eli weiss

Today’s conversation with my guest Ashwell Glasson gives provides us with a view of the scale and scope of the challenges we are facing in securing biodiversity. What is being called for is an overhaul of the current models and mindsets driving conservation efforts in global landscapes under multiple pressures, including transnational wildlife crime at unprecedented levels. For the sake of frame of reference, our discussion is focused on rhino conservation as it holds markers of all that is changing and is at stake. The conversation takes multiple twists and turns as we unravel layers and identify the players toward a new world vision that can redefine the benchmark of health and wealth in passing the torch to new generations. Rather than a revision of what doesn’t work; solutions that resonate and engender cross-cultural participation at all levels of society, are augmented with new tool kits and skillsets for a holistic–earth one-health operating system.

Rewilding has long been a conservation term for connectivity and creating corridors for wildlife movement. In recent decades, it is the concept finding suitable existing habitats for species on the brink of extinction that may exist outside of where they currently live or are being extirpated. Today there is a new meaning. My guest Marc Bekoff, discusses his book, ‘Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence’. Rewilding in this sense brings us to an understanding if not to undo, at least find ways to fix what we’ve done, to transform and rehabilitate ourselves. From pandemic and covid-19 in 2020 and into another difficult year of 2021, we all can use a reminder and a primer of compassion 101, how to reconnect with ourselves, each other and to embrace compassionate co-existence with our wild world and all its magnificence to turn from policies of tearing apart toward pathways of re-imagination, re-enchantment and redefine what we is possible. We have a lot of work to do to rebuild our connections to each other, find a unity amongst ourselves, and a beneficial place in rewilding our hearts and minds.

Despite the incredible successes in conservation, overall, something isn’t working. We are losing ground. What are the missing links? Delving deeply into this question, we keep butting up against the fundamental conflicts between economic growth and wildlife conservation. With my guest Brian Czech, we tackle this subject head-on., Brian documented the causes of species endangerment for US Fish and Wildlife Services only to have his findings squelched as a taboo subject in any conversation in government where politicians and officials are committed to growth as a policy goal, but also in NGOs and conservation groups. Brian retired from USFW and founded the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) and published a candid and open letter, “Farewell to FWS – Goodbye to Gag Orders” In today's full world economy” we must instill the public economic policy makers toward a full tilt transition from unsustainable growth to a steady state economy. Rebroadcast from 2018

During a time when most wild animals are experiencing decline in the face of development and climate change, the intrepid mountain lion—also known as a puma, a cougar, “ghost cat,” and by many other names—has experienced reinvigoration as well as expansion of territory. In Path of the Puma: The Remarkable Resilience of the Mountain Lion (Patagonia Books, October 9, 2018), wildlife biologist Jim Williams celebrates wildlife research and conservation of ghost cats from Canada’s southern Yukon Territory to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and Chile, exploring what makes this cat, the fourth carnivore in the food chain—just ahead of humans—so resilient and resourceful. Williams writes, “They are beating the odds, and their success provides a remarkable opportunity for wild nature to regain a toehold and to shape possibilities for the persistence of natural systems. They are hope for those of us who believe our future will depend, in large part, on finding the wild.”

Transferring data and knowledge gained through research into a journal that sits on a shelf won’t carry us through to creating the interdisciplinary and collaborative results we in the real world- from research and science in the field and the lab into the hands and households of the communities where it is needed to best take advantage of all dimensions and perspectives for an inclusive understanding and creative solutions of the challenges that real people and real communities face on a daily basis, at the crossroads of human, wildlife and environmental needs of tomorrow. This is the goal of Dr. Kathy Alexander PhD, Professor at Virginia Tech, Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation at the College of Natural Resources and co-founder of the CARACAL Biodiversity Center of the Chobe Research Institute in Botswana: amplifying partnerships and integrated systems benefits that will provide tomorrow’s solutions today.

Over the many episodes of Our Wild World, we’ve shared the wonder of wildlife and wilderness through a variety of perspectives from scientific, to solutions based, to a naturalist view, from that which brings about collapse to that which reimagines ourselves and thus our world, and all the myriad beings and life-forms with whom we share multitudinous relationships and the natural laws that sustain our vitally. In today’s rebroadcast from 2016, we find ourselves eerily facing many of the same issues and challenges that we could not have imagined just four years ago. In this episode I provided selected readings from favorite authors illustrative of the every-day spectacular happenings that surround, envelope and knit together the magnificence that is life, and the transformative role and influence we humans have had, and in that, how we can transform our future out of these desperate times.

Current data tells us our world has slid past far tipping points of no return. Viable populations of wildlife across the board are disappearing. Our human response for sustainable development and environmental goals are not compatible nor conducive to the continuance of ecosystem earth. We need intensive multilayered actions for creative solutions, options and alternatives. Today’s rebroadcast provides necessary background to remind us of critical changes that have happened in just 6 years, and the disastrous effects we see now. My guests Nick Lynch and Tim Gorski, two of WildiZe Observers to CITES reporting direct from Johannesburg in 2016. Here we are in 2020, in the midst of catastrophic climate changes, a pandemic of a virus transferred to humans from wildlife, and political machinations that remove underpinnings of environmental protections. New CITES CoP18 regulations were supposedly responses to these crises, however, we now see whole system failures.

With this rebroadcast from 2015, we see so many parallels, as so many is global crises converge. My guest, clinical social worker, Philip Tedeschi, Denver University, Institute for Human Animal Connection (IHAC) provides real-world situations for graduate students and continuing programs and presentations to the public, which offer solutions that provide for healthy avenues to recognize challenges, and grow the social skills for youth and adults to clearly understand the relationships and benefits between humans and non-human animals. and the significance of living systems and animals in human health and wellness, specific animal welfare and conservation activity, research, education.

A critical component of any discussion in wildlife trade that is glaringly missing from major decision making processes such as CITES, is the real-world understanding wildlife markets and pricing. My guest, the late renowned economist Alejandro Nadal, leads us into deep research on the shifting connections between macroeconomics and the environment, working toward new models reaching crucial objectives of trade in wildlife and endangered species: This concerns the survival of the entire biosphere, including us. With so much at stake, these vital connections have so far received little attention by both the academic and policy-making communities. Major transformations are required in economic structures and policy recommendations, in conjunction with deep and sweeping economy-wide reforms and shifts. The elephant is standing in the room, with ‘Macroeconomic Policies’ stamped on its forehead- while to our detriment and peril, we continue spending billions ignoring it.

“East Africa, is just a microcosm, where you can still see open plains shared by so many different people and creatures has a visceral impact on most humans who see it, and fill the most jaded of us with a profound sense of wonder. If we follow our present path of development and rate of destruction, we will see the unique megafauna of Africa disappear. We are living through the antithesis of genesis right now. All those billions of years to reach a place of such wondrous diversity, and then in just a few shockingly short years, an infinitesimal pinprick of time, to annihilate it.” In his newest book, ‘Inherit the Dust’, my guest, Nick Brandt, photographer, conservationist and Cofounder of BigLife Foundation, brings into stunning conversation what visualization and conservation together can accomplish to highlight not only in our minds, but on our earth fundamental and necessary changes and a way forward and to become involved.

Rewilding has long been a conservation term for connectivity and creating corridors for wildlife movement. In recent decades, it is the concept finding suitable existing habitats for species on the brink of extinction that may exist outside of where they currently live or are being extirpated. Today there is a new meaning. With Marc Bekoff, and his newest book, ‘Rewilding Our Hearts: Building Pathways of Compassion and Coexistence’. Rewilding in this sense brings us to an understanding if not to undo, at least find ways to fix what we’ve done, to transform and rehabilitate ourselves. A necessary primer and reminder for Compassion 101, not only for those who have forgotten, but a preparation for those yet to learn- how to embrace the concept of compassionate co-existence, to renew how we see ourselves, each other, and especially our wild world and all its magnificence. A pathway and to reimagine and redefine what we can believe is possible.

In our previous episode we learned the interesting history of cats becoming our pets, yet barely covered the tip of the iceberg of feral cats and their impacts on our world. Today we continue the conversation about cats with Dr. John Hadidian and Katie Lisnik. Feral cats are not only an abuse or cruelty issue, a health issue but they are also a conservation issue. From TNR programs to euthanasia, how do we respond to cats gone wild in our wildlands, and more so, what we can do to prevent this, solve the problem, and reach the ultimate goal, that cats have homes and our birds and other wildlife are safe from predation. From Shelters to sanctuaries there are a lot of resources the cat lover can find from the Humane Society of the US. Learn more http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/?credit=web_id212453451

We’re not talking about the furry loveable housecat. There are currently an estimated 30-40 million cats in the US alone, living in our neighborhoods, our wildlands and in their own communities. With Dr. John Hadidian and Katie Lisnik of the Humane Society of the US we’re talking about the cats that are not owned, live in your community, and are feral, and what the differences are. A stray cat is a pet who has been lost or abandoned, used to contact with people and tame enough to be adopted. A feral cat is the offspring of stray or feral cats and is not accustomed to human contact, we often see them everyday, but don’t know they are feral. From the community cat to the feral cat, there is an interesting history and quite a story. And then there are the impacts all these cats have on our wildlife and environs, and what we can do about it. Learn More http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/feral_cats/qa/feral_cat_FAQs.html

Our guest Michael Soule, the father of conservation biology, shares his deep insights from decades working in conservation. Over the past several decades, as a society, we spend more time living through devices than connecting with tangible nature. Michael helps us to understand that connecting with nature is spending time being in and listening to the wild. That the responsibility lies with each of us and our institutions to care about the environment to get our communities, especially children, to experience nature and bring the connection to wild places into our everyday psyche and culture, and look at our future as a series of possibilities rather than despair. As a “possibilist”, Michael describes that rooted deep within us is the ability to alter our future. After all, we like to be liked, and optimism is attractive and sexy and what better way than to use these inherent traits to facilitate positive changes in society, connecting us individually and as a whole, back to nature.

“Under the bright lights, elephants perform tricks for excited humans who never wonder what happens to these massive animals after the show ends. Earnest knows.” The only things captive born elephants may ever know are zoo paddocks and circus rings. What we do know is that elephants are complex intelligent, emotive and social beings, and we know they talk to each other. Have we considered what captive born elephants might learn from their wild-born captive friends? With my guest, Debbie McFee, author of Through the Eyes of Earnest, we travel on a journey of this consideration.. that of “Earnest”, the elephant in the book who represents every elephant, we are taken on a somber but hopeful tale from an elephant’s point of view, which asks us to consider why we continue to keep such intelligent social animals in captivity when we know now, how and why we must provide for and protect them in the wild.

How we treat and relate to animals in captivity has everything to do with how we will protect them in the wild. Ed Stewart has dedicated his life to providing sanctuary and protection to abused, abandoned and retired performing animals and efforts to enforce the best standards of care for all captive wildlife, to the preservation of wild species and their habitat, and promoting public education about captive wildlife issues. Ed is a multi-talented and skilled man who with humor and aplomb, has carried PAWS from it’s humble beginnings, to an international organization that is shifting our human mind-set and legislation that surrounds the landscape and very human and state of affairs of how and why we humans must reevaluate our relationships to animals and curb our appetitesfor keeping wildlife in captivity. I would like to greatly thank Ed and PAWS for opening my eyes to the critical issues discussed at the 30th Annual Conference.

“For the worst possible reasons, elephants and rhinoceroses are front-page news today, the poster children for the worst excesses of organized wildlife crime. The present crisis is the outcome of some 40 years of history, some of it acted out in nature and some at international meetings where the rules defining the fate of species are endlessly fought over.” What has changed dramatically is the landscape of highly organized crime, of which the sole purpose is economics: get rich. When at the CITES level, focus is brought to the true costs of illegal trade and wildlife crime, we do have, in place, through CITES, a binding international system and mechanisms to buttress participatory working groups, creating solutions and enforcing them. And this is where we, through our member nations laws and the work of public NGOs, to reflect changes in the overarching the landscape relevant to our times.

The recent trend is that CITES is outdated, that it has no teeth, that the very trade in endangered and threatened species is causing them to slip toward extinction. On the face of it that would seem a compelling argument., WildiZe Observers had the opportunity roam the halls, and like many others; we came away with more questions than answers. I felt it imperative to better understand CITES from those more knowledgeable than myself. Dr. Ronald Orenstein is a highly involved participant and Observer at CITES since 1987, a member of Board of Directors of the Species Survival Network (SSN), the Elephant Research Foundation (ERF), author and prolific writer- So who better to ask? Today we start from the beginning as Ron guides us through the layers, intricacies and inner workings of CITES in ariveting, in-depth conversation about What is CITES? What makes it unique? Does it provide a framework for the future? And provide some clarity and answers.

With returning guest Stephen Capra, we delve into a topic full of myths and outdated policies: that of wolves and wildness and ranching. Stephen explains with clarity why conservationists have not been able to make any traction with ranchers who have received the benefit of grazing their livestock on public lands and adopt a shoot to kill approach with predators. How do you negotiate with a group that is very good at saying no to any changes to an arcane system that greatly benefits them? And says that they will trap and torture and kill wolves in a barbaric way if they are reintroduced – which is sadly being done today in “killing contests” of wolves and coyotes in the US. Unfortunately, the conservation community has not been responding in a cohesive manner regarding wolves - which play a vital role in our ecosystem in the U.S. However, as Stephen details, the stage is being set for grass roots rebellion and now is the time to bring a bold vision forward and be strong for wildlife.

During a time when most wild animals are experiencing decline in the face of development and climate change, the intrepid mountain lion—also known as a puma, a cougar, “ghost cat,” and by many other names—has experienced reinvigoration as well as expansion of territory. In Path of the Puma: The Remarkable Resilience of the Mountain Lion (Patagonia Books, October 9, 2018), wildlife biologist Jim Williams celebrates wildlife research and conservation of ghost cats from Canada’s southern Yukon Territory to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina and Chile, exploring what makes this cat, the fourth carnivore in the food chain—just ahead of humans—so resilient and resourceful. Williams writes, “They are beating the odds, and their success provides a remarkable opportunity for wild nature to regain a toehold and to shape possibilities for the persistence of natural systems. They are hope for those of us who believe our future will depend, in large part, on finding the wild.”