Wild For Change

On today’s Wild For Change podcast, we speak with Nicole Schmitt, Executive Director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.  

Alaska Wildlife Alliance was founded in 1978 to be a voice for Alaska’s wildlife, which includes marine mammals and endangered species. The mission of Alaska Wildlife Alliance (AWA) is to safeguard wildlife biodiversity knowing the wildlife have not only an intrinsic value to ecosystems but to the Alaskan people as well.   

In recent years, AWA has expanded its reach and partners with other environmental organizations to litigate over exploiting public lands and waters in Alaska by extraction industries. 

In this episode, we discover;

• How Nicole got her start with AWA and how her work to support wildlife, is best served by forging relationships with people and helping people restore their relationship with nature.
• The types of wildlife and their habitats that AWA works to protect.  
• How AWA looks at best serving the entire ecosystem as a whole. 
• What the “No Voice” model means for supporting wildlife, habitats, and future generations and how integrating this model can open up our perspective and compassion for the wildlife.
• What is the Alaska’s Board of Game does and what is AWA’s role in promoting fair representation for the wildlife. 
• How ecosystems, wildlife, and people are being affected by climate change in Alaska and how AWA is creating climate change adaption plans for wildlife. 
• Why the Cook Inlet beluga whales are experiencing a massive population decline and how AWA is helping to support this special population of beluga whales.
• The importance of beavers in the Alaskan ecosystem but with their population decline, how the ecosystem is being affected negatively.   
• How AWA support’s wildlife by encouraging public participation and how much positive impact this has on nature and wildlife. 
• The two big wins for the Kenai brown bears and other wildlife that just happened recently and how AWA worked to advance protections for the wildlife in this area.
• How you can get involved in supporting AWA’s work even if you do not live in the area.

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On a new Wild For Change podcast, we speak with amphibian biologist Dr. Kerry Kriger, founder of Save the Frogs!

Save The Frogs! began in 2008 and works across the United States as well as around the world to prevent the extinction of amphibians and to create a better planet for humans and wildlife, while also empowering ordinary citizens to contribute to the betterment of the planet.  

According to Save The Frogs! “Frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, and nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species (approximately 2,000 amphibians) are threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1980, and this is NOT normal: amphibians naturally go extinct at a rate of only about one species every 500 years!”  

Some of the major advancements made by Save The Frogs! includes;

• Prevented the construction of a 12-story restaurant and apartment complex on top of one of Canada’s last three populations of Fowler’s Toads.
• Stopped the City of San Francisco from destroying the Little Yosemite Canyon stretch of Alameda Creek, which is prime breeding habitat for Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs.
• Assisted with or independently led the construction or restoration of 29 wetlands, involving over a thousand volunteers.
• Disbursed over $100,000 in grants to 47 amphibian conservationists in 16 countries.

In this podcast, we will discover;

• How Dr. Kriger began his career and created Save The Frogs! 
• Some of the areas around the globe Save The Frogs! is actively helping to protect frogs and other amphibians.  
• What are the main threats to the frog’s existence.
• Learn why the frog and other amphibians are considered an indicator species and what that means for us and the health of the planet. 
• The role we play in helping to save the frogs and ourselves.
• The massive global frog trade and why many frogs are becoming sick with the virus Chytridiomycosis.
• Why wetlands are of monumental importance not only for frogs but for us.  
• How you can can build your own backyard wetland to support frogs.
• How to celebrate Save The Frogs! Day on April 28th. 

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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On this Wild For Change podcast, we speak with Judy Wilson, who formerly served as Kukpi Chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band about the Wolf Treaty; A Treaty of Cultural and Environmental Survival.  

Judy has knowledge, experience and an extensive background in First Nations land rights/specific claims, human rights, children & family jurisdiction, emergency management and supports a wide range of issues including climate action, justice reform, environmental & animal rights.

Currently she continues to work with several Assembly of First Nations Chiefs Committees at the national level and current boards include Global Indigenous Council and Rural British Columbia. Internationally she was the lead on many national and provincial delegations to COP 27, and United Nations Forums in Geneva and New York.

We are speaking about the wolf today because its continued survival is dependent on us.  Two million wolves cohabited North America with the native people before European colonization.  Now it is estimated fewer than 6,000 wolves exist in the contiguous United States and only occupy 10% of its historic range. Wolves are a keystone species and are a vital and necessary part of an ecosystem.  But they are under attack and are in need of federal protection.  

In this podcast we learn:

• Why the Wolf Treaty was created by Indigenous Nations. 
• The teachings and knowledge the wolf has given to the Indigenous culture.  
• The biggest misconceptions of the wolf and why we need to change the narrative of the wolf.
• Why the conservation of wolves should be led by Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
• The wolf’s role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and how this in turn supports us.
• How the gray wolf population in the lower 48 states affects the wolf population on the U.S. Canada border and U.S. Mexico border.  
• How the displacement of wolves mirrors the displacement of the Indigenous peoples.  
• When we fight for the wolves, we fight for everyone’s existence.  As what is happening to the wolves will affect us. 
• We need to restore protections for the wolf and place them back on the Endangered Species List. 
• The short film called Almost Ancestors was released to raise awareness about the Mexican gray wolf.  
• What people can do to help indigenous nations ensure the survival of the wolf.

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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Today we are speaking with Brooke Bowlin, a sustainable fashion advocate who got her start in the industry in 2018 from owning a second-hand clothing store.  After dealing with people’s excess of clothing, Brooke’s eyes were opened to the harm and overconsumption of fashion.  She has made it her mission to educate about better personal as well as industry practices.  Beyond her passion for helping to make sustainable fashion more accessible to the collective, Brooke is also an artist, lifelong learner, and creativity enthusiast.  

Right now, fast fashion is the trend and it comes with a cost to the planet, factory workers, and the global community at large.  Fast fashion is mass produced clothing created by mass retailers in response to the latest trends.  Fast fashion relies on cheap manufacturing and short-lived garment wear.  Because of the mass textile production, it takes a huge toll on the environment where approximately over 92 million tons of waste are produced every year, it contributes to 20% of global waste water and as Brooke states in her “Nuance Required” Newsletter, fashion accounts for 4% - 10% of greenhouse gas emissions.  Which at the higher end of 10% is more emissions than aviation and shipping sectors combined thus the fashion industry is now a major contributor in climate change.  

Speaking of the people making the clothing, 90% of the clothing produced is made in low to middle income countries.  Due to a lack of governmental infrastructure in these countries, the occupational and safety standards needed for the workers are often not enforced.

With all of this devastating impact from the fashion industry, we will learn from Brooke about what sustainable fashion means. 

In this podcast, we will learn;

• What sustainable fashion means.
• Understanding and looking at the entire life cycle of an article of clothing.
• How our approach to shopping and consuming clothing can contribute to the unsustainability of fast fashion.
• How second-hand clothing fits into the sustainable model.
• How we can make our closets more sustainable.  
• How shopping with intention helps us to make more sustainable fashion choices.  
• Key questions to ask yourself before investing in an article of clothing.
• Brooke’s newsletter “Nuance Required” and the meaning behind the name.
• What the fashion industry can do to reduce its impact on the environment.
• How some fashion brands greenwash the public about sustainable practices.  
• The role individuals play in addressing the climate crisis.

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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Today, we welcome back Leif Cocks, founder of the International Elephant Project, based in Sumatra.  The International Elephant Project (IEP) is a not-for-profit project for elephant conservation, rainforest protection and local community partnerships, in order to protect and save the entire ecosystem and biodiversity of habitats shared by elephants. 

The Sumatran elephant is critically endangered.  The current population is estimated at 1,200-1,500.  Threats to their survival is in part due to habitat loss, where Sumatra has experienced one of the highest rates of deforestation within the Asian elephant’s habitat range as well as human-elephant conflict because as plantations and fields move into elephant habitat, elephant food sources and migration routes are compromised.  As elephants looking for food raid crops, retaliation killing occurs.  

In this podcast, we will learn:

• How the International Elephant Project works to protect and conserve the Sumatran elephant living in degraded human dominated landscapes alongside the indigenous peoples due to rapid destruction of the rainforest for plantations.
• How the Elephant Conflict Monitoring and Mitigation Unit works hand in hand with the community to reduce human-elephant conflict.
• How the elephants and indigenous community are forced to adapt to a new environment quickly due to massive destruction of the rainforest.
• The adoption program International Elephant Project has to support the Sumatran elephant.  
• What humans can learn from elephants and their culture.
• How to help the International Elephant Project continue to conserve and protect the Sumatran elephant in this critical time.  

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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On today’s Wild For Change podcast, we speak with three hosts of Vigil4Elephants that commemorates the elephant lives that were lost each year in captivity;

• Barbara Lovett, founder, and president of Save Nosey Now, Inc.
• Courtney Scott, founder and president of Free the Oregon Zoo Elephants.
• Sandra Clinger, president of The Elephant Advocacy Project (TEAP) and a board member of Save Nosey Now.  

This group of dedicated souls have been coming together since 2019 to honor and mourn the captive elephants who lives were lost each year whether it be in a zoo, circus, forced labor, or other tourist attraction.  

These elephants who endured living a life held captive and exploited, whether it was short or long life, had their freedom and rights to live wild taken away.  Some of these sentient beings were traumatically separated from their family. No longer were they to live a life in the wild as intended but a life in servitude to humans who exploited each elephant until the end.  

In this podcast we learn;

• How Vigil4Elephants began.
• How elephants whose lives were lost are commemorated each year.
• About the negative impacts and trauma an elephant endures in captivity in regards to their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
• The difference between an elephant’s life in the wild versus in captivity.
• About the breeding programs in zoos and the life span of captive born elephants. 
• Which countries allow wild elephants to be taken out of the wild and placed in captivity.
• How zoos in the United States are lobbying to capture wild elephants and import them to the U.S.
• How you can be a part of Vigil4Elephants and what you can do to help captive elephants. 

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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On a new Wild For Change podcast, we speak with Jodie Wiederkehr, founder of Chicago Alliance for Animals (CAA).  CAA is a volunteer grassroots animal advocacy organization that began in 2015.  

The first goal of CAA was to ban horse carriages in downtown Chicago, and in 2017, the organization began diligently documenting how the horses were treated by their handlers as well as the horses’ workloads by volunteers spending countless hours observing the horses.  With this documentation and persistence, an official horse carriage ban went into effect in January of 2021.

 Below is a quote by Jodie that represents the effectiveness and efficiency of CAA:

“As you likely know, we banned horse carriages and shut down puppy mill pet stores in the 3rd largest city in the U.S. without any paid staff, any accidents or fatalities, any celebrity support and with very little funding.” 

For Chicago Alliance for Animals, the intention is simple and focused; to end suffering of animals and support their freedom.  

In this podcast, we learn:

• How CAA was able to get a ban on Chicago horse carriages in a short period of time.
• How CAA works alongside the Partnership to Ban Horse Carriages Worldwide to mentor advocates in effective advocacy for banning horse carriages.  
• About CAA’s current campaigns; One is to help save a captive tortoise named Spur who has been in a display case for more than 30 years where she lives an artificial life, has no freedom to roam and dig.  The other campaign is for a young coyote named Rocky who lives in a small outdoor enclosure without a companion, proper shelter or room to roam.  
• What CAA has done so far to be a voice for both Spur and Rocky.  
• About CAA’s Daily Action Alerts where all people can get involved to be a voice for animals that need our help.
• How to advocate effectively for animal welfare using a multi-pronged approach.  
• How one can get involved and help CAA.

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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On a new Wild For Change podcast, I speak with Miguel Franco, CFO and co-owner of Healthy Substance, a vegan Mexican restaurant located on the south side of Chicago. 

We will be speaking about how Healthy Substance got its start, what it means to eat vegan, and how eating vegan helps to save animals’ lives.  

Healthy Substance is one of my favorite restaurants and is my go-to for vegan Mexican food!

During the podcast we learn;

• What it means to eat vegan.
• How Healthy Substance got its start.
• How Healthy Substance is able to make delicious traditional Mexican food vegan.  
• About Healthy Substance’s mission; Operation: Save the Animals.
• About Miguel’s courage to be a voice for farm animals. 
• How we can all be heroes for animals and the planet.

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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Today on the Wild For Change podcast, we will be discussing the magnificent rhino, with our guest, Simon Jones, CEO of Helping Rhinos.  Helping Rhinos is predominantly based in Africa.  Their focus is on helping the species survive at sustainable levels by improving protection, care, and welfare of the rhino in its natural habitat as well as to forge significant partnerships with successful organizations. 

Helping Rhinos is celebrating ten years of protecting rhinos in their natural habitat.  Its start began in March of 2012, when Simon learned of the shocking poaching of three rhinos at the Kariega Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

It had been just two years prior that Simon had spent six weeks on a conservation project at the Kariega Game Reserve and became acquainted with a rhino named Thandi.  Thandi was one of those three rhinos who fortunately survived the poaching incident.  After enduring many operations, she has given birth to four calves in the past ten years.  A remarkable story that speaks volumes of Helping Rhinos’ dedication to ensure the future of the magnificent rhino.

In this podcast, we will learn about:

• How creating sustainable funding models is Helping Rhinos’ main objective in conserving and protecting the rhino population.
• Helping Rhinos’ successful partnerships in Africa 
• Helping Rhinos and its partners are creating rhino strongholds which are restoring degrading lands and wildlife corridors in order for the rhino to demonstrate more natural behaviors, improve genetic breeding, and reduce the risk of poaching.   
• Why rhinos are important to the ecosystem and other wildlife.
• Why poaching is one of the biggest threats for rhinos.
• The debate of legalizing the rhino horn trade.
• How climate change and habitat loss are also major threats to the rhino’s future.
• How we can help the rhinos have a sustainable future. 

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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Founded in 2013, Conserv Congo is a non-profit conservation whose mission is to maintain the biodiversity of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  

The Congo Basin is a vast tropical rainforest and a biodiversity hot spot which is home to 100’s of mammal species.  

Conserv Congo puts itself on the frontlines to save and protect endangered species from poachers and wildlife traffickers, fighting the good fight every day trying to prevent extinction of wildlife.  To date, Conserv Congo has over 5,140 successful cases of wildlife trafficking.  

Part of Conserv Congo’s work includes;

• Investigating wildlife trafficking networks
• Collaborating with authorities on arresting wildlife traffickers
• Rescuing wildlife such as apes in the region and finding sanctuary placement for the wildlife
• Rehabilitating injured wildlife in their natural habitat
• Supporting subsistence farming to ensure food security in regions where poaching of wildlife occurs due to hunger
• Education in the communities about the importance of conservation

Prior to creating Conserv Congo, Adams was an investigative journalist turned wildlife crimes investigator.  

 In 2020, Adams was awarded the National Geographic Emerging Explorer Award. This award goes to trailblazers making extraordinary contributions in the world and in Adams’ case to conservation.  

I met Adams in 2019 at a rally in Washington D.C. to help stop baby elephants being taken from their herd in Zimbabwe to live in a zoo in China.  Adams gave an inspirational speech about elephants in the wild and how their presence is so important for the ecosystem and the whole world.  Wherever Adams goes, he is always making an impact for the wildlife.  

In this podcast with Conserv Congo we learn:

• How Conserv Congo became the first organization in civil society in the DRC committed to fighting wildlife trafficking.
• Why the Congo Basin is an important biodiversity hotspot not only for the wildlife but also for the entire planet.
• The cultural history of the DRC and its belief of interconnection and interdependence with nature and how this is important for us to understand today.
• How Adams Cassinga became a wildlife criminal investigator.
• How Conserv Congo helped prosecute the first wildlife trafficking case in 2017.
• Conserv Congo’s goal for 2023 to continue helping protect and preserve the wildlife.  
• How we can help support Conserv Congo.

Website: http://www.wildforchange.com

Twitter: @WildForChange

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