The Zen Den helps Aspen Ideas Festival attendees unwind

Offered up for the first time at Aspen Ideas Festival, there was a Zen Den — live bear included. The live bear was just on a flatscreen television being broadcast from the bear’s natural habitat at Brooks Falls, Alaska.

Where does an intellect and lover of education go to unwind during Aspen Ideas? The Zen Den.

Explore.org created the mental escape with use of eight different screens broadcasting live animals from their partnership with organizations that have wildlife cameras around the globe — elephants, orcas, toucans, gorillas, salmon. The cameras cover the gauntlet.

Explore.org is the world’s leading philanthropic live nature cam network and documentary film channel.

Its growing library consists of more than 250 original films and 30,000 photographs from around the world that are showcased at film festivals, on over 100 public broadcast and cable channels, and on numerous online destinations including explore.org, Snag Films, Hulu, and TakePart.

“At Explore, we are archivists,” said founder Charles Annenberg Weingarten. “We strive to create films that allow the viewer to join us on our journey as we go on location and experience what unfolds. It’s like the viewers are traveling with the team.”

Examples include cameras focused on a rehabilitated bird’s nest, a kitten rescue sanctuary, a bob cat hospital, and more rescue and national Audubon sanctuary cams helping aid in the preservation of wildlife and domestic animals.

There are also cameras focused on landscapes both above and underwater. 

The organization covers a diverse range of topics, including animal rights, health and human services, and poverty to the environment, education, and spirituality.

Individuals and organizations featured in many Explore films also receive Explore funding in the form of Annenberg Foundation grants. To date, over $69 million has been awarded to over 300 non-profit organizations worldwide.

Candice Rush, director of new media at Explore, said, “The Zen Den was a dream of Charlie’s. He wanted a physical space where people could be surrounded by nature, an anecdote to stress.”

“I’ve been into the Zen Den three times already,” said Natasha Carrizosa, Aspen Ideas Festival attendee for the fourth time. “I came straight from Houston to work on an event with Challenge Aspen and with the Bezos Scholarship Foundation. There’s a lot going on; it can be overwhelming.”

She texted her friends and son the link to the live animal cameras she became so enthralled.

“It’s just such a great place to ground myself. I wondered in the first day and keep coming back,” she added.

For hundreds of live animals, visit explore.org/livecams.