Climate Change Panel Discussion

Hear three renowned conservationists -- Dr. Sylvia Earle, Richard Leakey and John Morgridge -- in an impassioned discussion of the issues surrounding global climate change, recorded at the 2007 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.

The discussion is moderated by U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey. When he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1976, he was one of the youngest men ever to serve in the body. A national leader on issues of energy and the environment, he has served as Chairman of both the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Botanist, biologist, conservationist, author and entrepreneur, Sylvia Earle is the most celebrated woman marine scientist on the planet. When she first began her career, many funding organizations refused to support a woman traveling with men on long scientific expeditions, so she organized and led an all-female crew at the Tektite II undersea research station. Among other accomplishments, she has walked untethered on the sea floor at a lower depth than any other human being. Over the years, she has founded and led companies to produce undersea exploration technology, served as Chief Scientist of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and as Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society.

Richard Leakey won fame as a paleoanthropologist while still in his early 20s, with sensational discoveries of the fossil remains of our most ancient ancestors. His subsequent career as an author, conservationist, government official and political activist of unyielding courage has been even more extraordinary. As Director of the National Wildlife Service of Kenya he curtailed an epidemic of elephant poaching that threatened the species with extinction. In 1993, a plane crash in mountainous country cost him both his legs. An expert pilot, Leakey had reason to suspect sabotage by vengeful poachers. Appalled with the corruption of his country's one-party government he founded an opposition movement, surviving beatings, death threats and constant surveillance, to win a seat in Kenya's parliament, where he forced reform of the constitution. Now retired from politics, he remains a passionate and effective crusader for conservation, for the rights of the disabled, and for the cause of democracy in his beloved Kenya.

When John Morgridge joined Cisco Systems as President and CEO in 1988, the company was a four-year-old start-up with only 34 employees. Morgridge led the company through a period of spectacular growth, making Cisco the undisputed world leader in networking for the Internet. In over a decade as Chairman, Morgridge made Cisco hardware and software the essential components in the computer networks of business, government, education and industry. By the time he retired in 2006, the company employed more than 50,000 men and women in 77 countries. Since retiring from Cisco, John Morgridge has devoted himself to charitable efforts in education, conservation and human services. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Nature Conservancy, an international organization working to preserve the diversity of life on Earth.