RON GONEN

RON GONEN

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Founder & CEO of Closed Loop Partners
Former Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation, Recycling & Sustainability, NYC

We live in buildings and cities because that’s what generates a living for a lot of people, but where we’re most comfortable as humans is when we’re in nature. Your generation owns this. Don’t let anybody take it from you or damage it because you own it. The next generation is the one that owns it and view it with a sense of ownership and a sense of pride and a sense of protection because there are a lot of benefits you get from nature.


CRAIG KAUFFMAN

CRAIG KAUFFMAN

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Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon
Member of the United Nations Knowledge Network on Harmony with Nature

The term Rights of Nature tends to be applied to two different things. One is this underlying legal philosophy that is actually broader than just Rights of Nature, that’s probably better understood as ecological jurisprudence that may or may not be expressed in terms of rights, but because Rights of Nature is getting a lot of attention that term tends to be applied to represent this broader underlying philosophy. Of course, the other way it’s used it to refer to the legal provisions that explicitly recognize Rights for ecosystems.

PETER SUTORIS

PETER SUTORIS

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Anthropologist, Educator, Writer & Filmmaker

As a culture, how do we approach the environment? How do we approach the planet? Within our education systems are we emphasizing our arrogance? Or are we emphasizing our humility in the face of planetary-scale challenges? I think at the moment, from what I’ve seen in a number of countries, this huge focus on the natural sciences, hard science as a way of mastering nature. And perhaps less of a focus on social sciences, humanities that allow us to reflect a bit more deeply on our relationship more fundamentally with the planet.

ANDERS LEVERMANN

ANDERS LEVERMANN

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Professor at Physics Institute of Potsdam University
Senior Research Scientist at Earth Institute, Columbia University

A lot of people think climate change is about avoiding the extinction of mankind. In my opinion, climate change is about putting pressure on society and disrupting society to an extent that it can't function properly anymore. So my greatest fear is that if we don't combat climate change, the weather extremes will hit us with a frequency and intensity that we will not be able to recover after each impact. And then we will start to fight with each other.

CARLOS SOUZA, JR.

CARLOS SOUZA, JR.

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Senior Research Associate at Imazon
Technical & Scientific Coordinator at MapBiomas

Find a balance. Use technology. And connect with nature. I think that’s really critical. There is big hope for your generation because you have better environmental education. I can see this. You are more aware of these issues. In terms of the environmental issues that we face now, we need to connect more with nature, to open up your heart for that. You have this amazing opportunity to reach out information to explore technologies through the Internet. What you choose now what we’re going to focus on, it’s really critical.

ALAN JACOBSEN

ALAN JACOBSEN

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Director of Photography
Emmy & Sundance Special Jury Award-Winning & Oscar Nominated Documentaries

I hope that film and the story can help people get their heads around these huge ideas that are pretty terrifying and almost hopeless to think about. What can we do? Are we on this track? What have we done to the earth? I think scientists are very much starting to agree that it’s getting to the point where it’s almost too late. So can humans see that far ahead? Can we understand the track we’re on in time? I don’t know, but I’m willing to use whatever tools possible to try to help that conversation happen.