2020 - A Year of Reckoning

 In January of 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic changed the world forever, we held a small Wild Lens Collective retreat in Bend, OR. A small group of filmmakers, photographers and journalists who had met a few months earlier at the Jackson Wild Film Festival gathered to discuss an exciting new documentary project.We had no idea what the topic of this short film would be when we arrived, so we came together as a group to share story ideas and came to a group consensus to focus on the plight of the hellbender, North America’s largest salamander. But in addition to our conversations about the focus of our story, we also spent time talking about the ethics behind wildlife filmmaking. All of us felt the need to make the wildlife filmmaking industry more equitable and environmentally sustainable, and we began discussing a set of ethical guidelines that we would follow over the course of production on this project.Just a few weeks later our production plans for this film, as well as our plans for every other project we were working on, were forcibly altered by COVID-19. While we were able to conduct one shoot for our hellbender film in 2020, the film’s production timeline had to be significantly extended as a result of the pandemic. However, our conversations about the ethics of environmental storytelling and wildlife filmmaking that began at the outset of 2020 have intensified and gained significant urgency with the onset of the pandemic as well as the racial reckoning that has shaken our country. These important conversations will continue as we enter 2021 seeking new ways to provide guidance, support and opportunity for our ever-growing community of members.The beginning of 2020 also marked the release of Wild Lens’ newest podcast series, Common Land. Common Land is a documentary-style podcast and radio series that explores the creation stories behind protected areas. Our first season was focused on the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, home to the highest nesting densities of birds of prey anywhere in North America. We began broadcasting episodes of this 10-park series with our partners at Radio Boise at the end of January, and by the time our final episode was ready to air, we were in lockdown.On March 27^th of 2020, I had planned to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime – a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. This trip, which I had been planning with my mom for a number of years, was also going to be a production trip for our second season of Common Land. With just ten days left until our proposed start date, my mom and I made the very difficult decision to postpone our journey based on guidance from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. This last-minute change upended my plans for 2020, and meant that I’d be spending much of the year trapped in my house, rather than hiking across the spine of an ancient mountain range.With my schedule unexpectedly wide open throughout the spring and summer, I quickly busied myself with work on other projects. I started to research additional stories to follow for our new Common Land series, but I also began having discussions with Wild Lens filmmaker Kristin Tiéche about how the pandemic would alter the story for her film, The Invisible Mammal. COVID-19 threw a huge wrench into our production plans for this feature length documentary, but it also created an opportunity. With bats at the epicenter of many conversations about the novel coronavirus, we had a chance to track how this global pandemic was affecting critical research on this group of animals. We also adapted our production approach in a way that allowed us to continue gathering essential footage during the pandemic. We established collaborative relationships with several filmmakers who live in close proximity to our shoot locations, allowing us to gather footage remotely and continue telling this important story.As we enter a new year full of hope and promise, we must remind ourselves not to forget the lessons of 2020. For our newly rebranded podcast series Earth to Humans (formerly Eyes on Conservation), I had the opportunity this past year to interview former National Security Senior Analyst, Dr. Rod Schoonover. Dr. Schoonover, who resigned in protest from the Trump administration after the White House censored a report he presented to congress about the links between climate change and national security, spoke unwaveringly about the connections between the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Climate change increases the likelihood of the spread of zoonotic disease, and so as our climate warms, so too will the incidence rate of harmful diseases jumping from non-human to human hosts. The COVID-19 pandemic should, therefore, increase the urgency with which we approach our planet’s climate crisis.But 2020 brought perhaps an even more important lesson to those of us who work in the field of environmental conservation. The murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless other African Americans at the hand of the police incited a racial reckoning unlike any other in recent history. With this reckoning came a newfound recognition of the racist origins of the environmental movement. We saw the Sierra Club publicly denounce the racism of the organization’s founder, and father of modern environmentalism, John Muir, and numerous other environmentalist groups following suit in recognizing the movement’s troubled past. One thing is clear as 2020 comes to a close – we have a LOT more work to do to overcome the racist attitudes that persist to this day within the field of environmentalism. Here at Wild Lens, we recognize that the fight for social justice and racial justice is intertwined with the fight for climate justice and a livable future. Moving forward, we are committed to viewing every decision that we make as an organization through this lens. We know that 2020 has been financially difficult for many, but if you're in a position to make a contribution, you can leave a donation here: