The Sustainability Laboratory’s inaugural conversation series, Exploring the Sustainability Challenge, features thought leaders working on some of the most urgent issues facing the planet. Get to know the speakers for each session, below.
Michael Ben-Eli is the founder of The Sustainability Laboratory, established in order to advance the concept of sustainability, expanding prospects and producing positive, life affirming impacts on people and ecosystems in all parts of the world. Prior to launching The Lab, Michael pioneered applications of systems thinking and cybernetics in management and organization, and has worked on synthesizing strategy issues in many parts of the world and in diverse institutional settings. Michael is the author of the widely-acclaimed five core sustainability principles, and he is leading the development of The Lab as a worldwide network of ecozone-based activity centers.
Jennifer Francis is a Senior Scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. Her research focuses on the Arctic, and the connections between rapid Arctic warming and weather patterns in mid-latitudes. She is also involved in science communication and outreach work, including two publications in Scientific American, and regular quotes in major media outlets. In 2019, she testified to the congressional hearing for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in Washington DC, with the presentation: “The State of Climate Science and Why it Matters.”
Tom Lovejoy, known as the “Godfather of Biodiversity”, is a conservation biologist. He is the founder and president of the Amazon Biodiversity Center, and a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation. He has served on science and environmental councils under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations, and is credited with bringing the global tropical deforestation to public attention, as well as coining the term “biological diversity.”
Uriel Safriel is a Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His research areas are marine and desert populations, and community and ecosystem ecology, predominately studying birds and mollusks. His appointments include Chief Scientist of Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Director of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Chair of Israel Man and Biosphere National Committee, and Chair of the Science and Technology Committee of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and its Science-Policy Interface. He is also a member of The Lab’s Advisory Board.
Hazel Henderson is a futurist and an economics iconoclast. She is the founder of Ethical Markets Media, a media company promoting the emergence of a sustainable, green, more ethical and just economy worldwide, and the producer of the Ethical Markets television series. She is the author of several books, including the award-winning Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy, and her writing has appeared in newspapers and journals around the world.
Ashok Khosla is an environmentalist and sustainable development expert. He is the founder and chairman of Development Alternatives, a research and action organization striving to deliver socially equitable, environmentally sound and economically scalable development outcomes, and the former co-chair of United Nations Environment Programme’s International Resource Panel. He is also a member of The Lab’s Advisory Board.
Jonathan Rose is an urban planner and is considered a visionary in urban development. He is the Founder and President of Jonathan Rose Companies, LLC, known for developing affordable, green, and environmentally responsible communities. He is the author of The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life. He co-founded the Garrison Institute, and he sits on the Boards of various nonprofit organizations.
Patricia Watts is a curator and writer. She is the founder of ecoartspace, an international arts organization specializing in artists who engage the human-nature interface. She has curated over thirty exhibitions related to art and ecology, including I AM WATER (2021), Performative Ecologies (2020), Contemplating OTHER (2018), Enchantment (2016), FiberSHED (2015), Shifting Baselines (2013), MAKE:CRAFT (2010), and Hybrid Fields (2006). Watts has delivered numerous workshops and lectures related to arts and the environment, and is the author of dozens of essays for a variety of online and printed publications.
Robert Watson’s career has included scientific advisor in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House; chief scientist, World Bank; chief scientific advisor, UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and strategic director for the Tyndall Center, University of East Anglia, UK. He has chaired, co-chaired or directed the WMO/UNEP stratospheric ozone depletion assessments, Global Biodiversity Assessment, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, UK National Ecosystem Assessment and its Follow-on, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Assessment of Agricultural Scientific and Technology for Development, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and UNEP’s Making Peace with Nature. Awards include a Knights Bachelor (2012), Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (2003); Fellow of the Royal Society (2011), member of the American Philosophical Society (2020), honorary member of the AMS (2021), UN Champion of the World for Science and Innovation (2014), the Asahi Glass Blue Planet Prize (2010).
Jason Rhys Parry is Senior Content R&D at Sapienship, a global impact company co-founded by Yuval Noah Harari and Itzik Yahav, where he helps advance solutions to humanity’s most pressing problems. Jason is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan. Previously, he was a visiting assistant professor at Purdue University, where he led seminars on existential risk and wrote and directed a play for a mixed audience of human and AI spectators. He has received grants and awards from English PEN, the National Science Foundation, and the Future Architecture Platform, and published widely on environmental philosophy, sustainable design, and the geopolitics of technology.
Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D—internationally known as a dynamic speaker and media personality—is an evolution biologist, futurist, author and consultant on Living Systems Design. Dr. Sahtouris shows the relevance of biological systems to organizational design in businesses, government, and global trade. Her books include A Walk Through TIme: From Stardust to Us, Biology Revisioned, co-authored with Willis Harman, and EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution.
Thomas H. Greco, Jr. has been widely regarded as a leading authority on moneyless exchange systems, community currencies, financial innovation, and community economic development. He is a sought-after speaker internationally whose expertise includes monetary theory, complementary currency and exchange systems, statistics, survey research, and computer applications. Tom has been an advisor to currency and reciprocal exchange projects around the world and has authored numerous articles and books including his highly acclaimed, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization (Chelsea Green, 2009). He continues to publish his visionary ideas about the changing economic, social, and political scene in various online journals and on his main website. He holds degrees in engineering and management, and formerly held a tenured faculty position at Rochester Institute of Technology (USA).
Deepak Chopra MD, MD, FACP, FRCP founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a modern-day health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is also an Honorary Fellow in Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He is the author of over 90 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. For the last thirty years, Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution and his 93rd book, Living in the Light (Harmony Books) taps into the ancient Indian practice of Royal Yoga and offers an illuminating program for self-realization, bliss, and wholeness. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of their top 100 most influential people.” www.deepakchopra.com
Dasho Karma Tshiteem is Chairman of the National Service Core Working Group, established to oversee the setting up of Bhutan’s National Service as a platform, in line with the vision of His Majesty the King; to help youth unleash their full potential as individuals and as citizens, and to protect and promote the interest of the country. He also serves on the Governing Board, and as faculty, in the Royal Institute of Governance and Strategic Studies; as a member of the Governing Board of The Druk Gyalpo’s Institute in Bhutan, and as Chairman of Bhutan National Bank and the Natural Resources Development Corporation. Prior to that, Dasho Karma Tshiteem served as the Chairman of the Royal Civil Service Commission until March 2019, and from 2007 to 2014, as Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission, the main planning agency responsible for ensuring that Bhutan’s development leads to Gross National Happiness (GNH). Outside of Bhutan, he has worked in the World Bank and represented Bhutan in the UN Open Working Group on the Post-2015 development agenda. He was also a speaker at the 2021 version of the Future Congress.
Dr. Edward Moses is a global leader in the science, technology, and application of carbon-free baseload fusion energy for applications to electricity production. He has more than four decades of experience in engineering, physics, cross-cutting technologies, and management and leadership in the design, construction, commissioning, and operations of multi-billion dollar ‘big science’ projects. As director of the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dr. Moses pioneered the use of laser technology and forged cooperative efforts among academia, national and international laboratories, commercial companies, utility entities, and others. Dr. Moses is currently CEO of Longview Fusion Energy Systems, which he recently launched with a mission to accelerate the move to a carbon neutral economy by bringing laser fusion energy to the global grid.
Brian Thomas Swimme is Director of the Third Story at Human Energy, a nonprofit public benefit organization, and professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program. Dr. Swimme did his doctoral work in gravitational dynamics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Oregon. His newest book is Cosmogenesis, the story of his transformation from modern to noospheric consciousness. His media work includes the video series, “The Story of the Noosphere,” written with Monica DeRaspe-Bolles, and the Emmy-award winning “Journey of the Universe” film, written with Mary Evelyn Tucker. (Home – Center for the Story of the Universe ).
Dr. Antonia Varela, Director of the Starlight Foundation, has a PhD in Astrophysics and is a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias where she has worked since 1988, formerly as Senior Engineer. Dr. Varela is President of Association BPW (Business & Professional Women) Canarias within BPW Spain and BPW International. Recently elected to be Director of the Museum of Science and Cosmos of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. She is a member of the International Astronomical Union, the Spanish Society of Astronomy, the Spanish Network of Studies on Light Pollution and she leads the Starlight Foundation’s Working Group on Scientific Tourism/Astro-tourism of Affiliate Members of the UNWTO constituted in September 2019.
In the 18th session of The Lab’s conversation series, we welcome Peter H. Gleick, leading scientist, innovator, and communicator on global water and climate issues. Based on his new book, “The Three Ages of Water”, Gleick, in this conversation with Michael Ben-Eli, founder of The Sustainability Laboratory, will explore the unique significance of water, the dynamics of our planet’s hydrologic cycle, water-humans interplay throughout history, the role of water in the development of our civilizations and cultures, the current water crises, and his positive vision for the future addressing how we can solve these crises.
Vandana Shiva is the founder of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, Navdanya, and Bija Vidyapeeth “Earth University” in Uttarakhand, India. Trained as a Physicist at the University of Punjab, she completed her Ph.D. on the ‘Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory’ from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India. In 1982 she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), an independent research institute that addresses the most significant problems of ecology of our times, and two years later, Navdanya (‘nine seeds’) the movement in defense of biodiversity and the contributions made to the climate, environment and society by small farmers. The recipient of many awards, including the Right Livelihood Award, (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) and the Sydney Peace Prize, she has been named among the top five “Most Important People in Asia” by AsiaWeek. She is a prolific writer and author of numerous books and serves on the board of the International Forum on Globalization, and a member of the executive committee of the World Future Council.
Anne Baring is an historian, author, and Jungian analyst. She received a BA (1953) and MA (1981) in Modern History from Oxford University. In 2018, she received an honorary PhD in Wisdom Studies from Ubiquity University. During the 1950s, Anne travelled widely in India and the Far East before training and practicing as a Jungian analyst. She is a 30-year member of the Scientific and Medical Network and is an honorary member of The Association of Jungian Analysts, London. She has lectured for many years in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Her recent online seminar courses combine 60 years of research and her interest in psychology, history, politics, mythology, art, fairy tales and alchemy. She is the author and co-author of eight books, including her most recent, Messages from a Transcendent Dimension (2023), and The Dream of the Cosmos: A Quest for the Soul (2013 and 2020) which sums up her life’s work.
Jim Garrison, PhD, serves as Director of the Washington, DC Office of the New Paradigm Institute where he focuses on the US Government release to the public of information pertaining to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). He also serves as Convener of Humanity Rising Network, a daily global broadcast on issues of global concern. Jim served as Founding President of Ubiquity University from 2005 – 2023. He continues to be involved with Ubiquity on the Board and as President Emeritus. He was co-founder and President of the Gorbachev Foundation/USA (1992 – 1995) and President of the State of the World Forum (1995 – 2004) with Mikhail Gorbachev serving as Convening Chairman. Jim received his B.A in History from the University of Santa Clara, an MA in History of Religion from Harvard University, and a PhD in Philosophical Theology from Cambridge University. He has written numerous books, including The Plutonium Culture, America as Empire, The Darkness of God: Theology after Hiroshima, Citizen Diplomacy, and Civilization and the Transformation of Power. He lectures on comparative philosophy and religion, world history and politics, and the implications of humanity’s contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligences.
First Nations Bruce Shillingsworth, a Muruwari and Budjiti elder from Australia, represents the ancient tradition of his indigenous community. He is an activist and an outspoken advocate of the rights for water, land, and all people. Deeply committed to environmental justice and the well-being of his community, Bruce has been a vocal advocate for addressing climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities and is a cultural educator on First Nations wisdom and knowledge to heal Mother Earth. He has been educating young people in Australia about First Nations history and responsibility to living sensibly and sustainably. His resilience, commitment, and deep connection to land and tradition have left a lasting impact and he continues to inspire and shape the path forward for Indigenous communities.
Sonia Cummings is a driven entrepreneur, activist, and philanthropist who for over two decades has been passionately addressing issues related to the climate crisis, coexistence, arts, and culture. She is currently serving on the boards of Adamah, Artis Contemporary, and Limmud North America, and has also served as a trustee for numerous organizations, including the Medici Archives, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Friends of the Arava Institute, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and I Am Your Protector (IAYP), for which she was awarded a UN Leadership Award in 2019. With 25 years of experience in the design industry as a designer and trend forecaster, Sonia has also contributed extensively to product development across Asia, France, and the United States. Alongside her professional achievements, Sonia is also a skilled fine arts painter and is currently working on a book that focuses on memory and tradition.
Postponed Until Further Notice
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