Green Root Podcast

GOVERNMENT TIMBER THEFT? (with Jeff Ruch, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)

On episode 116 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Jeff Ruch, Senior Counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, exposes decades of evidence pointing towards collusion between the U.S. Forest Service and the logging industry in stealing—yes, stealing—trees from public lands.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jeff about:

-Government estimates of $10 million to $100 million in annual timber theft from public lands;

-U.S. Forest Service’s formation of the Timber Theft Task Force in 1991;

-Forest Service’s disbanding of the Task Force once its own agency staff were implicated as “co-conspirators” in helping Weyerhaeuser get away with stealing millions of dollars of logs from National Forests;

-How the Forest Service’s expanding “wildfire” logging schemes make timber theft even more difficult to uncover;

-Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility’s current work with agency whistleblowers to hold the Bureau of Land Management accountable for overgrazing public lands.

IS SCIENCE ENOUGH?

Green Root Podcast #115: IS SCIENCE ENOUGH?

On episode 115 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg points out how, despite having the consensus of peer-reviewed science on our side, environmental advocates are still losing out to pro-extraction industry, government, media, and NGO disinformation, and what we can do to reclaim the narrative.

Josh talks about how:

-Even with consensus science behind enviros, the eco-crisis keeps getting worse;

-Industry, government agencies, a lot of media, and even some NGOs weaponize an anti-science, anti-environmental STORY to misinform and mislead much of the public;

-Eco advocates can turn things around by coming up with a better STORY based in sound science (unlike our opponents);

-We might recruit more “big names” with high social STATUS to take up the cause (SCIENCE + STORY + STATUS).

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

GOV’T LAND MANAGER SHARES AGENCY SECRETS

Green Root Podcast #114: GOV’T LAND MANAGER SHARES AGENCY SECRETS (with Lyle Lewis, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

On episode 114 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Lyle Lewis, writer and former Endangered Species Branch Chief with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, speaks up for genuine ecological conservation while revealing the best ways for advocates to pressure government land management agencies.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Lyle about:

-How extraction of nutrients and water from the land is the opposite of environmental protection;

-Whether the weak (often pro-extraction) efforts of so many “conservation” groups have made the term obsolete;

-Why humans have such difficulty letting nature live;

-An evolutionary view of the Sixth Mass Extinction;

-Lyle’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

BEETLEMANIA!

On episode 113 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg asks for your help to fend off the latest wave of “beetlemania”: industry and government pushing the myth—debunked by consensus science—that the (native) mountain pine beetle causes wildfire, so as to unleash more public lands logging than we’ve seen in our lives.

Josh talks about how:

-The State of Colorado, U.S. Forest Service, and others in the “Clearcut Cult” are spreading disinformation about the latest natural wave of native mountain pine beetle so they can ramp up public lands logging;

-The consensus science not only DISPROVES an increased risk of wildfire ignition and/or severity from mountain pine beetles but a DECREASE;

-Colorado’s “Ponderosa Mountain Pine Beetle Task Force” is a who’s who of who’s logging public lands;

-The elimination of environmental protection, sound science, and participatory democracy is worsening in Colorado and across the West, with the help of a mostly complicit media;

-You can help turn the tide by contacting Colorado Governor Jared Polis at (303) 866-2471 or Governorpolis@state.co.us to demand that either he appoint independent scientists and ecosystem advocates to the “Pine Beetle Task Force” or disband it completely.

Can FORESTS Save the CLIMATE? (with Paul Koberstein, Author of CANOPY OF TITANS)

On episode 112 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Paul Koberstein, editor of Cascadia Times and author of CANOPY OF TITANS, proposes the single most important action we can take to ward off the worst impacts of the climate crisis: protecting and preserving forests.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Paul about:

-The ecological importance of the amazing temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.

-Why so much environmental reporting in media is absent, biased in favor of industry/government, or straight up disinformation.

-Why anyone who loves and wants to protect the natural world should read his book, CANOPY OF TITANS.

-Paul’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

They Won't LISTEN Unless You Do THIS

On episode 111 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), a raven (Corvus corax) sits in for host Josh Schlossberg to share some insights about why elected officials ignore ecosystem and wildlife protection, and how to get them to start listening again.  

The raven caws about:

-The recent historic event that convinced politicians to stop taking risks.

-How well-meaning advocates often go wrong in their communications with government.

-The only actions proven to get elected officials to pay attention.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

WATER, FORESTS, AND WILDFIRE (with Chris Searles, BioIntegrity.net)

On episode 110 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Chris Searles, ecologist with BioIntegrity.net, shares his results from over a hundred field-tested projects rehydrating forest ecosystems so as to alleviate drought and reduce wildfires.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Chris about:

-How trees store and release moisture—evapotranspiration—to create rain.

-How so-called “wildfire fuel reduction” logging counterproductively dries out and heats up forests.

-Chris’ field-tested claims of replenishing water in forests to create localized precipitation (!)

-Forest protection as one of the most important issues of our time.

-Chris’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

Is Conservation DEAD?

On episode 109 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg questions whether it’s finally time to declare the failed, mainstream “conservation movement” officially dead, while wondering what new, inspiring vision might rise from its ashes.

Josh talks about:

-How middle-of-the-road “conservation” might no longer be a relevant concept this late in our ecological unraveling.

-How mainstream “Big Green” organizations watered down environmental protection to the point of ineffectiveness.

-How federal, state, and local governments fund NGOs pretending to be conservation groups only to promote industrial extraction.

-How it might be time for ecosystem and wildlife advocates to take a fresh angle on protecting and preserving nature.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

Democrats Greenwashing Trump’s Assault on Public Land?

On episode 108 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg tries to figure out why so many supposedly pro-environment Democrats not only refuse to fight Trump’s onslaught on public lands but ACTIVELY PROMOTE the unprecedented extraction.

Josh talks about:

-The danger of Democrats greenwashing some of the most disastrous anti-environmental policies we’ve ever seen.

-How Biden-era legislation opened the door for Trump to expand a fake “emergency” across 112 million acres—59 percent of National Forests—to fast-track Wildfire Pretense Logging and roll back the Roadless Rule.

-How Democrat members of Congress are pushing the Orwellian “Fix Our Forests” Act and other extreme nature-destruction bills.

-How a handful of corporate foundation-funded “conservation” groups are trying to commandeer more tax dollars for Democrat-backed industrial extraction on public lands.

-Whether the Democratic party can be reformed or if a third party is needed for our government to ever genuinely protect and preserve the natural world.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.

DO COWS BELONG ON PUBLIC LAND? (with Dagny Signorelli, Western Watersheds Project)

On episode 107 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Dagny Signorelli, Wyoming/Northern Utah Director with Western Watersheds Project, exposes the severe and worsening ecological, wildlife, and watershed impacts from ranchers grazing livestock on public lands across the West.

Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Dagny about:

-How supposedly protected public lands—including wilderness areas—run rampant with destructive domestic livestock (cattle and sheep).

-How ranchers only pay a monthly fee of $1.35 per cow and calf to graze on National Forests and BLM lands.

-How government “Wildlife Services” kills hundreds of thousands of wolves, coyotes, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, skunks, and other native wildlife every year at the behest of ranchers.

-How public lands grazing and feedlots spread disease.

-How less than 1.6% of U.S. beef consumption comes from public lands.

-Dagny’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.

The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.