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What does it look like when conservation is not just a mission, but a lifetime practice?

In this episode, I sit down with Beverly and Dereck Joubert, whose decades of filmmaking, photography, and advocacy have helped shape how the world sees Africa’s wildlife. Their new book, Wild Eye, is a retrospective of what they have witnessed—but our conversation is really about what you do with what you witness.

We talk about the shift from documenting nature to defending it, and why they believe silence is no longer neutral. We also explore the deeper operating system underneath effective conservation: how protection becomes possible when it is tied to livelihoods, when tourism is shaped intentionally, and when storytelling is treated as strategy rather than decoration.

If you work in conservation, this conversation is a reminder that long-term wins often come from unglamorous decisions, values-based tradeoffs, consistency, collaboration, and building models that can last. If you simply love wild places, it is a powerful invitation to turn connection into responsibility, and responsibility into action.

Highlights

• What experience helped move them from storytellers to advocates?
• How their model of “Conservation funded by tourism” has worked to stop hunting, protect land, create jobs, and see wildlife rebound.
• What lesson did they learn after their terrible accident with a buffalo and what it can teach us about resilience.

What YOU Can Do

• Speak up where you have influence- at work, in your community, and in the rooms where decisions get made. As the Jouberts put it, if you see something going wrong, do not be complicit through silence .
• Choose with intention: If travel is part of your life, do the research. Look for ethics, authenticity, and proof that a company is working with communities and doing no harm—because conscientious tourism can either protect wild places or put them at risk .
• Collaborate: You do not need to start your own foundation to be part of the solution. Beverly talked about plugging into existing work—from community power projects to conservation and rewilding—so that your skills, resources, or donations become part of a bigger ripple .

Resources

• Wild Eye by Beverly and Dereck Joubert
• Great Plains Foundation

If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

This season of Forces for Nature featured alumni from the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders community. Across very different ecosystems and roles, the same patterns kept showing up. I pull those threads together into a handful of practical lessons you can apply whether you work in conservation professionally or you just care deeply and want to be useful in whatever you’re passionate about.

Highlights

• Lesson 1: Listen first. Trust is needed before solutions.
• Lesson 2: Durability comes from local ownership.
• Lesson 3: Small wins are not small.
• Lesson 4: Storytelling is not fluff.
• Lesson 5: Coexistence is engineered in the details.
• Lesson 6: The “unsexy” stuff matters.
• Lesson 7: Civic participation is also a conservation tool.
  
  

What YOU Can Do

• Listen: Have one conversation with someone who is directly affected by a local issue — and do not lead with your solution.
• Join something local. A watershed group, park friends group, community garden, citizen science effort—show up once.
• Support: Give money to the backbone — operations, salaries, field costs — or volunteer a concrete skill you actually have.
• Share a story: Share one episode and add one sentence about what action it made feel possible.
• Show up civically: Bentley reminded us that public comments, specific asks, and local relationships matter. Choose one thing and do the small step.

Resources

• Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders
• Ep. 97 with Hugo Pereira
• Ep. 98 with Kaitlyn Bock
• Ep. 99 with David Tucker
• Ep. 100 with Gaby Ochoa
• Ep. 101 with Kate Gersh
• Ep. 102 with Alex Goetz & Justin Grubb
• Ep. 103 with Bentley Johnson
• Ep. 104 with Ali Abdullahi
• Ep. 105 with Shivani Bhalla
• Ep. 106 with Jamal Galves
• Ep. 107 with Rhett Ayers Butler

If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?

Send Crystal a text letting her know what you thought about the show!

For this special live conversation, Crystal sat down on stage with Rhett Ayers Butler, founder and CEO of Mongabay, one of the most trusted sources of environmental journalism in the world.

Together, they explored the current state of conservation- from resilience and adaptation to the role of journalism, storytelling, technology, and informed optimism. The conversation also opened up to the audience, inviting questions from conservation practitioners working across ecosystems, regions, and disciplines.

This episode was recorded live at the Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL) 20th Anniversary Summit, a gathering that brought together conservation leaders and practitioners from around the world to celebrate two decades of community, collaboration, and impact.

What emerged was an honest, nuanced dialogue about where conservation stands today, what is changing, what is working, and how we continue moving forward- together.

Highlights

• What are the characteristics of conservation initiatives that are scalable or replicable across the geographies?
• How is Mongabay adapting to the challenges of distrust in science and disinformation campaigns?
• How is Mongabay using optimism as a strategy?

WhatYou Can Do

• Pay attention to the stories you share. Seek out and amplify conservation stories that highlight solutions, learning, and community leadership, not just problems.
• Build constituencies, not just projects. Think about who needs to be at the table for conservation efforts to succeed, especially local and Indigenous communities.
• Practice informed optimism. Look for evidence of what is working, acknowledge setbacks honestly, and use both to guide action.
• Support independent environmental journalism. Reliable, transparent reporting plays a critical role in accountability, awareness, and change.
• Stay connected to nature and to one another. As Rhett reminds us, getting outside and nurturing community are essential for sustaining long-term conservation work.

Resources

• Mongabay
• Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL)
• How to Find Optimism article
• Rethinking How We Talk about Conservation and Why It Matters article
• Health and Harmony (Project ASRI)

If you'd like to sponsor next season (or even just an episode) reach out to me and let's chat! My email is crystal@forcesfornature.com.

Want a free guide to help you become a force for nature? Get it HERE!

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.

Hit me up on Instagram and Facebook and let me know what actions you have been taking. Adopting just one habit can be a game-changer because imagine if a billion people also adopted that!

What difference for the world are you going to make today?