S5 Ep 2: Through the Lens— The Concealed Exploitation of Wildlife with Skyler Thomas
“There is still a choice… We need to strive to be better, instead of finding excuses.” — Skyler Thomas
Series: Mindful Eating Film and Food Festival
Point Reyes is one of the most celebrated and visited locations in all of California. Nestled on the tip of the Marin Headlands, the small town is a near-perfect representation of the natural beauty of coastal California, with old-world charm and 21st-century amenities. But the best part about Point Reyes is the opportunity to escape the bustle of the city and truly immerse yourself in nature.
The headlands that define Point Reyes’ landscape are dotted with historic lighthouses, picnic areas, frolicking animal species, and the path to the ocean is lined with hiking trails that take visitors up to spectacular views of the ocean and the San Francisco skyline.
As historic as it is, the future of Point Reyes is slowly jeopardized as its wildlife and natural resources are exploited and the question of how to use the land is still debated. The community is working to preserve the land, but the threat of development looms with its controversial land management plan.
Filmed and produced by award-winning, independent filmmaker Skyler Thomas, The Shame of Point Reyes- Elk Water is a follow up documentary that explores the history, current state, and future of Point Reyes. This film is one of the many features of the upcoming 3rd Annual Mindful Eating Film and Food Festival, produced by Rancho Compasión to be held on the 6th and 7th of August, 2022.
In this episode, Skyler helps us see the truth about wildlife exploitation, not just in Point Reyes, but around the world. Justine and Skyler also discuss how we, as ordinary citizens, are used to subsidizing private companies that harm the environment, and what choice is laid before us that can affect the future of animals and our environment.
Connect with Skyler:
Skyler Thomas is an independent filmmaker focusing on issues of coexistence and an overall goal of slowing down the growing disconnection of humans from the natural world. Starting with perhaps the most polarized animal on the planet Skyler spent 20 years diving with and filming various species of sharks before broadening the film themes to more animals. During post-production of the sequel to Great White Lies an unexpected discovery of threats facing a national park near his home inspired the production of The Shame of Point Reyes.”
Episode Highlights:
01:46 The Shame of Point Reyes
04:39 Opening the Public’s Eyes
07:58 The Truth Exposed Through the Lens
09:55 There is Still a Choice
12:13 Connect with Interested and Interesting People
Resources:
Event
The 3rd Annual Mindful Eating Film and Food Festival (August 6th and 7th, 2022)
Get your tickets here: https://bit.ly/3SeJ7RJ
Film
Tweets:
The Mindful Eating Film and Food Festival 2022 features The Shame of Point Reyes, a documentary on the current state of Point Reyes National Park. @jreichman and award-winning independent filmmaker, Skyler Thomas will help us make a choice to save the future of wildlife and the environment. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenPurpose #EssentialIngredients #MEFF2022 #MindfulEatingFilm&FoodFestival #documentaries #film #videography #ecology #wildlife #exploitation #TheShameofPointReyes
Inspirational Quotes:
03:43 “When you go to Point Reyes, it’s a special experience.” -Skyler Thomas
03:52 “To see a place that’s special basically turned into yet another feedlot is pretty upsetting.” -Skyler Thomas
06:25 “Natural processes are being halted by private extractive businesses that are not only being allowed to be there, but we, the citizens of the United States of America, are subsidizing whether we know it or not.” -Skyler Thomas
10:33 “There is still a choice… We need to strive to be better, instead of finding excuses.” -Skyler Thomas
12:20 “A community of people that are really interested and interesting— that’s a really good combination.” Justine Reichman
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Welcome to Essential Ingredients, I'm your host, Justine Reichman. Today with me is Skyler Thomas, an independent filmmaker.
Welcome, Skyler.
Skyler Thomas: Thank you, Justine.
Justine Reichman: I'm so pleased to have you here. For those of you that are not familiar with Skyler, Skyler is an independent filmmaker who is screening a film at the Mindful Eating film Festival that is coming up the first week in August.
Skyler Thomas: That's coming up fast. I better get it done.
Justine Reichman: Is it not done?
Skyler Thomas: Nope. They asked me to make it especially for the festival, so it's kind of a special situation.
Justine Reichman: Oh, that is a special situation. So how far in advance do they ask you to make this film?
Skyler Thomas: It's been a month and a half. But to make a film, you can say I've been working on it because this has been an ongoing project for the last four years, the situation, and I go out there and I document, I get my own footage, and I do my own research. And I just have this massive archive of stuff that I'm like, okay, what am I going to do with this because it became overwhelming. And here came an opportunity to try and shove it into something digestible for an audience. And let's see if I'm successful.
Justine Reichman: So this didn't come out of nowhere. I mean, you've been working towards this for the last four years.
Skyler Thomas: I've been working on point arrays. And it's such a complicated issue that I was kind of picturing it being maybe a five part series. But I think after this, I need to move on. So I'm trying to explain everything in this film. And it's kind of important to do. It's a local issue. I think that's another reason that we're interested in this topic. And people seem to be interested in hearing more about it. They were interested in my last film, which was also on the topic, and things have only escalated since then. So it's pretty controversial.
Justine Reichman: So before you go on, so it's called Elk Water. Am I allowed to announce that?
Skyler Thomas: Yeah.
Justine Reichman: Okay. It's called Elk Water. And for those that are unfamiliar with the topic, could you talk a little bit about what you've been documenting and what this film is going to be about?
“When you go to Point Reyes, it’s a special experience.” -Skyler Thomas
Skyler Thomas: Point Reyes National Seashore is part of our national park unit system, and it's in Marin County where you are on the coast. It's very special in terms of being a biodiversity hotspot, or at least at one time it was. At the time that it was purchased by the government, the land was purchased. They didn't have enough money to get all the land at once so they entered into a lease back system that was supposed to go on for 25 years or so depending on the specific lease, which when that ended then the rest of the park. According to the plan for the park was to eventually all be restored to wild and be recreation for the people who in fact on the park. But instead, it is now controlled pretty strongly by the private businesses that have managed to stay there. It's creating a lot of conflict with the wildlife.
Justine Reichman: So you don't live in Point Reyes, so how did this come to your forefront? And why is it so important to you?
“To see a place that’s special basically turned into yet another feedlot is pretty upsetting.” -Skyler Thomas
Skyler Thomas: Well, like a lot of people, when you go to Point Reyes and you experience it, it's a special experience. People come from across the world to visit Point Reyes National Seashore, and to see a place that special basically gets turned into yet another feedlot is pretty upsetting. You can see that anywhere. You can see that sort of damage and exploitation pretty much anywhere. Let's not have it here, especially after we already bought the land for it not to be that.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, I can see why that would be. I love Point Reyes. It was one of the first places I visited when I came here where I was taken to.
Skyler Thomas: There you go.
Justine Reichman: For us, and now as somebody that lives here, it is one of my more favorite places to visit. So now, you've been working on this documentary or on the film, and you've been documenting for the last four years. And so in this last month and a half you've been putting together, so how did you get connected with them to put together this film?
Skyler Thomas: Well, I showed me (inaudible). I can't remember how she saw it, but she saw what was at the time just the passion project. I just made a film called The Shame of Point Reyes based on being both heartbroken and outraged at what I'd seen out there. And it actually kind of caught on and stirred some things up and they decided that they would like to have me back to an extent, and she's actually been vocal on the issue and has come to some of the events that try and raise awareness about the issue.
Justine Reichman: And so what was your ultimate goal when you decided to put together this film? What were you hoping to achieve with it?
“Natural processes are being halted by private extractive businesses that are not only being allowed to be there, but we, the citizens of the United States of America, are subsidizing whether we know it or not.” -Skyler Thomas
Skyler Thomas: Originally, I was just going to focus on the struggles of going out there and filming reality versus what was being portrayed to the public because there's a fair amount of deception going on, which is unfortunate to say. But one of the challenges of this film is you see what's happening out there, and then you hear about some of the really terrible things that are being done to the wildlife, etcetera. And people are inevitably going to say, well, how is this possible? Why on earth would they do that? And so then you have to kind of inter weave those answers which tend to be political and get a little complicated. And it also ties in ecology, because it's the ecology of the land being harder which, of course, includes wildlife like the Tule Elk who are center focus for the film. I've actually gone back to school and I've been studying ecology, which has made that much harder to witness the destruction going on out there because I have a better idea of what could be happening there. And exactly what natural processes are being halted by private extractive businesses that are not only being allowed to be there, but we, the citizens of the United States of America are subsidizing whether we know it or not.
Justine Reichman: So you're going back to school for college, it just begs the question. I'm just curious. You're documenting what's going on? You're seeing all these things, and I can tell you're really impacted on what you saw. Is there additional work you're hoping to do to have an impact on what you've seen there?
Skyler Thomas: I think it's gonna keep carrying forward for sure. I was a filmmaker before this, but I was focused on sharks, marine stuff, and this opened my eyes to some terrestrial issues that are closer to home. And just getting into the ecology of it, and the interactions between the animals, and the plants, and the coevolution of what happened there for thousands of years, how that worked together, put that next to what came in and how that doesn't work. I find it fascinating. YWhen you're studying ecology, you can just keep going, and going, and going. Find out how one organism affects this organism, which affects this organism, which affects this organism which is really cool. And then you bring in agriculture, and it just wipes it all out.
Justine Reichman: So what if we talked about the next couple of years and you're studying ecology, you're doing your documentaries, what can we potentially see from you do you think?
Skyler Thomas: After this, I want to go back to sharks for a while. I need a break. I've got a film that I stopped on, and I'd like to finish that. I'd like to get the ocean for a while and then I'll come back. God, who knows, I've got about 30 ideas in my head. So hopefully, hopefully, hopefully situations where people say, hey, we would like to see this created will help direct me kind of like in the situation.
Justine Reichman: Right. That's the best kind of opportunity, I think. So let's go back to the film festival for a moment. So you're going to be screening the film there once it's done shortly.
Skyler Thomas: The people there will literally be the first ones ever seen.
Justine Reichman: So that's gonna come out in about a week and a half. So soon, right? And so what are you hoping for the audience to get out of it?
“There is still a choice… We need to strive to be better, instead of finding excuses.” -Skyler Thomas
Skyler Thomas: I'm hoping that it answers questions while emotionally rocking them. It'd be very easy for them to leave confused, like I said, because it's hard to wrap your head around how such atrocities are taking place. And the other goal for me as I hope that people will not easily succumb to what seems to be a tendency for me to just be given an excuse and be like, oh, well, okay. It's all too often. Well, it says on this piece of paper that we have to be horrible and terrible. So therefore, it's okay. So remind people that there is still a choice. We need to strive to be better, instead of finding excuses to not be.
Justine Reichman: I think that's a really important message. So with all the other things that are going on at the film festival, you're familiar with what else is going on at the film festival? Have you checked out all the other films and--
Skyler Thomas: I know Smoke Money is a big one on Saturday. Game Changers is being shown again, I think that's pretty popular on Netflix. There's a special panel to answer some of the more complicated questions about Point Reyes that is separate from my film, they're having a one hour panel in a separate location. I'm gonna listen.
Justine Reichman: Questions.
Skyler Thomas: I hope I know the answers by now, but there's always something more to learn. I might get called on if I'm a fly on the wall to answer something, but they have a pretty good panel. They have a good panel, a diverse panel of pretty educated people. So that'll be really beneficial to anyone who wants to learn more about the situation above and beyond what my film tells them.
Justine Reichman: What the film tells you. So what else are you most excited about seeing at the film festival?
Skyler Thomas: Myself.
Justine Reichman: I'm very excited about seeing your film. I think we're all excited about seeing your film once it's done.
Skyler Thomas: Yeah, I haven't had much time to sit back, relax and get excited about seeing something else right now. I'm just afraid that it's, hoping it won't explode on the screen.
“A community of people that are really interested and interesting— that’s a really good combination.” Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's gonna be great. And I think that it's going to be very eye opening. And I think with a community of people that are really interested and interesting, so I think that that's a really good combination, and people that are like minded and curious. And if they do get confused, they're gonna have the panel to be able to ask more questions. I'm not sure what the schedule is like, which one comes first? But if it's in the right order, that should help.
Skyler Thomas: Hopefully, that's who the audience is. Otherwise, I might be getting lynched.
Justine Reichman: Well, I think this was great. I'm so pleased that you were able to join us and I got to learn a little bit about you and about the film. And for those folks that want to learn more about you and your projects, what's the best way for them to look you up?
Skyler Thomas: shameofpointreyes.org is the website for the first film, and I've just kept adding content to that one until I have something official for Elk Water.
Justine Reichman: Awesome, that sounds great. Thank you so much, Skyler, for joining me here. I look forward to meeting you at the film festival, and watch it.
Skyler Thomas: Thank you. Thanks for having me on, and I look forward to meeting you too.
Justine Reichman: Thanks so much. And thanks so much for tuning into Essential Ingredients as always. We'll see you here again soon.
