Healthy Forests Lie at the Heart of A Healthy Humanity

Justin Adams

Director of the Tropical Forest Alliance, World Economic Forum

In our rich and heart-centered conversation, Justin Adams, the NEW Director of the Tropical Forest Alliance at the World Economic Forum, speaks about our vital need for a new human narrative, where we remember our deep connection to nature, where we realize that we are not separate from the natural world, nor are we separate from one another.

In the same way, Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si that we have a stewardship responsibility to the natural world.

As well,  we have a human responsibility to one another to figure out ways for business, governments, communities to prosper and to regenerate our natural capital; while ensuring we don’t leave anyone behind. That’s a tall order, but partnership is the key.

The cultural transformation happening now is going to require that we create new radical forms of collaboration, that we expand our perceptions and physical boundaries for our human communities — to include “nature’s supply shed” of resources surrounding the city upon which we depend. These include the wetlands that filter and clean our water and the forests that filter and clean our air. And that’s not all.

Forests, for example, literally stand at the nexus of our biodiversity, climate, social justice challenges and forward-thinking, problem-solving discussions. Imagine, forests represent 1/3 of the climate solution by naturally drawing down carbon in its stem, needles, leaves, roots, and soil. Yet, forests receive only 1% of the attention that other energy solutions to climate change receive. Forests hold 80% of the terrestrial biodiversity found on earth. And, 1.6 billion people live in and are dependent on the forest ecosystem and natural marketplace of goods for survival.

Recognizing our dependence on nature to thrive as many indigenous cultures already know; may hold the key to remembering our stewardship responsibility to protect and conserve nature.

Nature Fuels our Economy; So There is No Dichotomy Between Ecology and Economy

Enric Sala

Resident and Explorer at the National Geographic

The perception that we have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy ecosystem is a false dichotomy. According to Enric Sala, Resident and Explorer at the National Geographic Society, unless we take care of the life support of our planet, there will be no raw resources for companies to create, market, and sell products. The economy is a subset of the environment. We are a part of the natural world. We depend on  other species, plants, and earth systems to breath, eat, drink, and survive. EO Wilson and other prominent ecologists claim that we need 50% of the planet to persist in a sustainable healthy state for us to thrive. Yet, some business leaders are still motivated by quarterly returns and short term profit. They continue to externalize the real costs of destruction of natural capital to achieve unenlightened business goals. It’s insane. Why not now look to nature for solutions to drawing down carbon, for example? There is no better carbon vacuum than a tree its roots and ecosystem of soil. Nature is a treasure trove of naturally intelligent solutions to our unsustainable lifestyle challenges. Time to tune into nature.

REV-ing up A Revolution in Entrepreneurial Solutions to Ocean Challenges

Nina Jensen, CEO Rev Oceans

Peter Thomson, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Oceans

Nina opens our hearts and minds to the incredible ocean tragedy - a loss of 40% of life in the oceans over the past 40 years, mostly due to human impact. As a city girl turned marine biologist; Nina fell in love with the oceans as a young girl. Now as a powerful voice and force of change for the oceans, Nina is leading the ReV Ocean’s research efforts to build the world’s largest, most advanced, James Bond-like research vessel to travel the world’s oceans. Her mission is to engage teams of scientists and business experts in entrepreneurial ventures that create scaleable solutions to some of our world’s most intractable global ocean challenges- overfishing, plastic pollution, ocean acidification.

Her charge to engaged global citizens is simple: vote into office political leaders who care about the oceans, reduce meat consumption, cut out all single use plastics in your life.

Peter Thomson grew up in Fiji; so the ocean was an every day part of his life. As the president of Fiji is buying land in other countries to ensure Fijians have a place to live when sea level rise claims the island; it’s clear that the health of the ocean is tied to the health of the Fijian community. Thus, Peter works tirelessly in his role as Special Envoy to the Oceans to keep business and government on track with their commitments to ocean sustainability; while encouraging them to dive deeper- reduce-recycle waste faster. The secret: put value in the trash- create employment.

Chris Luebkeman

ARUP Fellow, Global Director of Foresight and Innovation at ARUP

Foresight on Digital Technologies and Design to Create a Regenerative Renaissance in Society

We know that we need to decarbonize our world.

We know that we need to re-design our urban communities according to regenerative principles.

We know that the human context matters when we are re-imagining our transportation infrastructure to be most efficient.

We know that our datasets for earth observation are now incredibly robust and reliable; so we can track our global footprint and the footprint of our ancestors on the natural world now with great precision.

We know that our linear, one-way, throw away society is a dead end for our human civilization; literally.

We recognize that natural systems are crashing and that we have created a more toxic environment for life to thrive by polluting our air and water, however unintentionally. But, we also know that young people are depending on us to use our collective intelligence and act on solutions that course-correct our planetary impact… according to scientific targets.

Welcome to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast,

where I’ve interviewed some of the most committed and intelligent individuals on the planet

to help provide insight on the state of our planet and

foresight on how to live as good humans, part of the natural biosphere and a new renaissance in regenerative design.

How is artificial intelligence helping us better query more robust, reliable datasets to understand transportation patterns?

How can we shift our perception on carbon and ensure we hit science-based targets to effectively decarbonize our world?

How can we re-frame waste as wealth to design non-linear loops to re-allocate resources in a circular economy?

These are some of the questions we’ll answer in our NIW podcast today on:

Foresight on Digital Technologies and Design to Create a Regenerative Renaissance in Society

Tejpreet Chopra

President and CEO, Bharat Light and Power

Empowering 1 Billion People in India with Clean Energy in Smart Ways

Imagine a world where IOT (Internet of Things) platforms link your electric vehicle to your home energy management system to your energy storage and distribution system. Imagine the digitization of renewable energy production lines that optimize transmission of energy across communities by readily predicting failures or generation errors. Imagine the major oil and gas companies shifting their portfolios over to renewable, clean energy and electrifying the world.

Welcome to the future. It is already here. And why is it here? People like TP Chopra, President and CEO of the Bharat Light & Power group are committed to powering 1 Billion people in India with renewable energy. According to TP, investment in renewable energy has doubled in the last century; and NEW Chinese investments account for a significant part of that growth. Meanwhile, the cost of solar and wind production have dropped rapidly and significantly. In India the cost of solar energy is 3.5 US cents for every KW hour. In fact the cost is so low that governments have to now create other incentives for investors to get a fair return on their future investment…. and maybe that means investment will shift more toward transformative advances in the AI and IOT technologies which are ensuring that power is delivered optimally, efficiently, effectively, and safely.

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.

Richard Socher

Chief Scientist, Salesforce

The Future of Artificial Intelligence is Bright

If you are curious about the future of AI and how AI both reflects the truth of humanity and propels us forward as a species; our interview with Richard Socher is for you. In this podcast we explore AI — advancing us toward a world where manufacturing and services are optimized for automation across industries from health to finance to food to agriculture.

In our interview, Richard uses tangible examples of AI plus X in healthcare, finance, agriculture to avoid speaking about AI in the abstract. He also shares how different industries are viewing AI. For example, in healthcare, jobs are not the issue with AI, as much as delivering highest quality health benefit to patients as effectively and efficiently as possible.

In his thoughtful remarks on training data and machine learning, Richard warns against biases integrated into the AI models  and encourages careful and conscious evaluation of data and algorithms we use to train them. We talk about the perception and use of AI technology in different countries and how that will inevitably shape our future cultures and countries.

Acknowledging the challenges of AI, Richard enthusiastically expresses the incredible opportunity for humanity to unlock greater creativity in the workforce. Although we don’t yet know what those “new jobs” will be in an AI future; we can expect that the efficiencies AI creates with mundane, manual tasks may lead to upwards of 85% new job opportunities.

Further in this power-packed conversation; Richard offers a few ways to become AI Ready. He also shares ways AI is being used today on land and sea to reduce deforestation and loss of marine wildlife- to meet the world’s greatest environmental and social challenges. Finally, he closes with what makes him so excited about AI today and tomorrow. So, tune in to learn more about the bright future of AI.

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.

Rescuing the Humanity of Humanity

David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee.

David is a former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. As the son of refugees, he brings a personal commitment to IRC’s work. As today is the UN’s World Refugee Day; we wanted to spotlight a few statements made by David in our interview; which we will replay in full later in August 2019.

According the UNHCR UN Refugee Agency, 68.5 million people are forcibly displaced in the world. The developing world is host to 85% displaced people with Iran, Lebanon, Uganda, and Turkey being the top refugee-hosting countries. Thus, even though Western Europe has experienced an influx of refugees (many climate refugees fleeing damaged, destroyed, or drought-ridden environments); Western countries have not born the burden of migration. Second, the young, hearty, determined, and physically strong refugees survive the transition and relocate successfully. Thus,one would imagine that these people would be high value contributors to receiving countries when given the opportunity.

David Miliband, President and CEO, of the International Rescue Committee; speaks to us about the need for more and better aid needed to rescue refugees. He calls for the integration of 68.5 million people displaced by conflict or persecution back into society in healthy, positive, and progressive ways with smart money focused on education. 

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.

They Made a Mistake Attacking an Historian-Truth in the History and Science of Climate Revealed

Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science

Naomi Oreskes is a professor of History and Science at Harvard University. She is the author of numerous publications and books; including, Merchants of Doubt (also a documentary film).

Her research areas of focus include: History of Environmental Sciences, Science Policy, Philosophy of Science, Science and Religion, STS, Technology and Society, Women and Gender Studies.

Naomi is a world-renowned geologist, historian and public speaker. She is also a leading voice on the role of science in society and the reality of anthropogenic climate change.

She speaks to us today on a number of topics, including: the universal agreement in the scientific community on the reality of climate change; organized disinformation to discredit climate change, and the internet as a pointer to peer-reviewed, scientifically-vetted,  information; rather than an information source itself, vulnerable to corruption. 

In her interview, Naomi reveals her terrifying story about the unholy alliance between oil and gas interests and conservative think tanks; whose collusion and disorienting communications- media tactics (she discovered) closely resemble those the tobacco industry used years earlier.

She agues that while digital media has expanded conversation on environmental and social issues to a global society and has given voice to many silenced before; the technology remains vulnerable to corruption. Thus, disinformation can spread like wildfire on the internet. Her Solution: Use social media as hooks to point to peer-reviewed, scientific information and journal articles, which are well vetted.

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.

Sheila Warren Blockchain Expert, Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Blockchain Benefits Beyond Imagination

We expect the blockchain technology to be at the center of 4th Industrial Revolution technologies to capture the value exchange of innovative companies and social enterprises in transparent and secure ways. True, the blockchain technology is in its infancy, but imagining how blockchain can be used to benefit humanity is exciting—consider wealth enhancement, land titling, supply chain tracking and efficiency, micro-credit accounting, tracking digital creative rights, and even distribution of energy. Imagine, handling remittances ($ 600 billion USD/annually)- the exchange of money from residents in one country to residents in another country; in a safe, secure, irrefutable, and cost-effective way.  That’s blockchain technology at work. Imagine, distributed ledger to protect indigenous land rights, to ensure the record of property following a natural disaster. Now, that’s a smart contract. And, what if energy credits, or services, or utility use could be tracked, measured and distributed across energy grid systems? That’s smart blockchain. What happens when we track the digital rights of a music piece or an article written online or a collaborative art piece; would we then be able to value and compensate with micro credits, those value creators? What about  new business opportunities and markets open for direct exchange of value from coffee bean grower to coffee bean distributor to coffee bean customer (me)…? The provenance of the coffee would be transparent to everyone across the supply chain; likely having the effect to drive greater profit percentages back to the grower, right?!  In our interview, Sheila offers our listeners a thoughtful colorful array of reflections on the use of blockchain to serve humanity and ensure a better future.

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.

Awakening Natural Cultural Intelligence

Today- a few days ahead of World Day to Combat Desertification, we have with us someone who knows how to be resilient in the face of extreme climate and an ever-changing, harsh environment.  She is Hindou Ibrahim, Chair of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad. I caught up with her at the Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos 2019 and asked her why it was especially important for indigenous people to be part of creating a new architecture for the fourth industrial revolution. We spoke at length of the inherent earth wisdom indigenous peoples naturally intelligently have within their cultural DNA. As they grow up so close and so dependent on the natural earth cycles, the migration of animals, and the seasonal climate; they are very attuned to living in harmony with the natural world. They know how to be a part of nature. There is no distinction (nor need to distinguish) between nature and humanity. They are one.

Thank you for listening in to our Natural Intelligence Worldwide Podcast, where we’re committed to spotlighting intuitive vision, nature-inspired knowledge, and native wisdom in our world.

You can find us at https: //naturalintelligence.com/worldwide  to listen to our growing portfolio of podcasts with world leaders on nature, sustainability, climate, and tech for good.