The Butterfly Effect

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Chad Hanson, a forest and fire ecologist with more than 17 years experience in this field. His Ph.D. research focused on forest and fire ecology and the rare wildlife species that depend upon post-fire habitat in forests of the Sierra Nevada and elsewhere in the western U.S.. He has published an impressive list of scientific research papers on forest and fire ecology, wildlife use of burned forest, natural post-fire forest regeneration, and fire history and trends. In this episode you will hear about Chad's work, the importance of wildfires to our forests, how can we prevent unnecessary fires, do we really have less fires historically (yes less), and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion, Chad Henson and The John Muir project. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to speak with Jeff DeQuattro, Director of Restoration, Gulf of Mexico. “I love the Gulf of Mexico, from alligators in the wetlands and sunsets over the marshes to its salty air and the sight of blue crabs scampering over tidal oyster reefs. I love this place.”  TNC hired Jeff to manage a $3 million Recovery Act project to restore 1.5 miles of oyster reef in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Soon thereafter, he found himself leading TNC’s oil spill recovery efforts along Alabama’s coast. His role at TNC was then expanded to encompass other conservation and restoration activities along Alabama’s coast. Before TNC, Jeff worked as an environmental consultant and stormwater professional for large industrial clients and developers throughout Alabama. He has also worked as a hazardous and non-hazardous waste broker, which included cleaning contaminated sites and oil spills. Jeff, who earned a degree in environmental studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz, says life on the Gulf has a “priceless quality that is unmatched in bounty and possibility. It’s not appreciated for the natural resources that sustain the livelihoods of not only Gulf Coast residents but much of the entire country as well. Who would have thought that it would take the largest environmental disaster in the United States; history for the Gulf to be recognized for its contributions? But hopefully, this disaster made us realize that by working together with a sustainable frame of mind, we can achieve a more resilient and more bountiful Gulf of Mexico that will continue to support the quality of life that is our home.” In this episode, you will hear about his work at the Gulf of Mexico, oil spills, the value of oyster reefs, community involvement, youth, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Jeff DeQuattro. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Shubber Ali. Shubber Ali is the CEO of Garden for Wildlife, a program that began within the National Wildlife Federation. Shubber has spent the last three decades helping companies in the consulting and software industries solve problems through innovation. It was while Shubber was one of Accenture’s Global Leads for Digital  Innovation that he worked with the NWF to launch Garden for Wildlife as its own for-profit e-commerce company.   Garden for Wildlife allows people to make a difference for the environment by shipping plants native to their zip code that support local wildlife. Their team of experts has thoughtfully utilized 50 years of experience, science, and data to curate plant collections that support wildlife and benefit local ecosystems in every season. And for every plant GFW sells, they reserve one plant for donation to a community garden or public space.  Shubber is incredibly passionate about innovation, nature, and wildlife, and is on a mission to get as many people as possible to help save the planet, yard by yard. In 2023, GFW shipped over 62,000 plants across 38 states and 2,900+ cities in America.   In this episode, you will hear about his journey, rain-friendly gardens, what’s the value of buying native species, our lawns, pollinators, and more. Resources mentioned in the episode: Books: Nature's Best Hope - Doug Tallamy The Nature Fix - Florence Williams Last Child in the Woods - Richard Louv Links: Buying Native Plants for your own yard - https://gardenforwildlife.com/ Fundraising platform signup -  https://content.gardenforwildlife.com/fundraising Native Plant Finder (NWF) - https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/ Some notes... More about 1treellion & Shubber Ali and Gardens for Wildlife . To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Devan Schowe. Devan works as a Campaigns Associate for the wildlife conservation and animal welfare organization, Born Free USA, to fight against the exploitation of wild animals in captivity.  Prior to her current position with the organization, she worked for several years as a Primate Caregiver and Veterinary Assistant at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in South Texas. In her current position, she researches and writes reports on target issues including the private trade of wild animals, wild animals in captivity, the effects of social media on wild animals, the fur trade, and trapping. She increases public awareness of these issues by campaigning on various platforms, including social media, blog posts, and podcasts. Devan holds an MSc in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University. In this episode, you will hear about her work at Born Free USA, their different initiatives to help wildlife in captivity, “Compassionate Conservation”, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Born Free USA. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link.The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Alexandre Karim Howard. Karim, is a Swiss-born entrepreneur, with a track record of scaling early-stage startups to become unicorns. Drawing from this experience, he is passionately dedicated to delivering quality products that address vital challenges, particularly in the field of regenerative agriculture. After a year of hands-on farming experience across Europe, he recognized the pressing need for practical and inclusive solutions that align with nature and cater to all communities.  Karim is committed to leveraging his expertise to scale regenerative solutions, driven by the desire to solve problems that genuinely matter. In this episode, you will hear about regenerative agriculture - issues and how we can scale it, the role of AI, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Alexandre Karim Howard. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link.The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Clara Botto. Clara has been engaged with sustainable development at a grassroots and international level, from arts to politics, for the past 8 years. She is currently developing the initiative SRM Youth Watch, which is looking into the governance of climate-altering technologies called Solar Radiation Modification (SRM), campaigns with World’s Youth for Climate Justice seeking an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the climate crisis as a human rights issue, is a New European Voice on Existential Risk with the European Leadership Network and is the Science-Policy Thematic Facilitator of the Major Group of Children and Youth to UNEP. She holds an MSc in International Development and Public Policy, having written her thesis as a public policy case study of deep-sea mining in Portugal, and a BSc in Business with a focus on Creative Economy and Marketing, where she researched sustainable fashion and the universities’ lack of preparation to equip youth for sustainable development in Rio de Janeiro. In this episode, you will hear about SRM policies, youth involvement in climate justice, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion, Clara Botto, and SRM Youth Watch. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Elias Cattan. Elias is an architect and urban planner from Mexico City, working on bringing nature back into our built environment. Through his architectural designs, urban master planning, workshops, and data visualization in graphics and installations.  He is the Founder and Director of Taller13 Arquitectura Regenerativa, dedicated to understanding living systems within nature and cities. He designs furniture, interiors, buildings, and urban planning to scale, integrating the patterns of community life and the systems in which they operate. In this episode, you will hear about his work, the  Urban Regeneration Games, what are complete streets, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion, Taller13 & Urban Regeneration Games. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Ellen Williams. Ellen is Director of Advisory & ESG Services at Orion Global Solutions, a distinguished Summit Level partner with Salesforce. With a rich tapestry of over 25 years in technology and business consultancy, Ellen seamlessly blends her tech prowess with a fervent passion for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) advocacy. As the driving force behind Orion’s Salesforce Net Zero Cloud implementations, she champions carbon accounting and holistic ESG management for clients worldwide. Ellen wears many hats - from being a Positive Change Ambassador to pioneering the transformative “10-second pause” initiative, promoting conscious consumerism. Her eloquence is evident in her writings featured in publications like Inc., Crain’s NY Business, and Forbes. Moreover, her voice resonates in podcasts such as Sustainable Minds and Actionable ESG™️ Talks, and she has graced stages from NYxPO to the Sage Software Partner Summit. Ellen's mission transcends business growth; it's about creating a ripple effect for a better planet. Through her work, she enlightens businesses and listeners alike, proving that profitability and positive impact can, indeed, coexist. She communicates about a world of ESG, where doing well and doing good are two sides of the same coin. In this episode, you will hear about ESG, sustainability, consumerism, earrings, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Ellen Williams. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Mimi Wu. Mimi is an impact-driven entrepreneur with deep expertise in circularity and plastics waste management, particularly in the Global South.  Her mission is to accelerate our global society towards a zero-plastic waste future by reducing plastic production and consumption, building basic waste infrastructure for all communities, and scaling innovative solutions.  Mimi founded one of the world’s only post-consumer plastic bag recycling companies in a country -  Myanmar - which consistently ranks in the top 20 hardest countries in the world to conduct business.  Since returning to the US in 2021, she has been working with industry leaders, startups, and VCs to solve our climate and plastic pollution crises with a focus on infrastructure technology solutions. In this episode, you will hear about the plastic pollution problem, waste management, what plastics can be recycled, “wish-cycle”, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Mimi Wu. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link.The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Marc Cortez. Marc is the author of 'Climaturity: A Journey into the Muddy Climate Middle'.  Climaturity offers a new perspective on the climate crisis controversy through the pragmatic lens of a long-time renewable energy industry veteran. Part science, part satire, and part snark. Marc is the Founder/CEO of Liquid8, a water conservation startup, and professor of Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.  Marc advocates for a transparent climate discussion where half-truths are completed, climate science limitations are put into proper context, and politicians are held accountable for spending taxpayer dollars. In this episode, you will hear about solar energy, how to conserve water, consuming less in all aspects of our lives, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Marc Cortez. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link.The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Stephanie Trager. Stephanie is a medicine woman, guide, business architect and purpose catalyst holding space in a sacred container for intellectual, analytical soul seekers ready to come home to who they really are to do the work they’re really here to do. From human rights and environmental justice to corporate litigation to human potential, herbalism, peak wellness, and soul mastery she integrates a rare and eclectic mix of education and off-the-beaten-path experience. For more than three decades she’s been a student of indigenous and earth-based wisdom, has spent time immersing with various indigenous groups from the Navajo to the Achuar, Warani, and Quechua, and has been initiated as an Earthkeeper in the shamanic tradition by the Q’ero from the Andes in Peru.   She’s a licensed attorney, holds a Juris Doctorate, and a bachelor’s degree in communications and international relations from Boston University. Her early work in grassroots organizing, corporate responsibility, and sustainability was followed by a career in complex corporate litigation at Davis Polk. She was naturally an intuitive guide – often called an oracle-  and herbalist for years before, becoming a certified professional coach in 2007 through Teachers College at Columbia University and continued to expand her expertise as a coach and certified energy medicine practitioner, certified mediator, certified wellness, business and executive coach, sustainability and leadership consultant.  Stephanie has been immersed in the impact investing space helping catalysts deploy their capital in alignment with their values. She’s a board member at Dream Change, creator and host of Catalyst Talks Podcast, and has developed several transformational modalities and programs including The Inner Work of Impact Coaching & Facilitation for Individuals & Organizations. She’s been coaching for two decades and is passionate about enabling physical vitality, mental freedom, emotional peace, and spiritual expansion. She has a stellium (5 planets) in Aquarius and a massive love for trees. In this episode, you will hear about her activist works protecting the Redwood trees, indigenous knowledge, the environmental justice world,s and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion, Stephanie Trager, and The Catalyst Talks podcast. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link.The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Hank (Henry) Svec. Hank is a servant beekeeper, author, valued investor, and former psychologist who is now retired.  For 30 years he worked as a clinical psychologist in Ontario, Canada. and for 40 years as a value investor in real estate, bonds, stocks, and early-stage start-ups.  Now he is focusing on bees. In 2017, Hank and his wife started converting their 50-acre farm back to nature as a honeybee sanctuary.  In this episode, you will hear about converting his farm to a bee sanctuary, lessons learned from bees, what can we learn from bees for business, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Dr. Hank (Henry) Svec. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Eric Bendick. Eric is an Emmy-winning director, producer, and writer whose films explore connectivity, conflict, and ingenuity at the intersection of human and wild spaces. He’s led storytelling expeditions to the heart of many of the last intact and untamed landscapes on Earth as well as to the front lines of habitat destruction and fragmentation. His films for National Geographic, PBS, Smithsonian, History Channel, among others have garnered numerous awards from major film festivals around the world. Eric is a current grantee of the Redford Center and a graduate of Brown University and Montana State University. In this episode, you will hear about his latest film the path of the Panther. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Eric Bendick. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Dr. James Downer. Dr. Downer has 37 years of experience as a horticulture and plant pathology Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Ventura County. His research is focused on mulch, soil microbiology and disease suppression in mulched soils, diseases of shade trees, and cultural practices to maintain landscape plants. Dr. Downer is an Adjunct professor at California Polytechnic University in Pomona. He has a love of shade trees, Shinrin Yoku (forest bathing) tree work, woodworking, horses, gardening, horticulture, and the study of plants and their biology. In this episode, you will hear about the forests in Chernobyl, his work studying the nuclear effect on them, Gama Radiation, Fukushima, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Dr. James Downer. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Sally Giblin. Sally is an award-winning founder, podcast co-host, environmentalist, writer, speaker, and parent. Her purpose is to unleash the power of families to rewrite our climate story. Sally is the Co-Founder of Be The Future, which is creating children’s books and games about caring for our world that burst with humor, solutions, and hope - and a digital action hub that rewards families and schools for real-world action. She's also a Co-Host of the Hope. Act. Thrive. Podcast, which hosts bite-size conversations with leading climate thinkers, doers, and shakers from around the globe. Sally is also a Greenpeace Australia Pacific General Assembly Member, an Australian Parents for Climate Action spokesperson, and a Climate Reality Leader. In this episode, you will hear about families and their potential in rewriting the climate story, what can parents do with their kids in regard to climate action, climate anxiety with children, Sally’s children’s book, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Sally Giblin. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Branden Barber. Branden is a lifelong environmentalist. Starting with a degree in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz, he cut his teeth with Greenpeace International on the Rainbow Warrior. Then he ran the Victorian State Office for Greenpeace Australia. Over the last 25 years, he’s worked in both the social profit and for-profit sectors, from start-ups to S&P 500 companies to NGO’s, large and small. In the last decade, Branden has been involved with various environmental organizations as staff or as a consultant, served on the Leadership Teams at both Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, and has sat on several boards – always with a focus on the environment. Branden joined the Rainforest Rescue team in 2018. He is passionate about rainforests, ardently committed to the natural world, and brings a wealth and breadth of experience to Rainforest Rescue as the CEO. In this episode, you will hear about his work, challenges in restoring a rainforest, the Daintree rainforest (the oldest rainforest in the world), and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Branden Barber. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Natalie Lavery. Natalie is an avid environmentalist, marketer, communicator, and writer,  with a passion for digital storytelling. She heads up marketing for Climate People, a ClimateTech recruitment agency. With a background in grassroots environmental advocacy, she has seen first-hand the dire need for a swift and just transition away from a fossil-fuel-dominated economy. In her current role at Climate People, she advocates for job seekers and helps encourages people from all fields to transition their careers to climate solutions in hopes of creating a brighter future for all. In this episode, you will hear about what jobs are needed in the climate sector, statistics on the barriers to entering this space, meeting people where they are, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Natalie Lavery. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Abby Alvin. Abby is a big lover of anything outdoors who loves hiking and photography! She went to school for Environmental Studies, Geology and Entrepreneurship.  When she graduated she was unable to find a job in the climate sector that would pay rent so she pursued 7 years in recruiting! Here we are, 10 years later, and she has been able to bring her skillset in recruiting and her passion for climate together as a Senior ClimateTech Account Manager and Sourcer at Climate People where their mission is simple: to get more top talent into climate jobs! In this episode, you will hear about her journey in the climate sector, what it means to have a job in climate, her tips and advice on pursuing a career in climate tech, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Abby Alvin. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Jeffrey H. Ryan. Jeff is passionate about the outdoors and the conservation of public land, whose work has been cited in Forbes, USA Today, and other notable publications. He is the author of Appalachian Odyssey (2016), Blazing Ahead (2017), and a new book This Land Was Saved for You and Me: How Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmsted, and a Band of Foresters Rescued America's Public Lands that came out in September 2022 tells the story of how America’s public lands—our city parks, national forests, and wilderness areas—came into being can be traced to a few conservation pioneers and proteges who shaped policy and advocated for open spaces. Some, like Frederick Law Olmsted and Gifford Pinchot, are well known, while others have never been given their due. Jeffrey Ryan covers the nearly century-long period between 1865 (when Olmsted contributed to the creation of Yosemite as a park and created its management plan) to the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. Olmsted influenced Pinchot, who became the first head of the National Forest Service. In turn, Pinchot hired the foresters who became the founders of The Wilderness Society and creators of the Wilderness Act itself. This history emphasizes the cast of characters —among them Theodore Roosevelt, Bob Marshall, Benton MacKaye, Aldo Leopold, and Howard Zahniser—and provides context for their decisions and the political and economic factors that contributed to the triumphs and pitfalls in the quest to protect public lands. In researching the book, Ryan traveled to the places where these crusaders lived, worked, and were inspired to take up the cause to make public lands accessible to all. In this episode, you will hear about the history of American forests, what he learned about Olmsted, Pichot, Jeff’s hiking experience, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Jeff Ryan. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.

This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Tatsiana Zaretskaya. Tatsiana is the founder of Laava Tech & Meliora, which develops technology to increase the efficiency of indoor farming. Tatsiana is an MIT Innovator 35U35, and Forbes 30U30. She is passionate about cleantech technologies that make a difference and make sense. In this episode, you will hear about her work, what got her to do it, her accomplishment, some about her family in Belarus, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Tatsiana Zaretskaya. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.