Sergio Avila: Science Education, Reimagining Conservation and Jaguars

08/31/21 • 9 min

1 Listener

Sergio Avila is a conservation scientist, educator, and wildlife researcher and tracker based in Tucson, Arizona. He is the first regional Local Outdoors Coordinator for the Sierra Club. He is dedicated to designing and implementing local strategies and projects that increase opportunities for people to connect with nature and ignite their commitment for protecting the planet and to each other. Sergio was born in Mexico City and has over 20 years working on local and regional conservation efforts along the US-Mexico borderlands. He works with species from jaguars to butterflies - in real life. He also loves trail running, gardening and spending time outside. We met up with him to run in the desert and to visit the border wall, it was powerful and transformative, we think this episode is too.

Note: This is an English summary episode of our conversation with Sergio. You can listen to the full conversation in Spanish in the previous episode in the podcast feed.

For more information about Faith, Addie and The Trail Ahead go to https://www.thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead.

Discussed in this episode:

Sierra Club

Sergio's twitter

Note: This is an English summary episode of our conversation with Sergio. You can listen to the full conversation in Spanish in the previous episode in the podcast feed.

For more information about Faith, Addie and The Trail Ahead go to https://www.thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead.

Discussed in this episode:

Sierra Club

Sergio's twitter

Previous Episode

Sergio Avila: Educación científica, reimaginación la conservación y los jaguares

Note: This episode is in Spanish. There is a short summary episode in English available in the podcast feed.

Sergio Avila es un científico conservacionista, educador, y investigador y rastreador de vida silvestre en Tucson, Arizona. Es el primer coordinador regional de actividades al aire libre para el Sierra Club. Se dedica a diseñar e implementar estrategias y proyectos locales que aumentan las oportunidades para que las personas se conecten con la naturaleza y enciendan su compromiso de proteger el planeta y entre ellos. Sergio nació en la Ciudad de México y tiene más de 20 años trabajando en esfuerzos de conservación locales y regionales a lo largo de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. Trabaja con especies desde jaguares hasta mariposas, y ha tenido unos encuentros muy raros. También le encanta correr senderos, hacer jardinería y pasar tiempo al aire libre. Nos reunimos con él para correr en el desierto y visitar el muro fronterizo, fue poderoso y transformador, creemos que este episodio también lo es.

Más información sobre Faith, Addie y The Trail Ahead aqui: https://www.thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead.

Enlaces:

Sierra Club

Twitter de Sergio

Next Episode

Faith and Addie on the Identity of Being in Between, Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable, and Not Quitting

After taking some time off from their first 12 episodes, Addie and Faith are back with a fun but important conversation where you get to know the hosts of The Trail Ahead a little more intimately.

In this episode, Addie and Faith interview one another and re-introduce themselves to old and new listeners alike. They discuss what playing outside means to them and dive deeper into why their work is important to them. They discuss how trail running brought both of them today, how the identity of being in-between shaped Faith’s life, and what ultimately allowed Addie to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to have important conversations.

Then, they talk about the process of learning (and unlearning) and why it’s so important to never quit, even if you feel shame, guilt, or embarrassment. Faith also shares how being an extrovert lends itself to her interest in having these difficult conversations. Finally, Addie and Faith ask light-hearted questions that’ll allow you to get to know your hosts on a personal level.

Ways to get involved with The Trail Ahead: