Emily Haines
Emily Haines is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has performed under her own name and under the moniker Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton.
3 words to describe Nature?
Strong. Wise. Astonishing
3 things Nature taught you?
Shut up and listen
Apparent wildness is in fact orderly
Humans are often not all that impressive
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Redwoods of California
Jungles of Belize,
My own 15 acres of Canadian land
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Small and vulnerable
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like the trees are talking to each other
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Like drinking a glass of wine from Mount Etna
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
My time on earth is fleeting
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Like getting cozy with my dog
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Grateful for shelter
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
The first song I ever wrote was about a tree.
Elliot Connor
Elliot Connor is the founder of Human Nature Projects, a charity aiming to reconnect people to the planet, creating a conservation community which is both accessible and empowering to those involved. He is one of the 2019 Youth Ambassadors to CoalitionWILD, Regional Ambassador for Tunza Eco-Generation, the GARN Youth Circle and HundrED, Assistant Country Director for Global Peace Chain, Australian Country Mobiliser for the Youth for Our Planet movement, Ambassador to the Laurence Anthony Earth Organization and a recent addition to the Jane Goodall Institute Australia’s National Youth Leadership Council.
Following a philosophy of taking every opportunity available, Elliot has spent countless hours volunteering on conservation initiatives in his local community and worldwide. Those organizations he has assisted include WWF, The Nature Conservation Council, The Wilderness Society, Birdlife International, Taronga Conservation Society, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Greater Sydney Landcare, Zoological Lighting Institute, In Focus Conservation, Project Drawdown and Save the Frogs amongst others. He also established and continues to run the only field naturalists group in the Sydney area.
Throughout all of his work, Elliot seeks to act as a voice for biodiversity, for the environment- all of those downtrodden, unrepresented lifeforms which suffer at the hands of mankind’s advancement. He believes passionately that society as a whole must soon recognize its ties with the natural world and act on these if we are ever to achieve the prosperous future we all aspire towards.
3 words to describe Nature?
Vital. Dynamic. Ubiquitous
3 things Nature taught you?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch
Everything is connected
Big things come in small packages
3 most treasured Nature spots?
My own back garden (practically a jungle)
Kruger NP, South Africa (a classic)
The infernal Aussie bush (it’s a love-hate relationship)
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?,
A chill of mixed fear and anticipation. I’m mostly a land-lubber myself.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Alive, awake, alert to the many small pleasures of life
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Angry. They really are very misunderstood.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Restless. Like I should be out there at these times when nature is most active.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Small. A few people could do with that more often!
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Sprightly. There’s little enough in terms of real weather Down Under that anything new is welcome.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Definitely a forest person. Believe it or not, Australia is not all desert!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11. Perhaps it sounds slightly clichéd, but nature’s never followed any rules.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Well, I’m still a child in many ways, but I do have a good story or two. 5 or 6 years ago, my family was camped in a remote national park in the North of Botswana. I was making the long trek back from the toilet block when for whatever reason I turned around. There, bare metres behind me, was a leopard crouched low to the ground. Spooked by the torch beam, it moved off, but kept on circling our little clearing for hours afterwards. Parents weren’t too keen on these creatures after that, I’m still a leopard fan.
Marc Keane
Marc Peter Keane is a landscape architect, artist and writer based in Kyoto, Japan. His work is deeply informed by Japanese aesthetics and design sense: simplicity, serendipity, off-balance balance, and naturally weathered patinas. Working in situations as divers as a 350-year-old house in Japan and a contemporary museum in the United States, he designs singular gardens that are both beautiful and contemplative. Keane is also known for his ceramic artwork and his many books on Japanese gardens and nature. (instagram)
3 words to describe Nature
Nature. Is. Everything.
3 things Nature taught you
Nothing. Is. Un-natural.
3 most treasured Nature spots
Weeds bursting through city sidewalks
Birds flying and nesting inside of Home Depot
Moss growing on shaded walls
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...
Connected to any and all things at once
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...
As if I’ve just come home
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...
Like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...
Momentarily much much bigger than I really am
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...
Depends on how many seconds after the lighting strike it comes (yes I count)
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...
Depends on where I am —
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person
I, like everyone else, am all of those
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being
The better question for our time is, on a scale of 1 to 10, how important are you to Nature’s well-being
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Camping in the Canadian forests, a violent night storm, ending abruptly, the clouds sliding off into the distance to reveal an ink-black sky pocked by an infinity of stars. And in the darkness between those stars… wonder.
Bonnie Hillman
Originally from NY, Bonnie moved to Toronto, Canada in 1989 because she met and fell in love with a Canadian, and was ready to leave NYC. Having worked in communications and sponsorship, both in the for-profit and non-profit sectors, Bonnie bought A&C from its founder in 2004. A pioneering cultural sponsorship agency at the time, Bonnie bet that its results-driven ethos could translate to the entire communications offering. (She won that bet and then some.) Bonnie is sought out by clients for counsel both professional and personal, and speaks at sponsorship and communications conferences in North America. She's a leading authority on sponsorship strategy and negotiation, with three decades in communications, strategic planning and corporate partnerships in New York and Toronto. Her current focus is city-building, and finding ways unprecedented public-private partnerships can work to help fund innovative spaces in cities.
Having offices in Toronto and Seattle, and a small but mighty team who punches well above their weight, A&C is Bonnie’s full time job, vocation and passion. Bonnie’s volunteer life has included stints on the Board of Directors of the Sponsorship Marketing Council Canada, the Stratford Chefs School, Evergreen Foundation, and the Loran Scholars Foundation. Bonnie has a great family – two exceptional adult sons, a wonderful husband, and an extremely cute French Bulldog. She is lucky enough to have the best of both the city and nature, so when she’s not walking to work in downtown Toronto, she’s on the dock at Lake of Bays in Muskoka, Ontario. Or traveling. Or doing yoga. Or traveling to a yoga retreat. Or any number of other things that make her happy, usually involving beautiful places and interesting people. And great food and wine.
3 words to describe Nature?
Real. Gorgeous. Dramatic
3 things Nature taught you?
How to be resourceful
How insignificant I and my worries are
How to listen
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The lake my house is on
A specific campsite in Algonquin Park, Canada
A small cove in Greece
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Invigorated and young
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Curious
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
I’ve only ever seen on in the distance, so it hasn’t felt real
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Lucky
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Happy
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Safe
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Ocean and Mountain
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
15
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
A very early memory is being on a beach with my family, hearing the ocean and feeling the sticky, hot feeling of the sand, cooling off in the ocean, jumping the waves, and getting sticky and sandy again. And how when I closed my eyes at night, I’d only see waves.