On episode 97 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we celebrate a major victory over the Trump administration’s U.S. Forest Service in the Hoosier National Forest in Indiana, with Jeff Stant, National Forest Program Advisor for Indiana Forest Alliance.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Jeff about:
-The “stop work” order enforced on the largest logging, burning, and herbicide-spraying project in the history of the Hoosier National Forest
-The court ruling finding that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
-What this legal victory means for public lands protection in the region and across the U.S.
-Jeff’s take on the root cause of National Forest destruction
On episode 96 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we question whether or not decades of well-funded, influential “Big Green” environmental NGOs compromising with industry and government has been effective, and explore how a strong and united grassroots movement might offer a better alternative, with Adam Bronstein, host of Our Public Lands podcast.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Adam about:
-The victories and losses of the mainstream environmental movement over the years
-The influence of corporate foundations on public lands advocacy
-The collusion between Big Greens, the Democratic party, and many media outlets
-Certain large organizations’ attempts to fight the rollback of the Roadless Rule by allowing more logging
On a very sad but very special episode 95 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we share one of the last interviews with legendary forest advocate, Andy Mahler, who passed away in August at the age of 74. We hope you enjoy and savor this conversation with—and tribute to—the man who has done so much for Nature.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Andy about:
-How Andy and a coalition of other locals shut down logging in Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest for thirty years
-Recent wins in the fight against the so-called Buffalo Springs Restoration Project, “the largest and most destructive” logging sale ever proposed for the Hoosier National Forest
-History of the region as a past (and possibly future?) bison migration route
-Andy’s philosophy on the one-ness of humanity and the natural world
-And so much more!
(One amazing thing about this episode is that when we recorded it this spring, Andy’s internet was so shaky we eventually decided the footage was unusable. So, we had plans to re-record, made a couple attempts to set up a time, with the most recent email sent to Andy what ended up being a few days before his passing. Upon hearing the sad news, we went back to the recording to see if any clips might be salvaged, and incredibly somehow Zoom had fixed it so that 99% of the audio was saved and most of the video. Some video does remains choppy, blurry, and/or stationary and, at times, we replaced it with still shots of Andy others have taken of him over the years.)
Despite what appears to be an intentional statewide media coverup, Colorado is on the front lines of a battle with the Trump administration over the U.S. Forest Service’s looming rollback of the “Roadless Rule,” which currently limits industrial extraction (logging, grazing, mining, and drilling) across almost sixty million acres of America’s wildest lands.
Really appreciate Adam Bronstein having us on the Our Public Lands podcast to discuss what is shaping up to be one of the largest and most destructive land-manipulation schemes of the century: Wildfire Pretense Logging!
155 conservation organizations signed the letter co-written by Eco-Integrity Alliance, John Muir Project, Western Watersheds Project, and Eco Advocates NW urging Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go beyond simply reinstating the weakened Roadless Rule official rescinded last week.
On episode 94 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we report breaking news on the destructive logging threatening the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark in Illinois and the legal battle on which the future of the Shawnee National Forest depends, with Sam Stearns, founder of Friends of Bell Smith Springs & John Wallace, vice president of Shawnee Park and Climate Alliance)
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Sam and John about:
-The rare wonder that is the Bell Smith Springs National Natural Landmark
-Their lawsuit alleging that the Forest Service has “illegally withheld information from the public” to push through logging plans, including breaking news on its current status
-The crucial role eastern deciduous forests play in climate regulation and biodiversity
-The campaign to designate the eco-region as a Climate Preserve
On episode 93 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get political on the topic of whether elected officials in the Democratic party are walking their talk when it comes to protecting the natural world, with Karen Breslin, democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate from Colorado.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Karen about how:
-Most Republican politicians don’t hide their indifference towards nature
-Many Democratic politicians—including most of Colorado’s congressional delegation—are pushing legislation to spend huge sums of taxpayer dollars to log public forests
-Neither political party will acknowledge the root causes of the ecological crisis, much less address them
-The Democratic party might regain its identity—and conscience—by becoming actual champions of the natural world
(Disclaimer: Eco-Integrity Alliance and the Green Root Podcast do not endorse elected officials, however we are open to speaking with them about their stances on public lands and the natural world.)
We invite your organization to join us in urging Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to go beyond simply reinstating the weakened Roadless Rule rescinded this summer. Instead, we must push for stronger, loophole-free legislation that permanently protects inventoried roadless areas from logging, road construction, livestock grazing, and other extractive activities.
On episode 92 of the Green Root Podcast—the official podcast of Eco-Integrity Alliance—we get scorched by FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE (ForestFireMalfeasance.org), a new report exposing a government coverup of peer-reviewed science to promote logging on public lands, with Dr. Chad Hanson, research ecologist and director of John Muir Project.
Host Josh Schlossberg talks with Chad about:
-Eco-Integrity Alliance’s new report, FOREST FIRE MALFEASANCE, revealing hundreds of emails from a public records request showing indisputable evidence of 25 government agencies, elected officials, logging industry trade groups, NGOs, a university, a fire department, and a government-funded “collaborative” colluding on a disinformation campaign to ramp up logging in public forests under the pretense of “wildfire fuel reduction”
-Proof that those carrying out this logging are privately aware of—yet have been advised to publicly deny—the vast body of science contesting its effectiveness at protecting communities from wildfire
-Why agencies such as U.S. Forest Service must stoop personal attacks and even defamation to silence critics
-How these colluding entities have intentionally deceived and/or strongarmed media into covering up the story
-What can be done by ecological advocates to protect forests and communities from wildfire disinformation
Eco-Integrity Alliance 