Becca Skinner
Becca Skinner was born into a family of adventurers and was raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and the high plains of Wyoming. This environment fueled a lifetime passion about wild places and exploring.
While studying Social Work and Technical Writing at the University of Wyoming, she won a National Geographic Young Explorer's Grant to document post-tsunami Sumatra, Indonesia.
That trip sparked a leave from school, which led to 32,000 miles of living out of a car, traveling and photographing around the West. She now resides in Bozeman, Montana, working as an adventure and conservation photographer and writer. Make sure to follow her in instagram
3 words to describe Nature?
Calming. Grand. Curiosity
3 things Nature taught you?
How to be more curious
To to be more self reliant
How to have a paradigm shift
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Tule Elk reservation
Paradise Valley, MT
Open Sage Country in WY
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Small
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Strong
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Motivated
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Relaxed
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Calm
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Grateful
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Growing up, my parents would take us into the Wyoming desert for vacation. We spent days in open sagebrush country, just walking to look at whatever there was to look at. I remember once watching a herd of pronghorn run across the horizon line at dusk. The dust they were kicking up was pink with the fading sun, and I thought it had to be one of the most special moments of my life.
Scott Carney
Photo credit: Jake Holschuh
Investigative journalist and anthropologist Scott Carney (scottcarney.com) has worked in some of the most dangerous and unlikely corners of the world. His work blends narrative non-fiction with ethnography. Currently, he is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism and a 2016-17 Scripps Fellow at the Center for Environmental Journalism in Boulder, Colorado. His books include the New York Times best seller "What Doesn't Kill Us" as well as "The Red Market" and "The Enlightenment Trap”.
Carney was a contributing editor at Wired for five years and his writing also appears in Mother Jones, Men's Journal, Playboy, Foreign Policy, Discover, Outside and Fast Company. His work has been the subject of a variety of radio and television programs, including on NPR and National Geographic TV. In 2010, he won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for his story "Meet the Parents”, which tracked an international kidnapping-to-adoption ring. Carney has spent extensive time in South Asia and speaks Hindi.
3 words to describe Nature?
Stunning. Brutal. Fair.
3 things Nature taught you?
That there is no division between ourselves and nature.
That the outside world is also the inside world
How we think about the environment is also how we think about ourselves.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
The Nubble Westport, MA
Hampi, India
Outside Iquitos, Peru
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Calm, like the horizon has no limits.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Like there will be something unexpected just around the next bend
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
In awe of the power of the earth.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Like I'm at the beginning or end.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Usually a little surprised. I count the seconds between the flash and the clap to try to figure out how far away it is. The other day I got stuck in a thunderstorm and the bolts crashed fifteen feet from me. It was pretty terrifying. My instinct was to lie flat on the ground.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
IT depends where I am. If I'm inside a house watching a storm pass it's a strangely comforting feeling. If I'm outside it can be brutal.
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?
I am nature. And so are you. 10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I remember climbing up the Nubble, a small but high rock that guards the Harbor in Westport, MA, while my mother yelled at me to get down. She was scared I would fall, but I just had to make it to the top.
Ken Gart
Ken Gart has been a partner at The Gart Companies since its inception in 1992. Prior to that time he was Co-President and Chief Merchandising Officer at Gart Bros. Sporting Goods, a family-owned and operated corporation, from 1983 to 1992. Ken started Specialty Sports Venture, LLC (SSV) in 1994 and built it to over 140 stores and into the nation’s leading specialty ski and bicycle retailer. SSV included Aspen Sports, Telluride Sports, Boulder Ski Deals, Colorado Ski and Golf and roughly 30 other trade names. The company was sold to Vail Resorts in 2010.
Ken was chairman of the Board of Denver Bike Sharing (DBA B-Cycle) where he was appointed to the position by then Mayor and now Governor John Hickenlooper. Denver B-Cycle was the first major city-wide bike sharing to launch in the US. Ken is currently chair of the Board for RPM Events Group which owns the Colorado Classic and Velorama. The Colorado Classic is a global professional cycling competition and Velorama is a music festival. The goals of the RPM Events Group are around health & wellness & economic development for Colorado. Ken has been called by Governor Hickenlooper his “Bike Czar”. This is a voluntary position to make Colorado the most bicycle friendly state in America.
Ken has held various memberships, directorships and chairmanships with The Nature Conservancy, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, Telluride Foundation, Colorado Conservation Trust, Denver Area Council Boy Scouts of America, Denver Metro Boys & Girls Clubs and the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. Further, he serves on numerous other non-profit boards and committees.
Ken Attended Claremont Men’s College and graduated from Middlebury College and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He and his wife Rebecca have three children. Ken is an athlete, having climbed over 30 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, and is an enthusiast in the sports of skiing and cycling.
3 words to describe Nature?
Passion. Relief. Opportunity.
3 things Nature taught you?
Stop Breathe Relax Listen as you say so well
Instant change of perspective. It forces to think differently.
Self awareness and all the possibilities
3 most treasured Nature spots?
On any mountain with any of my 3 children. The time with my children in nature is priceless. The bond it creates is profound and so rewarding.
Any aerobic outdoor location. I love how exercising in the outdoors makes me feel. It is more than simply getting a shot of endorphins, it is more a full experience of feeling alive.
On a Colorado mountain, in winter, during a powder day, the rush is priceless
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Inspired. Small. and refreshed. It brings me back to this balcony in Italy, 20 years ago, overlooking the sea. My wife and I had just gotten engaged. We were looking at the water and started to cry, thinking about both of our parents who had passed away. There is something about self reflection and the ocean.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Fresh and full of air. Climbing up a mountain, you pass a point where you loose the trees. It is too high for them to grow, not enough oxygen and moisture. So when you come down the mountain and reach the tree line, smelling the pine cones and all the different aromas, it is comforting and refreshing. It is like coming home after a hard day’s work.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Reminds me of the smallness of the human species. How little we matter. How our impact on the world (in the big sense) is borderline insignificant.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
It is a moment of reflection. It puts me in touch with the day that is ahead and the day that has passed. It reminds me of the cycle of life, the beginnings and the ends, the past and the future, what was, is and will be.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
I really like the thunder. It is a cool way to experience nature. Feeling the energy around you, this incredible force of nature that is so powerful. It is inspiring.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
On the other end, the wind howling makes me ominous. When I am hiking, biking, climbing, and its starts to blow, I get the feeling of being threatened.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Mountain through and through
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
9
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Camping. Our family wasn’t too big on camping, but I remember the few moments we did, with my father and brothers. What I remember the most is the campfire. Being in the outdoors, around the campfire, hearing the fire crackle, smelling the wood burning, it is a powerful experiences that touches so many senses. It is extremely comforting yet threatening. As a child, it is life changing.
Kent Thiry
Kent Thiry is chairman and CEO of DaVita, a FORTUNE 200 company with 75,000 teammates and approximately $14 billion in revenues. The company operates in 11 countries globally, delivering clinically differentiated health care to nearly 2 million patients.
DaVita has been the subject of leadership and culture case studies written by both Harvard and Stanford, and taught in many other schools and programs. Kent sits on the Harvard Business School’s advisory board and is regularly invited to speak on leadership and culture at top business schools, companies and not-for-profit leadership groups.
In 2016 he led Let Colorado Vote, a group that passed two ballot initiatives, one that re- established the presidential primary in Colorado and a second that opens Colorado’s primaries to unaffiliated voters. He is currently leading a redistricting reform initiative, Fair Maps Colorado, as well as a statewide Path to Shared Prosperity blueprint process with a group of CEOs from most of Colorado’s largest companies. He also co-founded The Aspen Group with Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle.
Prior to joining DaVita, Kent served in several senior executive roles, including chairman and CEO of Vivra Specialty Partners, a specialty health care company; president and then CEO of Vivra, a NYSE health care service company; and partner at Bain & Company. Prior board seats include the non- executive Chairmanship of Oxford Health Plans.
Kent earned his B.A. in political science, with distinction, from Stanford University, where he also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, in 1978. He earned his M.B.A., with honors, from Harvard Business School in 1983, where he was also elected to the Century Club.
3 words to describe Nature?
Awesome. Complex. Essential
3 things Nature taught you?
The power of rejuvenation
The power of fresh air
How everything is connected
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Our family cottage in Wisconsin
Colorado rockies
Any place with a mountain bike trail that is far away from the road
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Small, in awe, & connected
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Peaceful, hopeful, & it creates in me a higher level of energy
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Respect, timelessness, a sense of faith, power that is beyond our realm and reach
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Fulfilled, calm, human
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Sense of anticipation, respect for the Universe, quiet
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Depends where I am and the clothes I am wearing. When backpacking I get a sense of excitement, that a challenge is coming. I need to know where safe ground is. It also reminds me the appreciation for the basics - being warm and dry.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Forest first, mountain second, ocean third.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
9
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Running through the forest in northern Wisconsin.