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NatGeo Explorer Niall McCann on The Mysterious Botswana Elephant Deaths & Creating Impact

WHERE TO LISTEN:

in this episode

Niall McCann joins us! He sailed across the Atlantic on a rowing boat, founded his own conservation, National Park Rescue, works on the front line in biological research, and adventures for a living and is an official Nat Geo Explorer.

In this week’s episode we talk about the mysterious unsolved elephant deaths in Botswana, creating impact in the natural world and his wildest travels!

Connect with Niall and his conservation work at @NiallPMcCann and @National_Park_Rescue!

EPISODE NOTES:

(1:35) Meet Niall McCann, a National Geographic Explorer, Conservation Founder, Science Communicator, who’s in the leading circle of scientists investigating the mysterious Botswana elephant deaths.

(2:15) Imposter syndrome as a fuel to create impact.

(3:06) Niall grew up in a family of biologists, “there was nothing else I was going to be” he says.

(04:33) Niall shares his reflections on this year and it’s impact on the natural world.

(05:15) “It’s no longer that I’m just out there hugging bunnies, I’m working on a project that has the potential to stop the next pandemic.”

(05:55) Human health and environmental health are totally intertwined.

(07:44) Depoliticizing climate change.

(12:58) “We need to put conservation and environment at the heart of our economies, we need to start valuing ecosystems…the impact that intact landscapes have on our economies is vast.”

(18:05) Niall founded National Park Rescue to reform Africa’s national parks by focusing on poverty alleviation and conservation, setting up micro-economies.

(41:01) The latest on the mystery of the mass number of elephant deaths in Botswana. What is killing the elephants?

(49:18) Adventures at sea as Niall rowed across the Atlantic Ocean!