4 of my favorite speakers from C2 Montreal 2016

Meet - June 15, 2016

C2 was better than ever. More going on, more food, better organized. Really incredible group of people there. The Hatch group were there and they are so much fun. They really give C2 a real boost. My personal highlight was, of course, my daughter Elora. Because of C2’s history with Cirque Du Soleil, the audiovisual is incredible. When I saw Elora standing in her pictures, it was incredible. Standing in her work or even in a picture with me. Her talk was beautiful. It really emphasized the importance of people connecting with the earth when they build.

David Suzuki was so clear and eloquent. He is Canada’s original environmentalist. His show has been running since 1960. I got to meet him personally; he is amazing. The main takeaway from his talk was that the tides, the winds and the rotation of the earth are all things we really can’t change, although we are messing with them. But artificial systems, like the market, can be changed. And Suzuki pushed that point home by standing in a virgin forest in BC with a lumber company executive. The executive says, “If you don’t want us to cut them down, then you give us the money. We need them in the market!”. And David Suzuki’s answer was very simple: you made the market, you can change the market. These trees should not be cut down, for the long term benefit of the bottom line. So, the bottom line is that these artificial things we made that we use an an excuse for raping the planet, are just things we made. David’s message is clear- figure out how to change those systems because they are man-made.

David Suzuki on stage at C2 Montreal

Seeing Nadya Hutagalung on the stage was a moving experience. She is truly one of the few people that made it through the fashion/modeling world with a cause and caring about something other than the superficial. She is an incredible model for the whole industry to start doing something meaningful instead of getting lost in the loop of looking good. I salute Nadya for being a pioneer.

Suroosh Alvi, Co-Founder of VICE was incredible. I was also lucky enough to meet him. He is truly a guy who doesn’t give up and doesn’t stand between conventional walls. Aside from admitting publicly for the first time that he got the idea for VICE in rehab, he also told the story of how he promised that if he got ads from only two people for that first edition, he’d publish it. And he did. That was the beginning of VICE. It was a very beautiful moment when he gave that to us. VICE is so exciting; they are not canned talking heads reporting the news based on the wishes of the corporations and politicians. I was really excited to meet the guy who started it all.

A short interview with David Suzuki at C2 Montreal: