Vita Sapien - At COP15 in Montréal

Join Nick Bestevaar in conversation with Paul Beckwith about Vita Sapien, an organization designed to introduce and advance a new philosophy that seeks to connect people spiritually to nature, intellectually to Earth system science, and through practice, to make the world a safer place for life. The conversation took place at the UN Conference on Biodiversity, COP15, held in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

This video was recorded on December 12th, 2022, and published on February 24th, 2023.

Some of the topics discussed:

• Nick Bestevaar, a director of Vita Sapien, introduces himself and talks about how he met Guy Lane, the founder and chairman of Vita Sapien, and got involved with the organization.
• How Vita Sapien became Nick’s main vehicle for appreciating nature and living a spiritual life.
• Vita Sapien’s concept of ‘imperium Vitae Planeta’, a term for the biosphere, and how it is conceptualized as more of a spiritual belief and that all life on Earth can be considered cells in the body of the planetary body of life. This is contrasted with James Lovelock’s scientific hypothesis about the planet.
• Vita Sapien’s belief that it is beholden on us to do everything that we can to look after our home and to look after the greater body that we are all part of and its quest to awaken people to the amazing interconnectedness between different life forms, different ecosystems, and different natural processes.
• How, one way or another, we’re going to have to transform our society. Great changes are going to come, and how it’s really up to us how we fashion the future that’s ahead of us.
• How Vita Sapien is really meant to be as a complement to other religious practices, religious beliefs or spiritual practices that people may have.
• And much more . . .

Links:

• vitasapien.org

• James Lovelock

• Gaia Hypothesis

• Geophysiology, the science of Gaia

• Imperium vitae-planeta

• The Quenn Pendant

• Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene

• Climate Endgame: Exporing cataltrophic climate change scenarios

• Climate Endgame (CEF Video)

• Eco Grief (CEF Video)

• Vita Sapien Philosophy

• Bringing Religion to Bear on the Climate Emergency (CEF Video)

Special Guest:

• Nick Bestevaar - A Director of Vita Sapien, and International admissions officer at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Regular Panelist:

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

Video Production:

• Charles Gregoire - Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP28 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Acknowledgement:

We’d like to acknowledge these two organizations without which our attendance at COP15 in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, would not have been possible.

• Vita Sapien
• Facing Future

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: crowander.com

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions