L. Courtney

For the first twenty years of her career, L. Courtney inhabited a very different world: corporate communications, boardrooms, business and leadership, and yes, loved high heels and then came Antarctica.

What began as an unexpected opportunity became a turning point. Courtney travelled south and returned home changed. In the vastness and silence of Antarctica, she began to see our planet and her place within it differently, and it set her life on a course she could never have imagined.

She learned to move beyond fear and high seas, to say yes to opportunities that sometimes seemed impossible, and to keep believing in herself when others said no.

In doing so, she discovered not only a new purpose, but her own voice.

For more than fifteen years, that curiosity has carried her to some of the most remarkable and vulnerable places on Earth, from Antarctica and Greenland to the Amazon rainforest, Arctic Alaska, the Himalayas, Pacific Islands, the Great Barrier Reef and the Southern Ocean.

An award-winning documentary filmmaker and climate communicator, Courtney has created more than 55 documentaries, working alongside leading scientists, Indigenous knowledge holders and communities to translate complex science into human stories about our changing world.

Yet some of her most profound lessons have come not from speaking, but from becoming still enough to listen.

In the silence of the far north, away from the noise of everyday life, she found the courage to listen more deeply to nature, to her intuition, to indigenous elders, and to the words that would eventually be published in this book - Conversations with Earth.

A mother of three and an adventurer by circumstance rather than design, Courtney remains deeply curious about our relationship with this extraordinary planet, and the greater universe, and about what becomes possible when we move beyond fear and step towards purpose.

Her journey reminds us that we do not always need to know where the road will lead. Sometimes, we simply need the courage to take the first step and share our voice to open conversations that can drive change.

I hope this book inspires you to help create a better future for all. L Courtney x