Humans have been exploiting the planet's natural resources since the dawn of civilization. This week’s guest on Before IT Happened, Troy Carter, would argue that even the term ‘natural resources’ is exploitative in and of itself. Co-founder and CEO of Earthshot Labs, a venture-funded non-profit backed by the National Science Foundation, Troy Carter joins host Donna Loughlin on the show to talk about his work repairing the planet through nature restoration, forest protection, and the conservation of ecosystems.
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(02:22) - Troy Carter, a man of nature - “My relationship with nature has always been a really strong part of my life.”
(07:19) - Troy's mission at Earthshot Labs - "We do nature restoration projects all over the world. And we work with tribes, community groups, governments, and NGOs that are doing nature restoration projects."
(14:15) - Humans, science, and Artificial Intelligence come together to save the earth and "understand the past and understand the current ecological state, and then predict the future under different interventions, different climate scenarios and understand the risks of what's going to happen."
(17:29) - Nature restoration’s impact on other areas of development - "If we can heal the relationship with the whole and each person feels connected, feels belonging on the planet, that will change everything about the way humanity develops in the coming centuries."
(24:10) - Nature’s independent right to exist - "That is the deeper motivation for why we're building an organization to restore nature: to address climate change, to restore human livelihoods, to restore indigenous land agency."
(28:11) - Hope for the future - “Resilience is a word that’s thrown around a lot. And what it means is that human lives and humans can thrive, and ecosystems can thrive independent of macro factors. So let's build resilient systems.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Troy Carter on LinkedIn and Twitter
Learn more about Eartshot Labs
Follow Earthshot Labs on Twitter
Learn more about Earthshot Institute
Get Paul Hawken’s book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Watch the trailer for Reviving Rivers, with Dr Rajendra Singh the Waterman of India
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Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Susanna Camp.
