Resurgence Festival of Wellbeing

Sat 31 Oct 2020, 10.00-18.30

This event will take place online via Zoom.

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Celebrating 50 years of the Ecologist

The event will celebrate 50 years of The Ecologist, with speakers focusing on the key environmental issues of our time.

A sense of wellbeing is what really matters in life. We need a new movement of awareness and action to bring meaning to life and to put community wellbeing at the heart of political and social decision-making. Instead of economic growth, we need growth in wellbeing. The Festival of Wellbeing will explore these ideas - expect inspiring speakers and entertainment.

The Resurgence Trust is grateful to a number of sponsors for the Festival including Network of Wellbeing, Weleda and Alara.

Confirmed speakers include:

Mya-Rose Craig, aged 18, is a prominent naturalist, passionate about birds and conservation and writes a blog called Birdgirl. This February she received an honorary doctorate in science from the University of Bristol and is said to be the youngest British person to have received such an award. She created the non-profit organisation Black2Nature to run nature camps for black and minority ethnic children. Her honorary degree was awarded for that initiative, and in recognition of her advocacy for visible minority ethnic (VME) children and teenagers. She is a bird ringer and won the National Biodiversity Network's 2018 Gilbert White Youth Award for recording terrestrial and freshwater wildlife. She contributed to Chris Packham's A People's Manifesto for Wildlife, and spoke to a crowd of 10,000 at the Packham-organised People's Walk for Wildlife. She regularly gives talks, writes articles and has appeared on a number of television programmes including Springwatch and Countryfile as well as a documentary about bird decline.
Livia Firth MBE is Co-founder and Creative Director of Eco-Age and founder of the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC). She is renowned for creating compelling frameworks and campaigns for environmental and social justice with global reach. A founding member of Annie Lennox's 'The Circle', a powerful women's advocacy group, she recently presented the findings of The Circle's Living Wage report to the EU Commission. Livia is a UN Leader of Change and has also been recognised with the UN Fashion 4 Development Award and the Rainforest Alliance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sustainability. She is a powerful communicator on progressive change; her keynote addresses include to the World Economic Forum.
Dr Jane Goodall DBE is Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In July 1960, at the age of 26, she travelled from England to what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees at Gombe. Equipped with a notebook, binoculars and a fascination with wildlife, Dr. Goodall braved a realm of unknowns to give the world a remarkable window into humankind's closest living relatives. Through 60 years of ground-breaking work, she has not only shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction; she has also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment. Today there are 23 Jane Goodall Institutes working to support the core programmes including TACARE, two sanctuaries for orphan chimpanzees and Roots & Shoots, JGI's environmental and humanitarian programme empowering young people of all ages to become involved in hands-on projects for their community, animals and the environment in more than 65 countries. www.janegoodall.uk www.rootsnshoots.org.uk
Robin Hanbury-Tennison OBE, explorer and president of Survival International. Robin was one of the founders in 1969 with, among others, Teddy Goldsmith, who founded the Ecologist a year later. A veteran of over 30 expeditions, Robin has been described by the Spectator as the doyen of British explorers. He led the Royal Geographical Society expedition to Sarawak in 1977/78 which, with his book Mulu: The Rainforest, helped to trigger the international concern for tropical rainforests. A conservationist, broadcaster, film maker, lecturer, campaigner and farmer on Bodmin Moor for 60 years, he is also a prolific author. His latest book is Taming the Four Horsemen: radical solutions to defeat Pandemics, War, Famine and the Death of the Planet.
Satish Kumar, editor emeritus, Resurgence & Ecologist. A former Jain monk and long-term peace and environment activist, Satish Kumar has been quietly setting the global agenda for change for over 50 years. Inspired in his early 20s by the example of the British peace activist Bertrand Russell, Satish embarked on an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage. Carrying no money, he walked from India to America, via Moscow, London and Paris, to deliver a humble packet of 'peace tea' to the leaders of the world's then four nuclear powers. In 1973 Satish settled in the UK becoming the editor of Resurgence magazine. He has been the guiding spirit behind a number of now internationally respected ecological and educational ventures. He co-founded Schumacher College in South Devon, where he is a Visiting Fellow. His autobiography, No Destination, first published by Green Books in 1978, has sold over 50,000 copies. His latest book is Elegant Simplicity.
Bella Lack, a 17-year old conservationist who uses social media to educate and inspire people in order to protect the natural world. She is an ambassador for the Born Free Foundation, STAE, RSPCA and Jane Goodall Institute, has been invited to speak at several events including the People's Walk for Wildlife, the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018 and TEDX 2019 and she belongs to the Ivory Alliance, a group of influencers and politicians working to combat the illegal wildlife trade. Bella has just finished her GCSEs and is now taking the year off school for a documentary with Jane Goodall, has started discussions with a publisher about a potential book, and has helped to set up Reserva:Youth Land Trust to fund entirely youth-driven nature reserves across the globe.
Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy at City University of London's Centre for Food Policy since 2002. Hill farming in Lancashire UK in the 1970s formed his interest in the relationship between food, health, environment, culture and political economy. He is co-author of Sustainable Diets (2017), Food Wars (2015), Unmanageable Consumer (2015), Ecological Public Health (2012) and Food Policy (2009). He was policy lead on the EAT-Lancet Commission proposing the planetary diet (The Lancet, Jan 16, 2019). His latest book Feeding Britain (Pelican, March 2020) explores the UK as a case study of a rich country's food system. He proposes that this is more fragile than it appears and that the only route to security is to put sustainability, health and social justice at its heart.
Lord Richard Layard, emeritus professor of economics at LSE. He is the founder and former director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE and co-founder of Action for Happiness. His most recent book is the best-selling Can We Be Happier? He is co-author, with Professor David Clark, of the acclaimed book Thrive: The power of evidence-based psychological therapies as well as the ground-breaking Happiness: Lessons from a New Science (2005), which has been published in nineteen languages. He is co-editor (with John Helliwell and Jeffrey Sachs) of the annual World Happiness Report and has been instrumental in the development of improving access to psychological therapies in the UK.
Bill McKibben is an author, environmentalist, and activist. In 1988 he wrote The End of Nature, a highly-acclaimed book about global warming. He is a co-founder and senior advisor at 350.org, an international climate campaign that works in 188 countries around the world. Go here for more information.
Jonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development. In addition he is a Trustee of Ashden. He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth, co-chair of the Green Party and as Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission until 2009, he spent nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers. Jonathon was installed as the Chancellor of Keele University in February 2012. He is also Visiting Professor at Loughborough University and UCL. Recent books include 'Capitalism As If The World Matters' (2007) and 'The World We Made' (2013) - which seeks to inspire people about the prospects of a sustainable world in 2050.
Nick Robins, Professor in Practice in Sustainable Finance at the London School of Economics, where he focuses on how to mobilise finance for a just transition, the role of central banks and regulators in achieving sustainable development and how the financial system can support the restoration of nature. He was a co-founder of Carbon Tracker and Planet Tracker as well as a founding trustee of the Resurgence Trust. He is author of The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational and is currently exploring the role of pilgrimage in the age of climate emergency.
Merlin Sheldrake, biologist and a writer with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. His research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion. Entangled Life is his first book.
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project. He 'discovered' and then restored 'The Lost Gardens of Heligan' with John Nelson, which is now one of the UK's best loved gardens having been named 'Garden of the Year' by BBC Countryfile Awards (Mar 2018). Tim's book 'The Lost Gardens of Heligan' won Book of the Year in 1997. Tim is Executive Vice-Chair and Co-founder of the multi award-winning Eden Project in Cornwall. Since its opening in 2001, over 20 million people have come to see a once sterile pit, turned into a cradle of life containing world-class horticulture and startling architecture symbolic of human endeavour. Tim is also Executive Co-Chair for Eden Project International which aims to have an Eden Project on every habited continent by 2025.
Jayn Sterlandis Managing Director of Weleda in the UK and acts as global spokesperson for the company. Jayn joined Weleda twelve years ago, having rejected an 'unsustainable' career in fashion. Joining Weleda was, she says "a culmination of everything I had learnt up until that point - having grown up on a farm, learnt how to make medicines from my herbalist grandmother, whilst watching my mum care for her patients and the family as a community doctor - I found all this at Weleda and I feel as though I have come home". An energetic activist for responsible business and a campaigner for cleaner beauty, Jayn was once again voted No 1 in the industry Top 25 'Who's Who in Natural Beauty', an accolade she has held for 4 years running. Re-inventing the nature of business: It is time to re-imagine what a business is and how it can serve nature and society. By reflecting on the past one hundred years of working in 'harmony with nature and the human being', Jayn shares insights and practices that have built Weleda into a caring and sustainable global business community today.
Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher and author. He ordained as a monk 26 years ago at Samye Ling Tibetan Monastery in Scotland, and he has spent over six years in intensive meditation retreats, the longest of which was 4 years long. He is regarded as one of the UK's most influential meditation teachers, with pioneering work in providing mindfulness training to businesses, hospitals, schools, universities, prisons and addiction counselling centres. He works with major global companies such as Google and LinkedIn, and has lectured at Oxford University and for the United Nations. Thubten teaches mindfulness to medical students at the National University of Ireland, and he trained Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in meditation techniques during the filming of Marvel's 'Dr. Strange'. He collaborated with Ruby Wax and a neuroscientist on her book 'How to be Human', and he is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller 'A Monk's Guide to Happiness'.
Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist and writer with a focus on the traditions, skills and insights that illuminate our inner lives. He contributes to programmes on the radio, writes and reviews for newspapers and magazines, gives talks and podcasts on figures from Owen Barfield to William Blake and Dante. His most recent book is A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling and the Evolution of Consciousness. Previous books have covered themes including friendship and Go, love and wellbeing. He has degrees in physics and theology, and a PhD in ancient Greek philosophy. He also teaches and gives workshops, particularly at The Idler Academy. He used to be an Anglican priest. For more information see: www.markvernon.com.
Farhana Yamin is an internationally recognised environmental lawyer, climate change and development policy expert. She has advised leaders and countries for 30 years. In addition to founding Track 0, she is an associate fellow at Chatham House and FRSA. She was an Advisor to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) for the 2015 Paris Agreement and played a key role in building the High Ambition Coalition, led by RMI's Minister Tony de Brum. She is widely credited with getting the goal of net-zero emissions by mid-century into the Paris Agreement. Alongside publishing numerous books and articles on the climate change laws & the nexus of climate change and development. Farhana is the lead author for three assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on adaptation and mitigation issues and sits on numerous boards and commissions. Farhana also played a crucial role in the 2019 Extinction Rebellion protests, gluing herself to the Shell offices in London, alongside other activists. She is also the Co-ordinator of one of Camden's most recent initiatives, Think & Do which is a collaborative hub for climate and social action.