Introducing the Regenerative Media Alliance

05/18/22 • 50 min

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Sustainable World Radio- Ecology and Permaculture Podcast

Episode 165: This special episode introduces the Regenerative Media Alliance, a project I have been working on for quite some time with fellow podcast producers Oliver Goshey and Scott Mann. The Regenerative Media Alliance or RMA is a cooperative group for podcasters and media creators working in the Permaculture, sustainability, and regenerative fields.

Podcasting can be a bit lonely. If you're like me and you produce your podcast in your "Shoedio" (also known as a bedroom closet), you know how isolating it can be talking into a microphone and not knowing if there's anyone out there who is listening. When Oliver first approached Scott and I about his idea for the RMA, I thought of how valuable a group like this could be. And I was right! It has been refreshing and fun to share notes and experiences with Scott and Oliver about interviewing, equipment, editing programs, and many other aspects of podcasting.

We envision the RMA as a place for podcasters and other content creators to share their knowledge and to learn from one another. We will be offering quarterly calls, online summits, and more! To sign up for our email list and for more information about the RMA, visit our website at: RegenerativeMediaAlliance.com.

Now a bit about my colleagues:

Oliver Goshey is a designer, educator, and consultant for regenerative social and land based projects. Regenerative Skills is Oliver’s effort to create a larger and more engaged community around regenerative living by making the most cutting edge knowledge and techniques accessible to everyone.

Scott Mann: With a background in radio, broadcasting, and technology, Scott started his podcast- The Permaculture Podcast- the same week he graduated from his permaculture design course back in 2010.

Thanks so much for listening as always! I hope you like this conversation between Scott, Oliver, and I about the RMA, how we first got started in Permaculture and podcasting, and what keeps us creating.

Now a bit about my colleagues:

Previous Episode

Raptors and Rodenticides- the Unintended Consequences of Rat Poison

Episode 164: Are you a fan of Raptors or birds of prey? Members of this large group of magnificent birds include hawks, eagles, falcons, and owls. For many of us, seeing raptors in cities and in the wilderness is awe-inspiring.

To learn more about these amazing birds, I am joined by Lisa Owens Viani and Allen Fish, co-founders of the nonprofit Raptors Are the Solution (RATS).

We begin by chatting about the wonders of raptors and why Lisa and Allen have devoted so much of their lives to helping these birds. We then discuss the impact that anticoagulant rodenticides is having on raptors and wildlife.

Used worldwide, rodenticides (or rat poisons) affect not only rats, but also large numbers of non-target animals including raptors, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, bears, and fish. Rodenticides enter the food chain when animals eat poisoned rodents and receive secondary exposure.

Anticoagulant rodenticide ingestion can lead to immune suppression, rodenticide-induced mange, internal hemorrhaging, and death.

The overgrowth of rats is caused partly by a lack of predators. We talk about how the poisons we use to control rats end up harming or killing the very predators that are efficient at keeping rodent populations in check.

This interview contains vital information about how we can be better caretakers of our shared environment. All of us can take action to protect raptors and wildlife from anticoagulant rodenticides.

What can we do? Start with avoiding the use of toxic rat poisons. Don’t make your yard a rat haven. Exclusion, sanitation, and trapping are effective nontoxic methods of rodent control.

Visit the Raptors are the Solution website for tips on how to make your yard less attractive to rats, educational resources, an activist toolkit, and more at raptorsarethesolution.org

Guests: Lisa Owens Viani is a long time environmental writer and wildlife advocate. Lisa co-founded and directs Raptors Are The Solution- or RATS, a project of Earth Island Institute.

RATS educates about the ecological role of raptors and the enormous danger that they and all wildlife, as well as pets and children, face from the wide use and availability of anticoagulant rat poisons. RATS partners with other agencies, scientists, municipalities, and NGO’s to work toward eliminating toxic rodenticides from the food web. RATS’ multi-pronged approach includes public education as well as legislative and legal work to achieve better regulation of these products.

Lisa was honored as the Fund for Wild Nature's Grassroots Activist of 2021 and received a Special Achievement Award on behalf of raptors from the International Owl Center in 2018.

Allen Fish is the Associate Director for Conservation and Community Science at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

Allen is also the director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory since its founding in the mid 1980s. The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is a four-decades-old community-science program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in cooperation with the National Park Service. It’s set up to monitor the largest migration site for birds of prey in the Pacific Flyway.

Allen was a Lecturer at UC Davis from 2003 to 2011 where he taught Raptor Biology. Allen has a long history of writing and public speaking on raptor biology and conservation, urban wildlife ecology, climate change impacts, and the power of community science. Allen was awarded Bay Nature’s Environmental Educator of the Year Award in 2016 and Golden Gate Audubon honored Allen with the Elsie Roemer Award for Conservation in 2020.

In 2011, Allen assisted Lisa in founding Raptors are the Solution. Allen lives with his family in Berkeley, and has recently become obsessed by the lives and ecology of dragonflies.

Note: I was inspired to pursue this topic when I noticed that I wasn’t hearing as many owls at night in my neighborhood. When disoriented rats began stumbling around our yard during the day and several were found dead in our yard, I did some research and discovered that rat poisons or anticoagulant rodenticides were the likely culprit-not only responsible for the dying and dead rats, but also for the decreased owl numbers.

I decided to write an article Silent Night- The Unintended Consequences of Rodenticides and in doing my research, I discovered Raptors Are the Solution (RATS).

Links:

Raptors Are the Solution or RATS

Next Episode

Why the Ocean Matters

Episode 166: Did you know that oceans make life possible on our planet? Even if we live far from the coast, our lives are influenced by the ocean. Oceans generate oxygen, capture carbon, shape weather, and provide habitat for countless creatures.

To learn more about these vast, yet fragile bodies of water that make our planet unique, beautiful, and able to support life, I speak with world renowned ocean scientist and explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle.

In this inspirational interview, Sylvia shares her thoughts about what we can do to help our oceans and why urgent action is needed now. We discuss some of the threats that oceans face including acidification due to climate change, industrial fishing, and pollutants.

Sylvia reflects on a lifetime of learning and exploration and shares why she is so positive about the future. She tells us what it’s like to live underwater for weeks at a time, how fish have different personalities, and why Menhaden matter. Sylvia calls upon each of us to be part of the solution and stresses that what we do has an impact. Sylvia believes that we have the power, knowledge, and technology necessary to save our oceans and to honor the living world that makes our existence possible.

This is an all hands on deck moment. We live on a miracle, a blue planet that functions in our favor and provides us with water and air. Each of us has a part to play in preserving, restoring, and celebrating our oceans, and in doing so, saving ourselves and the environment.

Dr. Sylvia Earle is called "Her Deepness" by The New Yorker and the New York Times, a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress, and the "First Hero for the Planet" by Time magazine. Sylvia is the author of more than 200 publications, including the new book National Geographic Ocean: A Global Odyssey which was written as a love letter to a gravely imperiled friend and a call to action to humans everywhere.

Sylvia is the Founder of Mission Blue, a nonprofit that inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. She is also a National Geographic Explorer at Large and former Chief Scientist of NOAA.

Links:

Mission-Blue.org

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