Join Online! Ancestral Futures: Water, Wealth and Wisdom in a World on Fire Tickets, Wed, Jul 9, 2025 at 3:00 PM | Eventbrite
Hosted by Global Canopy and Ostara Collective
This unique public event will welcome three of the most respected Indigenous leaders and guardians of ancestral wisdom from Brazil and the Amazon:
- Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, spiritual leader and defender of the Yanomami people
- Ailton Krenak, activist, writer, and philosopher of the Krenak people
- Adana Omagua Kambeba, healer and wisdom carrier of the Kambeba people
They carry the voices of their peoples and forests — and the deep perspective of cultures rooted in continuous relationship with the Earth for thousands of years. At a time of growing ecological crisis and disconnection, their visit offers a rare opportunity to hear their reflections on how humanity might restore balance and reimagine its path.
They will be joined in dialogue by two of the most creative thinkers and doers working from this island to reimagine and help build societies and economies that work in service of life:
- Kate Raworth, renegade economist, author of Doughnut Economics
- Merlin Sheldrake, biologist and mycelial thinker, author of Entangled Life
The discussion comes just months before COP30 brings the world’s political attention to Belem in the Brazilian Amazon, and to the deepening crisis for climate, nature and people unfolding in that great forest and around the world. It will ask how different understandings of water, wealth and wisdom could lead to wildly different futures, and how a weaving together of Indigenous and scientific knowledge traditions can help spark deeper shifts in how we live with the Earth.
Moderated by Global Canopy’s Executive Director, Niki Mardas, and Brazilian journalist Christiane (Krika) Fontes, the afternoon will be filled with inquisitiveness, discussion, story and song – and a call for us all to remember our own roles as guardians of the rivers, places and life that we love.
Doors open at 3pm, the event will begin promptly at 3:15pm and will be followed by a reception and refreshments at 4:45pm. The major exhibition Thirst: In Search of Freshwater on the ground floor of the Wellcome Collection is a brilliant companion to these discussions, asking many of the questions that the speakers will explore — and is free to visit before or after the event.
In-person and online tickets are available. The event will be livestreamed for online viewing and a recording will be shared with registrants afterwards.
Languages: English and Brazilian Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation.
This event forms part of a broader journey across the UK by Davi, Ailton, Adana and other Indigenous leaders from around the world, who are meeting allies, visiting sacred sites, and helping to spark deeper shifts in how we live with the Earth.