Green Root Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Join environmental writer, investigative journalist, and recovering activist Josh Schlossberg on a quest to uncover the roots of the modern ecological crisis on the Green Root Podcast.
On episode 135 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Carol Rhodes, founder of Artists for Climate Awareness and Fran Kremer, co-founder of Uniting Artists and Scientists for Climate Action, reveal how art can be a form of environmental activism.
On episode 134 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), a woodland owl offers some insight into the four biggest obstacles to effective grassroots environmental advocacy and how to overcome them.
The owl hoots about:
-Distraction - electronics, entertainment, and human-centric causes;
-Laziness - our natural habit to save energy by avoiding difficult tasks;
-Fear - exaggerated or unfounded worries about negative feedback or blowback;
-Infighting - our species’ difficulty getting along with each other;
-How advocates might acknowledge and overcome these obstacles to start reversing the eco-crisis.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support. Email eia@eco-integrityalliance.org to get plugged into your state today!
On episode 133 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), concerned citizen Mike Rawluk questions a Colorado government/corporate scheme to poison a watershed and drinking water source inside designated wilderness with a fish-killing pesticide.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Mike about:
-How Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Denver Water plan to use the pesticide/piscicide rotenone to extirpate an “invasive” trout subspecies native to Colorado from McQueary Creek and Lake in the Vaquez Peak Wilderness;
-The Environmental Protection Agency’s 2006 ban on rotenone for agricultural and household due to potential health risks;
-Recent legal victories in Montana to stop spraying rotenone in watersheds as a violation of the Wilderness Act;
-Whether poisoning entire waterways to remove certain fish species—including in Rocky Mountain National Park—does more harm than good;
-Mike’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
On episode 132 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg shares Eco-Integrity Alliance’s brand new “Ponderosa Pine Model,” a winning model for grassroots environmental organizing.
Read about the model here: https://eco-integrityalliance.org/ponderosa/
Josh talks about:
-The lack of structure in a lot of well-meaning grassroots environmental campaigns;
-Movement successes and failures that birthed the Ponderosa Pine Model;
-The various roles, minimal time commitments, and specific tasks that let organizers, advocates, and volunteers plug in to take effective action without burn out;
-How grassroots organizers might use the Ponderosa Pine Model to win grassroots campaigns and start reversing the eco-crisis!
On episode 131 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Melissa Soderston, president of Tahoe Forest Matters, exposes California “land management” agencies’ scheme to log, burn, and poison public lands surrounding Lake Tahoe.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Melissa about:
-How the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies spray toxic herbicides after destroying forest ecosystems with ineffective “wildfire fuel reduction” logging;
-How glyphosate/Roundup threatens the waters of California’s iconic Lake Tahoe;
-How the region’s forests are growing back beautifully after the so-called “devastating” Caldor fire of 2021;
-The myth that California’s public lands are “unmanaged” as they are subjected to some of the largest, most destructive logging schemes in the U.S.;
- Melissa’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
On episode 130 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg asks the controversial question: Will more recreationists (Nature Users) join with wildland and wildlife protectors (Nature Lovers) or keep teaming up with resource extractors (Nature Abusers)?
Josh talks about:
-The difference between being a Nature Lover, User, and Abuser;
-How important it is for those of us who take from nature—recreationists—to give back;
-Why such a small proportion of recreationists support and/or are engaged in genuine conservation;
-How recreationists are running cover for resource extraction, such as Colorado’s Clearcut Initiative 308 (coloradosmokescreen.org/clearcut-initiative), which would fund industrial logging in endangered species habitat, old-growth forest, and protected Roadless Areas;
-How Nature Lovers might bring more Nature Users over to our side.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 129 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), forest defender and artist, Holly English (Hollyenglish.com), fills us in on the state of Australia’s native hardwood forests along with past and ongoing campaigns to protect these ecosystems from industry, government, and NGO degradation and destruction.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Holly about:
-Her past involvement in nonviolent direct-action forest defense campaigns;
-Australians’ awareness of and politics around environmental issues;
-How wildfire is exploited as an excuse by industry, government, and some NGOs to log forests;
-The connection of indigenous Australians to these iconic landscapes;
-Holly’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.
On episode 128 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg asks whether a new ballot initiative to expand taxpayer funded logging on public lands—“Clearcut” Initiative 308—might be violating the Colorado State Constitution.
Josh talks about:
-Clearcut Initiative 308, which would fund clearcutting and industrial logging in endangered species habitat, old-growth forest, and protected Roadless Areas;
-How it’s being sold to the public under the guise of recreation and “conservation”;
-How the measure is funded by Trump-aligned NGOs that take tax dollars to promote and/or carry out public lands logging;
-How its language makes outright false claims—that logging can somehow “prevent wildfires”—that not even the U.S. Forest Service defends;
-How Clearcut Initiative 308 may violate the Colorado State Constitution’s “Single Issue Rule” by lumping three topics—recreation, conservation, and logging—under one measure.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 127 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Delia Malone, president of ColoradoWild, pulls the curtain back on how Colorado government and certain NGOs promote some conservation efforts while also decimating the state’s iconic wildlife and wildlands at the behest of well-funded special interests.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Delia about:
-The successes and challenges of Colorado’s wolf reintroduction;
-The stranglehold the state legislature’s Agriculture, Water, and Natural Resource Committee has on conservation policy;
-How Colorado Parks and Wildlife is stacked with hunting and trapping interests;
-How Delia was banned (!) by the Sierra Club for her powerful advocacy for wolves;
-Delia’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
On episode 126 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg talks about—and not-so-subtly coerces you to read—his latest semi-controversial essay for Eco-Integrity Alliance’s Substack entitled, “The Environmental Activist’s Paradox: Unite or Divide?”
Josh talks about:
-How good Organizing seeks to Unite while strong Advocacy looks to Divide;
-How both roles are crucial—each with benefits and risks—yet seemingly contradictory;
-A specific example of Uniting coming into conflict with Dividing;
-Whether enviros have focused too much on feel-good Uniting at the expense of necessary Dividing;
-How to better integrate both Uniting Organizing and Dividing Advocacy into the grassroots environmental movement.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 125 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, writer at “Speaking for the Trees, No Matter Where They’re From,” guides us through the wild enchanted forests of J.R.R. Tolkien’s (Lord of the Rings) Middle-Earth.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Kollibri about:
-Kollibri’s five-part essay series on Substack, “Tolkien & Trees”;
-The factual and fictional forest ecology of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion;
-The ongoing relevance of Tolkien’s work for taking action against environmental destruction;
-Ents!!!
- Kollibri’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
On episode 124 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg shares Eco-Integrity Alliance’s long-term global vision for public lands.
Josh talks about:
-How public lands are the last best ecosystems in the U.S. with both the legal and cultural frameworks for genuine protection;
-How we can no longer afford to sell off nor “sell out” public lands to corporate extraction;
-How only 4 percent of U.S. “timber” and 2 percent of beef come from public lands anyway;
-The importance of establishing public lands as Biodiversity, Watershed, and Climate Refugia (BWCR) and the new petition to get out the word https://www.change.org/p/protect-u-s-public-lands-as-biodiversity-watershed-climate-refugia
-How BWCR fits into the Global Biodiversity Framework and Half-Earth vision.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 123 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Julie Brams, psychotherapist and author of THE NATURE EMBEDDED MIND, lays out some paths for humanity to reconnect with nature to save the planet and ourselves.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Julie about:
-How separation from nature harms mental health;
-What it means to be an Earth-centered psychologist;
-Examples of nature-based therapy;
-The inspiration behind the book, THE NATURE EMBEDDED MIND;
-Julie’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
Green Root Podcast 122: JUDGE’S RULING: DID PRO-LOGGING POLITICIAN VIOLATE “OPEN RECORDS” LAW?
On episode 122 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg announces a District Court judge’s final ruling on his lawsuit against Jefferson County, Colorado Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper for allegedly deleting emails about public lands logging in violation of the Colorado Open Records Act.
Josh talks about:
-How Jefferson County perpetrates some of the most aggressive Wildfire Pretense Logging in Colorado while ignoring peer-reviewed science and public opinion;
-Evidence proving Dahlkemper has deleted emails related to logging;
-An email from a fire chief to Dahlkemper with “information you’d asked about” revealing one of Eco-Integrity Alliance’s funders;
-An email from a media editor claiming Dahlkemper had been making (defamatory) attacks against Josh;
-The Jefferson County District Court’s ruling on the lawsuit.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 121 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Joshua Wright, Program Director of the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition, urges immediate public action to stop the “Landless” legislation that would privatize 115K acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, including 80K acres of old growth forests with trees up to 1,000 years old.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Joshua about:
-The awe-inspiring wonders of Alaska’s temperate rainforest;
-The danger of the “Landless” legislation that would privatize ancient forests on public lands;
-The Land Less film (wlfdc.org/land-less-film) featuring Joshua and Tlingit matriarch Wanda Culp;
-The importance of contacting Congress at (202) 224-3121 to urge them to oppose Senate Bill S. 2554 / House Bill HR. 41;
-Joshua’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.
On episode 120 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Jeff Gibbs, director of Planet of the Humans and producer and composer for Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11, teaches environmental advocates how to make a compelling and hard-hitting documentary film.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jeff about:
-The secret behind why Jeff’s 2019 documentary, PLANET OF THE HUMANS, got over 25 million views;
-How great films ask questions, create discussion, and even piss people off;
-How to capture gripping, high-quality audio and video;
-The “price” of being a great storyteller;
-Jeff’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis.
On episode 119 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg outlines and asks for your feedback on his new article, “Yin-Yang of the Environmental Movement,” which you can read on Substack here.
Josh talks about how:
-The concept of Yin (“being”) and Yang (“doing”) can apply to environmentalism;
-There can be positive (“light”) and negative (“shadow”) aspects to both Yin and Yang;
-The Yin “shadow” that’s overtaken the environmental movement might be behind a lot of its failures;
-Enviros might add a bit more Yang to our advocacy to regain balance and start reversing the eco-crisis.
On episode 114 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Jen Clanahan, executive director of Colorado Nature League, reveals how Colorado State Legislature caved to pressure from hunters, trappers, government agencies (funded by hunting), and even a former “conservation” NGO to kill a bill that would’ve protected beavers from being slaughtered on public lands.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jen about:
-How beavers retain water on the landscape, which studies show can increase resiliency to wildfire;
-How the Colorado House Agriculture, Water, and Natural Resources Committee includes public lands ranchers such as Rep. Larry Don Suckla (who, during the hearing, claimed the right to destroy beaver dams so he could run his cattle on public lands);
-How the former “conservation” group, Trout Unlimited, testified AGAINST protecting this crucial wildlife species;
-How, on the same day, the Ag Committee axed a bill that would’ve routed a small portion of “wildfire mitigation” taxpayer funding (nearly all of which goes towards counterproductive industrial logging) towards proven home hardening protections through grants to low-income residents, along with seniors and those with disabilities;
-Jen’s take on a root of the eco-crisis.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 117 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg shares the most recent, most egregious example of how Colorado has become the most anti-environmental Democrat-majority state in the U.S.
Josh talks about how:
-The Colorado House Agriculture, Water, and Natural Resources Committee just shot down two bills that would’ve protected public lands, wildlife, and the state’s most vulnerable citizens;
-The first bill would’ve routed a small portion of the state’s millions in annual “wildfire mitigation” taxpayer funding (nearly all of which goes towards controversial and scientifically-debunked industrial logging) towards proven home hardening protections through grants to low-income residents, along with seniors and those with disabilities;
-That bill was opposed by government agency staff, elected officials, and corporate funded, pro-extraction “working lands” NGOs (i.e. Conservation Colorado, Western Resource Advocates, and The Nature Conservancy) demanding that the Committee not allot a single dollar to save the state’s most vulnerable residents’ homes from wildfire.
-The second bill would’ve protected beavers from hunting and trapping on public lands. Beavers create dams that retain water on the landscape, which studies have proven can reduce fire severity;
-Wildlife and wildland advocates can unite on a positive vision as an alternative to the dystopia of anti-environmental industry, government, NGOs, and media.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On episode 106 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg wades into an old but ongoing debate within the environmental movement about whether it’s ethical for ecosystem advocates to focus exclusively on public lands protection at the expense of “private” land extraction.
Josh talks about:
-The arbitrary yet currently legal definitions of public vs. private lands in the U.S.
-The gaps and overlaps between a “deep ecology” philosophy and on-the-ground organizing.
-Whether it’s possible for advocates to carry out practical, step-by-step, mission-based actions without compromising a wholistic vision of ecological integrity.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 105 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Rachael Himsel, executive producer and co-director of the forthcoming film, SAVING THE HOOSIER: THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA’S FORESTS, talks about winning the decades-long battle for Indiana’s precious public lands.
Host Josh Schlossberg chats with Rachael about:
-Why Indiana forest defenders are so good at protecting public lands
-The recent passing of legendary forest activist, Andy Mahler
-The Mellencamp family’s contributions to the film (John’s timeless music and son Hud’s narration)
-How you can support the film, Saving the Hoosier: The Fight for America’s Forests, through GoFundMe
https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-saving-the-hoosier-and-save-our-public-forests
-Rachael’s take on a root 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.
On episode 104 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), host Josh Schlossberg brainstorms about ways that grassroots advocacy might fix our broken chain of participatory democracy between corporations, government, media, and the public.
Josh talks about:
-Why media—the biggest broken link in the chain—should be held accountable or bypassed
-How grassroots advocacy can be reinvigorated through strong stances and clear vision
-The importance of bringing back joy to environmental organizing
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 103 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), Hudson Kingston, legal director for CURE, battles government plans in Minnesota to greenwash dirty, forest-killing “biomass” energy by ignoring carbon emissions from incinerating trees and trash for industrial-scale electricity.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Hudson about:
-How the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission wants to classify biomass energy as “carbon free” despite tree burning emitting more CO2 than coal.
-Risks to environmental justice communities from increased air pollution.
-Devastating impacts on public lands and Native American reservations.
-How we shouldn’t be switching from one polluting, climate-busting energy source (coal) to another (“biomass”).
-How this decision could have ramifications for greenwashing forest and trash incineration in Minnesota and across the U.S.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 102 of the Green Root Podcast (the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance), we strategize with Rocky Smith, forest management consultant with over forty years’ experience, about the worst threat we’ve ever seen on public lands in the West—including the now biggest logging project in Colorado history announced last week—and one quick action you can take to start turning things around before it’s too late.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Rocky about:
-The brand new biggest logging project in history in Colorado announced last week, bringing the total under the “Big Four”—Pike’s Peak, Lower North South, St. Vrain, Black Diamond—to a half-million acres across seventeen Roadless Areas, all under a media blackout.
-The dirty details of the “Pike’s Peak Vegetation Management,” almost 200,000 acres of industrial logging—including 13,500 acres within four protected Roadless Areas—in endangered species habitat and high-elevation bristlecone pine stands, along with a quarter-million acres of toxic herbicide spraying.
-How the U.S. Forest Service is allowing the public only two weeks to comment on the project over the holiday season (again, with zero media coverage).
-The fake “emergency” behind it all declared by the Trump Administration and U.S. Forest Service to rush 112 million acres—59 percent of National Forests—onto the chopping block.
-Rocky’s take on the root 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.
Green Root Podcast #101: ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA: INEPT OR CORRUPT?
On episode 101 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host and former investigative journalist Josh Schlossberg tries to make sense of whether most media outlets are unable or unwilling to accurately and honestly cover environmental topics.
Josh talks about:
-The ideological and partisan bias he uncovered while working as an award-winning environmental journalist
-His experience as an ecosystem advocate interfacing with media only for them to cover up, misreport, or spread disinformation about ecological topics
-Whether bad environmental reporting is the result of an inability or refusal of journalists to do their jobs
-If it’s possible to hold media accountable to a basic standard of journalistic ethics
-How it’s past time to create new media that accurately reports on environmental issues while exposing the propaganda of legacy and “alternative” outlets
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 100 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we explore the ecological wonderland and wildlife haven that is a severely-burned forest, with Richard Hutto, emeritus professor in wildlife biology and author of the new book, A BEAUTIFULLY BURNED FOREST: LEARNING TO CELEBRATE SEVERE FOREST FIRE.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Richard about:
-The science informing his book, A BEAUTIFULLY BURNED FOREST
-The wildlife species that need severely-burned forests to survive
-How industry, government, and media have demonized wildfire
-How advocates might inform the public as to the crucial role of wildfire in western forests and harm from “fuel reduction” logging
-Richard’s take on the root 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.
On episode 99 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we talk about a positive alternative vision for public lands that would establish 100 new National Parks in the U.S.—at least one in every state—with Michael Kellett, executive director of RESTORE: The North Woods.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Michael about:
-How the U.S. Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture treats National Forests as industrial croplands
-How the anti-science exploitation of wildfire to log western forests is now being pushed in the eastern U.S.
-The October conference “Forest Fires in Massachusetts: Myths and Realities”
-RESTORE: The North Woods’ upcoming campaign to designate 100 new National Parks, at least one in every state
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 98 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we talk about past, present, and future threats to public forestlands with Jillian Bar-Av, member of Heartwood (est. 1991) and host of the new Heartwood Forest Protection Podcast.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jillian about:
-How Heartwood has united forest protection advocates across the U.S. since 1991
-How to balance art with activism
-The passing of eco-musician Robert Hoyt and Heartwood founder, Andy Mahler
-The new Heartwood Forest Protection Podcast
-Jillian’s take on a root cause of the ecological crisis
Listen to the Heartwood Forest Protection Podcast at https://rss.com/podcasts/heartwood/
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 97 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we celebrate a major victory over the Trump administration’s U.S. Forest Service in the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, with Jeff Stant, National Forest Program Advisor for Indiana Forest Alliance.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jeff about:
-The “stop work” order enforced on the largest logging, burning, and herbicide-spraying project in the history of the Hoosier National Forest
-The court ruling finding that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
-What this legal victory means for public lands protection in the region and across the U.S.
-Jeff’s take on the root cause of National Forest destruction
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 96 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we question whether or not decades of well-funded, influential “Big Green” environmental NGOs compromising with industry and government has been effective, and explore how a strong and united grassroots movement might offer a better alternative, with Adam Bronstein, host of Our Public Lands podcast.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Adam about:
-The victories and losses of the mainstream environmental movement over the years
-The influence of corporate foundations on public lands advocacy
-The collusion between Big Greens, the Democratic party, and many media outlets
-Certain large organizations’ attempts to fight the rollback of the Roadless Rule by allowing more logging
-Adam’s take on the root 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.
Green Root Podcast #95: ANDY MAHLER: A LEGEND OF FOREST PROTECTION (1951-2025)
On a very sad but very special episode 95 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we share one of the last interviews with legendary forest advocate, Andy Mahler, who passed away in August at the age of 74. We hope you enjoy and savor this conversation with—and tribute to—the man who has done so much for Nature.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Andy about:
-How Andy and a coalition of other locals shut down logging in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest for thirty years
-Recent wins in the fight against the so-called Buffalo Springs Restoration Project, “the largest and most destructive” logging sale ever proposed for the Hoosier National Forest
-History of the region as a past (and possibly future?) bison migration route
-Andy’s philosophy on the one-ness of humanity and the natural world
-And so much more!
(One amazing thing about this episode is that when we recorded it this spring, Andy’s internet was so shaky we eventually decided the footage was unusable. So, we had plans to re-record, made a couple attempts to set up a time, with the most recent email sent to Andy what ended up being a few days before his passing. Upon hearing the sad news, we went back to the recording to see if any clips might be salvaged, and incredibly somehow Zoom had fixed it so that 99% of the audio was saved and most of the video. Some video does remains choppy, blurry, and/or stationary and, at times, we replaced it with still shots of Andy others have taken of him over the years.)
On episode 94 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we report breaking news on the destructive logging threatening the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark in Illinois and the legal battle on which the future of the Shawnee National Forest depends, with Sam Stearns, founder of Friends of Bell Smith Springs & John Wallace, vice president of Shawnee Park and Climate Alliance)
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Sam and John about:
-The rare wonder that is the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark
-Their lawsuit alleging that the Forest Service has “illegally withheld information from the public” to push through logging plans, including breaking news on its current status
-The crucial role eastern deciduous forests play in climate regulation and biodiversity
-The campaign to designate the eco-region as a Climate Preserve
Support Friends of Bell Smith Springs at https://www.fobss.org/ and Shawnee Park and Climate Alliance at https://www.shawneentlpark.org/
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 93 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get political on the topic of whether elected officials in the Democratic party are walking their talk when it comes to protecting the natural world, with Karen Breslin, democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate from Colorado.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Karen about how:
-Most Republican politicians don’t hide their indifference towards nature
-Many Democrat politicians—including most of Colorado’s congressional delegation—are pushing legislation to spend huge sums of taxpayer dollars to log public forests
-Neither political party will acknowledge the root causes of the ecological crisis, much less address them
-The Democratic party might regain its identity—and conscience—by becoming actual champions of the natural world
(Disclaimer: Eco-Integrity Alliance and the Green Root Podcast do not endorse elected officials, however we are open to speaking with them about their stances on public lands and the natural world.)
On episode 92 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get scorched by FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE (ForestFireMalfeasance.org), a new report exposing a government coverup of peer-reviewed science to promote logging on public lands, with Dr. Chad Hanson, research ecologist and director of John Muir Project.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Chad about:
-Eco-Integrity Alliance’s new report, FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE, revealing hundreds of emails from a public records request showing indisputable evidence of 25 government agencies, elected officials, logging industry trade groups, NGOs, a university, a fire department, and a government-funded “collaborative” colluding on a disinformation campaign to ramp up logging in public forests under the pretense of “wildfire fuel reduction”
-Proof that those carrying out this logging are privately aware of—yet have been advised to publicly deny—the vast body of science contesting its effectiveness at protecting communities from wildfire
-Why agencies such as U.S. Forest Service must stoop personal attacks and even defamation to silence critics
-How these colluding entities have intentionally deceived and/or strongarmed media into covering up the story
-What can be done by ecological advocates to protect forests and communities from wildfire disinformation
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 91 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get off the beaten path to discuss current threats to roll back the “Roadless Rule” and whether the decades-old conservation strategy of defending the status quo of weak public lands protections is working, with Gary Macfarlane, board member of Friends of the Clearwater.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Gary about:
-The history of the Roadless Rule
-The U.S. Forest Service’s efforts to roll it back
-The existing loopholes in the current rule that allow clearcutting and old-growth logging
-The even weaker state Roadless Rules in Idaho and Colorado
-How Colorado’s biggest logging project of the century (116,000 acres) is planned for 18,500 acres of Roadless areas under the guise of wildfire
-Whether advocating for stronger public lands protections would “undermine” the Roadless Rule
Gary Macfarlane and Katie Bilodeau's "The Roadless Report: Analyzing the Impacts of Two Roadless Rules on Forested Wildlands"
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 90 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we peek behind the green curtain to uncover the REAL reasons why we keep losing our public lands to more logging, mining, drilling, and grazing, with Denise Boggs, director of Conservation Congress (conservationcongress-ca.org).
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Denise about how:
-Large, corporate-funded foundations have hamstrung public lands advocacy
-Billions of dollars have propped up “environmental groups” that not only don’t protect public lands from extractive industries but advocate for corporate interests
-Both Republicans AND Democrats have advanced policy to gut public lands protections
-Partisan media outlets have hidden these scandals from the public
-The only way to save the public lands movement is to support grassroots ecosystem advocacy
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 89 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we shine a bright light through the media blackout of what may be the single most destructive public lands scheme of the century with Andrew Rothman, Wildlife Habitat Conservationist and founder of the Rainforest Biodiversity Group.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Andrew about:
-The fake “emergency” authorization that the Trump administration has made literally 100 times worse by sacrificing 112 million acres of public lands—59% of National Forests—to the chopping block
-The endangered species and Roadless Areas at risk in what may be the largest logging project in Colorado history
-Why it’s so hard to get media to cover such an unprecedented scope and scale of forest destruction and sidestepping of environmental law
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 88 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we unearth an alarming level of public forest destruction, science denial, and sidestepping of participatory democracy in Jefferson County, Colorado with citizen advocate Mike Rawluk.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Mike about:
-How he went from being an unwitting supporter of “wildfire fuel reduction” to speaking out about the unprecedented level of aggressive and scientifically-contested logging in Jefferson County Open Space (including clearcutting and removal of mature and old-growth trees up to 211 years old)
-His concerns with opening forests to wind that can spread fires quicker to communities, cut off escape routes, and endanger firefighter
-What he believes we should do about local, state, and federal government increasingly cutting the public out of decision making on crucial issues that impact our environment, safety, and lives.
On episode 87 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we celebrate the campaign to protect public forests as climate refuges with Rick Bass, Executive Director of the Yaak Valley Forest Council.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Rick Bass about his organization’s work defending the uniquely biodiverse Yaak Valley in northwestern Montana; their success in stopping (for now) the U.S. Forest Service’s “Black Ram” old-growth logging project; their strategy to turn the eco-region into a Climate Refuge connected to a globe-spanning “Curtain of Green”; the creation of an acoustic guitar from an ancient spruce (damaged by Forest Service roadbuilding) as an advocacy tool; and the role of music and storytelling in fostering a culture of nature lovers.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 86 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we delve deep into the ecological, physical, cultural, and spiritual harm caused by mining public lands with Dov Korff-Korn, legal director of the Sacred Defense Fund.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Dov Korff-Korn about his work as an attorney with the Lakota People’s Law Project to defend Indigenous lands and sacred sites from extractive industry; the impacts of a graphite mine proposed for the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota, a sacred site known as Pe'Sla to the Lakota People; and how our movements might bring people of all backgrounds together to protect public lands from extraction.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite U.S. grassroots ecosystem advocates through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 85 of the Green Root Podcast, we question whether anger is always the best fuel for activism, while pondering some ways we might make our campaigns more enjoyable, welcoming, and effective.
On episode 84 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we take another trip to Capitol Hill with Jennifer Mamola, Policy and Advocacy Director for John Muir Project, who fills us in on the nasty details of the havoc President Trump has wreaked on public lands in the first 100 days of his second term.
On episode 83 of the Green Root Podcast, we somewhat seriously ponder whether a return of the ancient Celtic nature priests known as the Druids might be the answer to solving the ecological crisis.
In this short video essay, we point out the ongoing challenges of harnessing science and grassroots organizing for ecosystem protection as industry, elected officials, and government agencies team up with biased media to promote anti-environmental propaganda while demonizing—or at best, ignoring—ecosystem advocates.
We suggest that combining science-based advocacy with a rekindling of our spiritual connection to the Earth—a deep reverence for the natural world that is the source of all life—might be what’s needed to stop the Sixth Great Extinction.
On episode 82 of the Green Root Podcast, Rocky Smith, forest management analyst, filibusters with host Josh Schlossberg to tear apart the Orwellian “Fix Our Forests” Act—one of the most destructive anti-environmental bills in modern history—and show you how to fight it.
Contact your Senators today and ask them to oppose “Fix Our Forests” and instead advance legislation to preserve our biodiverse, carbon-storing forests: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
On episode 81 of the Green Root Podcast, we call out the well-monied and influential backers of what’s turning out to be one of the most destructive anti-environmental schemes in modern U.S. history.
On episode 80 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg offers a heartfelt take on what he believes much of the grassroots “environmental” movement might be missing that’s keeping us from genuinely protecting the natural ecosystems that sustain all life of Earth.
On episode 79 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—Adam Colette of Dogwood Alliance and Alex Budd of Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance join host Josh Schlossberg to myth-bust the greenwashing of forest “biomass” energy as “clean, green, and renewable” and invite you to the Break Big Biomass National Call to Action on April 7.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the U.S. grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 78 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg stops the presses with Nathan Gilles, Journalist and Science Writer, as they investigate the crucial role of environmental journalism in the media landscape, its triumphs and shortcomings, and the most effective ways for advocates to get coverage.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the U.S. grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 77 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg gets empirical with Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage and co-editor of Mixed Severity Fires: Nature’s Phoenix, as they discuss the vast and growing body of peer-reviewed studies showing the ecological necessity of “severe” wildfires and the harmful, ineffective, and often counterproductive nature of “fuel reduction” logging.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 76 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg gets litigious with Jonathan Ratner, Director of Sage Steppe Wild, as they challenge The Nature Conservancy’s schemes to log and graze public lands and whether the billion-dollar entity should still be considered an environmental group.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 75 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg goes on a road trip with Deanna Lynn Wulff, Director of Unite the Parks, to talk about how closing old logging roads could help prevent human-caused wildfires along with her organization’s mission to link up Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks through the Range of Light National Monument.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 74 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg gets scientific with George Wuerthner, ecologist and author of Wildfire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy, who explains the science behind the wind, weather, and climate-driven California wildfires.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 73 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg goes to Capitol Hill with Jennifer Mamola, Policy and Advocacy Director for John Muir Project, who forecasts some environmental legislation to expect from Congress.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 72 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg proposes a tried-and-true strategy for an environmental movement that has literally been losing ground for decades in what is perhaps its darkest hour.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 71 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg talks with Darrell Luebbe, former Park Patroller for Jefferson County Open Space in Colorado, about the logging decimating his beloved parks under the guise of so-called “wildfire mitigation.”
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 71 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg talks with Darrell Luebbe, former Park Patroller for Jefferson County Open Space in Colorado, about the logging decimating his beloved parks under the guise of so-called “wildfire mitigation.”
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 70 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg talks with Sam Hitt, President of Santa Fe Forest Coalition, about the many perils facing forests in New Mexico’s “Land of Enchantment” and what needs to be done to protect them.
The mission of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org) is to unite the grassroots environmental movement through common campaigns of mutual support.
On episode 69 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance (eco-integrityalliance.org)—host Josh Schlossberg talks about the state of environmental media and shares a big announcement.
On episode 68 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg invites you to take part in the National Day of Forest-Climate Action on May 28 (eco-integrityalliance.org/forest-climate) while offering his theory about why more environmental groups aren’t making the connection.
On episode 67 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Matt Peters, member of the Heartwood coordinating council, who covers the state of eastern U.S. forests and invites you to the 32nd annual Heartwood Forest Council on May 24-27 in Ohio.
On episode 66 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg chats with Melissa Soderston, director of Tahoe Forests Matter, where she reveals a massive logging scheme planned for California’s carbon-storing public forests and how you can help locals planning to stop it.
On episode 65 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks to himself about the subgenre of eco horror fiction, his new novel CHARWOOD, and “The State of Eco Horror,” a virtual event on Sunday, August 20 @ 4 pm PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET (RSVP at Josh@JoshsWorstNightmare.com for Zoom link).
On episode 64 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg walks the post-fire landscape with Maya Khosla, biologist and author of ALL THE FIRES OF WIND AND LIGHT, to find the overlap between art and environmental advocacy.
On episode 63 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Chad Hanson, PhD, forest ecologist with John Muir Project and author of Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate, where he rebuts High Country News’ latest pro-logging propaganda.
On episode 62 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg exposes how elected officials are so eager to promote phony “wildfire risk reduction” logging on public lands that they’ll lie on the record to hide what’s really going on in the forest.
On episode 61 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Shannon Wilson of Eco Advocates Northwest about the police killing of forest defender Manuel “Tortuguita” Terón in Atlanta, tracing the history of violence against environmental activists in the U.S. over recent decades, and discussing where to go from here.
On episode 60 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg talks with Andy Mahler of Protect Our Woods about how we can stop the ecological/climate disaster that is the Buffalo Springs “Restoration” Project in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest, and why it matters to the future of the planet.
On episode 59 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg reads a recent article from the Colorado Sun about logging on public lands under the guise of “wildfire risk reduction” while giving his commentary, in Part 2 of a 2 part series.
On episode 58 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—host Josh Schlossberg reads a recent article from the Denver Post about logging on public lands under the guise of “wildfire risk reduction” while giving his commentary, in Part 1 of a 2 part series.
On episode 57 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg warns about the biggest threat we've seen in decades to the carbon-storing forests of Colorado--and the entire western U.S.--from phony "wildfire fuel reduction" logging, recaps Eco-Integrity Alliance's ongoing campaign to stop it and route the money instead to making homes "Firewise," and lets you know how you can help today!
On episode 56 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, about the crucial role climate change plays in driving large wildfires, the folly of logging our carbon-storing forests under the guise of “fuel reduction,” and the importance of making homes Firewise.
On episode 55 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg invites you to join Eco-Integrity Alliance as a voting member (and what that means), shares some dirt on the current unraveling of the mainstream Greens, and explains why NOW is the time to finally come together and fill that void.
On episode 54 of the of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Michael Garrity, executive director of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA), a bill that would create biological zones connecting new and existing wilderness and roadless areas over 20 million acres across Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Wyoming.
On episode 53 of the return (?) of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg announces the launch of the Eco-Integrity Alliance, an effort to unite the “alternative” environmental movement under a big tent of ecological integrity through common campaigns of mutual support.
Check out the website at eco-integrityalliance.org to learn more and find out how to join.
In the 52nd—and final—episode of the Green Root Podcast, host and quitter Josh Schlossberg explains why he’s choosing to end the podcast, shares some of the environmental lessons he’s learned over the past year, and thanks his guests, listeners, and everyone else working to protect and preserve the natural world.
On episode #51 of the Green Root Podcast, host and former Northeasterner, Josh Schlossberg, returns to the forest with Chris Matera, director of Massachusetts Forest Watch, to discuss the state of the Great North Woods and how to maintain one's mental health as an environmental advocate.
On episode #50 of the Green Root Podcast, host and chick pea-lover, Josh Schlossberg, chews the fat with Mike Ewall, director of Energy Justice Network, about the environmental, public health, and ethical implications of eating animal products and how both individual AND systemic changes are needed to transform the food system.
On episode #49 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg, goes viral with Bhavana Chilukuri, Director of Programs at Dalberg Catalyst & Chip Barber, Senior Biodiversity Advisor from World Resources Institute, to talk about Preventing Pandemics at the Source, a new coalition of major health and environmental groups working to prevent the spillover of zoonotic viruses from animals to humans.
On episode #48 of the Green Root Podcast, host and failed public utility petitioner, Josh Schlossberg, gets energized with eco-philosopher Craig Patterson, shedding light on how utilities encourage excessive energy consumption, the need for a “conservation ethic,” and ways to incentivize efficiency.
On episode #47 of the Green Root Podcast, host and born-and-bred northeaster, Josh Schlossberg, talks with Nohham R. Cachat-Schilling, a Kanien’keha:ka-Nashawe Nipmuk medicine person, researcher, and author, about the differences in land use, stewardship practices, and cultural outlook between Native and European peoples in New England.
On episode #46 of the Green Root Podcast, host and beef-boycotter Josh Schlossberg, roams the range with Felice Pace, coordinator for the Grazing Reform Project, chewing the cud about water quality and supply impacts of cows on public lands, the ranching industry’s war against wolves and wild horses, and the importance of enforcing existing laws while offering grazing allotment buyouts.
On episode #45 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks out loud to himself about the "shadow" of the establishment and alternative environmental movements, homing in on the harsh realities its members are unable--or unwilling--to see.
He finishes up with a plea for a U.S. nonprofit to step up and provide fiscal sponsorship for Rural Watch Africa Initiative, an outstanding Nigerian organization tackling the root issues of environmental degradation and poverty in the world's poorest nation.
On episode #44 of the Green Root Podcast, host and censored movie star Josh Schlossberg, gets behind the camera with Julia Barnes, director of the upcoming film Bright Green Lies, to document the sixth mass extinction, deep sea mining for “green” tech, and the ecocidal folly of trying to fuel industrial civilization with "renewable" energy.
On episode #43 of the Green Root Podcast, host & former Oregonian, Josh Schlossberg, hops the fence onto “private” timberlands with Chuck Willer, director of Coast Range Association, to reveal how the logging industry trades short-term profits for long-term forest productivity, when the environmental movement abandoned land reform, and the role western Oregon’s carbon-storing “industrial” forestlands can play in addressing the climate emergency, as detailed in Climate & Oregon's Industrial Forests: A Green New Deal Proposal.
On episode #42 of the Green Root Podcast, host and ex-farmhand, Josh Schlossberg, gets his hands dirty with writer, podcaster, and organic farmer, Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, to unearth the roots of the agricultural revolution, the ecological and societal impacts of industrial ag, and how humanity might find a balance between growing food and preserving nature.
On episode #41 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg gets lost in the woods with Ashley Lipscomb, Director of Kentucky Heartwood, to uncover threats to the Daniel Boone National Forest, the influence of “bullet groups” on public lands management, and proposals that would destroy roosting habitat for federally-endangered Indiana bats.
On episode #40 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg takes a trip to the Emerald Isle with Susan Breen, organizer with Deep Green Resistance and Shale Must Fall, to delve into fracking in Europe, “eco-sabotage,” and the role of the radical environmental movement.
On episode #39 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg digs below the surface with Deanna Meyer, executive director of Prairie Protection Colorado, to learn about endangered grasslands, the role prairie dogs play as keystone species, and how to save them from eradication.
On episode #38 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg leaves the continent with environmental and global justice campaigner, Florence Blondel, to explore biodiversity loss in Uganda, how empowering women’s birth control choices can reduce poverty while also protecting forests and climate, and whether the developing world may someday become a model of sustainability.
On episode #37 of the Green Root Podcast, host and accidental bear tracker, Josh Schlossberg, goes off the beaten path with Barrie Gilbert, Ph.D., retired wildlife biologist & professor, and author of One of Us: A Biologist’s Walk Among Bears, to discuss the ecological necessity of bears in North America, current threats to Grizzlies, and what we need to do to protect them.
On episode #36 of the Green Root Podcast, host and fake Buddhist, Josh Schlossberg, gets nondual with David R. Loy, professor, writer, Zen teacher, and author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis, to meditate on how Buddhist philosophy might enlighten environmental activism.
On episode #35 of the Green Root Podcast, host and Ken Wilber stunt double, Josh Schlossberg, goes deep inside human consciousness with Michael E. Zimmerman, Ph.D., co-author (with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Ph.D.) of Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World, to explore Integral theory, biocentric lines of adult human development, and “The 8 Eco-Selves.”
On episode #34 of the Green Root Podcast, host and former Critical Mass arrestee Josh Schlossberg chats with Beth Verdekal, founder of Own It Economics, about the history of Critical Mass bike rides, the joys of giving, and the role of personal responsibility in addressing the climate crisis.
On episode #33 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg rants about the warped mindset common to those who refuse—or are unable—to accept the harsh realities of the COVID-19 pandemic and those claiming climate change is a hoax.
On episode #32 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg goes deep with psychoanalyst Joseph Scalia III, Psya.D. about how we might use psychology to better understand the successes and failures of the modern environmental movement.
On episode #31 of the Green Root Podcast, host and science writer Josh Schlossberg interviews Dr. Michael Miller, wildlife veterinarian with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, about the alarming epidemic of Chronic Wasting Disease—aka “zombie deer disease”—in North America’s cervid (deer, elk, moose, and caribou) populations, the role mountain lions may play in slowing the spread, and whether humans are at risk from the fatal infection.
On episode #30 of the Green Root Podcast, host & social justice warrior Josh Schlossberg speaks with Lorna Salzman, author of Politics as if Evolution Mattered: Darwin, Ecology and Social Justice, about the injection of critical race and gender theory into the modern environmental movement.
On episode #29 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg proposes that 2021 is our last—and best—chance to reinvigorate the failing environmental movement and genuinely address the eco-crisis.
On episode #28 of the Green Root Podcast, host & former Oregonian Josh Schlossberg speaks with forest consultant & timber cruiser Roy Keene about Big Timber’s aerial spraying of toxic herbicides in Oregon’s temperate rainforests, community efforts to ban the practice, and mainstream environmental groups cutting a deal with industry.
On episode #27 of the Green Root Podcast, host & desert rat Josh Schlossberg talks with Sean Prentiss, author of Finding Abbey: The Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave, about Ed Abbey’s influence on environmental activism & literature, the man’s most controversial views, and the beauty and mystery of the American Southwest.
On episode #26 of the Green Root Podcast, science writer Kristine Mattis, Ph.D. offers her insights on some of the contradictions of the Green New Deal, “gatekeeping” in the mainstream environmental movement, the lack of genuine solutions for the ecological and climate crises, and what a truly sustainable way of life could look like.
On episode #25 of the Green Root Podcast, Rachel Fazio, associate director and staff attorney for John Muir Project, clears the air on wildfire's crucial role in western forests, exposes legislation seeking to log in the backcountry under the guise of “fuel reduction,” and reminds us how making our homes Firewise is the single most effective measure we can take to protect people and property.
On episode #24 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with Uche Isieke, Executive Director of Rural Watch Africa Initiative, about Nigerians suffering from the ravages of climate change, the deforestation that results from rural people simply trying to feed their families, and his work to create alternative sustainable income sources for this struggling population.
On episode #23 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg touches base with Mark Robinowitz of PeakChoice.org about the ecological lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, how the Planet of the Humans film doesn’t go far enough, why fracking postponed energy rationing, the limits to growth on a finite planet, and the need to relocalize the American Way of Life (AWOL).
On episode #22 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with climate justice organizer, Ananda Lee Tan, about environmental racism, the health & environmental impacts of waste incineration in the U.S. and overseas, and Zero Waste alternatives.
On episode #21 of the Green Root Podcast, host & hiking addict Josh Schlossberg chats with Gary Mcfarlane, Ecosystem Defense Director for Friends of the Clearwater, about the impacts of outdoor recreation on wildlife, the ecological benefits of removing old logging roads from public lands, and the pros and cons of the Great American Outdoors Act.
On episode #20 of the Green Root Podcast, host & future climate refugee Josh Schlossberg interviews abrupt climate change researcher & Nature Bats Last co-host, Kevin Hester, about tipping points and extinction cascades, media and entertainment as a distraction from climate breakdown, managing grief, and why it’s never too late to start telling the truth.
On episode #19 of the Green Root Podcast, host and anti-logging zealot Josh Schlossberg chews the fat with eco-forestry philosopher, Craig Patterson, about industrial logging’s decimation of U.S. forests, the difference between genuine and phony restoration, and reviving the Civilian Conservation Corps for a new paradigm of “jobs in the woods.”
On episode #18 of the Green Root Podcast, host and pro-wilderness extremist Josh Schlossberg confers with Amy Lewis, chief policy and communications officer with WILD Foundation, about the Nature Needs Half campaign, wilderness vs. “working landscapes,” and distinguishing between sustainability and survival.
On episode #17 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg interviews Karen Shragg, author of Move Upstream: A Call to Solve Overpopulation, about the ecological impacts of our growing human population, concerns about racism, and the real reason so few environmental groups address the issue.
On episode #16 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg speaks with Tim Hermach, executive director of Native Forest Council, about the history of the sellout of the environmental movement to corporate interests, how both Republicans and Democrats have greased the wheels of ecosystem destruction, and the need to swallow such bitter pills if we’re going to save what’s left of the natural world.
On episode #15 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg interviews Tiffany Hansen, co-founder and director of Rocky Flats Downwinders, about the ongoing plutonium (and other) contamination from Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons facility outside Denver, Colorado; concerns about the health of nearby communities; using hemp to remediate the toxic soil; and creating a Rocky Flats cannabis strain.
On episode #14 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg goes deep with Mike Ewall, founder and director of the Energy Justice Network, on the various forms of biomass energy, its environmental, climate, and human health impacts, and how not all “clean energy” is created equal.
On episode #13 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg interviews Hailey Hawkins, Southern Rockies Field Representative for the Endangered Species Coalition, about the return of wolves to the western landscape, the importance of habitat connectivity for sustaining wildlife populations, and recent efforts by the powers that be to gut the Endangered Species Act.
On episode #12 of the Green Root Podcast, Josh Schlossberg talks with Gary Wockner, director of Save the Colorado and founder of the the Free Flowing Rivers Initiative of the Waterkeeper Alliance, about the intrinsic value of rivers, the ecological and human rights consequences of hydroelectric power, the economic benefits of dam removal, and lots more.
On episode #11 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg ponders what it means to be an ecosystem patriot, points out how disagreements between enviros often come down to different views on the concept of “wild nature,” and suggests how we can re-unite our fragmented movement by coming together to permanently preserve public lands.
On episode #10 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg chats with Dayna Yildirim of Extinction Rebellion about how environmental activists can become more effective—and personally fulfilled—by practicing radical self-honesty, “leading with the heart,” and processing their grief over the eco-crisis.
On episode #9 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg speaks with Jeff Gibbs, writer and director of the environmental documentary film, Planet of the Humans.
We discuss the overwhelmingly positive public response to the film, the attacks and organized campaign to temporarily remove the film from YouTube, and censorship across legacy and left media.
We also talk about Bill McKibben, the environmental movement’s long-time (and in many cases, ongoing) support of biomass energy, and whether it’s time for a new environmental movement.
On episode #8 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg speaks with Robert Cobbold--program manager of the Green Schools Project and founder and editor of ConsciousEvolution.co.uk--about the economic roots of the eco-crisis, the push to develop alternative monetary systems, and the worldview shifts that can get us there.
On episode #7 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg interviews retired journalist Albert Lanier about censorship of environmental voices in the media. A freelance journalist for 22 years, Albert discusses the ongoing media blackout of balanced commentary on the documentary film Planet of the Humans, internal vs. external censorship at media outlets, and what we can do to save journalism.
(Audio quality isn't amazing as we needed to conduct the interview via cell phone)
On episode #6 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg discusses the overlap between environmental activism and police brutality, the disproportionate killing of black men by law enforcement, and how existing policies set the stage for the deaths of George Floyd and so many others before him.
On episode #5 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with indigenous rights activist & environmentalist Yuri Harris about her discovery of the “de-growth” movement, her alienation from mainstream environmentalism, and how we can’t address the eco-crisis without better understanding the human brain.
On episode #4 of the Green Root Podcast, host and award-winning environmental journalist Josh Schlossberg reveals his most recent bout with censorship, and tells the truth about how the media sausage is really made.
On episode #3 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg talks with agency whistleblower and lifelong forest defender, Shannon Wilson, about the corruption he's exposed while working for the U.S. Forest Service, and "malpractice" by environmental nonprofits that claim to protect the natural world.
On episode #2 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg gives his take on the film Planet of the Humans (written and directed by Jeff Gibbs, executively produced by Michael Moore), his appearance in the biomass energy segment of the film, and the mainstream environmental movement's response.
Read the article, "Big Green Meltdown Over Planet of the Humans" in Counterpunch.
An eight minute excerpt from episode #1 of the Green Root Podcast, where host Josh Schlossberg talks about what makes this environmental podcast different from all the rest.
On episode #1 of the Green Root Podcast, host Josh Schlossberg explains what's different about this environmental podcast, the inspiration behind launching it, and his background as a "recovering" activist.