Podcast Description

The Giga Ten is a conversation between the author of the Giga Ten, Sebastian Manhart, and Leila Conners, Founder of Tree Media and director and producer of Legion 44. More on Sebastian Manhart: he is the world’s most followed carbon dioxide removal (CDR) expert, providing daily market & policy insights to >33,000 followers. He is the Senior Policy Advisor of Carbonfuture, the leading platform for high-quality CDR credits. Sebastian is also the Chair of the Board of the DVNE, the German CDR Association, as well as a founding Director of the US Biochar Coalition and the Enhanced Weathering Alliance. Sebastian also founded and runs CDRjobs, the sector’s leading job platform. Previously, Sebastian spent a decade as a tech entrepreneur, advised Angela Merkel´s Chancellery, and worked with governments globally through the World Bank. Sebastian is an economist with a BA from UCL and an MPhil from Cambridge University. Leila Conners founded Tree Media Group in August of 1996. With a background in international politics and economics, Leila set out to build a production company that creates media to support and sustain civil society by telling inspiring stories. Most recently, Leila produced and directed Legion 44 a film on innovation and also founded N2K Need to Know, an online channel that streams stories and solutions about the pressing issues of our time.

Leila’s work with spans over 25 years of research and collaboration with scientists, institutions, governments both national and sub-national. Leila directed several films including The 11th Hour, a film that included 54 leading thinkers and scientists about the state of the world and the state of the human condition; Ice on Fire a film with HBO about methane, the arctic, the carbon cycle and how civilization can exist within the carbon cycle. Leila is collaborating and learning from innovators and is interested in community and locally inspired action.

Previously, Leila directed The Arrow of Time with Mikhail Gorbachev and We the People 2.0 about nature and community rights. She created a documentary film on the explosion of urban farming in Detroit called Urban Roots. Leila has also been published in newspapers and magazines around the world including the International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Yomiuri Shimbun and Wired Magazine among others. Projects over the last 25 years with Tree Media Group include work with NASA, JPL, Harvard University, and studios among others.