Be Inspired

Ensia’s live events feature noted authors, journalists, scientists, business leaders, explorers and other thought leaders working on the forefront of solving today’s — and tomorrow’s — most pressing environmental challenges.

Event Spotlight

Ensia recently hosted journalist Marc Gunther for a conversation about his decades-long career covering business, sustainability, non-profits and more.

Gunther is editor at large of Guardian Sustainable Business US and a contributor at Fortune, Ensia and other leading publications. He’s also the author or co-author of four books, including Faith and Fortune: How Compassionate Capitalism Is Transforming American Business (Crown 2004). His most recent book, Suck It Up: How Capturing Carbon From the Air Can Help Solve the Climate Crisis, was published in 2012. A skilled speaker, Gunther has appeared before corporate audiences and at numerous conferences and is the past creator and co-chair of Brainstorm Green, Fortune’s conference on business and the environment.

The conversation with Ensia director Todd Reubold touched on Marc’s career writing about business and sustainability, life as a journalist working with some of the world’s leading publications, his latest work measuring the effectiveness of environmental NGOs, and more.

Future dates and speakers TBA

Past Speakers

Futurist JAMAIS CASCIO

Watch Jamais’ talk

Futurist Jamais Cascio on stage at Ensia Live

Photo by Josh Kohanek.

Cutting carbon emissions won’t be the end of the climate change story. It’s just the beginning. In this compelling talk – “Bots, Bacteria and Carbon” – internationally renowned futurist Jamais Cascio explored the potential course of planet Earth over the next 50 years, painting a picture of what a sustainable, resilient world could look like. Working with multiple future scenarios, he showed the often-unexpected ways in which the choices we make today will shape the decades to come.

Sustainability Expert PEGGY LIU

Watch Peggy’s talk

Portrait: Peggy Liu.

Photo provided by Peggy Liu.

Today China has over 300 million middle class consumers – but that number is expected to grow to more than 800 million by 2025. These changes will put unprecedented pressure on our Earth’s limited natural resources. In this thought-provoking presentation, Peggy Liu, co-founder of the Shanghai-based nonprofit organization JUCCCE and a Time magazine Hero for the Environment, explored efforts she’s leading to re-imagine prosperity and reshape consumerism in China by building a new “China Dream” that preserves resources such as energy, food, land and water for future generations. She also discussed how myth-creation, mass media and collaboration will be keys to transforming lifestyles in China, and around the world.

Global Architect PETER WILLIAMS

Watch Peter’s talk

Portrait: Peter Williams.

Photo by Michael Weschler.

As 60 million people move into cities each year in developing countries, London- and New York-based architect, social entrepreneur and humanitarian Peter Williams showed in this inspiring talk why our planet’s rapid urbanization requires us to think in an entirely new way about design, development and disease. Using stunning visuals and personal stories, Williams took the audience on a tour of the globe from Nigeria to India, Cameroon to Jamaica — and points in between — as he explored this 21st century challenge in a way that refuses to consider living conditions and human health separately, arguing instead for a systemic approach and showing how a greater appreciation of architecture’s role in human well-being could transform the world.

Williams is executive director and founder of Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments (ARCHIVE), an international charity focused on designing and building housing that prevents illness and provides care to the world’s poor.

Sponsors

Thank you to our generous media partners and sponsors for their past support of Ensia Live. For additional sponsorship opportunities, please contact David Doody.