Victor Lopez-Carmen - Dakota - Yaqui Writer, Health Advocate - Co-Chair, UN Global Indigenous Youth Caucus

Victor Lopez-Carmen - Dakota - Yaqui Writer, Health Advocate - Co-Chair, UN Global Indigenous Youth Caucus

Dakota & Yaqui Writer, Health Advocate · Co-Chair, UN Global Indigenous Youth Caucus
Founder of Translations for our Nations · Co-founder Ohiyesa Premedical Program

My mom and my dad would often go to protests. They would organize movements. They'd be part of multilateral indigenous people's movements, not only nationally, but internationally, that were operating at the grassroots level. Activism, it’s a tradition in my family for indigenous rights. I have aunts and uncles that were very involved as well. So as a kid, I was often at those protests. I was running around as a little Native kid with all the other little Native kids, when our parents would be in meetings discussing how to move forward discussing indigenous rights.

Highlights - Donald Hoffman - Author of “The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes”

Highlights - Donald Hoffman - Author of “The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes”

Professor of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine
Author of The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes

This is really what life, I think, is about - learning to not believe your thoughts. Watch your thoughts, see their patterns and learn that you are not at the whim and beck and call of your thoughts. You can watch your thoughts, and you can choose to let go of thoughts and just be present and let go of the complaints. And that then opens up a level of creativity that's surprising. It could be in dance, science, it could be in music, or art. Wherever you have creative expression, letting go of thought and having this balance between thinking and no thinking, going into complete silence and then pulling ideas back for your art, your science, your dance, whatever it might be, is really the dance of life.

Donald Hoffman - Prof. of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine - Author of “The case against reality”

Donald Hoffman - Prof. of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine - Author of “The case against reality”

Professor of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine
Author of The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes

This is really what life, I think, is about - learning to not believe your thoughts. Watch your thoughts, see their patterns and learn that you are not at the whim and beck and call of your thoughts. You can watch your thoughts, and you can choose to let go of thoughts and just be present and let go of the complaints. And that then opens up a level of creativity that's surprising. It could be in dance, science, it could be in music, or art. Wherever you have creative expression, letting go of thought and having this balance between thinking and no thinking, going into complete silence and then pulling ideas back for your art, your science, your dance, whatever it might be, is really the dance of life.

Highlights - Kevin Trenberth - Nobel Prize Winner - Author of “The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System”

Highlights - Kevin Trenberth - Nobel Prize Winner - Author of “The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System”

Nobel Prize-winning Climate Scientist · Lead Author of IPCC Assessment Reports
Author of The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System

This is an intergenerational problem. The response to climate change relates very much to value systems. And one of the questions people ask, or should ask is: How much do you value the future generations? How much do you value the world that you're leaving your children and your grandchildren? And what kind of a climate you're leaving them with? And some people don't care, and some people don't have children. And they say, "Eh, it's not an issue for me. It's not one of my values." And so this is part of the problem, but if you're thinking about peoples as a whole, all of the community that you're leaving behind, this is a collective problem.

Kevin Trenberth - Nobel Prize-winning Climate Scientist - Author of “The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System”

Kevin Trenberth - Nobel Prize-winning Climate Scientist - Author of “The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System”

Nobel Prize-winning Climate Scientist · Lead Author of IPCC Assessment Reports
Author of The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System

This is an intergenerational problem. The response to climate change relates very much to value systems. And one of the questions people ask, or should ask is: How much do you value the future generations? How much do you value the world that you're leaving your children and your grandchildren? And what kind of a climate you're leaving them with? And some people don't care, and some people don't have children. And they say, "Eh, it's not an issue for me. It's not one of my values." And so this is part of the problem, but if you're thinking about peoples as a whole, all of the community that you're leaving behind, this is a collective problem.

Highlights - Bertrand Piccard - Explorer, Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation - Author of "Realiste"

Highlights - Bertrand Piccard - Explorer, Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation - Author of "Realiste"

Psychiatrist, Explorer, Aviator of the First Round-the-World Solar-powered Flight
Founder and Chairman of Solar Impulse Foundation: 1000+ Profitable Climate Solutions
United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment

So this is why I prefer to speak with a really down to earth language. So maybe the people who love nature are going to say, “Oh, Bertrand Piccard, now he is too down to earth. He's speaking about profitable solutions. He's speaking to the industries that are polluting,” but we have to speak to the industries that are polluting and bring them profitable solutions, otherwise the world will never change, or humankind will never change. And don't forget one thing, what we are damaging is not the beauty of nature. What is being damaged is the quality of life of human beings on Earth because we can still have beautiful things to see, but if we have climate change, if we have tropical disease in Europe, if we have heat waves, floods, droughts, millions of climate refugees, life will be miserable, even if nature is still beautiful.

Bertrand Piccard - Explorer, Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation - Author of "Realiste"

Bertrand Piccard - Explorer, Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation - Author of "Realiste"

Psychiatrist, Explorer, Aviator of the First Round-the-World Solar-powered Flight
Founder and Chairman of Solar Impulse Foundation: 1000+ Profitable Climate Solutions
United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment

So this is why I prefer to speak with a really down to earth language. So maybe the people who love nature are going to say, “Oh, Bertrand Piccard, now he is too down to earth. He's speaking about profitable solutions. He's speaking to the industries that are polluting,” but we have to speak to the industries that are polluting and bring them profitable solutions, otherwise the world will never change, or humankind will never change. And don't forget one thing, what we are damaging is not the beauty of nature. What is being damaged is the quality of life of human beings on Earth because we can still have beautiful things to see, but if we have climate change, if we have tropical disease in Europe, if we have heat waves, floods, droughts, millions of climate refugees, life will be miserable, even if nature is still beautiful.

Highlights - Claire Potter - Designer, Author of “Welcome to the Circular Economy”

Highlights - Claire Potter - Designer, Author of “Welcome to the Circular Economy”

Circular Economy Designer, Lecturer & Researcher, University of Sussex
Author of Welcome to the Circular Economy

That's something that I would want all of the next generations to have in some way or another, to have the ability to access and be amazed by how staggeringly beautiful, complicated - awful in some ways and just brutal - the natural world is, but then really sit and think about how the natural world just gets on and does it. And every species is benefited from everybody else. And you could remove humans from that equation, and nature would just carry on doing its thing. So that's what I would love for people to see and to realize is that nature is so incredibly beautiful and diverse. And so are we. So how can we take the beauty and diversity of the natural world and actually learn a lot more and stop thinking we're separate from nature because we are pretty much, we are all part of that same biosphere on the planet.

Claire Potter - Designer, Lecturer, Author of “Welcome to the Circular Economy”

Claire Potter - Designer, Lecturer, Author of “Welcome to the Circular Economy”

Circular Economy Designer, Lecturer & Researcher, University of Sussex
Author of Welcome to the Circular Economy

That's something that I would want all of the next generations to have in some way or another, to have the ability to access and be amazed by how staggeringly beautiful, complicated - awful in some ways and just brutal - the natural world is, but then really sit and think about how the natural world just gets on and does it. And every species is benefited from everybody else. And you could remove humans from that equation, and nature would just carry on doing its thing. So that's what I would love for people to see and to realize is that nature is so incredibly beautiful and diverse. And so are we. So how can we take the beauty and diversity of the natural world and actually learn a lot more and stop thinking we're separate from nature because we are pretty much, we are all part of that same biosphere on the planet.

Highlights - Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Founder and Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Highlights - Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Founder and Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Endocrinologist Scientist · Founder & Author of From Prison Cells to PhD
Assistant Professor, Howard University

I kind of thought there was justice in the criminal justice system and that there was care for people, like you matter to me within the system, and in that moment it hit me. There wasn't. And in fact, it's the opposite. In order for the system to work the way it does, it needs to de-humanize the people that it puts in these cages.

Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Endocrinologist Scientist - Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Dr. Stanley Andrisse - Endocrinologist Scientist - Author of From Prison Cells to PhD

Endocrinologist Scientist · Founder & Author of From Prison Cells to PhD
Assistant Professor, Howard University

I kind of thought there was justice in the criminal justice system and that there was care for people, like you matter to me within the system, and in that moment it hit me. There wasn't. And in fact, it's the opposite. In order for the system to work the way it does, it needs to de-humanize the people that it puts in these cages.

Highlights - Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz - “Gordita Chronicles”on HBO Max

Highlights - Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz - “Gordita Chronicles”on HBO Max

Claudia Forestieri (Creator) & Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Showrunner)
Gordita Chronicles

When you immigrate, it's kind of like you're going through adolescence because you're in a new place. You feel weird in your own skin. You're learning new things. Everything is changing. You feel awkward. So that also helped us connect the adult stories to the children's stories.

Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Creator - Showrunner) “Gordita Chronicles”

Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Creator - Showrunner) “Gordita Chronicles”

Claudia Forestieri (Creator) & Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Showrunner)
Gordita Chronicles

When you immigrate, it's kind of like you're going through adolescence because you're in a new place. You feel weird in your own skin. You're learning new things. Everything is changing. You feel awkward. So that also helped us connect the adult stories to the children's stories.

Highlights - Jonathan Newman - VP, Research, Wilfrid Laurier University

Highlights - Jonathan Newman - VP, Research, Wilfrid Laurier University

Lead Author of Climate Change Biology, and Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics
Vice President of Research, Wilfrid Laurier University

Climate change is certainly going to affect biodiversity. Some species will benefit from climate change, but others will not, and we'll have different ecosystems, different biotic communities as a result of this. I think the impacts that are likely are pretty clear, and I think that's a pretty good reason to do all those things we can do without completely destroying our economies and our communities because those things have moral value as well. It's not just the environment that we think is important. We also think humans are important, then doing the things we can do now, do the less painful things first. We should have done them already, and we should be now thinking about how to do the harder things.

Jonathan Newman - Lead Author, “Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics”

Jonathan Newman - Lead Author, “Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics”

Lead Author of Climate Change Biology, and Defending Biodiversity: Environmental Science and Ethics
Vice President of Research, Wilfrid Laurier University

Climate change is certainly going to affect biodiversity. Some species will benefit from climate change, but others will not, and we'll have different ecosystems, different biotic communities as a result of this. I think the impacts that are likely are pretty clear, and I think that's a pretty good reason to do all those things we can do without completely destroying our economies and our communities because those things have moral value as well. It's not just the environment that we think is important. We also think humans are important, then doing the things we can do now, do the less painful things first. We should have done them already, and we should be now thinking about how to do the harder things.

Highlights - Oded Galor - Author of “The Journey of Humanity”

Highlights - Oded Galor - Author of “The Journey of Humanity”

Author of The Journey of Humanity · Founding Thinker behind Unified Growth Theory
Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University

If we reduce population growth by 1% in the world economy, we can have growth in income per capita at a level of about 7% and still hold carbon emissions unchanged. Namely, by reducing population growth, we can permit growth in income per capita without polluting planet earth more than otherwise. So this is very important because it suggests to us that policies that target gender equality, the diffusion of contraceptive methods, and the rewards of education are policies that could mitigate population growth and ultimately permit the growth of income per capita without the liability of greater carbon emissions.

Oded Galor - Author of “The Journey of Humanity” - Founder of Unified Growth Theory

Oded Galor - Author of “The Journey of Humanity” - Founder of Unified Growth Theory

Author of The Journey of Humanity · Founding Thinker behind Unified Growth Theory
Herbert H. Goldberger Professor of Economics at Brown University

If we reduce population growth by 1% in the world economy, we can have growth in income per capita at a level of about 7% and still hold carbon emissions unchanged. Namely, by reducing population growth, we can permit growth in income per capita without polluting planet earth more than otherwise. So this is very important because it suggests to us that policies that target gender equality, the diffusion of contraceptive methods, and the rewards of education are policies that could mitigate population growth and ultimately permit the growth of income per capita without the liability of greater carbon emissions.

Highlights - Roy Scranton - Author of “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene”

Highlights - Roy Scranton - Author of “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene”

Author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene & We’re Doomed, Now What?
Director of the Notre Dame Environmental Humanities Initiative

It seems irresponsible to me to downplay the possible consequences of climate change. It seems irresponsible to assume that we're going to fix it. And so I think it's absolutely a responsibility for the people who are talking about it and thinking about it, to look at the worst-case scenario and to look at the current trajectories, absent technologies for carbon scrubbers, to look at where we're actually headed, the worst-case scenarios, and address that and bring that to each other and to our children and to our students. When you really look at the situation, it's scary and terrifying, and it upends everything that we've been told to make sense of life.

Roy Scranton - Author of “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene” - “We’re Doomed, Now What?”

Roy Scranton - Author of “Learning to Die in the Anthropocene” - “We’re Doomed, Now What?”

Author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene & We’re Doomed, Now What?
Director of the Notre Dame Environmental Humanities Initiative

It seems irresponsible to me to downplay the possible consequences of climate change. It seems irresponsible to assume that we're going to fix it. And so I think it's absolutely a responsibility for the people who are talking about it and thinking about it, to look at the worst-case scenario and to look at the current trajectories, absent technologies for carbon scrubbers, to look at where we're actually headed, the worst-case scenarios, and address that and bring that to each other and to our children and to our students. When you really look at the situation, it's scary and terrifying, and it upends everything that we've been told to make sense of life.

Highlights - David A. Banks - Dir. of Globalization Studies - SUNY Albany

Highlights - David A. Banks - Dir. of Globalization Studies - SUNY Albany

Director of Globalization Studies University of Albany at SUNY
Author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America (forthcoming)

I think that is often what tourism is starting to move towards. Is this existential authentic? And what that means is that you're not even really looking to meet expectations or validate that the thing in front of you is what it says it is. You are trying to recreate who you think you should be in a time that is disconnected from your usual life. Because we're a pretty jaded and suspicious society now. “Is it a deep fake?”We live in this world of make-believe and fakeness, and you want to get to something that's real. And what's more real than yourself and the story that you tell to yourself about yourself. And if you can really connect to that, you'll feel really good.