The Sustainable Jungle Podcast is a mission driven show, focusing on solutions for the world’s sustainability challenges. Host, Joy McConnochie talks with some of the most interesting and inspiring consumer brands who are innovating and leading their respective industries.
Episodes
Thursday Oct 11, 2018
Thursday Oct 11, 2018
Luis Ricardo Murillo-Hiller is a Costa Rican entomologist working at the University of Costa Rica. He has been passionate about butterflies his entire life and believes protecting them will help us save the few remaining forests we have. Ricardo founded the Live Butterfly Exhibition together with his professor in 2010 as a way of educating school children about diversity, natural history, sustainable development and butterflies! He, together with his team, also conduct research on genetics, diseases, natural history and they help support breeders who export butterflies for exhibitions globally.
The team at Oropopo Experience introduced us to Ricardo and we visited him in his live butterfly exhibition on the university campus. It was, as you would expect, a little noisy, being in the middle of the big city, San José, but in our little pocket of paradise, we were surrounded by the most beautiful butterflies and jungle sounds - the perfect backdrop to cover some butterfly related topics including why they're so important to protect and how we can all do something to help by planting the right flora in our backyards!
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Tuesday Sep 18, 2018
Tuesday Sep 18, 2018
Fabian was born and bred in Southern Africa. He grew up on a farm in the Kalahari and has always been fascinated by nature and our impact on it as humans, especially when it comes to agriculture. He has studied extensively, covering Botany, Environmental and Geographical Science, Zoology, Agroecology and Permaculture. He now dedicates himself to educating others about the “thrive-ability” permaculture design principles can offer and has some pretty incredible impact stories from working with rural communities in Namibia.
We hung out with Fabian at his farmhouse outside of Windhoek Namibia and along with marvelling over his incredibly sustainable off-grid lifestyle (think solar panels, parabolic stove, solar oven, french drains and veggie garden - in the DESERT!), we got to chatting about about permaculture and how this design system can help with a whole raft of human problems
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Watch the video here
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Tuesday Aug 28, 2018
Tuesday Aug 28, 2018
Listeners, thank you for your support and feedback over the last 25 episodes! We're entering new era and based on your feedback, slightly adjusting our release schedule and podcast length.
Let us know if this new approach works better!
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Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
Tuesday Aug 21, 2018
Sara and Daniel are nature-loving, eco-warriors and experts on sustainable travel. They are are the founders of Peru Eco Expeditions, a Sustainable, Ecotourism company based in Cusco, Peru that specialises in luxury, customised and sustainable expeditions. They have both enjoyed long careers in tourism in both Peru and the United States and are visionaries when it comes to the tourism industry in Peru. They want to see epic things happen to create a viable and sustainable industry well into the future.
We got to know Sara and Daniel on two of Peru Eco Expedition’s epic bike and trek experiences and boy, was it good fun! We then sat down in the Amazon Cloud forest next to a gorgeous waterfall at the end of almost a week together and captured the essence of what we spent most of our trip time talking about: the importance of connecting to nature, tourism as a double-edged sword, how to be a sustainable tourist, why the Peruvian Amazon Cloud Forest is such an important and special place and what you can do to make the world a better place.
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Tuesday Aug 14, 2018
Tuesday Aug 14, 2018
“Award-winning wildlife expert, author and public speaker, Gareth Patterson, is known internationally for his efforts to protect the lions and elephants of Africa. His wildlife work has featured widely in the media, books and in documentaries.” Gareth has written extensively about his experience rewilding George Adamson’s last lion cubs and subsequently written about his discovery of a viable population of elephants in the Knysna Forest. He continues to work to raise awareness and build passion for the wild with his recent children's’ book “Born to be Free”, his upcoming project “Beyond the Secret Elephants” and his ongoing efforts to reignite African Environmentalism through Sekai Africa.
We visited Gareth Patterson in his cottage on the edge of the beautiful Knysna Forest in South Africa and together with his beautiful bush dog, Tuli (you can hear her grunting and sniffling throughout), covered how Gareth became well-renowned lion man, working with George Adamson's lions, truly incredible stories about rewilding lion cubs, the remarkable story of the secret Knysna elephants in South Africa, Gareth's upcoming project, his new children's book, 'Born to be Free' and his vision for African Environmentalism.
*This Episode is dedicated to Gareth’s very special bush dog Tuli who sadly passed away shortly after this episode was recorded. You will be able to hear her joining in throughout this episode, making her presence known*
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Monday Aug 06, 2018
Monday Aug 06, 2018
“An award-winning television presenter and filmmaker, Bonné de Bod, is well-known for her in-depth reporting on wildlife and environmental issues. For nearly a decade, Bonné has presented in both Afrikaans and English on South African television. Awards include the prestigious SANParks Kudu Award for Best Journalist in 2015 and an ATKV-Mediaveertjie in 2016. Her Kudu award stated that she received the nod due to her “passionate, balanced reporting on wildlife conservation issues as well as keeping the public updated and informed about environmental issues in South Africa.” For the last 4 years, Bonné, together with her co-filmmaker Susan Scott, has been working on a film about the rhino horn war and the devastating impacts on our beloved real-world unicorns. The film is called STROOP: Journey into the Rhino Horn War and is due to be released in San Francisco on 9 September 2018!
We met up with Bonné in the Walter Sisulu Gardens in Johannesburg where the 3 of us pretended we were in the wild bush of the Kruger National Park and covered Bonné's career path to telling stories about the wild, the rhino horn problem and some of the amazing work being done to fight the rhino horn war including her upcoming film, 'STROOP: Journey into the Rhino Horn War'.
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Tuesday Jul 31, 2018
Tuesday Jul 31, 2018
Dipesh is quite the eco-leader and one of the founders of the Flipflopi Expedition, a remarkable plan to build a 60ft dhow out of recycled plastic and sail it from Lamu, Kenya to Cape Town South Africa ('just' 5,250km!). More on Dipesh: "Having lived on the Kenyan Coast for seven years, Dipesh became addicted to trash. He was obsessed with what else one could do with all the flip-flops and discarded bottles that he picked off the beach. For a few years, he had a lot of fun building giant size sculptures (have a look at Mfalme the Whale) from thousands of flip-flops as well as houses, water tanks and other structures from plastic bottles. Alas, his children, he was told, could not spend their lives picking trash, and school fees had to be raised, so he and his family left the coast and moved up country where he currently runs an outdoor adventure company near Mt Kenya where it's far too cold to wear flipflops."
We visited Dipesh in Nairobi, Kenya and shortly after, visited dhow maker Ali in Lamu where we got to see the "small" plastic pilot dhow for ourselves! In this wide-ranging discussion with Dipesh, we cover Dipesh's varied but mission-driven career path, the Flipflopi Expedition's key messages and the power of individual choice in changing the world.
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Monday Jul 23, 2018
Monday Jul 23, 2018
Erin Meezan is the VP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Interface Inc, a publicly listed company in the USA that manufactures carpet tiles and has earned a reputation as a leader in sustainability. Erin came from an environmental law background and has always been exceptionally passionate about making a difference. Today she "leads a global team that provides technical assistance and support to the company’s global business, addressing sustainability at all levels – from operations and management, to employees and customers, and in policy forums". Erin is the definition of a changemaker and a leader.
We were fortunate to chat to Erin in early 2018 and were so inspired by Erin's path and the work that she and her team are doing at Interface. We covered Erin's career evolution, why Interface is an incredible example of sustainability leadership, how they're tracking against their aggressive sustainability goals and some advice for how to do the same in your workplace or business
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Monday Jul 16, 2018
Monday Jul 16, 2018
Aarón Bendfeldt is a young social entrepreneur based in Guatemala City. After visiting Norway and learning about effective waste management (amongst many other things), he co-founded Grønn, a social enterprise that "generates social, environmental and economical impact through its operation in Guatemala. [They] are creating Guatemala's first glass recycling platform for restaurants and upcycling glass bottles to manufacture handmade glassware and home décor items while providing economic opportunity to vulnerable women living in the most dangerous slums in Guatemala City".
We visited Aarón at the Grønn factory in Guatemala City. The factory is based in a vibrant area so there was all sorts of interesting and fun background noises, including a band that was practising for the Independence Day Festival! It was a fun backdrop for an inspiring, uplifting interview which covered the vaue of social entrepreneurship, turning waste into minimalist beauties, changing the lives of single moms from the most dangerous parts of Guatemala, Guatemalan Gangs and making a difference. Be inspired and enjoy!
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Monday Jul 09, 2018
Monday Jul 09, 2018
Danelle Murray, together with her husband Brendan, her two kids and her team, runs the Owl Rescue Centre and Sanctuary in Hartbeespoort, South Africa. "The Centre takes in hundreds of owls every year through their rescue efforts. The owls are rehabilitated and when they can survive on their own in the wild, are released in The Sanctuary - a farm which is located within a twelve thousand hectare protected conservancy." Danelle and Brendan are also working hard on a number of other projects including a plastic recycling program and a master plan to save the world with a giant ship. These guys are practical, hard-working legends that are out there making it happen.
We visited the Owl Rescue Centre in Hartbeespoort, about 1 hour outside of Johannesburg. Danelle very kindly showed us around, introduced us to some feathery and rather vocal owls and chatted to us about saving + rehabilitating owls, the Owl Rescue Centre's very own plastic processing plant, Danelle's book about their lives in Africa and buying a ship to haul plastic out of the sea!
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