried to do is think through these solutions and these fixes we have for everything and make sure that we’re not forgetting…that we’re thinking about other people. Capitalism won’t do it. Self-interest isn’t going to do this for us. As silly as it is to think that empathy will do or caring about your fellow humans will do it, I don’t know what else there is to hope for. I don’t believe that people do stuff purely out of rational self-interest, this libertarian idea that I was quietly pushing against the entire time in Windfall. That we do things just for ourselves or just to make money–that’s not been the reality of my lifetime.

National Geographic Explorer ANTONELLA WILBY on Ocean Exploration with Robotics - Highlights

National Geographic Explorer ANTONELLA WILBY on Ocean Exploration with Robotics - Highlights

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National Geographic Explorer
National Science Foundation Research Fellow · Contextual Robotics Institute, UCSD

I’m grateful for the fact that through my work I’ve had a lot of opportunities to go to places that a lot of people just simply won’t ever get a chance to go. I like having those opportunities to try to share with people what that’s like. I honestly had no idea I would ever be here. I’m from a working-class background, didn’t have a huge amount of opportunities but now I can and that’s one thing that I particularly enjoy.