In Tune to Nature Podcast cpfreeman

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 our planet more equitably with other animal individuals striving to thrive and survive amongst the noisy and dangerous new roadway 'ecosystems.'
I found "Crossings" so eye-opening and so comprehensive –it's about every aspect of road and vehicle impacts you could ever think of and for all kinds of animals from bears to butterflies to frogs and fish--  and so many interesting and well written stories. It’s heartbreaking to hear about this constant mass killing of animals and infringement upon their freedoms, migration, and lives, but also heartwarming due to all the people (from engineers and biologists to animal activists) trying to help other animals and find solutions like building wildlife crossings and rewilding older roads in public forests.
In this 34-minute interview host Carrie Freeman asks Ben Goldfarb why our road systems have such an extremely negative effect on wildlife and ecosystems, how various animal species have different ways of dealing with roads (some more cautious and some more cavalier), how wildlife overpasses over highways are helping larger mammals like mountain lions out west connect to other habitats/mates, and how underpasses are helping some smaller animals like turtles in Florida get to other habitats without getting squashed by the thousands. We also discuss the surprising effects of road noise on animals' ability to thrive and communicate, and we conclude with a variety of solutions, including more roadless areas in national forests and more carpooling in buses in national parks, slowing down speed limits, and building safe wildlife road passages in key migration sites (a bipartisan win/win issue as it pays for itself).
Conservation journalist Ben Goldfarb has other great books and articles. See his work at his website  www.bengoldfarb.com/ 
In Tune to Nature is a weekly show airing on Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on Atlanta indie station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) 89.3FM hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. Please consider donating to support this 50plus-year old independent, progressive, noncommercial Atlanta radio station at www.wrfg.org 
Take care of yourself and others, including other species...by driving less often and slower and advocating for roadless spaces and wildlife crossings.

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 funded by a grant from her department, the School of Modern Languages), this 57-minute webinar allows the filmmakers to answer questions from GA Tech students and Atlanta animal activists (including me, In Tune to Nature host Carrie Freeman) where we discuss: which few environmental orgs actually have the integrity to campaign to reduce or replace animal ag, knowing its immense environmental destructiveness (shout out to the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watershed Project); the pros and cons of lab-grown/cultivated meats (esp. good for pet food); the need to campaign against animal ag subsidies and regenerative ag/holistic grazing myths and for divestment from animal ag; and how best to persuasively connect with people, such as using ethical/animal rights messages, and bypassing cognitive dissonance in favor of carnism/meat-eating.
We also mention other impactful animal/food documentaries, as Kip and Keegan run AUM (Animals United Movement) Film and Media company https://www.aumfilms.org/ , a nonprofit that produces provocative full-length films inspiring healthy coexistence, such as Seaspiracy, What the Health, and the End of Medicine. Christpiracy is the latest film, which addresses spiritual/ethical and religious tenets in support of abstaining from farming/eating other animals. 
For studies I have published in the Environmental Communication journal analyzing environmental organizations' campaigns related to animal ag and commercial fishing and the need for greater critiques, see Take Extinction Off Your Plate (2022) and Meat's Place on the Campaign Menu (2010). Both found on my open-access site https://works.bepress.com/carrie_freeman/ 
In Tune to Nature is a weekly show airing on Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on Atlanta indie station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) 89.3FM hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. Please consider donating to support this 50plus-year old independent, progressive Atlanta radio station at www.wrfg.org 
Note: I edited the original webinar to fit the radio format to be under an hour. 
Take care of yourself and others, including other species...by supporting animal activism and veganic/produce farming.

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), Eugene explains his unconventional roots from artist to farmer and what it's like to share his biodiverse, Atlanta-based veganic crop farms with wandering wildlife (not domesticating or farming any animals) and how they use composted food and yard scraps to generate compost fertilizers without all the slaughterhouse or antibiotic and chemical remnants in animal-based fertilizers. He and his farming partner Nicole then share their organic bounty with local folks (like at the Freedom Farmer's Market at the Carter Center each Saturday morning). Host Carrie Freeman is one of those nourished market customers enjoying their produce weekly (then composting the food scraps to make fertilizer to grow more food, via her CompostNow service). Eugene Cooke encourages us consumers to be part of this sustainable food transition by starting to eat more fresh foods/produce from regenerative agriculture producers, more so than eating processed and sugary commercial foods from big commodity monocrops. Check out his videos at https://www.growwhereyouare.farm/ or https://www.patreon.com/growwhereyouare 
In Tune to Nature is a weekly show airing on Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on Atlanta indie station WRFG (Radio Free Georgia) 89.3FM hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. Please consider donating to support this 50plus-year old independent progressive Atlanta radio station at www.wrfg.org 
Take care of yourself and others, including other species...by supporting veganic farmers

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 legacy lives on with his many nature books and his Half Earth Project nonprofit that seeks to protect half of our planet's most biodiverse land and sea spaces to ensure wildlife has access and can thrive there without humans exploiting them or taking over the space -- this protection Wilson explains is necessary to end the mass extinction crisis (other animals cannot thrive living in fragmented isolated parks here and there). I think you'll enjoy hearing from these legends with their hopeful messages and solutions on this 31-minute podcast.
You can find out more about the pioneering and ongoing work of these inspirational lifelong biologists at their nonprofits: The Jane Goodall Institute and the Half-Earth Project. You can also support non-commercial news like Mongabay and the PBS News Hour whose journalistic work was featured on this program...and Radio Free Georgia, my indie station!
"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6:30pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station). Hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature  Please support indie media like Radio Free Georgia at https://wrfg.org/  
Take care of yourself and others, including other emotional animal species.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG its board, staff, or volunteers....most of us are volunteers.
Photo Credit: Mongabay News
 

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 it's like working with Dr. Goodall, what has changed in the exploding field of cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds) in the last 20 years, how fairness and justice are a common trait in social animals to maintain cooperation (like with coyotes), why less "charismatic" animals like fish and mice will surprise us with their personalities (as all animals are individuals not just inter-changeable members of their species), how we need to work for animal "wellbeing" not just animal "welfare" for domesticated and wild animals, and ethical choices -- what we all can do to play our part in reducing animal suffering and advocating for animals (whom we should no longer under-estimate or ignore). We end on a hopeful note, thanks to a 4th grader who inspired Marc. 
The Emotional Lives of Animals book chapters cover: the indisputable case for animal emotions; animal minds and hearts;  what animals feel;  wild justice, empathy, and fair play; and a final chapter on why animal wellbeing matters - with lots of recommendations across various fields of animal types and uses (zoos, farms, research labs, etc.).
The author, Marc Bekoff, PhD has been an animal advocate and researcher for close to 50 years, and he’s a prolific author of more than 30 books on nonhuman animals. A professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Dr. Bekoff has won many awards for his research on animal behavior, compassionate conservation, animal protection, and animal emotions. He publishes regularly for Psychology Today. His website is https://marcbekoff.com/ 
I’m happy to report that The Emotional Lives of Animals book is printed on 100% recycled paper bc the publisher -- New World Library--  is part of the Green Press Initiative. I wish all book publishers made recycled paper a priority.
 
"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6:30pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station). Hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature  Please support indie media like Radio Free Georgia at https://wrfg.org/  
Take care of yourself and others, including other emotional animal species.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG its board, staff, or volunteers....most of us are volunteers.
 

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 it is unwanted by the adjacent human community of many Black residents, and by the wildlife who (used to) live there too.
To tell us about the ongoing legal efforts is Dr. Jacqueline Echols, Board President of the South River Watershed Alliance. @southriverGA #southriverGA  In this 28-minute Feb. 2024 interview, host Carrie Freeman asks Dr. Echols to explain the civil rights act administrative complaint her organization filed, alleging the origins of the copy city installation constitute intentional harm and qualify as environmental racism. And she discusses another pending legal case alleging violations of the clean water act from increased sediment deposits harming the already polluted streams and river that may not be able to sustain life. Dr. Echols notes that stalling/delay by the courts and government officials seems to be a tactic used throughout this project to get the facility built under the radar before the city is officially told they legally cannot. Construction of the facility and destruction of many trees has already taken place. 
The "Save the forest" image of the sad rabbit painting on the bridge on the South River Trail taken by host Carrie Freeman. See cement barricade there.  Note: you never see any "tear down the Atlanta forest" or "build cop city" artwork around the city. There was a lot of helicopter noise that was in the area too at that cop city building site, and noise like that scares away a lot of the wild/free animal residents. Carrie didn't get audio of the copters but she does play an audio clip several times of the frog serenade along the South River trail wetland.
"In Tune to Nature" is a weekly radio show airing Wednesdays at 6:30pm Eastern Time on 89.3FM-Atlanta radio and streaming worldwide on wrfg.org (Radio Free Georgia, a nonprofit indie station). Hosted by Carrie Freeman or Melody Paris. The show's website and action items can be found at https://www.facebook.com/InTunetoNature  Please support indie media like Radio Free Georgia at https://wrfg.org/  
Take care of yourself and others, including other species, like the wetland frogs you hear in this podcast.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on In Tune to Nature do not necessarily reflect those of WRFG its board, staff, or volunteers....most of us are volunteers.