#31 - Joel Reynolds – Western Director, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
On today's episode host, Mark Titus and Joel talk about Joel's work as a film producer and activist. Joel's award-winning film, Sonic Sea tackles the inordinate amount of noise under the water in our oceans that are literally killing marine life, like whales. Joel and Mark also discuss Joel's philosophy and practice in going the distance for huge environmental battles like defending Bristol Bay from the proposed Pebble Mine.
NRDC’s principal institutional representative in the West, Joel Reynolds joined the organization as a senior attorney in 1990, after a decade with the Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, both in Los Angeles. Since 1980, he has specialized in complex law-reform litigation, arguing cases on behalf of environmental and community groups at all levels of the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also led several of NRDC’s largest campaigns: to preserve the birthing lagoon of gray whales in Baja California; to protect the California State Park at San Onofre; to reduce underwater noise pollution that threatens ocean wildlife; and, most recently, to halt the construction of the environmentally destructive Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. He has twice been selected California Attorney of the Year in the environmental category. From 1986 to 1990, Reynolds was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law Center. Since 2012, he has served as chair of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, one of California’s largest land trusts. His articles and editorials appear frequently in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Huffington Post, and other major media outlets. A graduate of Columbia Law School in 1978, Reynolds is based in Santa Monica.
Follow Joel's work and get involved at NRDC.
Save What You Love with Mark Titus:
NRDC’s principal institutional representative in the West, Joel Reynolds joined the organization as a senior attorney in 1990, after a decade with the Center for Law in the Public Interest and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, both in Los Angeles. Since 1980, he has specialized in complex law-reform litigation, arguing cases on behalf of environmental and community groups at all levels of the federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also led several of NRDC’s largest campaigns: to preserve the birthing lagoon of gray whales in Baja California; to protect the California State Park at San Onofre; to reduce underwater noise pollution that threatens ocean wildlife; and, most recently, to halt the construction of the environmentally destructive Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. He has twice been selected California Attorney of the Year in the environmental category. From 1986 to 1990, Reynolds was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law Center. Since 2012, he has served as chair of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, one of California’s largest land trusts. His articles and editorials appear frequently in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Huffington Post, and other major media outlets. A graduate of Columbia Law School in 1978, Reynolds is based in Santa Monica.
Follow Joel's work and get involved at NRDC.
Save What You Love with Mark Titus:
Produced: Tyler White
Edited: Patrick Troll
Music: Whiskey Class
Instagram: @savewhatyoulovepodcast
Website: savewhatyoulove.evaswild.com
Support wild salmon at evaswild.com
Creators and Guests
Host
Mark Titus
Mark Titus is the creator of Eva’s Wild and director of the award winning films, The Breach and The Wild. He’s currently working on a third film in his salmon trilogy, The Turn. In early 2021, Mark launched his podcast, Save What You Love, interviewing exceptional people devoting their lives in ways big and small to the protection of things they love. Through his storytelling, Mark Titus carries the message that humanity has an inherent need for wilderness and to fulfill that need we have a calling to protect wild places and wild things.
Guest
Joel Reynolds
Joel Reynolds is the Western Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He has also led several of NRDC’s largest campaigns: to preserve the birthing lagoon of gray whales in Baja California; to protect the California State Park at San Onofre; to reduce underwater noise pollution that threatens ocean wildlife; and, most recently, to halt the construction of the environmentally destructive Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
