opportunities opportunities to reconnect
with yourself with other people and
perhaps even with your environment
think about those connections during
this talk think about those times you
were a child
and you had an experience a moment
perhaps laughter love friendship a
moment in nature what about your life as
an adult think about those moments and
the experiences that you have are those
moments possibilities to reconnect to
have a better understanding of yourself
maybe your purpose in life what you want
to be doing and they don’t need to be
big they can be small they don’t need to
be grandiose but keep those memories in
your mind as opportunities and during
this presentation when you think about
breathing take two breaths when I was
nine years old I went to the Amazon with
my family for 18 months they were
navigating the waters of an area that
was still yet unknown being discovered
and I had small responsibilities driving
the zodiac was perhaps one of them at
least for the photograph but I was
working with the scientist and we were
catching piranha piranha at nine years
old putting in them in a canoe and I
remember that moment of the piranha was
flipping about and I pulled my feet up
thinking it was going to nibble at my
toes and then I was given a
responsibility a small pygmy marmoset
one of the crew members had rescued it
from a market its harness cutting it to
its skin he brought it onto the boat he
said Celine this is your responsibility
you must care for it and feed it and so
we made a new harness and I attached it
to my shirt and during the day it sat on
my shoulder it hid behind my my hair
like a veil of protection and I would
feed it and in that moment I created a
connection
with a creature that I knew nothing
about before but that connection was
something that stayed with me to this
day and I remember it fondly and I
cherish these memories and I cherish
this photographs because they stay with
me and they have become a part of me and
in this I am also connected to other
humans around the planet that perhaps
have a pets of one sort enough of
another but we all have these
experiences maybe it’s a cat a dog a
fish a frog and in these places perhaps
it’s a little bit different but really
it isn’t and that relationship we have
with nature and animals and other human
beings keep coming back think back to
your own childhood your own experiences
remember those connections now going
along the shores of the Amazon when
you’re nine years old the forest is
immense
it was immense then it is immense now
and we were navigating the waters and
clip so with sailing along the Amazon
River and there was a man standing on
the shoreline with bananas and so he
stopped the boat we got into the zodiac
a little inflatable boat and we went to
shore and we followed this man into the
jungle to his home and I remember
walking across a log precariously not
wanting to fall into the void and this
man walked across like it was absolutely
nothing and walking into the forest and
smelling the humidity in the earth those
nutrients filling the air and looking up
and seeing the trees massive and
grandiose and the light coming through
the leaves and we followed him to where
he had his bananas and he said please
choose please choose bananas from a tree
in the Amazon and so he said these and
he cut the tree down and my child said
why is he cutting a tree and my adult
now knows a banana tree grows for nine
months
it you take its harvest and it’s fruit
it then dies and the saplings that come
from beneath from its roots grow strong
because the other one fell over I
created a connection with nature that
wasn’t there before and an understanding
of where my food comes from and then we
walked to his home and his wife was
cooking something on the
and she said please have some and we
said no we cannot take you have so
little but she was proud to share what
she had with us and so we did and I
remember that moment where I tasted the
food the smoky taste from the fire the
texture and I remember looking over to
the children that were playing with a
stick and dirt and I remember feeling
shy because I wanted to go play they
were having so much fun and feeling envy
because they looked so happy with
something so simple and back in my room
at home I had all these toys was it
enough was I satisfied no I wanted
another one and the Barbie doll and the
stuffed animal and the Lego and this is
the society that we have created and we
grow into but it is not the society we
come from it is not the culture that we
are all of those connections have come
back to me as an adult and I am NOT
saying that this life is ideal they live
a very difficult life of existence and
survival but there is something simple
that we need to come back to full circle
now my adult mind says I have a
connection to the Amazon let me find out
more the Amazon is the largest
rainforest on the planet it spans nine
countries in South America massive and I
love maps and I start to think forest
deforestation climate change carbon
sequestration the trees standing hold
carbon the trees cut release carbon into
the air that’s not good for us and then
my mind starts swirling with stress and
anxiety and thinking what are we doing
to this planet and of course I look at
another map because I want to see where
the deforestation is happening and why
and if you look at your products if you
look at the ingredients on the food that
you eat you start to realize some of
those products and ingredients come from
a place that is being deforested in a
country you don’t live in but you are
connected to it because one of your
resources comes from there and this map
shows the deforestation due to one of
those resources and you realize there
are people there and we depend on this
forest and we are connected to it and
therefore we are connected to the people
that are there this is a phenomenal map
as you’ll see I love maps
this is a phenomenal map from the
Instituto sochi ambiental in brazil
they’re working to protect indigenous
rights what you see in orange are the
indigenous territories what you see in
yellow is complete deforestation and in
purple encroaching deforestation pay
attention there is no deforestation on
indigenous land why because they live in
complete balance and harmony for their
environment why because they live close
to it and depend upon it for the food
that they eat indigenous people and
traditional communities make up 4
percent of the global population yet
they protect 80% of our biodiversity
biodiversity on which we depend for our
potential future pharmaceuticals we are
connected to these people
and the statistics that we can read you
can all look them up you can read them
on the screen or you can just know this
that we are intrinsically connected
through everything now remember to take
two breaths the carbon that goes in the
air also comes from our oceans our
oceans are carbon sequester’s I would be
denying my family heritage if I didn’t
talk a little bit about our oceans and I
wouldn’t want to do that because my
family is my first tribe it is my inner
circle it is my upbringing and my nature
and my nurture my second circle the
tribe of people that I work with that I
depend on my community my friends the
ocean is responsible for the second
breath because microscopic creatures
called phytoplankton create to the air
and the oxygen that we breathe two
breaths one from the forest one from the
ocean and this is a lot of information
so every now and then you have to
reconnect to play and to fun take a
moment
ah and this is what it can look like if
you allow yourself to tap into this
moment this is what it can still look
like as an adult you don’t have to let
that go now in 2007 I went to a place
called the valley dor javadi in the
Brazilian Amazon going back to places my
grandfather had been to in the early
1980s when I was 9 years old
and in that time I met some incredible
people the tribes of the Davari they
asked me to tell their story and I said
yes tribes on the edge is the story of
the people of the Davari a territory
eighty five thousand square kilometers
that’s the size of Austria or Portugal
that’s a lot of trees my adult mind says
carbon sequestration my child says I
wonder if I can eat that food again by
the way the next time I ate that food as
an adult all of those memories came back
it doesn’t even matter what that food is
you all have lived it your senses your
smell your sight your love your emotions
they all bring back those memories and
reconnect you the people of the Jafari
are facing potential disaster although
their land is designated as ancestral
territory the laws that protect them are
infallible the government wants to drill
because there’s oil oil that gets
exported where to all of us we are
connected they are facing high rates of
hepatitis not endemic to the region and
they need help this is a short excerpt
that you will hear the interview that I
did with Sidney pezuela a phenomenal
human being who for decades in Brazil
has been defending indigenous land
rights and I think he summarizes this
story perfectly this poem is a cool
image browser buddy canteens of
cassandra in the de petróleo guys
[Music]
Attis Astaire ding-ding
she destino pour votre vie le pasa
quench in water sua vida traditional
Portuguese milk industry Romania one is
horosho cynical bones a casino no no no
my sentimental Geum Ora tear you
preserve herself the cuidado con este
momento que antes de viver estamos
viendo my epic Edessa a me too a motto
and that is at the heart of all of this
to not lose heart to not lose hope
because we have that capacity to
reconnect and because knowledge is power
power is responsibility so what you do
with that is your power it is the hope
and it is what can bring you to the next
point how will you choose to reconnect I
look at these children and I think of
the future I have a five year old and I
think about what his future is about and
I think about these children the same
way am I going to do everything I can to
reconnect us to each other and to
ourselves to our understanding of what
it means to be part of a global human
tribe these children live in complete
harmony with their environment because
there is no other way I did an interview
with a man named B not to COO Matisse
from the Matisse tribe in the Javari and
I asked to be now with my little
notebook in hand so B now how do you
live sustainably with your environment
and he looks at me not understanding my
questions and I think okay my bertagnoli
is terrible
let me try to define sustainability in a
very simple way how do you live in
balance with your environment and he
still looked at me like I was not asking
the
question and his answer was almost a
question in itself he says well when I
cut a tree for the canoe I am going to
make I plant one so that my grandchild
or perhaps my great grandchild will have
a great tree to make a canoe
sustainability we have come back full
circle to this notion of what it means
to live in equilibrium with our
environment we define it differently
with our new reality sustainable
development but it is no different than
that original thought that that original
understanding we have created an
industry that has brought us back full
circle to what we always knew
instinctually and that is to live in
balance it’s just now we have buildings
and air conditioning we have cars we
have technology do not deny all of that
as part of our lives but integrate it
into something deeper because it should
be used as a tool and not as something
that is just the end the portraits you
will see here these are important each
person is a human life and that each one
of them represents something this idea
of adaptation and resilience is
something else that we all have in
common in our world we are perhaps
adapting in a different way with the
tribes of the Javari and everywhere
around the Amazon are seeing is that the
seasons are changing in different ways
they don’t know necessarily when to
plant anymore because the rains come
differently when you have to plant and
harvest for your livelihood when you
have to hunt for the food that you eat
and if you don’t build your home you
don’t have shelter you are very much
connected with everything that happens
how can we do that in this society if we
are not completely rooted in that idea
of survival we are all looking for a
sense of belonging who are we who are
our people who is our tribe define that
for yourself in whatever way that means
you came to a talk why why are you here
what are you seeking what will you do
with it you go home to your
families your tribe your friends your
tribe
perhaps your colleagues your community
your beliefs that all defines who you
are and maybe you’re looking on social
media for the people that belong in your
tribe but it’s still that same feeling
where are they what can you do for them
and if you have the privilege of having
food and water and shelter and love then
you have an opportunity to give and to
connect and that is such a tremendous
gift to be able to take with you to be
able to think beyond survival beyond
mere adaptation and resilience because
resilience is something else we have in
common what will happen if we do not
adapt if we are not resilient
psychologically emotionally physically
how do we move forward and then comes a
difficult part what happens when you are
met with adversity when there are really
difficult moments when everything you
believe in and have been fighting for is
threatened will you stand tall in the
face of adversity will your conviction
double to be able to do what you need to
do to move forward because that is a
test of our resilience that is a test of
our ability and those are wonderful
moments working in the Amazon with the
indigenous tribes is never easy people
are complicated no matter where you go
and the conditions are difficult but I
value and cherish the moments where my
conviction is tested that this project
called tribes on the edge will make a
difference in these people’s lives that
a film and an impact campaign can change
the course of their survival
Beto Maru bow from the Meru bow tribe
said to me Celine this problem did not
happen overnight you will not fix it
overnight
exhale and so I remember because that
connects me back to what is happening
there as well and I need that I need
that reconnection
as much as all of us the thermometry or
ceiba also called kapok stands tall in
the Amazon reaching up above the jungle
canopy but it is fragile
just like the tribes if we are
short-sighted we harvest this tree to
make homes but the wood rots quickly if
we have the foresight to think further
ahead
we protect to the tree that creates and
harbors life it gives fruit and shelter
and much like the tribes needs our
support
adabo Kulina from the Kulina tribe
taught me hope when all I was hearing
were challenges and difficulties and
adversity I needed a moment of levity I
needed to go back to my childhood self
and what he did is he provided hope he
said when you are facing difficulties
look to your people and his hope is
uniting his people together and having
pride in cultural heritage for their
future survival and that is something
that I truly believe will bring us all
forward the disconnect does not exist we
have created it and I encourage all of
you to reconnect with those memories
that have created who you are your
people your inner circle your outer
circle your tribe go out and get dirty
encourage your children to go out and
get into the environment and by all
means have fun enjoy life because that
energy is contagious love and
positiveness and optimism is contagious
and it is necessary and please do not
forget two breaths one for the forest
and one for the ocean thank you [Applause]
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