Cultivating Conservation Megan Hockin-Bennett

Dr Christy Hehir is an environmental psychologist with a PhD on how tourism can better aid conservation. Christy is passionate about understanding how tourists engage with the natural world and the long-term impacts tourism can have on individuals’ subsequent pro-environmental behaviour towards our planet’s sustainability. Committed to science communication, Christy was recently awarded a fellowship at the Royal Geographical Society  and currently works as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey - researching the future of polar tourism. Prior to academia, Christy had 10 years’ travel industry experience across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Her polar adventures ignited when she travelled to Antarctica with Students on Ice, having been elected as the UK’s student representative for International Polar Year.
Show Notes: - https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/dr-christy-hehir-https://happywhale.com/home- 

Patrica Sims is a Director, Writer and Producer specializing in documenting threatened wildlife and is fascinated by the connection between humans and nature. From the arctic to the tropics, from the land to the sea. A true documentarian, Patricia has spent her life embedded within communities that live in close proximity with the natural world and her goal is to bring a global awareness to threats they face. She is a Fellow International of The Explorers Club, and Fellow in the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS). 
In 2012 Patrica founded World Elephant Day, A global awareness campaign that brings attention to the critical threats facing elephants. Now in its 13th year the annual World Elephant Day campaign reaches millions of individuals across the globe through events, traditional media, and social media outreach.
Her multi award winning films, For the love of dolphins, Beluga Speaking Across Time, Return to the forest and When elephants were young have been celebrated globally. The founder of production company Canazwest Pictures, A public speaker, avid freediver and lover of all things nature, Patrica loves nothing more than a walk on the beach with her dog. In 2024, she is in development on several projects including her feature documentary “Breathless” and feature documentary series “The Big Hunt”.
Show Notes: - https://worldelephantday.org- http://www.canazwest.com/bios- https://canadiangeographic.ca/canadian-geographic-adventures/rcgs-travel-ambassadors/rcgs-ambassador-patricia-sims/

Tiare Boyes is an underwater camera operator, photographer, commercial diver and ocean plastics artist. Growing up on the coast of BC raised by a family of fishermen, her life has always revolved around the ocean; understanding how we can be good neighbors to our marine cousins, as well as sharing the incredible beauty and amazing underwater life with others in an enjoyable and educational manner drives her creativity. Her passion is being immersed in the marine world, both at work and at play and showing others the incredible world that lays just below the surface.
 Show Notes: - https://www.tiareboyes.com- https://divermag.com/diver-interview-tiare-boyes/- https://www.wildpacifichalibut.com/fishing-families/tiare-boyes
 

Host, Megan Hockin-Bennett takes a break from interviews to talk about the podcast, what it has meant for her so far and the huge ripples it's making in her life swell as others! 

Finlay Pringle is a marine conservationist, climate change activist, Sea Shepherd shark ambassador and alongside his family has collected nearly 10,000KG of trash from the shorelines of his home in Scotland. But most importantly, at the age of 16, right now he is trying to complete his exams so he can once again focus his efforts on saving the planet! 
At the age of nine, Finlay was in love with sharks, but became upset when he found out that over 100 million of them were being killed a year due to human threats. This sparked a nearly decade-long journey into activism and conservation. SO FAR. 
As of February 2024 he has completed 269 climate strikes on Friday mornings instead of going to school. As a family since 2020 the Pringle’s have completed 229 beach cleans and removed 9832kg of plastic pollution from the oceans. In 2024, so far, they have done 18 clean ups collecting just over 600kg of ocean trash.
Finlay is a whirlwind of productivity and we spoke about growing up in the spotlight and how hard it is to stay positive in what can  sometimes feel like a bleak future for this planet. 
Show Notes: https://ullapoolsharkambassador.comhttps://seashepherd.orghttps://fridaysforfuture.orgBite Back Shark Education pack: https://www.bite-back.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Bite-Back-SOS-Education-Pack.pdf

Lauren Plummer is the director of Green Threads Cornwall. A slow fashion market dedicated to connecting local communities to second hand clothing and promoting past loved items. She lives in Cornwall with her Husband Martin and her son Orlando. Lauren is passionate about empowering communites to adopt a slower and simpler life for the sake of our children and out planet.