Jan Van Ijken
Jan van IJken is an internationally known documentary photographer and filmmaker from the Netherlands. Self-taught and working mainly autonomously on long-term projects and microscopy, he is interested in human/animal relationships and nature.
His most recent video BECOMING (2018) has been screened at more than 25 International Film Festivals and received the Award for Best Short Documentary at the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival 2018 and the Vision Science Award at Imagine Science Abu Dhabi 2019. The film went ‘viral’ on the internet, being awarded the Vimeo Staff Pick and watched by a few million people on National Geographic, Aeon, Colossal, Live Science, IFLScience and numerous others.
His ART OF FLYING (2015) movie was Awarded Best Art Film at Pärnu Film Festival, Estonia. It was screened more than 50 times at international film Festivals, Galleries, Biennales, etc.
FACING ANIMALS (2012) won the Grand Prix Short Films at Split Film Festival, Croatia
Jan has published 3 books: Precious Animals (2005), New Neighbours (2004) and A touch of Divinity (2001)
3 words to describe Nature?
The connection with all other life
Pristine beauty
A fragile ecosystem, not to be destroyed by humans
3 things Nature taught you?
To be silent
That all life is one
To care for other creatures
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The North Sea and Waddenzee (NL)
Kagerplassen (NL)
Waterland (NL)
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Free
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Open
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Humble
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Joyful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Alive
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like running
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Definitely Ocean
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Ice skating in our neighborhood on local waters
Jon Bowermaster
Photo by Jennifer May
Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society’s ‘Ocean Heroes,’ his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. Jon has written a dozen books and produced/directed more than fifteen documentary films.
His Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet’s one ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today’s busy world.
Jon lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. He is the Executive Producer of Oceans 8 Films and President of One Ocean Media Foundation, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation and a Board Member of Mark Ruffalo’s Water Defense.
3 words to describe Nature?
BIG. ALL-ENCOMPASSING. AT-RISK
3 things Nature taught you?
HUMILITY
APPRECIATION OF QUIET
RESILIENCE
3 most treasured Nature spots?
ANYWHERE ON THE EDGE OF THE OCEAN
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
THAT PLACE WHERE BLUE-MEETS-BLUE: CALM
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
DARK AND MYSTERIOUS
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
VIOLENT
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
SUNRISE = EXCITED / SUNSET = AT PEACE
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
EXCITED AND A LITTLE FRIGHTENED
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
CALM
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?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
FIRST SAILINGS ON CRYSTAL BLUE LAKES OF THE NORTHERN MIDWEST; FIRST KAYAKS ON THE SAME BODIES OF WATER. AS AN EARLY TEENAGER.
TOKiMONSTA
Jennifer Lee "TOKiMONSTA" is one of the top producers and DJs in the world. In 2010, she was invited to attend the Red Bull Music Academy in London. Making her mark on the music scene, Jennifer became the first woman to sign with Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label. Following the release of her first album Midnight Menu, Lee was rated the #1 Hottest Los Angeles Lady DJ by LA Weekly. In 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with an extremely rare and potentially fatal brain disease known as Moyamoya (Read story here). After undergoing two brain surgeries, Lee was left unable to speak, create, or even listen to music. Through perseverance and faith, Lee’s memory returned and shortly after taking a break, she was finally able to regain her music making abilities. After regaining much of her memory and music-making talent in March of 2016, Jennifer made her triumphant return with jaw-dropping performances at SXSW and Coachella. In 2019, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance / Electronic Album. Lee was featured on Vox-Netflix series Explained. Check her latest album, Lune Rouge.
The name Tokimonsta originates from the Korean word for rabbit (tokki), which she took from a Korean's children's song "San Toki”
3 words to describe Nature?
Beautiful. Freedom. Enigmatic
3 things Nature taught you?
Beauty
Patience
Mindfulness
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Big Sur
Joshua Tree
All the beaches of SE Asia
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
At peace
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Connected to all of nature
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Chaos
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Joyful to end or begin another day
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Fear
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
A bit spooked
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?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I remember driving with my family to Palm Springs almost every weekend. I used to find the monotony of the landscape quite boring while sitting in the car, but grew to appreciate the landscape more.
Rachel Payne
Rachel Payne is the CEO and co-founder of FEM Inc., a holding company focused on research and development at the intersection of media, technology and gender. In 2015, FEM Inc. launched Prizma, an Artificial Intelligence tech startup for major media, telecom and tech companies. Prizma was acquired by Nielsen / Gracenote in June 2018.
She has built an exceptional career as a technology executive and entrepreneur, while actively involved in philanthropic activities. A recognized thought leader in the advancement of technology to reshape our world, she champions policies that make a meaningful place for everyone in the new economy.
After graduation, Rachel worked for International Data Group and the publisher PC World to help build their digital network, which is where she discovered the power of technology and joined the first wave of Internet companies in Silicon Valley, including eBay, Hotwire and Razorfish.
Rachel returned to school at Stanford Graduate School of Business, studying public management and international development, working in Mexico City and Kampala for microfinance organizations that provide financial services and access to technology for low-income individuals in Latin America and Africa. After earning her MBA, Rachel joined the founding team of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, which focused on Poverty Alleviation and Climate Change in their grants, projects and investments. Rachel and the early Google.org executives created the first blueprint for this type of organization – a hybrid corporate philanthropy and investment vehicle.
While at Google, Rachel led International Business Operations in Emerging Markets, spending several years living and working in sub-Saharan Africa. Rachel served as Country Manager, Africa Leadership Team, with the goal of building the foundation for an Internet Economy. She focused on infrastructure, localization, strategic partnerships, and public policy to ensure broad-based participation in the opportunities created by mobile phones and emerging technologies. Her team’s work was recognized in 2010, where she accepted Google’s first award at Mobile World Congress for “Best Mobile Apps for Economic and Social Development” for building and scaling critical mobile services in agriculture, trade and health that serve people in poor, rural areas. She also worked with heads of state on policy relating to Internet access and job creation. She moved back to Southern California to lead the Technology vertical for Google, managing cross-platform media sales teams. She later became Principal, Global Strategic Alliances, and managed Google’s most important strategic partnerships in Media & Entertainment
Rachel served on the Board of Directors for BRAC USA, ranked the #1 NGO in the world. She is a Guest Lecturer on Business Applications of Artificial Intelligence at Loyola Marymount University.
3 words to describe Nature?
Profound. Awe-inspiring. Harmony
3 things Nature taught you?
Self discovery
Infinite possibility
Humility
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Patagonia, Argentina
Amazon, Peru
Pacific Ocean (anywhere!!!)
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Free, joyful, in alignment
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Protected, safe, joy
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Power, feminine, creation
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Sublime, tranquility, peace
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Exuberant, curious, alive
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Curious, respect, humble
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
All of the above, don’t make me pick one.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
As a child, we want camping a lot in National Parks like Bryce Canyon and Zion. Our parents taught us about living on the land in harmony with nature, appreciating the bounty and beauty, reminding us we were only visitors and needed to show respect and care. These golden memories are filled with joy and awe.
Kevin Hainline
Kevin Hainline is an astronomer working on the science team for the NIRCam instrument on the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. His research looks at how galaxies change as the universe evolve, focusing on the relationship galaxies have with their central supermassive black holes. He has given hundreds of planetarium shows, spoke at countless elementary high schools and has travelled the world giving night sky shows, sharing his inspirational message about the connection we all have to the universe. He currently lives in a small pink house in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife Lara, a musician, and his cat J. Louisiana, a meower.
3 words to describe Nature?
Complexity. Truth. Entropy
3 things Nature taught you?
Everything is more complicated than it seems
There is a time for action, just as there is a time for inaction
Life is miraculous, given its inherent chaos
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The deserts of southern Arizona.
The beaches along the California coast.
The mountains along the southern Atacama desert of Chile.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Overcome. The ocean tells us secrets about where we came from.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Nostalgic. Growing up in a city on the coasts meant trips to the forest were special growing up, and the smell of the woods is tied directly to these memories.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Humbled. So much of change on the planet is gradual and incremental, and yet here are these volcanoes violently changing the landscape on human timescales.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Eager. For an astronomer, a sunset brings with it the possibilities of the night, and the sunrise is the reminder of our own closest star.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Stirred. The thunderstorms in the southwest accompany powerful monsoons, and are unlike anywhere else in the world. You can feel the charge in the air, and the thunder is the pronouncement.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Charged. The Santa Ana winds haunted me during the autumns my youth.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I grew up as an ocean person, but I have recently discovered that I am a desert person. The desert gives back what you give it. It rewards patience, and observation, and endurance. Last week, it snowed about five or six inches. It was surreal, walking through snow-covered cacti and desert shrubs. The desert resists categorization.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10. Science is the imperfect human method of understanding nature. Without my relationship with nature, both nature as the universe, and nature as the manifestation of life on our planet, I don’t know who I would be. It is a constant companion, quiet and giving. My current research on NASA’s upcoming flagship space telescope has me excited for the future, because JWST will both help us answer longstanding questions about the history of the universe as well as introduce new fundamental questions. What more could we ask for?
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
One summer, my father bundled my brother up once and drove us up to Cajon Pass northeast of Los Angeles early in the morning to watch the Perseid meteor shower. My love for astronomy mostly came from reading books as a child, so while I was fascinated by space, it was still very foreign to me. Being able to lay out on the hood of a car, in the stillness of the very early morning, covered in blankets, and see so many stars, was revelatory. It felt less like I was under them but that I was laying in front of them, as a child I felt the push of the Earth through space, towards those meteors which glowed, incandescent, as they fell through the atmosphere.