Resurgence Festival of Wellbeing
Saturday 30 October 2021
Care for the climate; care for the Earth; care for the people
This all-day event took place online via Zoom.
View full timetable here
Here you can view more information about each of the speakers and links that were shared in the Zoom chat during the live event.
Buy tickets to watch recordings cost £20 per person or £10 for concessions
Speakers:
Russell Brand’s career spans stand-up comedy, acting, broadcasting and writing. He is the author of the Audible Original, ‘Revelation: Connecting with the Sacred in Everyday Life' and his new weekly meditation podcast, 'Above the Noise', is available at luminarypodcasts.com. Russell lives in the UK with his wife Laura, their two daughters, two dogs, two cats and chickens.
Lily Cole spends her time on art and activism. As an advocate for socio-political and environmental issues, she has employed technology, writing, film-making and public speaking as means to build awareness and encourage dialogue. In 2013 she co-founded Impossible.com, a group of people who have come together to help solve meaningful problems and guide global change. Lily has spoken at Davos, Google’s Zeitgeist, Wired and Web Summit, was an affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University, and holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from Glasgow Caledonian University. She is a patron of the Environmental Justice Foundation and has worked significantly with WWF. She writes often for national and international press. ‘Who Cares Wins’ is her first book.
Beth Collier is a Nature Allied Psychotherapist and Ethnographer who teaches natural history and woodland living skills. As a therapist she works exclusively in natural settings. She is currently writing ‘Nature Allied Psychotherapy: Exploring Relationships with Our Self, Others and Nature’, to be published by Routledge. She founded Wild in the City, an organisation offering experiences in woodland living skills, natural history and ecotherapy to support the wellbeing of urban residents, and she has a particular interest in supporting people of colour in finding their place in UK natural settings. She hosts the Black Nature Narratives podcast and is a fellow of the National Association for Environmental Education and the London Environmental Educators’ Forum.
Charles Eisenstein is an esteemed international teacher, public speaker, activist and writer who explores anti-consumerism, interdependence, and how myth and narrative influence culture. According to Charles, global culture is immersed in a destructive “story of separation”, and one of the main goals of his work is to present an alternative “story of interbeing”. Focusing on a range of themes including civilisation, consciousness, money and human cultural evolution, he is the author of many essays and books, including ‘Sacred Economics’, ‘Climate: A New Story’ and ‘The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible’.
Satish Kumar is editor emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. A former Jain monk and a long-term peace and environment activist, he has been quietly setting the global agenda for change for over 50 years. Inspired in his early twenties by the example of the British peace activist Bertrand Russell, he embarked on an 8,000-mile peace pilgrimage. Carrying no money, he walked from India to America via Moscow, London and Paris to deliver a humble packet of ‘peace tea’ to each of the leaders of the world’s then four nuclear powers. In 1973 Satish settled in the UK and became the editor of Resurgence magazine. He has been the guiding spirit behind a number of internationally respected ecological and educational ventures. He co-founded Schumacher College in South Devon, where he is a visiting fellow. His autobiography ‘No Destination’, first published by Green Books in 1978, has sold over 50,000 copies. His latest book is ‘Pilgrimage for Peace: The Long Walk from India to Washington’.
Annie Lennox: Named as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine, her iconic musical career spans over four decades, going back to the early 80’s when the internationally renowned ‘Eurythmics’ was formed in collaboration with Dave Stewart. In the early 90’s she went on to establish an acclaimed solo career. Over the years she has won eight Brit Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards and 26 ASCAPs. In the US she has been awarded four Grammy Awards, with fifteen nominations and three MTV Awards. She was awarded both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, as well as a Billboard Century Award; the highest accolade from Billboard magazine. Over the years, she has worked on behalf of countless organisations, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, The British Red Cross and Comic Relief. Working with UNAIDS as a Goodwill Ambassador, she became well known for her work as a tireless HIV/AIDS activist and advocate. In 2011 she was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in recognition of her humanitarian work. Her work in the visual arts includes an exhibition launched at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; ‘The House of Annie Lennox’, and more recently “Now I Let You Go…” at MassMoCA, USA. Annie is the original founder of The Circle : A non -profit organisation of women working together to achieve equality for women and girls in a fairer world.
Caroline Lucas was first elected as member of parliament for Brighton Pavilion in 2010. She was leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2008 to 2012, and co-leader from 2016 to 2018. From 1999 to 2010 she served as one of the party’s first MEPs and represented South East England until becoming the UK’s first Green MP. She has served as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Climate Change and Limits to Growth, as a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency and Democratic Participation, and as deputy chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Renewable and Sustainable Energy. A passionate campaigner across a broad range of issues, Caroline is vice-president of the RSPCA, vice-president of CND, and an ambassador for the Women’s Environmental Network.
Michael Morpurgo has written over 130 books, including ‘The Butterfly Lion’, ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’, ‘Why the Whales Came’, ‘The Mozart Question’ and ‘Shadow’. His book ‘War Horse’ was adapted for a hugely successful stage production by the National Theatre and subsequently for a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Michael was awarded the OBE for his writing in 2006. His latest novels are ‘Boy Giant’, ‘The Puffin Keeper’ and the picture books ‘Owl and Pussycat’ and ‘Song of Gladness’. In 1976 Michael and his wife, Clare, started the charity Farms for City Children, which runs farms in Gloucestershire, Pembrokeshire and North Devon. Each farm offers children and teachers from urban primary schools the chance to live and work in the countryside for a week and gain hands-on experience.
Ann Pettifor is a political economist, author and public speaker. Her latest book, ‘The Case for the Green New Deal’, was published in hardback in 2019. The paperback version, with an added chapter, ‘Afterword’, was published a year later. She is director of PRIME (Policy Research in Macroeconomics), a network of economists promoting Keynesian monetary theory and policies and focusing on the role of the finance sector in the economy. Ann is a council member of the Progressive Economy Forum, chair of the advisory board of the Political Economy Research Centre at Goldsmiths, London, holds an honorary fellowship at City University’s Political Economy Research Centre, and is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation.
Paul Polman is a co-founder and chair of IMAGINE, a social venture that mobilises business leaders around tackling climate change and global inequality. He is honorary chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, chair of The B Team and of Saïd Business School, and vice-chair of the UN Global Compact. A leading proponent of the belief that business should be a force for good, he has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past decade”. As CEO of Unilever (2009–19), he demonstrated that a long-term, multi-stakeholder model goes hand in hand with excellent financial performance. Paul was a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel that developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and as an active SDG Advocate he continues to work with global organisations and across industry to push the 2030 development agenda.
Kim Samuel is an activist, professor, and researcher. She has been on the frontlines of today’s movement for belonging. Kim is Founder of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, President of the Samuel Family Foundation, and has lectured at institutions including Oxford, Harvard, and McGill universities. A pioneer in academic study and policy advocacy on social isolation and belonging, Kim combines writing, teaching, and direct programmatic work to support communities in overcoming diverse social, economic, and environmental challenges. Kim has curated three Global Symposia on Overcoming Social Isolation and Deepening Social Connectedness, in which community and thought leaders from around the world gather to address the issue of social isolation and collectively develop pathways for community-driven change. The next Symposium will be held in October 2022. She is currently working on a book on the Right to Belong, to be published by Abrams Press in 2022.
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist. She writes in both Turkish and English and has published 18 books, 11 of them novels. Her work has been translated into 55 languages. Her latest novel, ‘10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize, and was chosen as Blackwell’s Book of the Year. Her previous novel ‘The Forty Rules of Love’ was listed by the BBC among 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. Elif holds a PhD in political science and has taught at various universities in Turkey, the US and the UK, including St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, where she is an honorary fellow. She is also a fellow and a vice- president of the Royal Society of Literature. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy and a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. An advocate for women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of speech, Elif is an inspiring public speaker and was twice a TED Global speaker.
Vandana Shiva trained as a physicist. In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seed, the promotion of organic farming and fair trade. Time magazine described her as an environmental hero in 2003, and Asia Week called her one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia. Among her many awards are the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award) in 1993; the Order of the Golden Ark, the Global 500 award of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Earth Day International Award and the LennonOno Grant for Peace award in 2009; the Sydney Peace Prize in 2010; the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity in 2016 and an International Environment Summit Award in 2018. Her most recent book is ‘Oneness vs the 1%’.
Beccy Speight became the RSPB’s chief executive officer in August 2019, having previously held the same position at the Woodland Trust. Prior to this she worked for the National Trust for 14 years, initially as general manager of the Stourhead estate, and later as director for the trust’s East Midlands and Midlands regions. Beccy was responsible for leading and championing the National Trust’s work on its sustainable food agenda, and she chaired the Food for Life Catering Mark Standards Committee for the Soil Association. She has contributed to national steering groups on contemporary art in the National Trust, work in the outdoors and engaging urban communities.
Judy Ling Wong, painter, poet and environmentalist, is perhaps best known as honorary president of the Black Environment Network. Hers is a major voice on policy towards social inclusion, contributing through key national committees and campaigns. Judy was a co-founder of the National Park City Foundation and was instrumental in conceptualising London National Park City. She was awarded an OBE for pioneering multicultural environmental participation, and a CBE for services to heritage. Recently, she was included in the BBC Power Women List and the Forbes List of 100 Leading Environmentalists in the UK, and the Climate Reframe List of 100 best-known UK BAME activists. She was given the Vanity Fair International Women’s Day Challenger Award 2021 and the Earth Day GreenPlaque Award 2021.
Farhana Yamin is an internationally recognised environmental lawyer and a climate change and development policy expert. She is an associate fellow at Chatham House and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and she sits on numerous boards and commissions. She was an adviser to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) for the 2015 Paris Agreement and played a key role in building the High Ambition Coalition. She is widely credited with getting the goal of net-zero emissions by mid-century into the Paris Agreement. Alongside publishing numerous books and articles on climate change laws and the nexus of climate change and development, she is the lead author for three assessment reports on adaptation and mitigation issues for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Farhana played a crucial role in the 2019 Extinction Rebellion protests, gluing herself to the Shell offices in London alongside other activists. She is the co-ordinator of Camden’s recent initiative Think & Do, a collaborative hub for climate and social action.
Sponsors of the Festival of Wellbeing include Weleda, Cowdray Estate, the Network of Wellbeing and Earthsong.