Wild Connection

In the Thicket with J Drew Lanham

This week I’m thrilled to introduce you to a spectacular scientist, author, poet, and well...human. J Drew Lanham is a professor of cultural and conservation ornithology at Clemsen University, he’s a poet laureate of his home county Edgefield, and the author of two books The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature and Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts

Check out this link to order his books and to read some of his poetry. 
To keep up with Drew on Twitter follow him @wildandincolor

Drew grew up in rural South Carolina where his parents, biology teachers, and his grandmother brimming with ecological knowledge nurtured his passion and curiosity about wildlife and nature. Although he has an unbridled passion for birds, his love of wildlife extends beyond birds. In this episode we talk about everything from how living a mediocre life doesn't serve us (or the world) to the challenges and risk he's faced as a black man out in nature. He uses his work and writings to invite people into the thicket, to see the world and other animals from a different perspective, and in doing so, expand ones empathy for those that are seemingly different.

We wind our way through to how honoring places and landscapes should include all the people, all the history. He expresses so eloquently how without recognition there cannot be reconciliation and without reconciliation there cannot be a rebirth into a new dawn.

Our conversation turns toward how our aggression towards certain species is rooted in cultural narratives, including racism. We revile some species and revere others simply for the way they look. This reveals something about who we are, where we are, and how far from where we need to go to create meaningful change on this planet. Change in how we treat each other and change in how we treat other animals. 

Tune in next week as I pick up this thread and welcome you to revise your perception of some of the most "frightening" "freakish", "ghoulish" animals out there and unpack the history behind how they got their bad reputations. 

If you are enjoying the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod and you can follow me on 

Twitter and Instagram: @realdrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

Change Makers with Rono Chonginio

The Queen of England on a hot mic uttered the words many of us who care about this planet, the lives of others, including other species, feel: It’s really irritating when they talk and don’t do. I would suggest it is more than irritating. ThenPrince William admonished the uber billionaires selling tickets to the edge of space for throwing their money up in the air instead of putting it to use on the ground. Prince William is putting his money where his mouth is. With the Earthshot prize 5 winners announced later today Sunday Oct 17th he is focused on solutions. And he is calling on everyone to raise their ambition. 

Rono Chonginio is doing just that. As a journalist, storyteller, and founder of Youthbase  he is telling the stories of people from his community and young people working to create solutions. 

You can follow Rono and the stories he is telling on

Twitter: @ronochonginio 

Instagram: @ronochonginio

YouTube

You too have a story and you write that story every day with every action you take. There is always a narrative, the question is who is authoring yours? We interfere with the lives of other species, changing their story from one of potential to one of tragedy and we do this every single day. Many of us have experienced this ourselves. And that is why stories connect us. Be part of the story of what happens. If you are already a change-maker I would love to hear from you. If you are part of the do nothing brigade letting everyone else dictate your story and the story of our future, well maybe you can be inspired to take more positive action.

 Follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod and you can follow me on 

Twitter and Instagram: @realdrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Ode to the Extinct

Last week the USFWS released the list of 22 extinct US species and for a minute it was all everyone talked about. The ivory billed woodpecker was on the list having worked its way through the laborious US system of classifying a species as extinct after last being seen and filmed in 1935. Here is link to a video of what it looked like. 

In total 23 species were on that list. It included 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, a bat and a plant. Yes, plants go extinct too. Here is the official list.

It takes a long time because it is hard to prove a negative. This wasn't the case for the Northern white rhino, extinct in 2018 with the death of the last male- Sudan. This is the inspiration behind the artwork for this week's podcast. The art was done by the amazing Kry Hookuh and I am lucky she is able to create such magnificent pieces for the podcast. You can follow her on Instagram @kryshookuh and you can check out her website at: https://www.kryshookuhdoodles.com

A United Nations report estimates that over 1 million species, that's basically all the described species, are at risk for extinction in the next few decades. Humanity is failing. When you ask people if they like animals a lot of people say oooh I love animals. Heck most of the students in my classes say how much they love animals. However, much like our famous love of dogs, when we look at how we act I don’t think we love animals very much at all. It is the ultimate abusive relationship and we are the abusers. A common theme in abusive relationships is that while the abuser is being abusive they keep asserting how much they love you. That's our real relationship with other animals. We can change it though. We created it and we can undo it.

Do something to better the lives of other species. That's the message of this week's episode.

You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts.Share it with others too so they can find it.  Follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod and you can follow me on 

Twitter and Instagram: @realdrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

 

 

Truth Lies and Consequences with Lee McIntyre

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there is a lot going on in the world and a lot of misinformation being spread. This past week YouTube committed to removing anything containing anti vaccine misinformation. That includes anything related to vaccines causing autism, which they don’t, cancer, which they don't, microchips, which they don’t have, and so on. In an unprecedented step they also committed to terminating the accounts of anti-vaccine influencers that spread this type of false information. It is timely because Youtube came up in this week’s episode. In a time of mistrust, misinformation, and propaganda, we need voices of truth, voices of clarity, and voices of reason to cut through all the noise. One of those voices is that of this week's guest Lee McIntyre (insert credentials). He's a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and Science at Boston University and he is the author of the new book: How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason

 You can find this latest book and his others by visiting his website:  leemcintyrebooks.com

You can also follow him on Twitter @LeeCMcIntyre

How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason. It is among other things a guide to how all of us, not just scientists, can tackle the machine of deception and obfuscation of facts. And we need this help. On Tuesday September 28th a man in Illinois died after a month-long battle with...rabies. I know you probably thought I was going to say covid, but no rabies. He had an interaction with a bat and was bitten. He refused the post exposure treatment when offered, which led to what must have been an excruciating and horrible death. It was the first time someone died of rabies since 1954. The treatment he refiused was a combination of human rabies immune globulin, basically an antibody cocktail and a series of rabies vaccine shots (3 of them). Three shots is also how many you need to pre-protect yourself. There was no information on why he refused treatment. All the chatter I have heard has been about anti-vaxx and its important to consider that we don’t actually know why he refused. The reason I bring this up is not because the treatment costs a ridiculous 10K with insurance in most places in the the US while it is $20 per does in Mozambique, for example. I bring it up because a new MRNA rabies vaccines was in human clinical trials in 2017. Rabies, though rare was chosen as the first virus to test the new MRNA technology for a few reasons. According to Dr Armbuster and colleagues, 1) the virus was well understood so they knew exactly what to target, 2) we have had an effective vaccine for a while now so there was great baseline data to compare the new vaccine with the old one, 2) trials in mice and pigs showed good results 3) and most people hadn’t been exposed to rabies so they could get clean responses. I’ve got a link to the paper below. The point is that by the time the covid vaccine was underway we had already had several years of human clinical trials on the safety of mrna vaccine for rabies, of course. Yet that was not the conversation we were all having about how lucky we were that scientists had been trying to solve a problem- cheap safe, non-needle deliverable vaccines for rabies and because of that we were ready to move on using the same technology for a new virus. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963972/

Please join the growing Wild Connection Podcast community and subscribe. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts.Share it with others too so they can find it.  Follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod and you can follow me on 

Twitter and Instagram: @realdrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

For the Love of K9s with John-Tyler Binfet

Hi Everyone and welcome back to Wild Connection: The Podcast. This week’s episode is pretty special because we are talking about how service animals not only improve well-being but sometimes they save our lives by the love, kindness, compassion, and attentiveness they give us. One thing that came up in the episode that I have not spoken about is the loss of my support, my family,  my beloved companion, best friend, my joy and my breath for 18 years, Senor Antonio Buttones. I’m not ready to talk a whole bunch about him or the loss, but I do want to acknowledge that the love we share with other animals can open us up to connecting with others. And that is the focus of this week’s episode. 

This week's guest Dr. John Tyler Binfet, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. His research looks at understanding the benefits of canine-assisted intervention using certified therapy dogs in young children, young adults, and well also the rest of us! He's the founder of B.A.R.K- Building Academic Retention through K’9s and the Director of the Center for Mindful Engagement.

You can find information on the B.A.R.K. program here: https://bark.ok.ubc.ca

The Center for Mindful engagement here: https://education.ok.ubc.ca/research-partnerships/centre-for-mindful-engagement/

Dr. John-Tyler Binfet 's website is: https://education.ok.ubc.ca/about/contact/john-tyler-binfet/

You can keep up with him and the B.A.R.K program on Twitter @kindnessprof and @barkubc

If you are enjoying the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod and you can follow me on 

Twitter and Instagram: @realdrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

What‘s All the Phallus About?

Hi Everyone! Welcome back. We’ve been on a bit of a break here at Wild Connection: The Podcast but we are back and this is the start of Season 2. And to kick things off we are talking penises, personality, and well maybe even penises with personality. This week's guest guiding us through these fascinating topics is Associate Professor J Matt Hoch of Nova Southeastern University.  

I was recently in Iceland, a place I love for the nature, the people, and the cultural history. When in Iceland something you might notice is that there are a lot of museums. Tiny one dedicated to roses and large ones like the Reykjavík Art Museum. And then there is the Phallological Museum in Reykjavik that JMatt and I were discussing. Foro two evolutionary biologists you can imagine the thrill and fascination but I would encourage everyone, if you visit Iceland to explore this gem of a museum. I’ve got the website up in the show notes. They are committed, even serving waffles in the shape of penises. For a mere 20$ you will get a lesson in evolution and have fun shopping the gift store. Then as you head out around the country you will notice that the phallus appears naturally in rock formation and artificially in human constructed monuments. Like the Amazon symbol once you start seeing it, you can’t unsee it and it is everywhere. Here are a few examples:

The Phallological Museum is definitely worth a visit and you can check them out here:

 https://phallus.is/en/

If you want to keep up with Dr. Hoch you can See the exciting work his lab is doing at https://honors.nova.edu/faculty/jeffrey-hoch.html and follow him on Instagram @Jmatthoch 

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

Thanks for supporting the show!

Subterranean: Fracking and its consequences with Colin Jerolmack

Hi everyone and welcome to another great episode of Wild Connection: The Podcast. We were off for two weeks working on a few projects so more on that in the coming weeks. This week I talk with Colin Jerolmack, Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at NYU about his book Up To Heaven And Down To Hell: Fracking Freedom And Community In An American Town

I recorded this before the monster heat wave that hit the pacific NW and British Columbia. Why is this relevant? Methane is probably the most consequential greenhouse gas and that is what is involved in most cases with extraction using hydraulic fracking. Whether we like it or not, believe it or not, climate change is here and methane is a big part of that consequence since it is a much more potent global warming gas. 

To keep up with Colin and his work you can follow him @Jerolmack
You can find out more about his book Up To Heaven And Down To Hell: Fracking Freedom And Community In An American Town here

and on Amazon

If you want more information on Fracking this is an interesting article:

https://epic.uchicago.edu/events/event/the-fracking-debate-the-pros-cons-and-lessons-learned-from-the-u-s-energy-boom/

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Optimistic Conservation with Craig Bruce

Welcome back everyone for another great episode of Wild Connection the Podcast. One of the many reasons I love doing this podcast is getting to highlight some of the people I have known or worked with in the area of conservation. I have been so fortunate to connect with some incredible people over the years and my guest this week, international wildlife conservation expert Craig Bruce, is one of them. As you will hear Craig has dedicated his life to conservation, sustainable utilization, and community engagement. Although the latter two are rather trendy right now, he has been practicing both for a long time. In many ways Craig has lived the life I dreamt of years ago when I read Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens, two biologists that struck out on their own path to study hyenas and lions in the Kalahari desert. I never imagined I would end up in academia, or the Academy. Instead I was sure that I was going to be more like Craig, doing realon the ground conservation in communities for species around the world. His impact, like his personality, has been large and I am grateful that he is my friend and that I was able to have him on the show.

In this episode we invite you to think about how we can and should come together, work together, have respect for one another, understand each other, help each other while being committed to protecting all the species that we share the planet with so that they and we can continue to be, well, alive. 

If you want to keep up with Craig and the critical work Jamma International is doing, here are a few links:

www.jammainternational.com

https://www.facebook.com/jammainternational

https://www.linkedin.com/company/21610505/admin/

https://www.instagram.com/jammainternational/

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Next Sunday is Independence Day in the US and I am going to talk about wildlife independence. What are the rights of other species for autonomy and freedom in a world dominated by humans? What are some of the most recent legal decisions that are beginning to redefine our relationship and how much further should be go? All that and more next week. 

Thanks for supporting the show and keep an eye out for how you can sponsor an episode.  

If you like the show theme music that's thanks to George Nardo of Luna Recording Studios in Tucson AZ. https://lunarecording.com

The Way of the Booby

Happy Father’s Day Everyone and this week’s episode features one of the great dads that co-parents with mom. The Nazca Booby. I am talk to Dr. Dave Anderson, a biologist and professor at Wake forest University about these incredible birds, what they teach us about parenting, stress, and how we change the ways we cope after trauma. We also learn how important dads are to the success of a Nazca booby family. And not just in boobies, but also in albatrosses. 

His work, along with that of several colleagues is revealing how the lifestyle and needs of these pelagic seabirds is putting them squarely in the crosshairs of commercial fishing fleets that roam unregulated and unmonitored on the high seas leaving destruction in their wake. 

This ties to a recent documentary released by Netflix called Seaspiracy which follows the trail of plastic straws and lands squarely at the foot of commercial and industrialized fishing. Reducing the amount of fish one consumes can help. 

For more information on Dr. Dave Anderson's work you can keep up with his lab here: http://wfu.me/biolab/anderson/index.html

and on Twitter @wfuandersonlab 

If you're enjoying the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

A JEDI's Heart with Dr. Thomas RaShad Easley (a.k.a. RaShad Eas)

Welcome back everyone and this episode is really special. A few years ago I had the honor and privilege of meeting Dr. Thomas Rashad Easley aka RaShad Eas. He is a certified diversity consultant and the Assistant Dean of Community and Inclusion at the Yale School of the Environment but he is so much more. He’s also a passionate human being, a former campus pastor, a scientist, a forester, an author, a musician,and a fierce not holding back, I am here kind of man. And luckily for me, my friend. And wouldn’t you know it he agreed to come on my podcast to talk about some truths surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, leadership, his music, and his upcoming book, Mind/Heart for Diversity. As always our conversations are real and heart-centered and he is a true JEDI.

You can keep up with Dr. Thomas RaShad Easley a few ways. 

Website: https://rashadeasley.com/home

Twitter: @RashadEas

Instagram: @RaShadEas

And of course the Yale Heartwood Podcast

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV