Defender Radio and The Switch

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal MP for Beaches-East York, in February introduced Private Members Bill C-247, An Act to prohibit fur farming. This Act, if passed through the House of Commons and Senate, would end commercial fur farming in Canada at the federal level. MP Erskine-Smith joined Defender Radio to discuss the bill, how private members bills work, what people can do to support it, and wh...

You can save the lives of birds and keep your local ecosystem healthy by making a simple switch with the easy solutions suggested by Anouk Hoedeman of Safe Wings Ottawa. Links: Safe Wings Ottawa at http://safewings.ca/ Safe Wings Ottawa on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SafeWings/ Safe Wings Ottawa on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/safewingsottawa/ Want to suggest topics for The Switch? Re...

The Squirrel Who Stole Solstice was written and directed by Marisa King. Starring Kristi Boulton, Marisa King and Michael Howie. Original holiday carol by Julian Sark. The Squirrel Who Stole Solstice was written and Directed by Marisa King! Marisa voiced Nutty! Marisa King is an actor, director and long-time animal advocate based in Toronto, Ontario.  You can also hear her on the award-winning Alb...

Gift giving is wonderful and generous, but around the holidays can generate a lot of waste. Dr. Elisabeth Ormandy (Executive Director of Society for Humane Science, TEDx speaker, UBC Professor and zero waste enthusiast) is making The Switch to zero waste gift giving!  These tips can make a big impact on local waste during the holiday season, and we'd love to hear from you! Tag @howiemichael on Ins...

Frances Backhouse is a well-regarded naturalist and journalist, as well as the author of several books on beavers, including Once They Were Hats. Though known for much of her work on beavers, Frances has also written about several species of bird, women in history, and now is taking on the fascinating and majestic grizzly bear. Frances joined Defender Radio to have an in-depth conversation about h...

Get details on the incredible matching gift challenge and how you can be a producer of the new trapping documentary! Learn more about the Trapped In The Past documentary project and donate now by clicking here or going to www. DefenderRadio.com/trapped . Check out the full episode featuring John E. Marriott and Kim Odland discussing this project and Giving Tuesday at https://thefurbearers.com/blog...

Giving Tuesday Challenge: For the week of Monday, November 29 to Friday, December 3, 2021, all donations to this project will be MATCHED up to $10,000 - but only if we hit the $10,000 goal! Learn more and donate now at https://www. DefenderRadio.com/Trapped . I'm very excited to be able to share this episode with you, as it's a bit of an official launch: we're making a documentary! The Fur-Bearers...

Placemaking and little free libraries go hand in hand to help residents make a switch in their community. Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff of the Victoria Pocket Places Project joins The Switch to explain how the idea of placing making and community library boxes (which don't replace libraries) can help communities become climate resilient and benefit everyone. Please note we are not discussing Little F...

The illegal wildlife trade is significantly broader and includes far more species than most people think; and Canada is seemingly playing a role. Dr. Chris Shepherd, Executive Director of Monitor Conservation Research Society, is working hard to research and expose the illegal wildlife trade around the world. In two papers he co-published regarding black bears and their illegal trade in various pa...

Samantha Ceci is helping create biodiversity in a monocultured woodlot by switching to Hugelkultur! Sam, a Master of Resource and Environmental Management Candidate at Dalhousie University, utilized the German horticulture method to increase biodiversity – and therefore create habitat for wildlife and pollinators, reduce carbon footprints at the school and generally be a really awesome educational...

Portrayal of interactions between humans and coyotes, content analysis of Canadian Print Media 1998-2010 isn't the most enthralling of titles. But the study below it had a significant impact on my career and how I perceive and engage with media. The paper, which appeared in Cities and The Environment ten years ago, looked into how coyote interactions with people are discussed in the media; the fin...

April Griffith is helping her and other libraries across America become hubs for climate education and solutions. April is the Library Director at Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library and served as an advisor to the American Library Association for their Resilient Communities programming guide for libraries. Has a library program in your community benefited you or the environment? Let us know by...

Want to suggest topics for  The Switch or Defender Radio? Reach out to us at DefenderRadio@Gmail.com,  by visiting DefenderRadio.com or engaging host Michael Howie on social media via Instagram ( www.instagram.com/howiemichael ), TikTok ( www.tiktok.com/@howiemichael ) or Facebook ( www. Facebook.com/DefenderRadio ).  The Switch and Defender Radio podcasts are produced by The Fur-Bearers ( www. Th...

Doom Scrolling or doom surfing is the tendency to keep looking at social media or other internet sites and read negative or bad news, despite the impact it has on our psyche or emotional state. It is postulated online that this tendency has worsened during the pandemic. As animal and climate advocates we are easily and quickly exposed to large volumes of negative, often traumatic, images and infor...

Dr. Elisabeth Ormandy, Executive Director of Canadian Society for Humane Science, UBC professor, lecturer and zero waste enthusiast joins The Switch to share her insights on ecofriendly menstrual products, including silicone cups, washable pads and underwear and more.  More reading: https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2019/10/31/organic-eco-friendly-menstrual-products/ https://www.vogue.co.uk/ar...

I have watched a LOT of content in the last year and a half. But little of it has hit me in the heart and mind as thoughtfully and powerfully as the Oscar-nominated animated feature WolfWalkers . I'll rewind, briefly. Earlier this year, friends of mine Christopher and Cynthia of the Not About Lumberjacks podcast , suggested that I try connecting with a filmmaker they knew – Tomm Moore. He's an env...

Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff is encouraging his community to switch off gas leaf blowers. According to Teale, gas leaf blowers contribute to noise pollution, produce excessive and dangerous exhaust emissions, and re-suspend dust, all contributing to negative health and environmental impacts. You can learn more about Teale's campaign against gas-powered leaf blowers in his community of Saanich, BC, a...

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNROD) announced last week they would be killing up to 35 coyotes in Vancouver's Stanley Park in response to more than 45 bites and negative encounters in the preceding 10 months. The Fur-Bearers were active on this issue when it became public in December 2020 and have remained involved, advocating for long-term co...

The idea of walking into a flat earth convention makes my tummy hurt. For Dr. Lee McIntyre, it was an exercise in curiosity explored in the introduction of his new book, How To Talk To A Science Denier . Dr. McIntyre is an author, a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. An award-winning teac...

The Switch is a new bi-weekly show on the Defender Radio Podcast feed, produced by The Fur-Bearers and hosted by Michael Howie.  This show will feature short - about 10-minute-long - interviews with people who are making a difference in combatting climate change and protecting wildlife and their habitat through daily choices. These solutions are meant to be accessible, meaning available to most pe...

There are few mammals who are as outwardly tough and intimidating as Gulo gulo, the wolverine. These solitary individuals are considered a species of special concern federally and threatened in some jurisdictions like Ontario and are notoriously difficult to monitor or track for scientific purposes. But modern technology is changing that. The combined use of digital photography and videography wit...

More than two dozen incidents of coyotes scratching and biting people have occurred in Vancouver's Stanley Park since December 2020. You've likely seen media coverage of this – and yes, much of it has been wildly sensational with a great deal of guess work. But the truth is difficult to find in this series of events. Factually, we're aware of many pieces of evidence: coyotes are a natural part of...

The name Takaya may ring a bell if you follow wildlife news. He was the lone wolf who lived on Discovery Island and other islands in the Salish Sea, an archipelago on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. The word, Takaya, means wolf in the Indigenous language of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Cheryl Alexander, a conservationist, photographer and educator, spent several years forming a distanced, but...

Having a chipmunk come up, sniff your finger cautiously, then nip a treat and run off is magical; I won't lie – it's pretty remarkable. But the consequence of that single moment of joy for a person can lead to devastating impacts to ecosystems, communities and individual animals. Be it for a close-up experience, because of a perception of hunger and need, or even incidental feeding from outdoor pe...

Host Michael Howie brings you updates on The Fur-Bearers' Read-a-Thon event happening soon and how to register, as well as a look (and the need for your participation) in a new series coming to your Defender Radio podcast feed!  Episode art for this week from the collection created by Michelle Lee of Broadview Design for The Fur-Bearers' Read-A-Thon event. Michelle Lee on Instagram: https://www.in...