 I feel like it's really important to give you a little context before I dive in Why they would actually let somebody with hair like this speak at the world economic form is beyond me But thank you. I'll try not to waste anybody's time. First of all, I just want to point out that I was a very cool child I'm not sure if you guys are up on global fashion trends Sideways trucker hats are very in right now and I started the movement. So that's proof more to the point though that photograph of me was taken in a In a campground and that says something about my parents my parents believe that getting my brother and I outside and Instilling with us a curiosity about the natural world was pivotal to our development So they began that process very early and that curiosity Was very very helpful and has been helpful for me throughout my life That said in my adolescence. I felt very much like a social misfit. I felt as though I didn't fit anywhere and You know nature and being outside gave me some form of identity But it wasn't enough that curiosity led me to some social realms that ultimately Found me dropped out of high school at 14 years old I went to high school two years early and all of a sudden I was for the most part homeless I was taken in off the streets by friends, but there were years of tumult that Led to a deep searching and a deep feeling of being Disconnected I don't think it's any Coincidence that it was ultimately climbing and exploration and adventure that brought me out of that time period It was a very trying time period for me searching for identity is one of the most Damaging things we do as humans when we don't know who we are. How can we continue? But it did give me some incredible insights and it taught me some incredible lessons being on the street gives you Huge huge insights as to how we struggle and how we overcome what we're capable of Seeing people on the street allows you to understand what we really are as an animal You know the person on the right here. I didn't go to high school right and left are tough The person on the right, you know, they're living as a forager as a hunter-gatherer and we tend to pass judgment But my time there allowed me to see something different that we are capable of things that we don't even believe Ourselves to be capable of and that idea carried over into my work It carried over into everything that I do and I look back now with sort of this 2020 hindsight And I see that that time period not only gave me a Framework through which I can tell stories, but it gave me a whole ideology of how capable we are not only as individuals But as a human family to overcome serious issues Climbing in and of itself as the thing that brought me back to some manner of stasis is a beautiful and very graphic Storytelling tool it invokes inspiration It ignites this idea of how powerful we are what we can do as humans is truly truly fantastic But as I as I started to climb more and more and more and as I started to have more success in this arena And as I started to become what would be called a professional climber And as I started to make money from this I was able to travel more and As I traveled more I started to become somewhat disenchanted with what I was doing Not that I didn't love climbing. I love climbing very much But it seemed like there were bigger stories around me that needed to be told The climbing started to feel myopic. It started to feel selfish. How could I coming from a privileged background? Then go out Use this privilege to simply climb a mountain celebrate myself and not celebrate Everything that was around me these stories became incredible These stories became the ones that I wanted to tell these were the human stories not the triumph stories Not the chest pounding ego stories. This is where I wanted to invest my time That said I never gave it up Climbing was always something that I needed to do it. It will always be something that I need to do It was in me from a very young age and in the winter of 2010 2011 I was asked to go to Pakistan in winter to climb Gashabram, too Which is an 8,000 meter peak on the border of India this trip Fundamentally changed my life. It was sort of when the door to National Geographic cracked open We summited I became the first American to summit any 8,000 meter peak in winter And we were hit by a massive avalanche on the way down and we all nearly died three of us and Right after that avalanche. I took this picture, which is arguably my most well-known image You know, thanks in no small part to this. Thank you What's so funny about that is that's a selfie, right? So it's just proof to all the millennials that you too can take a selfie and get it on the cover of National Geographic So keep trying. That's what everybody wants to hear, right? But more important than this more important in this moment was another gift that I was given the real reason the National Geographic opened its doors was because right next to our base camp there was a Pakistani military encampment and we had internet and These guys are young Pakistani soldiers. They wanted to watch movies. They started to come over. We started to have tea They asked if they could use my Facebook. I said, yes I have hundreds of friends named Muhammad Farouk and Ahmed now and I'm on the TSA watch list. I don't know why but it's okay, it's a thing that happens and Anyway, the real beauty of that is the access I was given into their lives, right? They invited me in and it's these pictures. It was this essay that actually Opened the doors with my current photo editor at National Geographic Sadie courier these pictures pictures that have impact Pictures that tell bigger broader stories stories that need attention. I love this image so much It's so painful for me But it reminds me of a quote by Bertrand Russell that says war does not determine who was right only who is left and I love that I love that play on words because these images started to become my driving force This is what I wanted to do My first magazine article was to the border of Nepal and Tibet to an area called mustang We were exploring cave complexes using climbing to access them so you can see that little guy in red This was a particularly dangerous cave complex to access right below there We had one serious head injury 21 centimeter skull fracture and collapse and I broke my back trying to get into this cave system This was before Susan was editor just so you guys know so But we were getting into these cave systems to peel back the layers. This is what we do We look back we get into the darkness we get into the dust we look into the mystery What we were really looking for was human remains burial crypts Because in burial crypts you find teeth and teeth have strontium and God or whatever the infinite wisdom of the universe Actually had a geotag long before Google and it's strontium You find it in your tooth enamel and it shows Where you were born on the planet and it's based on what's your mother is eating and drinking and that goes right there So if you find somebody's tooth in one part of the world But they were born in a different part of the world and you find somebody else's tooth over in the same place And they were born over here. You start to have this beautiful picture of human migration and trade Why is that important? Why do we need to look into our past? Well, if we look into our past we start to understand where we make mistakes consistently where we thrive and where we continually Sort of screw up and what makes us collapse We are an exploitative species and as soon as we exploit our resources too much Things tend to fall apart So this was really really important to me because this was the culmination of science Adventure this was where I brought everything that I had been doing my entire life together and looking back Became something that I saw is very important to looking forward to understanding where we were going Because humans make mistakes We are a very very impactful species and we don't seem to learn very well And our mistakes are not just ours. They they impact everything around us One of my next assignments was to a place called Franz Josefland Which is an archipelago in the Russian Arctic. It's actually, you know This is not representative of what the entire archipelago looks like in fact This is a very small fraction the reason it's so important for us to study and understand a place like Franz Josefland Is because it is nearly an intact ecosystem almost 99 percent intact So when we look at a 99 percent intact ecosystem that gives us a beautiful baseline From which to actually study the effects of human-caused climate change We need that pure baseline and Franz Josefland gave us that It shows us really the kinds of effects we're having where a hundred years ago This would be a hundred percent ice that polar bear wouldn't be standing there He posed for me. I paid him a lot of money, but don't let's just let's keep that in this room But honestly this photograph is is one of the most impactful I've ever made It's one of the most heart-wrenching And I think it was David Kwaman who said yeah, he kind of looks like he's looking south towards the future And I think that's exactly right. It's reasonable to think That if our home is disintegrating around us fairly soon, we will be homeless And it's those issues that we have to start paying attention to It's not just on the polls that I work I have been Blessed to continue to evolve as a photographer not simply as an adventure But somebody who can document social change as well Usually there's an adventure tie one of my next assignments was to the Angolan Highlands At least that's where it started now Angola as I'm sure many of you know was you know embroiled in a 30 year civil war very bloody between the MPLA and UNITA and This ecosystem was really protected By that war much of the wildlife in this area was driven out Because of the fighting or it was poached Our charge was to actually descend 1200 miles of an unexplored River catchment a place that the only people that had been there Since the MPLA and UNITA were the Portuguese So no Europeans had been in there really and there was certainly no Data around it and we wanted to do a scientific and social mega transect of the Cuito River catchment Which is one of the largest in fact. I think the largest unexplored river catchment on the planet It started as a six-week trip that ended up being four months I mean honestly it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. This makes it look like a lazy day on the river Well, you can imagine if you're supposed to cover 25 kilometers of river Like straight line in a day and the river is always doing these oxbows. It gets a little annoying You've traveled like 10 feet after 20 minutes and you're like come on But not only that you know at first we were dragging the macaws through waste high grass And then once we finally had enough water to get on we were chopping through these forests Getting in the water with crocodiles getting in the water with snakes. It wasn't tremendously fun And at times I wonder if the magazine just says Who would do this and they're like, just give it to Cory. See what happens, you know like But anyway, it's really important to note that the conflict kept this area safe But as soon as we start taking land mines out of the ground People move in and they start exploiting it. It's really important to understand Who is using this water where they're using this water and how they're using this water because it is all interconnected And the resources that are potentially there are going to impact All these people that use the water if they start to be exploited So we wanted to look at everything from artisanal fishing to industrial use how it's all tied together It gives us a clearer presentation to the angle and government to say, okay, this is how you know resource extraction might actually impact this entire ecosystem It's really important to figure out who's going to be impacted most Because as governments we think big picture and we say well Here's one thing that we can use over here for this other thing over here And we forget what's in between and honestly, this is what's in between So all these people will be forced out of this area. These people had not seen any europeans ever So it was strange when you know, 12 white dudes and macaws were coming downstream, you know, they were pretty intrigued Why is this water so important? Why is a river catchment in an angle on highland so important? Well, the reason is in southern africa There's a big flood plain and some of you may have heard of it. It's called the okavango delta The okavango delta is the jewel of southern africa. It's a jewel of africa It is Flooded every year by 11 cubic kilometers of water It's a beating heart as it floods The animal migrations come in as it dries up they go out This is life in southern africa and almost every single ounce of water That comes into the delta is fed from the angolan highlands And as angola starts to look For ways to make money as they feel this crunch from the oil crisis going on over there They're looking at all of their possible Possible places they can find this money to drum up, right? And so this isn't a story about a river catchment It's a story about three countries coming together to find a commonality It's about a river that ties three countries together And it's a story that's allegorical to us all right. We are not independent of one another This is an ecosystem That crosses it doesn't care about boundaries Angola Namibia Botswana And if somebody upstream decides to dam it or use it in a different way Not only does that affect the ecosystem But it upsets the entire economy of both countries downstream So we have to start to think inclusively instead of exclusively. What is our self preservation versus our self interest? Because there's a lot at stake there A tremendous amount at stake in the delta The delta itself is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but upstream Is unprotected So i'm always reminded of a quote that's by norman mclean It says eventually all things merge into one and a river runs through it And that couldn't be more true in this case. That is a literal interpretation of this story However, there is something larger to be learned from that What is the river that runs through us all that helps us make? Better decisions better collective decisions as a human family That's a big question and we don't know the answer not yet, but we're working on it And we're working on it right now My next assignment the one i'm continuing to work on is The hardest thing i've ever done A boy said to a man i want happiness the man said remove i that is your ego remove want that is your desire And what remains is your happiness This guy knows what i'm talking about Everybody wants what this guy's got right happiness Happiness is important to us. We tend to think it's this fluffy thing that we can just talk about it I want to be happy. I want to be happy. Well, sure. I just googled Happiness memes yesterday and this was the first one that came up. It's good right like that's pretty good But there's millions of them right like everybody has a different idea of what happiness is So we're trying to actually qualify and quantify we're working with gallup and ocd To figure out where the happiest places in the world and why and there's some very simple things And these are things that we can communicate not only to our local governments But you know nationally as well community We need community in denmark There are socially funded clubs. You can just apply and say hey, we want to have for example a singles club There's a singles they come down every thursday night play music and sing and drink right So community is a huge one and the government gives them money for there are Rabbit jumping clubs in denmark. It's amazing. That's a thing. They just run around and you know jump rabbits But community friends family people who share your values, you know, that is very important How can we encourage governments to promote that a connection with nature which is where this all started Teaching our kids from a very young age that food comes from the ground not from the grocery store This is a program that brings kids out of the classroom Teaches them to plant and brings them all the way through harvest and then puts the ground back to bed for the next class the next year This is important. This is one of the most important things we can do for our kids because it gives them respect For the earth and their health, right? It gives them ownership. Why would they want to damage something that's feeding them? Tolerance we need tolerance And not not it's not just, you know freedom of expression. It's tolerance It's sexuality gender whatever it happens to be we need to promote Global tolerance because hatred begets hatred Uh purpose This guy here is doing work as a volunteer in a hospital These guys They're security but work that gives us purpose Service that provides us with an identity that helps us understand how we are serving other people Honoring our traditions where we come from not destroying our cultural heritage honoring faith These things are important to our happiness Our happiness is defined By knowing our identities and that's much much simpler than we think and it's much more complex But one of the things that we can look at is where people are happy and why and then we can study those social structures and say To everybody who can provide social policy infrastructure. This is what makes people happy play We all need to play This is important in life. This is something we have to do Happiness ties the world together happiness allows us to make better decisions together It allows us to think inclusively instead of exclusively. This is not unique To any one specific place, but I can tell you climbing mountains doesn't necessarily expose it I've gone and looked for happiness everywhere. This is right below the summit of everest. I didn't find it I thought I would I didn't find it I've looked under the ocean. I didn't find it The only place we can look is within ourselves And we can look to our history to understand where we're going We can look to where we've made mistakes and we can start to understand that we have to be inclusive That's the big message here and when we can start to implement social policy that gives us the platform To act happily with one another. We make better decisions as a human family. Thank you guys so much for having me