Christiana Figueres, an environmental leader and advocate for spiritual evolution, discusses the ecological crisis, the need for a belief system that embraces realities, finding healing through Buddhism, the potential of renewable energy, radical regeneration, embracing pain for intentional action, building spiritual infrastructure, and nurturing the best of humanity.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Finding Thich Nhat Hanh
Amidst intense work on the Paris Agreement, Christiana Figueres experienced deep despair and suicidal thoughts.
This led her to study with Thich Nhat Hanh, which transformed her personal and professional life.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Quality of Presence
Approach every interaction with a quality of presence to make it spiritual rather than mundane.
Recognize that mindsets shape narratives, which in turn shape actions, each carrying our signature.
insights INSIGHT
Mindset Shift
Our thoughts shape our reality, confirmed by neurolinguistics.
Shifting from a doom-laden mindset to one of hope is crucial for effective climate action.
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The ecological crisis we are standing before is at once civilizational and personal — intimately close to each of us in the places we love and inhabit, and unfolding at a species level. And as much as anyone alive on the planet now, Christiana Figueres has felt the overwhelm of this and stepped into service. She gives voice so eloquently to the grief that we feel and must allow to bind us to each other — and what she sees as a spiritual evolution the natural world is calling us to.
If you have wondered how to keep hope alive amidst a thousand reasons to despair, if you are ready to take your despair as fuel — intrigued by the idea of stepping into love and immediate realities of abundance and regeneration — this conversation is for you.
Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016, and is known as the powerhouse who made the 2015 Paris Agreement possible — in which 195 nations worked with their wildly diverse conditions and points of view on the what and the when and the why, and yet made commitments in service of our hurting planet and the future of humanity. Her book, written together with Tom Rivett-Carnac, is The Future We Choose. She is founding partner of the organization Global Optimism and co-hosts the podcast Outrage + Optimism.
On Being with Krista Tippett 