From Cello to Climate: Rebecca Foon's Harmonious Fight for a Sustainable World

I just remember being extremely touched by his energy. And I believe he practiced Zen Buddhism. I was just actually asked— I was just in Japan with my friend Noel, and we were going to a bunch of different temples. And we met a monk, a friend of a friend, who like took us around and was sharing his experience about being a Zen Buddhist. And his energy really reminded me I could— I can feel a similarity.

Welcome to Driving Impact. Hi, Rebecca. Welcome to Driving Impact.

Hi, I'm so happy to be here.

We're so thrilled to be here, super excited, especially about your background because you're a musician, you were a cellist, a composer, and a singer. On top of that, you're a climate activist. You created a few not-for-profit organizations which brought us to discover you. And then thirdly, you're a businesswoman. You also have built yoga businesses and we want to hear all about it. So welcome to Driving Impact, Rebecca, and I'm so excited. And I was listening to your song with Patrick Watson, Vessel. And I met Patrick Watson back in the days in Montreal. Love his music and love the collaboration.

He just called right when we started. Yeah. Oh, that's so nice.

He knew that we were going to talk about him.

Exactly.

He knew I was listening to the song. It's an amazing career. And you also won a couple of Junos because you worked with different bands as well.

Thank you. Thank you so much. It's so nice to be here. I'm so happy to be here.

We're so excited. So I think I wanted to start. So you have a long list of accomplishments, which we will unfold in the next hour, but I really wanted to start at the beginning. And it's a question that we ask at Driving Impact to every single guest is, how were you as a kid? So we want to go back to little Rebecca. Who did you want to be when you were growing up?

It's so sweet. Well, I was really lucky because I went to a public school that had a music program, a strings program in particular. So I, I don't think I really knew anything, but like fumbling around life and getting introduced to things helped me kind of find new passions and inspirations. So I was really lucky that I went to this public school that had a string program, and I saw little kids playing the cello because I'd never—

I didn't—

I don't come from a musical background, background family. Yeah, so my, my parents are writers and in the arts, and but not in music. And so I've told— I really distinctively remember being 8 or maybe like 6 years old and seeing the cello for the first time and totally falling in love with the cello.

Was it your first instrument that you got in contact with?

It was the first one I got in contact. I always loved the piano, but I never took lessons as a kid. But the cello really hit me hard when I saw it. And so, and I was so lucky because we had— I had the choice to be able to take lessons and learn it as a kid through my public school. So I always knew I wanted to be a musician because of that, and I fell in love with improvising as a kid as well.

So can I pause you a second? I want to know what was the moment when you saw the cello for the first time?

Was it like, I just distinctly remember being in like at recess at 6 years old outside playing. I'm from Vancouver, so I was playing outside Vancouver with the kids, and I remember seeing the bigger kids bringing because it started in grade 4, the string program. And I distinctively remember the bigger kids carrying the cello. It was like such a striking instrument, right? It's huge. Like the bass is huge. The cello is less huge, but it's still huge. But you can put it as a backpack and it's— it kind of like eats up the whole kid, you know, from the back. And I just distinctively remember being like, what is that? And then seeing the kids rehearse in the hallways and seeing the cello. And there's something about the cello, about it being almost human size. And yeah, it's so big.

It's like a little kid that you would— a kid would carry on their back.

Exactly. And I just fell in love with the sound. And the sound is so close to the human voice. And I just remember it resonating with me in my heart. Like, I was like, wow, what is that instrument? So moving. Love at first sight.

So love at first sight. So from that moment, you knew you were going to play the cello.

But did you know how? I knew I had the opportunity and I could convince my parents, who very much thought it was a bad idea because they're like, why would you play the cello when you can play the violin? It's so much smaller.

Yeah. So my sister plays violin, so they were like, just do like your sister, play violin. It's small. We already have all the structure for success. Like, no, I want to play cello. And they're like, okay, that's going to take a lot of space. It's going to be loud.

She's actually younger, so she got— I think she got pushed into the violin at a young age but fell in love with the violin, so it's all good.

Is she a musician now?

Yeah, she's a musician as well. Classical classical music. She's amazing, classical musician and composer.

So both of you, it's amazing.

Yeah, and we actually, just to bring it up, we started playing music— she's 16 years younger than me, and so just recently we started collaborating together, and we just made our first album together that will be coming out, um, this year.

So what is the name of the album? Give us the scoop.

I don't know if we have the title yet, but it's We'll see. It's— we're still working on it, but it'll be out most likely in December.

In December 2024.

Yeah, I'm bored.

Stay tuned.

So, like, Rebecca Foon and Aliyeh Tafoon Denkos.

It's a beautiful name. Yeah, we're excited. Cannot wait to hear the collaboration.

Yeah.

So you had this first pivotal moment where you fell in love with the cello and you knew you were gonna play the cello. And then what brought you— what other pivots brought you to have a musical career?

A musical career? Well, I remember going to Banff. Do you know Banff Centre of the Arts in Canada? Yeah. And I remember going there in high school, and I was lucky. I went with, like, a whole group of cellists, and we were there to learn classical music. But then also there was some teachers there that were interested in improvisation. And so because I was studying— my background is classical, I had no taste of improv or jazz or anything other than classical. And so when I was there, I tasted improvisation and like really fell in love with improv. And I distinctively remember that moment because I knew I wasn't gonna— my road was not classical. Down the classical path. But because I play cello, it's a confusing road, especially at that time in the '90s when like, yeah, there wasn't like a whole world of music, especially in the cello string landscape outside of classical music.

So you were going to follow this very classical path. Yeah, that's all I knew.

Yeah. And so being introduced to improv made me realize like, Wow, I actually have a love here and a desire to explore this, to explore music outside of classical music.

And so that's not— everybody can feel like comfortable free-flowing and, and not just following the partitions.

Exactly.

You felt the calling of like, I want to improv, I want to go with the flow, I want to see what it's going to bring me, I want to create like that.

Yeah, I felt a calling and Yeah, and it came naturally to me. And so that's where I started playing with bands. You know, I also distinctly remember seeing Nirvana play when I was in high school, and they had a cellist, and it was the first time that I ever saw a cello player playing with a band. It was before— I think they were getting famous, but it was still like a pretty small venue. And so I was like right up close watching the cellist play with Nirvana, and I was like, whoa, you can do that? You can play cello in a band? I want to join a band. And so after that, I found a band in high school and then, um, moved to Montreal and, and started playing with like dancers and joined a punk rock band and started like entering the music world. But I also distinctively remember taking a master class with Yo-Yo Ma in high school, and he also was kind of pivotal to even though he's like very much in the classical world, he's such a creative thinker and really thinks outside of the box in terms of—

How did you get across this class given by Yo-Yo Ma?

I was just lucky because I studied at the conservatory in Vancouver and they brought him in to do a master class with the cellists studying at the conservatory at the time. And he was so humble. I just remember I went up to him after, because he was playing, played some Bach cello suites and different things. But just the way he was talking about architecture and music and space and energy, I just hadn't heard anyone talk about music so creatively and holistically and open. And it moved me so much. And I went up to him after and was like, that was so incredible. You inspired me so much. And he was so humble and was so generous and was like, are you sure that was okay? 'Do you think I did an okay job?' What?

Yo-Yo Ma experiencing self-doubt.

Exactly. And there's— I'll never forget it. There was something about that interaction that just moved me so profoundly and shaped my desire to explore. It really opened up my curiosity about music and like growth as an artist and humility.

And from what you said, it feels like he was talking about music, cello, but also he was talking about architecture and the arts, right? Like a multi-halphenate in terms of fashion. Sometimes you're an artist, but you're, you're an artist in multiple genres. And just like you, what brought you to here where you are today? So you had this first cello encounter, then you met with Yo-Yo Ma and you took a class with him. So how— what brought you to move from Vancouver to Montreal?

So interesting. Yeah, so I— it's funny, I, I was actually just talking to my sister about this, about destiny, if there is a destiny. Because I had applied to 5 universities. I knew I wanted to go to university, and one of them was in Vancouver, and they were all in Canada. And the only one I didn't get into was Vancouver. And if I had gotten in, it was UBC. And if I had gotten into UBC, I would have stayed in Vancouver. But so the other ones were in Kingston and Toronto and Montreal. And I knew of those cities, I wanted to be in Montreal. So So I was kind of— Montreal chose me in a sense because I didn't get into the university I would have got, would have stayed in, or would have got, would have gone to.

It forced you out of the nest and that's where sometimes you create different paths and experiences. You're exposed to, exposed to the French language, of course, from Quebec, but also the culture.

Yeah.

And so which school did you go to in Montreal?

So I went to McGill and I did general arts there, but I also did music technology. A double degree. And that was really interesting because I chose to not go into classical. I wasn't quite good enough to— like, I knew I wasn't quite good enough to— because classical music is so competitive. And I had started at 8 years old in a public school program with kind of a crappy teacher and then had to like— and then I went to the conservatory and had to relearn all my technique and everything. I had I was behind the game. Like, I wasn't competitive with all those kids starting at 3, right? With like the best teacher.

It's so competitive. And I'm saying yes, yes, because I started piano when I was like 4 or 5 and played until I was 18 and I never became good. But I'd never stumbled into pop music or jazz or fun stuff. So it was always Chopin and Mozart and stuff.

Interesting. Right.

Well, so I understand because you go to all of these shows and it's like there's those kids who are just like very technical and, and very like, they feel like they're geniuses. They have worked early, they started very early playing piano or whichever classical instrument, and they become masters very early. So I understand what you mean by saying, you know, you went to McGill but you didn't choose a classical part because it's extremely technical as well. But I also feel like your heart was a bit like wanted to explore different, uh, genres. They're just classical music as well.

Yeah, and it's so interesting, like, coming back to that idea of, like, one's path. And because I was heartbroken that I had started cello at the age of 8 and not at the age of 3 or 4, like, for years and years and years, because it was like those 4 or 5 years kind of cost me my classical career in my, my head. And for years I was heartbroken. I would see at McGill in the music— because I was in the music school— I would see all these students studying performance, and I felt like it hurt my heart because I was like, oh man, I like never had that chance. But it's so interesting because I really like— in today's world, I don't have that heartbreak anymore because I know that path is not my path. So it's almost like there was something protecting me to not have started cello at 3 years old.

So funny, because I was going to say, does it matter, right? So we have some famous actors who start when they're like 60 years old and they, that's when they start their career. And I know music, you, you, it's, it's a different, uh, story, but there's a principle of like, let's say you start today playing music. No, don't think about the next year. Think about the next 40 years. Exactly. And that gives you a bit more room to, to become a master eventually. But I think this pressure of making everything happen in the first 3 to 5 years is, is extremely heavy.

Yeah, exactly. And I don't know if I had pursued classical, I don't know if I would've ever found my love of composition and singing and and exploring, creating music as opposed— like, I mean, composing music.

And then let's talk a little bit about the bands, because you went to university, and then how did you meet all of these bands and launch yourself? How did you start your musical career? Because school is very different than performing and launching albums and getting a record deal.

So I started— I remember there was a dance program at Concordia, and I was starting to get asked to play with dancers. At Concordia, and that's where I started like composing on the cello. And I really loved, um, dance as an expression, as an art— artistic platform for emotion and, and also inspiration for, for composing. And then I met a group of women that had this punk band called Queen Sai Shag, and they asked me to play cello in it. And so I started playing with them, and then we were rehearsing at this loft on Van Horne in Mile End in Montreal called Hotel de Tango. I love Mile End. Yeah, it's so beautiful, isn't it? It's so gorgeous. Anyway, so I was starting to rehearse at Hotel de Tango and I don't know, do you know the band Godspeed You Black Emperor from Montreal? So they were rehearsing there as well. And so I came, I started to meet some of them and Ephraim, who's in Godspeed, eventually asked me to— he said he had started this new project called Silver Mount Zion and then asked me to join it. And so that's how I kind of fell into playing with Silver Mount Zion. And I was in that band for 8 years, I think, in Montreal through my 20s, through all of my 20s. And then while playing with Silver Mount Zion, I started also doing like some other projects like Esmerine, who—

Which one did you know?

Yeah, just this year and a few years ago too with my friend Bruce. We co-founded it together, who was the drummer in Godspeed at the time.

It's not a small feat.

Aww, that's so nice.

Juno Award in Canada.

I'm so grateful because that album, we wrote it while my mom was dying of cancer, and so it was quite a sad time. And that album is dedicated to my mom, and she passed away, and then we won the Juno. It was— it felt like, you know, if there's any album to win a Juno, it felt very, very moving that, like, it touches, um— it just felt— feels like a way of— she loved music, and I feel like I can connect with her on some spiritual level through music. So it's just very sweet that that album was One of them, that one with Juno.

It's like an honor for her as she, she's moving away from, from life, right?

Yeah, exactly.

Leverage all that energy, create that album, and, um, and the emotions from, from the journey as well. Congratulations.

Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, any other people that you met that were pivotal in your career? Because sometimes it's like there's people Yeah, leave a big impression on you and then you find your path, your calling, however you want to call it, your purpose or your next step in your career.

Well, there's maybe two in particular. One, I remember being in the studio with Silver Mount Zion and Leonard Cohen had heard that we were recording in the studio and I think he was kind of like interested in, at the time, I think it was '74 and he was just making his last album.

And—

or yeah, I think it was the last album. And he was putting together a band to take on tour. And if I remember the story correctly, I think there was an article that came out that said Silver Mount Zion and Leonard Cohen should make an album together, or he had like heard about Silver Mount Zion or something, like read something that made him want to come to the studio. And so he came to the studio and he came two days in a row. And he watched us record. For 3 hours and then came back the next day. And my partner at the time was also in Silver Mountain Zion, and I remember he sat with him and told him his whole story in terms of the last few years and his manager, told us all sorts of things. But he was so, again, like Yo-Yo Ma, there was something about him that was just so humble and elegant with his little hat. He kept getting off the couch and offering me a seat. And it was—

Leonard Cohen just decided to squat your recording session. Nobody's going to kick him out because it's like, hey, it's Leonard Cohen.

Yeah. Even though everyone's like a bit grumpy and like trying to compose and it's like, oh God.

Did you feel the pressure of recording when he was in the room?

I just remember being extremely touched by his energy. And I believe he practices Zen Buddhism. I was— and I was just actually asked there. I was just in Japan with my friend Noel, and we were going to, um, a bunch of different temples, and we met a monk, a friend of a friend of a friend, who like took us around and, um, was sharing his experience about being a Zen Buddhist. And his energy really reminded me.

I could—

I can feel a similarity.

What was the energy like?

You know, an observation, observation of like kind of sitting back from your life and observing, observing the, the situation, observing the energy, the human experience, the human emotions.

I feel like wisdom.

Yeah, a wisdom and a profound depth that comes to that. And that really hit me, that, that energy. And it's— yeah, so I guess like the Yo-Yo Ma energy was more like a creative, open energy, but in a humility. And Leonard Cohen's energy was more like— it definitely felt like a meditative practice, like an observation and, um, a peace, a peacefulness.

He was at peace, he was in the moment, he was really truly listening, so he was present and he was absorbing Very present in his life and the experience around him.

It's very profound, subtle and profound. It's interesting.

I still remember to this day this—

that energy.

Yeah, that energy, transformative experience. Yeah, it's interesting how energies can lift you up or drain you. And that was a very— like, some of this very successful musicians that you talked about have found a way to sit with themselves and and have this prevalent Zen enlightening energy and peace.

And I think being intimate sometimes with a person, even if it's just for a few hours in life, it can transform. You can taste something that you can hold dear in your heart and stay— keep with you that can transform your journey. In that band, um, We played with Patti Smith a few times. We did a few shows with Patti Smith.

And can you tell us who's Patti Smith? I want to make sure everybody knows.

Yeah, well, she's an amazing legendary icon musician from the States and currently living in New York. And Ornette Coleman, at the time he was alive, a famous jazz musician, had asked to do There's this Meltdown series. I don't know if it still exists, but I think it— I don't think it exists anymore. But this Meltdown series in London where they would ask someone to curate a festival, and Ornette Coleman had invited Patti Smith, and Patti Smith had invited Flea and Silver Mount Zion and a few other— Adrian Utley, I think, a few other from Portishead, a few other musicians. And Patti is such an incredible inspiration because she has such a prolific career in terms of her in terms of music and art and photography and writing, prolific writer, beautiful writer. Anyway, and her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, was at this concert, the second— oh, so sorry— the second concert that we had done together. And so I met Jesse, and Jesse was very interested in climate climate change. And when was that?

What were the years?

2009 in London.

2009. So you went into that. So multiple musicians, and hearing your stories, like similar birds flock together. One musician invited the other band, who invited the other band, and all of these people were hanging out. And that's where you met Jesse. Yeah, he's a climate activist. So tell us more about that encounter.

Yeah, so I, I remember distinctively seeing her at the piano and being so moved by her piano playing, and I, I was so struck by her energy as well. And then we connected, and, um, just, just as like we exchanged contacts and just connected musically because we were performing together with her mom.

Okay.

And then I came back to Montreal and years went by And, but we kept in touch and we both noticed that each other were very interested in climate change, like through Facebook and through—

Social media.

Social media, yeah. So then in 2014, there was the climate march in New York City, and it was the biggest climate march that had existed at the time. It was like a huge deal and hundreds of thousands of people taking the streets. And And she wanted to organize a concert. And so we were putting— she asked me if I wanted to help her put on this concert. And I said, "Absolutely. I'm so interested in integrating music with climate change." Yeah. And so we decided to like pull together last minute, 4 days before the march, pull together this tiny concert at the Poisson Rouge in New York City, this like this venue in the basement in the West Village. And we invited a bunch of people, like cold-called Bill McKibben, who said yes, and Michael Stipe from REM, and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth. Wow. It was amazing. And Patty was there, and we were there, and it was just like an incredible, incredible evening that came together very quickly. And and it was the first time we met Bill McKibben. And we did this event, and we were just very inspired by what Bill had to say, and also just the energy of all these people that just cared so much.

And we were like, kind of like tapping into a collective energy of, um, artists, like, being conscious all at the same time during the march and wanted to connect via music. I like the fact that The name of the bar is Le Poisson Rouge.

I know, I know.

In French, in New York. So you put it together at this Poisson Rouge venue. We had like celebrities for Ariane, Billie, you, like, and what happened at that moment?

Yeah, so it was just, we felt like we tapped into kind of almost like a collective consciousness or a desire to help. Build or fuel a movement around the importance of really talking about climate change, because this is 2014, so this is before the Paris Agreement. And so then we realized, and through Bill, he wrote this article in the Rolling Stones about— Rolling Stone— about how, um, the December talks in Paris in 2015, um, around the Paris Agreement were like the most important Talks and like, yeah, everything we're doing right now, the moment. Exactly. And everything that we can do right now as a society and as an individual needs to be around like propelling this forward. And so we decided to actually— we called it Pathway to Paris.

And that's one of the nonprofits.

And that's one of the nonprofits. Yeah, exactly. And so we—

from this Poisson Rouge— and I want to make sure for the audience that people know who—

yeah.

Billy is— sorry, it's my French accent.

Or Paddy, or— oh, Bill McKibben.

Yeah, Billy McKibben.

Yeah, perfect. Yeah, so he wrote the first book, uh, on climate change, and he, um, is a prolific writer. He writes a lot for The New Yorker and has written many, many books. And he also has a Substack that I highly recommend if anyone's interested to check out where he talks about it. We'll link it in the Yeah, amazing. Anyway, he's an incredible thinker, writer, and he started 350.org and now Third Act, which is another nonprofit dedicated to activating seniors in climate politics and climate engagement, basically.

That's amazing. So 2014, everybody's at the Poisson Rouge, people are marching in the streets. It's right before the Treaty of Paris.

Yeah.

And now the Paris Agreement is happening. And that, like, just, you were in that perfect moment to, when that collective awareness, to also launch the Pathway to Paris. Who did you launch this nonprofit with?

With Jessie, with Patti's daughter. So Jessie Paris-Smith. So we did it together from the beginning. And we decided we wanted to put on this big concert. In Paris during the climate talks in December 2015 to try to push for the Paris Agreement to be established because it wasn't established. And we were nervous. I remember being— after what happened with Copenhagen before the COPs, I was really nervous at the time that the Paris Agreement would not— and Kyoto, like looking at the history of it all.

It looked grim.

It looked— yeah, exactly. And so we wanted to do whatever we can well, integrating arts and culture into the movement to try to really push for the Paris Agreement to be established. And so we put two concerts on in Paris on December 4th and 5th in 2015 and brought people from all around the world, including Thom Yorke and Radiohead was like just about to put out a new album and Thom Yorke performed some songs from the album that were like no one had heard yet. And Patti and Flea were there, and Naomi Klein and Vandana Shiva, um, and Bill McKibben. Anyway, a whole, a whole group of people. But it was a very interesting moment because there was the Bataclan attacks and the whole city got shut down. And we were at that same concert. Yeah, it was right before, I think it was like December 1st or something. It was very—

3 days before the concert.

Yeah, or maybe a week before. It was, it was very soon. We can look it up, but it was very soon. It was right before it all happened, and I couldn't believe it. I was like, oh my God, are we going to have to cancel? Yeah, we had two sold-out concerts, and like, it was crazy. And so, and the whole city got shut down, but somehow we were allowed to still do our concerts.

So you still were able to do your concerts even though they were shut down? How many people attended to these concerts?

It wasn't huge. It was at this venue called Le Trianon, so it was a few thousand per night. Um, but we live streamed and did a whole bunch of press around it. So when the Paris Agreement was established, it was a huge, a huge celebration for us. We were so happy because we had just put so much energy in to try to like highlight the importance of it.

It's important, and I want to go back to understanding what Pathway to Paris does. And I put some notes here. So Pathway to Paris, you want to create a sustainable world One city at a time with a focus on getting cities 100% fossil fuel free by 2040. That's very, very ambitious.

Yeah.

And also like referring back to the Paris Agreement, where the Paris Agreement, the goal is to really get to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Yeah.

Which, which is the goal. So now we talked about the origin of Pathway to Paris, understand about the concept, but like spending some time trying to understand what exactly you do. I played with the Thousand Cities Carbon Freedom Calculator. I mean, I love calculators. I thought it was great. I just wanted to talk a little bit more about carbon. And for our audience, we had multiple interviews with multiple guests, and yes, most people agree that climate change and climate action is overly complex for people to take the actions that they could take, which could be simplified. Um, so let's talk about carbon, and I want to make sure that you're going to be a teacher, I'm going to be a student. Okay, first concept, carbon budget. And, and researching this, I thought it was super interesting. So we have to imagine the Earth as if it was a giant bank, a giant bank account, and then carbon budget being like a financial budget for the Earth's atmosphere. And then it's a way to track how much carbon dioxide, CO2, are the main greenhouse gas causing climate change, are emitting. So, and how many we can emit before reaching a dangerous level of global warming. So that's the overarching, um, concept of having a carbon budget. Now, with the Carbon Freedom Calculator, how do you assign a carbon budget by country? How did you decide France versus Canada versus United States?

Yeah, so our carbon budget, um, calculator is, is linked to the whole concept of aligning with the Paris Agreement of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, which is getting more and more challenging as the years go by, right? Because more and more emissions are getting put into the atmosphere and—

It's kind of a moving target.

Yeah, exactly. So when we established— this calculator is now a few years old and our targets of 2040 were established in 20— we launched 1,000 Cities in 2017 at the UN. In order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5, we came up with those targets of that. If cities can come up with climate action plans and implementation strategies that go net zero by 2040, then we can meet this target of 1.5. Yeah. And so the whole idea of what you're talking about with a global carbon budget, it's the maximum amount of allowable emissions. And for us with this calculator, That's, that's connected to 1.5 of, okay, the global temperature rise to 1.5.

So, so basically, did you calculate how many, how much this each city is producing, and then they have a target in terms of reduction to withdraw or like reduce exactly that CO2 in the air? And so that's what you did. And then how's it going in order, in order to meet 1.5?

But, but there's one other One other little equation, a part of that is a fair share idea of that. So if we look at if the world is like a pie and all the countries have a little bit of the pie in terms of emissions that they're allowed to emit, so a fair share understanding of it is looking at also what emissions have happened in the past for each country. So because so many countries, so for example, the United States or Canada have emitted way more emissions than, say, a country in Africa. And also looking at the current wealth of a country. So this fair share idea, it just means that countries like, for example, America or Canada would have more aggressive targets. Because if you look at the past and the emissions that have been put, that they've already put into the atmosphere—

They're emitting more than some of the smallest countries. And some of the stats talk about the fact that The impact is oftentimes on the smaller countries or continents that don't have as many resources as the big countries, the Canada, US, the UK. But then we're all emitting more than, than the small countries, and the other countries have more resources to solve the problem.

To solve the problem, exactly. Yeah.

Do you see, like, what is the progress made, uh, so far since you launched a calculator?

Well, there's been a lot of So as we've seen, like, climate change is much more in the news. It's much more mainstream. Like, most people know now what the Paris Agreement is. At the time, I felt like nobody knew what the Paris Agreement was, or the COPs, the United Nations meetings every November around climate change. And so, and also climate action plans. So a big part of what Pathways' mandate is, is to support cities in developing climate action plans that are ambitious and best practice plans and putting those into implementation to cut emissions and to go eventually net zero. And so now there's a lot more funding, like in the States, there's now a ton of funding going into supporting cities to create climate action plans. So that Because of funding, that's allowing the movement to grow in terms of cities actually creating climate action plans. Because it's expensive to create a climate action plan because you have to look at greenhouse gas emissions per sector and develop a lot of models.

And so who does that? Who creates a climate? Is it like a consulting firm that's like, okay, yeah, it's usually consulting firms.

And so Thousand Cities has a technical team of climate consultants. That help support cities that are in need of support in terms of developing climate action plans. But now we're getting to a point where a lot of cities are actually making climate action plans. And so we're kind of entering a second phase now where it's really about turning these climate action plans into implementation because we're running out of time, right? It's always a race against time, this whole problem.

So they took what, how many years?

It took 5 to 8 years just to create the plan, to create the plans and actually the climate action plan.

And now they're like, okay, we're gonna get started.

Now we gotta meet these targets.

Oh my goodness.

Which is a whole other thing, right? Because it costs billions of dollars to help a city go off of fossil, to transition off of fossil fuels. Because we're really like moving out of an era, a whole era of fossil fuels into renewable era.

It's a paradigm shift, right? It's kind of like—

Exactly.

Industrial Revolution brought us all this amazing— I mean, not amazing, brought us all of this, these processes that now we realize are detrimental to the Earth. And then re-engineering these hundreds of years of, of industrial revolution, like, that's what I'm hearing from you, is that they have to figure out with all the infrastructures that they have, have to create a plan that's actually, actually going to help reduce carbon emission, but knowing that the whole all of our society is relying on the old infrastructure.

Exactly. And a lifespan of a building is usually around 100 years or more. And so when you put— when a city puts a lot of money into building a building or a bridge or whatever it is, you have to consider that this is going to be there for a long time. So it's way more efficient. So now in terms of new construction, it's really an opportunity for cities to think about everything that's being built, there's all the retrofits that need to happen, but also, um, new development that needs to be thought about in terms of an opportunity to go, to help make that shift out of the era of fossil fuels into a renewable era.

So that's the exciting part is that moving forward, the cities could decide to build differently such that the, the buildings are like net zero emission proof. They can be LEED certified, et cetera. I think looking backwards of everything that was built before. Do you— have you heard any stories of like good transformation of taking old buildings or old processes and making sure that they can emit less carbon?

Yes, absolutely. And, and there's so many different sectors involved in this, but in terms of the green building sector, absolutely. There's a whole— well, LEED, LEED Building started it with, with green building in terms of looking at coming up with a whole standard system in terms of buildings, either new construction, new development, or LEED for Homes. And so being able to standardize a green building practice, and that's one thing we're trying to do now too, is create— and this is starting to become part of the language of creating a rating system in in essence, not only buildings, for example, but for cities. And so, and looking at cities' plans and rating them in terms of like gold status or platinum, silver, or different— yeah, to see where they're at, right? Because it is this race against time. And, and you can even, like, the— when we look at like an amazing climate action plan, it can be an amazing climate action plan, or it it might need to be way more amazing, and so energy needs to go into improving the targets and becoming more ambitious. But then it's like putting that plan into action, which requires—

it's always a difficult part. Yeah, it's always— because basically, like, it's kind of— there's a gap, and, and the gap is emitting too much CO2, and then we have to figure out how can we change the gap, how can we close the gap. But then we're dealing with things and institutions that have taken centuries to be built. So how do you turn it around? So were you able to create this rating system for cities?

Actually, this is what we're working on right now.

Okay.

Yeah. And because there are now so many cities that have created climate action plans with ambitious targets, some more than others, but, uh, right, that's what we want to focus on now is supporting cities on either improving their climate action plans and also looking at how we can support them in terms of putting in, putting those plans into implementation.

Yeah, I think it's the future of sustainable cities, the future of cities is, yeah, is top of mind. Would love to hear any stories that you have, Rebecca, about cities that have either created great climate action plans or implemented a couple of elements in their climate action plan. We just want to dream about what the future could look like for—

yeah, I know, I, I'm so happy you asked this question because I really do think it comes down to the human imagination at a certain point, because we're talking about creating a world that's beyond what exists now. And so I really do believe, like, children and with incredible imaginations— and children are also going to be here for so much longer than us.

Yeah.

But, um, and he's— and, and I love, like, Bill McKibben, he— with what he started with the movement with 350 and then Third Act, getting people 60 and over involved in the conversation. Like, I just really— I really do believe it needs to come from, from the people, but it also needs to be implemented within the political sphere, the municipal sphere, as well as the federal sphere. But definitely within the communities and cities, municipalities that we live in. And so a big part of that is dreaming up what can, what does New York or LA or Montreal, what do these cities look like not using any fossil fuels? It's a huge opportunity.

We had a guest who talked about cities were not built for humans. And I said, what were they built for? She's like, cars. I don't know cars. I live in LA and it's like, It was even when I was in the Bay Area, uh, yeah, just the massive highways, everybody has to get in the car. You can drive an EV, which are now more affordable, but we're still in the same structure of the city. Some people get excited about flying cars, but I'm like, oh, and then the air is going to be filled with things that are floating. So what does it look like, Rebecca, like the future of cities? Like, like, painted— paint us a picture of a sustainable city, what it could look like, or if somebody has done something great that you could share.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's something I think— that's something I'm very interested in now, is also getting into visualization to help, help inspire this conversation of modeling out, um, dream ideas of cities, and especially in terms of the built environment, because I think we can get so creative with foresting the built environment in innovative ways that allow also for like incredible bicycle paths and alternative transportation and really innovative buildings that are creating microgeneration or just really helping with reducing greenhouse gas emissions in terms of energy. But yeah, so I think in terms of inspiration, greening cities in terms of urban agriculture and forests and flowers and just like bringing wildlife back into cities is just very inspiring. Connecting humans more with nature within the urban landscape, I think we can do that.

Amazing. Yeah, like, how can we—

where my attention is starting to move with, along with like the low-hanging fruits of reducing greenhouse gas cutting greenhouse gas emissions and trying to get there.

But sorry, but yeah, 100%, like solar panels, having more EV cars, and reshaping how, like, even our highways are built, figuring out community gardens, but also more green spaces. I think it's a, it's a total shift. I was in New York, I'm in LA, and I was in Montreal. I was so surprised because I don't go as often back to Montreal. That there were bike paths in, in the east part of town where my family lives. I'm like, hmm, nobody's ever on a bike there, but I like it. I think it's— and in New York they did that a couple of years ago where for me it was a shock looking at all the bike paths in New York and, and how they put more greening on the side of the roads. But I think there's gonna be way more than that that we need to do to be able to, to transform the way that we're living. We had another guest talked about like your grass, what you should have, a native grass, and etc. So I'm excited to see. And we talked about also multi-generational living. How can we think differently about the spaces where we, we live in? How can we have borrowing space and multiple generations and, and having more of a community type of life? So that's super interesting. I want to make sure that we have time to talk about the other, uh, not-for-profit that you founded that's called Jungle Keepers.

Wonderful.

And it's, uh, from what I understand, it's dedicated to protecting the Peruvian Amazon. So can you tell us a bit more about this origin story of Jungle Keepers?

Absolutely. So I started with, um, two friends, um, a couple yoga studios in Moto. It's called Moto Yoga in New York City, in Williamsburg and the West Village. And when we first started— oh yay!

But back in the days when it was like nothing and there was was one spot that was cool.

So different now. Totally. Yeah. Anyway, so we got this email from this guy named Paul Rosalie who had just written this book called Mother of God, and he was talking about the Madre de Dios region in the Peruvian Amazon and how we need to protect this area because it's one of the most biodiverse places left on planet Earth. And he was like, can we start doing some yoga retreats here to raise awareness and, and some fundraisers to help protect this area. And I had always wanted to go to the Amazon and work, um, on— I've always been interested in conservation, and I've always wanted to like get involved, but I had no idea how.

So immediately, I think it's a good place to start. Yeah, one of the biggest and most important, uh, places in the world. Yeah, conservation. So that's how it like got started.

Started, exactly. And so we went there and met Paul and fell in love with this area and fell in love with the trees. And we did see some logging, you know, like of ironwood trees and some—

Illegal logging?

Yeah, it's illegal logging. It was just so heartbreaking because I'd never seen trees this enormous before. I'm from BC and I've been to like Clackacoot Sound and that actually got me into activism and very interested in environmentalism. But when I went to the Amazon and seeing some of the deforestation, I like, it was just so, it just killed me. I was like, oh my God.

Heart-wrenching, like massive trees that have like multiple centuries under their belts being chopped off.

Exactly. And so we, this project really inspired me because it's a very specific project. It's It's protecting the corridor, this corridor. And so to date, we have a whole ranger program in place protecting 50,000 acres that we've managed to protect. But we need to protect 300,000. And so we're working every day to try to make this happen. And It again, like climate change, this whole area, time is of the essence because it's one of the last remaining intact and so beautiful, so biodiverse places on Earth. But it's starting to get destroyed. And so time is of the essence to protect it. And so we feel like we have a year and a half basically to try to get to the 300,000 acres that we want to protect.

How can people help?

Yeah, well, if you want to share our website, it's junglekeepers.com. And, and in terms of just like small donations, it's incredible what it can do because we just bought a concession that just came from, um, small individual donations and And the thing is, like, if we're able to— it's just such, it's such an incredible, um, project because if we can protect this whole corridor, it just makes such a huge impact in the Amazon.

Yeah.

And, um, and so we have, like, we have funding to, to do this work, but we're about $15 million short to do the whole project. And if we could get $15 million, just $15 million Exactly. But it's a lot of money.

Are you planning a big concert? Like, how are you going to raise that $15 million?

Well, I believe in miracles and we've already gotten very, very far in this project. And because we're already like, we have, so we're 1/6 of the way there. If we're 1/6 of the way there, we can get there.

We have 250,000 more acres to protect and save in the Peruvian Amazon, and now you're raising $15 million, um, via Jungle Keepers. Exactly. And is there any other way that people can help other than donation?

If people raising awareness, so coming and coming to our research station, um, talking about it, being, uh Yeah, just being advocates for the movement is huge.

And where is your research station? That would be in the Amazon?

Yeah, in the Peruvian Amazon, in the mountains.

I will come gladly.

Yeah, come. We can do an interview there.

Gladly go there, record some episodes.

Yeah, exactly. That's amazing. There's a film crew there right now. Oh, really? Yeah.

What is it about?

There's always something, you know, like different going on. Yeah, yeah, very—

thank you so much for all this information. Now I want to talk about Rebecca Foon, the businesswoman. Listen, people, there's a lot of multi-hyphenates, especially in this day and age. People have been going through, like, waking up to a million possibilities, and I think it's beautiful to see someone like you who can be an artist and in the music, but also, um, the arts. We'll talk about that a little bit more. In a climate activist and also a businesswoman, a business person. So tell us a little bit more about, uh, the business ventures that you created. One of them is Modo Yoga with hot yoga studios. There was one in Venice, 10 minutes away from me. It's closed, but there's others.

Um, yeah, I know I was trying to get to the studio.

My goal was to go try before the episode because I haven't done hot yoga in a while. Anywho, and then there's another business that you also created, which is a sustainable retail brand. Super interested about that one. So let's start with Modo Yoga. How did it come to be? What is its mission?

Yeah, so, well, actually, my friend Jessica Robertson had started the Modo Yoga out of— she had some Bikram studios and had changed them into Modo Yoga. To— because she was very interested in sustainability and, um, green construction and sustainable— like thinking about sustainability in terms of health and longevity of the body and the spine.

Sustainability of the human being.

Exactly.

What about that?

The air we breathe, our bodies, our vertebra. Totally. And so I was very interested in this whole modality of this whole way of thinking. And because I was touring a lot at the time, and my friend Sarah, who also is a violinist and plays in Arcade Fire, she also was touring a lot.

And I love Arcade Fire. Oh, I like Regine as well. She's like a Haitian, uh, yeah, inspiration from like seeing Haitian people venture in different initiatives and bands and careers.

Incredible. Absolutely. Yeah. So we decided we wanted to do a yoga training together, so we decided to do Modo yoga training in India and then Kerala. And then we came back and we're so excited about it and our yoga practice, and we started teaching in Montreal. And then we decided, you know, we should open a yoga studio in New York because we're like starting to play more in New York and we really want to have more access to New York City as Canadians. And it's always kind of tricky to figure that out. And so, um, we were like, well, why don't we open a yoga studio there? And then we can still play music and integrate music with yoga.

And then also, um, you have a footprint somewhere.

Yeah, exactly. And so we got so lucky because we found this beautiful space above the Joffrey Ballet— or below the Joffrey Ballet School in, um, in the West Village, in Greenwich Village, on 10th Street and 6th Ave. And And things went really well for us. We're so grateful because, um, this looks— it just seems such that New Yorkers love practicing hot yoga.

And it's a good location. It's an amazing location.

We scored with the location, and then we scored with the Williamsburg location as well.

So how do you, how do you manage it from a distance? Because you're, you're in different— you're in Japan, then you're in Paris, and you're in LA. And then how do you manage it all from afar?

Well, it, it's changed over time because it's now been over 10 years, and so now we have a full management team that's okay, um, running the studios. And so I'm teaching less now, but, um, but it's been amazing to just help, help create, help build a community of yogis in New York City. And, and then also integrate music into— Sarah and I do live music classes there. And it's so fun. So, so wonderful. I'm so—

let me know when you have one in LA.

I sure will. Absolutely. I'll go.

I'm a big hot yoga fan. Um, yeah, I haven't done it in a while since I left the Bay Area. I haven't really been there, but, um, no, it's super interesting. And then let's talk a bit more about your retail, eco-conscious retail brand that's also around yoga.

So it's Exactly.

From what I understand, it's apparel for yogis to go do what they love.

Exactly. So, so we— because, um, because of hot yoga, you do need like specific types of leggings, um, so that because you sweat.

I was not aware of that. I just, I come as I am and then I sweat it out.

It's not true. You can wear whatever you want. Everybody wears whatever they want. But, but we did realized that a certain, the certain type of material which comes from recycled bottles, um, it just, it's, it kind of like captures the sweat and just makes it less hot.

I want to pause because I love it. So you created yoga pants and yoga gear based out of recycled bottles?

Bottles, exactly.

Tell me more about the whole process.

Well, we did a whole, you know, if we did probably a few years of research in terms of looking at materials and different manufacturers. And so we found this specific material that came from recycled bottles and we wanted to make them in Vancouver, like make them in North America. And so that took a whole bunch of time to try to just like figure all that out. But we did find—

finding the recipe or finding the material. And then why did you want it in Vancouver specifically?

Well, we wanted to— it could be anywhere in North America, but we found a place in Vancouver.

Okay.

And, um, because we wanted to try to keep it as local as possible, um, because, because we're distributing mostly, selling in, in North America, and our yoga studios are mostly in North America.

North America, which makes Yeah, so that's why.

And then, but the whole concept behind it, beyond the recycled bottles, is it's a direct— directly tied to Jungle Keepers. So a portion of the sales go to supporting, um, the purchasing of concessions and the ranger program for Jungle Keepers. But also, um, I guess celebrating our love of nature and our love of the Amazon and from our time there. So photographs that we take collectively as a team in the Amazon of animals and nature are integrated into the pants. So it's all like Amazon. That's why it's called Yoga for Air. We might move beyond the Amazon, but since we started, it's been all Amazon.

Yoga for CO2. They thought CO2 was not sexy enough. So we're going to call it for air.

Yoga for Air. Exactly.

I would not have known, but I love it. Yoga for Air. And then you talked about purchasing concessions. Can you give more details for our audience of what are concessions? Yeah, absolutely.

So there's many different concessions along the corridor, basically are owned by different people. And some of those concessions are protected by people that care like nonprofits or, um, that are very focused on conservation, uh, or ecotourism. But some are— because like the economics of life over there is so— can be so tricky, um, deforestation and mining are always an issue.

Illegal, illegal activities of like extracting natural resources is always happening in so many places.

Yeah, exactly.

Like, it's not, not as policed as it, it should or could be.

Yeah. And so part of our, our mandate and way of thinking about it is also to— how do we create opportunities? Because we're working so closely with Indigenous, Indigenous communities there. And also, how do we create opportunities for, say, like, someone who is cutting down illegally for money, how can we give up a different opportunity, kind of like fossil fuels, like switching from coal to renewable energy for job employment, let's say. So how can we create jobs for miners or legal miners or illegal loggers?

So it's kind of replacing what they're doing with something that will be more sustainable while they can still feed their families because they're doing it because— I understand. So you're trying to change the behavior by giving, creating new opportunities that would be as compelling but would not have an impact on the environment.

Exactly. Yeah. So, yeah. So through our Ranger program and different, and now we're trying to integrate like different, all sorts of different programs and even bringing yoga to different communities. We have— so our, uh, there's different branches to Jungle Keepers. There's a Peruvian branch and a US branch that is more about fundraising, and a Canadian branch also more about fundraising. So, but we have a whole Peruvian team, um, that's more on the ground engaging with local communities there. Let's—

I'll go watch some videos. I'm super inspired, and I'll see if there's opportunities down the line. But thank you so much for what you do. I think it's, uh, it's incredible. And I'll check your Your retail brand as well, is it all direct-to-consumer online or is— do you have any distribution elsewhere?

Yeah, there's— well, there's this distribution right now at the studios, at the yoga studios. You can also do, um, can buy online.

Amazing. I wanted to talk a little bit more about, um, your— we talked about you as an artist, as a composer, cellist, a singer, all those talents. But on top of that, you started doing more of visual arts. So one of the things that when we researched, we saw that you ventured into the world of visual arts with an art exhibit that's called Ascension, and it raises awareness about climate change and also talked about the collective responsibility, collective consciousness. So can you tell, tell us a little bit more about Ascension and, and also your venturing into really being a multi-alphabet artist, but doing non-musical, like pure art creations.

Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. Yeah. So basically the concept is I started making these large-scale light boxes of protected areas in the world, of natural areas, like forests basically.

Or what are— for the audience, what is a light box?

So it's basically 8— they're between 6 to 8 feet by 4 feet. Wide and tall. And it's— they're photographs of the natural world. So there's no sense of civilization in the photographs. And they're lit up by LED lights enclosed in a wood frame. So it's very— it's like a— it's meant to be a portal. And most of them are rectangular, but I started making large circular ones as well. And so the whole concept is it's kind of this weird juxtaposition because here we are in a world where we're trying to figure out this massive horrific problem with regards to climate justice and climate change. And, um, and then also, so, but I'm capturing, I'm capturing like conservation areas. And so I have a quote from you that, yeah, it's super captivating.

And captivating is coming from— you have an artist statement that you published that says that your light, light boxes serve as captivating portals. And we'll double-click on the word portal, which highlight the environment we are rapidly losing. So when I hear portal, I feel like we're shifting in a different dimension, but maybe it's just me. So what do you mean by these captivating portals?

Yeah, so it's this idea that like maybe soon these portals will— it's kind of like raising this idea, which hopefully won't be the case, but where these portals in reality won't exist so much anymore because we will have destroyed most of our planet and its natural resources, and all that's left is these memories. Of what nature was.

And so, so your art is like an artifact. So you're taking a copy of the world as it used to be when we had nature, let's say 50 years from now.

But hopefully this is not the case. But it's, yeah, it's the idea of it is kind of imagining like, what if these portals are just the memories and all we have are these architectural spaces with the memories of them? Through these light boxes.

So I think it's important because it's important for us to just not think, because sometimes we think about the past, we think about the present, um, but then sometimes we don't spend enough time creating the future. And I think what your art is doing is of course raising awareness around a gloomy future if we don't do anything, but also making us present about the beauty that surrounds us, which is nature. And also, I haven't seen them, but I'm going to put them on my list. When I go, uh, in this art gallery in Montreal. So, but it's interesting. And, and how did you choose the medium of photography in light boxes? How did you—

I had— I was, um, I was visiting, um, my friend in Berlin who had Olafur Eliasson in his studio, and he had this huge, uh, he had one of his, um, One of his collaborators had made a big light box and I saw it and it was like completely different type of format and photography, but I kind of, I just got inspired and I was like, oh wow, I want to start taking photographs. And so I went, I borrowed a camera because I need like a very high-res camera to like be able to blow up photographs that big. And so he lent me a camera and I went walking around in Berlin and went into the park. There's beautiful beautiful parks in Berlin. And so I just started like walking around in this park in Berlin, was so blown away, and it reminded me of Canada, of Quebec actually. It was just in terms of the trees and the water.

Beautiful.

So beautiful. And so I just started taking like a million photographs. And then when I came back, I started doing again like that research recipe of like, how do I turn these into I want to, I just want to make like massive art experiences with, with these photographs. And so I found someone in Montreal that kind of helped me think through it all and customize how to like build.

I love it.

Yeah.

It's so inspiring. I mean, we take a little bit nature for granted, but I think it's, it's good to, to pause and, and admire and, and ponder on that. So thank you for doing that. And I'm, I'm super excited. You have another quote here. It's— and you talked about it a little bit, but I think it's important for me just to read it for us to be able to sit with this information. It's just that position of nature's grandeur against the backdrop of the constructed and built contemporary gallery environment showcases the irony of our desire to bring nature into our architectural spaces while neglecting its preservation outside of those confines. And if I translate that, it means that you're going to put beautifully curated greening in your architecture, your houses and whatnot, but what you already have that's uncurated is not being protected. It feels like you're not walking the talk and it's like slam, bam, bam, slam.

Yeah, exactly.

Reality check. It's a reality check.

Exactly.

And that's all part of your artist statement of why you're doing what you— it's, it's amazing because I feel like art is also one way to advocate for change. And, um, as we wrap this up, I want to make sure I ask you, because a lot of people feel like they have different passions or multi-hyphenates and want to know, how can I be a business person and also an artist and, and be like a Renaissance person and also be an activist. So I think one of the questions for you is, what are your top 3 career tips for people who want to be able to create projects and drive a lot of impact in the world? Yeah, feeling the freedom of doing these things across disciplines.

Yeah, I think, you know, my dad always says like, you have to just do what you love in order to stay fulfilled as a human. And I think it first and foremost comes down to that, to like really tap into your passions and I think we're here on Earth to awaken our hearts and share our passions. And through sharing what we love, we wake up our heart and we also inspire others. And I think that equation is just so important in terms of also protecting our Earth, because like, it's really about falling in love with our planet and each other and life, falling in love with life. And, um, so for me, what's been really helpful is, is, is finding my, my passions, but then, and then trying to pursue them. And some make money, some don't, but I can kind of integrate them all together. So like, I put my light boxes up at the yoga studios, and people can see the light boxes, and the yoga studios can create funding to support Jungle Keepers, or support Pathway to Paris, or Thousand Cities, or support me. And And then through that I can make some music and maybe one album is a love project and maybe another album generates some income. It's kind of like this juggle game of free-flowing.

It's like creating based on your passions, feel compelled to freely flow, knowing that some of the ventures are going to be lucrative, some are not. Those are passion projects. But as my Reiki healer said a couple of years ago, I think it's important to, to be balanced as a human. And then some of us need to be creative. Some of, some of us need to express their creativity and also while, while they do business and vice versa. So I think so following passion is the first advice and then free flowing, right? Being clear about what's going to bring back, be lucrative and what's not. And what is the third tip? That you have?

Maybe the power of creativity in the human imagination, because, because the more we can imagine, the more we can put things into action that are maybe beyond our wildest dreams. And so you just keep dreaming bigger, and then you can create more innovative ideas into reality. And so it's the same with, like, when we talk about, like, sustainable cities. The more we can envision and dream beyond our wildest dreams, these, like, incredible gorgeous cities in terms of incorporating nature and going off of fossil fuels and equitable and just cities, the more we can begin to understand how to make it happen.

Or create a path to bring this vision to life.

Yeah. And I think in terms of cultivating the human imagination, a big part of it is like opening up your own personal channel and like Through that, being creative— I think being creative is fundamental to being human, whether you're an artist or not, just in terms of like thinking, ways of seeing, ways of being in the world is so important. And that opens our hearts, and that leads to more compassion, more love, more ways of connecting to, to all beings on Earth.

I think it's so important because I was listening to another podcast and they were talking about like the richness of your life is based on the quality of your relationships, right? It's not a pile of money is not necessarily going to make you happier. Is one of these key relationships that you have that you nurture that give you energy, nurture you, but also bring you joy and fulfillment? So I think as what you're saying is the power of creativity, expressing yourself, connecting with the collective, like kindred souls, is probably going to be good for you in terms quality and longevity of your life, uh, but also for self-actualization, feeling free to flow between different ventures without having to be pigeonholed into like, I'm a business person, I'm an artist. I love it. Thank you so much for, for sharing all your wisdom. And I think another question I have for you is, we're here, Driving Impact is about making sure that we're able to take baby steps towards climate action, towards AI and developing your own leadership and career. And in looking at the global economy, what are 3 actions you think our audience can take to be able to drive impact in climate action? Climate, yeah, simple actions that have a lot of impact.

Absolutely. I know, and it's so, it's so tricky. I, I do, I do think engagement is huge. So engaging with your community and engaging with your— with politicians within your community, so within your municipalities, to try to vocalize, to try to be part of the conversation in terms of designing the urban planning of your community. And so, um, I really do think writing letters push— I'll give you a quick little story in terms of divestment. I think divestment is huge, so pushing for for divestment within your city, your state. Like at Carnegie Hall, Bill McKibben asked everybody to write a letter to Comptroller Scott Stringer at the time and Mayor de Blasio at the time in 2017 to divest New York City's pension funds into renewable focus projects. And we sent 3,000 letters out to them, and a few weeks later they had made the announcement around New York City and New York State's divestments. And, and those are two of the top 20.

It's a big impact. So yeah, 3,000 people to write letters to divest, to change the funds, pension funds, to more sustainable renewable energy.

Exactly.

And then they did it.

Yeah. And you know, like, we were like the light switch that like helped trigger it. There was years of activism leading up to that and pressure. But it's amazing what letters can do if you create a little movement around it. Like, a bunch of people can do it at the same time. You can— that, that really taught me. And the fact that that happened then inspired City of London to do the same thing, because when— because cities look at each other, you know, in terms of best practices and leadership. So that was like a real aha moment, awakening moment for me. I was like, oh wow, it matters.

Writing the letters does matter.

It does matter, especially when it's collective, like when you get a whole bunch of people doing it at the same time, that's huge. And divestment is huge because that's a massive shift in the economy. And so that's one thing I think is huge. And in terms of behavioral best practices, like—

Can you define the word divestment? I want to make sure everybody's clear when we say we should divest.

Like shifting. So let's just say you bank with Chase, and Chase is, um, like supporting a lot of different oil, um, companies, for example. To look at— this is just like a say on a micro level—

to supporting with your dollars and not investing in companies that are detrimental to the environment and sustainable planet. Just divestment would be removing your, your investment somewhere else.

Yes, exactly.

Investing in companies that are sustainable and they're good for the planet.

Exactly, 100%.

Awesome. So, okay, so you had writing letters— no, the power of engagement was the first tip. The second tip was divestment. And what was the third one?

Oh yeah, I said the power of engagement, divestment, um Yeah, so there is behavioral change in terms of the individual and trying to, I think, really engage in the local economy. So in terms of supporting, thinking about the food you eat, supporting local food, urban agriculture, or like community gardens or farmers markets, farmers markets, thinking about what you're eating Thinking about your garbage, thinking about how you're living in terms of your purchases and your investments again. And trying to inspire. We're not going to get there, I don't think, through one-on-one actions, but get there through collective actions. So the more we can— it's kind of that thing, like the more we can inspire our own lives and then and have that wave trickle into our communities is amazing. Yeah.

Educate each other.

Yeah. In terms of government and then putting pressure, like say you want to put solar panels on your roof and there's funding out there, new funding out there, or putting pressure to have funding out there. Share whatever knowledge or resources you have with others. Of course, like—

Make it a reality. Yeah.

Because it's an economic issue. Absolutely. Like in terms of going from the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, It's expensive. And there's a whole economic challenge there. So the more that our governments can support that and put initiatives in place, put composting initiatives in place, put renewable energy, change the grid, like all of these things, it's going to take billions and billions and billions of dollars to get there. So of course, like one action is just one action. but, but it's part of a whole movement.

Compounded.

Yeah.

If the compounded action from the collective—

Exactly.

Can change the trajectory of a planet. And sometimes we just, we just think that we don't matter, but actually we do. And even more if we can bring the whole collective with us as we start shifting our actions. I want to ask you the last, uh, question for you. Which is what is the biggest impact that you've driven in your whole life? I don't know if it's the 3,000 letters or—

I think it might be, honestly. Like, I, it was Bill McKibben's idea and we supported him, but that was revolutionary. I couldn't believe it. Like, to see that, cuz that those two pools of money are a part of the 20 biggest pools of money in the world. And to see that happen, And also like with pushing for the Paris Agreement too. I know our little concerts didn't make the Paris Agreement happen or anything, but just like being part of that movement, it felt very powerful. And I felt like we were just, you know, part of waves in the ocean. But it's— there's like something spiritual about kind of being tapped into a collective movement and collective consciousness that's like 100%, and artists are the voice of humanity oftentimes, and it just transcends, right?

You can connect via music and everybody like sharing a common consciousness. So I do think that the concerts you put together with all those big names around the Paris Agreement is also a— it's a beautiful way to raise awareness.

Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much, Rebecca. I feel like I've learned so much from you today, and it's also inspiring to see like a multi-hyphenate, Renaissance woman, someone who's able to go from the arts to business to climate change and really like take it on yourself to really drive impact for the planet. So thank you so much for all your time, your energy, and your contribution. Super excited.

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. It's an honor.