Marianne Thieme new director Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation
As of January 1st, 2022, Marianne Thieme will be the director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation. She succeeds Karen Soeters, who has held the position since 2007.
Marianne Thieme was one of the founders of the Party for the Animals in 2002 and was party leader and political leader of the party from 2006 to 2019. Earlier, she was director at Wakker Dier, a foundation that campaigns for the abolition of industrial animal farming.
During her political career, Marianne Thieme was closely involved in the work of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation (NGPF), she starred in several documentaries for the scientific bureau. In 2007 she made Meat the Truth, the first Dutch climate film, with the collaboration Georgina Verbaan, Wim T. Schippers and others, followed by an international version in 2008 with Pamela Anderson, James Cromwell, Bill Maher and Emily Deschanel.
In 2010 she made the international documentary Sea The Truth with Dos Winkel and others and in 2012 she made the documentary The Pacer in the Marathon with Joost de Haas, about 10 years Party for the Animals. In 2015 she made the documentary series One Single Planet with Robert van Tellingen, in which she discusses the major problems concerning water, biodiversity, food security and zoonoses with leading experts worldwide, in which Dr. Olga Jonas of the World Bank was already deeply concerned about the approaching pandemic.
In 2019, again with Robert van Tellingen, she made the documentary #Powerplant, in which she investigates the relationship between meat consumption and climate change with Oxford researchers Kate Raworth, Marco Springmann and Joseph Poore and talks with Will Steffen (Australian National University), Jan Zalasiewicz (University of Leicester) and Moby about the need for a protein transition and an economy in which the limits of the earth in terms of raw materials and environmental space can no longer be exceeded.
The board of the NGPF is very pleased with Marianne Thieme’s willingness to assume the leadership of the scientific bureau as a follow-up to her political activities.
Karen Soeters resigns as director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation
As of December 1st Karen Soeters wil resign from her duties as director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, in order to fully focus on her foundation House of Animals.
Karen has been director of the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation since its establishment in August 2007. She was project leader of the much-discussed climate film ‘Meat the Truth’, the first Dutch climate documentary, which has now been translated into 17 different languages. and was screened all over the world. She was responsible for the production of the subsequent documentaries ‘Sea the Truth’, ‘The Haas in the Marathon’, ‘One Single Planet’ and ‘#Powerplant’ and was involved in visual documents about mega-stables and slaughter without pre-stunning. In addition, she acted as editor for the books ‘Sea the Truth’ and ‘Meat the Future’.
We sincerely thank Karen for her many years of dedication to the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation and wish her the best of luck with the further expansion of House of Animals. Be well and continue to commit yourself to the most vulnerable, the voiceless.
Niko Koffeman, chairman NGPF
New animation: A Viral Spiral
Climate change seems like a problem of a far distant future. We just go on with business as usual. But climate change, just like the loss of biodiversity and the current pandemic, is a consequence of how we treat nature. Corona is a wake-up call that has disrupted all of our lives.
All attention goes towards solving the current problem: controlling the SARS-CoV-2 virus. But prevention is better than cure. To do this, we have to look at how infectious diseases emerge and spread.
A Viral Spiral
World-renowned artist Steve Cutts created an animated film for the Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, in which he not only visualizes the factors that cause pandemics, but also points at the urgent measures that are needed to reduce the risk of future pandemics. Watch A Viral Spiral here:
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