Christiana Figueres: Hope Is Changing Systems and Protecting Our Connection to Nature

The Jane Goodall Hopecast

In this episode of the Hopecast, Dr. Jane Goodall is joined by Christiana Figueres, a globally recognized leader on international climate action. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016, and played a major role in the formation of the landmark climate agreement known as the Paris Accord in 2015. Today, she is the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast “Outrage & Optimism” and is the co-author of the recently published book, “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis." As the world has its eyes on COP26, Christiana and Jane’s conversation offers a look at how individual action, such as small acts of kindness toward one animal species, blossoms into the collective action we need. When Christiana was 10 years old, she took a trip with her parents to the beautiful Monteverde Rainforest in her home country, Costa Rica. There, she encountered a magnificent golden toad that forever tethered her to the natural world. Once she became a mother, Christiana felt it was critical for her daughter’s to develop that same connection. When she took her daughters to that same rainforest, she was pained to discover that the golden toad that was endemic to that rainforest and was the catalyst to her deep love of nature had gone extinct likely due to the Climate Crisis. This experience, among many others, influenced Christiana’s decision to dedicate her life to addressing this existential issue. Christiana and Jane discuss how cultivating a connection to the natural world at a young age is critically important so that once folks become young adults and older adults, they remember the beauty and magic that we must systematically fight to protect every day. Listen to this hopeful conversation about how to turn awe and inspiration from nature into local and impactful action.

At the End of the Rainbow: Stay to the end of the episode to hear a clip of Jane speaking as the UN Messenger of Peace at the Earth to Paris summit in Paris, France in 2015 about how making small, individual changes can have a big, collective impact.