Earth to Humans

Today we are bringing you a special Earth Day bonus episode of the show! We have a lot going on this Earth Day - today marks the online release of our newest documentary film, Souls of the Vermilion Sea - about the struggle to save the vaquita from extinction.  We’re super excited to be releasing this new 30-min doc for free online streaming!  Click here to watch the film, or go to vaquitafilm.com. We are celebrating this online release with today’s bonus episode of the show, in which we are featuring an interview with California state Assembly member Todd Gloria, who recently introduced a new bill to the California state legislature that would restrict the import of certain seafood products in an attempt to help protect the vaquita.  Before we jump into today’s interview however, I have to mention our exciting collaborative project to cover the March for Science.  As many of our listeners likely are aware, Earth Day 2017 is a day of action for scientists all around the globe, who will be marching in over 400 cities  to send a message to our government and the Trump administration that we will not stand idyl as science is de-funded and scientific truths are outright denied. We have seven Eyes on Conservation correspondents covering seven different March for Science events all across the US, from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii, and we’ll be using the audio and video that is captured to put together a very special episode of this podcast. We will also be live streaming from a number of March for Science events directly to our Eyes on Conservation Facebook page - so if you’re not able to attend a march, or if you want to see what some of the other events in places like Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco look like - you can tune into our EOC Facebook page to get live updates. And when you get back home from participating in the March for Science, you can settle in with a good movie - our film Souls of the Vermilion Sea about the struggle to save the vaquita from extinction. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest on the show is Rosalyn LePier.  Rosalyn is an environmental historian, ethnobotanist, and indigenous writer.  She is a professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana, a research associate an the National Museum of Natural History, and is currently a visiting professor of Women’s studies, Environmental Studies and Native American religion at the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University.  She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and also identifies as Métis. Rosalyn is also on the steering committee for the March for Science, and has been involved in the March for Science since the birth of this concept shortly after the Women’s March and President Trump’s inauguration.  The March for Science will be taking place this coming Saturday, April 22nd - Earth Day - and although the main event will be taking place in Washington D.C., there are hundreds of satellite events happening all around the globe, providing ample opportunity for folks to participate. We are actually launching a new experiment here at the Eyes on Conservation podcast that is connected to the upcoming March for Science - we will be covering the March from a variety of perspectives this coming Saturday.  We have seven Wild Lens correspondents involved in this little experiment - and each of them will be attending a different March for Science event.  These correspondents will be capturing audio to use for an upcoming episode of the podcast, as well as video footage for a potential short film.  A select few will also be streaming live video from the Marches directly to our Eyes on Conservation Facebook page.  So if you’re not able to attend a March for Science event - or if you want to get a feel for what some of the larger events in Washington D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco look like - stay tuned to our Eyes on Conservation Facebook feed to get live updates. In the meantime - we hope that you will enjoy today’s conversation with Rosalyn LaPier, in which we’ll explore some of the connections between science, Native American religion, and the environmental movement. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest on the show is Annette Berkovits, an author and educator focused on wildlife conservation who has written the new book, Confessions of an Accidental Zoo Curator. We talked with Annette about her path towards becoming a key architect of what has now become a worldwide standard for wildlife and conservation education programs.  Annette worked for three decades with the Wildlife Conservation Society, and took a unique approach towards designing conservation education programs - an approach that has been hugely successful in reaching students and zoo visitors all across the globe. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest on the show is Beth Pratt, who is the California Director for the National Wildlife Federation.  Beth has spearheaded the #SaveLACougars campaign, and has helped raise a lot of awareness for mountain lion research.  We are particularly interested in hearing about the new proposed wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon in Southern California, which Beth has been involved with. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest on the show is writer and activist Kimberly Fanshier.  Kimberly seeks to use writing and critical reading as community building, anti-oppressive tools.  Her research interests revolve around place-based rhetorics: Kimberly writes about wolves in Oregon, pop country radio, internet comment sections, and frontier violence to unpack the discourses of belonging, home, identity, and borders. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today we are revisiting the issue of lead poisoning in wildlife.  This is a topic that I’ve spent quite a bit of time investigating, as it was central to the story behind my first film, Scavenger Hunt - which was about the connections between California condor conservation efforts and the issue of lead poisoning from spent ammunition. This issue has been in the headlines recently - the Obama administration in its final weeks in office issued an order to phase our lead-based ammunition and fishing tackle from all lands managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - these areas included all National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges.  The response to this action was predictable - it was applauded by many conservation groups, and provoked lead ammo industry lobbyists to repeat their claims that there’s no proof of lead’s negative impact on wildlife populations. Once Donald Trump became our president - his new head of the Department of the Interoir Ryan Zinke moved to overturn this plan to phase out the use of lead ammo on these federally managed lands - again, a predictable move. Today we are sharing with you an archival interview, recorded while we were working on our film Scavenger Hunt, with the founding director of the USGS Wildlife Health Center, Milton Friend.  Milton worked for decades to get lead shot banned from use in waterfowl hunting, and is therefore intricately familiar with the type of political maneuvering that we’re seeing right now in regard to the lead ammunition issue.  He points out many similarities between his fight to end the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting and the current incarnation of this fight against the use of lead based ammunition for hunting generally. Just to be clear - the use of lead shot for waterfowl hunting was officially banned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1991 - although there were complications with the implementation of this ban as you’ll hear Milton discuss. Although this interview was recorded back in 2012 - it remains extremely relevant to our current situation with the lead ammunition issue. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

This week we are bringing you a very special episode of the Eyes on Conservation podcast - this is about as close to a live show as we've gotten.  Today's episode was recorded just a few hours before being released - and we recorded it on location in San Felipe, Mexico where fellow EOC co-host Sean Bogle and I are engaged in a series of community screenings of our new film Souls of the Vermilion Sea. These community screenings of our film were organized in collaboration with today's guest on the show, Samantha Young from San Diego Zoo Global.  Samantha has been working down here in San Felipe for several years, with the goal of building community support for the conservation.  While the vaquita is certainly a central focus of this project, Samantha's goals are much broader than simply saving the vaquita from extinction. We had a wonderful conversation with Samantha that ultimately delved into a comparison of the conservation challenges faced by the California condor to those faced by the vaquita.  Enjoy! Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

I am extremely excited to announce that we have added a fresh component to the EOC marque that embraces all art forms in how these diverse creative mediums can convey conservation information.  All of us respond differently to a variety of media.  Some us connect with video and radio, while others may connect to paintings, song, or dance.  It is important that the issues, actions, and efforts that concern the natural world of our planet are received by as many people as possible.  So we introduced the Eyes on Conservation Art Scene! The Eyes on Conservation Art Scene (EOCAS) is a community where artists can fuse together, share ideas and show case their individual works that focus on conservation.  The mission of the EOC Art Scene is a place of unity and raising awareness about wildlife issues, not to mention a place where cool art is created! Recently, we launched the first EOC Art Scene exhibit at the Les Bois Film Festival, which we co-host with the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley in Boise, Idaho. Our first amazing collaborators to premiere this exhibit are the SWELL Artist Collective and the Endangered Species print project. The exhibit is currently on display at the SWELL Artist Collective gallery, which we attended on it's opening night this past Thursday - and this takes us into today’s show. The goal of the exhibit is to raise awareness of species in the Idaho and Pacific Northwest region and as well as international species and how these species share commonalities as well as our connections to all species. SWELL artists produced 35 original works of art of these species and the Endangered Species Print Project presented 5 art pieces coupled with a map showing their migrations. These two organizations are wonderful examples of an artistic community with a shared love and appreciation for wildlife while inspiring others. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest on the show is Fitz Cahall.  Fitz is a podcaster, filmmaker and storyteller at Duct Tape Then Beer.  He is the producer and host of the Dirtbag Diaries, one of the most popular podcast series focused on outdoor adventure, and he’s also the director of the new film, Paul’s Boots. I had a lot of fun talking with Fitz - there aren’t too many other people out there that share my same passions for both filmmaking and podcasting!  I was particularly interested to hear about Fitz’s approach towards producing and directing his film, Paul’s Boots.  Paul’s Boots is about a unique journey across the Appalachian Trail - any anyone who follows this podcast series knows that that Appalachian Trail holds a very special place in my heart.  I produced my own film about a trip across the Long Trail in Vermont - the trail that inspired the creation of the Appalachian Trail. Beyond my own fascination with long distance hiking however, I’m also excited about this conversation with Fitz because we are actually screening his film Paul’s Boots as a part of Les Bois Film Festival, the local Boise film fest that we co-host with the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley.  So our listeners in Boise will actually have the opportunity to see this film up on the big screen at the Egyptian Theatre this coming Saturday. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Today we are bringing you a panel discussion focused on conservation oriented filmmaking in Idaho.  We put together a panel of Boise-based filmmakers who are screening films at this year’s Les Bois Film Festival - an event that Wild Lens actually helped found.  This is the second year that we are co-hosting Les Bois Film Festival alongside the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley, and we’re extremely excited about this year’s event.  We’re screening 20 short films across three separate screening blocks all at the Egyptian Theatre in downtown Boise on Saturday, March 4th. One of the aspects of this festival that we’re most proud of is the emphasis on locally produced films, and this is why I’m so excited about today’s panel discussion.  We brought together all of the Boise-based filmmakers that are screening films at Les Bois this year for a conversation about the intersection between filmmaking and conservation here in Idaho.  In addition to being aired on this podcast series, this conversation will also air on our community radio station here in boise (Radio Boise, KRBX 89.9), in collaboration with our favorite local radio show, Building a Greener Idaho.  I was joined in the studio by today’s co-hosts, Remington Buyer from Building a Greener Idaho, and Julia Rundberg, who is the new development and communications manager at the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe