Josh Balk: How to Change America's Cruelest Industry

"It is not hyperbole to say that livestock grazing on Western public lands is the single biggest and most important environmental impact that does the most damage. And, also causes the most widespread impact of any of the things that damage public lands, including oil and gas development, including strip mining and mountaintop removal, including, damming, the rivers. Livestock raising is the most pervasive and the most ecologically harmful - and it's everywhere." - Erik Molvar In the United States, we have around 80,000 wild horses living on Western public lands. For decades, there's been a battle between the people who want these horses to stay and roam freely and the people who want them gone. Many of the people who want them gone are either a part of, or connected to the cattle industry.And, the agency that makes these decisions, whether the horses stay or go, is the Bureau of Land Management, the BLM. There are herds living on public lands throughout the Western United States. And one of, or maybe the most, beloved herd is the Onaqui. They live in Utah, around 60 miles from Salt Lake City. Because they're close to a city, people visit them often. The horses have become accustomed to a human audience, so they don't flee when they see humans. They trust them. Or at least they did until a couple of weeks ago when 435 of these majestic and very free horses were rounded up with helicopters by the BLM. 124 of them will become part of a birth control program and be released to the wild. But the other 300 will be put in a government holding facility. Eventually some might get adopted, but many will remain and holding for years. These roundups happen all the time, but the Onaqui roundup got a lot of publicity because these horses were so adored. The BLM's reason for rounding up our horses is that they degrade public lands when the herds get too large. Now these same lands are rented for use for millions and millions of cattle and sheep. The horses are a teeny tiny fraction of animals that live on that land. Today's conversation is with Eric Molvar. He is not a wild horse advocate. He's a wildlife biologist and the executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a nonprofit conservation group dedicated to protecting and restoring wildlife and watersheds across the American West. I asked Eric to come onto the show so that I could better understand how and why these roundups continue to happen.

29 Heinä 202143min

"You can't get to a point where you're so sensitive that you don't call out cruelty and torture when you see it, whether it's to a human being or to the planet or to an animal, you can't just stay silent, but you have to approach in the right way." N -Nina Jackel Nina Jackel is an activist and journalist and the founder and president of Lady Freethinker, a media organization that provides news and grassroots action for a free and compassionate world - for every species. In 2013 Lady Freethinker was a blog written by Nina for a handful of readers. Those readers soon multiplied and today, Lady Freethinker is a media and news organization with a team of writers and millions of readers. Their investigations and campaigns have led to major animal cruelty victories across the globe. Nina is a relentless force in the fight for justice for animals but she also has huge empathy for humans and the sometimes slow process it can be for them to get fully on board.

22 Heinä 202142min

"And then a letter arrived in the mail. It was from a woman who had heard about my work to help zoo animals. She said, 'there's these two bears living in a cage in the town near my house. It's on a creek that floods every year. It's horrible conditions. I have no idea what to do. Can you help?' I don't think she knew that I was a 13-year-old." – Justin Barker Justin is an activist, a director, a producer, and the author of Bear Boy, The True Story of a Boy, Two Bears and the Fight to Be Free. When Justin was 13 years old, he started an organization called Citizens Lobbying for Animals in Zoos. And at 13, he created real change for captive animals, and not long after someone contacted him about two bears living in a wretched conditions in Northern California. Justin spent the next three years fighting to save these bears. Although his book is a young adult novel, it is a book that I think everyone should read. Justin is an example and inspiration of how one person can create enormous impact. And the fact that that person was 13 years old is all the more compelling.

15 Heinä 202134min

"So, we had 87 women come in for what we call pre-selection, the interviews... And I can say that after all the shit that I've been through in my life, that was some of the hardest two days of my life, listening to those stories. And, it was hard in a way because they were genuinely tough stories, but it was also hard in a way to know that even though I hadn't done anything directly to these women, I was part of a culture that had kept women just like this oppressed, the boys club, the macho club, all that sort of thing. And just part of, I suppose, this macho culture." - Damien Mander Damien was on the show in December and the sound was horrendous. He was in the bush in Zimbabwe and I was in NYC and our connection was bad. We redid the interview last week, in person, in NYC - and it's sounds like a dream… Damien Mander is the founder and CEO of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF). He is a former Australian Royal Navy clearance diver and a special operations military sniper who became an anti-poaching crusader and an environmental and animal welfare activist. In 2009, while travelling through Africa, he was inspired by the work of rangers and the plight of wildlife. He liquidated his life savings and established the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. Over the past decade the IAPF has scaled to train and support rangers which now help protect over 20 million acres of African wilderness. In 2017 Damien founded 'Akashinga - Nature Protected by Women,' an IAPF program that has already grown to over 240 employees with 7 nature reserves in the portfolio. They are the only group of nature reserves in the world to be protected by women. And, these women are changing the game in terms of what it means to fight poaching. Damien was featured in the James Cameron documentary The Game Changers and has now released another documentary with James Cameron and National Geographic about his work with the women of Akashinga – "The Brave One's." He is a resident on the National Geographic Speakers Bureau, has spoken at the United Nations, featured in June 2019's National Geographic Magazine, and has been featured three times on 60 Minutes. And, if you haven't seen it, watch his TEDx Talk at the Sidney Oprah House, it's just awesome. It was an honor to spend time with Damien. He is a warrior, a hero and a man who understands what it means to never stop evolving.

8 Heinä 20211h 3min

Planted. Not Buried. That is how Eric Adams has chosen to see himself through the darkest moments of his life. The first occurred at age 15, when he and his brother were beaten by the police. Four years later he became a police officer and spent the next 22 years on the force, working to help reform NYC policing from the inside. He retired as a captain and now he serves as the President of the Borough that I call home - Brooklyn. Yes, Brooklyn has a President, an incredibly busy and very much in demand President. Eric has spent most of 2020 on the frontlines; most recently the frontlines of the protests against police brutality and systemic racism and, during the months that Brooklyn was a COVID-19 hotspot, he spent his days handing out PPE to hospital workers and plant based meals to residents in need of a meal. Plant based because he has personally experienced the health benefits of a vegan diet. In 2016, he cured his own diabetes and partial blindness by making the switch. Since then he's been on a mission to implement plant based diets and nutrition in hospitals, schools, prisons, and communities all over New York City. Eric is a man who gives much more to the world than he takes from it. After my brief time with him, I found myself wanting to be and do much better. His graciousness, generosity, and desire to look for the opportunities are qualities that this world could use a whole lot more of. As a resident of Brooklyn, I feel extremely lucky and proud to have Eric running the show around here.

1 Heinä 202128min

"…by the way, today, there might be an ick factor associated with it, but there might come a day that people will wonder, why are we drinking other species milks… If you have access to the real thing or the stuff that's in the real thing. I mean, it's these special proteins… these amazing different complex sugars and proteins that are found in human milk that are super valuable." - Max Rye Max Rye spent more than 15 years helping businesses scale with technology. He was the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech company and at the time, had no plans to nor thoughts of being at be at the forefront of transforming the entire global dairy industry. But, that's what happened… He was speaking at Google headquarters in Singapore, when someone from the audience said to him, "I'm looking for milk that doesn't come from cows and I know that people in San Francisco are making things with cells, why not milk?" That someone was Fengru Lin and she and Max are now the co-founders of Turtle Tree Labs. Turtle Tree labs is using cell-based technology to create all kinds of milk, from snow leopard and elephant milk to cow and human milk. And they have big plans for the human milk, bigger than just infant formula. As you can imagine, human milk is like a superfood with a lot of special proteins and complex sugars that just can't be found anywhere else. And Turtle Tree Labs is working around the clock to put it on the market. The future is here and it's getting kinder by the day.

24 Kesä 202125min

Edwina Von Gal is a landscape designer and an indomitable steward of the planet. She spent her career designing landscapes for the rich and famous and collaborating with architects and artists like Maya Lin, Richard Serra, and Frank Gehry. A little over a decade ago, Edwina had an epiphany about the chemicals that we are pouring into our lawns, landscapes, and backyards. She decided right then that it would become her life's mission to change the way that we treat our land and founded the Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit that promotes toxin-free lawns and landscapes. A few years ago, she expanded the mission. We are losing our birds at an alarming rate. Since the seventies, the United States has lost a third of our bird population. So, to combat the great bird decline, Edwina started Two-Thirds for the Birds, a campaign to bring our birds back. And the way to do that is to dedicate two thirds of all plantings to native plants and to commit to going toxin free. This conversation took place at Edwina's spectacular home that sits on stilts atop a salt marsh. It was a gift to speak with Edwina about her mission, to learn about the history of chemicals and what we've done to our land, and to hear her remarkable stories, all while being surrounded by many many birds.

17 Kesä 202146min

Derek Sarno is a chef and a rockstar in the vegan world and he's on a mission to inspire you to cook and eat more plants. He's the Director of Plant-Based Innovation for Tesco PLC, and the Developer/Co-Founder of Wicked Kitchen. He helps lead Tesco's plant-based team and the initiative to bring delicious, unpretentious plant-based foods to mainstream market. Derek and his brother Chad are the founders of Wicked Healthy, LLC., Wicked Foods inc. and Good Catch Foods. Prior to Tesco, Derek served as the Senior Global Executive Chef for Whole Foods Market, where he oversaw global recipe development for the company's healthy eating initiative, worked with suppliers and leadership to develop and promote plant-based foods across the organization, and served as Culinary Director for the Whole Foods Academy for Conscious Leadership. Derek is a serial entrepreneur, founding several award-winning restaurants and food service companies in the United States. Derek is the co-author of the Whole Foods cookbook, and the Wicked Healthy Cookbook. His journey has been fueled by curiosity and compassion, some of which he gained while living in a Buddhist monastery in Upstate New York, where he served as resident Chef & Gardener. Derek's story is all about expansion and his life is an example of what it means to never stop evolving.

10 Kesä 202132min