Wednesday 20th September, 7 - 10pm EDT
Gaia NoMaya, 510 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Weaving together sacred wisdom, law & activism with personal story &
teaser for stunning upcoming impact documentary.
Advance registration strongly recommended.
This is not your average climate week venue, nor your average climate week panel… escape the concrete jungle for an immersive evening of wisdom, connection and concrete legal solutions at this consciously curated & beautiful venue right next door to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park - well worth the short ride! Come early for a stroll in nature…
Limited places - advance registration strongly recommended.
Join us in the soul-nourishing “ancient-and-modern” setting of Brooklyn’s Gaia NoMaya for an emotional journey weaving together film, indigenous wisdom, crusading activism and law.
The extended teaser for stunning upcoming impact documentary Amazonia: the Heart of Mother Earth - co-produced and directed by Princess Esmeralda and Gert Peter Bruch - will set the scene for an interactive journey of discussion with renowned, expert and deeply committed speakers on the power and potential of indigenous culture and the use of law to protect the beating heart of Earth’s web of life - the Amazon basin.
Speakers:
Princess Esmeralda
of Belgium
Co-Director/Co-Producer, Amazonia: The Heart of Mother Earth
Domingo Peas
Achuar Leader & Amazon coordinator, Sacred Headwaters Initiative
Steven Donziger
Human Rights Lawyer
Vanda Witoto
Witoto Leader, former Brazil congressional candidate
Atossa Soltani
Global Strategy Director, Sacred Headwaters Initiative; Founder & President, Amazon Watch
Jojo Mehta
Co-Founder, Stop Ecocide International
Moderator:
Julia Jackson
Founder, Grounded, Keystone Species Alliance
The documentary, featuring legendary Chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo people as well as President of Brazil Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and Sydney Possuelo, former President of the National Indian Foundation, builds on the movement to demarcate and protect all indigenous territories in Brazil, the explicit call from indigenous leaders for an international crime of ecocide, and recent domestic developments including the establishment of an Indigenous People's Ministry and the recent submission of a new Ecocide Bill to the Brazilian Congress. All this in the context of a fraught political landscape where many aim to remove that newly-won influence and make it harder to protect indigenous lands.
The conversation around these themes will be moderated by the luminous Julia Jackson, recent recipient of a US Congress recognition for climate action and founder of climate philanthropy Grounded.org and wildlife conservation initiative the Keystone Species Alliance.
Julia will be in conversation with: Princess Esmeralda of Belgium, who - together with Gert-Peter Bruch of Planète Amazone - has co-directed and co-produced the film, and for whom the project has been a remarkable personal journey; indigenous spokeswoman and political leader Vanda Witoto of the Witoto People, former Brazil congressional candidate; renowned human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, hounded by the oil industry for his part in fighting the legendary Texaco/Chevron pollution case in Ecuador; Domingo Peas, long time leader from the Achuar Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon working closely with AmazonWatch founder Atossa Soltani in the Sacred Headwaters Initiative toward permanent protection of life in the Amazon based on cooperation and harmony; and Jojo Mehta, passionate voice at the heart of the global movement to recognize mass destruction of nature as an international crime.
Join us in a beautiful and unusual venue for a deeply urgent and soul-nourishing conversation, with complimentary light nourishments for the body too!