Susan Rockefeller
Susan Rockefeller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, artist, and conservationist. Her latest endeavor, Musings is a digital magazine that curates ideas and innovations that pave the way for a more sustainable future. As the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Musings, Susan offers a portal to vetted products and brands that are pioneers in health, environmental, and social consciousness.
Susan is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and is additionally an advisor to Food Systems 6, MADE SAFE, Oceanic Global, and Ohana & Co. In her film work, Rockefeller is a Principal of Louverture films and a member of the Film Committee for the Museum of Modern Art. Her own original films include: Food For Thought, Food for Life, Striking a Chord, Making the Crooked Straight, and Mission of Mermaids, have aired on HBO, PBS, and the Discovery Channel.
A longstanding philanthropist, Susan sits on the boards of Oceana, Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, We are Family Foundation, Southampton Arts Center, and Land and Garden Preserve.
3 words to describe Nature?
Powerful. Beautiful. Mysterious
3 things Nature taught you?
How to observe
How to listen
How to imagine my place in the cycle of living and dying
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Sagaponack Beach, Long Island, NY
Little Long Pond, Seal Harbor, MAINE
Kobuk River, Alaska
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Mesmerized, in rhythm with life’s current and my own.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
Like I want to lie down, feel the warmth of the sun, look at the sky, and smell the forest scents around me.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Like I want to climb to the top of Stromboli again and glissade down the ash!
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
A sunrise gives rise to the promise of a new day and I yearn to feel that promise - a sunset is a reminder of the passing of another precious day and I feel reflective of whether I made the day count before retreating into a night slumber.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Alert with anticipation of oncoming rain and the possibility of lighting.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Like God’s voice is present
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Love them all. But more an Ocean person for the mermaid in me, a forest person for plants as medicine and the healer in me, a mountain person for vistas and wildflowers, and a desert person for the dry heat of the day in which to hike, and the deep dark blackness of a desert night sky.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
Scales don’t measure it - it is not linear and way beyond a scale; more like a kaleidoscope of delight, color, mystery, and vital to my well being and to all life.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Being on a sandy beach with my brother and sister, digging into the warm sand and mesmerized by the variety of colors in the sand itself, diving into the ocean waves and belonging and feeling at one with the waves, salt water, sun, and sand - delighting in the joy of it all. Pure imaginative, physical joy, and happy memories of being a child at play and in wonder with my family.
Clyde Butcher
Clyde Butcher is an American large format camera photographer known for wilderness photography of the Florida landscape. He began his career doing color photography before switching to large scale black-and-white landscape photography after the death of his son. Butcher is a strong advocate of conservation efforts and uses his work to promote awareness of the beauty of natural places.
In 1992, PBS aired a documentary about him, Visions of Florida, which won a Wolfson Award.
Butcher and his work has also inspired other artist-conservationists, such as film producer Elam Stoltzfus, who was struck by Clyde's art. The pair have formed a friendship over the years and have collaborated on several multimedia projects together as a result. Butcher hosted the documentaries "Big Cypress Swamp: The Western Everglades" and "Kissimmee Basin: The Northern Everglades," sister films that highlighted the importance of conservation and art in the state of Florida.
His photographs have been exhibited in many museums across the world. He received in 1998 the Florida Artist Hall of Fame Award, the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club in 2000, the Wolfson Telly Award in 2004, the North American Nature Photography Association Lifetime Achievement Award in Nature Photography and the Florida International University Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2005, the Distinguished Artist Award from Florida House Embassy Washington, DC in 2012, the Biff Lampton Conservation Communicator of the Year Award - Florida Wildlife Federation in 2013, and the Voice of the Arts Award - Naples International Film Festival in 2016. In 2004, Clyde was named Top 100 Most Influential People in Florida.
3 words to describe Nature?
Primeval. Beautiful. Healthy
3 things Nature taught you?
Peace
Beauty
Connectiveness
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Big Cypress National Preserve
Redwood
Yosemite
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
As Capt’n Jack says, “Give me the horizon.” I get a sense of the possibilities of adventures that lay beyond, and the need to sail away fills my soul. (We raised our kids on a sail boat, so I did sail away for a while, but still the freedom of it lingers in my heart)
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
An ancient forest humbles me and makes me feel one with the world.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
The only live volcano I’ve seen is Mt. Reiner. I was not ready for the power and energy vibrating off that mountain. It was both humbling and amazing.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
When they are the pastel sunsets of a tropical summer, I feel at peace…rested and satisfied. When they are the bright red sunsets of winter there is a feeling of expectation in the air.
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
I feel the power of nature and wonder at the hubris of humans to think they can control anything.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Mostly, I want it to stop so I can take a photograph. But when you ask about HOWLING wind, I immediately think hurricane, and then, of course, I just want it to be over.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I love both the ocean and the forests. If I could think of a perfect place to live it would be on a beach with the ocean in front of me, and a forest of palms and tropical trees behind me.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
TEN
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
The first time I saw a redwood tree and came to realize it was alive before Christ was born, I was humbled. There really weren’t words to describe how I felt. All I could think was, “How much did this tree see? What all has it gone through?”
Dana Romanoff
Dana Romanoff is an internationally acclaimed photojournalist and filmmaker dedicated to making a difference in the world. Whether she is sleeping on animal skins in Ethiopia, hunting with tribes in the jungles of West Papua, driving around with gang bangers in the U.S. or summiting 19,000 foot peaks with adaptive climbers, her work is intimate, layered and soulful and creates relationships and reveals inner lives. Her award-winning imagery, films and commercials foster understanding and create change.
She has received prestigious awards and recognition for tackling significant social issues including her recent film “Noah" which was featured on Upworthy, The Guardian, The Atlantic, RYOT and National Geographic Digital Showcase and won awards at the 2017 W3 Awards, Telly Awards and Communicator Awards and the 2017 Spirit of Activism Special Jury Award at the Crested Butte Film Festival. As co-Director and Director of Photography of National Park Experience, an independent film series celebrating diversity and youth in the National Parks, her documentaries have been broadcasted on PBS and Smithsonian Channel. “Confluence” a feature length doc released in 2018 is currently winning awards touring festivals and universities. Another short film, “Canyon Song” won the 2017 Director’s Choice Award at Flagstaff Mountain Festival, 2017 Award of Merit in the Best Shorts Competition and the 2017 Social Awareness Award at Wasatch Mountain Film Festival. Dana's work is syndicated with Getty Reportage and she is a Getty Global Assignments Photographer, Blue Earth Awarded Photographer and a Director working with Stept Studios and Blue Chalk Media. Her clients include National Geographic Magazine, New York Times, Esquire, Forbes, GQ, Men's Journal, National Geographic Traveler, The Sunday Times, USA Today, UNICEF, and many others.
In 2019, she directed a short film for Budweiser, “For The Fathers Who Stepped Up”, which has been viewed 3.3M times on the Budweiser YouTube channel only.
3 words to describe Nature?
Connected. Necessary. Healing
3 things Nature taught you?
Nature is one of the greatest teachers.
I’ve learned that nature doesn’t need us, but we need nature.
That all living things are connected.
That we should cooperate, not compete with nature.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
My family home on a tiny lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.
An incredible waterfall pouring from the jungles of West Papua, Indonesia into the Indian ocean.
A blooming field of wildflowers surrounded by the Rocky Mountain FlatIrons along the Mesa Trail in my backyard in Boulder, Colorado.
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
Humbled and inconsequential
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
A sense of security
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
I haven’t seen that many volcanos!
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Reflective and grateful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
Energized and on alert
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Uneasy. Howling wind makes any situation more epic whether it be dodging shopping carts while walking through a parking lot or precariously balanced on a 14,000 ft ridge.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I would probably say Forrest. A person’s true nature emerges in the deep woods.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
A 10. On a high level, without a healthy earth and nature we are in big trouble. As an individual, my mental and physical health is very closely linked to my time spent in nature.
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I remember my first backcountry camping experience near a lake in the Adirondack Mountains. I had heard the warnings about bears and was very aware of the food I was carrying in my backpack and needed to suspend in a bear bag from the towering pine trees. That night in my tent I was on high alert. Every branch that snapped I was sure was a bear. Feeding my anxiety was a deep growl that repeated for many hours. When I could not take the fear any longer I screamed out and awoke my friends, more experienced backpackers, in the next tent over. They listened cautiously until they deducted that it was most definitely a bullfrog.
Wallace J Nichols
Dr. Wallace "J" Nichols - called a “Keeper of the Sea" by GQ Magazine, “a visionary" by Outside Magazine, a "water warrior" by AQUATICS International and a "friend of the sea" by Experience Life Magazine - is an innovative, silo-busting, entrepreneurial scientist, movement maker, renown marine biologist, voracious Earth and idea explorer, wild water advocate, bestselling author, sought after lecturer, and fun-loving Dad. He also likes turtles (a lot).
In 2010 Nichols delivered the commencement address at DePauw University where he also received an honorary doctorate in science. In 2011 he was inducted as a Fellow National member of the Explorers Club. In 2014 he received the University of Arizona's Global Achievement Award. And in 2017, he was presented by Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama the Champion of Change Award at the World Oceans Festival on Governor’s Island, New York.
Nichols has authored more than 200 scientific papers, technical reports, book chapters, and popular publications; lectured in more than 30 countries and nearly all 50 states; and appeared in hundreds of print, film, radio, and television media outlets including NPR, BBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Time, Newsweek, GQ, Outside Magazine, USA Today, Elle, Vogue, Fast Company, Surfer Magazine, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among many others.
His book Blue Mind, published in summer 2014 by Little, Brown & Company, quickly became a national bestseller and has been translated to numerous languages and inspired a wave of media and practical application.
J. is currently Chief Evangelist for Water (CEH2O) at Bouy Labs, a Senior Fellow at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies' Center for the Blue Economy, a Research Associate at California Academy of Sciences and co-founder of Ocean Revolution, an international network of young ocean advocates, SEE the WILD, a conservation travel network, Grupo Tortuguero, an international sea turtle conservation network, and Blue Mind a global "movement of movements" sharing the new story of water.
He co-mentors a motivated group of international graduate students and serves as an advisor to numerous non-profit boards and committees as part of his commitment to building a more creative, stronger, more progressive, and connected environmental community.
J. lives with his partner Dana, two daughters and some cats, dogs, and chickens on California's Slow Coast, a rural stretch of coastal mountains overlooking the Monterey Bay where organic strawberries rule, mountain lions roam and their motto is "In Slow We Trust". The Nichols chose to settle down in this area after trekking the entire 1,800 kilometer coast from Oregon to Mexico.
3 words to describe Nature?
Primal. Creative. Home
3 things Nature taught you?
Humility
Solitude
Confidence
3 most treasured Nature spots?
50 miles offshore and 50 feet deep from Bahia Magdalena, BCS Mexico
The source of Mill Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains
Greyhound Rock
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel...?
Optimistic
When you see a forest, it makes you feel...?
Connected
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel...?
Awe
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel...?
Hopeful
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel...?
Warm
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel...?
Nostalgic
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
Yes on all!
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
11
Share with us a childhood nature memory.
Backpacking to Deep Lake, in Wyoming, when I was 11 and feeling like I wanted to feel that way a lot more throughout my life. The origins of “blue mind” research, practice, philosophy and the growing global movement.