David A. Björnsson is an Icelandic-American environmental activist, equalist, writer, and founder of Touchpoint Networks, a nonprofit liaison organization dedicated to uniting and promoting individuals, organizations, and governing bodies that seek to improve life on Earth. He believes that we need to leverage our collective understanding, compassion, and forethought if we are going to find solutions to save the world – from ourselves.
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, David was subsequently raised throughout Europe, including Germany, France, Spain, and Norway, as well as in the US. He has fond memories of spending summers on a family farm planting crops, and later helping to plant a small forest as part of the capital’s reforestation initiative. Influenced by its success, this citywide program was then championed on a national level by President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Consequently, millions of trees continue to be planted nationwide in his home country.
Amidst becoming national champion in swimming, and cofounding the Karate Federation of Iceland, David launched H&N, which would become one of the world’s most successful wholistic health and fitness magazines. Inspired to merge the ancient Eastern philosophies he had studied since his youth, with the latest Western insights he had employed as an athlete, he sought to bring an integrated understanding to modern life. As a publisher and editor, he also underscored the vital link between our individual and collective health and the health of the environment upon which we all depend.
For the past twenty years, David has been a community organizer, board advisor, and environmental advocate. Having stood chest-deep in floodwaters that raged in overnight, looking back at his home, business, and neighborhood submerged, he recognizes this 2004 flood, and subsequent floods in the downtown area, as the onset of the climate crisis in his corner of the world. With each passing year, millions more citizens across the globe are now regularly inundated by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, heat domes, and droughts – all increasing in severity, frequency, cost, and devastation. He sees this firsthand understanding, gained from surviving these mounting manmade natural disasters, as a new kind of lived experience that has the potential to transcend any academic exercise and/or theoretical debate about our foreseeable fate as a species.
In the same timeframe, David conducted an independent research project that is culminating in a book and movie script that explores how we got to where we are, at this point in the history of the human race, by way of our beliefs. This exploration includes hundreds of unofficial interviews on a wide range of topics, including the impact of capitalism, consumerism, technology, politics, and religion on our environment, as well as on our individual and collective purpose. It explores what the future holds for us if we continue on the path we are currently on. The project has the working title of The Destiny of Humanity, and delves into the history of our beliefs as a species as seen through the lenses of history, science, politics, and religion. It simultaneously integrates what we can learn from ancient wisdom, rites, and rituals, as well as more recently through the fields of psychology, sociology, early childhood development, and behavioral neuroscience.
David currently serves on the Green Team Committee, which leads and coordinates the global equity and sustainability movement at the local level. This statewide initiative focuses on meeting the needs of the present, while preserving the resources available for future generations. As the Nordic Climate Columnist, he has contributed to the online magazine Blinter, focused on cuisine, culture, and climate. David is also a member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, as well as several other international communities, actively seeking to solve the world’s biggest problems. He believes that the insights and focus of the Rescue Our Future Foundation play a pivotal role in the global effort to right the course that humanity is currently on, and is honored to have been appointed to serve on its board.