Nature brings out the humility in my humanity 

I’m extremely fortunate to have already experienced more than a lifetime’s worth of natural beauty.  

I’ve felt microscopic—in the best way—surrounded by landscapes full of countless gigantic trees, endless serrated peaks, and infinite dazzling oceans. 

Monkeys have climbed rock walls next to me, chattering and clamoring for the same stony ridges.  

Butterflies have been my fluttery friends as I lay in the sunshine with various alpine accident injuries.  

I’ve cried at the beauty of countless sunrises with colors you can only experience on an alpine peak above the clouds. 

 

I’ve also witnessed profound planetary changes over the past few years, and the transformation is increasing rapidly.   

I have swum with penguins whose numbers are dramatically dwindling because their waters are being overfished to feed the animal agriculture industry. 

I’ve spent sleepless nights listening to continuous booming rock fall from glaciers that have stood for eons, now crumbling from unprecedented drought and heatwaves leading to permafrost melt.  

Gaping crevasses have yawned open before me, where fragile snow bridges once stood, now only frightening fissures in the Earth, blocking my path of travel with their cavernous dark depths.  

My throat and eyes have burned for days after alpine adventures due to smoke from nearby forest fires.  

I’ve found myself upside down in a moat (where snow meets rock) because an early heat wave imperceptibly weakened the snow, which broke under the weight of my step.  

 

Such extremes in feelings—jubilation from the most breathtaking nature, next to solastalgia from irreversible changes—are fundamentally catalyzing in many ways.  

Nature quite literally sustains all life; not just providing the air we breathe and water we drink, but also enriching us—recharging, rejuvenating, and improving our mental wellbeing.  

So, what do we do when our very existence comes at the cost of this world? In an age where recycling, once seen as our panacea, is being largely revealed as a sham... where we’ve surpassed 8 billion humans, all with unique needs and aspirations... where we all need to nourish our bodies and spirits?   

 

We need to ask ourselves: What really nourishes us? What truly feeds our spirits? For me, I'm nourished by:

• A diet consisting wholly of plants; animal agriculture is the number one reason for deforestation, a colossal consumer of water, and one of the largest drivers of climate change, coupled with rampant ethical concerns, and I am comforted knowing what’s on my plate is consistent with my values.  
• My decision to not add to the human population; as having one fewer child is 50X more effective than any other option to stop climate change.  
• Being involved in large-scale carbon reduction measures, focusing on how Microsoft's technology is being used to enable ever-increasing emissions.
• …And of course, by Microsoft’s Sustainability Connected Community (co-founded with Drew Wilkinson , now co-lead with Cooper Cole and Matt Hellman ) which connects me with 9,000 others at Microsoft who are driven to make a difference!