1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to

2
00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:09,360
Speaker 1: the whitetail Woods, presented by First Light, creating proven versatile

3
00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,400
Speaker 1: hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light

4
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,759
Speaker 1: Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.

5
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:19,920
Speaker 2: Welcome to the.

6
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,720
Speaker 3: Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on the show, I'm

7
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 3: joined by Benji Backer and Ben Cassidy of the newly

8
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:32,800
Speaker 3: formed nonprofit Nature Is non Partisan, and we're discussing the

9
00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 3: importance of in the methods for making nature nonpartisan once again.

10
00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,200
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back to the Wired to Hunt podcast,

11
00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,320
Speaker 3: brought to you by First Light and their Camo for

12
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:53,400
Speaker 3: Conservation initiative, and today we are continuing our Conservation Month series.

13
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:55,800
Speaker 2: We've talked white tales, We've.

14
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,440
Speaker 3: Talked public lands, and today we are taking things in

15
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 3: what I think is a really exciting direction, and I

16
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 3: think it's a really important direction, because this is a

17
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:12,080
Speaker 3: conversation about bringing the environmental movement and conservation and public

18
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,160
Speaker 3: lands advocacy and all of these things, taking them out

19
00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:21,320
Speaker 3: of the partisan football bickering, name calling our team versus

20
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,480
Speaker 3: your team kind of world in which they have lived

21
00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,039
Speaker 3: for a long time, and instead looking for ways to

22
00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:30,040
Speaker 3: bring this stuff back into the middle as a non

23
00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,640
Speaker 3: partisan or bipartisan set of issues that all of us

24
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 3: can engage in, whether you feel like you're on the

25
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,560
Speaker 3: blue side or the red side, or somewhere in between,

26
00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 3: regardless of who's in office. What can we all gather

27
00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,120
Speaker 3: around and move forward on. That is the broad set

28
00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 3: of ideas and topics that we're discussing today. And we're

29
00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,520
Speaker 3: discussing it with a couple folks who are doing something

30
00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,880
Speaker 3: very excited, relate, or very exciting related to all this,

31
00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 3: and that is Benji Back and Ben Cassidy. Both of

32
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 3: them are here from a brand new organization that is

33
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,639
Speaker 3: actually publicly launching today when this podcast drops on March twentieth,

34
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,360
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, and Benji is the founder of Nature

35
00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 3: as Nonpartisan and Ben is the chief policy officer for

36
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,520
Speaker 3: the new organization, and we're going to have them on

37
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 3: here on the show in a moment to talk about

38
00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of different things that I think are

39
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,480
Speaker 3: very relevant to people who hunt, or fish, or care

40
00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:37,359
Speaker 3: about wildlife or open lands, public lands, the ability to hike, fish, camp, hunt,

41
00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,560
Speaker 3: any of those things. This is stuff that is very

42
00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,080
Speaker 3: pertinent to us that has a direct impact on our

43
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,240
Speaker 3: ability to do those things and have healthy wildlife and

44
00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,000
Speaker 3: healthy wild places to do them in. So let me

45
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,280
Speaker 3: give you a little bit interesting background about these guys

46
00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,560
Speaker 3: and why I wanted to have them on the show

47
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:59,840
Speaker 3: to have this conversation. So Benji, Benji has an interesting

48
00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,359
Speaker 3: background in story that led to him, as a pretty

49
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:09,560
Speaker 3: young person starting a conservation organization, conservation organization called the

50
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:13,800
Speaker 3: American Conservation Coalition, and this was I think one of

51
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,600
Speaker 3: the very first right of center organizations focused on tackling

52
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,639
Speaker 3: environmental and climate related issues and looking at it through

53
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,880
Speaker 3: a lens of maybe more conservative values or ideas. And

54
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 3: he started that and was wildly successful, you know, given

55
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,480
Speaker 3: maybe certain headwinds within that side of the aisle when

56
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:36,760
Speaker 3: it comes to those issues, he was able to gather

57
00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,120
Speaker 3: tens of thousands of members to be involved in this

58
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:43,600
Speaker 3: organization and get focus in Congress and with our various

59
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,280
Speaker 3: parts of our elected officials to engage on these issues

60
00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,920
Speaker 3: in certain ways. So he has this very interesting background there.

61
00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,520
Speaker 3: Ben Cassidy came from another set of interesting ideals, ideas

62
00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,560
Speaker 3: and backgrounds, and that he is a hunter himself. He

63
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,160
Speaker 3: is war worked as an executive vice president with the

64
00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,200
Speaker 3: Safari Club. He also worked in the Department of the

65
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:12,400
Speaker 3: Interior during the first Trump administration, so he worked you

66
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 3: back during that period, you know, within the government and

67
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,920
Speaker 3: saw what was done and how it was done and

68
00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:21,680
Speaker 3: why things got done. Now, given those two perspectives that

69
00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 3: the both of them have, they saw that there were

70
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,080
Speaker 3: many things that were getting caught up in the partisan

71
00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,200
Speaker 3: b yes my words, not theirs. But they saw issues

72
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 3: and places and causes that they both cared about related

73
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,160
Speaker 3: to the environment and the natural world that got pushed

74
00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,880
Speaker 3: one way or the other because Democrats were traditionally behind it,

75
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,280
Speaker 3: or because Republicans were traditionally behind it, or because the

76
00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,480
Speaker 3: two parties couldn't get together and just have a conversation

77
00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,000
Speaker 3: about this stuff. And so Benji decided to start an

78
00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:57,640
Speaker 3: organization that would try to open this discourse, to bring

79
00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,479
Speaker 3: these sides together, to find, as they call it, the

80
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,040
Speaker 3: Coalition of the Willing, that eighty percent in the middle

81
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,440
Speaker 3: who just care about these things and want to find

82
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,560
Speaker 3: ways to move them forward, regardless of you know, if

83
00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,039
Speaker 3: it's a deal or r in the office. And so

84
00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,200
Speaker 3: they started Nature as nonpartisan. The idea of it is

85
00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,640
Speaker 3: something I'm really excited about. If you've been a longtime

86
00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:20,600
Speaker 3: listener to this podcast, if you've been following me and

87
00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,120
Speaker 3: in my career and my books and the different things

88
00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,480
Speaker 3: I work on, you know that I strongly believe in

89
00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,120
Speaker 3: this idea that we can achieve so much more when

90
00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,040
Speaker 3: we put the partisan labels and bs aside and instead

91
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,400
Speaker 3: focus on our shared values and having open conversations about

92
00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,960
Speaker 3: the things we care about and getting creative about solutions.

93
00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:45,200
Speaker 3: Nothing gets done when we name call and finger point

94
00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,120
Speaker 3: and get behind, you know, get behind enemy lines, or

95
00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,640
Speaker 3: get behind our own party lines and point fingers at

96
00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,520
Speaker 3: the other side and blame everything at them. You know,

97
00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:57,120
Speaker 3: Calling Republicans evil demagogues who are going to destroy the

98
00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,159
Speaker 3: world and then not engaging them with them on anything

99
00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,080
Speaker 3: isn't getting anything done. Calling democrats crazy snowflakes and libtards

100
00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:06,640
Speaker 3: or whatever kind of thing you want to call them,

101
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:08,240
Speaker 3: and saying we're never going to work with them because

102
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:10,680
Speaker 3: they're ruining the world, that's not going to help either.

103
00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,160
Speaker 3: If we can instead remember that we are all just humans.

104
00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,560
Speaker 3: We are all people that come from different perspectives. Our

105
00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:25,159
Speaker 3: lives have been informed by different experiences and different stories

106
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,240
Speaker 3: that we've kind of learned about how the world works.

107
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:29,599
Speaker 3: We all have this different lens that we're looking at

108
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:31,520
Speaker 3: the world through. It doesn't mean we're evil, doesn't mean

109
00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,400
Speaker 3: that we're bad. It just means we see things differently.

110
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,680
Speaker 3: If we can talk about it and be open to

111
00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:41,760
Speaker 3: these different ways of seeing the world, we can probably

112
00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,279
Speaker 3: find some common ground. We can probably find some ways

113
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:50,159
Speaker 3: to help achieve all sorts of different priorities. And that's

114
00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:51,680
Speaker 3: I think what a lot of this comes down to

115
00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,720
Speaker 3: when it comes to the politics of the environment and

116
00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,520
Speaker 3: public lands and wildlife and clean air and clean water,

117
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:00,800
Speaker 3: all that kind of stuff, right, because we all have

118
00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,480
Speaker 3: different perspectives, we all have different priorities, and the only

119
00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,920
Speaker 3: way that we're ever going to get something done is

120
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,600
Speaker 3: not by demeaning and attacking people simply because they come

121
00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 3: from a worldview or from a background that has different

122
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,480
Speaker 3: sets of priorities, but instead by talking about it, by

123
00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,720
Speaker 3: working together, by doing the hard work of tackling issues

124
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,720
Speaker 3: that aren't necessarily easy but that can be overcome by

125
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:31,880
Speaker 3: people talking, people working, people compromising, people getting to understand

126
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,360
Speaker 3: where we're all coming from. That's how most good things

127
00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,160
Speaker 3: in our country have gotten done over the years. And unfortunately,

128
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:41,320
Speaker 3: when it comes to the environment. That's not happened a

129
00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,600
Speaker 3: whole lot. Sometimes it does, but a lot of the

130
00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,360
Speaker 3: stuff's got pulled into one side or the other. And

131
00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,960
Speaker 3: nature's nonpartisan. I'm very excited about this mission that they

132
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 3: have is to really change that and to find ways

133
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,280
Speaker 3: to move the ball forward to get positive things done

134
00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,240
Speaker 3: for the environment, no matter what parties in office. So

135
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:01,880
Speaker 3: they are going to work with Democrats, they are going

136
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:04,800
Speaker 3: to work with Republicans. If the Biden administration was around,

137
00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,160
Speaker 3: they'd be working with them right now. The Trump administration

138
00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 3: is in right now, so they're going to work with

139
00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,400
Speaker 3: the Trump administration. And interestingly, and what I think is

140
00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,000
Speaker 3: a strong signal.

141
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:14,400
Speaker 2: Of the.

142
00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:17,560
Speaker 3: Of what these guys are trying to do. They have

143
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,840
Speaker 3: a staff and leadership and board of directors and group

144
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,200
Speaker 3: of advisors that are split between more conservative conservative people

145
00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 3: and liberal people. So they are being directed, they are

146
00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 3: being informed, and they are building their plans from this

147
00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,520
Speaker 3: bipartisan perspective. They have people with conservative ideas and liberal ideas.

148
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,200
Speaker 3: They've got people in the middle and all points in between.

149
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,640
Speaker 3: And I think that's a great idea. I think that's

150
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,000
Speaker 3: something that can lead to this thing actually working. And

151
00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,280
Speaker 3: because of all that you know, I've volunteered my perspectives

152
00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,839
Speaker 3: and ideas as a strategic.

153
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:53,840
Speaker 2: Advisor to their organizations.

154
00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,360
Speaker 3: So I'm going to be stepping in and helping and

155
00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:00,239
Speaker 3: hopefully being a voice for hunters and anglers within this organization,

156
00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:04,840
Speaker 3: making sure that our interests are well voiced and that

157
00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,360
Speaker 3: we can be doing good things for fish and wildlife

158
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,679
Speaker 3: and hunting and fishing and the natural world and all

159
00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:12,920
Speaker 3: those other things that we care so much about. So

160
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,480
Speaker 3: that is a long winded way of giving you the

161
00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,120
Speaker 3: background on how all this came to be, Why I'm

162
00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,680
Speaker 3: excited about having this conversation, why I'm excited about you

163
00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,560
Speaker 3: guys hearing this one today, because I think it will, hopefully,

164
00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,040
Speaker 3: you know, not only introduce you to this organization, but

165
00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,000
Speaker 3: also inspire you to think about things a little bit differently,

166
00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,360
Speaker 3: to think about ways that we can engage no matter

167
00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,640
Speaker 3: who our elective officials are, no matter who your neighbors are,

168
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,920
Speaker 3: no matter who the people are down the road. With

169
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,920
Speaker 3: a different flag flying, right, I've got some flags in

170
00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,959
Speaker 3: my neighborhood that say nasty things about the past president.

171
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,200
Speaker 3: I've got some flags flying in my neighborhood that say

172
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:49,120
Speaker 3: nasty things about.

173
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:49,720
Speaker 2: The current president.

174
00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,120
Speaker 3: I'm going to engage with any in all of them

175
00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:55,959
Speaker 3: because I care a lot about these things that we're

176
00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:59,520
Speaker 3: here to talk about today, hunting, fishing, fish, wildlife, public lands,

177
00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,080
Speaker 3: the natural and I'm going to do anything I can,

178
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:03,960
Speaker 3: and I would hope that a lot of you listening

179
00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 3: would do to help those causes, regardless of whatever political

180
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,200
Speaker 3: situation we're in. That's what we're going to discuss today.

181
00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,280
Speaker 3: And as I promised last week during our podcast with Kel,

182
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:20,199
Speaker 3: that discussion with me and Ryan was all about defense.

183
00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,480
Speaker 3: How do we play defense for public lands and the environment, again,

184
00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:25,840
Speaker 3: regardless of who's in office.

185
00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:26,640
Speaker 2: How do we make.

186
00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,160
Speaker 3: Sure that our elected officials are held accountable for potentially

187
00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:32,840
Speaker 3: concerning or bad decisions when it comes to our environment

188
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,840
Speaker 3: or public lands. Now, today we're going to take the

189
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,240
Speaker 3: opposite approach, which is how do we go on the offensive.

190
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,319
Speaker 3: This is something that thinks really cool about what Benji

191
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,720
Speaker 3: and Benn are doing. They're going to find ways they

192
00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:46,960
Speaker 3: can move the ball forward. What are the wins that

193
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,400
Speaker 3: we can find rather than raising red flags, rather than

194
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,880
Speaker 3: raising concerns which are important, again, no matter who's in office,

195
00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,079
Speaker 3: they are important. And other organizations and individuals can do that.

196
00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,280
Speaker 3: But Nature's non partisan is to take the approach of Okay,

197
00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:03,960
Speaker 3: let's figure out what can get done and let's move

198
00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,480
Speaker 3: that forward, no matter who we have to work with,

199
00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,800
Speaker 3: let's get something good done. So that's we discuss. We

200
00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:14,520
Speaker 3: dive into some specific opportunities, some specific places and ways

201
00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,040
Speaker 3: that you know, the natural world and the environment and

202
00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,120
Speaker 3: maybe public lands and wildlife can can get some wins

203
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,520
Speaker 3: over the next few years if we all do our

204
00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,640
Speaker 3: job and inform our elected officials of what our priorities

205
00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,559
Speaker 3: are and how these can help the administration achieve theirs.

206
00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:33,880
Speaker 3: That's we discussed. So this is going to be a positive, optimistic,

207
00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,200
Speaker 3: forward thinking conversation about how we can get good stuff

208
00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:40,719
Speaker 3: done these next four years, and then no matter who

209
00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,760
Speaker 3: wins the next election, we're going to keep the ball

210
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,680
Speaker 3: moving forward. And we're going to do that by bringing

211
00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,480
Speaker 3: conservatives and liberals and independence altogether on the things we

212
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,120
Speaker 3: can agree on and the things we can move forward

213
00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,120
Speaker 3: to make sure that we have fish, that we have wildlife,

214
00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,959
Speaker 3: that we have clean air, clean water, open public lands

215
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 3: and everything we all we need to keep this incredible

216
00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:04,760
Speaker 3: set of traditions that.

217
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,320
Speaker 2: We have thriving and available for all.

218
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,440
Speaker 3: Of us into the future, as well as a healthy

219
00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:11,360
Speaker 3: planet for all of us and our kids to live

220
00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:12,160
Speaker 3: on too.

221
00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,360
Speaker 2: Is that that much to ask for? I think not so.

222
00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:20,320
Speaker 3: Without any further ado, I like to introduce you to

223
00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:29,880
Speaker 3: Benji Backer and Ben Cassidy of Nature is Nonpartisan. All

224
00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,880
Speaker 3: right with me on the line, We've got Benji Backer

225
00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:37,600
Speaker 3: and Ben Cassidy. Welcome to the show, gentlemen.

226
00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 4: It's great to be here. Yeah, thanks for having us. Mark.

227
00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,400
Speaker 3: I'm excited about this one because, as both of you

228
00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:47,840
Speaker 3: had to hear from at one point on the phone,

229
00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,440
Speaker 3: as I rattled on about my thoughts around this topic,

230
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:56,160
Speaker 3: I have long wanted there to be a more bipartisan

231
00:12:56,240 --> 00:13:02,800
Speaker 3: movement or nonpartisan movement around the natural world, the environment, hunting, fishing,

232
00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,160
Speaker 3: public lands, all that kind of stuff. And it just

233
00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:08,559
Speaker 3: seems like it's been too long since that's been the case.

234
00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:13,640
Speaker 3: So I will open by saying thank you, I'm excited,

235
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:20,360
Speaker 3: and then to you, why why now? Why In this

236
00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:24,760
Speaker 3: moment when the world seems more polarized than ever, the news,

237
00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:29,760
Speaker 3: the social media, everything seems like a constant fire alarm.

238
00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,160
Speaker 3: There are a lot of legitimate things going on that

239
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,040
Speaker 3: are caused for questions and debate and discussion and all

240
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:42,439
Speaker 3: that stuff. But it's a moment where maybe some people

241
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,640
Speaker 3: might think, why in the world would you try to

242
00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,000
Speaker 3: launch something of this right now? So that's my question

243
00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,600
Speaker 3: to you, I guess to start Benji's is why this

244
00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:51,400
Speaker 3: right now?

245
00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,640
Speaker 5: Well, I think the why is more important than ever before.

246
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,440
Speaker 5: I feel like, you know, the division that we're seeing,

247
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:01,160
Speaker 5: the polarization that we're seeing, is the exact reason why

248
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,000
Speaker 5: we need this organization. I mean, you go back to history,

249
00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,360
Speaker 5: you look at the environment, and it was not caught

250
00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,640
Speaker 5: up in culture wars. You know, it transcended that. We

251
00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,240
Speaker 5: always use the statistic, but seventy eight percent of Americans

252
00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 5: self identified as environmentalists in nineteen ninety seventy eight percent,

253
00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:21,320
Speaker 5: and today it's less than forty percent, and it's decreasing.

254
00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:23,880
Speaker 5: And that's because the issue is being caught up in

255
00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,880
Speaker 5: partisanship for far too long. And the reality is when

256
00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:30,160
Speaker 5: you have that ping pong back and forth of like

257
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,800
Speaker 5: extreme right versus extreme left on any issue, but especially

258
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:38,320
Speaker 5: the environment, you don't get good results. Either get radical

259
00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,880
Speaker 5: results that are undone by the next you know, governor

260
00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,000
Speaker 5: or president or Congress, or you just don't get any

261
00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:48,320
Speaker 5: action whatsoever. And our environment deserves better than partisan politics.

262
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,320
Speaker 5: Our environment deserves better than culture wars. Our environment deserves

263
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,880
Speaker 5: better than being ineffective every time that a preferred candidate

264
00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:00,520
Speaker 5: wins or loses an election. And the reality is is that,

265
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,880
Speaker 5: like you know, we're in this moment of extreme division.

266
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,120
Speaker 5: No one thinks that it's possible for us to come

267
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,600
Speaker 5: together on any issue, let alone the environment. But this

268
00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:12,240
Speaker 5: is an issue where we can do it. We're going

269
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,400
Speaker 5: to prove all those people wrong, and we're going to

270
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,760
Speaker 5: show maybe you know, politicians and others, that there's an

271
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,800
Speaker 5: incentive in doing the right thing. What we're going to

272
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:24,280
Speaker 5: do with Nature is nonpartisan. Is build the largest non

273
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,360
Speaker 5: partisan environmental organization that America has ever seen. We are

274
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,880
Speaker 5: going to evenly split everything that we do conservative to liberals.

275
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,120
Speaker 5: So for every conservative we have involved, we'll have a

276
00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:37,360
Speaker 5: liberal person involved. Our grassroots based that we recruit will

277
00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 5: be similar to that, because when you have a evenly split,

278
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,600
Speaker 5: truly nonpartisan group, you can actually forge the change you want.

279
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,720
Speaker 5: You can actually get realistic solutions, and you don't leave

280
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 5: people off the table. You know, for so long on

281
00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,120
Speaker 5: this issue, conservatives have felt targeted by top down government

282
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,520
Speaker 5: regulation and like coastal elites telling them what to do.

283
00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,240
Speaker 5: For far too long, liberals have felt left behind by

284
00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,360
Speaker 5: conservatives not even being at the table whatsoever, and basically

285
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,840
Speaker 5: just trying to undo everything that the left has done,

286
00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,240
Speaker 5: like neither side is being productive. We're wanting to change

287
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,400
Speaker 5: that incentive structure, and we're gonna make nature a nonpartisan

288
00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,080
Speaker 5: issue again. And that includes environment, that includes conservation, that

289
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:21,800
Speaker 5: includes all these adjacent issues that have been unnecessarily wrapped

290
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,160
Speaker 5: up in this And the time couldn't be more perfect

291
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,040
Speaker 5: for this because of how polarizing it is.

292
00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 4: That's why we're starting this.

293
00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,920
Speaker 5: The last thing I'll say on this is, you know,

294
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,840
Speaker 5: I don't need to start a nonprofit. I've already started

295
00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:36,280
Speaker 5: one which we can get into Like that's I didn't

296
00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,400
Speaker 5: have a dream of starting a second nonprofit. This is

297
00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,440
Speaker 5: this is truly to fill avoid that exists. This is

298
00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:43,720
Speaker 5: the this is the necessary time. It probably should have

299
00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,600
Speaker 5: been started five or ten years ago, but we need

300
00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,440
Speaker 5: to move fast to make this issue nonpartisan. And someone's

301
00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,800
Speaker 5: got to do it. And why not the team of Ben,

302
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,960
Speaker 5: Benji Mark and everyone else that's involved.

303
00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,280
Speaker 3: Well what about you, Ben, what's your take on this?

304
00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 3: Because you came from you know, previous successful positions as well.

305
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,760
Speaker 3: You didn't have to get yourself all tangled up and

306
00:17:04,600 --> 00:17:07,320
Speaker 3: try to somehow balance the thoughts and ideas and voices

307
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,399
Speaker 3: of liberals and conservatives and you know, everyone in between.

308
00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:12,280
Speaker 3: That doesn't seem like an easy way to spend your

309
00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:14,000
Speaker 3: days as a father, no.

310
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:15,919
Speaker 5: But I mean it matters with the father right for

311
00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,400
Speaker 5: the next generation and kind of just build off of

312
00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,879
Speaker 5: what Benji was saying and being in Washington, d C.

313
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,639
Speaker 5: I've traveled all over the country. I mean there is

314
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,560
Speaker 5: an extreme disconnect I would say between you know, what

315
00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,520
Speaker 5: people are saying and thinking and decisions that are being

316
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,879
Speaker 5: made in d C. I think that right now, a

317
00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,560
Speaker 5: lot of the dialogue or environments kind of held hostage

318
00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,119
Speaker 5: by a vocal minority. I think it ends up working

319
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,959
Speaker 5: to the detriment of the environment and just seeing you know,

320
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,200
Speaker 5: since the last you know, since the start of the year,

321
00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:50,480
Speaker 5: getting involved with nature, conpartisan, joining the team, just seeing

322
00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,720
Speaker 5: from people how excited they are to have a place

323
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,119
Speaker 5: to land, a place where you know, the conversation can have.

324
00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:59,960
Speaker 5: I feel like this, you know, right now, there's a

325
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,239
Speaker 5: there's a cultural movement where people want to roll up

326
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,920
Speaker 5: their sleeves. They don't mind the hard work. They'll have

327
00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,960
Speaker 5: those conversations to find a path forward. And that was

328
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,240
Speaker 5: really you know, my drive for this is I love

329
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,879
Speaker 5: being able to facilitate that wide spectrum of folks that

330
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,880
Speaker 5: care about something right to a level where it's they'll

331
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,959
Speaker 5: put differences aside and they'll work towards it. I mean

332
00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:25,439
Speaker 5: my background comes the thing, you know, sportsman, and I

333
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,480
Speaker 5: always say it as a jug, would mean it's seriously too.

334
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,040
Speaker 5: It's like nobody can love the land, nobody loves wildlife

335
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:32,960
Speaker 5: more than a sportsman. You can love it as much

336
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,720
Speaker 5: as we do, but you can't love it more. And

337
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,280
Speaker 5: with that though, I have those conversations and like Betty said,

338
00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:41,600
Speaker 5: like the team we have is made up of the

339
00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:45,600
Speaker 5: full like political backgrounds. Right, I'm a conservative, we have

340
00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,440
Speaker 5: folks on the team that are liberal. And it's been

341
00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,480
Speaker 5: just amazing to just have just the daily interactions talking

342
00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:55,800
Speaker 5: about what you know, ties us to nature, what inspires us,

343
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,880
Speaker 5: and then to just have in the like the culture

344
00:18:57,920 --> 00:18:59,919
Speaker 5: of our team and just like this clear eyed vis

345
00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,160
Speaker 5: you know this needs to be done and we will

346
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 5: lead by example on it. And I really just command

347
00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:08,719
Speaker 5: Benji for you know, really really taking the mantle with this,

348
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,119
Speaker 5: and it's inspiring to see, you know, what it's building

349
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:12,960
Speaker 5: in terms of support.

350
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,639
Speaker 4: So I would say, you know, there's never been a

351
00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:16,400
Speaker 4: better time.

352
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:20,199
Speaker 5: Or or onto that bend like it's this is not easy,

353
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,040
Speaker 5: like even internally, you know, then we can admit, like

354
00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 5: it's not always easy having these conversations. It's actually very uncomfortable.

355
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,760
Speaker 5: But that doesn't happen anymore, right, Like we used to

356
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,080
Speaker 5: debate solutions and actually come to some sort of uh, compromise,

357
00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,000
Speaker 5: such a bad word these days, so I you know,

358
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,639
Speaker 5: whatever synonym that is, but we used to come to

359
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,280
Speaker 5: some sort of compromise. I know, I wish, I wish

360
00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,040
Speaker 5: compromise was not a dirty word. But we used to

361
00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,119
Speaker 5: be able to do that and strike some sort of balance.

362
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,080
Speaker 5: We're doing that every single day on our team. Our board,

363
00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:54,919
Speaker 5: like we have former Trump cabinet members and Obama Biden

364
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,439
Speaker 5: people on the same board. Uh, Sierra Club and Trump

365
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 5: on the same board. Like it's it's from people on

366
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,080
Speaker 5: the same board. It's it's but people like, how does

367
00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,080
Speaker 5: that work? It must be just absolutely nuts, I mean

368
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:06,840
Speaker 5: that must be. It was so funny on our last

369
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:11,199
Speaker 5: board call. You know, we had the former you know,

370
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,280
Speaker 5: Conservative leaders and the Sierra Club you know, former Sierra

371
00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 5: Club CEO all agreeing on something on the same call.

372
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:18,879
Speaker 5: And it's just like these sorts of things are, aren't.

373
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,480
Speaker 5: People don't realize how possible they are. But even when

374
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,840
Speaker 5: they're not, it's not some kumbay a bridge building thing

375
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,320
Speaker 5: for the sake of like building good relationships with each

376
00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,720
Speaker 5: other because we want to be happy. It's like, no,

377
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 5: this is to get things done. It's uncomfortable. There's some

378
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,000
Speaker 5: really tough conversations we've got to have. But if we're

379
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,720
Speaker 5: going to protect all of America, which includes rural communities

380
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,720
Speaker 5: and urban communities, which includes national parks and private lands,

381
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:47,199
Speaker 5: which includes state parks and wildlife corridors, which includes farmers

382
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,119
Speaker 5: and ranchers and people living in downtown New York City,

383
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,200
Speaker 5: if we're going to you know, protect all those places,

384
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,200
Speaker 5: conserve all those places, all those different people have to

385
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,359
Speaker 5: be represented in the environmental dialogue that hasn't happened in

386
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,120
Speaker 5: so long. So let's get uncomfortable, let's be a little

387
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 5: bit out of our element. Let's put unlikely people together

388
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 5: because it might not be easy, but we're going to

389
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,240
Speaker 5: be able to actually get some things done and put

390
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,640
Speaker 5: other issues aside to find a common goal.

391
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's I guess I refer to it as a

392
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:22,640
Speaker 3: radically practical mindset where you need to set aside maybe

393
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:28,919
Speaker 3: labels or identity or political party or whatever other identifier

394
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,280
Speaker 3: you want and simply look at, hey, what's going to

395
00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:33,680
Speaker 3: move the ball forward? What's going to get us closer

396
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 3: to the goal line? And to your point, oftentimes it

397
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,800
Speaker 3: means a little bit of give and take, open communication,

398
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,920
Speaker 3: recognize and what our shared values are.

399
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 2: And oftentimes if.

400
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,720
Speaker 3: You just push away and push aside all of these

401
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 3: other preconceived notions. I'm sure you guys are seeing this

402
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 3: within your own organization. You start to realize, oh, hey,

403
00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:55,480
Speaker 3: we might not be able to do everything we all

404
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:57,520
Speaker 3: want to do, but we could probably move forward on

405
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 3: seventy five percent of it and we'll get the faster

406
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 3: more effectively together. But you know, you bring up one

407
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 3: of the major questions that I had for you, which is,

408
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 3: given all of that, given that that is all what

409
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:12,399
Speaker 3: we all three at least believe to be true, the

410
00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 3: how is you know, the devil's in the details, right,

411
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:21,879
Speaker 3: So internally, how are you guys negotiating and navigating some

412
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 3: of the specifics around Hey, are we going to support

413
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,680
Speaker 3: this thing or this thing? You know, do we want

414
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 3: to be against this thing and against that thing? Or like,

415
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,360
Speaker 3: how are you handling how? What I guess what I'm

416
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 3: getting at is help us all learn to better work

417
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 3: with folks that are different from us. What have you

418
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:40,200
Speaker 3: guys learned about that?

419
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 4: Well?

420
00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 5: I think first of all, it's setting the intent. It's

421
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,359
Speaker 5: a really important question. And if we practice code, we'd

422
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 5: be billionaires. And you know, teaching people how to work

423
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,040
Speaker 5: with each other and solving people's marriages and you know

424
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,880
Speaker 5: Thanksgiving dinners that they can't count their families at.

425
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:54,920
Speaker 4: Like, so we haven't.

426
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,879
Speaker 5: Figured you know, fully figured it out. But what I

427
00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 5: will say is that one thing that going to differentiate

428
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 5: us that people are going to notice is that we

429
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 5: are explicitly going to be four things. That is, that

430
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:08,760
Speaker 5: is what nature is. Nonpartisan is meant to be. There's

431
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 5: enough groups pushing back, there's legal entities, there's litigation, there's

432
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 5: you know, tac ads, all that stuff. It's easier to

433
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 5: raise money for that stuff. Believe me, I could easily

434
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,120
Speaker 5: raise more money for a nonprofit if we did that

435
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 5: we are going to be four things because it's easier

436
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,560
Speaker 5: to bring people together and get historic change done when

437
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,919
Speaker 5: you're working for something rather than against something, and you

438
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 5: can actually build constituencies that way, and over the long.

439
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:34,640
Speaker 4: Haul, it actually gets more done.

440
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,439
Speaker 5: I understand that there are bad things that happen, right Benji,

441
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 5: why would you why would you not at least oppose

442
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 5: some of the most horrific things possible. Well, the reality

443
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 5: is if we constantly are opposing things, it's distracting us

444
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,439
Speaker 5: from the time that we could spend being four things.

445
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,439
Speaker 5: And it's also burning bridges in the short term and

446
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,560
Speaker 5: in the long term rather than building bridges for the

447
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 5: long term. And so that's that's a huge differentiator. The

448
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:00,679
Speaker 5: other differentiator is that we're not trying to aim for

449
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 5: some big, like one goal, right, Like we're not saying

450
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 5: we need a green new deal or we need to

451
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 5: you know, undo that a green new deal. Right It's like,

452
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,639
Speaker 5: we don't have like one specific policy goal. We're saying, Okay,

453
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:19,000
Speaker 5: it's twenty twenty five, it's it's March. You know, what

454
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,440
Speaker 5: is the best opportunity for us to make the most

455
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,719
Speaker 5: impact on a policy level? Right now that we can

456
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,439
Speaker 5: advocate for that Americans agree on that will be that

457
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,440
Speaker 5: will look different in two years than it does right now,

458
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 5: depending on who's president, depending on who's in Congress, and

459
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 5: depending on who's the governor. Right, So, let's take the

460
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 5: current moment we're in and try to maximize the amount

461
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 5: of outcome that we can get. So you the good

462
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 5: example of this at the federal level. You know, you've

463
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 5: got a president who invested in national parks his last term,

464
00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,400
Speaker 5: who talks about clean air and clean water, who talks

465
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,760
Speaker 5: about the importance of you know, outdoor recreation, and talks

466
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 5: about the importance of farmers.

467
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 4: Right, take take some of that.

468
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 5: You look at you've got Republicans in congres, risks with

469
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:01,440
Speaker 5: slim majorities.

470
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 4: Take that.

471
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,719
Speaker 5: Now, within those realities, what could you get done on

472
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 5: a bipartisan basis That will be different if you know,

473
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 5: you know, Kamala would have won in twenty twenty four

474
00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 5: and Republicans have the Senate and Democrats at the House

475
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 5: or something. So trying to maximize the moment you're in,

476
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,040
Speaker 5: no matter who's in office, and being four things has

477
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,719
Speaker 5: been a huge unifier for our team because it allows

478
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,399
Speaker 5: us to say, you know, we can disagree on X,

479
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 5: Y or Z, but eighty percent of Americans want action

480
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:38,199
Speaker 5: on protecting national parks and restoring you know, parklands. We

481
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,360
Speaker 5: as a team believe that too. Let's go and fight

482
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 5: for that. So that's that's the sort of a.

483
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:44,600
Speaker 2: Proach of the app that makes a lot of sense.

484
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 2: Then would you add anything there?

485
00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:59,399
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would just say, you know, from like, I

486
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 5: would lean on my past experience in working with you know,

487
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 5: different groups to find common ground to work towards.

488
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 4: And it goes a lot to to what Benji is saying.

489
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 5: But you know, I previously worked at Department of the Interior, right,

490
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 5: and I pretty quickly saw that you're gonna have to

491
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:20,120
Speaker 5: have full like buy in from conspectum. You're not gonna

492
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 5: get full buy in, but you have to have it

493
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,920
Speaker 5: reflective of just like the American people and the variety

494
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 5: of opinions there. And you know, I approached it with

495
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,760
Speaker 5: the baseline of hey, like baseline, we all agree that

496
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,880
Speaker 5: we want healthier environment, we all want more abundant.

497
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,880
Speaker 4: Wildlife, we want restored ecosystems.

498
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 5: And then I would kind of speed date with a

499
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 5: lot of you know, these large legacy NGOs and say, okay,

500
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 5: speed date. You know, I want to meet with everybody

501
00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,399
Speaker 5: top five priorities, you know, lay them out and I

502
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 5: kind of like cross reference them and see where the

503
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 5: common ground was, you know, and a lot of that

504
00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,560
Speaker 5: would lead to good legacy wins that people you know

505
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 5: that you wouldn't expect to be celebrating together were celebrating together.

506
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 5: I talk about, you know, like a great American outdoors

507
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 5: act or you know one that I'm super fond of

508
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,479
Speaker 5: his migration corridors, right, I mean, there's very different approach.

509
00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:08,640
Speaker 5: There's a very different approach to migration corridors though.

510
00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 3: Right.

511
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,399
Speaker 5: You could have a land designation, or you could have

512
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,239
Speaker 5: states kind of lead and you know, private landowners and

513
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 5: state authorities and all the different federal agencies working together.

514
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,440
Speaker 5: And we got to a place where Secretary Order of

515
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 5: thirty three sixty two was signed that everybody was signing.

516
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:26,159
Speaker 4: Was it perfect for both sides?

517
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 6: No?

518
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 4: I mean they're sure.

519
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 5: There were cattlemen that we're seeing black helicopters on it,

520
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 5: but not trusting as seeing it as a land grab.

521
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 5: There were folks saying this ought to be a land grab.

522
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 5: It's not a land grab, you know, But at the

523
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,360
Speaker 5: middle and the actual majority was saying like, wow, this

524
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 5: is awesome, and it was really cool. You know, when

525
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,399
Speaker 5: when Biden came into office and he put out his

526
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,679
Speaker 5: Executive Order on America the Beautiful, that was one item

527
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,400
Speaker 5: that carried over, you know, it was celebrated in there.

528
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 5: It was a Trump initiative that then became, you know,

529
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 5: a Biden initiative, and I you know, we see Congressman

530
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 5: Ryan zing Key introducing legislation on and trying to codify

531
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 5: and put more money into it. So it's wins like that,

532
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 5: and like where those start though, are in the conversations

533
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 5: across the board, not just with your friends, but also

534
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 5: folks that you know, you normally don't talk to. They

535
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 5: kind of just try to suss out where the common

536
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 5: ground is.

537
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, in something you mentioned, Benji, I think is is

538
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 3: really important back to kind of the practicality of a

539
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 3: lot of this, and that being the fact that when

540
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 3: certain initiatives get pushed through, especially by executive action, in

541
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 3: if they are far to one side or the other,

542
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,880
Speaker 3: they tend to have this pendulum swing where something gets

543
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 3: put in place and then a year later or two

544
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,240
Speaker 3: years later, it's gone, and then a new administration comes

545
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 3: in and then something else is put in place, and

546
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 3: then nothing really happens because it's just yo yoing back

547
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,640
Speaker 3: and forth. But you know, when you find things like

548
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,959
Speaker 3: that example right there, Ben that has support on both sides,

549
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 3: it can be enduring and that's where real change actually happens.

550
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 3: And I mean, you know, from all sides, there's some

551
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 3: ideas that I wish got introduced and stuck around. I'll

552
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 3: be bummed at some things disappear, and then there's other

553
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 3: things like, hey, this is a great idea, and there's

554
00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 3: always going to be some of that no matter what.

555
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 2: But all it's said.

556
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 3: The next I think natural question then is because this

557
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 3: idea sounds great in practice, the perspective, the aim, the

558
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 3: approach makes a whole hell of a lot of sense.

559
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 3: But I'm curious about how this actually happens. How do

560
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:34,239
Speaker 3: we influence folks, elected officials or whoever else we need

561
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,920
Speaker 3: to be talking to to get some of these things done.

562
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 3: What is the nature is nonpartisan playbook? And I'm not

563
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 3: looking for the specific opportunities right now, like I don't

564
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 3: want to talk about this particular bill or that particular proposal,

565
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 3: But what's like in your toolbox to influence whether it's

566
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:54,640
Speaker 3: the Trump administration right now, or if it's someone new

567
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 3: four years from now or ten years from now, whoever

568
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 3: it is, whatever party, what's the toolbock box that you

569
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 3: guys are bringing to the table.

570
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 4: It's a really good question.

571
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 5: I think I would start out by saying, we want

572
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 5: to make it cool in American politics to work across

573
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 5: the isle on this stuff. You know, we want to

574
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 5: show politicians that they will be rewarded by working across

575
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,640
Speaker 5: the aisle. We want to celebrate bipartisan wins. We want

576
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 5: to have cool celebrities and influencers that people look up

577
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 5: to engage. We want to have really amazing content and

578
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,520
Speaker 5: kind of a brand that people want to identify with,

579
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 5: an optimistic, forward looking, truly you know, a brand that

580
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 5: people in America are proud to identify with that they

581
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 5: care about the environment. And just show politicians because right

582
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 5: now they're incentive is to divide, right, their incentives to

583
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 5: go on social media and say these great new deal

584
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,520
Speaker 5: radicals are coming for your land, or you know, these

585
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 5: people are trying to drill on national parks and you know,

586
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 5: take away all all of the environment that we have

587
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 5: right like that, that's really those are the two messages

588
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 5: that are incentivized. Right now, let's create a third incentive

589
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 5: and incentive to get things.

590
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 4: It's done.

591
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 5: So we want to make it cool to be pro

592
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,959
Speaker 5: environment from a nonpartisan way it used to be. And

593
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 5: I think that it's partially a branding thing. The other

594
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 5: thing that I think, you know, the tactic we're going

595
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,000
Speaker 5: to use is really be a proxy for the entire

596
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 5: conservation and environmental community. We have a goal by the

597
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 5: end of this year to be the main driver of

598
00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:28,920
Speaker 5: connecting people to other NGOs that are doing the on

599
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 5: the ground work that people want to get involved with.

600
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 5: You know, I think about my peer group of you know,

601
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,880
Speaker 5: millennial gen z, I'm kind of a sillennial or whatever

602
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 5: they say. You know, people are really interested in getting

603
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 5: involved on this issue. They have zero idea where to start.

604
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,720
Speaker 5: If you search local conservation group on Google, you're going

605
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,800
Speaker 5: to have eighty five different options. So we're going to

606
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 5: build out a system software where people can very easily

607
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,400
Speaker 5: get tailored to a nonprofit that is relevant for their geography,

608
00:31:56,720 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 5: for whatever interest they have, whatever politically they have, whatever

609
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 5: you know, topic whatever. That that will be really helpful

610
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 5: because a will be able to be a proxy for

611
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 5: all these other NGOs that are doing great work, largely

612
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 5: at the local level, but some of the national level too.

613
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 5: But we'll also be able to maximize people's impact if

614
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 5: they're interested in being involved. You know, you look at

615
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,960
Speaker 5: these like Nature Conservancy or Zero Club or these traditional NGOs,

616
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 5: they have millions of members, but they don't actually do

617
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,120
Speaker 5: anything about it. And so our goal is to make

618
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 5: it super easy for people to be active in the

619
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 5: environmental community. So we want to make it cool, and

620
00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 5: we also want to make it easy to be active.

621
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 5: And you know, at the end of the day, politicians

622
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 5: react to fear and incentives, and we're not going to

623
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 5: play the fear game, but we do want to show

624
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 5: them that there's you know, by the end of this year,

625
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 5: we said a million Americans we want in our network.

626
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 5: Whether that's a million, ten million, you know, or all

627
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 5: you know, a few hundred million that live in this country.

628
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 5: We want people to in Congress to realize that there

629
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 5: is a huge constituency out there that will support them.

630
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 5: But the other thing is most people don't even know

631
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 5: when something good happens, right Like most people out maybe

632
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,520
Speaker 5: the people listening to this to but the great American

633
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 5: Outdoors Act. Most people have no idea that that happened.

634
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 5: Most people have no idea that President Biden worked with

635
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 5: Republicans on a pro nuclear policy last you know, last year. Like,

636
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 5: those ideas don't sell, So in while we're building out

637
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 5: our organization, we're also going to sell these big bipartisan

638
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,960
Speaker 5: wins so that people can actually hear about them and

639
00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:36,360
Speaker 5: and be the sounding board for good news on the environment,

640
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 5: not just for the sake of selling good news, but

641
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 5: for the sake of rewarding people who deserve to be

642
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 5: rewarded for doing the right thing.

643
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you mentioned this earlier, and I think right

644
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 3: there it's worth bringing up again the fact that you know,

645
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 3: there is this need for celebrating wins and for celebrating

646
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 3: the potential and the opportunities. And there's also a need

647
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:57,240
Speaker 3: for accountability.

648
00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:57,480
Speaker 5: Right.

649
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,440
Speaker 3: You need the other side. You need folks to play

650
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 3: defense or call a beta s babe. I think it's

651
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 3: important for the general public to do both, right. I

652
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 3: think as an individual citizen, at least I personally feel

653
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 3: a responsibility to talk to whoever my lawmakers are and

654
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 3: say yes, I love this, no, don't love that so much.

655
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 3: I think that's important, But from an organizational standpoint, I

656
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,439
Speaker 3: think it makes a lot of sense seeing that there's

657
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 3: this opportunity, there's this vacuum where there's not a lot

658
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 3: of people, you know, incentivizing doing the right thing. There's

659
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,080
Speaker 3: just a lot of the fear based thing which you mentioned,

660
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 3: and that that's kind of covered. We've got organizations that

661
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 3: are doing that on both sides in their own different way.

662
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,439
Speaker 3: So I'm glad that there's someone here who can fill

663
00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 3: that void. Now to you, ben as a follow up

664
00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 3: to what Benji was just discussing, to this toolbox, what

665
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,719
Speaker 3: levers are you guys gonna pull? What tools do you

666
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,799
Speaker 3: have at your disposal? I'm curious about that. And then

667
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,319
Speaker 3: also a little bit more around your maybe around like

668
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 3: a theory of influence. Because you worked within the previous administration,

669
00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:00,920
Speaker 3: You've seen this from the inside, and I'm curious about

670
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 3: what you guys can do now given your experience and

671
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:06,959
Speaker 3: what you've seen, and also having people on your board

672
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 3: who have you know, worked with both nonprofits and previous

673
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,920
Speaker 3: administrations and different things like that, how do you become

674
00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 3: the most influential, you know, conservation organization in this kind

675
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:17,879
Speaker 3: of way?

676
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,720
Speaker 2: What actually creates change.

677
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:23,920
Speaker 6: Ah, that's a great, great, great question.

678
00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 5: UH would say, you know, I think that the opportunity

679
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 5: that lays in front of us is showing folks that

680
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 5: when a president comes in, regardless who the president is,

681
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 5: it doesn't mean that for a certain segment of population

682
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 5: that the switch is on or off. There's always opportunity

683
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 5: that there's willing folks and organizations that are out there

684
00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:50,240
Speaker 5: right now that are always going to have the approach

685
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,359
Speaker 5: to be constructive and not obstructive. They're going to look

686
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,600
Speaker 5: for avenues to work through whatever the political makeup is

687
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,320
Speaker 5: to get our issues across. I think that the onus

688
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,320
Speaker 5: is on us to show that this is the winning issue.

689
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 5: But I have all the faith in the world that

690
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 5: it is just based off of again, where people stand

691
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 5: on the issues and the coalition that we have in place.

692
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 5: You know, first say like this current administration. You know,

693
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,720
Speaker 5: I make the point all the time, it's not mincing

694
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 5: its words. They'll say what their number one priority is

695
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 5: and they'll say energy dominance. That could be argued about elsewhere.

696
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 5: But I also point out that you know, this isn't new.

697
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:34,279
Speaker 5: It was also the top priority during the first term, right.

698
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 5: But what I point out is even if that being

699
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,920
Speaker 5: a top priority, it kind of plays out in the

700
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 5: multiple use sort of fashion where you end up having

701
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 5: a lot of conservation wins happen at the same time.

702
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 5: So I challenge folks that care about you know, nature

703
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 5: and the environment and conserving it for future generations to

704
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:55,280
Speaker 5: really take the opportunity.

705
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:59,680
Speaker 6: To express their voice and finding ways to be able

706
00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 6: to secure those wins during this period of time because

707
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,399
Speaker 6: it's happened before and we can do it even better

708
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:07,240
Speaker 6: this time around.

709
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:12,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, it just seems why throw your hands up

710
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 3: and say, ah, you know, these next four years are

711
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,839
Speaker 3: gonna suck no matter who whatever, no matter what team

712
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 3: you're on, right whether you know you're happy with this

713
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 3: administration or not, it does not seem particularly productive in

714
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,440
Speaker 3: my view to say, well, everything's gonna go to hell.

715
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 4: I hadn't just add to that for a sacon Like.

716
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 5: I was on a call today with the potential funder

717
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,200
Speaker 5: and they were like, well, the first two months proved

718
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 5: that nothing is possible over the next four years. And

719
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 5: you know, that sort of thinking is so broken in

720
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,279
Speaker 5: American politics. That's like saying, Mark, because you had a

721
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,240
Speaker 5: bad morning today, you're gonna have a bad afternoon as well. Yeah,

722
00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,759
Speaker 5: you know, like, just because you don't like something that

723
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 5: someone did today doesn't mean that you can't get them

724
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 5: to do something that you want them to do tomorrow.

725
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 5: And it doesn't mean that you still can't call out

726
00:37:57,680 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 5: the thing that you didn't like today. I think, like, yeah,

727
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 5: you know, a really good example from from one of

728
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 5: my travels recently was I was in Florida speaking at

729
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:08,360
Speaker 5: an event with one of the most far left members

730
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,319
Speaker 5: of the state legislature, and she goes, I hate Ron

731
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 5: DeSantis on everything except for resiliency and conservation. I hate

732
00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 5: him on the other stuff, and and even within his

733
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:21,880
Speaker 5: own issue, you could dislike, you know, some of the

734
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,200
Speaker 5: stuff of it. But but you don't need to like

735
00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:27,399
Speaker 5: write everything off because you didn't like something that somebody did,

736
00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:30,239
Speaker 5: especially the first month or two of an administration. And

737
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 5: I and that's true for conservatives too. They do the

738
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 5: same thing when Democrats are in office. And you know,

739
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 5: those two things are are not mutually exclusive.

740
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:39,439
Speaker 2: Yah.

741
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:41,439
Speaker 4: Can I just piggyback on that real quick too?

742
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 5: I Mean, like, one thing that that I've learned, you know,

743
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:48,960
Speaker 5: having worked in and outside of government, is not to

744
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,880
Speaker 5: follow the assumption that an administration is a monolith and

745
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,200
Speaker 5: it all speaks with just one voice. I'll say, like,

746
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 5: during my time an interior I have some of the

747
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 5: most rewarding but difficult debates. I'm talking about bare knuckle

748
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:04,480
Speaker 5: brawls with other people that were also in the administration

749
00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 5: over policy issues, over land use issues. They're not all

750
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 5: just agreed on and resolved, right. These things are dynamic,

751
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,160
Speaker 5: They're happening in real time, and you know, they need

752
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 5: to be reflective of what people want because they're serving us.

753
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,120
Speaker 5: But yeah, a lot of folks would just think that

754
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:21,000
Speaker 5: it's just yeah, black or white, you.

755
00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 4: Know, red or blue.

756
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:25,040
Speaker 5: But a lot a lot of thought and fight goes

757
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 5: into it, and it's the onus is on us is

758
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 5: the community to have that voice at the table. If

759
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 5: you're not sitting at the table, you're served on the table,

760
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:32,840
Speaker 5: right Yeah.

761
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, So with that beautiful framing in mind, then with

762
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 3: us wanting to be sitting at the table and not

763
00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,880
Speaker 3: on the plate, let's talk about opportunities. Let's talk about

764
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 3: what is possible right now, because because yeah, I mean

765
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 3: there's a lot of people who think what you just said,

766
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 3: Benji is true, which is man, nothing great's going to

767
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:55,400
Speaker 3: happen for the environment right now because of the heavy

768
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 3: prioritization on development and energy in the economy and stuff

769
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,080
Speaker 3: like that, which of course is all is all important.

770
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:05,319
Speaker 3: Other people can debate that and the details there, but.

771
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, there have been.

772
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 3: Examples and various things proposed that seem concerning from environmental perspective.

773
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,440
Speaker 3: But there's certainly our opportunities to give me some good news,

774
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:19,880
Speaker 3: give me some some places where we can have wins

775
00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,359
Speaker 3: if we do our jobs, if you guys do what

776
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 3: you're gonna do, how do we turn frowns upside down?

777
00:40:26,480 --> 00:40:28,280
Speaker 3: What are the places where we can get those wins?

778
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it's a really good question because I mean,

779
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 5: since since the election was over, you know, we've been

780
00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 5: putting our heads together with unlikely stakeholders to figure out

781
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,080
Speaker 5: what the opportunities really are. And you know, it's no

782
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 5: secret that you know, and it's probably not popular for

783
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:45,000
Speaker 5: me to say this, but it definitely fits the bill

784
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 5: of the non partisan nature of our organization. I haven't

785
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 5: really enjoyed the last three elections and our options for president,

786
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:56,040
Speaker 5: and yet when the election was over, we were like, Okay,

787
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,239
Speaker 5: what can we make happen? Even though we haven't launched yet.

788
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 5: Even though we aren't organization. We had I think one

789
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 5: or two full time staff at the time. We barely

790
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 5: he created the legal entity, and so we started meeting

791
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,920
Speaker 5: with Democrats in the Senate, in the House, Republicans in

792
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:12,840
Speaker 5: the Senate, in the House, and the Trump administration to

793
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 5: figure out what those opportunities are. And there's actually a

794
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 5: significant amount there now, you know, again kind of ignoring

795
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,799
Speaker 5: everything that's already happened and all the noise and all

796
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 5: the rhetoric, President Trump did sign into law the last

797
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:31,799
Speaker 5: administration the largest investment international parks in recent history. He

798
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:35,440
Speaker 5: did block Bristol Bay from being developed from a mining perspective.

799
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 5: He had a lot of you know, involvement in Everglades

800
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:43,719
Speaker 5: restoration and other conservation. He want, he and his team

801
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:45,759
Speaker 5: want to build on that legacy. And of course you

802
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 5: can argue that he hasn't built on it during those

803
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:49,840
Speaker 5: first couple months of this year, you could argue that.

804
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,719
Speaker 5: But we are seeing substantial interest from the administration on

805
00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:59,920
Speaker 5: buying into a historic investment and wildlife protection, in eco

806
00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:05,880
Speaker 5: system restoration, in supporting farmers with sustainable agriculture, in you know,

807
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 5: cleaning our air, in our water. Obviously it's part of

808
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:13,839
Speaker 5: his messaging in supporting rural and urban communities in terms

809
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:17,040
Speaker 5: of having more you know, supported green space and barriers

810
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 5: against extreme storms, infrastructure for water. I mean, these are

811
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 5: like big things that that need action, right and so

812
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 5: climate people are going to be like, oh, that's not

813
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 5: good enough, and you know we're not you know, setting

814
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,759
Speaker 5: aside enough land and we're not you know, scaling clean

815
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 5: energy enough or whatever. And people on the right are

816
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 5: when this hopefully happens, which I think it will soon

817
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:40,160
Speaker 5: in terms of him unveiling this agenda, and I believe

818
00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:44,839
Speaker 5: that this will turn the discourse around as well. Whether

819
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 5: the discourse has been fair or not is up to

820
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:48,759
Speaker 5: you know, up to debate, probably on a case by

821
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 5: case basis. But like you know, this kind of he's

822
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,280
Speaker 5: tearing down everything for the environment I think will change

823
00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:56,960
Speaker 5: once we have you know, this very positive progress made.

824
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 5: But I mean, these are these are real issues that

825
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:03,080
Speaker 5: need to be so. I mean, our biodiversity is at

826
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:07,440
Speaker 5: risk increasingly more and more every single day. Our public

827
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,279
Speaker 5: lands are undermanaged and undervalued from a funding perspective, but

828
00:43:11,320 --> 00:43:15,759
Speaker 5: they also are probably overmanaged from a red tape perspective.

829
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:18,000
Speaker 5: For lack of better term, we call it green tape

830
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 5: to be able to actually go and manage those places

831
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:23,799
Speaker 5: and make sure that forest fires don't happen. I mean,

832
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 5: all these are big ideas that need attention that the

833
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,319
Speaker 5: President is willing to work on that. We've seen so

834
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 5: much interest on it, and it's genuine interest. It's not like,

835
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,560
Speaker 5: you know, a facade. They actually want to get this done.

836
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 4: Now. I'm not going to applaud that until.

837
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 5: It gets done, but I do want to just say,

838
00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,240
Speaker 5: and I hope that this is true once, once it happens,

839
00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:50,000
Speaker 5: If it happens. We've had so much interest from Democrat

840
00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 5: leaning organizations who say, look, I'm really upset with what's

841
00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:55,759
Speaker 5: going on on this issue and others, but we will

842
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,080
Speaker 5: be there to support that if that can happen, and

843
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 5: so many conserv who are like, thank goodness, we are

844
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:05,399
Speaker 5: so excited about having something to be for. People are

845
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,400
Speaker 5: excited about this, and you know, we're calling it make

846
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,000
Speaker 5: America Beautiful again. To also meet the moment and meet

847
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 5: people where they're at. And the people who matter in

848
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 5: this situation are the Republicans in leadership, and there's a

849
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,160
Speaker 5: real opportunity to kind of change the discourse. And if

850
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:24,040
Speaker 5: President Trump invested in this historic investment in all those

851
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 5: different issues that I just outlined, I think it would

852
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:31,800
Speaker 5: make a huge meaningful change in changing the narrative nationally

853
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 5: that this issue has to be partisan, because in so

854
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 5: many people's minds, he is the least likely to do it.

855
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,239
Speaker 5: I would argue that there's a lot of proof that

856
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 5: he is willing to engage on this stuff. But even

857
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 5: if you think that or not, him acting on this

858
00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:48,360
Speaker 5: with some Democrats, even just a few, would make a

859
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,920
Speaker 5: huge difference in changing the discourse of this for decades

860
00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 5: to come.

861
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:56,280
Speaker 3: I think yeah, And I think and you would hope

862
00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:00,960
Speaker 3: that if this happens that you would see that celebration

863
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,560
Speaker 3: from the other side too, right, because look, we were

864
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,560
Speaker 3: talking earlier. At least I'll speak for myself as an individual,

865
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:09,760
Speaker 3: I think it's important to call a spade a spade

866
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 3: when you're not happy with an elected official about something,

867
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 3: regardless of if it's a deer r but vice versa.

868
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 3: So hey, you know, if all of a sudden, we're

869
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 3: going to see the person that we don't think is

870
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:21,560
Speaker 3: going to do something good for clean air, water or

871
00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 3: the public plans or whatever. If they do Heck, yeah,

872
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 3: I don't care who does it. I don't care if

873
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,239
Speaker 3: you're wearing a rhetoric. I just want the thing. I

874
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,719
Speaker 3: just want the thing to get done. I think approaching

875
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 3: these things from an issue by issue perspective is so

876
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 3: much it makes a whole lot more sense than me

877
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 3: to me, then this, uh, you know, is my team

878
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:40,360
Speaker 3: in the lead or your team in the lead. I

879
00:45:40,360 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 3: don't think that's helping anyone that said the devil is

880
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,240
Speaker 3: in the details on this kind of stuff. So ben

881
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 3: can you speak in any more detail on some of

882
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 3: the specifics here, Like like Benji just said, Hey, we're

883
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,759
Speaker 3: getting interest from the current administration on doing good things

884
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 3: for wildlife or doing things for clean air and clean water,

885
00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 3: et cetera. Can you you know you are you in

886
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:09,240
Speaker 3: a position to speak to any specific you know, bills

887
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:11,799
Speaker 3: that might be getting some extra support if they were

888
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 3: to go forward on this or is there any you know,

889
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:18,839
Speaker 3: any proposal or executive order or or anything tangible that

890
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,000
Speaker 3: you guys are pushing for right now that you think

891
00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:23,720
Speaker 3: has a pathway to success in the near future.

892
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,399
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, I just backtracked to what Benji is saying too,

893
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:29,719
Speaker 5: and about meeting the moment, I would say, you know,

894
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 5: one thing that's going to happen during the next four

895
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:35,160
Speaker 5: years is the is the the two hundred and fiftieth birthday.

896
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:37,560
Speaker 5: I think like what that is going to do for

897
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 5: the country has really raised the conversation around patriotism, what

898
00:46:41,719 --> 00:46:44,319
Speaker 5: it means to be American, and I think a lot

899
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,360
Speaker 5: of people forget and it's a great time to re

900
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:50,279
Speaker 5: educate or educate folks on it is. You know, stewardship

901
00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 5: is American. It was a revolutionary what we did in

902
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,560
Speaker 5: this country when you go back to Teddy Roosevelt's legacy,

903
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 5: you know, in creating the National Park, to some wildlife refuges,

904
00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 5: just the North American model of conservation. These are some

905
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 5: of our greatest exports.

906
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 7: You know.

907
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,360
Speaker 5: I've traveled all over the world and talked to wildlife

908
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 5: management authorities and you know, they look to us as

909
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,520
Speaker 5: being that gold standard. And I really think it's a

910
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:18,040
Speaker 5: chance to you know, give the current state of things

911
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:20,840
Speaker 5: a silver eyed view of where issues need to be

912
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 5: addressed and then work towards solutions towards them. So in

913
00:47:25,239 --> 00:47:27,920
Speaker 5: terms of like specifics on policy, I'm not going to

914
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,200
Speaker 5: dictate them, you know, from our perch but we're going

915
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 5: to find that common ground policies to move forward on.

916
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,800
Speaker 5: I would say, you know, starting points though, would be

917
00:47:35,880 --> 00:47:38,440
Speaker 5: building off of successes that we saw in the in

918
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:42,240
Speaker 5: the last administration that carried through this administration. I would

919
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:48,560
Speaker 5: also look at, you know, natural solutions to a lot

920
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,160
Speaker 5: of the crisis that we face. Now you know where

921
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:53,680
Speaker 5: nature turns on us in a way, you know, in

922
00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:57,760
Speaker 5: a superpower sort of sense, is dangerous talking about like wildfires.

923
00:47:57,800 --> 00:48:01,040
Speaker 5: You know, we saw if you want to have specific legislation,

924
00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:03,400
Speaker 5: like in the House, the Fixer Forest Act, you know,

925
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,480
Speaker 5: one of the first bills that was even voted on.

926
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,040
Speaker 5: I think that it came one vote short of being

927
00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:12,320
Speaker 5: able to pass on suspension out of the House, and

928
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:14,920
Speaker 5: it would have had you know a number of Democrat

929
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,280
Speaker 5: members not been back in their districts, you know, dealing

930
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:22,960
Speaker 5: with the aftermath of of the buyers. We'll see that

931
00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 5: move over to the Senate. Now imagine you know, in

932
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:30,040
Speaker 5: their own you know fashion, they'll they'll get it out

933
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 5: of there and over to the President's desk. You know,

934
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:35,399
Speaker 5: there's unfinished business from the last term. If you look

935
00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:38,200
Speaker 5: at like trillion trees, there's an executive order on that

936
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:42,200
Speaker 5: workout of e p A on on A on Ocean plastics,

937
00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 5: Great American Outdoors Act that's up for reauthorization. You know,

938
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:48,879
Speaker 5: there's going to be a sober look at it, right.

939
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know if the math change or

940
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:55,080
Speaker 5: or or what went into it, but the Deferman's backlog

941
00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:57,879
Speaker 5: is doubled since it was passed, and that was really

942
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:00,320
Speaker 5: what it was meant to address, or a big portion

943
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:04,239
Speaker 5: of it. So how can we direct those funds more effectively?

944
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 5: I don't think that the list of opportunities.

945
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:10,439
Speaker 4: Is short at all.

946
00:49:10,600 --> 00:49:14,880
Speaker 5: It's a matter of again coalescing folks that are representing

947
00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:20,200
Speaker 5: millions of hunters, anglers, conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts and finding those

948
00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 5: solutions to push forward. And really, you know, a lot

949
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 5: of with Benji's put together, here is that chorus that's

950
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 5: going to celebrate and to remind folks in DC that

951
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:31,440
Speaker 5: this is the voice of the people, this is what

952
00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:34,239
Speaker 5: we expect. We want a government to work for us.

953
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,719
Speaker 5: And I think, you know, the key first step to

954
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 5: unlocking a lot of this because a lot of a

955
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:42,239
Speaker 5: lot of these ideas are being proposed in bipartisan policies.

956
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:45,400
Speaker 5: People don't realize it and as a C three. We

957
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:48,200
Speaker 5: can't like lobby for those, but you know, telling the

958
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:50,239
Speaker 5: public that they're out there. There's a lot of bipartisan

959
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:52,479
Speaker 5: bills on this stuff. They often don't get through because

960
00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:56,200
Speaker 5: it's not as big of a priority as flamming the

961
00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 5: other side or you know, playing in the partisan sandbox

962
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,960
Speaker 5: on other issues. Our goal is to have the President

963
00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 5: gave a mandate to not a mandate to that's from

964
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:10,560
Speaker 5: him to dictate all the environmental action, but to say, hey, Congress,

965
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 5: we want you to act on these core subjects, some

966
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:15,160
Speaker 5: of the ones that I talked about earlier. You know, Hey,

967
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:17,880
Speaker 5: Cabinet secretaries, we want you to act on this, so

968
00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:21,480
Speaker 5: that he's basically setting the precedent that he wants this

969
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 5: to be a priority during the next two and four years.

970
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 5: That's kind of the first step. So that mandate, you know,

971
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 5: is something that we're seeing a lot of interest on

972
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:33,600
Speaker 5: just because it sets a vision, right, It allows everything

973
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:36,560
Speaker 5: to be packaged underneath the same sort of vision, and

974
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 5: it allows people to work within it, and it sets

975
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:40,440
Speaker 5: some goals and parameters that are a little bit more

976
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:42,839
Speaker 5: broad like I talked about earlier, but only anything's off

977
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:45,360
Speaker 5: the table, really, like we're seeing a lot of interest.

978
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 5: There's a laundry list of ideas. There's a lot of

979
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:50,960
Speaker 5: great mngos that have put together great ideas. We're basically

980
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:54,719
Speaker 5: giving the administration, Hey, here are a lot of great ideas,

981
00:50:54,800 --> 00:50:57,160
Speaker 5: and you know, we don't need you to buy into

982
00:50:57,160 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 5: every single one of them or like every one of them,

983
00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 5: but which ones do you like? And so we'll have

984
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:02,600
Speaker 5: a little bit more clarity on that in the next

985
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:05,719
Speaker 5: few weeks. You know, we've got some clarity that we

986
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:08,800
Speaker 5: probably shouldn't speak on. But like there's before, it's actually

987
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:12,479
Speaker 5: you know, permanent. But I think people who care about

988
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:14,960
Speaker 5: conservation and the environment will be very happy with the

989
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:18,000
Speaker 5: types of ideas that we're talking about. And they're not

990
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,239
Speaker 5: just like little crumbs to support public lands or just

991
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 5: for wildlife or whatever. These are big steps, like historic

992
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:28,279
Speaker 5: achievements that could be celebrated by all And that's the

993
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:31,680
Speaker 5: goal that we have and and honestly, we want it

994
00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:36,560
Speaker 5: to be a four year project that to Ben's common

995
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:39,279
Speaker 5: earlier about one item the Wildlife Quarters that went from

996
00:51:39,320 --> 00:51:42,960
Speaker 5: Trump to Biden, that becomes a decade long project of

997
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:45,880
Speaker 5: you know, presidents making this a priority every time they

998
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:47,840
Speaker 5: go into office saying that they're going to work across

999
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 5: the aisle to do it. And so this isn't just

1000
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,720
Speaker 5: a twenty twenty five thing. This is a multi decade

1001
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 5: long thing. And so whenever we get done this year,

1002
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:57,200
Speaker 5: we can build on next year and just keep making

1003
00:51:57,239 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 5: this a priority going forward.

1004
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:17,920
Speaker 3: How do you guys think about getting mental space within

1005
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:21,839
Speaker 3: the administration and other folks right now? Given everything else

1006
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:24,920
Speaker 3: in the air, given all the other priorities, given you know,

1007
00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 3: a clear mandate to cut costs. A lot of the

1008
00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:33,040
Speaker 3: things that folks that are interesting conservation wins are asking

1009
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,960
Speaker 3: for is funding for the National Park Service backlog, or

1010
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:40,560
Speaker 3: for grants to support habitat management, or for a million

1011
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:43,200
Speaker 3: different things. Right a lot of this stuff costs money.

1012
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:46,440
Speaker 3: And right now, you know, for all sorts of reasons,

1013
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:49,200
Speaker 3: there is cutting of staff, cutting of budgets, et cetera.

1014
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 2: How do we.

1015
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:54,240
Speaker 3: Move the ball forward given that climate, like the political

1016
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:57,799
Speaker 3: climate we're in around that, you know, I could see

1017
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:00,160
Speaker 3: that being particularly challenging, and.

1018
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:02,360
Speaker 4: It hasn't been easy.

1019
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:06,400
Speaker 5: I think in any first couple months of any administration

1020
00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:10,160
Speaker 5: it would be easy. Obviously, President Trump has come in,

1021
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:12,440
Speaker 5: you know, for better or for worse, depending on how

1022
00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 5: you look at it, like just with a huge amount

1023
00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 5: of work that he's unloading on to different agencies and

1024
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:22,120
Speaker 5: different people, and so it's it is a clouded room

1025
00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:26,560
Speaker 5: right now. Obviously, I think it really speaks to our

1026
00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:29,600
Speaker 5: model though of showing the incentive of doing something on this.

1027
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:35,200
Speaker 5: So you know, we we are offering the ability for

1028
00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:39,400
Speaker 5: the President and Democrats and Republicans to achieve a historic

1029
00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:42,839
Speaker 5: win that is a legacy for all of them, right,

1030
00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:46,400
Speaker 5: that has celebrities and influencers that they look up to

1031
00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:50,439
Speaker 5: affiliated with it, that has America celebrating it, that has

1032
00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:53,800
Speaker 5: really good visuals, and just like you know, a moment

1033
00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:55,680
Speaker 5: in time that they'll look back on and be proud of.

1034
00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:59,600
Speaker 5: And that's the sort of incentive that we're giving, right

1035
00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:03,000
Speaker 5: We're giving them the grassroots, we're giving them the cultural

1036
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:07,560
Speaker 5: and we're giving them kind of like the personal legacy aspect.

1037
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:10,520
Speaker 5: We're not going to them and saying if you don't

1038
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 5: do this, you know, the world's going to burn, if

1039
00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,160
Speaker 5: you don't do this, we're going to come after you

1040
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:17,560
Speaker 5: or whatever. We're providing a very positive incentive. And yes,

1041
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:20,840
Speaker 5: we haven't gotten through fully in the first two months

1042
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 5: to the point where I could tell you that we've

1043
00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,960
Speaker 5: already had all these accomplishments, but we made a ton

1044
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,120
Speaker 5: of progress in two months with that more positive approach

1045
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 5: with not just the Trump administration. I keep hammering on this,

1046
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:34,799
Speaker 5: but like also Democrats as well and Republicans who are

1047
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,840
Speaker 5: like so excited about this more incentive based approach to

1048
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:39,879
Speaker 5: do the right thing. And so that's how you got

1049
00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:43,960
Speaker 5: I mean, I think over time that just compounds and

1050
00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:47,759
Speaker 5: it allows you to build momentum because every time, like

1051
00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:51,799
Speaker 5: we're providing value to legislators to do the right thing right,

1052
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:53,560
Speaker 5: they will be rewarded for doing the right thing.

1053
00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 4: So they want to do it.

1054
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:57,359
Speaker 5: They want to have their picture taken, you know, celebrating

1055
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 5: a massive success, so that they can tell their can

1056
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 5: situents and so that they can reach a new demographic

1057
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:05,839
Speaker 5: of Americans. So this is this is this is kind

1058
00:55:05,880 --> 00:55:08,680
Speaker 5: of our model at work right away. Uh, you know,

1059
00:55:08,719 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 5: we're launching you know, you know this spring, but we

1060
00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:15,000
Speaker 5: don't we We've already had this body of work that

1061
00:55:15,040 --> 00:55:17,720
Speaker 5: proves the model out even in the first few months

1062
00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:20,880
Speaker 5: of this year. And I would just say that the

1063
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:23,759
Speaker 5: other thing that people need to realize is that you know,

1064
00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:26,280
Speaker 5: in addition to to sort of this incentive based approach,

1065
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:29,560
Speaker 5: the President and his team, again like it or not,

1066
00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:34,000
Speaker 5: are burning things down to try to you know, balance

1067
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:36,120
Speaker 5: the fiscal budget and kind of reset the government and

1068
00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:38,480
Speaker 5: all that stuff. They're they're not gonna do that forever.

1069
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:40,400
Speaker 5: They're they're gonna want to build back with better and

1070
00:55:40,440 --> 00:55:43,760
Speaker 5: more efficient ways to do things. And that's a great

1071
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 5: opportunity for people who care about the environment to go

1072
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:48,960
Speaker 5: and say, Okay, this is how we rebuild conservation and

1073
00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:51,239
Speaker 5: make it more efficient, and make it more effective, and

1074
00:55:51,280 --> 00:55:54,800
Speaker 5: make it more you know, balance between private landowners and

1075
00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,400
Speaker 5: public landowners and ranchers and hunters and farmers and anglers

1076
00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:01,040
Speaker 5: and hikers and like like, there's a way to kind

1077
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:05,160
Speaker 5: of you know, through the dust, have it settle to

1078
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:08,520
Speaker 5: a better outcome. Because this is this isn't just like

1079
00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:10,279
Speaker 5: going to be dusty for the next four years. We

1080
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:12,279
Speaker 5: are going to get through it and then we're going

1081
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:15,359
Speaker 5: to rebuild. And you know, we're in a really good

1082
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:18,320
Speaker 5: spot to be doing that, and fairly shortly, fairly shortly.

1083
00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,359
Speaker 3: One of the kind of tenants, I guess you could

1084
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:24,800
Speaker 3: call it of your of the approach I think you

1085
00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:26,680
Speaker 3: guys are taking I've seen it listed on you know,

1086
00:56:26,680 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 3: some documentation or your website somewhere. But this idea of

1087
00:56:30,719 --> 00:56:38,160
Speaker 3: utilizing and in fostering big civic engagement, I'm curious if

1088
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:40,600
Speaker 3: if you could speak a little bit more about that,

1089
00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:43,000
Speaker 3: what that means and what that can mean at an

1090
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:46,840
Speaker 3: individual level. So by that, I mean for somebody listening

1091
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:51,040
Speaker 3: right now, how can they act in such a way

1092
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:53,840
Speaker 3: that they can be involved in big civic engagement? That

1093
00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:55,640
Speaker 3: actually makes a difference because I think a lot of

1094
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:59,160
Speaker 3: people that care about these things that are hunters or

1095
00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:01,799
Speaker 3: anglers or client or bikers or whatever, and they love

1096
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 3: wild places and wildlife.

1097
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:06,040
Speaker 2: And clean air and clean water all those things.

1098
00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:09,400
Speaker 3: A lot of the decisions made about that seems so

1099
00:57:09,760 --> 00:57:14,080
Speaker 3: outside of their influence and so beyond them that you

1100
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:16,240
Speaker 3: can have this kind of throw your hands up in

1101
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:19,560
Speaker 3: the air feelings sometimes because you don't seem like you

1102
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:22,680
Speaker 3: have any agency. How do we reclaim that with big

1103
00:57:22,720 --> 00:57:25,600
Speaker 3: civic engagement? And I guess benjiel lets you kick that

1104
00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:27,200
Speaker 3: one off, But I want to hear your thoughts too, Ben.

1105
00:57:27,720 --> 00:57:29,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, And I'll let it go over to Ben too,

1106
00:57:29,560 --> 00:57:31,320
Speaker 5: because I've been talking a lot. But yeah, I would

1107
00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:35,880
Speaker 5: just say, like hyper specific is better. Like, you think

1108
00:57:35,880 --> 00:57:37,800
Speaker 5: about all the different issues that we have in this

1109
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:41,600
Speaker 5: country environmentally, and they're all I think the environmental movement

1110
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:45,120
Speaker 5: has been kind of difficult to make an impact with

1111
00:57:45,320 --> 00:57:47,880
Speaker 5: because they're so broad. It's like, you know, we want

1112
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:51,120
Speaker 5: climate action, Okay, well what does that actually look like?

1113
00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:53,600
Speaker 4: You know? Or we want we want public lands to

1114
00:57:53,600 --> 00:57:54,120
Speaker 4: be protected.

1115
00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:56,600
Speaker 5: Okay, what does that actually look like? Because each case

1116
00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 5: by case example is different. Right, if you're talking about

1117
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:03,040
Speaker 5: a land in Georgia, the different need from a policy

1118
00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:07,520
Speaker 5: perspective than the deserts of Arizona where I live, Right, So, like,

1119
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:11,600
Speaker 5: let's let's have advocacy around issues that people care about

1120
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:14,560
Speaker 5: in a hyper specific way. If you care about wildlife corridors,

1121
00:58:14,800 --> 00:58:18,280
Speaker 5: you know, have have your legislator hear you on that.

1122
00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:21,920
Speaker 5: If you care about a national park being created in Georgia,

1123
00:58:21,960 --> 00:58:24,919
Speaker 5: which I was just reading about, you know, instead of

1124
00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:28,240
Speaker 5: having it be a mind like advocate about that, like,

1125
00:58:28,720 --> 00:58:32,840
Speaker 5: be as specific as possible about what you're for, because

1126
00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:36,360
Speaker 5: it allows your legislator to actually do something about it.

1127
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:38,280
Speaker 4: Like, all, we want you to care about the environment.

1128
00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:41,440
Speaker 5: Okay, well you know that that kind of like they

1129
00:58:41,440 --> 00:58:43,240
Speaker 5: still hear it and they still care to hear it,

1130
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,000
Speaker 5: but they don't really know what to do about that.

1131
00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:47,320
Speaker 5: And you know, the more that people can hear about

1132
00:58:47,320 --> 00:58:49,760
Speaker 5: specific indiatives, the better. So I think that that's where,

1133
00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:51,720
Speaker 5: you know, we're going to try to really build out

1134
00:58:51,720 --> 00:58:54,600
Speaker 5: our model for people is allow people to advocate for

1135
00:58:54,640 --> 00:58:57,080
Speaker 5: specific issues that they care about. Some people care about

1136
00:58:57,120 --> 00:58:59,360
Speaker 5: climate change, some people care about clean energy, some people

1137
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:02,200
Speaker 5: care about hunting and fishing, and some people care about

1138
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:04,840
Speaker 5: ecosystem restoration, and some people care about none of those things. Right,

1139
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:07,120
Speaker 5: So trying to make it as easy as possible because

1140
00:59:07,160 --> 00:59:10,240
Speaker 5: everyone's why for carrying out the environment is somewhat different,

1141
00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 5: and advocating for something that you personally care about rather

1142
00:59:15,040 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 5: than trying to do some broad push A will get

1143
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 5: more people involved, but B will make it a lot

1144
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:20,360
Speaker 5: more effective.

1145
00:59:20,480 --> 00:59:24,760
Speaker 4: Ben Yeah, I think you put it really well, Benji.

1146
00:59:25,000 --> 00:59:27,840
Speaker 5: But I love that idea of big citizenship, and I

1147
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:30,080
Speaker 5: think you know, I think it is originally kind of

1148
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:33,560
Speaker 5: coined as like a counter a foil to like big government.

1149
00:59:34,280 --> 00:59:36,120
Speaker 5: But when I talk about like big citizenship just in

1150
00:59:36,160 --> 00:59:38,560
Speaker 5: the last couple of months, I guess it goes back

1151
00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:39,400
Speaker 5: a few more months.

1152
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:41,000
Speaker 4: In a couple of months, but like we've talked.

1153
00:59:40,800 --> 00:59:43,600
Speaker 5: To like Senator Martin Heinrich, also talk to you know,

1154
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:47,680
Speaker 5: Vice President JD. Vance that really espouse the importance of

1155
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:51,840
Speaker 5: it and sees tremendous value in it. I saw Secretary

1156
00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:54,600
Speaker 5: Burgham a few weeks back and he made a comment

1157
00:59:54,640 --> 00:59:58,240
Speaker 5: about nobody loves the habitat or the wildlife of North

1158
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:02,120
Speaker 5: Dakota more than you know, the management authorities.

1159
01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:02,800
Speaker 4: There in North Dakota.

1160
01:00:02,920 --> 01:00:04,960
Speaker 5: You know, all these folks can come, folks can come

1161
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:08,080
Speaker 5: and visit, but they don't have that and that appreciation.

1162
01:00:08,320 --> 01:00:11,200
Speaker 4: So what what that means to say is, you know, people.

1163
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:14,000
Speaker 5: Love their backyards more more than anybody else. And there's

1164
01:00:14,080 --> 01:00:16,960
Speaker 5: real untapped potential there. And we're looking at you know,

1165
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:20,120
Speaker 5: the administration has a stance today where it's really you know,

1166
01:00:20,400 --> 01:00:24,320
Speaker 5: considering the role of government and what it plays and

1167
01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:26,880
Speaker 5: you know, how it should be deployed, and they're really

1168
01:00:26,880 --> 01:00:29,760
Speaker 5: looking towards empowering states, empowering local communities.

1169
01:00:30,200 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 4: What does that mean?

1170
01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:33,520
Speaker 5: How do we how do we you know, have policies

1171
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:37,080
Speaker 5: that really allow for folks to be more front and

1172
01:00:37,160 --> 01:00:40,640
Speaker 5: center in direct hands on stewardship, you know, like gets

1173
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:44,880
Speaker 5: merit and law and and how that's implemented. So I

1174
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:47,080
Speaker 5: think that that's a that's a really big one where

1175
01:00:47,080 --> 01:00:49,960
Speaker 5: we have a huge opportunity you know, and talking you

1176
01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 5: know with folks that are working on the celebration, the

1177
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:54,960
Speaker 5: two hundred and fiftieth birthday celebration. It's going to be

1178
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:59,960
Speaker 5: one of the core pillars of it is it is volunteerism,

1179
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:03,680
Speaker 5: is service. I think that you know, for for our

1180
01:01:03,800 --> 01:01:06,920
Speaker 5: needs on our public lands, on our private lands, in

1181
01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:09,400
Speaker 5: our environment, I think that plays a direct role where

1182
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:10,880
Speaker 5: we can really step up and fill in.

1183
01:01:11,560 --> 01:01:12,640
Speaker 4: I mean, just just quickly.

1184
01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:17,160
Speaker 5: I'm like, let's just take forest management for example. The

1185
01:01:17,200 --> 01:01:22,120
Speaker 5: need for civic leadership is obviously critical to like make

1186
01:01:22,160 --> 01:01:25,440
Speaker 5: force management and better care of our forces happen from

1187
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:28,600
Speaker 5: a policy standpoint, But what Ben was just talking about

1188
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:31,840
Speaker 5: for the for the government to empower local communities to

1189
01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:34,960
Speaker 5: help take care of those forests, right for states to

1190
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:35,520
Speaker 5: be involved.

1191
01:01:35,520 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 4: It's not for states to go clear cut it.

1192
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:38,880
Speaker 5: I think that's like the misnomer, like there's a there's

1193
01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:41,400
Speaker 5: a middle ground between like selling off public land, which

1194
01:01:41,440 --> 01:01:45,120
Speaker 5: is not what we're raavigating for, and like letting local

1195
01:01:45,120 --> 01:01:47,320
Speaker 5: stakeholders have more of a stake in it, right, have

1196
01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:50,960
Speaker 5: more of a voice. So that sort of like involvement

1197
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:54,000
Speaker 5: from like everything for the environmental community has seemed like

1198
01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:57,720
Speaker 5: it's come from d C and been told by d

1199
01:01:57,880 --> 01:02:00,760
Speaker 5: C to as a directive to the people. And what

1200
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:03,800
Speaker 5: I think we can do with this more like civic leadership,

1201
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:07,520
Speaker 5: big civic leadership idea is trying to make environmentalism and

1202
01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:12,520
Speaker 5: conservation a truly all American thing again, something that we

1203
01:02:12,600 --> 01:02:15,000
Speaker 5: all share and are all involved with, whether that be

1204
01:02:15,000 --> 01:02:18,760
Speaker 5: because you're involved with your local gardening club or because

1205
01:02:18,800 --> 01:02:23,960
Speaker 5: you're a local forest forest firefighter, or you are a

1206
01:02:24,040 --> 01:02:28,000
Speaker 5: duck hunter who's helped restoring a habitat in coastal Louisiana,

1207
01:02:28,440 --> 01:02:32,000
Speaker 5: or you're a trash picker upper at a beach in Florida.

1208
01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:35,200
Speaker 5: That sort of leadership is what actually makes changes for

1209
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:38,440
Speaker 5: the environment rather than like trying to rely all on DC.

1210
01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:40,560
Speaker 5: And I think the more that we can involve all

1211
01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:42,440
Speaker 5: Americans in this the better.

1212
01:02:43,000 --> 01:02:46,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, And man that on the ground, local work not

1213
01:02:46,560 --> 01:02:48,920
Speaker 3: only makes you know, not only does it make a

1214
01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:51,880
Speaker 3: difference to the specific cause that you're working on, but

1215
01:02:51,960 --> 01:02:55,400
Speaker 3: it also does a whole lot for your peace of mind,

1216
01:02:55,440 --> 01:02:59,280
Speaker 3: your state of mind, your sense of agency. The feeling that, Okay,

1217
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:02,320
Speaker 3: I actually can do something. I was just this past

1218
01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:05,440
Speaker 3: weekend down in Kentucky volunteering on the Daniel Boone National Forest.

1219
01:03:05,440 --> 01:03:09,120
Speaker 3: We planted one three hundred trees on the National Forest,

1220
01:03:09,600 --> 01:03:12,360
Speaker 3: and I felt a whole lot more effective on that

1221
01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:15,960
Speaker 3: one day that I felt in weeks making phone calls

1222
01:03:16,040 --> 01:03:18,040
Speaker 3: or sending emails. So a little bit of on the

1223
01:03:18,080 --> 01:03:22,040
Speaker 3: groundwork is just very good therapy, let alone just tangibly

1224
01:03:22,080 --> 01:03:26,240
Speaker 3: good too. Now that said, the phone calls, the emails

1225
01:03:26,600 --> 01:03:32,080
Speaker 3: needing both exactly. So, Ben you worked in the Department

1226
01:03:32,080 --> 01:03:36,080
Speaker 3: of the Interior, you were involved with the previous administration.

1227
01:03:37,120 --> 01:03:40,360
Speaker 3: For people who want to be more effective at communicating

1228
01:03:40,520 --> 01:03:45,040
Speaker 3: with their elected officials or folks, what makes effective communication?

1229
01:03:45,240 --> 01:03:48,840
Speaker 3: What makes for a public comment or a phone call

1230
01:03:49,320 --> 01:03:52,800
Speaker 3: or whatever communication method we're talking about, how do you

1231
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:55,120
Speaker 3: actually get through and make a difference? Ben Benji mentioned

1232
01:03:55,160 --> 01:03:57,800
Speaker 3: a few things earlier, but I'm curious from you know,

1233
01:03:57,880 --> 01:04:02,160
Speaker 3: giving your experience there, if we want to either advocate

1234
01:04:02,240 --> 01:04:05,040
Speaker 3: foreign issue or against a particular thing, how do we

1235
01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:07,240
Speaker 3: be more effective as individuals in doing that?

1236
01:04:09,560 --> 01:04:14,360
Speaker 7: Okay, So my take on it is government is huge, right,

1237
01:04:14,360 --> 01:04:17,840
Speaker 7: It's massive, So it doesn't have the ability sometimes to

1238
01:04:17,880 --> 01:04:20,840
Speaker 7: get down to the level of just a single individual person.

1239
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:23,160
Speaker 4: So I believe that there's always power in numbers.

1240
01:04:23,640 --> 01:04:25,840
Speaker 5: I don't want to be a total like salesman for

1241
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:30,040
Speaker 5: like n G O s, but I've experienced it firsthand

1242
01:04:30,040 --> 01:04:35,640
Speaker 5: when people cobble together, you know, as a group and

1243
01:04:35,640 --> 01:04:39,080
Speaker 5: and have like thoughtful comments and send them over that

1244
01:04:39,120 --> 01:04:42,320
Speaker 5: they're they're better received, you know. So I think you

1245
01:04:42,440 --> 01:04:45,000
Speaker 5: like it depends on you know, what you care about

1246
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:47,400
Speaker 5: right in terms of issues, But there's always a group

1247
01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:51,000
Speaker 5: out there that you can trust, you know, that that

1248
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:53,520
Speaker 5: that that tells it like it is, you know, and

1249
01:04:53,560 --> 01:04:56,000
Speaker 5: going with them to get your to get your comments through.

1250
01:04:56,040 --> 01:04:57,560
Speaker 5: And I think that's a really big piece of like

1251
01:04:57,800 --> 01:05:01,600
Speaker 5: what we're building with nature nonpartisan, is that large mass

1252
01:05:01,680 --> 01:05:04,120
Speaker 5: of people that we're going to tell them, you know,

1253
01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:07,560
Speaker 5: like it is where the opportunities are and be able

1254
01:05:07,640 --> 01:05:10,440
Speaker 5: to interface with government, letting them know where you know,

1255
01:05:10,560 --> 01:05:11,720
Speaker 5: a massive folks stand.

1256
01:05:12,120 --> 01:05:14,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, I could agree more. And I think like.

1257
01:05:15,640 --> 01:05:17,920
Speaker 5: You need a vehicle, whether it be a local group

1258
01:05:18,080 --> 01:05:20,600
Speaker 5: or a national group to help kind of with the

1259
01:05:20,600 --> 01:05:24,360
Speaker 5: power numbers thing. I've talked to members of Congress especially

1260
01:05:24,400 --> 01:05:28,200
Speaker 5: who and I think state legislators it's very similar who

1261
01:05:28,560 --> 01:05:33,160
Speaker 5: hate being called out specifically on social media, like they

1262
01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:36,480
Speaker 5: read everything, and so I think, like I would actually

1263
01:05:36,520 --> 01:05:40,480
Speaker 5: flip that and say, how about I mean people as

1264
01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:41,800
Speaker 5: an organization, we are going.

1265
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:43,360
Speaker 4: To be four things like we talked about earlier.

1266
01:05:43,360 --> 01:05:46,600
Speaker 5: But I mean, if you can reward people too for

1267
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:49,440
Speaker 5: doing the right thing on social media, provide an echo

1268
01:05:49,520 --> 01:05:51,919
Speaker 5: chamber of support when they do the right thing, it's

1269
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:54,360
Speaker 5: even more powerful. Sometimes if you're on the other side,

1270
01:05:54,400 --> 01:05:56,640
Speaker 5: you say, hey, I didn't vote for you, but I

1271
01:05:56,720 --> 01:05:59,520
Speaker 5: really appreciate that you did this, like even just that

1272
01:05:59,640 --> 01:06:01,720
Speaker 5: sort of thing, and obviously if it's from your own side,

1273
01:06:01,720 --> 01:06:04,760
Speaker 5: it's great too. So I think it's it's it's a

1274
01:06:04,840 --> 01:06:08,920
Speaker 5: mixture of not just like pushing against people, but pushing

1275
01:06:08,920 --> 01:06:12,840
Speaker 5: for people and joining, like, you know, organizations that can

1276
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:16,960
Speaker 5: represent your values. And that's actually kind of full circle

1277
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:20,120
Speaker 5: of why Nature's on artisan exists, which is that there

1278
01:06:20,160 --> 01:06:22,840
Speaker 5: is really no organization that I believe someone could join.

1279
01:06:23,000 --> 01:06:25,080
Speaker 5: And I'm not trying to throw my NGO friends under

1280
01:06:25,120 --> 01:06:28,280
Speaker 5: the bus here, but like that advocates for the environment

1281
01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:31,880
Speaker 5: in a way that actually represents the whole of America.

1282
01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:35,560
Speaker 5: Like I can't think of anybody. And again it's not

1283
01:06:35,600 --> 01:06:38,200
Speaker 5: a knock, but it also used to exist, so it

1284
01:06:38,240 --> 01:06:42,160
Speaker 5: can exist. It's proof that it can exist, and we

1285
01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:44,800
Speaker 5: are going to do and Ben just described to try

1286
01:06:44,920 --> 01:06:47,640
Speaker 5: to make sure that everyone's represented at the table and

1287
01:06:47,640 --> 01:06:49,520
Speaker 5: that we make it easy, right, Like people don't enough

1288
01:06:49,560 --> 01:06:52,080
Speaker 5: time to go and advocate like you and I might

1289
01:06:52,160 --> 01:06:55,520
Speaker 5: because it's partially our job, but it's one hundred percent

1290
01:06:55,560 --> 01:06:58,000
Speaker 5: my job, So it's you know, but it's it's our

1291
01:06:58,080 --> 01:07:00,480
Speaker 5: job as an organization to represent the people that are

1292
01:07:00,520 --> 01:07:02,800
Speaker 5: part of our network. And so if people have sixty

1293
01:07:02,800 --> 01:07:05,320
Speaker 5: hour work weeks and kids at home, that they can

1294
01:07:05,320 --> 01:07:06,960
Speaker 5: be part of Nature's non Partisan, but we can help

1295
01:07:07,000 --> 01:07:09,360
Speaker 5: represent them if they don't have the time to advocate

1296
01:07:09,400 --> 01:07:09,880
Speaker 5: for themselves.

1297
01:07:09,880 --> 01:07:11,040
Speaker 4: So I think it's a mixture of both.

1298
01:07:11,600 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, So tell me this over the next twelve months

1299
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:17,680
Speaker 3: or so, you know, today when this podcast drops, it

1300
01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:19,919
Speaker 3: will be the launch date of the organization, the public

1301
01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:23,200
Speaker 3: launch day of the organization. So over the next twelve months,

1302
01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:28,840
Speaker 3: what does involvement with nature Is Nonpartisan look like for

1303
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:32,160
Speaker 3: an individual, So someone listening right now, if they were

1304
01:07:32,200 --> 01:07:35,840
Speaker 3: to head over to your website and you know, pop

1305
01:07:35,840 --> 01:07:40,200
Speaker 3: in their email address, sign the pledge, whatever, what would

1306
01:07:40,280 --> 01:07:43,800
Speaker 3: their engagement with your organization look like over this next year.

1307
01:07:43,840 --> 01:07:46,240
Speaker 3: What are you going to ask of them and or

1308
01:07:46,760 --> 01:07:50,000
Speaker 3: provide them and or have them be aware of over

1309
01:07:50,000 --> 01:07:50,640
Speaker 3: this next year.

1310
01:07:51,520 --> 01:07:53,120
Speaker 5: Well it's a really good question, and we're going to

1311
01:07:53,160 --> 01:07:54,800
Speaker 5: build this out a lot over the next couple months.

1312
01:07:54,800 --> 01:07:57,920
Speaker 5: But there's two clear, two clear reasons to join us

1313
01:07:57,920 --> 01:08:00,760
Speaker 5: from a logistical standpoint, and then also from one from

1314
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:03,680
Speaker 5: a mission standpoint, which is already clear. So from the

1315
01:08:03,720 --> 01:08:06,439
Speaker 5: logistical standpoint, we are going to do two things. One,

1316
01:08:06,520 --> 01:08:09,320
Speaker 5: we are going to have a really easy to use

1317
01:08:09,360 --> 01:08:11,800
Speaker 5: advocacy hub that allows people to advocate for the issues

1318
01:08:11,840 --> 01:08:15,920
Speaker 5: that they specifically care about two elected officials, and make

1319
01:08:15,960 --> 01:08:19,520
Speaker 5: it super seamless, not a lot of steps, and again.

1320
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:21,679
Speaker 4: Tailored to their issues that they care about.

1321
01:08:22,960 --> 01:08:25,920
Speaker 5: Second, we also are going to connect them with aligned

1322
01:08:26,160 --> 01:08:30,679
Speaker 5: center left, center and center right nonprofits that are tailored

1323
01:08:30,680 --> 01:08:32,800
Speaker 5: to them as well. If they if they choose, you know,

1324
01:08:32,840 --> 01:08:34,800
Speaker 5: they don't need to be connected to another nonprofit if

1325
01:08:35,200 --> 01:08:37,040
Speaker 5: if they don't want to be, but if you have,

1326
01:08:37,280 --> 01:08:39,120
Speaker 5: if there's a local group in your area that's doing

1327
01:08:39,160 --> 01:08:42,240
Speaker 5: amazing work and is truly living up to the nonpartisan ethos,

1328
01:08:42,240 --> 01:08:44,160
Speaker 5: and actually doing that on the ground work, and you

1329
01:08:44,200 --> 01:08:45,519
Speaker 5: want to work with them, we're going to help you

1330
01:08:45,560 --> 01:08:46,080
Speaker 5: find them.

1331
01:08:46,479 --> 01:08:48,720
Speaker 4: So that's that's kind of like, those are the two things.

1332
01:08:48,760 --> 01:08:52,400
Speaker 5: Our advocacy hub and helping connect you to other groups

1333
01:08:52,400 --> 01:08:54,360
Speaker 5: as well that are more on the ground than us

1334
01:08:54,360 --> 01:08:57,559
Speaker 5: as a national group, so that both of those I

1335
01:08:57,560 --> 01:09:00,240
Speaker 5: don't think really exists. Advocacy is really hard right now.

1336
01:09:00,520 --> 01:09:02,439
Speaker 5: It's kind of difficult to even find a way to

1337
01:09:02,479 --> 01:09:04,120
Speaker 5: do it in your own authentic way. We're going to

1338
01:09:04,120 --> 01:09:06,040
Speaker 5: fix that. And then it's also really hard to find

1339
01:09:06,080 --> 01:09:08,559
Speaker 5: other groups too, and we're going to fix that. But

1340
01:09:08,600 --> 01:09:11,600
Speaker 5: the other thing that sets us apart is that we

1341
01:09:11,640 --> 01:09:14,280
Speaker 5: are the only national group that's working on this stuff

1342
01:09:14,320 --> 01:09:16,280
Speaker 5: that is truly trying to do this from a non

1343
01:09:16,280 --> 01:09:19,560
Speaker 5: partisan standpoint. Everything we do will be evenly split conservatives

1344
01:09:19,560 --> 01:09:19,920
Speaker 5: of liberal.

1345
01:09:19,960 --> 01:09:22,320
Speaker 4: There's no other organization that has that intention.

1346
01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:26,400
Speaker 5: And so if you want to join an organization to advocate,

1347
01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:29,600
Speaker 5: to learn, to celebrate wins, to get things done, all

1348
01:09:29,640 --> 01:09:33,080
Speaker 5: the things that we're going to do, and you and

1349
01:09:33,120 --> 01:09:35,880
Speaker 5: you want to know for sure that they are actively

1350
01:09:36,000 --> 01:09:39,080
Speaker 5: balancing the political spectrum to get just good results. That's

1351
01:09:39,080 --> 01:09:40,880
Speaker 5: how you get good results is when you have a

1352
01:09:40,920 --> 01:09:44,000
Speaker 5: collaboration of ideas, this is your home. And if you

1353
01:09:44,040 --> 01:09:46,200
Speaker 5: don't want that, if you want to play partisan politics,

1354
01:09:46,200 --> 01:09:49,280
Speaker 5: this is not your place. And you know, we don't

1355
01:09:49,280 --> 01:09:52,559
Speaker 5: want radical right and radical left people who are part

1356
01:09:52,560 --> 01:09:54,439
Speaker 5: of the problem. We want the eighty percent of America.

1357
01:09:54,520 --> 01:09:56,240
Speaker 5: They can be conservative, they can be liberal, they can

1358
01:09:56,320 --> 01:09:59,479
Speaker 5: be proud Republicans and proud Democrats, but on this issue,

1359
01:09:59,520 --> 01:10:01,599
Speaker 5: they're willing to understand that we have a common goal

1360
01:10:01,960 --> 01:10:04,080
Speaker 5: and to get to the common goal, we have to

1361
01:10:04,120 --> 01:10:07,040
Speaker 5: work with each other. And that doesn't mean compromising your values.

1362
01:10:07,200 --> 01:10:09,439
Speaker 5: It means coming to a solution that works for everybody

1363
01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:12,160
Speaker 5: to the best of its ability. And that's something that

1364
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:14,559
Speaker 5: will set us apart from everyone else. In addition to

1365
01:10:14,600 --> 01:10:17,640
Speaker 5: those kind of like nuts and bolts advocacy things.

1366
01:10:17,600 --> 01:10:19,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, would you add anything to that, Ben.

1367
01:10:21,160 --> 01:10:23,640
Speaker 5: No, just having a hub too, to just show you

1368
01:10:23,640 --> 01:10:27,120
Speaker 5: know where where the issues lie and where the solutions

1369
01:10:27,120 --> 01:10:32,120
Speaker 5: are being provided. And again it's telling people how they

1370
01:10:32,240 --> 01:10:37,360
Speaker 5: can engage right, how they can do something proactive and

1371
01:10:37,439 --> 01:10:38,599
Speaker 5: be a part of the solution.

1372
01:10:39,439 --> 01:10:41,720
Speaker 4: Because again, yeah, it's.

1373
01:10:40,720 --> 01:10:43,320
Speaker 5: Like depending on where you are on inspectrum, Like some

1374
01:10:43,360 --> 01:10:46,120
Speaker 5: people are just saying, you know, I want to sit out.

1375
01:10:46,120 --> 01:10:48,120
Speaker 5: I feel like my voice doesn't matter, you know. So

1376
01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:51,400
Speaker 5: this is creating a space where no, we found the

1377
01:10:51,439 --> 01:10:54,120
Speaker 5: common ground. We found an item that you can push

1378
01:10:54,360 --> 01:10:56,120
Speaker 5: and make great progress on it, and it'll.

1379
01:10:55,920 --> 01:10:58,400
Speaker 6: Make a difference to feeling that you'll feel at home.

1380
01:10:58,960 --> 01:11:03,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, so imagine this. Imagine we are a little bit

1381
01:11:03,479 --> 01:11:07,040
Speaker 3: less than four years in the future. The next election

1382
01:11:07,240 --> 01:11:10,519
Speaker 3: is coming around, people are debating everything all over again,

1383
01:11:10,600 --> 01:11:14,759
Speaker 3: and you know, you know how it goes. I'm wondering

1384
01:11:14,800 --> 01:11:18,639
Speaker 3: if you can imagine that time period in a world

1385
01:11:18,720 --> 01:11:23,040
Speaker 3: in which nature is nonpartisan, has been a wild success,

1386
01:11:23,040 --> 01:11:26,240
Speaker 3: in which you have achieved your goals as much as

1387
01:11:26,240 --> 01:11:28,840
Speaker 3: you possibly could in three and you know, half years

1388
01:11:28,920 --> 01:11:32,600
Speaker 3: or so, and you are sitting there looking back on

1389
01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:38,479
Speaker 3: what you accomplished from now until then, what would have

1390
01:11:38,760 --> 01:11:39,479
Speaker 3: gotten done?

1391
01:11:39,560 --> 01:11:40,120
Speaker 2: What would that.

1392
01:11:40,080 --> 01:11:44,520
Speaker 3: Future look like if that were to actually play out?

1393
01:11:44,880 --> 01:11:47,240
Speaker 3: And I'll let I'll let ben you lead with that one,

1394
01:11:47,280 --> 01:11:48,760
Speaker 3: and then Benji you can have the final word.

1395
01:11:51,360 --> 01:11:55,120
Speaker 5: Yeah, a successful four years is having folks that can

1396
01:11:55,200 --> 01:11:57,719
Speaker 5: look back and know that they were apart and achieving

1397
01:11:57,800 --> 01:12:05,200
Speaker 5: restored and thriving ecosystems, resilient, healthy, abundant wildlife, that they

1398
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:10,280
Speaker 5: were an active participate participant in democracy, in seeing greater

1399
01:12:10,560 --> 01:12:14,920
Speaker 5: protections happen and in a better future for our wild

1400
01:12:14,920 --> 01:12:20,160
Speaker 5: places and our wild things. And then from there saying

1401
01:12:20,160 --> 01:12:22,080
Speaker 5: we're not gonna stop. We're gonna get our friends to

1402
01:12:22,160 --> 01:12:24,200
Speaker 5: join as well. We're going to get Dee to make

1403
01:12:24,200 --> 01:12:26,360
Speaker 5: the difference, no matter who sits in the White House,

1404
01:12:26,560 --> 01:12:30,000
Speaker 5: no matter who's in Congress, and it will completely change

1405
01:12:30,080 --> 01:12:32,840
Speaker 5: the way the environment has talked about and approached, the

1406
01:12:32,880 --> 01:12:36,160
Speaker 5: whole shift in the dialogue. Yeah, and to build on that,

1407
01:12:36,200 --> 01:12:39,680
Speaker 5: I think, you know, we'd love to see historic bipartisan achievements,

1408
01:12:39,760 --> 01:12:41,439
Speaker 5: things that you could look back on, like you could

1409
01:12:41,439 --> 01:12:43,439
Speaker 5: look back on the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act,

1410
01:12:43,680 --> 01:12:48,360
Speaker 5: in Diinjured Species Act. Obviously those were long lasting and

1411
01:12:48,680 --> 01:12:52,560
Speaker 5: they do need some amendment, I think, but like they've

1412
01:12:52,680 --> 01:12:56,960
Speaker 5: lasted fifty ish years because they were bipartisan, right so,

1413
01:12:57,200 --> 01:12:59,520
Speaker 5: and they were massive landmark achievements.

1414
01:12:59,640 --> 01:13:01,360
Speaker 4: I think he could accomplish a few of those, and

1415
01:13:01,360 --> 01:13:02,719
Speaker 4: I would really like to see that happen.

1416
01:13:03,240 --> 01:13:04,880
Speaker 5: I'd also love to be able to ask the average

1417
01:13:04,880 --> 01:13:06,519
Speaker 5: person on the street do you see the environment as

1418
01:13:06,520 --> 01:13:09,240
Speaker 5: a partisan issue in America right now? And have them

1419
01:13:09,280 --> 01:13:12,280
Speaker 5: say no, because right now it would be an absolute yes,

1420
01:13:12,520 --> 01:13:14,639
Speaker 5: and that is something that we all know, and it's

1421
01:13:14,680 --> 01:13:16,639
Speaker 5: trackable just by the fact that we all know it,

1422
01:13:16,760 --> 01:13:20,080
Speaker 5: and I think we unanimously should be able to say

1423
01:13:20,400 --> 01:13:23,920
Speaker 5: that that's not true any longer by the end of

1424
01:13:23,960 --> 01:13:26,120
Speaker 5: the next four years. And then I would also just

1425
01:13:26,160 --> 01:13:31,120
Speaker 5: say that this becomes the norm in policy, right Like

1426
01:13:31,560 --> 01:13:33,160
Speaker 5: you know, I think back to when I went to

1427
01:13:33,280 --> 01:13:36,439
Speaker 5: Richard Nixon's library to speak about my book about a

1428
01:13:36,520 --> 01:13:39,839
Speaker 5: year ago, and one of his old campaign team members,

1429
01:13:39,960 --> 01:13:42,519
Speaker 5: one of his young ades was Who's still Alive, was

1430
01:13:42,560 --> 01:13:46,360
Speaker 5: there and he was showing me the campaign booklet where

1431
01:13:46,439 --> 01:13:50,439
Speaker 5: the environment was listed last in the campaign booklet, and

1432
01:13:50,520 --> 01:13:53,080
Speaker 5: I asked him, you know why is this listed last?

1433
01:13:53,120 --> 01:13:55,639
Speaker 5: You guys had some of the biggest environmental achievements in

1434
01:13:55,920 --> 01:13:59,280
Speaker 5: American history. And he said, because it was an expectation

1435
01:13:59,360 --> 01:14:01,519
Speaker 5: that Americans had for us to lead on it. We

1436
01:14:01,560 --> 01:14:04,120
Speaker 5: didn't need to campaign on it as our top issue

1437
01:14:04,160 --> 01:14:07,160
Speaker 5: because people knew that we would, that we would work

1438
01:14:07,200 --> 01:14:09,439
Speaker 5: on it either way, and that if we didn't, we'd

1439
01:14:09,479 --> 01:14:11,799
Speaker 5: be hell accountable and if we did, we'd be rewarded.

1440
01:14:12,560 --> 01:14:16,080
Speaker 5: That needs to be the norm very soon, and not

1441
01:14:16,160 --> 01:14:17,800
Speaker 5: to say that we don't debate it. Not to say

1442
01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:19,800
Speaker 5: it's not a priority, because it absolutely needs to be.

1443
01:14:20,160 --> 01:14:22,600
Speaker 5: But in twenty twenty eight, could Nature's nonpartisan host a

1444
01:14:22,600 --> 01:14:26,280
Speaker 5: presidential debate about the environment and conservation and they're debating

1445
01:14:26,320 --> 01:14:28,680
Speaker 5: the solutions like they used to. That would be an

1446
01:14:28,720 --> 01:14:31,240
Speaker 5: awesome norm to have, and I think it's it's very

1447
01:14:31,280 --> 01:14:33,120
Speaker 5: reasonable to get there in that short amount of time.

1448
01:14:33,720 --> 01:14:35,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would love I would love for that to

1449
01:14:35,880 --> 01:14:37,839
Speaker 3: be the case. I would love to see both sides

1450
01:14:37,960 --> 01:14:43,160
Speaker 3: legitimately debating solutions, with creative and innovative solutions on both sides,

1451
01:14:43,760 --> 01:14:46,320
Speaker 3: and we can we can find what the middle ground is,

1452
01:14:46,680 --> 01:14:49,720
Speaker 3: but everyone at the table on that. That would be tremendous.

1453
01:14:49,840 --> 01:14:53,080
Speaker 3: And I think, as we've all been discussing here, a

1454
01:14:53,120 --> 01:14:57,240
Speaker 3: big part of making that happen is from us as

1455
01:14:57,360 --> 01:15:02,080
Speaker 3: individuals and organizations showing our life that this matters that much,

1456
01:15:02,280 --> 01:15:04,720
Speaker 3: that it should be a priority, that it should be

1457
01:15:05,200 --> 01:15:08,559
Speaker 3: discussed and prioritized, that it's not just some you know,

1458
01:15:09,080 --> 01:15:12,439
Speaker 3: backwater issue, but something that is, you know, something you

1459
01:15:12,479 --> 01:15:15,360
Speaker 3: can get elected on. And we've got to show them

1460
01:15:15,400 --> 01:15:17,519
Speaker 3: that with whether it be the stick or the carrot,

1461
01:15:17,560 --> 01:15:19,479
Speaker 3: whatever approach you want to take in your guys' approach

1462
01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:22,639
Speaker 3: the carrot is a very effective approach and uh, man,

1463
01:15:22,640 --> 01:15:25,120
Speaker 3: I'm excited about it. So if people listening to this

1464
01:15:25,600 --> 01:15:28,080
Speaker 3: are also excited about it, can you can you walk

1465
01:15:28,120 --> 01:15:31,040
Speaker 3: me through, Benji where they can learn more about you guys,

1466
01:15:31,160 --> 01:15:33,400
Speaker 3: how they can get involved and uh and what to

1467
01:15:33,439 --> 01:15:34,519
Speaker 3: expect in the short term.

1468
01:15:34,880 --> 01:15:36,040
Speaker 4: Well, I appreciate that a lot.

1469
01:15:36,040 --> 01:15:37,880
Speaker 5: In me. I don't think that we meet the goals

1470
01:15:37,880 --> 01:15:39,559
Speaker 5: that you just outlined, are the goals that then I

1471
01:15:39,560 --> 01:15:41,639
Speaker 5: outlined with have nature is on partisan existing. This will

1472
01:15:41,640 --> 01:15:44,320
Speaker 5: be a movement for every every American and not just

1473
01:15:44,520 --> 01:15:46,880
Speaker 5: you know, a select few, And I think that that's it.

1474
01:15:47,160 --> 01:15:49,400
Speaker 5: I kind of wish I would have, you know, started

1475
01:15:49,400 --> 01:15:51,200
Speaker 5: this five or ten years ago or someone else had.

1476
01:15:51,240 --> 01:15:52,960
Speaker 5: But we you know, we're going to make this happen

1477
01:15:53,040 --> 01:15:55,880
Speaker 5: very quickly, and so we we need but we need people.

1478
01:15:55,880 --> 01:15:58,200
Speaker 5: We need Americans to be part of our movement. And so,

1479
01:15:58,880 --> 01:16:00,880
Speaker 5: you know, and each and visual is going to be

1480
01:16:00,920 --> 01:16:03,840
Speaker 5: critical for this because each part of the country has

1481
01:16:03,880 --> 01:16:06,000
Speaker 5: a different need in terms of action, like we talked

1482
01:16:06,040 --> 01:16:09,360
Speaker 5: about earlier, so to get involved. You know, we're going

1483
01:16:09,439 --> 01:16:12,559
Speaker 5: to keep building out our model over the next few months.

1484
01:16:12,600 --> 01:16:16,479
Speaker 5: But currently we've got our pledge signed online, the Nature's

1485
01:16:16,520 --> 01:16:20,200
Speaker 5: non Partisan Pledge. That's kind of the initial interest form

1486
01:16:20,240 --> 01:16:21,840
Speaker 5: of like you want to be involved with Nature as

1487
01:16:21,880 --> 01:16:24,360
Speaker 5: non partisans. We're building out the rest of the more

1488
01:16:24,439 --> 01:16:27,519
Speaker 5: robust tools that can be found on natures Nonpartisan dot

1489
01:16:27,640 --> 01:16:30,599
Speaker 5: org more on social media. If you search Nature as

1490
01:16:30,640 --> 01:16:34,800
Speaker 5: non Partisan on all the platforms and really just stay

1491
01:16:34,800 --> 01:16:36,960
Speaker 5: in touch because we're gonna have a lot coming out

1492
01:16:37,040 --> 01:16:39,920
Speaker 5: over the next three to six months and you're not

1493
01:16:39,960 --> 01:16:41,960
Speaker 5: gonna want to miss it. It will be really helpful

1494
01:16:42,000 --> 01:16:44,040
Speaker 5: if you care about this stuff, and no matter which

1495
01:16:44,160 --> 01:16:45,680
Speaker 5: side of the aisle you come at it from or

1496
01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:48,800
Speaker 5: what topic you come at it from, and you know,

1497
01:16:48,880 --> 01:16:50,920
Speaker 5: stick with us as we build I think the most

1498
01:16:50,920 --> 01:16:52,519
Speaker 5: effective environmental movement.

1499
01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:54,640
Speaker 4: We'll ever see. And you know it's going to take

1500
01:16:54,680 --> 01:16:55,360
Speaker 4: all of us to do that.

1501
01:16:55,400 --> 01:16:56,840
Speaker 5: It's not just going to be Ben or I or

1502
01:16:56,880 --> 01:16:59,519
Speaker 5: you Mark, It's going to be all of us, and collectively,

1503
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:00,679
Speaker 5: we're gonna get this thing done.

1504
01:17:00,720 --> 01:17:02,400
Speaker 4: So we need people.

1505
01:17:02,960 --> 01:17:06,000
Speaker 5: We need individuals who care about this, who want to

1506
01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:09,880
Speaker 5: put partisan politics aside and actually find solutions. And we're

1507
01:17:09,920 --> 01:17:11,400
Speaker 5: starting now and we need you now.

1508
01:17:12,840 --> 01:17:15,439
Speaker 3: Well, I'm certainly appreciative of you guys doing this leading

1509
01:17:15,439 --> 01:17:18,479
Speaker 3: the charge. I'm excited about it, and I think a

1510
01:17:18,479 --> 01:17:21,200
Speaker 3: lot of other folks will be too, So thank.

1511
01:17:21,080 --> 01:17:24,120
Speaker 4: You, Thank you, Mark. Thanks Mark.

1512
01:17:28,160 --> 01:17:31,160
Speaker 3: All Right, and that's a wrap for our show today.

1513
01:17:31,600 --> 01:17:34,599
Speaker 3: Hope you guys enjoyed this one and left a little

1514
01:17:34,640 --> 01:17:37,559
Speaker 3: bit better informed on how we can move the ball

1515
01:17:37,640 --> 01:17:41,120
Speaker 3: forward for the natural resources and wildlife and wild places

1516
01:17:41,120 --> 01:17:43,639
Speaker 3: that we care about right now, how we can find

1517
01:17:43,640 --> 01:17:46,479
Speaker 3: some wins, how we can you know, encourage our elected

1518
01:17:46,520 --> 01:17:48,680
Speaker 3: officials to do the right thing, and how we can

1519
01:17:48,680 --> 01:17:51,800
Speaker 3: find those areas of shared values between you know, the

1520
01:17:52,040 --> 01:17:54,559
Speaker 3: left side and the right side and get something done.

1521
01:17:54,920 --> 01:17:56,759
Speaker 3: It's not always going to be perfect, it's not always

1522
01:17:56,800 --> 01:17:59,439
Speaker 3: going to be everything we want, but let's get some wins,

1523
01:17:59,640 --> 01:18:03,680
Speaker 3: let's find some silver linings. Let's make sure that we

1524
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:08,040
Speaker 3: are getting good things done for the wild life, the

1525
01:18:08,080 --> 01:18:11,880
Speaker 3: wild places, and the wild experiences that so many of

1526
01:18:11,960 --> 01:18:15,120
Speaker 3: us care about. So until next time, thank you for

1527
01:18:15,200 --> 01:18:21,040
Speaker 3: being here, and stay wired tongue