Needlessly, there is a global Parkinson's disease pandemic on the rise. But it is unnatural and this incurable neurological disease can be prevented with environmental protections and prioritizing a toxin-free ecosystem if we clean up our air pollution and stop using certain degreasers and insecticide chemicals often used in dry cleaning, mechanics, golf courses, farming, and the military (especially TCE, PCE, and Paraquat). This is explained by the passionate medical doctor Dr. Ray Dorsey. In this lively dialogue with In Tune to Nature host Carrie Freeman, Dr. Dorsey shares key insights from his 2025 book “The Parkinson’s Plan: A New Path to Prevention and Treatment” which he wrote with fellow neurologist Dr. Michael Okun. You can find out more at https://pdplan.org/ (where you can join the PD Avengers advocacy movement to prevent Parkinson's, as we are all at risk). https://www.pdavengers.com/

This show is in honor of Carrie's dad's birthday, as he has been living with Parkinson's disease the last 15 years (cutting short his beloved architecture career -- we worked on his website together), likely caused by exposure to the TCE dry cleaning chemical polluting the Marine Corps training base Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, where he served back in 1964. Dr. Dorsey explains how this water pollution and its devastating cover-up occurred between the 1950's to 1980's, poisoning and sickening hundreds of thousands of Marines and local civilians! Camp LeJeune victims can and should apply for reparations. Dr. Dorsey also shares how, sadly, other service members, like those in the Air Force, are also at higher risk of contracting Parkinson's (like Carrie's uncle Ray, on her mom's side, a retired Air Force Colonel and veteran of the Vietnam war). Our service members deserve to be protected from chemical harms!

But all of us (humans and other animals) are at risk in our daily lives, often unknowingly, and humans can take actions (at home and work, in our towns, and with who we vote for) to reduce these toxins in our environment; for guidance, in the latter half of this 75-minute episode, Dr. Dorsey shares hopeful tips from the book's "Parkinson's 25" list of actions, such as:

If American listeners hang in for the last 10 minutes of the show, Carrie shares EPA websites and a news report on the PCE and TCE ban that Pres. Biden's EPA put in place, and the extent to which the trump admin is currently stalling its implementation (with a chemical industry lobbyist that he put in charge, weakening the EPA's public health priorities). Who you vote for matters and we should expect our government leaders to prioritize life. Do they?  FYI: there are government/EPA emails for PCE and TCE: [email protected] and [email protected]

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody -- radically candid and compassionate.

And remember to take care of yourself and others, as no Earthling deserves to live in a toxic world.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

The last time Dr. Marc Bekoff was on the show, he discussed his "Emotional Lives of Animals" 2nd edition; now he's co-authored a version for teens/young adults called "Love in Their Hearts: A Celebration of Animal Emotions and a Guide to Compassionate Action," with writer and friend Jeff Campbell, both of whom join host Carrie Freeman for a 52-minute conversation that is both fun and touching, as they share stories of nonhuman animal altruism, heroism, and grief -- from Marc's dog Jethro (bunny rescuer), to dairy cow mothers, to the famous grizzly bear 399 in Wyoming, to heroic humpback whales and dolphins. And we ponder why wild/free-living killer whales choose not to attack us humans?

We also discuss how kids can learn from the lessons of Drs. Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff in terms of their career trajectory innovating wild animal ethology (respectfully studying animal behavior as compassionate conservationists) and their childhood experiences connecting with other animals (and having supportive parents). Marc is very passionate about young people following their hearts in school and not letting teachers/professors force them to do anything violent to animals (dissection, experimentation, killing). His co-author Jeff ensured that the book contained Marc's and Jane's experiences as students, as an example of how you can be highly successful in science while still following your heart and doing what is best for our animal friends (recognizing them as someone not something).

Marc and Jeff have created a free educator's guide so teachers can use the "Love in their Hearts" book in the classroom: https://marcbekoff.com/love-in-their-hearts.  You can also check out Jeff's other books for young adults at his website https://jeffcampbellbooks.com/ 

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody -- radically candid and compassionate.

And remember to take care of yourself and others, including fellow animals with love in their hearts.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Recorded on my mom, Cathy Packwood’s, birthday, I'm covering a topic she has become passionate about – microplastics and how and why society should end the production and circulation of plastics, for the health of humans and other animals and our shared habitats – and how can we work individually in our homes (that's hard), and collectively as engaged citizens (that's hard too, especially in this administration), to create a healthier existence free from plastics; even recycling plastics causes toxins and can perpetuate reliance on plastics!  See Greenpeace's Forever Toxic recycling report (not recycling is a hard one for me since I have spent so many hours cleaning and recycling plastic for decades -- should we just throw plastic containers in the trash when we can't avoid getting them?!)

It's time to replace this chemical-filled, unhealthy (albeit convenient) product with something sustainable, reusable, nontoxic, and non-polluting (especially around our food and drink items); we discuss how plastics are made of fossil fuels (petroleum) that adds to the climate crisis, so a plastic-free future goes hand in hand with a clean-energy future, where communities could be more resilient from the fluctuating oil market inflated prices, like now with the U.S. war with Iran, if we weren't so reliant on plastics.

To tell us about this herculean personal and public effort is our guest Lindsey Jurca, Senior Plastics Campaigner at Greenpeace. Lindsey talks about their work with nations worldwide developing a "Global Plastics Treaty" with some teeth in it, to turn off the plastic cycle that is drowning us all in toxins. Join us to talk solutions in this 49-minute conversation in honor of my mom Cathy's birthday (I got her a lot of bamboo kitchen utensils and natural sponges and glass spray jars for a plastic-free kitchen). 

A resource is https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-plastic-pollution/ 

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

And remember to take care of yourself and others, including the other animals, who don't want to live with plastic pollution in and around us anymore. Enough already!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Photo Credit: courtesy of Greenpeace

I'm excited to talk about one of my favorite places, Cumberland Island National Seashore here in coastal Georgia. I got word from the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife that they are working to prevent some new proposed construction of large houses on Cumberland Island and increased recreational activity that will be disruptive to wildlife. We also talk about the wild horses who live there, as they were introduced to the island and they face some welfare issues and also cause some ecological issues for island habitat. As part of this discussion, we will consider the trump administration’s budgetary and staffing cuts to the National Park Service, but end this 20-minute segment on a positive note by discussing the Wildlife Corridors Act proposed in Congress, to help wild animals migrate safely between habitats on public lands.

In Tune to Nature host Carrie Freeman leads this 29-minute conversation with guest Kelly Cox, the Senior Policy & Planning Specialist at Defenders of Wildlife, where she works to protect imperiled species and their habitats on national public lands. The Defenders of Wildlife website is https://defenders.org/  Kelly recommends that people follow Wild Cumberland, a local group of advocates to stay informed on the public lands sale and visitor management plan. 

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

And remember to take care of yourself and others, including the free-living animals who call Cumberland Island home.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Photo Credit: Host Carrie Freeman took this photo of a wild horse in 2018 that she saw on Cumberland Island (she mentioned him in the show).

Author and environmental advocate Miriam Horn brings the pioneering impact of wildlife conservationist George Schaller to life in her new book “Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller.”  Since the 1950’s, George, often along with his wife Kay (an anthropologist), pioneered the fieldwork of living peacefully amongst large, wild/free-living animals like snow leopards, gorillas, lions, tigers, jaguars, giant pandas, Tibetan antelope, Marco Polo sheep, and Gobi bears in remote habitats, that helped pave the way for humane conservationists like Jane Goodall and Dianne Fossey, recognizing animal agency and their "theory of mind." Schaller also created parks and preserves all around the world to save vital wilderness habitat. Why have most of us never heard of him?!

It's important that the Schallers' legacy is intimately detailed through Miriam's wonderful storytelling to fully appreciate how they went to wild places few scientists had ventured, persevered in tough and often politically fraught conditions, trained a cadre of young local scientists around so many nations to protect their local wildlife, published scientific books and articles proving wild animals' vast capabilities and needs, and campaigned politically to get habitats protected. You'll enjoy this 50-minute lively discussion between author Miriam Horn and Carrie Freeman, host of In Tune to Nature.  

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

And remember to take care of yourself and others, including the other animals with whom we share the planet.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

For earthday 2026, I'm replaying an interview of me describing the Human Animal Earthling identity as a strategy to creating alliances for social change by cultivating a more inclusive ingroup and broader moral sphere of concern -- a planetary team spirit, where humans embrace their animality and protect other sentient beings and our habitats. 

Co-host Melody Paris interviewed me (Carrie Freeman) back in December 2020 (we were all distracted by the U.S. Presidential election back then, remember?) about my new book with UGA Press "The Human Animal Earthling Identity: Shared Values Unifying Human Rights, Animal Rights, and Environmental Movements"  https://www.humananimalearthlings.com/ (which subsequently went on to win several environmental book awards in independent book publishing categories, such as "Book Most Likely to Save the Planet"....although, in order to 'save the planet' people need to read it or listen in to apply its findings from me studying 18 social movement organizations and interviewing their leaders). 

In this 50-minute podcast, we discuss why identity is core to social change, how to resolve tensions between human and nonhuman causes, shared values all progressive causes endorse, common opponents, root causes of problems to address, and shared projects all advocacy groups could work on in a way that would help all living beings (not just one subset).

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

As Human Animal Earthlings, we take care of ourselves and others, including other species.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Award-winning travel writer Stephanie Pearson explains the top 10 federal public lands in the USA (out of the 640 million acres that we co-own with wild animals) that are most in need of our protection from a variety of elevating threats at this point in human history (we discuss industrial activity in Alaska and Minnesota, AI data centers all over, climate crisis-caused extinctions in Hawaii, wildlife fragmentation in the Western grasslands, introduced species killing off mammals in the Everglades, government censorship at parks nationwide, and proposed border walls messing up wild lands in Texas). This is based on Stephanie's special news report co-published by Outside magazine and RePublic. The article is titled “America’s Most Endangered Public Lands 2026” and can be read at the website Republic(dot)land. Republic is a new nonprofit online journalism source dedicated to protecting America’s public lands. 

In this 50-minute "In Tune to Nature" radio show, aired March 25, 2026, host Carrie Freeman interviews outdoors writer Stephanie Pearson about her public lands article and ideas for getting politically engaged and enjoying public lands, and at the end we get a preview of her newest National Geographic book "100 Hikes of a Lifetime USA". Stephanie's travel and outdoor writing can be found at https://stephanieannpearson.com/ 

"In Tune to Nature" is an hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like those who depend on our millions of acres of publicly-owned land for their survival. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Photo Credit: Republic.land website image of Stephanie Pearson's "America's Most Endangered Public Lands" article

From taking down barbed-wire fences for pronghorn and elk In Wyoming and elephants in Kenya, to letting wetland water flow naturally in South Florida for wading birds and fish, to creating 'agave highways' for migrating birds to refuel in New Mexico, to designing spaces with wildlife in mind everywhere, journalist Hillary Rosner shares her insights on how humans are helping stitch back together fragmented and degraded habitats for wild animals globally in her new book "ROAM: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World" (published with gorgeous photography in 2025 by Patagonia Press on 100% recycled non-bleached paper). See Hillary's website at https://hillaryr.net/ 

In this 50-minute interview, In Tune to Nature radio host Carrie Freeman especially enjoys talking with Hillary (who works at Univ of Colorado's Center for Environmental Journalism) about lessons from the places in the USA they both went to work on books on wildlife -- the rapidly developing/growing areas of the Yellowstone National Park region in Montana and Wyoming, and South Florida's Everglades National Park/Big Cypress region in Southwest Florida. Hillary describes how the Corkscrew Sanctuary in Florida is being hemmed in by housing developments, and how those human communities are wanting to divert wetland water to prevent flooded streets and yards, at the expense of Sanctuary residents like birds, fish, and alligators; she also shares her experiences with volunteers taking down several miles of barbed wire fences near Cody, Wyoming and how fences can be redesigned to let certain animals get over or under them safely instead of being a dangerous impediment for elk, pronghorn, bears, mountain lions and other mammals. You can see her list of organizations doing good work for wildlife in those regions and the global locations in her book (on the Patagonia Press Roam page).

"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  or https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature/ Consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like all the wildlife who need us to help them roam safely to survive.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Photo Credit: ROAM book interior cover image of an endangered bear's fur in a barbed wire fence in Italy, taken by Bruno D'Amicis.

We explore an ethical worldview that may be new to a lot of people (but may capture how you really feel if you care for animals). It’s called sentientism, described by our guest Jamie Woodhouse (creator of Sentientism.info and the Sentientism podcast) as “a simple, potentially unifying, philosophy or worldview. It commits to using evidence and applying reason, and grants moral consideration to all sentient beings." Basically, animals are sentient beings, as they (we) experience consciousness and feelings of pleasure or pain and suffering, which tends to be the actual basis of most moral concerns for others (rather than limiting it to species boundaries).

In this 46-minute discussion in February 2026, host Carrie Freeman talks with Jamie Woodhouse (from his home in London) about what society would be like (and how our environmental policies and our political systems would be improved) if the focus of our concerns and laws were not just on human beings, but on all sentient beings, since we humans impact and often harm them so greatly -- we would be applying reason and scientific evidence (avoiding dogma, misinformation, and conspiracies) to help determine what all us animals need to flourish.

"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  or https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature/ Consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like all sentient beings.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.

Photo Credit: I took the image of various animals' eyes as a screenshot off the Sentientism.info website.

You'll be fascinated to learn how the animal ag industry (following the tobacco and fossil fuel industry playbook) influences academic climate research to highlight or produce favorable findings to trick the public and policymakers into continuing to subsidize it and avoid needed regulations that would protect wild and domesticated animals, workers, surrounding ecosystems, and our climate. Associate Professor of Communication at Mercer University, Dr. Vasile Stanescu, has a lively discussion with fellow critical animal studies scholar and vegan advocate Carrie Freeman (host of In Tune to Nature) in this 54-minute podcast where he explains his intriguing research on the meat and dairy industry's rhetorical tactics. He attended industry conferences where they talk about how to undermine legitimate reports/research exposing the devastating harms of their animal exploitation industry. We end with ways to move forward to honestly promote a needed transition to plant-based agriculture and how and why to thank a vegan. We also discuss his podcast with his partner Devs called How We Win: Achieving Animal Liberation at https://www.winforanimals.org/ 

Check out some of the open-access publications that Dr. Stanescu references on the show:

Cowgate:

“White Power Milk”:

“Slaughterhouse Capitalism” (from Current Affairs; it makes the class-based argument we discussed):

The Guardian uncovers a Master's in Beef Advocacy:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/03/beef-industry-public-relations-messaging-machine 

"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly hour-long radio show airing Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station) hosted by me, Carrie Freeman, or friend Melody Paris. The show's website and my contact info can be found at https://wrfg.org/intunetonature/  While there, consider donating to Radio Free Georgia, a 50+ year old progressive, non-commercial, indie radio station, run largely by volunteers like me and Melody.

Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like wild and domesticated animals.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG, its board, staff, or volunteers.