Theme: Conservation / Restoring Ecosystems / Biodiversity
Saturday, December 5th
The vast biodiversity of our planet is the underlying fabric supporting all life on Earth, but the prognosis is grim: biodiversity rates are continuing to plummet as extinctions of species accelerate. Fortunately, the evidence suggests that there are in fact viable pathways for successful action at a global scale, but only if we mobilize and act decisively and rapidly. In this session, we will learn how we can protect and restore 50% of global landscapes while staying below 1.5°C temperature rise in the next few decades. Projects such as the newly launched Global Safety Net provide a roadmap: a bioregional approach combining world-class science, a clear focus on Indigenous rights and stewardship, support for grassroots action, and a vision for transformative philanthropy. Hosted by Justin Winters, Co-Founder and Executive Director of One Earth, with: Carly Vynne, Strategic Partner at RESOLVE; Oscar Soria, Campaign Director at AVAAZ; Karl Burkart, Managing Director of One Earth; Angela Amanakwa Kaxuyana, part of the senior leadership of the Brazilian Coordination of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon (COIAB).
December 5th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Justin Winters
Co-Founder and Executive Director | One Earth
Justin Winters, formerly Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, is the co-founder and Executive Director of One Earth, an organization working to galvanize science, advocacy and philanthropy to drive collective action on climate change to forge a path forward to a 2050 in which 100% renewable energy; protection and restoration of 50% of the world’s lands and oceans; and a transition to regenerative, carbon-negative agriculture create a world in which humanity and nature coexist and thrive together.
Carly Vynne
Strategic Partner | RESOLVE
Carly Vynne, Ph.D, is an ecologist and conservation strategist who seeks out creative solutions for how we can leave more room for nature in a rapidly changing world. She recently co-authored The Global Deal for Nature, which calls for an ambitious, time-bound set of nature-based targets that must be achieved if we are to solve the climate and extinction crises.
Oscar Soria
Campaign Director | Avaaz
Oscar Soria, Campaign Director at the renowned, highly effective, international civic movement Avaaz, is an Argentine human rights and environmental campaigner who has received widespread recognition for his innovative work at the intersection of technology, organizing, and advocacy on social, political, and environmental issues. He previously held senior global roles in Greenpeace and WWF and served in non-executive or advisory roles for the boards of several prominent organizations, including: Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.
Karl Burkart
Managing Director | One Earth
Karl Burkart is the Managing Director of One Earth, which supports academic institutions and NGOs working on the cutting edges of climate and energy science, biodiversity mapping, and sustainable agriculture. Formerly Director of Media, Science and Technology at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Karl's past projects include: creating the blog, Greendig; producing and writing Planet 100, the Discovery Network's first online video news show; and leading digital advocacy for the TckTckTck campaign, a global network of more than 450 NGOs working to secure a strong international climate agreement. Karl's publications include co-authoring the groundbreaking paper "A Global Deal for Nature: Guiding Principles, Milestones, and Targets" in 2019.
Angela Amanakwa Kaxuyana
| Brazilian Coordination of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon (COIAB)
Angela Amanakwa Kaxuyana is part of the senior leadership of the Brazilian Coordination of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon (COIAB). At a very young age, in the late 90’s she played a critical role in the struggle of the Kaxuyana, Kahyana and Tunayana peoples that led the demarcation of their lands in 2003. Angela led several indigenous led conservation initiatives and has a degree in Business Administration with specialization in environmental management.
Saturday, December 12th
In a world on fire with multiple, epochal crises, how do we nurture hope, build power and contribute meaningfully? How do we catalyze and sustain the personal and collective transformations this immense planetary challenge calls for? Though the problems seem larger than life, our greatest power may in fact lie in our closest communities, in small daily acts of courage and conviction, in small groups of unstoppable world-changers, and small gardens that revitalize communities and reconnect us to nature’s operating instructions.
December 12th | 10:49 am to 11:04 am
Keynote
Trathen Heckman
Founder and Director | Daily Acts Organization
Trathen Heckman is the founder/Director of Daily Acts Organization, a non-profit dedicated to “transformative action that creates connected, equitable, climate resilient communities.” He also serves on the convening committee for Localizing California Waters and the advisory board of Norcal Resilience Network, and he has helped initiate and lead numerous coalitions and networks including Climate Action Petaluma. Trathen lives in the Petaluma River Watershed where he grows food, medicine and wonder while composting apathy and lack.
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, one of the nation’s most innovative thought leaders in ocean and coastal conservation and recent co-creator of the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean in climate policy, explains how she developed a passion for marine biology and ocean conservation, and draws from the brand new anthology of wisdom by women climate leaders she co-edited with Katharine Wilkinson, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, to share her vision of how emerging forms of honest, heart-centered leadership can help humanity address the greatest crisis it has ever faced.
December 12th | 11:05 am to 11:20 am
Keynote
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
CEO and Founder | Ocean Collectiv
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a Brooklyn native marine biologist and policy expert, is founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv, a strategy-consulting firm for conservation solutions, and founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank focused on coastal cities. Her mission is to build community around solutions for our climate crisis. She is co-editor of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, a brand new anthology of wisdom by women climate leaders.
Sunday, December 13th
Despite decades of conservation initiatives and millions of dollars spent, the Amazon forest is, tragically, being destroyed faster than before. Not only are some of the governments in the region actively promoting deforestation, but the twin factors of climate change and Covid-19 are combining to destroy Indigenous cultures at an ever-quickening pace. Renowned ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin is President of the Amazon Conservation Team, an organization that has partnered with over 55 South American tribes to help map and defend their lands and improve management of over 80 million acres of ancestral rainforest. He will share the latest news on the status of the fires and the battle against Covid-19 in Amazonia, as well as present new strategies and approaches to halting the processes threatening these crucially important ecosystems and the well-being and cultural survival of their inhabitants.
December 13th | 11:18 am to 11:33 am
Keynote
Mark Plotkin
Co-Founder and President | Amazon Conservation Team
Mark Plotkin, Ph.D., a renowned ethnobotanist who has studied traditional Indigenous plant use with elder healers in Central and South America for 30+ years, is also an award-winning activist who has worked with many conservation organizations, including Harvard’s Botanical Museum, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Smithsonian. Co-founder (with his wife Liliana in 1996) and President of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), dedicated to protecting the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon, Plotkin is the author of many papers and articles and several books, including the international bestseller, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice; Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; and The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria.
Come join the conversation about groundbreaking new developments in the effort to recognize the legal rights of nature, including in Indigenous communities now drafting and adopting such laws. We will discuss why communities and countries around the globe are considering this bold step and why treating nature as a living entity with legal rights can revolutionize life on Earth in a system in which courts can be used to enforce rights of rivers, mountains, and forests. Come listen to stories from communities on the front lines, as they mobilize to build a new environmental law system that actually protects the planet. With: Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights; Guy Reiter, Executive Director of Menikanaehkem – Community Rebuilders.
December 13th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Thomas Linzey
Senior Legal Counsel | Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Thomas Linzey, Senior Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), co-founded the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and the Daniel Pennock Democracy School (which has graduated over 5,000 lawyers, activists, and municipal officials nationally to fight to elevate the rights of their communities over corporate rights). He is the author of several books, including: Be The Change: How to Get What You Want in Your Community; On Community Civil Disobedience in the Name of Sustainability; and co-author of: We the People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the United States.
Mari Margil
Executive Director | Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Mari Margil, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, leads its International Center for the Rights of Nature. Previously Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, she assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law, including Ecuador. She works internationally as well as with Indigenous peoples and tribal nations to advance Rights of Nature legal and policy frameworks. Mari is a co-author of: The Bottom Line or Public Health and Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence.
Guy Reiter
Executive Director | Menikahnaehkem
Anahkwet (Guy Reiter), a traditional Menominee from Wisconsin, member of the Menominee Constitutional Taskforce and Executive Director of the grassroots community organization, Menikahnaehkem, is a local organizer, activist, author, amateur archaeologist, and lecturer. He has organized a wide range of events on Menominee culture, spoken at a number of universities, and written articles for Environmental Health News and other publications.
Although humanity is rapidly degrading the biosphere, condemning countless plant and animal species to extinction, simultaneously there has been a great deal of remarkable new research into plants’ perceptual and cognitive abilities as well as an enormous renewal of interest in certain plants (e.g. ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis) as potential physical and psycho-spiritual healing agents. This panel of botanical luminaries will share their perspectives on: the growing global fascination with certain plant species and what their embrace tells us about the current zeitgeist; what we can do to help support the land protection and human rights struggles of Indigenous peoples who are the custodians of the world’s greatest plant knowledge in biodiversity hot spots globally; and related topics. With host Mark Plotkin, renowned ethnobotanist and award winning eco-activist, co-founder of the Amazon Conservation Team and best-selling author of such texts as: Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice and Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; Karyemaitre Aliffe, MD, physician-scientist, leading expert on the healing properties of cannabis, who has taught at Harvard and Stanford and has 35+ years’ experience in natural products research, including explorations in many remote regions globally; Kathleen Harrison, co-founder, President and Projects Director of the nonprofit, Botanical Dimensions, a revered ethnobotanist renowned for her unique explorations of often hidden aspects of plant-human relationships. Moderated by J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer.
December 13th | 12:30 pm to 1:45 pm
Panelists
Karyemaitre Aliffe
Executive Officer | Ethicannos
Karyemaitre Aliffe, MD, a multilingual physician-scientist who has taught at Harvard and Stanford, has 35+ years’ experience in natural products research, including explorations in remote regions in the Amazon, Australia, and Africa. He has lectured widely in 50+ countries to health professionals, government and civil society institutions and business groups. Dr. Aliffe is presently Chair and Executive Officer at Ethicannos, Praxigen Biomedia, where he leads a natural health product development team, applying translational medicine and integrative neurophysiology to expand the utility of cannabis-based formulations in enhancing human health, fitness and longevity.
Mark Plotkin
Co-Founder and President | Amazon Conservation Team
Mark Plotkin, Ph.D., a renowned ethnobotanist who has studied traditional Indigenous plant use with elder healers in Central and South America for 30+ years, is also an award-winning activist who has worked with many conservation organizations, including Harvard’s Botanical Museum, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, and the Smithsonian. Co-founder (with his wife Liliana in 1996) and President of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), dedicated to protecting the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon, Plotkin is the author of many papers and articles and several books, including the international bestseller, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice; Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets; and The Killers Within: The Deadly Rise of Drug-Resistant Bacteria.
Kathleen Harrison
President & Projects Director | Botanical Dimensions
Kathleen (Kat) Harrison, co-founder (in 1985), President and Projects Director of the nonprofit, Botanical Dimensions, is an ethnobotanist, ethnobotanical educator and artist renowned for her unique explorations of often hidden aspects of plant-human relationships and of the deep history of humans in nature. She teaches a wide variety of courses (some open to all; others university sponsored field studies) in Hawaii, Northern California and the Peruvian Amazon.
J.P. Harpignies
Senior Producer | Bioneers
J.P. Harpignies, Bioneers Senior Producer, affiliated with Bioneers since 1990, is a Brooklyn, NYC-based consultant, conference producer, copy-editor and writer. A former Program Director at the New York Open Center and a senior review team member for the Buckminster Fuller Challenge from 2010 to 2017, he has authored or edited several books, including Political Ecosystems, Delusions of Normality, Visionary Plant Consciousness, and, most recently, Animal Encounters.
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