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Community DC Loren Mayor World Wildlife Fund US · Community D.C.

0:05
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dennis Colasco. This morning, we welcome to
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Speaker 1: the program for the first time, Lauren Mayer. She is
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Speaker 1: the Chief Operating Officer for the World Wildlife Fund US,
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Speaker 1: a nonprofit located in Washington, DC, and their mission and
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Speaker 1: vision is to protect nature, stop environmental degradation, and build
0:24
Speaker 1: a future where people live in harmony with wild animals
0:26
Speaker 1: and plants. Here's my conversation with Lauren. We cover a
0:29
Speaker 1: lot over the next 30 minutes, so I hope you
0:31
Speaker 1: enjoy it as much as I did.
0:32
Speaker 2: Good morning, Lauren. Good morning. So happy to be here.
0:35
Speaker 1: Well, it's great to have you on Community DC here
0:38
Speaker 1: at iHeart. And I am truly excited to talk to
0:42
Speaker 1: you about WWF US. And I can't believe this first
0:46
Speaker 1: time we've had you in the program. And I'm so
0:47
Speaker 1: glad that I found you guys. I've known about you
0:49
Speaker 1: for a long time. And now you've been around since 1961.
0:51
Speaker 1: You've been with the organization for six plus years. And
0:54
Speaker 1: there's so much that I want to ask you, but
0:56
Speaker 1: also I want to educate our listeners about. But I
0:58
Speaker 1: would love, because as I found out you were going
1:00
Speaker 1: to be on the program, I looked back Everything started
1:02
Speaker 1: in 1961. Can you give us a brief history how
1:05
Speaker 1: things started and why they started back then?
1:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were started by a group of people in
1:10
Speaker 3: Europe who were strong conservationists. They loved wildlife and they
1:16
Speaker 3: were concerned that big species were going to go extinct.
1:20
Speaker 3: And so one of the very first things that that
1:22
Speaker 3: team of people did was was put together a campaign
1:25
Speaker 3: to try to help the rhinoceros. And they thought their
1:28
Speaker 3: idea was they would collect money to fund work to
1:31
Speaker 3: send out to support animals. But we quickly learned over
1:36
Speaker 3: time that you can't just support the animals. You also
1:39
Speaker 3: have to think about their habitat and their environment. And
1:42
Speaker 3: it turns out that if you start to think about
1:44
Speaker 3: the whole ecosystem and the environment, it's good for animals
1:47
Speaker 3: and it's good for people too.
1:49
Speaker 1: You know, I usually in this series talk to people
1:51
Speaker 1: about leadership, but I want to move forward on that
1:53
Speaker 1: because I did want to ask you something. You have
1:55
Speaker 1: such an incredible resume of different organizations that I've been
1:58
Speaker 1: found of my whole life, and that's PBS and NPR,
2:02
Speaker 1: just great institutions out there. What did you take from
2:05
Speaker 1: those as you saw WWF and joining them about why
2:10
Speaker 1: you came from and what you were going to?
2:12
Speaker 3: Oh, what a great question. Yeah, I feel very fortunate.
2:15
Speaker 3: I've worked for some amazing organizations in my career. And
2:18
Speaker 3: for me, I've just always had a real focus on
2:21
Speaker 3: mission in my work. And so I loved working with
2:24
Speaker 3: public media. I just think the role of local media
2:28
Speaker 3: is so important. And PBS does a tremendous job in
2:31
Speaker 3: terms of all the educational work that they did. And
2:34
Speaker 3: then I had an opportunity to go to NPR. playing
2:37
Speaker 3: a similar operations role to what I play now, really
2:40
Speaker 3: thinking about the whole operations of the organization, fundraising all
2:43
Speaker 3: the pieces of how things fit together. And I'm a
2:47
Speaker 3: huge fan and a big believer in the importance of
2:50
Speaker 3: journalism in democracy. And in my role, I got to
2:53
Speaker 3: really help be a problem solver behind the scenes to
2:56
Speaker 3: help put all the pieces together and help the journalists
2:58
Speaker 3: do what they needed to do.
3:00
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I agree with that. And I was
3:02
Speaker 1: just going to say there are a ton of similarities
3:04
Speaker 1: from what you had done Oh.
3:08
Speaker 2: There are.
3:08
Speaker 3: Yeah. So I was just going to say, you know,
3:11
Speaker 3: the thing is, I feel really passionate about journalism and
3:14
Speaker 3: freedom of the press. But often when I would come
3:16
Speaker 3: home at night, the thing that would just keep me
3:19
Speaker 3: up was less thinking about. the media, and more thinking
3:23
Speaker 3: about the state of the planet. And I felt like
3:26
Speaker 3: I really wanted to work for an organization that was
3:28
Speaker 3: purely focused on that issue. And I feel very fortunate
3:32
Speaker 3: that there are a lot of parallels in terms of
3:34
Speaker 3: the work. So both organizations are federated systems. They rely
3:39
Speaker 3: on a wide range of revenues, including membership. They're organizations
3:44
Speaker 3: that have a team of real dedicated people, whether that's
3:47
Speaker 3: journalists at NPR or scientists at WWF. And the role
3:51
Speaker 3: I get to do is to think about how do
3:53
Speaker 3: we help them achieve their work to the best degree possible?
3:56
Speaker 3: How do we eliminate all of the sand in the
3:59
Speaker 3: gears to help the organizations work seamlessly so we can
4:03
Speaker 3: achieve the mission?
4:04
Speaker 1: Outstanding. Well, thanks for indulging me about that. I've been
4:07
Speaker 1: in the industry for 30 years in radio and TV,
4:09
Speaker 1: mainly sports, but I do things like this, too. And
4:12
Speaker 1: I'm always in awe of people who have worked for great,
4:15
Speaker 1: respected institutions. And it's just fantastic. So I'm very happy
4:20
Speaker 1: for you. And I'm glad that gets to continue at
4:22
Speaker 1: WWF US. I did want to ask you about this.
4:25
Speaker 1: We do want to get into all the key activities
4:27
Speaker 1: because there are a lot that I want to educate
4:29
Speaker 1: our listeners about. But I also know that when it
4:32
Speaker 1: comes to core mission and the vision that you have,
4:35
Speaker 1: those are ultra important, especially at a nonprofit like yours.
4:38
Speaker 1: Can you talk about those?
4:40
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
4:41
Speaker 2: I mean, mission is key to what we do.
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Speaker 3: And here at WWF, a focus on nature really anchors
4:49
Speaker 3: everything that we do. We believe that we need nature
4:55
Speaker 3: to survive and that nature also needs us and now
4:58
Speaker 3: more than ever. And so our goal is to help
5:00
Speaker 3: people value and protect nature so that we can have
5:04
Speaker 3: a place where people, species and the overall planet can thrive.
5:09
Speaker 1: All right. I want to talk about some of the
5:11
Speaker 1: key activities. And there are a bunch of different buckets
5:14
Speaker 1: that I want to tackle with you. And we can
5:16
Speaker 1: just go over each one, but they are the conserve wildlife,
5:19
Speaker 1: protect habitat, the fight climate change, also promote sustainability and
5:26
Speaker 1: support communities. Let's start with conserve wildlife. Tell me a
5:29
Speaker 1: little bit about that. I know that's kind of what
5:31
Speaker 1: everybody associates with you. There's much more to that, isn't there?
5:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
5:35
Speaker 3: I mean, people think about WWF, if they do, and
5:38
Speaker 3: they often think about our logo, which is the panda, right?
5:40
Speaker 3: And wildlife is in our name. And so that's the
5:43
Speaker 3: core DNA of our organization. That's what the founders cared
5:46
Speaker 3: most about. And supporting wildlife and species is still really
5:51
Speaker 3: critical in the work we do. We work all over
5:54
Speaker 3: the globe on this, thinking about critical species, some of
5:58
Speaker 3: which are the kinds of things that you think about.
6:00
Speaker 3: So we do a lot of work in the Northern
6:02
Speaker 3: Great Plains working restoring herds of buffalo, working with native
6:07
Speaker 3: nations there to do that. But we also work with
6:11
Speaker 3: tigers and snow leopards. We work with elephants and jaguars
6:16
Speaker 3: all throughout Latin America. But we work with species that
6:19
Speaker 3: sometimes people don't think about. So monarch butterflies, for example,
6:23
Speaker 3: are really critical. And they have this incredible journey that
6:28
Speaker 3: they take from Latin America all the way up to
6:31
Speaker 3: Canada and back again. And their habitats are shrinking. So
6:35
Speaker 3: we've been working to make sure that those habitats stay intact.
6:39
Speaker 3: And we work with animals that people don't necessarily think about,
6:41
Speaker 3: like the black-footed ferret, which is an American species, again,
6:46
Speaker 3: in the West that's been on the brink of extinction
6:49
Speaker 3: and that we've really worked to help bring back.
6:52
Speaker 1: You know, I know that world is in the title
6:54
Speaker 1: of your name, but I think a lot of people say,
6:56
Speaker 1: wait a minute, they cover the planet? Well, yeah, there's
6:58
Speaker 1: animals all over the planet. But what I'm also thinking
7:00
Speaker 1: about as you talk about that, the communication that you
7:03
Speaker 1: have to have with all these nations and all these species,
7:06
Speaker 1: all the balls that you're chuckling here must be truly incredible.
7:09
Speaker 2: How do you do that?
7:11
Speaker 3: Well, we're fortunate to be part of a global network.
7:14
Speaker 3: So there's WWF here in the U.S. There are WWF
7:17
Speaker 3: offices all around the world, and we partner with them
7:20
Speaker 3: very closely. And so that really helps. That means that
7:24
Speaker 3: we can have a global reach, but we also have
7:27
Speaker 3: local people on the ground who are really embedded in
7:31
Speaker 3: those communities and those ecosystems.
7:33
Speaker 1: And just kind of a follow-up to that, how often
7:35
Speaker 1: you get to talk to your peers around the nation
7:37
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're up to speed on everything?
7:38
Speaker 1: What's the communication look like?
7:41
Speaker 3: There is quite a lot of communication, as you might imagine.
7:45
Speaker 3: So we have, as a global network, we have a
7:47
Speaker 3: number of standing committees. So I'm part of a group
7:50
Speaker 3: of chief operating officers around the globe, which is just
7:54
Speaker 3: an amazing asset to be able to talk to people
7:57
Speaker 3: in Europe and Africa about the kind of challenges that
7:59
Speaker 3: they're facing. And then there's lots of informal communications and
8:03
Speaker 3: times when we actually bring a lot of leaders together
8:06
Speaker 3: so that we can spend time face to face. So
8:08
Speaker 3: it happens on a wide range of levels. Always challenging
8:12
Speaker 3: sometimes and you know, there's cultural differences and sometimes you
8:15
Speaker 3: miss things, but one of the real joys of being
8:18
Speaker 3: part of this network is knowing that you can call
8:21
Speaker 3: somebody in Nepal, right? Or that we can support somebody
8:24
Speaker 3: really far away. It's a wonderful thing.
8:27
Speaker 1: But I guess as we're going to find out, you
8:28
Speaker 1: also truly have some of the same goals too, which
8:31
Speaker 1: I think is truly incredible with the whole world. And
8:33
Speaker 1: that's really the exciting part of what you do. I
8:36
Speaker 1: want to talk about protecting habitat. Now, this is something
8:38
Speaker 1: we also hear about, but I imagine this goes very deep.
8:41
Speaker 1: Can you talk about that?
8:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
8:44
Speaker 3: I mean, I think one of the really interesting things
8:46
Speaker 3: about the way that WWF works is We're problem solvers.
8:51
Speaker 2: We're science-based. We believe that you have to think about
8:55
Speaker 2: the whole.
8:55
Speaker 3: You need to have a systems thinking lens and that
8:58
Speaker 3: you have to take a whole of society approach. So
9:00
Speaker 3: if you're going to work in a big place, you
9:03
Speaker 3: have to work with everybody. You need to work with communities.
9:06
Speaker 3: You need to work with scientists. You need to work
9:07
Speaker 3: with governments, with companies. And so it's bringing all of
9:10
Speaker 3: those pieces together is really essential if you're going to
9:13
Speaker 3: make a change at the habitat level. And so we
9:17
Speaker 3: focus on some of the most critical places in terms
9:20
Speaker 3: of biodiversity and climate change around the planet. So we're
9:23
Speaker 3: very focused on the Amazon, for example. which has a
9:26
Speaker 3: huge impact on weather and on sequestering carbon for everyone.
9:31
Speaker 3: We work a lot in the Mekong, similarly, and in
9:33
Speaker 3: the Congo. Those are three critical basins for us that
9:36
Speaker 3: play a really big role in the overall health of
9:39
Speaker 3: the planet. And in places like that, we're trying to
9:42
Speaker 3: really take that broader holistic view. So you're thinking about
9:47
Speaker 3: a place, you're thinking about, are there protected areas? Is
9:50
Speaker 3: there part of the place where the animals have protection?
9:53
Speaker 3: How do we think about community lands and working lands, right?
9:56
Speaker 3: Is there farming that goes on? How does that support
9:59
Speaker 3: and control?
10:00
Speaker 2: To it?
10:01
Speaker 3: We think about things like infrastructure because one of the
10:04
Speaker 3: things we know is if you build a road, deforestation
10:07
Speaker 3: tends to happen really quickly along that road. So where
10:10
Speaker 3: you put that road is going to make a huge difference.
10:13
Speaker 3: And it's pretty easy to think about that you know,
10:17
Speaker 3: at the drawing board up front before you've started. But
10:19
Speaker 3: once that road is in place, I was just talking
10:22
Speaker 3: to a colleague who was saying like, the Roman roads,
10:24
Speaker 3: we're still using them, right? Once you build some of
10:27
Speaker 3: this infrastructure, it is there for a really long time.
10:29
Speaker 3: And so working to think about how you manage that
10:32
Speaker 3: is also really important.
10:34
Speaker 1: You know, I'm glad that you, I want to talk
10:36
Speaker 1: more about this because I think you can imagine that
10:38
Speaker 1: if you were living in a small little community and
10:40
Speaker 1: somebody started plowing into your place, well, that would encroach
10:43
Speaker 1: on you. And this is the same kind of thing
10:45
Speaker 1: that we have to think about that if there's deforestation
10:49
Speaker 1: going on or if there are roads or an industry
10:51
Speaker 1: is coming in, whether they're drilling or mining, whatever, we're
10:55
Speaker 1: going into a natural habitat and we're encroaching on that,
10:58
Speaker 1: which changes the whole dynamic, doesn't it?
11:00
Speaker 2: It does.
11:01
Speaker 3: And you have to think about the balance of things, right?
11:04
Speaker 3: So people aren't just building a road probably just because, right?
11:08
Speaker 3: They're thinking about we need more land for cattle so
11:12
Speaker 3: that we can feed people, which is incredibly important, but
11:14
Speaker 3: that leads to deforestation. which can lead to warmer climates
11:18
Speaker 3: and other kinds of wildfires, all kinds of issues. So
11:22
Speaker 3: you constantly have to balance what are we trying to
11:25
Speaker 3: achieve for the planet? How do we think about supporting
11:28
Speaker 3: the animals? How do we think about supporting those communities
11:31
Speaker 3: that rely on them and business and all of us
11:33
Speaker 3: who then are consumers of that?
11:35
Speaker 1: I imagine you get some large companies that understand what
11:39
Speaker 1: you and your team do worldwide and then some that
11:41
Speaker 1: don't care. With that said... Do you forge some kind
11:44
Speaker 1: of a relationship with different companies out there just to
11:47
Speaker 1: have maybe an understanding, at least a dialogue when they're
11:49
Speaker 1: doing what they're doing and they know what you're trying
11:51
Speaker 1: to do as well?
11:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think one of the really important ways that
11:55
Speaker 3: we work is we do partner with a number of
11:57
Speaker 3: big companies. And, you know, many sophisticated companies understand that
12:03
Speaker 3: nature is an important part of their supply chain. So
12:07
Speaker 3: if you're Coca-Cola and there's no water supply, You don't
12:11
Speaker 3: have a product. And Coca-Cola understands that. If you're Walmart
12:16
Speaker 3: and you want to be sure that you can deliver
12:18
Speaker 3: products at an affordable cost, you need a good supply.
12:21
Speaker 2: Chain that's going to help you get there.
12:24
Speaker 3: And if there's floods and droughts, it's going to raise
12:27
Speaker 3: the price of goods and that's going to hurt you.
12:29
Speaker 2: So it's not.
12:31
Speaker 3: Being pro-nature and pro-business are not on opposite ends of
12:34
Speaker 3: the spectrum. Actually, they're best when they come together.
12:37
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about fighting climate change. I know
12:40
Speaker 1: this is a big one.
12:42
Speaker 2: Well, it's very challenging.
12:44
Speaker 3: And so we do a lot on the policy side
12:48
Speaker 3: to think about how do we encourage more.
12:51
Speaker 2: Use of renewables.
12:52
Speaker 3: We also, one of the things I think is interesting,
12:55
Speaker 3: I didn't come from a conservation background. And when I
12:58
Speaker 3: joined WWF, I had no idea that for people in
13:02
Speaker 3: the world, when they say nature and they say climate,
13:05
Speaker 3: they think about two different things. In my mind, they
13:08
Speaker 3: were absolutely the same, nature and climate all together. But actually,
13:12
Speaker 3: you can do solutions that are good for climate that
13:15
Speaker 3: might not be good for nature. So you might build
13:19
Speaker 3: a dam, which gives you hydropower, which is good from
13:22
Speaker 3: an energy perspective, but that dam might block a free-flowing
13:26
Speaker 3: river and might be terrible for communities downstream or fish downstream.
13:31
Speaker 3: And so thinking about things like how do we cite
13:34
Speaker 3: those enterprises becomes an.
13:36
Speaker 2: Important piece of what we do.
13:38
Speaker 3: How do we bring together the challenges that climate change
13:41
Speaker 3: brings with threats to biodiversity and nature?
13:45
Speaker 1: You know, I was thinking about this as I was
13:46
Speaker 1: reading some of your key activities and also your background.
13:49
Speaker 1: I don't know if I ever could have predicted to
13:52
Speaker 1: where we are in 2026 that climate change and the
13:55
Speaker 1: politics behind it And the news that goes with it
13:59
Speaker 1: could be challenged. And I just imagine it makes it
14:03
Speaker 1: that much harder for you. It doesn't mean you're not
14:04
Speaker 1: going to fight it and you're not going to do
14:06
Speaker 1: what you do. But it's being challenged by half of
14:09
Speaker 1: the world out there at times. It makes it just
14:11
Speaker 1: that much more difficult.
14:14
Speaker 2: It does. But I also think.
14:17
Speaker 3: Every day we're seeing evidence that the planet is out
14:20
Speaker 3: of balance.
14:21
Speaker 1: Yeah.
14:22
Speaker 2: Whatever you call that.
14:23
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm just thinking about the terrible flooding in
14:25
Speaker 3: Nepal from last week.
14:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, devastating.
14:27
Speaker 3: Devastating, you know, because of melting in a glacial lake.
14:31
Speaker 3: So the planet is changing and we're going to have
14:34
Speaker 3: to respond to that for all kinds of economic and
14:37
Speaker 3: humanitarian reasons.
14:39
Speaker 1: All right. Let's talk about sustainability. This is also one.
14:42
Speaker 1: They're all big, but this is a big one. It's
14:44
Speaker 1: one that I practice at home with my family. And,
14:47
Speaker 1: you know, at time, I think we got our little
14:49
Speaker 1: acts together, but then I think we don't talk about
14:52
Speaker 1: that because this is also a really big one.
14:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you can think about sustainability on a
14:57
Speaker 3: number of different scales. So one of the nice things
15:00
Speaker 3: about sustainability is this is something that all of us
15:03
Speaker 3: as individuals can play a part in. So we do
15:08
Speaker 3: a lot of work thinking about eliminating plastic in nature,
15:12
Speaker 3: and we do a lot of work thinking about food waste.
15:14
Speaker 3: We have a big program with schools called Food Waste Warriors,
15:18
Speaker 3: because it turns out that there's a tremendous amount of
15:21
Speaker 3: food that gets wasted in the school system. And so
15:24
Speaker 3: there's things that all of us can do to reduce that.
15:27
Speaker 3: One of the things I found is interesting is that
15:29
Speaker 3: food production has a big impact on the state of
15:34
Speaker 3: the planet, on the amount of land that gets used,
15:37
Speaker 3: the water that gets used. And yet we waste almost 40%
15:41
Speaker 3: of the food that's created. So just coming up with
15:44
Speaker 3: a plan to think about how am I going to
15:46
Speaker 3: shop responsibly so that I'm not throwing away the fruit
15:49
Speaker 3: that goes bad in my fridge? Or how am I
15:51
Speaker 3: going to think about using leftovers with my kids? Those
15:54
Speaker 3: things can make a big difference. Similarly, as we think
15:57
Speaker 3: about reusing and recycling with things like plastic, it's important
16:01
Speaker 3: for big companies to play their part and governments to
16:03
Speaker 3: have policy, but we can play a role there too.
16:06
Speaker 3: And then there's sustainability on a much larger scale. So
16:10
Speaker 3: how do we think, for example, fish are incredibly important factors.
16:15
Speaker 3: So many people rely on fish as their primary source
16:17
Speaker 3: of protein. And yet one in three fisheries is overfished,
16:21
Speaker 3: which means you're taking more fish out than you're ever
16:24
Speaker 3: going to get back. And it's kind of simple math
16:26
Speaker 3: that if we keep doing that, there's not going to
16:28
Speaker 3: be enough nutrition for us. So how do we think
16:32
Speaker 3: about working at a broader level to set standards, to
16:35
Speaker 3: try to work with governments to make sure that illegal
16:37
Speaker 3: fishing practices don't take place so that we're helping more
16:41
Speaker 3: of a planetary need more than an individual need?
16:44
Speaker 1: You know, and something that you're alluding to here, Lauren,
16:46
Speaker 1: is that you're talking about education of sustainability, because some
16:49
Speaker 1: people just don't know what it is and how to
16:51
Speaker 1: execute it. You have to have a plan. You have
16:54
Speaker 1: to execute it. And you have to have money behind it, too,
16:56
Speaker 1: to make sure that it works. As you talk to
16:58
Speaker 1: your peers around the nation, is the message being received well?
17:04
Speaker 2: I think so.
17:04
Speaker 3: And I would add another piece, which is policy changes
17:07
Speaker 3: can really help, right? If there's policy in place, that's
17:09
Speaker 3: going to influence what kind of investments get made, what
17:12
Speaker 3: companies do. And so one of the things we do
17:14
Speaker 3: is also try to talk to lawmakers to make that
17:17
Speaker 3: point as well. But I do think on an individual level,
17:20
Speaker 3: some of these issues, some things are very abstract issues.
17:24
Speaker 3: Warming is an abstract issue in some ways, but everybody
17:28
Speaker 3: can walk down the street and see plastic. There's so
17:31
Speaker 3: much plastic in the ocean. If you go to the beach,
17:33
Speaker 3: you see it. And I think that really helps people
17:36
Speaker 3: understand this is a real issue that has an impact
17:40
Speaker 3: in their communities.
17:41
Speaker 1: All right. And speaking of which, it's a great segue
17:43
Speaker 1: about supporting communities. Let's talk about that one.
17:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, we do a lot of work to try to
17:50
Speaker 3: support communities all around the world. Oftentimes, local communities, often
17:56
Speaker 3: indigenous communities, are closest to some of the areas that
17:59
Speaker 3: we're trying to protect or are dealing, once you actually
18:02
Speaker 3: start to bring species back in numbers, the next issue
18:05
Speaker 3: you have is human-wildlife conflict. It's great sitting here in D.C.
18:11
Speaker 3: to say we need more elephants, but if you're sitting
18:14
Speaker 3: in Africa and all of a sudden there's an elephant
18:16
Speaker 3: who's rampaging your street or your house, it doesn't seem
18:21
Speaker 3: like that it's so positive. So how do we do
18:24
Speaker 3: work to make sure that communities understand? understand the benefits,
18:28
Speaker 3: have the tools to make sure that there's positive coexistence.
18:33
Speaker 3: And our role a lot in that is to listen
18:36
Speaker 3: and support. Many communities have the answers. They've been living
18:40
Speaker 3: with wildlife for millennia, and we just need to help
18:43
Speaker 3: make sure that we can support that activity.
18:47
Speaker 1: Lauren, I want to pivot over to advocation. You had
18:49
Speaker 1: talked about it a couple of times. I know it's
18:50
Speaker 1: a big part of your job and your CEOs and
18:53
Speaker 1: everybody else who goes to Capitol Hill to talk about
18:55
Speaker 1: what you do and the next plan and try to
18:58
Speaker 1: get people on board. With that said, can you give
19:00
Speaker 1: us a little behind the scenes about what you're talking
19:03
Speaker 1: about right now and what you're trying to get through
19:05
Speaker 1: and this plan for 2026 moving forward as well?
19:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a couple of issues that are kind of
19:11
Speaker 3: front and center right now. So you may have seen
19:14
Speaker 3: there's been some pullback on the Endangered Species Act. That's
19:18
Speaker 3: been a longtime piece of legislation. WWF has been supportive
19:22
Speaker 3: of it since the beginning. And historically, it protects species
19:27
Speaker 3: and their habitat. And the recent ruling has redefined harm
19:33
Speaker 3: to species to say that harm to their habitat is
19:36
Speaker 3: not harm. But just like harm to your house is
19:42
Speaker 3: probably harms your ability to have a full and rich life.
19:46
Speaker 2: The same is true for species. So trying to really.
19:49
Speaker 3: help lawmakers understand the original intention of the Endangered Species Act.
19:55
Speaker 3: If people are interested, you can go to our website, worldwildlife.org,
20:00
Speaker 3: slash take action. You can send letters on the hill.
20:04
Speaker 3: You can get engaged. We also are focused on no
20:08
Speaker 3: plastic in nature. That's another issue that we're trying to
20:11
Speaker 3: work on. And one of the ecosystems here in the
20:15
Speaker 3: United States are our grasslands in the West. Our grasslands
20:20
Speaker 3: team says that grasslands are like the least appreciated of
20:23
Speaker 3: all the ecosystems, right? People understand what a rainforest is
20:26
Speaker 3: or a tropical forest, but they don't necessarily have a
20:29
Speaker 3: vision of those amber waves of grain. But our grasslands
20:33
Speaker 3: are crucial here. They're crucial for ranchers. They're crucial for
20:37
Speaker 3: native nations. And we're losing them. And so we're also
20:41
Speaker 3: working to help build awareness of the benefits of grasslands
20:45
Speaker 3: and what people can do to help restore them.
20:47
Speaker 1: All right, I want to talk a little bit more
20:49
Speaker 1: about being able to help. And that includes donation and
20:51
Speaker 1: taking action. There's fundraising, all sorts of different ways that
20:55
Speaker 1: you and your team of allowed people here domestically can help.
20:57
Speaker 1: Can you talk about some of those?
20:59
Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely.
21:00
Speaker 3: So we are very fortunate at WWF that we're supported
21:04
Speaker 3: by a wide range of people, lots of individuals. You
21:08
Speaker 3: can absolutely donate to WWF. If you go to our website, worldwildlife.org,
21:14
Speaker 3: you can donate right there. Also, we have a great
21:19
Speaker 3: gift center where you can donate to people wonderful stuffed
21:25
Speaker 3: animals in your favorite species or great t-shirts that are
21:30
Speaker 3: sustainably sourced. So there's lots of ways to contribute that way.
21:35
Speaker 3: If you're interested in advocacy, you can absolutely get on board.
21:39
Speaker 3: There's easy things to do, like sign a petition. We
21:42
Speaker 3: have a program called Panda Ambassadors. So if you want
21:44
Speaker 3: to be leading efforts, you can look into that. And
21:49
Speaker 3: then again, I think people doing good for the planet
21:52
Speaker 3: on your own makes a big difference. So every year
21:55
Speaker 3: around Earth Day in April, we have a campaign called
21:58
Speaker 3: Give an Hour for Earth. And the idea is just
22:01
Speaker 3: to be intentional and recognize all the things that the
22:05
Speaker 3: planet gives to us and to give back in some way.
22:07
Speaker 3: So that might be spend an hour and weed in
22:11
Speaker 3: your garden or plant some flowers that the pollinators like
22:15
Speaker 3: or do a waterfront cleanup or just take a walk
22:18
Speaker 3: in nature. Because one of the things we know is
22:20
Speaker 3: the more time you spend in nature, the more personal
22:23
Speaker 3: benefit you get and the more you value it. So
22:25
Speaker 3: even those small actions can make a difference.
22:28
Speaker 1: You know, Lauren, I like to ask this question as
22:29
Speaker 1: much as we're getting educated by you and learning about WWF-US,
22:33
Speaker 1: is that we're always getting something wrong, and it's because
22:36
Speaker 1: of news or what we read, and it's not always exact.
22:39
Speaker 1: With that said, whether it's domestically or worldwide or even
22:43
Speaker 1: on Capitol Hill, is there something we're getting wrong about
22:45
Speaker 1: what you guys are doing that you just want to
22:47
Speaker 1: make sure for the record that this is exactly what
22:49
Speaker 1: we're doing and this is how it works?
22:54
Speaker 3: I think the way I would answer that is– Just
22:57
Speaker 3: to say, I think sometimes people think about nature as
23:01
Speaker 3: an afterthought. They think the other things are more important,
23:03
Speaker 3: the economy, jobs, the state of the world. Nature underpins
23:09
Speaker 3: all of that.
23:10
Speaker 2: I often think about.
23:11
Speaker 3: That nature is sort of surprisingly invisible.
23:15
Speaker 2: We just don't see it.
23:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, take it for granted.
23:18
Speaker 2: We take it for granted. We're here in these offices.
23:20
Speaker 2: We don't think about it.
23:21
Speaker 3: But it's the air we breathe, the food we eat,
23:23
Speaker 3: the fibers in the clothing that we wear. Even I think,
23:26
Speaker 3: you know... The building I'm in is made of concrete.
23:29
Speaker 3: That comes from sand, from riverbeds and oceans. And we
23:32
Speaker 3: just don't think about how much nature provides for us.
23:37
Speaker 3: And if we lose it, it will harm us. It
23:40
Speaker 3: will harm our jobs, our ability to get the food
23:45
Speaker 3: that we need. And so nature really shouldn't be the afterthought.
23:50
Speaker 3: It's not in addition to. It is really fundamental to
23:54
Speaker 3: the kind of world that we want to create.
23:56
Speaker 1: I think it's a good point, and I'm glad you
23:57
Speaker 1: talked about that. I did want to ask you also
23:59
Speaker 1: about the future, because I know you and your team
24:01
Speaker 1: are always looking forward, and then you're talking to people worldwide.
24:04
Speaker 1: I get it that while we have one big agenda
24:07
Speaker 1: with some of the things that we talked about in
24:08
Speaker 1: our list, looking forward is very paramount to the plan,
24:13
Speaker 1: not only for you, but for the world. With that said,
24:16
Speaker 1: what kind of things are you excited about that you're
24:17
Speaker 1: starting to talk to right about now that are going
24:20
Speaker 1: to show up in the next two, five, even 10
24:22
Speaker 1: years down the road that we've got to keep a
24:24
Speaker 1: spotlight on this. This is what we're working on right
24:26
Speaker 1: now for the future.
24:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, great question. I think I worry all the time
24:32
Speaker 3: about the loss of nature. And it's once we've lost it,
24:35
Speaker 3: it's hard to bring it back. And so one of
24:37
Speaker 3: the most essential things we can do is keep the
24:40
Speaker 3: nature that we have. And we're working a lot on
24:43
Speaker 3: these very large projects, trying to work with governments and
24:46
Speaker 3: at the whole landscape level to protect and secure large
24:52
Speaker 3: tracts of land and ocean so that we can conserve
24:56
Speaker 3: it and have the resources that we need. We have
24:59
Speaker 3: a big program that we call Enduring Earth.
25:02
Speaker 2: There's global goals that have been set.
25:05
Speaker 3: The idea is that by 2030, globally, not just for WWF,
25:09
Speaker 3: We should be conserving and protecting 30% of the world's
25:13
Speaker 3: oceans and lands if we want to be able to
25:15
Speaker 3: sort of have the resources that we need. And so
25:18
Speaker 3: these big projects that we're working on under Enduring Earth
25:21
Speaker 3: are really about how do we get to those big goals?
25:24
Speaker 3: Because the losses are hitting us faster and faster. And
25:28
Speaker 3: so we have to be working at a bigger scale.
25:31
Speaker 3: Each of us can make our individual difference, but we
25:34
Speaker 3: really have to think really at that whole of place scale.
25:37
Speaker 3: And that's what we're really focusing on in the next
25:40
Speaker 3: couple of years.
25:41
Speaker 1: You know, I was wanting to circle back because these
25:44
Speaker 1: relationships that you have with these large companies, I was
25:46
Speaker 1: very encouraged to hear that because I know everybody's got
25:48
Speaker 1: their agenda. It's all about money and making more money.
25:51
Speaker 1: And sometimes, you know, if somebody gets in the way,
25:54
Speaker 1: that's just the way the world works. So I was
25:56
Speaker 1: encouraged to hear about that. With that said, as you
26:00
Speaker 1: continue to educate, whether they're small, medium or these large companies,
26:05
Speaker 1: what do you continue to hope that they're educated and
26:07
Speaker 1: learn about so you can at least have a partnership?
26:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, that nature is an asset with real economic value.
26:16
Speaker 3: And we tend to think it's free and that it's
26:19
Speaker 3: endlessly replenishable.
26:22
Speaker 2: And it's not.
26:23
Speaker 3: And so if you want a business that you're going
26:25
Speaker 3: to have 10 years down the road, 20 years down
26:28
Speaker 3: the road that relies on nature, and most of them do,
26:31
Speaker 3: how are you thinking about creating regenerative agricultural practices or
26:36
Speaker 3: resilient supply chains so that The planet is better and
26:40
Speaker 3: your business is better. And that's the connection that's really
26:43
Speaker 3: important to make.
26:45
Speaker 2: It's a real economic argument.
26:47
Speaker 1: Right. Is there anything else we've left out that you
26:49
Speaker 1: want to make sure that is on our radar and
26:51
Speaker 1: spotlight that you and your team or even worldwide that
26:54
Speaker 1: is being worked on that we might not know about?
26:56
Speaker 3: No. The only thing I would say is I've talked
27:00
Speaker 3: a lot about nature as an economic asset and how
27:03
Speaker 3: important it is. But I think it's important to remember, too,
27:07
Speaker 3: how amazing nature is.
27:09
Speaker 2: It's abundant and beautiful.
27:11
Speaker 3: And when we spend time in nature and when we're
27:14
Speaker 3: surrounded by nature, our mental health is better.
27:17
Speaker 2: We're happier. There's research about this.
27:19
Speaker 3: And so for all of us to just see the
27:23
Speaker 3: nature that's around us and spend some time in it.
27:25
Speaker 3: I think that's one of the most important things that
27:28
Speaker 3: we can all do. And part of our work, we're
27:31
Speaker 3: fortunate that we have a well-known brand and a platform
27:35
Speaker 3: is really to encourage people to love nature, to understand it,
27:39
Speaker 3: to value it. Again, to recognize that we desperately need
27:44
Speaker 3: nature and nature needs us.
27:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. And, you know, I'll go
27:48
Speaker 1: a little behind the scenes. I'm the first year of
27:51
Speaker 1: Generation X. which means I grew up with three TV channels,
27:54
Speaker 1: including Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlon Perkins. And
27:59
Speaker 1: I'm dating myself, folks, because I was a kid when
28:01
Speaker 1: I watched that. But what it did introduce me to, Lauren,
28:04
Speaker 1: is animals and conservation and the world that I didn't
28:09
Speaker 1: know about as a kid. And I've loved animals since then.
28:12
Speaker 1: It was such a great show back then. And, you know,
28:14
Speaker 1: you can watch any streamer now, and there's some great
28:16
Speaker 1: documentaries and there's some great shows about the world and animals.
28:20
Speaker 1: and our society and everything out there that's really cool.
28:24
Speaker 1: I just think it's cool what you and your team
28:26
Speaker 1: are doing. And I know it's an uphill battle all
28:28
Speaker 1: the time, especially when we get into certain administrations or
28:31
Speaker 1: where the world is and news is that you know
28:33
Speaker 1: about really well since you've been in the industry for
28:34
Speaker 1: so long. So I'm thrilled at what you're doing out there.
28:37
Speaker 1: And I think as I get to know you a
28:40
Speaker 1: little bit, it feels like you think you're making a difference,
28:43
Speaker 1: which I think is extraordinary because what people don't know
28:46
Speaker 1: is that when you run nonprofits, it's an uphill battle
28:48
Speaker 1: all the time, no matter what you're doing and whatever
28:50
Speaker 1: widget you're working with. And it just seems like you're
28:52
Speaker 1: making a difference out there. I hope you and your
28:54
Speaker 1: team feel that way, too.
28:57
Speaker 3: I do. And I think the whole many people in
28:59
Speaker 3: this organization feel the same way. I think, you know,
29:02
Speaker 3: it can feel overwhelming. And one of the wonderful things
29:04
Speaker 3: about working at WWF and being part of this community,
29:08
Speaker 3: we call ourselves pandas. So being part of the panda
29:10
Speaker 3: family is really feeling like we do get to make
29:14
Speaker 3: a difference on some of these essential issues and that
29:16
Speaker 3: we're contributing in a very positive way to at times
29:20
Speaker 3: when sometimes it can feel like the trends are negative.
29:23
Speaker 1: Very good. Let's give the website one more time. Remember,
29:25
Speaker 1: there's a lot of great information. It's a beautiful website,
29:28
Speaker 1: by the way. It's easy to navigate. There is a
29:30
Speaker 1: lot of information of what we talked about, and that's
29:32
Speaker 1: just the tip of the iceberg. And what is that
29:34
Speaker 1: for everybody, Lauren?
29:35
Speaker 3: Sure.
29:36
Speaker 2: It's worldwildlife.org.
29:38
Speaker 3: And if you've got a favorite animal, I guarantee you'll
29:40
Speaker 3: be able to find some information about it. If you're
29:42
Speaker 3: interested in advocacy.
29:44
Speaker 2: There's opportunities.
29:45
Speaker 3: If you want to learn about some of these bigger issues,
29:48
Speaker 3: how habitats function, it's all there.
29:51
Speaker 1: Lauren, thank you so much. It's great to have you
29:52
Speaker 1: on Community DC. I hope we get to do this again.
29:55
Speaker 1: Continue success. Give my best to your team. And thank
29:57
Speaker 1: you for joining us on the program.
29:59
Speaker 2: Thanks so much. It's been a real pleasure.