The Ecoflix Podcasts

Rhett Butler founded Mongabay.com in 1999 with the mission of raising interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife. For the first ten years of the project, he operated Mongabay on his own, publishing thousands of stories and tens of thousands of photos. Today Rhett Butler serves as editor-in-chief of the web site as well as president of Mongabay.org, Mongabay's non-profit arm. Rhett Butler is also Mongabay's senior writer and photographer, continuing to create much of the site's content.

When Azzedine Downes became President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in 2012, one thing was clear to him: "Talking to people who already agreed with us just isn't enough to get real results." As IFAW's Executive Vice President since 1997, Azzedine had worked closely with experts from across the sciences and decision makers from around the world. But when he became President, IFAW started bringing together what Azzedine likes to call “the unusual suspects.” Seamstresses in Malawi. Auction houses in China. Working together, IFAW's eclectic network is now helping animals and people thrive together in more than 40 countries. Azzedine has led IFAW through a groundbreaking period of geographic expansion and strategic consolidation. He's helped open offices on four continents, including IFAW's first office in the Middle East. Azzedine has also influenced international policies to create positive change on the ground. In Azzedine's first year as President, IFAW signed a historic lease agreement with a Maasai community near Amboseli National Park in Kenya, securing 16,000 acres of precious habitat for elephants. Months later, Azzedine helped establish a first-of-its-kind cooperative framework between IFAW and INTERPOL's Environmental Crime Program. For years, Azzedine has served as the Head of the Delegation to the CITES Conference of the Parties. And recently, he directed IFAW's successful campaign for membership to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Before joining IFAW, Azzedine served as the Chief of Party for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Jerusalem and Morocco, as well as the Acting Regional Director for the United States Peace Corps in Eurasia and the Middle East. In 2015, Fast Company named Azzedine one of the “The Most 100 Creative People in Business,” and he has been listed among The NonProfit Times's “Power and Influence Top 50.” He is a member of the Global Tiger Forum Advisory Council, and he currently sits on the U.S. Trade and Environmental Policy Advisory Committee. Named to the prestigious Council for Hope of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation in 2023, Azzedine joins a group of prominent global thought and business leaders committed to using their influence to improve the world around us. A graduate of Providence College and Harvard University, Azzedine is fluent in Arabic, English, and French.His personal memoir, The Couscous Chronicles: Stories of Food, Love, And Donkeys from a Life Between Cultures, was published in June 2023.

Ian Redmond talks to special guest Ugandan veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka an organisation dedicated to the coexistence of endangered mountain gorillas, other wildlife, humans, and livestock in Africa in his Primate Podcast. A Whitley Gold Award for her conservation work, in December 2021 Dr Gladys was proclaimed a United Nations Environment Programme's Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation for her work with the One Health initiative.

Ian Redmond talks to Primate Podcast guest Dr Elodie Freymann who researches how wild chimpanzees use plants as medicine.Elodie spent 9 months observing chimpanzees in Uganda to gather behavioral and pharmacological information on these medicinal plants, specifically on their ingestion of tree barks which are also taken as medicine by local human communities. This has implications for the discovery of novel human medicines in an age of growing antibiotic resistance and for the conservation of rapidly disappearing chimp forest habitats.Find out more about Elodie's work at https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-elodie-freymann

As a prominent nutrition scientist and leader of research on the positive benefits that a plant-based diet entails, Dr. Christopher Gardner has created the Stanford-led Plant-Based Diet Initiative (PBDI). This initiative, directed by Dr. Gardner, encompasses a series of seed grant research led by prominent Stanford scientists.Ultimately, the Plant-Based Diet Initiative would focus on science and policy to identify the optimal plants to displace animal products and demonstrate how plant-based diets can maximize the intersection of human health and the health of the environment, paving the way for a better and healthier future for people and the earth alike.Shifting to a more plant-based diet involves a continuum of choices. At the extreme is a vegan diet that includes no animal products. While many nutrition scientists believe a healthy vegan diet can support optimal health, many intermediate approaches that involve less meat can also provide optimal nutrition, and are likely to be more realistic in terms of broad population-based change.Given the popularity of Beyond Meat and other plant-based alternatives to animal meat and dairy products in the current food market, this is a prime opportunity to identify the role that these products can play in shifting public perceptions (and perhaps behavior) around adopting more plant-based diets long-term.https://web.stanford.edu/group/nutrition/cgi-bin/pbdi/wordpress/about/

Laurie Hood is the visionary behind Alaqua Animal Refuge. In 2007 Laurie discovered that countless animals were being euthanized due to the lack of a no-kill shelter in Walton County, she couldn't reconcile this with her natural passion for animals, so she started Alaqua Animal Refuge. The refuge has expanded despite setbacks from hurricanes and COVID and Laurie has also spearheaded legislative change across Florida.

In the first Ecoflix Primate Podcast, Ian Redmond chats to Professor Gilly Forrester about how she came to be studying apes.Gilly is a Professor of Evolutionary & Developmental Psychology at the University of Sussex. Her academic story began with a BSc in Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego (where she witnessed some of the invasive research methods used to study brain function) and continued with a PhD in Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She designed complex puzzles for captive apes that mimic syntax in language to explore the link between hand-use and language, then gave the same puzzles to human children to see how they compare. Her new project is to see if studying how humans develop skills can help us prepare captive gorillas and chimps for successful release into their natural habitat in Africa. Gilly says she is "on a quest to better understand how we became the upright walking, talking, tool-using great apes that we are today – both through the evolution of our species and though the development of infants." She also likes to share that knowledge and engage the public at science festivals and on radio and television - which is why she is our inaugural Primate Podcaster on Ecoflix.

With over 30 years of experience in conservation, wildlife protection, environmental/wildlife crime investigations, management of nonprofit organisations, Andrea Crosta also has a broad cross-functional expertise in researching and investigating Environmental Crime Convergence including money laundering, human smuggling, narco-trafficking, corruption, transnational trafficking of wildlife and natural resources, transnational trafficking networks linked to organised crime, conservation, environmental/wildlife protection, and intelligence. He is the founder of Earth League International, the first intelligence agency for Earth.

Carl Safina - Ecologist and author focused on human relationships with the natural world "we are a series of dilemmas inside a bunch of problems". Listen to this fascinating podcast which discusses Carl's early inspiration, his love of birds, his Covid era book on an owl named Alfie and so much more.

Captain Peter James Bethune is a New Zealand ship's captain with 500 ton master licence, published author, producer, and public speaker. Pete Bethune takes conservation to the extreme. As the founder of Earthrace Conservation, Pete is a world record holder, circling the globe four times on his powerboat Earthrace. From serving months in a maximum security prison for fighting Japanese whalers, to saving endangered red monkeys from poachers in the Amazon. His missions have seen him shot at, run over by a Japanese security vessel, incarcerated in Libya and Japan, and held under armed guard in a Guatemalan Military camp. Pete Bethune's story will thrill, move, and inspire you.

David talks to Greg MacGillivray who has been producing and directing award-winning films for more than 50 years. Today, he has more than 60 films to his credit, including over 40 IMAX productions.Since the 1976 production of his first IMAX film, To Fly!, Greg has produced some of the most enduring films in the giant-screen genre. Greg has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Short Subject: first in 1995 for The Living Sea, and then in 2000 for Dolphins. A passionate ocean conservationist, Greg and his wife Barbara founded the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation, a non-profit public charity dedicated to educating and inspiring the public through giant-screen films and science education programming about the need to take action to protect the world's ocean.

David talks to Praveen Moman who grew up in the wilds of Uganda, where his family was part of the pioneering Asian community central to opening up East Africa. He then moved to the UK after becoming a refugee during the Amin expulsion. In 1997, Praveen returned to Uganda where he founded Volcanoes Safaris. Volcanoes Safaris has been at the forefront of reviving gorilla and chimpanzee ecotourism in Uganda and Rwanda. The lodges are sensitive to the culture of local communities, the need to use resources in a sustainable way, and empowering local communities. In 2005 Volcanoes Safaris became a signatory to the UN Kinshasa Declaration on Saving the Great Apes.

Writer, filmmaker and adventurer, Jon Bowermaster is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. One of the Society's ‘Ocean Heroes,' his first assignment for National Geographic Magazine was documenting a 3,741 mile crossing of Antarctica by dogsled. His National Geographic-sponsored Oceans 8 project took him and his teams around the world by sea kayak over the course of ten years (1999-2008), bringing back stories from the Aleutian Islands to French Polynesia, Gabon to Tasmania, and more, reporting on how the planet's one ocean and its various coastlines are faring in today's busy world. Jon lives in New York's Hudson Valley. He is the President of the One Ocean Media Foundation, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Adventure Science and Creative Affiliate of The Safina Center.

John Quigley is an educator, environmental advocate, aerial artist and founder of Spectral Q, an Aerial Art company that offers a unique medium of communication that is designed to build community and inspire creativity. Join John Quigley, a tree activist who climbed into a heritage oak and remained there for 71 days in 2002 saving the tree that was later relocated and thrives today. Quigley has since created over 150 Human Aerial Art images around the world on every continent and has virtually directed and coached over 100 additional images as non-commercial communications. Spectral Q is an Aerial Art company that offers a unique medium of communication and is designed to build community and inspire creativity.

Kerry David has been working in the Hollywood film industry for over 25 years. In 2014, she raised over $500,000 crowdfunding for various non-profits, productions and artists. She was sidelined after learning about the silent war on endangered species due to commercial poaching and the human/wildlife conflict. It compelled her to get involved and in 2017 she launched her Non-Profit; OverandAboveAfrica.com In 2019 she wrote, directed and produced her passion project; "Breaking Their Silence: Women on the Frontline of the Poaching War". BTS won seventeen film festivals, including Jury Award & Audience Award for Best Documentary at San Diego International Film Festival and the Durango Film Festival.  www.BreakingTheirSilence.com

A fascinating conversation with Argentinian Teo Alfero, who after time in the army and Patagonia moved to California. It was here he encountered his first wolf and on a whim with no prior expertise decided launch Wolf Connection. This sanctuary not only provides for wolves and wolf dogs but Teo has developed an incredible program to assist inner city children overcome life challenges through their exposure to wolves.

Part 2 -Another fascinating Primate Podcast with Ecoflix Head of Conservation Ian Redmond OBE. In this second part episode Ian continues his conversationwith the amazing Adams Cassinga. A wildlife criminal investigator, wildlife activist, permaculturist and writer. Adams is currently involved in the fight against wildlife trafficking in his native Democratic Republic of Congo where he heads a nature conservation non profit called "Conserv Congo " (www.conservcongo.org). The organization focuses mainly on the anti-poaching, curbing the scourge of wildlife trafficking, civic education on natural heritage in communities and schools as well as sustainable development for communities living around parks and nature reserves.

Part 1 -Another fascinating Primate Podcast with Ecoflix Head of Conservation Ian Redmond OBE. In this episode Ian speaks with Adams Cassinga. A wildlife criminal investigator, wildlife activist, permaculturist and writer. From Civil War to the mining industry, private jets and a reawakening, Adams' story is captivating as it is inspirational. Adams is currently involved in the fight against wildlife trafficking in his native Democratic Republic of Congo where he heads a nature conservation non profit called "Conserv Congo " (www.conservcongo.org). The organization focuses mainly on the anti-poaching, curbing the scourge of wildlife trafficking, civic education on natural heritage in communities and schools as well as sustainable development for communities living around parks and nature reserves.

Founder and CEO of Ecoflix David Casselman interviews h our very own Head of Conservation Ian Redmond about his incredible career in conservation with some brilliant stories about the legendary Sir David Attenborough.

David Casselman, Founder and CEO of Ecoflix interviews Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE, DL, Dsc, Dhc, MA, FLS, FRGS. Robin is an explorer with a conscience. He has spent much of his life traveling in the world's rainforests and deserts and campaigning to protect both them and their people. One of the few remaining explorers who merits the name, he made the two first crossings of South America from East to West (1958) and North to South (1964/5). He believes that the spirit of exploration is alive and well and never more needed than now, as we begin to realize how little we really understand our world and how rapidly we are destroying it. The author of over twenty-five books, most of which are still in print, he also became celebrated as a photographer via the critically acclaimed exhibition at the National Theatre, Echoes of a Vanished World, which detailed his first encounters with pristine peoples and places. From his farm on Bodmin Moor, which won the Award as the Best Large Scale Renewable Energy Project in Cornwall, he still travels widely, lecturing and visiting expeditions in the field.

Gunter Pauli is an entrepreneur, economist, and author born in 1956 in Antwerp (Belgium). He is best known for his main work, The Blue Economy. He has lived on 4 continents, is fluent in 7 languages, has been a resident of Japan since 1994, and spends most of his time in South Africa. Gunter Pauli holds a degree in economics from Loyola University (today University of Antwerp) in 1979 in Belgium and an MBA from INSEAD at Fontainebleau (France) in 1982. Pauli's entrepreneurial activities span culture, science, politics, business, and the environment. He is also a member of The Club of Rome and has served three years since 2017 as an elected member of the Executive Committee. Gunter Pauli has served as an advisor for governments in Spain, Argentina, and Italy. He has also worked as an author, notably of The Blue Economy. He assisted Aurelio Peccei, founder of the Club of Rome from 1979 to 1984, and later wrote a biography about him. In 1989 he was elected as an independent substitute to the European Parliament but never took up the seat. Former chairman of Ecover, an ecological detergent company, before realizing in 1990 that its components - palm oil in particular - destroy primary forests, he is nicknamed the "Steve Jobs of sustainable development", or even the "Che Guevara of biodiversity ”, or “the apostle of sustainable growth Gunter Pauli is committed to designing and implementing a competitive business model which responds to people's needs using what is locally available. He introduced “The Blue Economy” philosophy in 1994 when asked by the United Nations to reflect on the business models of the future in preparation for COP 3 in Japan where the Kyoto Protocol was decide.

National Geographic Explorer, biologist and front line conservationist Niall McCann speaks with Ecoflix founder David Casselman

Ecoflix founder David Casselman talks oceans, plastic pollution and uOcean with innovator Chris Desai, founder of uOcean.

Ecoflix CEO David Casselman speaks with children's author and publisher Christopher Lloyd. Ecoflix recently collaborated with Christopher to animate his book 'It's Up To Us'. The book is based is based on the Terra Carta, a roadmap to sustainability issued by His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Former Prince of Wales. Christopher also speaks about how is books are written through the wonder and awe in which children see the world. A wonder us adults often lose, but should try to reawaken.

Simon is an Executive Director at the Prince's Foundation, overseeing the organisation's education, health and other charitable activities. In addition to his role at The Prince's Foundation, he serves on the Governing Board of the Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation at Kellogg College, University of Oxford, is a Research Fellow at the University of Grenoble, a Professor of Practice at the University of Wales and sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Craft. Prior to joining the Prince's Foundation, Simon worked within the community development sector in the UK, US and internationally. He holds an MSc in Population and Development from the London School of Economics, an MA Urban Policy from the University of Illinois-Chicago, a BA Political Science from Colorado College and is currently completing a PhD in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow.

Saengduean 'Lek' Chailert reveals the highs and lows of the challenges of running an elephant sanctuary in Thailand. From gun threats to Covid, a seat at parliament and a very prestigious honor from the President of France. Hosted by Ecoflix CEO David Casselman.

Lek Chailert, the founder of Elephant Nature Park, shares her life stories about her career.

David Mitchell is literally a rocket scientist, an author, an entrepreneur, a Hollywood consultant, and the proponent of an amazing new method for sequestration of carbon.

After 15 years as a Television Producer and Cameraman for CBS News, RAI and ZDF John began to study ecology. In the mid-1990's he began a participatory process with a number of media and broadcasting colleagues in Beijing that led to the creation of the Environmental Education Media Project for China (EEMPC). He has directed the EEMPC (now the EEMP) from its beginning. The EEMPC has distributed over 1000 environmental films in China since then. The EEMPC also helped found the “China Environment and Sustainable Development Reference and Research Center (CESDRRC) and the China HIV/AIDS Information Center (CHAIN). Over the years their activities have broadened beyond China to include the entire world and to include the production of environmental and ecological films. The name was shortened to Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) when they were asked to work in other countries. From 2003 – 2006 John was a visiting fellow with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of the West of England, In 2006 he was named the Rothamsted International Fellow for the Communication of Science, from 2010 – 2013 John was a Senior Research Fellow for IUCN. In 2013 he received the Communications Award from the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), “Green Gold” a film about his work produced by the VPRO won a Prix Italia award. “Hope in a Changing Climate” was named the best ecosystem film by the International Wildlife Film Festival and won several other honors. He currently also serves as ambassador for the Commonland Foundation.

Toby Gad is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit, "All of Me", the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for co-writing and producing "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie and "If I were a Boy" by Beyoncé. Gad also produced and co-wrote the international charity single "Love Song to the Earth" which featured a long list of popular artists, including Paul McCartney, Fergie, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Sean Paul, Nicole Scherzinger, and more. Find out more about Ecoflix at: https://ecoflix.com/

James Sawyer is the Executive Director UK for IFAW. He is an experienced senior director, with a strong history of building and maintaining partnerships with Governments, Heads of State, NGOs, corporate entities and academia. Capable of developing high-functioning global teams, across challenging environments, to deliver at a global scale and leverage global partnerships to deliver sector level change. Experienced at change management, strategy development, high level engagement and negotiation, corporate and financial partnerships, programme implementation within complex global organisations. Leader in developing new models of conservation finance, impact investing and sustainability funding models. Leadership experience in sustainability, environmental, humanitarian, conservation and animal welfare sectors.

In this episode Ugo Mozie shares his love for animals, his success working with celebrities, faux fur, leather alternatives, the importance of education so consumers make informed decisions and his work with his NGO in Nigeria which uses sustainable materials and trains locals in the craft of textiles.

Leah Garcés is the CEO and president of Mercy For Animals. She has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the animal protection movement and has partnered with some of the world's largest food companies on her mission to build a better food system. Leah Garcés oversaw international campaigns at the World Society for the Protection of Animals and launched Compassion in World Farming in the United States. The New York Times, the Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice magazine, the Chicago Tribune, and other national and international media outlets have featured her work. She is a contributing writer for Food Safety News and serves on the advisory boards of Encompass and Seattle Food Tech. Leah is also the author of GRILLED: Turning Adversaries into Allies to Change the Chicken Industry, published by Bloomsbury in September 2019. Part memoir, part activist tell-all, Grilled illustrates how her fight to end factory farming and construct a compassionate food system led Leah to collaborate with unlikely allies in the food industry. It's a must-read for new and veteran animal advocates, as well as those looking to learn more about the food industry—and how to change it. Find out more at: https://ecoflix.com/

Will Travers OBE - an English director, writer, broadcaster and animal rights activist shares an intimate conversation with Ecoflix founder David Casselman. The son of English actors and wildlife campaigners Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, he is president of the Born Free Foundation, Born Free USA and Species Survival Network.