Steve (host):
Welcome to the fifth edition of Wonderspace which was originally released as a video orbit on September the 21st 2020. Since then we've been asking the same 6 questions to people from around the world. Our questions revolve around life and wonder, places of reset and stories of hopefulness, which I think we need more than ever. The setting for all of our interviews is a virtual window seat on the space station from where we see everything from a different perspective. This week our night time orbit takes us over both North and South America And joining us in this ultimate window seat we welcome Maria Amelia Correa who is a Colombian entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in sustainability business, civil society and academia.

Steve (host):
In 2012 Maria Amelia co-founded Sistema B, a movement to promote benefit corporations which are a global network of businesses that use the power of the markets to solve social and environmental problems. I start by asking Maria Amelia, from this window seat 250 miles above Earth, which place, city or country would you want us to fly over and why?

Maria Emilia:
If I could fly past any part of the world I would love to fly over the Amazon forest but not just to see the magnificent forest, of course, but to see what is called the flying rivers. So I don't know if you're aware, but what happens is that trees in the Amazon are actually cloud factories. They release huge amounts of moisture that they suck from the ground, and that moisture then evaporates in the atmosphere and creates lots of clouds that are pushed by the wind from the Atlantic to the Andes Mountains. And actually these flying rivers are the source of rain for all of South America. So can you imagine flying over an enormous forest that is covered by flying rivers made of clouds, moving from the ocean to the mountain?

Maria Emilia:
What a sight.

Steve (host):
Maria Amelia, give us a glimpse into your life story so far with an emphasis on what you are doing currently.

Maria Emilia:
So to think about my life story so far, I have to start by saying that I have been an avid reader since my very early childhood and I have always been fascinated by stories, by new worlds. So I think of myself as a traveler, someone who's constantly looking for and enjoying, enjoying people, places, ideas, stories. And on the professional side, and my life has been dedicated to finding ways to balance nature and society. So I started working in conservation of biological diversity in Colombia, and then for some 20 years I have been working to help business become a force of balance in the world. So about what I'm pursuing today, I think we have 2 pressing urgent issues.

Maria Emilia:
1 is the need for regeneration and the other is the need for collaboration. So I want to say a little bit about regeneration first. We must work to regenerate life in the planet. Not only repair or preserve or restore, but also create the conditions so nature has the capacity to continue generating life by itself. And besides, this is the best way we have to deal with the climate crisis.

Maria Emilia:
So today I am focused in accelerating the change to go from the extraction to regeneration. And basically what I do is I support something called life regenerating companies. I think that moving from extraction to regeneration requires something that is extremely challenging. And it is the ability to work with people we don't like or trust. So my second obsession is to promote spaces for extreme collaboration where we can learn to work together with people whom we consider our adversaries.

Steve (host):
Where on earth is your place of reset or recharge?

Maria Emilia:
My place to reset is a little town called Barichara, which is a small town in the mountains of Colombia. It's over 400 years old and it has wonderful weather all year round, which is really good. But what is fascinating about Barichara as well is that you can walk and walk for days through trails that are called Caminos Reales, royal roads that were the trails originally made by the indigenous communities who inhabited that region and that were then used afterwards by the Spanish conquistadores. You can't imagine the silence, the sense of freedom in these huge mountains. I think something really important there is a connection with ancestral traditions that for me this barichara is then a place to reset to connect but at the same time a a place where I can also start to look further.

Steve (host):
What wonder of the natural world excites you the most?

Maria Emilia:
The wonder of the natural world that causes my heart to miss a bit are tropical forests. For me tropical forests are places of magic, They are so full of life. You know, from the floor up to the canopy, you find all sorts of animals, minerals, plants that are connected in such a beautiful and extremely complex relationship. So in these forests I really get to feel the meaning and the sense of interdependency, you know, of being part of nature.

Steve (host):
Maria Amelia, what is your story of hopefulness that's not your own, about a person, business or non-profit who are doing amazing things for the world.

Maria Emilia:
My story of hopefulness is about the growing number of wonderful people around the world who are acting to create a healthier planet, you know, what Paul Hocken beautifully calls blessed unrest, that he says is the largest movement in the world. And when I started working in conservation many years ago, this idea of millions of people around the world saying no to single plastics, preferring healthy foods and so on, That was only a dream. So obviously that is a source of hope. But my story of hopefulness today comes rather from the indigenous people who live in the Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta in Colombia. The Sierra Nevada is a huge mountain that is actually shaped as a pyramid.

Maria Emilia:
And it is 1 of the few places on Earth that connect the sea level, in this case, the Caribbean, to the perpetual snows that are over 5, 000 meters above sea level. And the indigenous who live in this Sierra Nevada are the guardians of the health of the planet. So every time there are hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues, like we are having today, they perform rituals to what they say, pagamento, to repay to the earth, to give back to the earth. I think that the ancestral wisdom of people like them gives me hope that we will be able to find in ourselves what is needed to deal with the urgent challenges that the world is facing today, no?

Steve (host):
Finally, as we prepare to re-enter, what insight, wisdom or question would you like to share with us?

Maria Emilia:
The invitation from Wonderspace made me think of something I am learning during this terrible pandemic, which is the power of stillness. When I imagine going into space and looking at Earth with your invitation, This idea of looking at us from such distance started to seem so crazy. You can imagine looking at us from the distance. We are all running around from 1 place to the other with faster planes, faster cars, searching for efficiency for the new idea, for the new gadget. So today I am learning to stay in a single place and feel good about it.

Maria Emilia:
I find that the feeling of connectedness while being still is so powerful. And I wish everyone could have that experience. I think that stillness gives peace to each 1 of us, helps us be better ancestors, and hopefully will give us the ability to collaborate with people we don't like, which is I think the largest challenge we face as humanity. Challenge we face as humanity.

Steve (host):
To find out more about the work of Maria Amelia you can go to SystemaB.org. If you want to find out more about Wonderspace, join the community or listen to previous episodes, the website is ourwonder.space. I want to thank Maria Amelia for joining us on this Wonderspace and I hope

Maria Emilia:
you