Barrie Mowatt
Barrie Mowatt, a pioneer of visual arts, has a long and accomplished history as an educator, philanthropist, and entrepreneur opening the Buschlen Mowatt Fine Art gallery in 1979. Barrie is the visionary behind the Vancouver Biennale Open Air Museum, where he combines his passion for art, education and community service in exhibitions that bring great art to public spaces where people live, work, play and transit, free for all to enjoy, explore and be inspired by. Barrie is also the founder of the Celebration of Hope Foundation, co-founder of Taste the Nation, and the Buschlen Mowatt Scholarship Program at Arts Umbrella. Barrie received the Vancouver Business in Arts Award from the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the Ethics in Action Award, presented by Vancouver City Savings and the BC Work Ministry. He has twice been nominated for Western Canada’s Entrepreneur of the Year in the category of socially responsible businesses.
3 words to describe Nature?
INCREDIBLE. AWE INSPIRING. MAGICAL
3 things Nature taught you?
PATIENCE
GRATITUDE
FRAGILITY OF LIFE
3 most treasured Nature spots?
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL FOREST
YOSEMITE
HAIDA GWAII
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
DWARFED AND INSIGNIFICANT
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
ALIVE AND REFRESHED
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
EXCITED, CURIOUS AND IN AWE
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE IN THAT MOMENT
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
ALIVE AND CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT WILL FOLLOW
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
ALIVE AND EXCITED
Are you an Ocean, Mountain,Forest, or Desert person?
I’M ALL 4 OF THESE.
I LUV LOOKING AT, CLIMBING & BEING ON TOP OF MTNS; AS WELL I LUV BEING DEEP IN FORESTS, AND IN THE OPEN DESOLATE DESERT AND WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE POWER OF THE SURF...EACH ARE INSPIRATIONAL RETREATS WHERE I CAN BE AT ONE ONE WITH MYSELF AND IN AWE OF THEIR GRANDEUR AND IMMENSITY.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
BEING ALONE IN THE MTNS PICKING HUCKLEBERRIES, DISCOVERING LADY SLIPPERS AND RUNNING NAKED AMONG THE TREES AND TALL GRASSES!
Jaha Dukureh
Jaha Dukureh is the founder and CEO of Safe Hands for Girls, an NGO that works in The Gambia, Sierra Leone and the USA. Since 2013, Safe Hands for Girls has advocated for an end of female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage (CEFM). She works at grassroots level to change attitudes, mobilize opposition to both practices and provide support to survivors.
The work Jaha led with Safe Hands for Girls was instrumental in convincing President Obama’s administration to investigate the prevalence and profile of FGM in the USA, and the subsequent Summit to End FGM at the United States Institute of Peace. Safe Hands for Girls’ advocacy was also a key contributing factor in the Gambian government’s decision to outlaw FGM in 2016.
In April 2016, at aged 25, she was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In December 2017, she received the award of “Human rights activist - Humanitarian of the Year” at the seventh annual African Diaspora Awards and was named one of the 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine. She has been named as one of the top 100 gender global policy influencers by Apolitical, and one of the top 10 Africa Changemakers by YouthHubAfrica. She was appointed UN Women Ambassador for Africa in February 2018 and nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize by Norwegian Politician Jette F. Christensen
Jaha is the subject of the film Jaha’s Promise, a documentary that covers her life and work. Her story, in her own words, can be read here.
Jaha was born in The Gambia in 1989, the daughter of a prominent Imam. She was subjected to FGM when she was just one week old. At the age of 15, Jaha was sent to New York, and forced to marry a man who was much older than she was. Having fled this marriage, she later remarried and moved to Atlanta, before returning home to The Gambia in 2018, where she now lives with her three children.
3 words to describe Nature?
Peaceful. Green. Enchanting
3 things Nature taught you?
Love
Appreciation
Meditation
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Beach
Lake
Mountains
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Alive
When you see any volcano, it makes you feel...?
Scared
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Happy
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Afraid
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Afraid
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being? It's off the charts important.
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
When I was young I used to go to the farm with my family. I enjoyed seeing nature through the forest and learning about the different animals, trees and the different seasons.
Ami Vitale
Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic magazine photographer Ami Vitale has traveled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. Throughout the years, Ami has lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit— keeping true to her belief in the importance of “living the story.” In 2009, after shooting a powerful story on the transport and release of one the world’s last white rhinos, Ami shifted her focus to today’s most compelling wildlife and environmental stories.
Her photographs have been commissioned by nearly every international publication and exhibited around the world in museums and galleries. She is a founding member of Ripple Effect Images, an organization of renowned female scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers working together to create powerful and persuasive stories that shed light on the hardships women in developing countries face and the programs that can help them. She is also on the Photojournalism Advisory Council for the Alexia Foundation.
Currently based in Montana, Ami Vitale is a contract photographer with National Geographic magazine and frequently gives workshops throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.
3 words to describe Nature?
Healing. Connecting. Inspiring
3 things Nature taught you?
To slow down
To observe
To marvel
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Montana
Kenya
Planet Earth
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Humbled
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like we are in an intricate web and deeply connected to one another
When you see any volcano, it makes you feel...?
I have never seen one up close. But I imagine in awe
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Ephemeral
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Respectful
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like snuggling up with a good book
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
All the above
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being? It's off the charts important.
10 is not enough
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Sneaking out at night to sleep on my dad's boat. I always loved being on the water from as early as I can remember.
John Coyle
John K. Coyle, #TheTimeGuy, is a world leading expert in innovation and Design Thinking, and best-selling author of Design For Strengths: Applying Design Thinking to Individual and Team Strengths (2018) and The Art of Really Living Manifesto (2016). A graduate of Stanford University’s Product Design Program, John is an NBC sports analyst, two-time TEDx presenter, and sought-after keynote speaker. He earned an Olympic silver medal for speedskating.
John is a thought leader in the field of chronoception—the study of how humans process time. He lectures and teaches innovation courses at Marquette University, Northwestern University and CEDIM University Graduate School in Mexico. His mission is to innovate the human experience.
3 words to describe Nature?
Wind. Sand. Water.
3 things Nature taught you?
The oxymoron that I am tiny in the grand scheme if things… yet I matter.
Color and light are a core source of joy.
I am never alone in nature - only in cities with people.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Sonoran sunsets
Yucatan cenotes
Utah snowfields
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Home. I was raised on a lake and on boats: the scent, reflections and ripples of wind and water return me to my youth and possibility.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
An adventure brewing. What is behind that copse? If I climb the ridge will I see the world?
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Like climbing to the caldera and looking into the mouth of the world…
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
That despite hedonic adaptation to almost everything (particularly money or success) a sunset NEVER gets old.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Fearless. As kids we used to run outside in lightening storms, pelted by the big drops waiting for that first big rush of wind and leaning into it with smiles.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
That I need to move. The wind is the devil: it hounds you, never lets you go, slows you, makes you hot, makes you cold, makes it impossible to relax and read. I need to get the hell out of Chicago… it is always windy.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I am an Ocean/Desert person hence I am moving to the Baja peninsula in August!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10. I am an “outdoor person”. As my parents used to say, “in or out!” I was always out. Pretty sure I never wore shoes or a shirt until I was 10 or 11 in summer.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I’ve now seen it a couple of times. Late summer / early fall, last hot day with warm rain in the evening spurs a “frog crossing”. Thousands of frogs and toads use the cover of darkness, the wetness and warmth to migrate (to where? a new home?) and like worms after a downpour, they are everywhere. One evening when I was maybe 8, there were 3 white owls swiveling their necks in my driveway eating frogs like they were in a french buffet…