Earth Cast

In this episode Olivia Taylor (@olivia_earth) speaks to Dr Harriet Davies-Mostert about honey badgers & bee keepers, family planning for women and girls and how this affects conservation, aligning business with biodiversity, the importance of partnerships & collaboration, working with Eskom, the African Wild Dog Program, and so much more!

Harriet is Head of Conservation at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a South African-based NGO, where she provides strategic scientific oversight to a diversity of conservation projects across southern Africa. A trained carnivore conservation biologist, Harriet received a Doctorate for her research on African Wild Dogs, from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University. A Council Member (and former President) of the Southern African Wildlife Management Association, Harriet sits on several national and international committees, including several linked to the IUCN. She has published more than 50 scientific papers and book chapters, and is a Fellow of the Eugène Marais Chair of Wildlife Management, at the Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria. Her main research interests are large carnivore conservation and management, the data-science-policy interface, and the contribution of the wildlife economy to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. She also dabbles in road ecology and is passionate about the role of conservation evidence in driving effective action.

To follow more of Harriet's work, you may find her on the @endangeredwildlifetrust socials.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Faine Loubser about The Great African Sea Forest, emotional ecology, ocean accessibility, marine protected areas, cold water swimming, independent media, strategic partnerships, and so much more!

Faine is a documentary filmmaker and environmental storyteller with a deep passion for the ocean. Her love for nature was fostered by her parents through long camping trips deep in the Namib desert and along the west coast of South Africa.

Over the past years she has developed her media skills working with GoPro as a content manager and filmmaker, Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival as a curator, and several documentaries as a director, producer and underwater cinematographer.

She continues to deepen her relationship with the kelp forest, learning, observing and documenting this ecosystem in order to share its beauty and stories and ultimately work for its long-term protection.

Resources mentioned:

@9milesproject

To follow more of Faine's work, you can find her on Instagram @fainepearl.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Roushanna Gray about food as a powerful learning tool & connector that all people can relate to, access to land & limiting policies, the importance of preserving plant & animal names in vernacular, the untapped potential of seaweeds, whether foraging is a romanticised notion, how to personally re-connect with nature, and so much more!

Roushanna Gray is the founder of Veld and Sea, an immersive and experiential wild flavour focused business based in Cape Town. The concept of Veld and Sea is to track the edible landscape through the seasons, with workshops that invite others to experience what nature’s flavour of the moment is. In Summer coastal foraging, in Autumn and Winter land-based harvesting and in the Springtime the focus moves to the flowers.

Resources mentioned:

To follow more of Roushanna's work, you can find her on Instagram @veldandsea.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Aaniyah Omardien about World Ocean's Day & restoring historic injustice, the innovative work being done by The Beach Co-Op, storytelling & the power of community, the colonial context of conservation in South Africa, the role of women and girls in the marine environment, and so much more!

Aaniyah is an intersectional environmentalist living in Cape Town. She has worked in marine conservation for 17 years. After leaving WWF as the Acting Head of the Freshwater and Marine Programs in 2010, she consulted in the environmental sector and became a mother. In 2015 she started a voluntary group, with scientific advice from Professor Peter Ryan, that collected marine debris. In 2017, Aaniyah founded a non profit company, The Beach Co-op (TBCO), which emerged from these early informal gatherings. Aaniyah was selected as part of the first cohort of Women for the Environment in Africa and has embarked on this journey for 2021 with 20 other African women. In addition, she is a registered PhD student at the Education and Learning Research Centre at the university currently known as Rhodes University.

To follow more of Aaniyah's work, you can find her on Instagram @aani_crab or through the @thebeachco_op news streams.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Samir Randera-Rees about the importance of intergenerational storytelling, Strategic Water Source Areas (SWSAs), poverty traps & environmental degradation, building stakeholder trust, understanding & respecting community needs & their solutions, and so much more!

Samir is the programme manager for Water Source Areas at WWF-SA and has a Masters in Conservation Ecology, and a Conservation Leadership MBA from the African Leadership University. He is the Founder and CEO of Whispers of the Wild and a former presenter on 50|50. Samir and the WWF team have helped to make the Water Source Areas one of the country’s highest conservation priorities, and mobilised tens of millions of rands into these areas, which has gone towards empowering communal farmers, clearing thirsty alien trees, building youth capacity in the green economy and starting green businesses. This work earned him recognition when he won the Mail & Guardian Greening the Future award. Samir’s overarching approach to conservation is that it can only be effective with a good scientific understanding of the systems that you are working in, as well as an understanding of the hearts, minds and ambitions of the communities that interact with them.

To follow more of Samir's work, you can find him on Instagram @samirrr_photography or through the WWFSA news platforms.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Niharika Elety about regenerative fashion, sustainable supply chains and the people behind them, the real cost of a garment & affordability, the role humans play in the ecosystem, greenwashing, and so much more!

Niha is a Creative Artist and Sustainability Activist on Instagram. She uses fashion, art and heritage as a vehicle to bring awareness about sustainability and its importance. Her platform looks to amplify and incorporate Indian heritage to bring inclusivity to the sustainable fashion and environmental movement. She is passionate about using media to amplify social and environmental justice initiatives and BIPOC knowledge. Niha is also the Founder and Co-creator at Tega Collective a sustainable fashion brand that champions Adivasi communities from India and their textile traditions.

To follow more of Niha's work, you can find her on Instagram @nihaelety.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Jolynn Minnaar about fracking in the Karoo, economic development & job opportunities, gender-based violence, storytelling, dispelling myths about the gas industry, the possibility of a just renewable energy transition & divesting, climate change, Eskom's rolling power cuts, building inclusive wildlife filmmaking communities, and so much more!

Jolynn Minnaar is a filmmaker who focuses on stories that matter. She is an award winning South African director who I have often heard described as fearless. Her films have screened at many prestigious festivals and for her documentary work, she is one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans, Glamour Women of the Year as well as a member of the prestigious 21 Icon family. Jo's passion lies in capturing intimate, insightful portraits that challenge perceptions and inspire new thought.

To follow more of Jolynn's work, you can find her on Instagram @Jolynnminnaar.

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Andile Ngcobo about financial savviness, agriculture supply chain trends, the transition from subsistence production to commercial farming & the use of pesticides, bees & climate resilience, upskilling, the limitless career opportunities that lie in the agri sector, and agriculture as a viable investment opportunity.

Andile Siphesihle Ngcobo is a 27-Year-old farmer in Pietermaritzburg, managing Tusokuhle Farming (Pty) Ltd. He is an experienced Farm Manager skilled in Strategic Management, Sustainable Development, Business and Agricultural Production Planning, Public Speaking, and Leadership. Andile was on the front cover of the Farmers Weekly in January 2019 and holds a Diploma in Agriculture from Cedara College of Agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal.

To follow more of Andile's work, you can find him on Instagram @as_ngcobo.

In this episode Olivia speaks to Maxine Gray about the history and role of the sustainable development goals, financial services’ ability to enable responsible and impact seeking investment behaviours, the role of philanthropy in achieving the SDGs and its potential to focus on creating strong partnerships, tackling global problems with local innovation, and so much more!

Maxine Gray is passionate about the intersection of sustainable development, business strategy, human behaviour and being a catalyst for societal change. She has a Bcomm (Economic Science, Management and Business Finance) and a Bcomm Honours (Business Finance and Investment) but considers herself to be a lifelong learner. Within her role at Investec Wealth & Investment she focuses on driving the development and implementation of business strategy, change management, and sustainability.  Additionally, Maxine is a Philanthropy Consultant working with Private Client Charitable Foundations in developing their strategic philanthropic direction of achieving sustainable societal upliftment.

Maxine is a UN Young SDG Innovator Alumni and Mentor on the 2021 Young SDG Innovators programme with the United Nations Global Compact focusing on sustainable business, innovation and the Sustainable Development Goals. Maxine was named the UN Global Compact Network SDG Pioneer for South Africa in 2020. The foundation of her career is in Risk Management and Governance as a former Operational Risk Manager within IW&I SA. Maxine is a One Young World Ambassador and Board member of imagine.nation (NPO) focusing on early childhood development and entrepreneurship in rural communities within South Africa.

To follow more of Maxine’s work, you can find her on Instagram @MaxineGray.