Join us for a discussion celebrating Earth Day with our special guests Luminița Cuna (writer, explorer) and Ioana Cozmuța (researcher at NASA). Find out more about their pioneer spirit, amazing careers and fascination for uncharted territories on Earth and out of space.
Luminița Cuna founded Maloca Communities, a grassroots support organization that supports indigenous communities in Brazil's Amazon region to have greater control over the decisions that impact their communities.
You can support their activity by making a donation on their website.
Watch Raul Paz Pastrana's documentary OME, co-produced by Luminița Cuna, to find out more about the devastating impact of oil companies on the Amazonian forest.
Register HERE in advance for this meeting.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Organized by ARCS in partnership with Romanians of DC.
Instructors
Luminita Cuna
She is a Cluj-Napoca native and Brooklyn resident who has been traveling extensively to the Amazon region and has been living and working with indigenous communities in the Amazon since 2006. She has been an ally to indigenous peoples for more than 15 years, supporting their efforts to uphold their human rights and to protect their territory.
Luminita is the founder of Maloca, a grassroots support organization that works with indigenous communities living in the Amazon basin. She has been fundraising and campaigning on various indigenous issues, helping indigenous communities get solar energy, incorporate technology in their territory defense and become aware of their rights and how to use them in protecting their forest.
Luminița wanted to bring awareness on the rich cultures of the Amazon indigenous peoples, as well as to unveil the fascinating world of the rainforest; this is how her book “Barefoot in the Amazon” came to life. Luminița also co-produced the documentary Ome: Tales from a Vanishing Homeland, winner of the 2017 Queens International Film Festival for best cinematography. The documentary brings forward the fight of an Amazonian community to protect their home, one of the most biodiverse area in the world.
When she is not trekking the Amazon, Luminița is an IT project manager.
Ioana Cozmuta
Dr. Ioana Cozmuța is the founder and CEO of G-space Inc (https://www.zerogspace.com), a women-owned B-corporations and a reflection of Ioana’s passions: to discover and build opportunities for socio-economic benefit at the confluence of Space and Earth and to mentor and inspire the new generation towards a more prosperous future for humanity. Ioana holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands and she is an alumnus of Caltech and Stanford University. During her career at NASA and in the industry spanning two decades, Ioana has built a legacy on transforming the status quo, opening new avenues for innovation, collaboration, space technology commercialization and public-private partnerships. The current fiber optics manufacturing in space has its origin in a paper published in 2017. Dr. Cozmuța is a TedEx Future Spoiler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlsGhC3G1d8), a keynote/speaker and lecturer. She has co/authored over 200 scientific articles, technical reports and newspaper interviews; webinars and podcasts.