Adaptation: Creatively Living on a Changing Planet (A Sneak Peek at the Upcoming PBS Docuseries "Adaptation")

Women-led, award-winning media company Hidden Compass is proud to present its inaugural Speaker Series! Join us for our first event!

As climate change imposes a disturbing new normal on our global landscapes, there are places around the world where remarkable examples of adaptation have become the bedrock of survival and growth. With support from National Geographic, The Redford Center, and PBS, explorer, filmmaker, and scientist Alizé Carrère has documented what’s possible in places such as Madagascar, Bangladesh, India, Vanuatu, Norway, and the United States. As creator, producer, and host of the upcoming PBS docuseries, Adaptation, Carrère shares her experiences from the field looking at human ingenuity and resourcefulness in the face of environmental adversity. She details how human adaptation has been — and will continue to be — essential for our survival on earth.

Alizé Carrère is a National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker, and PhD candidate researching and documenting human adaptations to environmental change. From growing up in a house wrapped around a 300-year-old oak tree, to working on water resource management between Israel and Palestine, Carrère has learned firsthand what it means to live in a dynamic environment. In 2013, Carrère received support from National Geographic to conduct research in Madagascar, where she found a greater story of creativity and resourcefulness amongst the oft-repeated narrative of climate doom. This work has culminated in a four-part PBS film series of which Carrère is the creator, producer, and host. The series, which will be released later this year, covers innovative adaptation techniques in Bangladesh, the United States, Vanuatu and India. Carrère is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Miami in Ecosystem Science & Policy. Her research focuses on climate change utopias, or “climatopias” — the forward-looking plans that architects, designers and futurists are drawing up in response to imminent environmental change.

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Full Series Description

From July through November, five world-renowned speakers, storytellers, and explorers will present on humanity’s most pressing challenges and sit with Hidden Compass’s co-founders in nuanced conversation. National Geographic Explorer, filmmaker, and researcher Alizé Carrère begins the series by taking us to Bangladesh, the United States, Vanuatu, and India and giving us a sneak peek of her upcoming PBS docuseries, “Adaptation,” for which she is the creator, producer and host. Then, global peace advocate, cultural educator, author, TED Fellow, and entrepreneur Aziz Abu Sarah brings us to zones of conflict — from his hometown of Jerusalem to the more than 60 countries where he has worked as a peace builder — and shows us how socially responsible travel can bridge the divide. Next, internationally acclaimed glaciologist, climate scientist, and polar explorer Dr. Paul Andrew Mayewski leads us through five decades of scientific expeditions that have probed the extremes of landscape and ethics and have led to an age that will define the course of civilization and the future of the planet. Hidden Compass co-founders Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann will then sit in conversation with Mexico-based photojournalist Meghan Dhaliwal to discuss her challenges reporting at the US-Mexico border, where she has covered breaking news such as the caravans of 2018, family separation, and pregnant asylum seekers for outlets such as The New York Times — and discovered what it’s like to be a human covering such gripping and emotional stories. Our final speaker of the series is currently chronicling stories from unexpected frontiers. More details to come. We're excited. Stay tuned!

These hour-long talks and discussions showcase how each of these influential speakers align with the Hidden Compass mission: to forge an alliance to turn storytellers and explorers into heroes and champion a new age of discovery. For more detailed information, visit https://hiddencompass.net/events

*Full Speaker Series purchase includes an electronic copy of Aziz Abu Sarah’s new book, Crossing Boundaries: A Traveler’s Guide to World Peace.

Crossing Boundaries: A Traveler’s Guide to World Peace, Berrett-Koehler publishers
In this moving and powerful book, Aziz relates his experiences of creating cross-cultural connections in places like Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, Russia, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Readers discover that travel has the transformational power to heal divides, increase tolerance and make the world a more peaceful place.