Saving Species, Empowering Communities: A Conservation Journey with Lynn Mento
In a special episode of Health Gig, Doro and Tricia dive deep into the intersection of health and environmental conservation with Lynn Mento, CEO of Conservation Nation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving wildlife, their habitats, and our planet by cultivating and building a more diverse and inclusive community of conservationists. Lynn shares valuable insights into the importance of preserving biodiversity and adopting sustainable lifestyles.
Together, they explore the profound impact of conservation efforts on public health, from mitigating climate change to safeguarding natural resources. Through enlightening discussions and personal anecdotes, Lynn inspires listeners to become stewards of the planet. Don't miss this enlightening conversation on how we can protect both our health and our planet for generations to come.
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Website: http://conservationnation.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BeConservation
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conservationnation
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Quotes:
“Over 40 species have been saved from extinction because of conservation efforts recently over the last three years. It is possible.” - Lynn Mento
“By some accounts, about 80% of all wildlife is already lost in this world. And as climate change exacerbates, we will be seeing more and more wildlife loss.” - Lynn Mento
“Back in the early 20th century, the Yellowstone ecosystem started to disintegrate when wolves were not there. The wolves created that ecosystem.” - Lynn Mento
Show Notes:
LYNN MENTO: It's a great program. Doro so what we created at Conservation Nation was an opportunity for an individual, a family, a group of friends to come together with us and with conservation nation and co-create and then own a project with Conservation Nation that sits at this intersection of saving the planet and creating a more equitable world, and taps into a particular passion of theirs so that they and their family can have really a direct, meaningful, utterly unique experience in leaving a legacy of helping to save a species and help uplift a voice. So we started this about two years ago. It's hard to believe, isn't it, ladies? But two years ago and we have two underway. One is focused on, we call it people on pachyderms, and it's dedicated to helping save elephants and rhinos. In East Africa and uplifting the voices of Masai and Samburu people, particularly women, who need an equitable boost to get into conservation. And we're doing incredible work. So we've supported several groundbreaking direct on the field conservation workers who were working to save elephants and rhinos, and some lovely education programs that are also focused on bringing girls into the field of conservation. Gosh, we've talked combined to about 2000 Maasai and Samburu children through the wildlife clubs that we created with the collective.
LYNN MENTO: So it's been amazing. And then the other collective, it's a wolf magic collective. So the other collective is it is we call that the rewilding collective, and that's focused on rewilding our children and then saving the rewilding wolves of the American West for the rewilding our children. It's really focused on that first barrier of getting kids who don't have equitable access to nature out into nature. And so working with several lovely organizations with their children, getting them on field trips, local field trips, and then out west and out to Yellowstone, give them an opportunity to sit directly with Taylor and see the wolves and talk about the biodiversity and the bioacoustic work that she's up to, and then focused on layering in mindfulness for these children. So one of the things we know, particularly for children who come from a background of trauma or communities that are struggling, they do not have this access to nature. And because they don't, they're not getting those psychological benefits that children get from being in nature. There are many studies that show that when children are in nature, their anxiety goes down, their confidence goes up, their ability to concentrate goes up, their sense of confidence and independence rises.
LYNN MENTO: All of these things we want in our children, and they get that naturally and organically from being outdoors. And so we know there's value in getting kids outdoors, and then we know that there is some magic. When you combine mindfulness with being in nature, and these children have the ability to not only get these physical, physiological, psychological benefits of being in nature, but also get mindfulness training on top of it. Learning to breathe, learning to tap into their deeper roots and understand. Trisha, as you've said, we are nature and what an insightful and powerful thing for them to believe. So helping them reach that with being in nature and mindfulness and then helping to save the wolves of Yellowstone and Trisha, you're so close to this. We're funding a bioacoustic study, which is quite cool, and it is about hearing, listening to the wolves, hearing the wolves, and then using that knowledge, what we are hearing and running that through AI and then understanding everything from how many wolves there really are. So as you said at the start, Trisha, it's limiting the cap on how many wolves can be killed, but also starting to understand what they mean, what they're saying, how they're communicating.
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