Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
For over 10 years I have worked towards the practical and scalable implementation of the Circular Economy. All my knowledge and experience in this area now comes together in my role as the Executive Producer of a film called ‘Going Circular’, to be released in November 2021. The documentary has two main motivations. One is to educate the public about the Circular Economy. The second is to show people positive solutions and examples of how the Circular Economy can work for the planet and its people, promoting optimism about the future. The film is produced by Ellen Windemuth and inspired by James Lovelock’s so-called GAIA theory. This theory proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. This is a great influence on our thinking because it embodies and prefigures the concept of the Circular Economy. It took me a long time to arrive here. For many years I was an executive and even a global CEO. It was rewarding but I could not help but ask ‘What am I here to do as a human being?’ I took a sabbatical and slept under the stars in the African bush, experiencing oneness with nature that led me to circularity. Initially I aimed to integrate nature and its circular essence into my own life through the Foundation for Natural Leadership in 2007. Then, in 2010, I founded the Circle Economy, an organisation based on a dream in which I saw five circles. Each circle is one of the essential stakeholders that need to work together if we want to achieve system change towards circularity: Business. Government, Finance, Science and Media. Circle Economy has gathered massive amounts of granular data and we use it to advise companies and cities on how to transition to circularity, always stressing that sustainability and profitability can go together. Circular is our only future and I hope the new documentary marks a step towards this as part of a global movement that will convince and inspire the whole world. That’s the main purpose of my LinkedIn profile and activity.
Our mission is to accelerate the practical and scalable implementation of the circular economy. Circularity has a key part to play not only in dramatically reducing our footprint but also in shaping a visionary and practical future for our planet. It is about becoming inspired by the biological processes of nature while retaining value at the heart of every design, manufacturing, and consumer decision – from renewable energy and remanufacturing of used parts, to the ability for reuse designed into everything we consume. Our tools and programs are designed to facilitate decision making and action plans for businesses and governments in a wide range of sectors. Alongside our powerful network of members, strategic partners, sponsors and donors we seek to inspire the hearts and minds of the main stream, from cities and corporations, to entrepreneurs and innovators. Circle Economy provides the HOW to the circular economy - through solutions, roadmaps, insights, and practical tools which businesses and governments need to identify and implement circular strategies.
The Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation (JGLF) was established in June 2017 by Dr. Jane Goodall DBE. The intent of JGLF is to build, invest, and manage an endowment to support programmes of the Jane Goodall Institute including Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Jane’s wish is that future disbursements from the endowment will fuel conservation, research, and educational programs within the Jane Goodall community. JGLF encourages donors to consider funding currently operating programs and chapters within Jane’s existing organizations alongside any investments in her legacy endowment.
PACE is a global community of leaders working together to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. The focus lies on the areas that require deep collaboration between business, government and civil society, creating a space for leaders to work in partnership and overcome challenges together. PACE was created in 2018 by the World Economic Forum, and is now hosted by the World Resources Institute. The three pillars of PACE are (1) Catalyzing global leadership from business, government and civil society, (2) Transforming knowledge into an evidence-based collective action agenda and (3) Advancing projects that are pioneering or scaling the circular economy.
The FNL believes it is time for a new form of leadership: Natural Leadership. By Natural Leadership, we mean the kind of leadership required to make today’s world more sustainable, both socially and ecologically. The kind of leadership required to discover the human potential that lies concealed within our organisations and ourselves. We are a fast growing community. Over 700 members have already joined, and we hope to enrol at least 2,500 new leaders onto our unique Wilderness Leadership Transformation Programmes by 2020. The aim of those programmes and of several other initiatives is to accelerate the adoption of Natural Leadership skills by people and organisations.
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in partnership with governments and local communities. We currently manage 19 national parks and protected areas in 11 countries, covering more than 14.7 million hectares: Amongst others these are Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Zambia.