High above midtown Manhattan this October, on the 35th floor of the Sony building, gathered a crowd of Nature Conservancy supporters and staff – bolstered by a large group of new faces looking to learn more about the work of the Conservancy.

Hosted by Fox Rothschild, a premier international law firm that has been working closely with the Conservancy, the event brought together a unique group of people interested in the business of conservation.

Making Introductions

The evening began with an introduction by Gary Moriwaki, a senior partner at Fox Rothschild and chair of its International Practice Group. Moriwaki is familiar with the work of the Conservancy both in New York and around the world and works closely with the King Pacific Lodge, an ecotourism resort in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada. Great Bear is the largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest on Earth.

The Conservancy helped bring together a broad group of partners including First Nations people and corporations like King Pacific Lodge and others, to create land use agreements for the protection of over 21 million areas of land to benefit people and nature. 

Moriwaki introduced Marguerite Pitts, trustee for the Conservancy in New York and head of the Conservancy’s International Council. The Council meets several times a year to discuss global work in countries such as Mongolia and Argentina, and the Conservancy’s work in specific areas such as forests, marine, freshwater and climate change. Pitts then welcomed Sanjayan, lead scientist for the Conservancy, to the podium.

The Business of Conservation

Sanjayan spoke his trip to the Arctic Circle where he met a 72-year-old Eskimo whaling captain named Archie. Archie took Sanjayan to see the village’s hand carved permafrost food cellar where all of the perishable food for the village is kept. Last year the permafrost cellar melted for the first time ever and over a third of the village’s food was lost. He showed Sanjayan that this year the cellar is melting again. Sanjayan asked what he was going to do, and Archie showed him a GE freezer. “We are literally selling freezers to the Eskimos,” Sanjayan said. 

However, despite the challenges of global climate change, Sanjayan emphasized that we are at a unique moment in history. Fifty years ago we did not see the problem; 50 years from now will be too late to change anything. We are the lucky generation because we are the generation that can actually solve the problem.

The event ended on a positive note, as Sanjayan emphasized the Conservancy’s strength and success in developing creative, innovative partnerships. As the guests filed out of the Sony Club and into the bustle of Manhattan, they carried with them the message that protecting nature for people, not from people—is crucial to the long-term health of our planet.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Kit Fong (Yasuko Noguchi, George Shelden, AECOM, Madame Nobuko Sakurai, Ambassador Motoatsu Sakurai, Eugenia Choi, The Nature Conservancy Young Professionals Group); Photo © Kit Fong (Gary Moriwaki, Fox Rothschild, Marguerite Pitts, Trustee for The Nature Conservancy, Sanjayan, lead scientist).