Wild Virginia Old Dominion Eco Buzz

Are You Afraid of What Life Looks Like in a Drier World?

Are you afraid of what life looks like in a drier world? Thomas Culligan says, “It’s a human health crisis waiting to happen.” 
He references paddleboarding in the salt marshes of Charleston, South Carolina and seeing dolphins blow through their blowholes with a baby on their dorsal fin. Missing out on natural beauties like these is what he is afraid of if we don’t have clean water.  
“It may sound cliché, but water really is life.” 
Potential boiling water advisories, agricultural runoff into our streams, or a drier world in general: Culligan says it’s a recipe for disaster, but it’s 100% avoidable.
Living in Harrisonburg, VA, he says they have been in a drought since June and need 6-9 inches of rain to revive their groundwater. Culligan doesn’t think things like this are talked about enough.  
Tune in to this episode of Wild Virginia Coffee Talk to hear more about Thomas' experience with the Wild Virginia Clean Water Advocates program and why he wants a world still beautiful enough for the next generation to enjoy.

Former Veterinarian Continues Environmental Passion Through Water Advocacy

Alice Frei is a retired veterinarian. During her veterinary career she owned a small practice in Houston and cared for dogs, cats, exotics, and wildlife. After retirement she moved to Charlottesville, Virginia and became involved in environmental conservation. She presently volunteers for Rivanna Master Naturalist, Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, Botanical Garden of the Piedmont, and Rivanna Conservation Alliance. Through RCA she developed keen interest in water conservation and health. She has continued monitoring Charlottesville area streams for cleanliness, bacteria, and macroscopic indicator species of water health.  
She is currently a student in the pilot class of 2023 for Wild Virginia's Water Advocates Program. She joins the podcast to discuss her passion for the environment, what issues she hopes to tackle after graduating the program, and why water is essential to life.

Meet the New Face of Habitat Connectivity in Virginia

Wild Virginia is excited to welcome Jessica Roberts, the new face of habitat connectivity in our state!
She has a background in endangered species population restoration and has many years of experience working in animal husbandry, community-based conservation initiatives, and environmental education program development. Her research with behavior-based management and conservation translocations has been developed to give direct, usable evidence-based information for other endangered species restoration specialists. Her hopes for Wild Virginia’s habitat connectivity campaign are to combine advocacy, wildlife restoration research, and community-based conservation to enhance wildlife corridors in our state.
Tune in to our newest episode of Wild Virginia Virtual Coffee Talk to learn more!

Learn More About PFAS and the Health Effects

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - “forever chemicals” - threatens our health and our environment. Initial studies conducted by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have confirmed PFAS contamination in surface waters, groundwater, and drinking water throughout the state. To address this pollution and public health problem, Virginia should use existing authority under the federal Clean Water Act to require disclosure and control of the discharge of these chemicals into our waters.

Top Environmental Nonprofits Working to Conserve Resources and Protect the Planet

Join Publicity & Outreach Director, Katie Keller, to hear about some of the top environmental nonprofits in Virginia, across the country and even those with a global impact. You'll also learn about some of the incredible conservation efforts they are working on and how those campaigns are helping to combat climate change.

This Business Has Kept Almost 30K pounds of Material Away from the Landfill

The Scrappy Elephant is an arts and crafts storefront and community that has helped to divert almost 30,000 pounds of unwanted materials away from the landfill. They are also a Wild Virginia business partner, offering our donors 10% art supplies when they show their Wild Virginia member card. 
UVA / Wild Virginia intern, Haley Freeborn, chats with The Scrappy Elephant owner, Sarah, about the importance diverting waste away from landfills has on methane levels and climate change.
 
* AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DIVERT MATERIALS FROM THE LANDFILL? BECAUSE LANDFILLS ARE BAD FOR OUR HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT. IN 1988, THE EPA STATED ALL LANDFILLS WILL EVENTUALLY LEAK. THAT MEANS THAT RUNOFF CARRYING WITH IT TOXIC CHEMICALS FROM OUR WASTE, ENDS UP IN OUR WATER SUPPLIES. MANY COMMUNITIES SURROUNDING LANDFILLS HAVE HAD THEIR DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATED BY LEAKING LANDFILLS.
LANDFILLS ARE A MAJOR SOURCE OF METHANE. THE EPA ALSO FOUND LANDFILLS TO BE THE THIRD-LARGEST SOURCE OF HUMAN-RELATED METHANE EMISSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. METHANE IS A GREENHOUSE GAS 86 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN CARBON DIOXIDE ACCORDING TO THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE, MAKING IT A POWERFUL CONTRIBUTOR TO OUR CLIMATE CRISIS.

Meet the Face Behind Virginia Wildlife Corridors

For this episode of the Wild Virginia Coffee Talk Podcast we are joined by Courtney Hayes who is the new face behind preserving Virginia wildlife corridors. She is the Wild Virginia Habitat Connectivity Program Director and has worked as a zoologist and data scientist for the Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, previously. Courtney is passionate about protecting wild animals, plants, and ecosystems through scientific research, good management practices, and getting people involved. She spearheads the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative, a group that is connecting the corridors that support us all.
In this conversation, we highlight some exciting crossing projects in our state and others like California's newest crossing project that will be the largest in the world.

From Coal Ash to Pipelines: How an Activist Continues to Fight Against Climate Change

Jessica Sims from Appalachian Voices joins Wild Virginia to talk about her story in the coal ash fight, and how that led her to fighting both the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines. She talks about organizing, how policy affects our environment, how public commenting is critical to stopping pipeline infrastructure, and actionable insights listeners can implement to get involved in combatting climate change. 

Outdoor Photographer Talks About Getting Closer to Nature

In her words, being in nature has helped Alison Thomas “look at the big picture”… An apt expression, since Thomas spends her days outside taking pictures of some of the most beautiful outdoor vistas and getting closer to nature through this work. Thomas is an outdoor photographer, and her photography, which includes black and white and color images and panoramas, is inspired by her deep appreciation of the natural world. 

Virginia Native Plants Expert Shares Insights on Local Genotype

Tune in to this episode of Wild Virginia Coffee Talk to learn more about native plants and why local genotype matters.
A plant is considered native if it has occurred naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat without human interference. Exotic plants that evolved in other parts of the world or were cultivated by humans into forms that don't exist in nature do not support wildlife as well as native plants do. 
Genotype means family.  That’s ‘family’ in the every-day sense, not the technical taxonomic definition. You share with your parents, aunts, grandparents, siblings, cousins, a constellation of similar genetic material that expresses itself physically as the family nose, or eyebrows, a predilection for cake, and more generally the way you see the world and choose to interact with it, unique to your particular band of people.  'Local genotype' means a group of families that live in the same place, and who likely intersect and interconnect through marriage, childcare, shared recipes, language, etc. when they're humans, and the botanical equivalents when they're plants.