On this show we take a journey through the challenges facing our world's forests. What does it take to protect tropical rainforests in places like the Amazon from illegal logging? What about the corporations profiting off the illegal logging trade? Host Jack Eidt speaks with Forest Policy Specialist Scott Paul on his transition from activism with Greenpeace to corporate sustainability with Taylor Guitars.

Many of the woods traditionally chosen to make acoustic guitars are under pressure due to a range of factors, including rising global consumption patterns and land conversion, and too often in many parts of the world, a lack of dedicated governance. Stressing the importance of ethical wood sourcing for musical instruments, Scott Paul shares how Taylor Guitars' innovative projects in Cameroon and Hawaii are setting new standards for environmental responsibility in the music industry. We hope to uncover the intricate relationship between forests, guitars, and global sustainability.

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Resources/Articles:

https://woodandsteel.taylorguitars.com/authors/scott-paul/

Scott Paul is Taylor Guitar’s Director of Sustainability [https://www.taylorguitars.com/about/sustainability]. Prior to this, the majority of his career was spent as a forest policy specialist and activist, including 14 years at Greenpeace. Scott has worked for The White House Office on Environmental Policy, participated in the UN forest policy dialogue since 1995, and has served on multiple boards of directors, including the Forest Stewardship Council. His work has taken him to the Amazon, the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia, the Canadian boreal, Alaska, and the Russian Far East. He is also the first person in over 100 years to have been arrested for Sailormongering.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia [https://wilderutopia.com], a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs.

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Podcast Blog: https://www.wilderutopia.com/category/ecojustice-radio/

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Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt

Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 222

Photo credit: Scott Paul