In Tune to Nature Podcast

I decided animals needed an election postmortem after being erased from the political and media agenda by self-centered anthropocentrism; so I wanted to use this media platform with my friend from Oregon, Dr. Debra Merskin, to collectively grieve, vent, and discuss how we really feel this week as animal rights activists, vegans, environmentalists, social justice advocates, human animal earthlings, and feminists who were excited to ...

This election season is the ultimate time to consider that this decade is our last best chance to transition to a liveable planet instead of continuing to further recklessly degrade the sustainability of our own species’ future, and that of fellow earthlings, and our one Oasis Earth. Marine conservationist, former U of Alaska professor, and clean energy and wildlife consultant, Dr. Rick Steiner speaks with In Tune to Nature radio h...

We voters really do care about eco issues (it's aligned with our health and economy and love for other animals...and future generations), so I wanted to get us prepared, motivated, and confident for early voting in Georgia Oct 15 - Nov 1st, with resources and tips shared by Brionte McCorkle, Executive Director of the nonpartisan Georgia Conservation Voters (GCV) at  https://www.gcvoters.org/vote/

That GCV voter resource website inc...

Elections are about more than just the current economy. We citizens must consider longterm effects of policies on our climate stability, wild animal livelihoods, community wellbeing, ecosystem health, and sustainable economic opportunities for future generations. But "Project 2025," the Heritage Foundation's extreme right-wing policy plan for a trump presidency forecasts a grim future of handing over more power to industries for oi...

The Marine Protection Atlas maps the global conservation of ocean areas that are supposed to legally protect aquatic animals and plant life from industrial activities like commercial fishing, mining, and drilling, but they have varying levels of protection and effectiveness so far. In this 33-minute podcast, we discuss the status of legally protected marine ocean areas worldwide, some of which are called “blue parks,” based on a re...

Water is essential to life, yet factory animal farms have polluted freshwater and river and wetland ecosystems and rural neighborhoods for decades. But we can work to protect water, wildlife, animals, and community health. To tell us how, is our guest Larry Baldwin. He’s with the nonprofit group Waterkeeper Alliance   https://waterkeeper.org/ and serves as their Campaign Coordinator for the “Pure Farms, Pure Waters” program in Nort...

I love hearing about "wildlife equity" for the wild animals who are often an integral focus of tourists. As ecotourists, we long to see amazing wild animals, but how can we ensure we aren’t endangering or harming them and putting ourselves or tourism profit before the lives and wellbeing of local humans and other animals in these tourism hotspots? To tell us about her (and co-authors') concept of wildlife equity and multispecies to...

We talk with Catherine Ridley, VP of One Hundred Miles, about wildlife protection efforts in coastal Georgia, focusing on the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and Loggerhead Sea Turtles who breed here and are at risk due to fatal ship strikes, fishing gear entanglements, dredging, and noise and light pollution, as well as discussing ancient Horseshoe Crabs, who are especially under threat lately by pharmaceutical industries wh...

Conservation Journalist Ben Goldfarb explains stories and lessons from his fantastic book "Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet" It examines how our vast system of roads and all our car and truck traffic is dissecting landscapes and making life dangerous and often lethal for other animal species (to bypass the "moving fence" of traffic) – and what we can do about it to support biodiversity and to share ou...

A decade after the release of the 2014 award-winning documentary Cowspiracy, filmmakers Kip Anderson and Keegan Kuhn come together with Atlanta animal activists and scholars in a webinar on May 21st 2024 to discuss the impact of the film and the status/progress/strategies of the vegan movement today. Facilitated by host Dr. Natalie Khazaal, a critical animal studies scholar and Associate Professor at Georgia Tech (the webinar was f...

Food justice activist and veganic farmer Eugene Cooke shares an aspirational vision for why he practices agro-ecology in urban ag at Grow Where You Are farms around Atlanta and how (and why) this can be scaled up for widespread regenerative agricultural practices that the U.S. needs to stay viable and sustainable to feed our human population and nurture our soil naturally not chemically. In this 25-minute podcast (from Sept 2022), ...

To honor primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall's 90th birthday (April 3 2024) and her continuing conservation work, I am playing part of a recent Mongabay News interview with her, hosted by Rhett A. Butler, followed by a PBS News Hour interview from 2016 with the late biologist E.O. Wilson where he discussed his final book "Half Earth" which he wrote in his late eighties. He continued working until he passed at age 92 in 2021 and his lega...

Renowned animal ethologist Dr. Marc Bekoff shares insights from the newly revised edition of his classic book: “The Emotional Lives of Animals: A leading scientist explores animal joy, sorrow, and empathy, -- and why they matter” with a foreword by famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. In April 2024, with the release of the book near Dr. Goodall's 90th birthday, Dr. Bekoff spent 38 minutes with host Carrie Freeman discussing: what ...

We discuss the latest in the 2024 fight against environmental racism and stream water degradation as part of the "Save The Atlanta Forest" movement also knowns as the "Stop Cop City" movement, in Southeast Atlanta, comprised of many allied groups of citizens who over the last several years are working to stop/discontinue the building of a multi-million dollar mega law enforcement training center in a forested watershed area, where ...

In this double-show we explore problems and solutions for transforming America’s flawed model of wildlife management that is oddly human-centric (hunter-centric), undemocratic, and often cruel, by speaking with wildlife advocate and author Anja Heister, PhD, about her recent book “Beyond the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation: From Lethal to Compassionate Conservation,” published by the academic press Palgrave Macmillan ...

Today it's one of my favorite topics -- the benefits of humans starting to embrace our animality and kinship with other animals, instead of falsely repressing our animality and continuing to think of ourselves as exceptional and above all animal life. We’ll talk about how we human animals can productively change our self narrative to be more honest with author and environmental philosopher Melanie Challenger who wrote the fascinati...

We focus on the creative process of several artists in the road ecology movement who have promoted safe passageways for wildlife to cross over and under human highways, via song, children’s literature, and documentary film. Our guests are writer Frances Figart of Asheville, NC and filmmaker Ted Grudowski of Seattle, WA, interviewed in this 30-minute podcast by host Carrie Freeman.

Our discussion explores creative ways these artists...

We enjoy the poetry and photography in a new book Wild Atlanta: Greenspaces and Nature Preserves of “The City in the Forest” with the book author and poet Stephen Wing and the book’s photographer Luz Wright. Their 98-page full color poetic photo book is an artistic tribute to several dozen of Atlanta’s gorgeous public forests and parks for humans and wildlife to share. 

In this 26-minute interview (airing in December 2023), I have ...

To have a more meaningful holiday season and avoid buying a bunch of stuff, this is a replay of my 28-minute annual green gift giving show -- this time focusing not on eco-friendly products but more on eco-friendly experiences in order to avoid cluttering up our lives with more stuff that lands in our homes permanently. So the emphasis is on gift-giving ideas for vegan food/meals or experiences (travel, parks, spas, etc.) or lendin...