On today’s episode of the Mongabay Newscast we look at how the environmental crises we’re currently facing intersect with two other major crises: the Covid pandemic and the systemic racism and police brutality that have sparked protests around the world in recent weeks.

We’re facing unprecedented environmental crises these days, from global warming to catastrophic loss of biodiversity. But these crises aren’t happening in a vacuum. Our destruction of nature and biodiversity is also making outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like Covid 19 more likely and more deadly, for instance. And despite scientists’ recognition of the importance of diversity to the healthy maintenance of Earth’s ecosystems, scientific fields themselves are not especially open to people of diverse backgrounds and experiences — instead, there are often barriers to entry imposed on many people, especially people of color.

We welcome two guests onto the Mongabay Newscast today. Leela Hazzah is the founder and executive director of Lion Guardians, a conservation organization dedicated to finding ways for lions and humans to coexist. Founded in 2007 in Kenya’s Amboseli ecosystem, Lion Guardians has had tremendous success, helping reduce the number of lion killings by more than 90%, leading to a seven-fold increase in the local lion population. Hazzah, who never heard lions roaring in Egypt while growing up because the species has long since been eradicated from her home country, now hears lions roaring regularly. She joins us to discuss conservation as an essential service, how the Covid pandemic has impacted Lion Guardians’ community-based conservation work, and what she sees as opportunities for transformative change in conservation due to the pandemic.

We’re also joined by Earyn McGee, a herpetologist and science communicator who helped organize the first-ever Black Birders Week, a week-long celebration of black birders and outdoors enthusiasts. McGee was one of several black scientists who organized Black Birders Week in response to the racial profiling and threats of police violence that a white women directed at Christian Cooper, a black man and avid birder, while he was in a popular birding spot in New York City’s Central Park. The incident was witnessed by millions of people around the world thanks to a viral video that sparked a massive outcry. McGee tells us how Black Birders Week came together so quickly and why it was necessary to celebrate black nature lovers.

For more on the coronavirus pandemic as a conservation opportunity, check out the panel discussion Mongabay organized as part of the 2020 Earth Optimism Summit, which also features Leela Hazzah: “Transforming Conservation: Crisis and Opportunity.”

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Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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