A few months ago in the news, you may have heard or seen articles about open net fish farms being removed from BC waters, and thought, “Wow!  That’s great!”...and then not done or heard much since then.  As you may or may not be aware, fish farms are one of the biggest threats to our at risk and endangered populations of wild Pacific Salmon that travel all over the ocean from down south in Oregon up through BC and into Alaska, and the fight to get these farms fully removed from BC waters is still ongoing, despite what you may have heard (or not heard) in the news.   I sat down with Kilian Stehfast who is a marine conservation specialist at David Suzuki Foundation to chat all about these fish farms, their history, how they came to be, the threats they pose to wild salmon and why that matters, and what the future of aquaculture looks like here in BC.  It’s a great episode and you’re gonna learn a lot not only about this industry, but what you can do to get involved to help ensure the survival of those awesome anadromous fish that tie us and these ecosystems we all reside in together.   David Suzuki Foundation - Fish Farms More on Indigenous Clam Gardens Background on Fish Farming & Aquaculture Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Kilian decided to send his donation to Clayoquot Action! Learn more about the advocacy they do at www.ClayoquotAction.org Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you.  If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! Got Questions?  Want Stickers?  Want community?  Wanna engage?  Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy! You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support

Have you ever seen those slick little certification logos on a product that claims it comes from sustainable forestry practices?  Unfortunately, those certifications aren’t those most ethical, accurate, and in some cases are just downright bogus, and may not truly reflect the logging practices used to obtain that wood. Peter Wood is a campaigner for Canopy Planet, as well as an adjunct professor at the UBC Faculty of Forestry and a consultant for organizations such as Ecojustice.  With greenwashing being so prevalent these days, our forest products are no different, so I sat down with Peter to chat all about the nuances of these false certifications, how they came to be, current legal challenges, and what you can do to help create a better marketplace for ethically sourced wood products. Links & Resources from this episode: EcoJustice legal challenges: Against the Canadian Standards Association (e.g. certified Teal Jones and Fairy Creek tenure) (July 2021): Against the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (e.g. certified a large proportion of Canadian forestry, including all BC Timber Sales) (November 2022) This letter was sent by Canada’s consulate to New York State Senators in response to their proposed Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The letter argues that "widespread use of third-party forest management certification...provides added assurance that a forest company is operating legally, sustainably and in compliance with world-recognized standards for sustainable forest management”.  In the end, these lobbying efforts were successful in making sure that this law did not apply to Canada, as detailed in this CBC piece. Canopy Planet forest mapper tool KPMG Article TJ Watts before & after photos from certified ‘sustainable’ old growth clearcuts Regime changes & logging affecting Salmonid survival study OSO Landslide in 2014* logging influence Unbuilders Competition Bureau - 1-800-348-5358 - @CompBureau EU Anit-Greenwashing Protect Old Growth in BC  Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters - this episode’s donation goes to The Awi’Nakola Foundation! Learn more at https://www.awinakola.com/ Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you.  If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature Got Questions?  Want Stickers?  Want community?  Wanna engage?  Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy! You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support

Charlotte Dawe is a campaigner with the Wilderness Committee who works on various issues regarding policy around biodiversity, at-risk & endangered species, old growth logging, glyphosate spraying, and many more.  Her and I caught up to debrief on COP15, the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity in Montreal, to hear all about the good, the bad and all the goss of this global shindig, and what it all means for BC, Canada and the world.  We talk all about hurdles to protecting biodiversity, shotty old outdated legislation that stands in the way, crazy loopholes, big corporate interests lobbying for their own needs, policy failures and successes, glyphosate spraying and much much more. Learn more about the Wilderness Committee at WildernessCommittee.org or @Wildernews Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters - this episode’s donation goes to Indigenous Climate Action! Learn more at IndigenousClimateAction.com Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you.  If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature  Got Questions?  Want Stickers?  Want community?  Wanna engage?  Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy! You can also get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support

A founding member of Indigenous Women Outdoors and coach with ILSA, Sandy Ward is an avid snowboarder, mountain biker and climber from the Lil'wat nation working to carve out a path for more Indigenous folks to get into the outdoors in a safe, welcoming space, and to see their ancestral lands from new a perspective through sport.  Her and I sat down to talk about her journey in the outdoor sports world as a coach, athlete and mentor, how mindsets have shifted towards these recreational activities both within and outside of Indigenous communities, and other issues regarding working with Indigenous nations when it comes to building bike trails, skateparks and more. Sandy is a really inspiring, awesome human, and you're gonna love to hear what she has to say!   For more on the work she's doing, you can check out:  Indigenous Women Outdoors: https://www.indigenouswomenoutdoors.ca/  Indigenous Life Sport Academy: https://www.lifesportcanada.org/ Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you! If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, please don’t hesitate to support their production at my Patreon page for 1$ a month or more! - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature You can also get NAN merch, stickers, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support

Chelsea Greer is the Wolf Conservation Program Director at Raincoast Conservation, and we sat down one Autumn morning in the woods to chat all about wolves!  In this conversation, we delve into the concept of conservation ethics, different monitoring approaches, population dynamics, and their relationship with endangered mountain Caribou, as well as the history of wolves in Western Culture and how outdated misconceptions has lead to controversial Wolf culls throughout BC and beyond. The takeaway - the big bad wolf you were taught to fear growing up was a flat-out lie.  They're actually a lot nicer, kinder and cooler than how they're commonly portrayed, and their future may depend on us learning how to see them differently. More on Raincoast Conservation's Wolf Program: https://www.raincoast.org/wolf-science/ Learn More about the Trophy Hunt: https://www.raincoast.org/trophy-hunt/ Instagram: @raincoastconservation Twitter: @raincoast @chelgreer Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you!  If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, please don’t hesitate to support their production at my Patreon page for as little as 1$ per month!  - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature You can also get NAN merch, stickers, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support