PARLEY TALKS
PARLEY TALKS
Everything starts with inspiration. Each Parley Talks session is a curated gathering with a dedicated topic, presented by Parley Speakers to a carefully selected audience.
The talks are meant to give an overview of the State of the Oceans, present a specific cause and garner support for a related initiative or project to effect change.
#PARLEYLIVE: A CONVERSATION SERIES
Voices from our network reflect on the current crisis, the environmental movement and the role of creativity in shaping a better future. Watch on IGTV.
UN X PARLEY – OCEANS. CLIMATE. LIFE.
“We are at war with the oceans. We are destroying the magic blue universe beneath us with the exploitative way we are doing business, before we even really explored it. It’s on us creators, thinkers, leaders to own this problem. And to solve it. Parley for the Oceans is designed as a collaboration space for exactly this process."
To keep the focus on the oceans, our planet's most important climate regulator, in the run-up to COP21, a Parley Talks session and launch event under the title “Oceans. Climate. Life.” was held at the United Nations in New York, on the occasion of the High-Level Meeting on Climate Change convened by the President of the General Assembly.
UN x Parley speakers included: Fabien Cousteau, Cyrill Gutsch, Captain Paul Watson, Louie Psihoyos, Sylvia Earle, David de Rothschild, Iain Kerr, Ora Ito, Chris Jordan, Eric Liedtke, John Warner, Captain Siddarth Chakravarty, Tim Coombs and Dianna Cohen.
SYLVIA EARLE – IN THE SPAN OF A LIFETIME
“We must treat the natural world differently, with respect, literally as if our lives depend on it. Because they do."
Speaking at Parley Wall Street, "Her Deepness" Dr. Sylvia Earle urges us to consider the impacts of ocean plastic pollution, overfishing, acidification and human-driven changes she has witnessed in the span of just 50 years. She reminds us there is a cost not only to what we put into the oceans, but also to what we take out of them — the things we remove from our own life support system.
Dr. Sylvia Earle is a celebrated marine biologist, explorer, author, lecturer and founder of Mission Blue, a global ocean conservation initiative formed in response to her 2009 TED Prize wish. Sylvia was the first female chief scientist of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the first female to walk the seafloor at a depth of 1,250 feet, a feat she famously completed in 1979 wearing an untethered, pressurized JIM suit.
SYLVIA EARLE
Sylvia A. Earle, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society, Founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research (DOER), and former Chief Scientist of NOAA. Author of more than 200 publications, Sylvia has lead countless expeditions and logged 7,000+ underwater hours. Her research focuses on conservation of marine ecosystems.
LOUIE PSIHOYOS – RACING EXTINCTION
“When you’re talking about losing all of nature, it’s not a spectator sport anymore. Everybody has to become active somehow.”
Scientists have confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that we've entered the sixth mass extinction event. They’ve also confirmed we humans are largely to blame. We will be our own asteroid if we continue on the present course of destruction. To our credit, our species has the tools, knowledge and volition to turn this thing around. But first, we need a wake-up call — or a motivating “weapon of mass construction.” Louie Psihoyos uses covert operations and cameras to provide exactly that in his latest film "Racing Extinction."
It may be difficult to confront the realities of mass species die-offs, but it's impossible to ignore the truth once it's illuminated on a screen or projected onto the world's most iconic buildings. Parley is collaborating with Louie and Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) to help take this message further and demonstrate to the world the collective impact of our individual actions.
LOUIE PSIHOYOS
Louie Psihoyos is Executive Director of the Oceanic Preservation Society and Director of the Academy Award winning documentary The Cove. He has been widely regarded as one of the top photographers in the world. He was hired directly out of college to shoot for National Geographic and created images for the magazine for 18 years.
CHRIS JORDAN – MIDWAY: MESSAGE FROM THE GYRE
“I think it takes the most courage of all to feel grief, to grieve what is being lost.”
Nine out of ten seabirds have ingested plastic. By 2050, virtually all seabirds will have plastic in their stomachs. We protect what we love, yet we are failing to protect the earth. Acclaimed photographic artist, filmmaker, and cultural activist Chris Jordan believes this is because we have lost touch with what we love. In his Parley Talk, he builds a powerful case against the most dangerous human tendency: apathy.
To document the consequences of our disconnect from nature, Chris turns his lens on the plight of the albatross at Midway Atoll, more than 1,300 miles from the nearest store yet directly impacted by swirling accumulations of plastic debris at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Gyre. Chris's images of Midway confront the true toll of plastic addiction in today's culture of mass consumption and convenience, inviting the audience to do the same — to consider what we stand to lose, indeed what we're already losing, should we continue to turn away from our emotions.
CHRIS JORDAN
Chris is an acclaimed photographic artist and cultural activist based in Seattle. His work explores contemporary mass culture from a variety of photographic and conceptual perspectives, connecting the viewer viscerally to the enormity and power of humanity’s collective unconscious. His images have been exhibited around the world.
