iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

You can watch the interview on the series website (if it isn't uploaded yet, it will be by week's end). myhero.com/eva-haller-s...

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This weekend I had the pleasure of interviewing Marisa for the "Eva Haller Salon Series," hosted by the amazing Heidi Groshelle and Eva Haller. Eva herself is a Holocaust survivor, as well, and has her own remarkable story.

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There are many more twists and turns to the story — assumed names, cloak and dagger spy stories, unbelievable discoveries — which you should see for yourself.

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Over more than a decade of investigating and globe-trotting revealed that her mother had been trafficked as a 13-year old by the Nazis, and held in a women's forced-labor camp, where all of the young girls were subject to sexual assault.

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Or was it Hela Hocherman? Tamar denied ever having been in the Holocaust — even on her deathbed. But after her mother passed away, there were enough clues for Marisa to piece things together:

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"You think you know your mother. Until you don't." Those are the opening words to "My Underground Mother," an astonishing documentary by filmmaker, journalist, and my friend Marisa Fox about her own mom, Holocaust survivor Tamar Fox.

Lance Gould @lancegould.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I feel 10 feet tall seeing this photo

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(Shout out to Sarah Howard, who produced the "Islands Leading for Change" event that featured a dialogue between PM Mottley and another climate hero, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson.)

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Next week I'll have more observations about #ClimateWeekNYC, but for the moment, the focus should be on the future of the UN and multilateral diplomacy.

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"... It reflects our fierce determination to chart our own course. That is the essence of our sovereignty. Multilateralism allows us to project the power of our ideas rather than the might of our power."

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"Our Constitution of 1875 secured Tongans’ rights and freedoms over seven decades before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," proffered Lord Fakafanua, whom I have had the pleasure to interview a number of times. ...

"The Security Council still has 15 members, five of them permanent," noted PM Mottley, who last year at Climate Week was on a panel of five Caribbean Prime Ministers that I moderated. "And armed with that veto. Africa, with 54 states has no permanent seat."

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In their speeches to the General Assembly, both emphasized a need to 1) maintain a commitment to multilateralism, and 2) improve the diplomatic architecture of the 80+-year-old UN, so that increasingly aggressive superpowers don't completely suffocate the voices of smaller nations.

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I was fortunate enough to again briefly spend a few moments with two of the current government leaders I most admire, both from Small Island Developing States: H.E. Lord Fakafanua, Prime Minister of Tonga, and H.E. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.

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UNGA (the annual convening of the UN General Assembly) coincides with Climate Week in New York every September, adding up to a showcase of more than 1,000 events with high-level speakers and thought leaders from government, the private sector, academia, and the nonprofit world.

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As the UN is actively seeking a new Secretary-General (current S-G António Guterres term is up at the end of 2026), the future of multilateralism is under the microscope.

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"... This is where I think business leaders need to shift their mindset to how they can create the conditions in which that talent can emerge, contribute, and thrive." Read the whole piece here: www.fastcompany.com/91613478/wha...

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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Deirdre's belief: "Companies that fail to invest meaningfully in young talent are making recruitment harder and are weakening the pipeline of people they will depend on to lead, innovate, and grow. ...

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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The second lesson is even more challenging now, as college graduates "are entering one of the most hostile entry-level job markets in recent memory," one made more complicated by AI, which is eliminating some of the roles that once served as professional footholds.

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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In it, she observes how two of his great beliefs were that 1) no problem was too large to solve and 2) while talent is everywhere, opportunity is not — someone must open that door to give someone their start. (And they need not contract a disease to do so.)

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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His daughter, Deirdre White, CEO of Pyxera Global — a Brooklyn Story Lab partner — reflects on her father's journey in a new piece in Fast Company.

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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The experience was a catalyst for one of the children, who went on to become an epidemiologist. He moved his young family to West Africa and then played a small role in the global eradication of smallpox.

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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Early last century, four children from one family in upstate New York contracted polio. They became part of a group studied by Jonas Salk, playing a small role in the science research that eventually led to the defeat of that dreaded disease.

Business leaders play a role in creating opportunities for young people.

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As I crossed Manhattan, it was a good day to remind myself and others that the best way to make progress and fix what's broken is to do so out of one's comfort zone, whether that's by crossing disciplines, crossing aisles, or crossing bodies of water. #ClimateWeekNYC #CWNYC

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... To remove plastic pollution from the 50 most vulnerable and isolated UNESCO Marine Heritage Sites. "These sites accumulate plastic waste at concentrations up to 400x higher than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Their extreme remoteness has long made clean-ups seem impossible — until now."

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And my last stop of the day brought me to the South Street Seaport, aboard the tall ship Wavertree for an event hosted by the nonprofit Plastic Odyssey. Plastic Odyssey has just launched its large-scale UNESCO Marine Restoration Missions — part of its Impossible Cleanups initiative:

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"A movement is not a subculture," said Jones. A subculture has apostates who are trying to throw people out. A movement is about diversity, and is looking to grow every day. It can't only be about people who look like me."

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From our midtown meeting, I went to PlanetHAUS in Union Square, where I saw activists I admire like Wawa Gatheru and Isaias Hernandez, and got a chance to hear Van Jones speak about how movements are created:

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... Breaking down those silos encourages innovation. Interdisciplinary studies are the transformative thinking we need to solve climate change."

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"Climate change, energy transition, and environmental injustice are systemic by nature," he said. "Yet academic structures constrain inquiry within silos, making it difficult for the most important research to get done....

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BECF funds Ph.D. fellows whose research sits at the intersection of energy, climate, and justice — work that by its nature does not fit neatly inside a single university department, and as a result, often struggles to find any support at all.

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He just launched the nonprofit Byrne Energy and Climate Foundation (BECF) funding doctoral fellowships that deliberately cross the boundaries between academic disciplines to confront the climate crisis.

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I started the day with my new collaborator, Dr. John Byrne, contributing author to the UN's Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Policy Emeritus at the University of Delaware.

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Lance Gould @lancegould.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

To truly move the needle on climate change, political discourse, and plastic pollution, among other issues, you have to cross sectors, cross the aisle, or cross the ocean. That was the standout takeaway for me on Day One of Climate Week NYC.

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Lots of interesting juxtapositions comparing Rays & rays: Despite their huge size, mantas feed on microscopic animals called zooplankton. And despite their small-market size, Rays feed on larger teams, like Yankees & Red Sox. Check out www.worldmantaday.com to support these majestic creatures.

worldmantaday.com

World Manta Day

A day to celebrate manta and devil rays and raise awareness about their conservation status.

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Lance Gould @lancegould.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Good day for rays, generally: * Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays have the best record in the American League and * Today is also World Manta Day, a day to raise awareness about manta and devil rays and aid their preservation against outside threats. #WorldMantaDay

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So next time some idiot politician with a snowball says "What happened to climate change?" or "Why do we never hear tree-huggers talking about that ozone hole anymore?" you've got your answer: You don't have to write a headline about a fire that's been out for two decades.

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Current projections have the ozone layer back to 1980 levels by 2040 for most of the planet. So it's on schedule to be repaired because a bunch of countries agreed to do something hard, and then actually did it.

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And it freaking worked. Over 99% of controlled ozone-depleting substances have been phased out. The Antarctic ozone hole has been shrinking for two straight years now, well below its 1990–2010 average.

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Scientists flagged it, and instead of arguing about it for 40 years, the world actually acted. Nearly 50 countries signed on in 1987; virtually every country on Earth eventually followed.

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Quick science: CFCs — the stuff that used to be in your hairspray, your fridge, your AC unit — were drifting up into the stratosphere and chewing a hole straight through the ozone layer, the shield that keeps the sun's UV radiation from basically frying our asses.

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Worth pausing on International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, because it's honestly one of the best things humanity has ever pulled off together. (And to be clear, I'm NOT talking about the Astley song.)

I could Rick Roll you today, as 39 years ago, Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" was the number 1 song in the UK. But perhaps more importantly, September 16, 1987 was the day the Montreal Protocol was signed.

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OR (because I GOOFED and used an expired link for Jacques-Philippe's book!!!) go directly to the book's site: www.themindfularts.com/inside-code Interested in having YOUR book, film, podcast, art exhibit, social good effort, or other project featured here (and if we're linked on LinkedIn), DM me!

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Email from Brooklyn Story Lab Climate Week Calendar | Podcast Therapy | Harvest Hero | Supply Queen September 2026 Newsletter REMEMBRANCES FROM 9/12 A quarter century after the devastating attack on S

A practical guide for change-makers to cultivate the clarity, resilience, and wisdom needed to transform the world. Learn more at "Friends of Brooklyn Story Lab" in the BSL monthly newsletter: conta.cc/4cGSchX

conta.cc

Remembrances from 9/12

How do we change what is happening within us so we can also change what is possible around us? Drawing on decades of contemplative practice, investing, entrepreneurship, and impact, Jacques-Philippe introduces the D.A.R.E. framework: Decode, Activate, Recode, Elevate.

conta.cc

Remembrances from 9/12

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Friends of Brooklyn Story Lab Spotlight: "Inside Code" Jacques-Philippe Piverger — founder of GoodLight Capital and co-founder of MPOWERD Inc. — explores a powerful question for anyone seeking to create meaningful transformation:

conta.cc

Remembrances from 9/12