Listen to this inspiring interview with Jack Locker, a rock and roll musician based in LA and a conservationist, who’s using his music and many other talents to save the environment, including grizzly bears. (Two great songs of his are linked below.) I have worked with Jack since he drove all the way from LA to Bozeman in 2006 to testify at a public hearing on the federal government’s proposal to strip protections for grizzly bears in Yellowstone. (We won that round in court, but the government recently delisted grizzlies again).
At the hearing, Jack articulated an informed and inspiring alternative to the government’s headlong rush to delist – and later even wrote a wonderful song about his views, called Hibernating Dreams (link below). Since then, Jack has stayed active and informed about grizzly bears and many other conservation issues, while creating more cool music.
JACK'S MUSIC
Hibernating Dreams
Sol Mates
INTERVIEW EXCERPTS
"I am doing whatever I can do to help and try to preserve our planet, and especially for the wild animals… I’ve written songs about the grizzly and other threatened wildlife. And some of the tunes exposed the mistreatment of our planet, while trying to show how amazing these places are and the importance of their survival…"
"One song was called Planetary CPR, which stands for “Conservation, Preservation, Restoration” of wildlands. What do wild animals and species on the brink of disappearing need the most? Conservation, preservation, restoration of habitat, where they live."
"So, who is behind the politicians who want to delist the Yellowstone grizzly? Federal Fish and Wildlife Service representatives, as well as deep-pocket lobbying groups consisting of trophy hunters, some cattle ranchers, energy developers and land developers... So, is this a government of the people, or of trophy hunters and land developers?"
"The thing is that the system is broken, so it’s hard to fix issues when the system’s broken. And until you fix the system, you can’t fix the issues, you just can’t."
