Hosted by Doug Gilbert (ecologist) and Mike Meldon (educator) of Love Our Land, and brought to you by Gina Dubell-Smith's eXp Designed2Sell Team, The Learning to Love Our Land Podcast encourages listeners to embark on a journey to reimagine the landscape around them, including in their own neighborhoods and yards. The science is clear, our planet is in the midst of a ‘biodiversity crisis’ that has and will continue to reshape the ecosystems we rely on to support our communities. Our ecosystems are sick and unable to sustain the life they did prior to the vast transformation of land, water, and air at the hands of globalized humanity. Between 1970 and 2018 we lost approximately 69 percent of our global wildlife (World Wildlife Fund 2022). In North America, there are 3 billion, or approximately 30 percent, fewer birds than there were in 1970 (Rosenberg et al. 2019). The drivers behind these losses are numerous, but one leading cause emerges: habitat loss & degradation. As habitat disappears or is degraded, biodiversity is lost. Current land conservation is not keeping pace with growing threats to our lands, waters, wildlife and ways of life. Every 30 seconds, the United States loses a football field of natural lands to roads, houses, energy infrastructure, and other development. Forty acres of farmland in the United States are lost to development every hour.

 

But all hope is not lost. Scientists and conservation professionals have identified ways to reverse this troubling decline of life. What may be hard to believe is YOU have a role to play in reversing the free falling trajectory wildlife, plants, fungi, and more are on. This quote from ecologist Douglas Tallamy sums up “why” you’re such an important element of this life-saving mission:

 

“There simply are not enough untrammeled places left to sustain the natural world that until now has sustained us. […] Our only option, then, is to find ways to coexist with other species. That’s right, we must construct ecosystems that contain all their functional parts right where humans abound.”     

– Douglas Tallamy, The Nature of Oaks

Join Doug and Mike as they introduce key concepts regarding community conservation and learn how to transform your yard and neighborhood into a haven for biodiversity.  

​

​