Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food in 1986 as a response to the opening of a McDonald’s outlet in Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Today the movement exists in over 150 countries and has a network of over 100,000 members and supporters. Slow Food International is responsible for publishing periodicals, books, and guides in many languages around the world.
Since its “Puebla Declaration” in 2007, Slow Food has become a force to be reckoned with and probably the only international organization that integrates concerns about the environment, tradition, labour, health and animal welfare with real cooking, taste and pleasure.
Slow Food encourages and supports Indigenous peoples to uphold their food traditions as the custodians of irreplaceable inherited knowledge, in particular through the Presidia projects and the Terra Madre network of food communities. In 2011 the first Indigenous Terra Madre international forum was held and in May 2012 Petrini became the first guest speaker in history at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The Terra Madre network comprises 250 universities and research centers, including 450 individual academics throughout the world. All are committed, within their own fields and using the tools available to them, to further the preservation and growth of sustainable food production — through both public education and food-worker training.
The Slow Food Foundation operates around the world with projects to defend local food traditions, protect local biodiversity and promote small-scale quality products, with an increasing focus on the Global South. These projects help to protect small producers and to preserve the quality of artisan products from Tibetan cheese makers producing yak milk cheese at 4500 meters of altitude, nomadic fishermen on the Banc d'Arguin in Mauritania, small farmers in Bronte, Sicily who pick pistachio nuts by hand on the slopes of Etna, and the curadoras de semillas in Chile who still preserve the ancient breed of the blue egg chicken.
In October 2004, Petrini founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences, an international academic institution in Northern Italy that is the first university specifically devoted to studying the inextricable links between food and cultures.
Dr. Van der Leeuw has spent his career studying human-environment relations and invention and innovation in society, applying the lessons learned from history to help understand why humanity is not facing up to the long-term issue of environmental change.
He works at Arizona State University as Dean of the School of Sustainability and Foundation Professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. An archaeologist and medieval historian by training, Dr. Van der Leeuw has studied ancient technologies, ancient and modern man-land relationships, and Complex Systems Theory. He has done archaeological fieldwork in Syria, Holland, and France, and conducted ethno-archaeological studies in the Near East, the Philippines and Mexico.
He coordinated a series of trans-disciplinary research projects on socio-natural interactions and modern environmental problems in the countries of the Northern Mediterranean rim (ARCHAEOMEDES I and II and others, 1991-2000). Among these were studies aimed at understanding and modelling the natural and anthropogenic causes of desertification, land degradation and land abandonment, as well as the interaction between towns and countryside. These projects were the first to choose the Complex Adaptive Systems approach to help solve 'hairy' problems such as these.
More recently, he has been studying the phenomenon of innovation. The Information Society as a Complex System (ISCOM, 2003-2006) project investigated the relationship between innovation and urban dynamics. With an extensive research team, he investigated how invention occurs, what the preconditions are, how the context influences it, and its role in society. He is currently involved in applying Complex Systems approaches to the study of this phenomenon in the United States, and in particular in Phoenix.
In July 2001, he was appointed Secretary-General of the French National Council for the Coordination of the Humanities and Social Sciences. This was followed by an appointment as Deputy Director at the National Institute for the Sciences of the Universe and for Social Sciences at the CNRS (2002-2003) in France, in charge of a program similar to the Long-Term Ecological Research programme in the US.
Prior to his current roles, he taught at Leyden (1972-1976), Amsterdam (1976-1985), Cambridge (UK; 1985-1995) and Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne; 1995-2003). His publications include 17 books and over 120 papers and articles on archaeology, ancient technologies, socio-environmental and sustainability issues, as well as invention and innovation. He is an external professor of the Santa Fe Institute, a corresponding member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and an emeritus Chair of the Institut Universitaire de France.
Born into a dynasty of scientists who have explored the heights and depths of the planet, Bertrand Piccard achieved the first ever non-stop round-the-world balloon flight. An internationally renowned medical doctor and psychiatrist, aeronaut and lecturer, initiator of the Solar Impulse program, chairman of the Winds of Hope charitable foundation, and a UN Goodwill Ambassador, he combines science and adventure in order to address some of today’s global challenges.
Passionate about all forms of flying since his childhood, he was one of the pioneers of hang gliding and microlight aviation in the 1970s. He then initiated the “Breitling Orbiter” project, which in 1999 achieved the first non-stop balloon flight around the globe, capturing the records for the longest flight in the history of aviation in terms of duration and distance.
Following a family tradition that combines scientific exploration, protection of the environment and the search for a better quality of life, Dr. Piccard came up with the vision of flying round the world in a solar aircraft. In 2010, the first prototype managed to remain airborne night and day without fuel, powered by solar energy alone.
A pioneer, explorer and an innovator who operates outside the customary certainties and stereotypes, Dr. Piccard is first and foremost a visionary and a communicator. His stated goal is to demonstrate that progress is possible using clean technologies. As chairman of Solar Impulse, he has developed the project’s avant-garde philosophy and defined its symbolic reach in order to convince governments to launch much more ambitious energy policies. He shares control of this enterprise with his partner André Borschberg, just as he takes turns with him at the controls of the solar aircraft.
By setting a carbon neutral goal for New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark has put her country at the forefront of today's environmental challenges. Three major policy initiatives launched by Miss Clark are also blazing new trails for sustainability and the fight against climate change: the Emissions Trading Scheme; the Energy Strategy; and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy.
Miss Clark's policies champion renewable energy and energy efficiency across key sectors of the economy. Her government is also achieving substantial work on environmental protection, from forestry and agriculture to improving public awareness and boosting private sector involvement in sustainability.
New Zealand will be hosting this year's World Environment Day - one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action. The event will take place on 5 June 2008 with the slogan "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy".
In this age of social media and selfies, of the widespread portrayal of disengaged youths glued to smart phones in search of diversion rather than information, many have chosen to write off the next generation of activists. At the age of just 19, Boyan Slat is disproving such attitudes with a vengeance as he charts new territory in the quest for a solution to the ever-growing global problem of plastic debris in our oceans.
The scale of plastic contamination in the marine environment is vast. From bottles to bags to the microplastics that sluice into the seas from cosmetics and other products, plastic waste bobs on all of the world’s oceans and collects in vast swirling gyres that serve as an unwelcome monument to humanity’s wasteful practices. There has been no practical remedy to this escalating threat, which threatens sea creatures, damages coral reefs and brings chemical contamination. Conservative estimates place the financial damage at $13 billion per year.
It is to this problem that Slat turned his keen mind from an early age. While sixteen and still in secondary school, Slat went diving in Greece and found he often couldn’t see the fish for the plastic bags drifting through the waters. While his peers focused on the more immediate problems of navigating the turbulent waters of the teenage years, Slat spent six months studying plastic pollution and envisioned using natural ocean currents and winds to transport plastic towards a collection platform. Instead of using nets and vessels to remove the plastic, which can entangle sea life and worsen the problem it seeks to solve, he hit on the idea of solid floating barriers to collect the waste.
With the determination and lack of fear that marks out visionaries, Slat quit his Aerospace Engineering studies and led a team of 100 people to prove the feasibility of The Ocean Cleanup Array. The design was awarded Best Technical Design at the Delft University of Technology, and came second at the iSea Sustainable Innovation Award by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. Slat has also been recognized as one of the 20 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs Worldwide by Intel EYE50, and his presentation at TEDxDelft 2012 has been viewed by over 1.5 million people.
A crowd funding campaign has raised $2.2 million, which will allow his organization to start the pilot phase of the project. His vision and efforts have rallied politicians, scientists, the media and other activists around the cause of tackling plastic wastes, and will inspire others to take the necessary steps to both begin a clean-up and ensure waste does not end up in the ocean in the first place.
Minister Izabella Teixeira is a career employee of the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), which she joined in 1984 as an Environmental Analyst. Over her 28 years as a civil servant she has held several high-level management and advisory positions in the federal area. She took office as Minister of the Environment in 2010.
As a result of her notable performance representing the Brazilian Government at the UN Climate Conference in Cancun and the UN Biodiversity Conference in Nagoya, she was invited by the UN Secretary-General to join, in 2010 and 2012, the High Level Panel on Global Sustainability, composed of authorities of another 12 countries. On 24 September 2012, Minister Teixeira was nominated again by the UN Secretary-General to join the High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development, which will propose the new post-2015 development agenda to the UN General Assembly.
Minister Teixeira is continuously recognized as a bold and visionary leader who played a key role in the challenging feat of reversing the deforestation in the Amazon forest, as proven by the achievement of an 84 per cent reduction in deforestation over the last eight years. From an annual loss of 27,772 sq km in 2004 to 4,571 sq km in 2012, this remarkable feat is a tribute to her courage to push against the tide of destruction and is a significant initiative from Brazil on climate change mitigation. Apart from the prevention and control of deforestation, the land use planning policies implemented by her resulted in 250,000 sq km of conservation areas or the equivalent of 75 per cent of the global forest protected areas.
Her long-standing career in the service of the environment was positively marked by the successful hosting by Brazil of the Rio+20 (UN Conference on Sustainable Development) and the 2012 World Environment Day.
Jack Dangermond is an American business executive and environmental scientist. In 1969, he and his wife Laura founded the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), a privately held Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software company.
A landscape architect by training, Dangermond founded ESRI with the vision that a mapping and analysis framework could provide a deeper understanding of our world and help us design a better future. He is dedicated to creating innovative GIS technology that enables people to make insightful decisions and improve the quality of life everywhere. His commitment is to ensure that research, education, and nonprofit organizations working in the fields of conservation and development have access to the best geo-spatial, analytical and visualization technology. ESRI has donated hundreds of millions of dollars in technology and expertise to these institutions. Dangermond and ESRI have transformed the world by developing technology that allows decision makers to manage our planet with increased understanding of the relationship between socio-economic, environmental, and economic information – for actionable change.
Headquartered in Redlands, California, ESRI company has an installed base of more than one million users in more than 350,000 organizations, including most US federal agencies and national mapping agencies, all 50 US state health departments, transportation agencies, forestry companies, utilities, state and local government, schools and universities, NGOs, and commercial business. Sources estimate that about 70 per cent of the current GIS users make use of ESRI products.
The company hosts an annual International User's Conference, which was first held on the Redlands campus in 1981 with 16 attendees. An estimated 15,000 users from 131 countries attended in 2012. In 1989, the ESRI Conservation Program was started to help change the way non-profit organizations carried out nature conservation and social change missions. This program provides GIS software, data, and training, as well as helping to coordinate multi-organizational efforts.
President Tsakhia Elbegdorj of Mongolia, who was among the leaders of the peaceful democratic revolution that ended communist rule in 1990, has realized his commitment to putting a green agenda at the forefront of policies since coming to power in 2009.
Elbegdorj has turned his attention to decreasing air pollution, triggered by over-population and coal usage, in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, through the submission of the Law on Decreasing the Capital City Air Pollution, which was approved by Parliament. In addition, the Mongolian government is establishing a satellite-city near Ulaanbaatar for the purposes of limiting coal-burning in the capital, transferring energy-saving technology, importing and increasing the use of thermal stoves, promoting population decentralization and imposing air-pollution tax in some regions of Ulaanbaatar.
In 2010, Elbegdorj suspended the issuance of all new mining licenses until fresh regulations were drawn up, citing the protection of the mineral-rich Asian country's environment and herdsmen's livelihoods. "Half of the territory is covered by exploration licenses. I think that's enough. We have to save our wealth (for) our next generation." he said in an interview in on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly.
He has enhanced youth understanding of environmental protection through a project that educates young Mongolian students on the impacts of climate change and the importance of environmental stewardship. In an effort to combat desertification, Elbegdorj declared the second Saturday of May and October “National Tree Planting Day” and appealed to individuals, communities and the private sector to make tree-planting a habit. Since 2011, over two million trees have been planted across Mongolia’s vast desert regions.
Elbegdorj is also exploring ways to utilize solar power, especially in the sparsely populated Gobi region. According to the Mongolian Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, 70 per cent of the country has been classified as having high insolation (Incoming Solar Radiation) of 5.5-6.0 kWh/m2 per day, creating huge potential for solar power generation.
Since July 2011, Elbegdorj has been chairing the Community of Democracies, a grouping of countries that works to strengthen democratic norms and practices worldwide. In 2009, he was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change and has lectured on environmental protection abroad.
President Calderon has been a strong voice for the environment on the world stage since his election in 2006.
He has been praised for his stewardship of international climate change negotiations – most recently as host of the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, last year. The Cancun talks resulted in several new initiatives and institutions, including the strengthening of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanisms and the creation of a Green Climate Fund, which will manage long-term finance mobilized to enable developing countries to address climate change.
“Confidence is back”, announced Calderon at the 3am conclusion of the climate talks, symbolising what was widely hailed as a significant step forward in climate negotiations after the disappointment of the Copenhagen conference in 2009.
Closer to home, President Calderon has made clear his ambition to make Mexico a world leader on climate action.
Under its Special Climate Change Program, Mexico will replace nearly 2 million refrigerators and air conditioners, and more than 47 million incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps or other more efficient lighting technologies, by 2012.
Mexico made the unilateral commitment through its Special Climate Change Program (PECC) to reduce 51 million tons of CO2 by 2012 - the equivalent of all the GHG emissions generated by all the vehicles that circulate in Mexico City in four and a half years.
Mexico has also been a strong advocate of using forest resources to mitigate climate change. At present, the conservation of 2.4 million hectares of forest ecosystems incorporated in the Payment for Environmental Services Program, is guaranteed. The Special Climate Change Program mitigation goal of incorporating 1.5 million hectares to the Payment for Environmental Services program and thus preventing the release of 2.2 million tons of CO2 or its equivalent into the atmosphere, has already been achieved.
Reforestation programmes in the country are set to add another three million hectares by 2012.
"If we can find a formula that allows us to simultaneously fight climate change and poverty, we will have cleared the path to be followed by humankind”, said President Calderon at the Champions of the Earth ceremony in New York. “That route exists and we must explore it together."
Providing a green twist on Jules Vernes’ famous voyage, adventurer Louis Palmer successfully led a fleet of electric vehicles around the world last year. The “Zero Race” teams crossed the globe in eighty days, highlighting two of the major environmental challenges facing the world today- the need for more sustainable transport and cleaner energy supplies.
Teams from Australia, Germany, Switzerland and South Korea took part in the race, which followed a course across four continents, before ending at the United Nations in Geneva last January. With their sleek, modern design and high performance, the Zero Race vehicles embody the major advancements currently underway in the transport sector and how investment in green technology is a key component in tackling climate change.
The Zero Race is only the latest chapter in Palmer’s adventurous career. In 2004, with the help of four Swiss universities, he built the ‘Solartaxi’ and became the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a solar-powered vehicle. Traveling through 38 countries, Palmer reached an audience of millions with his solar showcase for efficient, sustainable transportation.
Palmer’s work continues to deliver a simple, powerful environmental message across the world: that modern solutions to global warming are available, affordable and ready.
“I feel absolutely great to be recognized as a UNEP Champion of the Earth”, said Louis Palmer. “So many people helped me and along the way and we all feel honored that we get this recognition. This change to renewable energies has to happen and really it motivates not only me but my whole team.”
