Eric Watson is an awarding winning film producer, and founder of Protozoa Pictures, with Darren Aronofsky. Eric produced “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Fountain," and is on the board of directors of the indigenous rights organization The Boa Foundation, The Lakota Small Farms Project, and the Morning Star Conservancy.

ERIC: We're living with such a privileged mentality, that we believe that this (Earth) is here just for us. There are plants and animals - and the unborn yet to come - who are all depending upon us to hold this life, with responsibility and presence. To forget that is to completely miss the point, as far as I'm concerned. 

ARI: I consider myself lucky that as a kid, as far as I remember, I was connecting with nature. I think the closer you are to the void, the closer you are to your birth, the more connected you are to that connectedness you’re talking about. But some kids don’t have access to nature at all.

ERIC: The concept of “us” and “them,” or the concept of nature being “over there,” apart from us - this is one of the challenges. You and I not being of the same thing is the division-mentality that is destroying the planet. No human being is independent. We depend upon each other, and we depend upon nature that supports us. There is no question that we are all here together on this ship, together. It's all of our responsibility to take care of it, period.

ARI: If we think of ourselves as part of a tribe that needs to unite with other tribes, there's something helpful about that to imagine.

ERIC: I think it's on the people within the film industry to constantly work to tell stories that make a difference. And there is nobody who escapes that responsibility.

ARI: What are you focused on protecting?

ERIC: For me, the Amazon is the most important place in the world.