Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 05/25/2024.
Elephants are proven climate mitigators. We all know that money makes the world go round, and the International Monetary Fund values one elephant’s lifetime of carbon sequestration at $1.75 million per sq. km. Sangita can discuss the importance of protecting these natural climate mitigators and the cascading effects of their loss that would be felt around the world, helping people realize that everything is interconnected. She focused on the monetary benefits of elephant conservation when she rang the closing bell at NASDAQ, the world’s second largest stock exchange.
Elephants are a keystone species, meaning other species depend on them for survival. When an elephant is lost, so is their important link to support others in the magnificent web of life, including humans. Sangita’s short films include interviews with experts on how the elephants maintain balance and support life around them.
Elephants live in matriarchal societies and have invaluable lessons to teach us, especially for those like Sangita who were born and raised in a patriarchal society. Sangita's organization, Voices for Asian Elephants (VFAE) employs tribal women in leadership roles to implement projects in India, fostering empathy and cooperation by working with and for the elephants.
In her award-winning book, Gods in Shackles • What Elephants Teach Us About Empathy Resilience and Freedom, Sangita poignantly draws parallels between her own survival of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and the elephants who are severely mistreated in captivity. Given that many of India’s elephants are exploited under the guise of religion and culture, Sangita is on a mission to persuade temples to use robotic elephants rather than subject live elephants to the grueling days of festival celebrations.
This is the concept of restoring natural processes to repair damaged ecosystems and revive degraded landscapes. VFAE bought its first patch of plantation land in Sangita’s native Kerala in June 2023, returning it to the Kerala Forest Department for re-wilding. Sangita connects the concept of re-wilding land to the re-wilding of the mind, allowing it to seek its natural potential unencumbered by thoughts and ideas that seek to control. Sangita sees a strong connection between the climate of the planet and the climate of the mind, both needing conservation and rescue from pollution and overuse.
Sangita and her family left India and spent 5 years in Kenya before moving to Canada in 1989. Like elephants who are forced to find new homes due to habit loss, Sangita faced many challenges in assimilating to life in a foreign country. From adapting her cultural traditions to talking speech classes to soften her Indian accent, she took pointers from elephants on adapting to life in a place very different from the one she grew up in.
Sangita Iyer is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Climate Change, Biodiversity, Women’s Empowerment , Healing from Abuse, Re-Wilding and Immigration. The estimated speaking fee range to book Sangita Iyer for your event is $5,000 - $10,000. Sangita Iyer generally travels from TorontoCanada and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Meg Lowman, Liz Bonnin, David Doubilet, Winona LaDuke and Jamie Margolin. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Sangita Iyer for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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