Ep 63: Simon Stuart – A life in conservation

In a time of mass ecological collapse, the ecological concept of refugia offers a lifeline of hope and gives meaning to even small-scale effort. First coined in the mid-19th century by naturalist Edward Forbes, it describes how entire landscapes can recover from surviving pockets of habitats and their creatures. In this episode we talk with Debra Rienstra, author of Refugia Faith: Seeking hidden shelters, ordinary wonders and the healing of the Earth about how we can become people of refugia, finding and nurturing places of safety and health for biodiversity, human culture and faith. Debra is professor of English at Calvin University, where she has taught since 1996, specializing in creative nonfiction, early British literature, and environmental literature. She and her husband have three grown children. She lives in Michigan in the Grand River watershed. Find out more at https://debrarienstra.com/ 

Dr Simon Stuart is one of the world's leading conservation scientists, best known for leading the development of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species into the world's most authoritative assessment of species' extinction risk. Awarded the prestigious Blue Planet Prize in 2020 for his contributions to global biodiversity conservation, he has spent more than three decades advancing species conservation internationally, including as Executive Director of A Rocha International. We were honoured to have time with him and the chance to mine him for wisdom, stories and reasons to stay hopeful.

What is it like to be in your late 20s and making major life decisions in today’s world? Studies show young people understand themselves to be living in a highly unstable world where biodiversity collapse, climate change and economic uncertainty have direct impacts on daily life. Sociologists note long-term planning around the linear milestones of previous generations - education, career, marriage, mortgage, children, retirement - has been replaced by a strategy of resilience based on community, mobility and immediate environmental action.In this episode of Field notes we talk to Flo, a masters student in London studying societal and environmental psychology planning her wedding, and Autumn, Writer and Content Creator at A Rocha International who gave birth to her first baby in the midst of extreme wildfires in her home city of LA. They are bright, full of integrity and courage, and are each in their own ways building lives which shine as beacons of hope.

For many people, a close encounter with an insect leads to a quick departure by one or both or a summary execution, most often of the non-human party. If you recognise these scenarios from your own life, you may find this interview transformative. Insects have a powerful advocate in James Khoo. A passionate and committed entomologist from Singapore, James lives with a large number of tiny creatures and is quite mesmerising in his descriptions of their superpowers and beauty. Listen in and learn more about “bio-mimicry,” the joys and challenges of science communication, the plight of insects globally and what we can all do to help.

Sponges are not only a great help in the shower, but some of the oldest, simplest animals on earth. If you haven’t yet discovered how fascinating and vitally important to a healthy planet they are, Dr Anita George is about to blow your mind.Anita only learned to swim when she did her masters in marine biology and as the first female scientist in India to get a diving certificate, she has now carried out over 300 research dives. With a particular focus on taxonomy, she has personally named 30 sponges new to science. This is an enlightening, educational and hopeful conversation with a passionate expert in her field which we are sure will gain some new supporters for the cause of the humble sponge.

For Anna, no two work days at A Rocha Kenya are the same. She may be underwater doing a bit of coral gardening, helping scouts from Dakacha forest think through a Christian response to a machete attack, writing an impact report for a major donor or counting crows from a rooftop. In all the variety there is consistency though - in her love for God and for Kenya, and in her determination to support her team to be effective and hopeful conservationists.This is a frank and unvarnished account of how one brave, joyful and faith-filled woman is responding to God’s call to care for his creation. Find out more about A Rocha Kenya’s work at arocha.or.ke.

If you have lived longer than five minutes on this planet you will have realised pain and delight, suffering and consolation, anguish and ecstacy co-exist. For a conservationist and pastor like David Anderson, the tension is all the more vivid. He has seen the places under his care, with their human and creaturely communities, thrive and flourish and also come under extreme pressure. In his own life David has faced a father’s worst nightmare with the loss of his precious daughter Thea at only nine years old. With generosity and courage he shares some of what that experience cost him and why he is still open to the risk of loving what he could lose.Find out more about David and his work with A Rocha Canada at www.arocha.ca

Creation is groaning with ever increasing distress. Those at the frontlines of the fight to reverse the frightening trends need strategies for staying strong. Each episode of Field Notes concludes with our guest sharing practices they have adopted in pursuit of a life lived hopefully and in a departure from our usual format, Rick and Jo revisit some of their favourites. Listen and be inspired by the creative, profound and wise ways conservationists around the world embody hope in their daily lives.

Plastic has a rather dirty reputation these days. There are few places on land or underwater where you won’t find discarded plastic waste causing harm and havoc. Thomas Chhoa has spent his life in the petro-chemical industry creating plastic, and he still believes this is a wonder-material and overall a force for good in the world. Now a Senior Advisor with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, he is working at the highest levels to develop a circular plastics economy, and argues we need to return to the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle - on steroids.Thomas is a man of deep faith, moral fibre and intelligence and his message is both realistically sober and hopeful.

Peter Harris founded A Rocha in the early 1980s and has given his life since to the cause of nature conservation. He has long known the vital importance of the question of how and why to value nature. In this conversation with Rick and Jo (his daughter!) he explores the different explanations he has encountered for the worth of the non-human world and why he believes money lies at the heart of it all.