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Speaker 1: Hey, this is any and Samantha. I'm welcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: I never told you production of iHeart Radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to another activist around the world. And for

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Speaker 2: today's activists, we are talking about bears kind of. I mean,

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Speaker 2: actually we're talking about ecologists and scientists doctor ray Wynn Grant,

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Speaker 2: who specializes in large carnivores like black bears, and she

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Speaker 2: does mention it even though we're really not talking about

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Speaker 2: black bears. I'm sorry, y'all, she does talk about what

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Speaker 2: she does and how she does specialize in the large

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Speaker 2: animals like black bears. So as we give you this

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Speaker 2: information afterwards, you should go check out her content. I

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Speaker 2: have a feeling a lot of you already do, but

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Speaker 2: just in case, to find out more about these black bears.

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Speaker 2: But of course, like many of our other features, doctor

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Speaker 2: wyn Grant is so so much more than just an

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Speaker 2: ecologist and scientists and all the above whatever. She has

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Speaker 2: many titles. But before we get into that, doctor win

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Speaker 2: Grant attended Emory University, which is here in our fair city,

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Speaker 2: and she got a BS in environmental studies and went

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Speaker 2: on to get her Masters of the same at the

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Speaker 2: Yale School of environment and her PhD in Ecology and

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Speaker 2: Evolution from Columbia University, and here's a little bit from

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Speaker 2: her website. Ray is passionate about science communication and is

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Speaker 2: also the creator and host of award winning podcasts Going

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Speaker 2: Wild with Doctor Ray Win Grant, produced by PBS Nature.

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Speaker 2: Her current field system encompasses the central coast of California,

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Speaker 2: where she is studying the unique ecology of carnivores in

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Speaker 2: coastal zones, as well as the role of protected areas

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Speaker 2: in connectivity of high quality habitite for large carnivores. Her

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Speaker 2: previous research questions surrounded the ecological drivers of human carnivoral

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Speaker 2: conflict with grizzly bears in the Northern Great Plains, black

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Speaker 2: bears in the Western Grape Basin, African lions in rural

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Speaker 2: Kenya and Tanzania, as well as grizzly bears in the

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Speaker 2: Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. A native Californian, doctor Wingrad attributes her

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Speaker 2: interest in wildlife and conservation to the television shows she

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Speaker 2: watched as a child, including the iconic original series Mutual

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Speaker 2: of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. So there you go. She likes

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Speaker 2: big animals. It's gotta be fascinating too. To have that

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Speaker 2: intersection between human yeah, and grizzly bears, because we already

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Speaker 2: know the stories, well a few a few of those stories, right,

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Speaker 2: But then we also know most of the time humans

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Speaker 2: are at fault.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: But anyway, moving on, She has stuck to her dreams

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Speaker 2: of working in this field, so in an interview with

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Speaker 2: oprah Daily dot Com, she talked about her interests in ecology.

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Speaker 2: She says, as a kid, I had a very urban

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Speaker 2: family and we did not spend time outdoors or in nature.

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Speaker 2: All of my access to wild places was through television,

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Speaker 2: and in my little kid mind, I thought, well, I

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Speaker 2: don't know anyone who hangs out with a wild animal

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Speaker 2: and goes into the wilderness except these nature show hosts.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to go to the places they went, And

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Speaker 2: when it came time for college, I said, what do

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Speaker 2: I major in? To be a nature show host? What

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Speaker 2: I quickly realized was that by being an ecologist, I

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Speaker 2: would be doing all the show hosts stuff, just without

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Speaker 2: the cameras. So she has talked about her dreams of

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Speaker 2: being a host of a wildlife show. In the news

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Speaker 2: article for Edu, doctor Wynn Grant is featured for her

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Speaker 2: work and there she talks about how she wanted to

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Speaker 2: be a host. So quote Wynn Grant soon found herself

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Speaker 2: infatuated with animal and nature shows, the ones hosted by

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Speaker 2: Steve Are When David Attenborough and Marlon Perkins, these hosts

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Speaker 2: showed me a completely different part of the world I

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Speaker 2: had never seen, she recalls, and I immediately fell in

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Speaker 2: love with all the fauna and flora cross far flung

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Speaker 2: locales on the globe. One night at the dinner table,

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Speaker 2: when she was around seven years old, she announced that

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Speaker 2: when she grew up, she was going to host a

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Speaker 2: nature show of her own. I was going to live

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Speaker 2: in the jungle and tell people about the animals. When

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Speaker 2: Grant writes in her recent published memoir wild Life, finding

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Speaker 2: My Purpose in an Untamed World, Yes, she has a book, yil,

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Speaker 2: and when she started college she still has that dream.

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Speaker 2: Here's another quote from that emory article. At the urging

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Speaker 2: of a student mentor who jotted down the simple yet

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Speaker 2: momentous prompt raised life for her at the top of

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Speaker 2: a yellow legal pad. When Grant followed up by listing

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Speaker 2: her singular goal host a nature show. She then created

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Speaker 2: a rough timeline that included classes she needed to take

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Speaker 2: Environmental sciences seem to be the best major as well

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Speaker 2: as the first job she thought she'd have after graduating

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Speaker 2: from Emory and any other degrees she needed along the way,

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Speaker 2: and her years of hard work and planning has paid off.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, doctor Wyn Grant became the first

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Speaker 2: black woman to co host a wildlife conservation series on

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Speaker 2: television as the co host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild

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Speaker 2: Kingdom Protecting the Wild. She talked about how she had

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Speaker 2: grown up watching this program and is now a part

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Speaker 2: of it. It also works on educating others about wildlife,

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Speaker 2: so I love that complete circle. And she also talked

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Speaker 2: about how immediately after college from Emory, she did work

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Speaker 2: with the WWF, the World Wildlife Fund, but she didn't

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Speaker 2: love the position she has, so she went on to

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Speaker 2: get like her PhD and such. But she's not just

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Speaker 2: doing network TV. She also hosts an award winning podcast,

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Speaker 2: as we talked about earlier, titled Going Wild with Doctor

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Speaker 2: ray Win Grant. And here's a bit of information from

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Speaker 2: her site, Raywindgrant dot com. On the new season of

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Speaker 2: Going Wild, hosts and acclaimed wildlife ecologist doctor ray Win

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Speaker 2: Grant goes beyond animal stories to take listeners on a

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Speaker 2: journey through the entire ecological web, from tiny planets to

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Speaker 2: apex predators. In this expedition, Going Wild poses the question

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Speaker 2: how can humans look at our relationship to nature? Differently?

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Speaker 2: Each episode, doctor ray win Grant speaks with a notable scientist, activist,

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Speaker 2: or adventurer of color to see how they grapple with

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Speaker 2: that question in their own lives and work. Episodes also

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Speaker 2: invite listeners to reconsider long held understandings of conservation nature

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Speaker 2: and our relationship to it, and who's considered a scientist.

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Speaker 2: We don't talk much about it, but she does go

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Speaker 2: on to talk about how a social justice and conservation

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Speaker 2: and wildlife ecologists like, how they go hand in hand,

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Speaker 2: especially today, I think I think it'd be really on point.

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Speaker 2: And she specialized in that type of intersection and having

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Speaker 2: these conversations online and making people consider what needs to

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Speaker 2: happen to expand for other marginalized peoples to be a

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Speaker 2: part of this community, which is very important work. And

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Speaker 2: through all this amazing work, she talks about the challenges

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Speaker 2: she's faced in the field. In the interview with oprah

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Speaker 2: Daily dot Com, she says there haven't exactly been people

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Speaker 2: rallying around young black women to get into wildlife, ecology

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Speaker 2: and conservation. The messaging or like thereof essentially said that

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Speaker 2: this isn't a space for you to be involved, let

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Speaker 2: alone be a leader. I remember doing a whole presentation

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Speaker 2: for one network executive and he thought I was perfect

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Speaker 2: for a nature show. But in the same breath he said,

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Speaker 2: that'll never happen. I'm not a white guy with the beard.

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Speaker 2: America isn't ready for it. He was a person who

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Speaker 2: had the power to change all that, and instead he

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Speaker 2: was like, Wow, I could really see it, but it

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Speaker 2: won't happen. Oh but it did. And she did so

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Speaker 2: much more, including writing a book. The book, titled Wildlife,

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Speaker 2: a Memoir, was released in twenty twenty four. Put it

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Speaker 2: on our list and from her website. Wildlife follows Ray

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Speaker 2: from her urban childhood in California and Virginia to her

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Speaker 2: adventures and explorations in some of the world's most rugged

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Speaker 2: and remote locales. Hers is a story about a career

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Speaker 2: in the wild spanning nearly two decades, carving a niche

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Speaker 2: for herself as one of very few black female scientists,

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Speaker 2: and the challenges she has had to overcome expectations she

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Speaker 2: had to leave behind in the mini lessons she has

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Speaker 2: learned along the way. Through her personal story of resilience

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Speaker 2: and adaptation, Ray argues for more connected, more socially and

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Speaker 2: ecologically conscious world. An incredible journey spanning the great planes

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Speaker 2: of North America to the rainforests of Madagascar, wildlife shows

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Speaker 2: light on our pivotal relationships and responsibility to the natural

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Speaker 2: world and the relatives, both human and otherwise, that we

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Speaker 2: share it with. And of course, with all of these

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Speaker 2: accomplishments under her belt, she has many others as well

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Speaker 2: as being named one of the one hundred if THEN

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Speaker 2: Ambassadors by the American Association for Advestment of Science in

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Speaker 2: twenty nineteen, being on the board of directors for the

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Speaker 2: Explorers Club, and so much more. And when she was

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Speaker 2: asked about advice for future generations, I'm interested in wildlife conservation,

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Speaker 2: she told Mutual of Omaha dot com. For young people,

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Speaker 2: I always advise finding the fund in it early. I

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Speaker 2: don't think it's important to get an internship or volunteer.

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Speaker 2: Those can be forms of work, and once you're an adult,

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Speaker 2: you'll have lots of work to do. No need to

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Speaker 2: start early. But finding a fun way to engage with

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Speaker 2: conservation is key, whether it's watching your favorite show, following

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Speaker 2: a social media account, spending time in nature with friends

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Speaker 2: or family. All of this positions young people to be

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Speaker 2: leaders in conservation without burning out early. Such good advice.

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Speaker 1: That's wonderful advice.

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Speaker 2: And yes, now we have several other options on podcasts

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Speaker 2: and books for our list for sure, and even TV shows.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, I always love that. Well. Listeners, please let

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Speaker 1: us know if you have any thoughts about this, any suggestions,

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Speaker 1: You can email us at Hello a Stuff I'llever Told

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Speaker 1: You dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky

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Speaker 1: at Mom's Up podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at

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Speaker 1: Stuff I've Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We

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Speaker 1: have a tea public store, and we have a book

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Speaker 1: you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as

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Speaker 1: always too, our super producer Christine, our executive producer Maya,

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Speaker 1: and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you

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Speaker 1: for listening Stuff I'll Never Told You to production by

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite ships