January – June 2024

In Partnership With

Oysters returning en masse to clean New York Harbor and shelter one of the world’s great cities from superstorms… Ecuador saving species by enshrining the rights of nature in its constitution… Beavers bringing wild wetlands and biodiversity back to manicured Britain… Soldiers setting fires to save an iconic woodpecker…

These are not the kinds of stories you see on the news. When it comes to the environment, the standard fare these days is a barrage of doom and despair. Enter WILD HOPE, a new series that crisscrosses the globe to spotlight the changemakers who are restoring and protecting the natural world.

The people and stories in WILD HOPE reveal how saving biodiversity begins in our own backyards. There is no need—and no time—to wait for global accords. These mavericks are forging unexpected alliances, making bold interventions, and relying on local expertise to pull our planet back from the brink.

Whether it’s farmers planting coffee to save Mozambican rainforest, Mexican nuns and fishermen working to bring back remarkable salamanders, or trained dogs rescuing koalas from urban encroachment and raging wildfires, the series reveals how small actions have dramatic impact, how individual efforts drive community-wide results, and how local solutions add up to global change.

WILD HOPE provides heroes we can rally around, actions we can share, and optimism we severely need. There is still time to secure the future of life. And if given the chance, nature will bounce back. But we must change the narrative. WILD HOPE shows us how it’s done.

Join us with your classrooms for a series of live events where we’ll get to meet those behind the scenes of these incredible stories of hope from around the world! 

Monday, January 29th

The Fight to Save Ecuador’s Biodiversity with Callie Broaddus

January 29th @ 12:30pm eastern

Join us to meet Callie, the founder of Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, and explore one of the most biodiverse rainforests on the planet! Recently, they succeeded in creating the first ever nature reserve, funded entirely by student donations. The Dracula Youth Reserve is in the cloud forests of Ecuador, an area so remote and rich in biodiversity, that every expedition results in the discovery of new plant and animal species!

Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to more than twice the number of plant and animal species as the United States and Canada combined. Yet its wild spaces are also among the world’s most threatened. In 2008, when Ecuador became the first country in the world to enshrine a revolutionary concept called the “rights of nature” in its constitution, conservationists gained perhaps their most powerful tool for protecting wild spaces. Today, that tool is being put to the test as advocates race to preserve habitats and the remarkable species they support.

This event is the first in a new event series: Wild Hope – a remarkable series on conservation success stories by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.

Register: https://forms.gle/MFBnTXLLb4BfdQeh6

Thursday, February 8th

Growing Gardens to Save Wildlife with Mary Reynolds

February 8th @ 11:00am eastern

Amid collapsing biodiversity worldwide, Mary Reynolds of Ireland is building a movement to turn gardeners into guardians of the planet by returning our own patch of land to nature, and by restoring hope that individual action can create lasting change. The movement is growing, as Mary reaches a global community who want to rid themselves of the pristine expectations that gardens demand and bring in more life. It’s even taking root with younger generations. A visit to the Loreto school in Wexford County proves how even a small patch of land can not only restore a native community of plants, but also become a safe haven for students. “Patch by patch, we’ll get there” – Mary assures, “make a patchwork quilt of hope.”

This is the second broadcast in partnership with Wild Hope – a remarkable series on conservation success stories by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.

Register: https://forms.gle/MFBnTXLLb4BfdQeh6

Friday, March 1st

Rewilding New York City with Pete Malinowski

March 1st @ 11:00am eastern

Pete Malinowski is the Executive Director of Billion Oyster Project (BOP) which envisions a healthy, biodiverse New York Harbor that is well known, well used and well cared for by New Yorkers. Since the organization’s founding in 2014, BOP has introduced over 100 million oysters to the Harbor and engaged tens of thousands of New Yorkers in hands-on educational opportunities in classrooms and at the water’s edge! 

This is the third broadcast in partnership with Wild Hope – a remarkable series on conservation success stories by HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.

Register: https://forms.gle/MFBnTXLLb4BfdQeh6

Friday, April 12th

Bringing Back Coral Reefs with Madeleine Sherman

April 12th @ 2:00pm eastern

Madeleine Sherman is the Project Manager for the Coral Resilience Lab at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. She helps to lead the coral restoration efforts in Maunalua Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, where she happened to also grow up. Join her in this presentation where you will be taken around the Coral Resilience Lab in Hawai‘i to learn about the research we do, see living corals up close, what we are doing to help save them, and get a look at the cool robots we’ve built to help us better understand corals. 

Register: https://forms.gle/MFBnTXLLb4BfdQeh6

Fighting Extinction – The Black-footed Ferret Success Story

May 17th @ 1:30pm eastern

Kristy Bly is World Wildlife Fund’s Black-footed Ferret Restoration Manager. She works with partners to remove the black-footed ferret – one of North America’s most endangered mammals – from the Endangered Species List. In this session Kristy will share the story of why they almost went extinct, their amazing comeback, threats they face today, and what she and her partners are doing to restore this masked bandit of the prairie. Students will also learn about what they can do to help protect black-footed ferrets and their habitat. This is part of our ongoing series with HHMI Tangled Bank Studio and their Wild Hope series!

Register: https://forms.gle/MFBnTXLLb4BfdQeh6