Forces for Nature – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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Most people have heard about elephants and rhinos being in trouble. But few realize that giraffes are quietly disappearing too. And also the hirola, a graceful antelope found only along the Kenya–Somalia border, is down to fewer than 500 left on Earth.

In this episode, Dr. Abdullahi Ali shares how his journey from a nomadic childhood to a Ph.D. in ecology led him to found the Hirola Conservation Program and the Somali Giraffe Project - two community-led efforts rewriting what coexistence looks like.

Ali’s story is as much about people as it is about wildlife. From restoring grasslands once maintained by elephants before they were poached to helping farmers swap mango trees for lime trees to prevent conflict with giraffes, his work shows that when conservation is rooted in local knowledge, everyone thrives.

Highlights

• How Dr. Ali’s childhood herding goats (and occasionally getting lost doing it!) shaped his lifelong connection to nature.
• How climate change is creating “climate refugees” - not just people, but also animals.
• The power of community-led solutions: from adult literacy classes to wildlife-friendly livelihoods.

What You Can Do

• Partner with the Hirola Conservation Program and the Somali Giraffe Project.
• Share what’s going on with giraffes and hirolas. It might be a surprise to most.
• Look for ways to design coexistence where you live - in your garden, your community, or your workplace.
• Remember that conservation works best when it’s collaborative between species, between people, and across borders.

Resources

• Facebook    
• X  
• YouTube

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What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

Federal policy might seem distant from the forests, rivers, and wildlife we care about but, as Bentley Johnson of the Michigan League of Conservation Voters explains, its impact reaches straight into our daily lives.

From an executive order that resulted in higher(!) energy prices to bipartisan efforts that ensure the water coming from your tap is clean, Bentley reveals how political decisions ripple through ecosystems, economies, and communities alike.

He also reminds us that our power doesn’t end at the ballot box. Between elections, we can still shape the laws that protect clean air, renewable energy, and wild spaces- by showing up, speaking out, and holding leaders accountable.

If you’ve ever wondered how what happens in Washington affects us directly, this episode will connect those dots and help you see what you can be doing in between elections that can make a difference.

This is another episode of the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders program Series! 

Highlights

• The real-world consequences of rolling back clean-energy and conservation laws.
• Bipartisan success stories- from PFAS cleanup to Great Lakes restoration- that prove cooperation is still possible.
• Why framing issues around health, cost, and community helps bridge divides.

What YOU Can Do

• Vote in every election, especially local ones. City and state leaders decide on wildlife corridors, pollution standards, and habitat funding. **CHECK TO SEE IF YOUR AREA IS HOLDING ELECTIONS THIS NOVEMBER 4TH.
• Check your representatives’ environmental records. Visit your state’s League of Conservation Voters or lcv.org/scorecard.
• Speak up between elections. Attend town halls, share your story, and comment on proposed environmental rule changes.
• Join or support local conservation and restoration projects. The federal picture changes, but local action keeps progress alive.
• Share success stories. Remind others that clean-energy projects, restored wetlands, and wildlife protections are working. Hope is contagious.

Resources

• Michigan LCV's Take Action page.
• MLCV's Action Hub
• Michigan LCV's Scorecard 
• Because Michigan LCV's scorecard is focused on Michigan, you may be interested in the national LCV's congressional scorecard where anyone in the country can look up their Members of Congress.
• We also talked about the greenhouse gas emissions reporting rollback. Here is a link to take action on that (it's a national effort but this link is unique for Michigan LCV so that if people use it to make a comment, they can get credit).
• Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) program

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

This is another episode of the Forces for Nature, EarthX Conference series!

What if the way we approach learning could shape not just our own success, but the future of our planet? In this episode, I sit down with James Keyes—former CEO of 7-Eleven and Blockbuster—who believes that education isn’t just about getting a degree; it’s the key to freedom, progress, and solving some of our biggest challenges. But here’s the catch: many of us stop actively learning after school, relying instead on the information that already fits our worldview. That’s where we get stuck.

 In this conversation, we explore how fear is weaponized to keep people divided, why knowledge alone isn’t enough to change minds, and how we can shift the way we communicate environmental solutions to be more inviting, less polarizing, and ultimately more effective.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, an activist, or simply someone who wants to engage more critically with the world, this episode will challenge how you think about learning, decision-making, and even the way you advocate for change.

Highlights

• Why fear—not lack of information—is at the root of many societal and environmental challenges.
• How militant ignorance keeps people from seeing solutions (and how to avoid falling into that trap ourselves).
• The three skills you actually need to be a lifelong learner—far beyond the classroom.

What YOU Can Do

• Challenge your own biases: Are you truly open to new perspectives, or just reinforcing what you already believe?
• Shift your messaging: When advocating for change, focus on shared values and opportunities rather than battles and division.
• Reignite your curiosity: Instead of assuming you already know the answer, start asking why more often.

Resources

• Education is Freedom: The Future is in Your Hands by James Keyes.  
• Jame's website 
• James Keyes’ TEDx Talk on the power of learning  

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

Katie Moore is the Deputy Vice President of Animal Rescue with the International Fund for Animal Welfare. For the past two decades, Katie has been rescuing stranded marine mammals all over the world, leading these initiatives and pioneering methods that have saved thousands that wouldn't have had a chance before. Through better treatment practices employed by her and her team, successful releases on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have jumped from under 14% to over 70%. This success is also due to a study she was a part of that challenged the common practice of euthanizing lone dolphins who had stranded. Each individual matters to Katie and she won't let anything get in her way to save them.

Check out this episode's webpage for ideas on how you can help!

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If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

Did you know that an unspayed female dog, and her mate, and all their offspring and their offspring's puppies can add up to 67,000 dogs in just six years!? And cats also have the same staggering statistics! Unfortunately, there aren't enough homes to take care of the potential numbers of animals that can be born. And, what's worse, is that most of these unwanted animals end up with a terrible quality of life. This was a problem that Patricia Chan was observing on the streets of Panama. Pat decided to do something about it and created Spay Panama. Spay Panama's vision is to improve animal welfare and put a stop to animal cruelty by controlling the overpopulation of dogs and cats through intensive sterilization campaigns. They provide high-quality sterilization services at low cost for animal rescuers, feeders, and families of low means. Their #1 goal is to avoid unwanted litters.

Look for this episode's show notes for ideas on how you can help!

To date, they have operated on over 200,000 animals.

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If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

Kelly Donithan is a Senior Specialist in Disaster Operations with Humane Society International. She recently returned from Australia where she was stationed on Kangaroo Island after their unprecedented wildfires, rescuing any wildlife survivors that could be found and helping to give them a second chance. We talk about what it was like on the ground there and how, despite all the devastation she regularly sees, she finds ways to keeps ongoing.

Look for this episode's full show notes at ForcesForNature.com for a list of how you can help and resources on how to prepare your pets for the unexpected. 

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If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

What do you get when you cross an artichoke with an armadillo? A pangolin, the world's most trafficked mammal you've probably never heard of. Paul Thomson is the cofounder of Save Pangolins, an organization that has been bringing attention to these elusive scaled mammals with the hopes that to know them is to love them and, therefore, protect them.

**Update: To read an article put out by Save Pangolins regarding COVID19 and its relation to pangolins, check out this episode's show notes. 

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If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

Meet the host of Forces for Nature, Crystal DiMiceli

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If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

This is another episode of the Forces for Nature, EarthX Conference series!

The health of our oceans is critical—not just for marine life, but for our economy and future sustainability. Enter Ocean Exchange, an organization dedicated to accelerating solutions that improve ocean health and coastal resilience. And, one of only four groups in the United States that was awarded the recent NOAA Ocean Enterprise Accelerator grant!

In this episode, I sit down with Millicent Pitts, the Executive Director of Ocean Exchange, to explore how they’re funding and supporting game-changing innovations in the blue economy.

From cleaning up agricultural runoff to creating bio-based chemicals from coral reefs, these solutions are already making a difference. Over the past 13 years of giving non-dilutive grants to start-ups, the finalists in their process have raised $3.1 billion, mostly in seed and venture capital rounds.  

Millicent shares the challenges these innovators face, why investors are finally paying attention, and how we can all play a role in supporting ocean health.

Highlights

• How Ocean Exchange helps fund and accelerate ocean-focused startups.
• The growing blue economy and why it matters.
• Innovations tackling biodiversity loss, pollution, and carbon sequestration.

 What YOU Can Do

Even if you’re not an investor or scientist, there are ways to support these innovations and ocean health:

• Stay Informed – Follow and share updates from organizations like Ocean Exchange.
• Support Sustainable Businesses – Look for companies investing in ocean-friendly practices.
• Advocate for Stronger Policies – Support initiatives that regulate ocean pollution and promote clean energy.
• Reduce Your Own Impact – Minimize single-use plastics, choose sustainable seafood, and reduce carbon emissions.
• Get Involved Locally – Participate in beach cleanups or citizen science projects related to marine conservation.

 Resources

• Ocean Exchange 
• Water Warriors
• Cordelia Biosciences
• Ocean Rescue Alliance
• Silent Returns
• Minesto
• EcoSubSea

 If today’s conversation sparked your curiosity, there’s no better place to dive deeper into topics like this than at EarthX, the world’s largest environmental gathering. Tickets for their event in April are on sale now at earthx.org. Be sure to grab yours and join the global community working toward a healthier, more sustainable planet.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

This is another episode of the Forces for Nature, EarthX Conference series!

What if nature itself could help clean up our most toxic messes? That’s the promise of bioremediation, a groundbreaking process that uses living organisms—like microbes, plants, and fungi—to restore polluted environments. In this episode, we’re joined by two guests who are leading the charge in this field: Cheyne Robertson, founder of Ergofito Bio, whose expertise lies in leveraging microbial solutions to heal ecosystems, and Rudy Montes, founder of Phoenix Harvest, a U.S. Army veteran turned environmental innovator working to transform toxic sites into thriving, sustainable landscapes. Together, we explore the science, challenges, and hope behind bioremediation, and the ways it could reshape our approach to environmental restoration.

Highlights

• What is Bioremediation?
• What role do microbes play in bioremediation?
• What are some real-life examples of Bioremediation in action?

What YOU Can Do

• Superfund cleanups often rely on federal funding through the EPA. Contact your representatives and advocate for increased funding and stricter enforcement of environmental regulations.
• Support legislation that holds polluters accountable for the costs of cleanup, ensuring the burden doesn’t fall solely on taxpayers.
• Learn about Superfund sites in your area using the EPA’s Superfund Site Locator Tool.

Resources

• Ergofito Bio 
• Phoenix Harvest 
• Get your tickets to EarthX
• Keep an eye out for Richard Harmer’s EarthX ProPlanet Podcast—coming soon!

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?