About this episode
Most conservation organisations mirror corporations in structure, operation, and strategy. But has that been effective? Andy Ridley, founder of Earth Hour and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef , doesn't think so. He's asking how we build the 21st century conservation operation with the citizen at its heart. "The traditional way of doing conservation is 'pass us your money and we'll go and do it.' But we know that hasn't worked at the scale required." Andy is betting on harnessing the power of citizenship -- the rights AND responsibilities of belonging -- to create mass engagement in environmental initiatives. And he's been successful. Andy's Earth Hour concept — which asks everyone with electricity to simultaneously turn off their lights for sixty minutes to acknowledge the impact of climate change and our ability to influence that change -- is recognised as one of the largest mass participation movements in history, with hundreds of millions of participants around the world. Andy’s newest platform is Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef , which serves as a way to engage people all around the world in the future of the reef through citizen science. … Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound Engineer: Ben Alexander Soundtrack By: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Wave Brain - Dave, Neal Purchase Jr. and Christian Barker Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast Waterpeoplepodcast.com Send us a text ... Listen with Lauren L. Hill & Dave Rastovich Sound + Video Engineer: Ben J Alexander Theme song: Shannon Sol Carroll Additional music by Kai Mcgilvray + Ben J Alexander Join the conversation: @Waterpeoplepodcast ... Thanks to our generous sponsors this season: Patagonia Australia Alkaway The Sunglass Fix ... Get monthly musings and behind the scenes content from the podcast by subscribing to our newsletter . You'll get water-centric reading and listening recommendations, questions worth asking, and ways to take action for the wellbeing of Planet Ocean delivered straight to your inbox. You can stream every Waterpeople episode from your desk.