The 2013 SLOW LIFE Symposium aims to catalyse new partnerships to tackle the most pressing environmental problems of our time. Thirty eminent representatives from the global world of business, science, travel and education will convene at Soneva Kiri in Thailand to focus on the theme ‘Innovation through Collaboration’.
These participants are visionary mavericks chosen for their unshakeable belief that when we join forces, we can make a big impact on environmental problems in a shorter period of time, bringing about transformational change.
Discussion topics will include: how to scale environmental solutions for bigger impact, the crisis in our oceans, the interface between business and society, the oxymoron of sustainable travel, and the crucial role of technology in engaging hearts and minds to achieve lasting change.
Symposium Chair Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future and a pioneer of sustainable business, said: “I feel very privileged to have been asked by Sonu Shivdasani to chair this year’s Symposium. One of the most important things that I can say on behalf of the SLOW LIFE Foundation is that this is a big investment for the Foundation – in us, our energy and our creativity. We are all hoping that bringing people together in this way, in this place, will generate plenty of inspired, innovative thinking, and lead to some ground-breaking outcomes and new collaborations.”
Speakers include Jochen Zeitz, who introduced the environmental profit and loss account to both PUMA and luxury apparel corporation PPR (now Kering), and Pavan Sukhdev, who led the UN TEEB reports (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) which have had a huge influence on how business accounts for biodiversity threats. More recently, Zeitz co-founded The B Team with 2011 Symposium participant Sir Richard Branson, with the aim of transforming the way that business defines the bottom line, so that people and planet have equal importance to profit.
Jenifer Willig and Karena Albers will discuss the obstacles they overcame to launch their global WHOLE WORLD Water campaign, an initiative of the 2011 SLOW LIFE Symposium, co-founded by the SLOW LIFE Foundation. The campaign is aimed at eliminating branded bottled water in favour of locally sourced water that is then filtered, bottled and sold. A percentage of the proceeds funds safe drinking water initiatives around the world.
Dorinda Elliott, Contributing Editor for Condé Nast and a passionate advocate of WHOLE WORLD Water, will provide expertise on sustainable tourism and the impacts – both positive and negative – on the environment.
Using stunning imagery from The Human Quest, Johan Rockström, lead scientist for the Planetary Boundaries concept, will take participants on a journey across the planet, demonstrating the global paradigm shift we now need in order to navigate towards global sustainability and human prosperity in an increasingly turbulent world.
Marine experts include Lida Pet-Soede, WWF lead for the impressive Coral Triangle Initiative, a multilateral partnership between six governments working together to sustain extraordinary marine and coastal resources. Also contributing to the marine programme will be adventurer and ocean advocate David de Rothschild, who led the Plastiki Expedition in 2010 to alert the world to the devastating effects of single use plastics, and actor and environmental activist Daryl Hannah, who impressed at the 2011 SLOW LIFE Symposium with her straight-talking on the responsibility of the individual in preserving our oceans. Meanwhile BLUE Marine Foundation co-founder Chris Gorell Barnes will report on the protection of the Turneffe Atoll in Belize, a campaign born out of connections made at the 2011 Symposium, and award-winning filmmaker, writer and oceans storyteller Jon Bowermaster, who will provide expertise and commentary during the event, to be posted on the Symposium website.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, founding director of Google.org and President and CEO of Skoll Global Threats Fund, will talk about engaging hearts as well as minds in the key issues of our time; Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, will talk about the need to celebrate beauty and to use a new narrative to inspire widespread custodianship of the natural world; Martha Lane Fox, dotcom entrepreneur, social inclusion advocate and youngest female member of the UK House of Lords, will discuss the power of alliances to accelerate change and transform businesses; Peggy Liu, Chairperson of JUCCCE and instigator of the China Dream, will share a vision of a sustainable future for China; and Laura Turner Seydel, Chairperson of the Captain Planet Foundation and board member of the Turner Foundation, will talk about the importance of collaboration.
The SLOW LIFE Symposium is an event of the SLOW LIFE Foundation and is sponsored by the Soneva Group.