00:00:00
Speaker 1: I love to tell stories, meaningful stories, impactful stories that people can relate to, and the idea of eXplorist. The reason why I founded it was that I wanted to inspire the average Joe to kind of, you know, embrace the outdoors more, don't get sucked into the nine to five too much, and go on take your family on picnics. I feel like that's something that's been lost on a lot of Americans.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: I understand that a lot of people come to my show and they have this great expectation of some deep, you know, geopolitical insight or my valuation on what's happening in Ukraine and Russia or what's going on and that type of stuff because of my background. But you also now, after watching me on Sean Ryan, if you did, you know you understand that I'm an artist at heart. And so what I'm always doing is scouring x and Instagram and the Internet looking for people that I believe are true artists, people that have taken a passion for what makes what stirs them and what gets them out of bed in the morning, and turning it into something that other people can consume and can connect to that can transform their perceptions of their own reality. And so today it is with great honor that I welcome Alexander Joseph to the show. Now. Alexander is the founder of explorers dot com and that's xp L O R I s T dot org. I'm sorry, explorers dot org. And what they do is they are documentary filmmakers that are really out there to inspire you to connect with your local environments to experience the thing that he has enjoyed throughout his whole life. So, without further into Alexander, it is a pleasure to have you on the show.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: Man appreciate it, David, thank you for having me on here. And really quick, just want to say, appreciate your service to our country. Can you know my heart goes out to veterans every time time I do meet them, So I appreciate your service.
00:02:02
Speaker 2: Oh I, well, let's just I appreciate that more than you can know. That means a lot to me. But let's just hold on because you just started working with Brax and McCoy at the Sage Brush Institute. So you might change your mind after a little bit here, because it's the guys that have gotten blown up, those are the guys that you really gotta you gotta pay attention to all right, appreciate the introduction, Yeah, for sure. Man. I just I saw your documentary, you know, King of the Everglades on on X and man, I think I've watched that thing probably ten times already. You know, growing up, I mean growing up in South Florida like you, and I can't wait to understand more about that. You know, I grew up in the Everglades were a massive part of our, uh you know, our existence down here, especially when it was you know, it wasn't as built out when I when I was born in nineteen seventy two. It's a lot small, and they seem to be a lot closer, right, But when I watched yours, you know, it really was impactful, and I was like, that's a person that really has respect for what that place is and what many people don't know. It's the only ecosystem like it in the world. You cannot find the Everglades in any other place in the world, and so we have this beautiful, pristine area, and so little people in Southeast Florida or even around the country recognize that it's available for them to experience in a deep, meaningful way. So why don't we get into that, Like, tell me about growing up in South Florida. Where did these passions for the outdoors and for filmmaking begin?
00:03:46
Speaker 1: You know, Ever since I was a kid growing up, there were two people I wanted to, you know, one of two people I wanted to be, either Indiana Jones or Steven Spielberg. So yes, So it's kind of funny how life kind of worked out in its way that it's, you know, on this sort of trend that I'm more outdoors oriented right now. And I've always enjoyed filmmaking and the process of it, as tedious as it as it is. But I have a very creative mind in that sense that I love to tell stories, meaningful stories, impactful stories that people can relate to. And the idea of eXplorist. The reason why I found it it was that I wanted to inspire the average Joe to kind of, you know, embrace the outdoors more, don't get sucked into the nine to five too much, and go on take your family on picnics. I feel like that's something that's been lost on a lot of Americans.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: A hundred percent. I mean, you know, for me, my passion place is the ocean, right, growing up going in that ocean every day. I mean, we have these beautiful beaches that have don't have, aren't inundated with condominiums on you know, every five feet in between each other. And I just remember going and just being in the water and connecting to that ocean. And then you know, you start surfing, you start understanding more about what's beneath the ocean, more about you know, the ecological realities of the ocean, and you know, and it just if you allow it to seep into your heart, it really is transformative. Was there a moment when you were a kid that you went out into the Everglades or you went down to the keys that really kind of began to capture or maybe something out west? I saw you a snowboarder.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: Too, Yeah, I am. I'm probably the only person in Miami that owns more than one snowboard. So it's this severe brain damage over here.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: Well, anybody wants to be an outdoor conservationalist filmmaker, you always got to be like what.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: So to you answer your question, there were two sort of moments that kind of fed into this passion for the outdoors.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Uh.
00:05:57
Speaker 1: One, you know, my father has always been an adventurous person. He's always told me stories about him and his grandfather and how they would travel to exotic places. It almost felt like he was Indiana Jones. He would tell me about places in Japan or you know, other islands that he would go in the Caribbean with his father and growing up. He kind of wanted to instill that sort of sense of wonder with my brother and I and he would take us out to the Everglades at a very young age. We would be walking there through the many boardwalks that they had, and Hinga Trail is one of them down south. And then he did, you know the typical American experience where you take your family out west and you start in San Francisco and drive down the coast and hit all the major national parks out west. So we have photos and I have vivid memories of you know, seeing Bighorn, sheep old faithful, those those memories that just were ingrained into my mind, and to this day, I feel like I'm still chasing that wonder, that encapsulating moment where you appreciate the art gallery that is creation.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: That's his most beautifully put explanation I've ever heard man, that was poetic. I mean, that's that was beautiful. Oh my gosh, Jeordie. I want to make sure we get that one log and that's the one I want on the clips that we promote this. This is that was just absolutely perfectly put. You know, you talk about those early memories. I mean, my earliest memory as a child is my father carrying me on his shoulders on a hike out in Yosemite. And and you're right, what does it do? Is it? It? Regardless of where you come from or what your circumstances are, when you when you get to really allow what that that framework of consciousness to broaden, to see the magnitude of God's creation that is at our fingertips or at a drive distance anywhere pretty much you live, you you really can be It's it's almost like that, what is it? It's it's it's it's that seed of wanderlust, that that that just can get in your heart and if you have that, you can you have so much more fulfillment throughout your whole life. Right.
00:08:18
Speaker 1: I think people tend to forget one of two things. Is that one. You know, mankind is part of the ecosystem, Right, people think that the ecosystem is separated from man. And the other thing too is scripture wise. You know, God called us to be stewarts, good stewards of his creation. So I think part of that, that urge of wonder, that wanderlust, as you mentioned, is that part of it's a calling to a lot of us to you know, be good stewarts to creation, to the earth that we were given man.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: That that's that's massive. I remember, I never understood it. I felt it, but I never understood it in the in the way that you just so poetically put it until I was in college. And when I was in college, I did this uh Native American studies class and we had this Sioux Indian that had come in and talked about growing up, his desire to leave. He made it to Pittsburgh. He was a welder and like he got in this welding accident felt like four stories, broke every bone in his body, his back, and then as he was recovering, his grandfather, who was a medicineman, made the trip, drove out and prayed over him for a week, and after a week he kind of just stood up and he was healed. And so here I am this nineteen year old kid. Impressionable kid. I hear this story and then he goes back to South Dakota and he starts telling the story of the Living Black Hills, right. And he was able to articulate that the connection that he had with his homeland in the connection of the legacy of generations of his a Native American tribe and as family members, and then on that deeper level as a lineage of medicine men. You know, that hit me in a way that was like, oh my god, there's there's a there's another way to experience life, to be connected to it. And it's like and then you like, well what does this mean? Man? And I think that was one of the big things. An underlying component of me wanting to go into the service was to go see the world. You know, many people ask me all the time, you know, what's the greatest place you've ever been? You know, and I say, you know, in the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, or out in Bamagne where they had you know, the tal band blew up those giant Buddhist statues that were fifteen hundred years or out in the desert of Death by the you know, by Queta in the border of Pakistan and and people like that's a war zone, wasn't it. And I was like, no, it was raw. And when you I think, when you can connect when there's no barriers, right, I think that's what it is. There's a we we have a propensity within within society to generate barriers between our soul and the in creation. I love how you put that. So you start experiencing this at a young age. What what was the first moment that you on a different note in the art, the art of storytelling? When? How did that emerge in your in your childhood?
00:11:31
Speaker 1: Well, I, you know, I saw a lot of films growing up with my dad, and you know Jurassic Park, Jaws, you name all the Spielberg classics, and you know, so the so good epic. Epic is a good word to use that. I try to always, I try to. I try to use that in all my writing. Growing up seeing these kind of movies. I didn't want the fame. I didn't want any of the Hollywood stigma and I didn't want any of that stuff or the fortune that came with it. I wanted the ability to share stories, impactful stories, captivating stories that would inspire the next generation of adventurers so to speak. And it started an early age and then it finally kind of crystallized into a YouTube channel, so awesome.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: When can I ask you one quick question? What do you remember some of the first stories other than Spielberg movies? Was because obviously your your documentary filmmaker, so that's a different type of storytelling. But what were some of the real stories that you remember as a kid, whether it was movies or TV shows or documentaries that hit you Because like for me, I remember with documentaries is when Ken Burns came out with the Civil War and that, and I was just like, oh my god, Like that changes everyhow I look at it. So what were some for you.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: For me growing up? Steve Irwin is probably the number one. May he rest in peace. He was a man of influence on who I am today, as well as people like Jeremy Wade and River Monsters. You know, I can tell you right now, I just finish binge washing River Monsters again for maybe like the thirteenth time.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, but it's crazy because now you're like, oh, where do you put the camera on that? And how did he set that shot up?
00:13:23
Speaker 1: And you know, it's so funny that you mentioned that I lose sleep over this because we're not in the ever so the Irregulades isn't exactly a production friendly environment. So and full disclosure, we are a two man team at the moment. It's myself and my partner Garrett, and we are out there and it's a logistics nightmare.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And people who haven't had to do anything technical in the wilderness or jungle or deserts or mountains or anything like that, they don't get the logistics involved right. They're casually interacting with it, whereas you're trying to operate, and it's a whole different animal.
00:14:04
Speaker 1: It's you know, I'm sure you can speak on this rucking with thirty pounds of gear in one hundred and eight degree humidity, it's not a good time, dude.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: We did a jungle survival course my first platoon over in the Philippines, and I'll tell you what, you can stick me in one hundred and thirty degree weather in the desert any day of the week and twice on Tuesdays more than I want to be in any jungle, mosquito infested wet you know, everything that grabs you once to tear your skin environment.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: Right, That's one thing I always tell people, like, Hey, if there's ever God forbid is an invasion to the United States, nobody's invading Florida.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: No, Well, do you know the history of the Seminoles and Andrew Jackson and the fight that they put up in resistance.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: I'm not so familiar with it. I know that there are a lot of short stories in grilla warfare, like pockets of girrilla warfare throughout Florida and the wet lands that we have here. Yeah, to tell it. Tell me about Andrew Jackson.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: When they started the Indian campaigns to you know, really recaptured territory and expand right. Uh, you know, the manifest Destiny and that was later I forget what he called it, but you know, they sent these troops down into Florida to get rid of this little tribe because they had just been they'd been waylaying what the Cherokee they pushed out of North Carolina, right, and then they pushed them down in Oklahoma the Trail of Tears, and then they sent people, you know, try to send people up in uh to the Dakotas, and they pushed the what was it the up in New England. It was the last of the Mohicans, the Mohicans, and and they came down here and they thought it was just gonna be easy because the terrain was pretty easy. But then they hit the wetlands and they got waylaid man. The Seminoles were voracious fighters, and they could just disappear is easier than these these northern troops. And they're you know, heavy wool pants and heavy boots and their rocks and their low and these and they just got lit up for a while and it was this great resistance.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't even mention the mosquitoes.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I don't know if they're more like terdactyls than mosquitoes.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Right, So funny enough, everyone has told me that the Alaskan mosquito. Alaska has like thirty something species of mosquito, but they do have a very aggressive species. But ours, the Salt Marsh mosquito, is actually the most aggressive species that we have, and I can personally attest to it. I have a photo on X from one of our shoots and this previous June May, I just smacked my arm over here and I got some blood splatter on my shirt, and I kid you not, you could barely see the blood. It was just covered in black from the amount of sea.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: Know, my gosh, that's awesome for the week. That's dedication, not for the week. Haarted right, Okay, So you you see Steve Irwin, you see these other people, you begin to you know, fall in love with the idea of storytelling and then I'll you're like, all right, well, if this is what it is, I'm going to start a YouTube channel. Tell me what that was like?
00:17:21
Speaker 1: Uh?
00:17:22
Speaker 2: And and what was it like the first time? Like you picked up that camera and you you told your first story. Can you walk us through that a little bit? Oh?
00:17:32
Speaker 1: It was nerve wracking because I didn't know how to talk to a camera.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: That does suck.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: There was that, but I got it sucks, but you know, I got used to it, and you know, I was part of that. I was riding the wave that I don't know if you remember that trend where travel v logs were all the rage on YouTube, and I was like, oh, I could do that, you know, I get I snowboard, I do this and that, and I'm going to do a cinematic flair to it. And but then I just started feeling like, it's I want to make something that's impactful. Vlogs. Don't get me wrong, there are impactful creators out there, and there are vlogs that are not deporting. Yeah, yeah, their informative and m and to me, I felt like, no, no, you're fine. To me, I felt like it wasn't fulfilling enough for me. I felt like telling stories and inspiring even if it meant one person saw this video and that weekend they were already looking at hiking with their family and taking a photo with their phone. That to me, was the only w that mattered to me, I didn't care so much about the number of subscribers. So then I started to pivot away from the travel content and I really sat down and dedicated to writing out stories and really honing in on American wilderness. And I feel like American wilderness is significantly underappreciated and underrated to the point where we just had that bill standoff with the whole big beautiful American bill where they wanted to sell off how many millions of acres said that would have been disastrous.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: David Rutherford, my best friend. Welcome to the show. Sean Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here. What's Up? Team? I recently had the incredible honor of joining my best friend Sean Ryan on his show, and as a token of my appreciation for him and his audience, I want to do something special for you. For thirty years, I've been helping individuals and teams to discover how to utilize pain and suffering to propel their performance. From the World Series champions the Boston Red Sox to elite operators, top entrepreneurs and business owners. I want to offer the first three foundational frog Logic courses that I've been developing for the past decade. Embrace Fear, Forging, self Confidence, and Team Life. These courses come straight from the painful stories and lessons learned I talked about on Shawn's podcast, and they also emerged from the thousands of people I've instructed. Normally, these courses are two hundred dollars each, but until September fifteenth, you can get all three for just two hundred dollars. That's three courses for the price of one. Please go to David Rutherford dot com or click the link in the description to get the bundle. Thank you very much. Who yah and God speed, well, thank God for you know, Braxton and courage. He had to you know, start the ball rolling and then you know, thank God, you know, Sean was able to get him on and get that thing going. And you know, I was just up there and they showed me the Washington Post article where you know, they dropped the trailer and that night they pulled it out of the bill. So you know, I think that I think those are the stories also for me that really confirm the magnitude of great storytelling, honest sincere storytelling, like when you hear an individual's personal affiliation or not not that's not strong enough, infatuation maybe with with a particular idea, incident, place, whatever it is. And then if they can if they can demonstrate through like all these beautiful mediums of art that we have, you know it, you know, it captures us, it captures the soul. And we saw that happen with that, that that endeavor that they went on. You know, there were millions of people around the country banging on their congressman, their senators, the federal government, I mean banging on them. I mean it got so intense that you know, there was a pretty high ranking member in the Trump's administration that was trying to get Sean not to to you know, play that episode with Braxton, and so you know that that's the power of great storytelling right there. I just I love it. So when did you When did you decide, all right, I'm passionate about the outdoors. The outdoors isn't a creation. Sorry, I'm going to use the appropriate word that you brought in. I apologize for for not keeping that up where it should be. So your your your measment. You're infatuated, you're moved, You're called to action by creation itself and our relationship. You discover there's ways to do it with telling stories. When was the moment that you said, all right, this is what I'm going to focus on. And then and then how did you pick your first big project?
00:22:44
Speaker 1: The moment that kind of it was a It was a pretty pretty big moment in life. I haven't really shared this anywhere else except with my inner circle, So I guess it's a good time to talk about where we came from a little over a year ago, close to two years ago, I lost someone pretty close to me to suicide. And yeah, it was, uh, it was yeah, it was. It was tough. He you know, I grew up with him, you were good friends and childhood friends, and I kind of was not in a good spot in my life as well. I just went out into the Everglades by myself, raw dogget as people say, you know, I just went right out there and I was in the middle of the Everglades in knee high water with a brand new lens that I wanted to try out, and I just sat there and David. It was probably, you know, one of two most peaceful moments in my life where you couldn't hear anything but your thoughts, and I just like I felt like I surrendered myself to God. I spoke to him. We had a very personal one on one, it felt like. And at that moment, it felt like, you know, I want to do more with my life. I want to not just tell stories. I want to show my appreciation to your work, God, your creation, and still the same respect that we have that I grew up with with my with my family too. So that kind of kickstarted everything from there. I kind of it was sort of like a mental refresher of really pivoting and focusing on what matters most in life, everyone kind of gets so caught up with their nine to fives, their responsibilities at home. And I'm not saying disregard to any of that. I'm just saying that sometimes something happens in life, maybe too late unfortunately, but for me, it felt sooner than later where my life kind of recalibrated and I started to see what mattered more, you know, family, my relationships to my father and my mother, my brother, my friends, my immediate friends as well, and then just finding that piece again every weekend. I just started to build off of that. Every weekend I would go out into the Everglades with a buddy of mine or by myself and kind of share the passion and share, you know, this is something that we wouldn't have seen if we weren't out here. And then from then on it kind of just it was a stepping stone to something greater, where I was like, I want to found in organization because I feel like National Geographic Discovery Channel and a lot of these big names, these household names, I feel like the magic with these organizations has kind of been lost on us. And I say that because most of their work, unfortunately feels like it gets too preachy. It feels like they guilt trip people into certain agendas and narratives, and as a result, that pushes away maybe more than half your audience. And I feel like, you know, growing up, we didn't have that. We had more of the appreciation for the wonder, the appreciation for creation, the appreciation for the blade of grass right next to us that has a dragonfly that is eating the mosquitoes and saving our skin. So you know, those little things where to the granular level and then to the macro we we don't really have stories that tell us the things that matter, it feels like. And from that point on, then I started doing some research. The crocodile thing came up that same year where I photographed a rather large seventeen footer in the Flamingo Marina. Yeah. Wow, And and I would learn about him and he had a specific name, his name is Fred. And I was just sorry I went down this rabbit hole because I was at the time. I always knew that we had crocodiles, but I had never seen one until that day. And I thought to myself, Wow, do we have giant crocodiles like this in the Everglades? And then yeah, there's crocsilla. There's Freddy, There's fred Freddie's from Black Marina, the other side of the coast there, and that kind of I was like, Wow, this this is a story that nobody talks about. And you tell you talk to other Floridians and they'll be like, we don't have crocodiles, we have alligators. I'm like, actually, we're the only place on Earth that has both alligators and crocodiles. And I have the photo.
00:26:57
Speaker 2: So we have caans too in someplace.
00:26:59
Speaker 1: Now they're popping up. They are invasive, they have been popping up. I haven't seen them yet, but there are records of them popping up in the Everglades.
00:27:08
Speaker 2: Now.
00:27:08
Speaker 1: Okay, but that kind of like kickstarted the whole chasing these stories, these American wilderness stories where I started picking up rumors here and there. Another project that we have in the works too with the University of Arizona is that Arizona has jaguars. And I had no idea that we had native American, like American native jaguars. And they just recently picked yeah, yeah, they just recently picked up a couple on their game trail cameras out west, and I'm like, that's a great story, you know, that's tracking a big cat that belonged to America. And we're already you know, I'm sure you're well aware that our Florida panthers knocking on extinction store right now.
00:27:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do know that. Yeah. I remember when I was a kid growing up, there was a a you know, a scrub area just on the other side of ninety five, and there was regular, regular cats in there that they'd find, you know, and and that Florida puma was just always around. And it's just you know, I think, man, it's almost as if it's like I think, you know, like for me when I hear a story, because I've always been infatuated with great storytelling as well too, from early on my dad was a very adamant about discovery and curiosity, but through great storytelling. And I'm trying to forget what it was, but you know, this this essence of allowing the story of something outside of the norm to catch you and pull you in. Right. So whatever it might be, whether it's the the fall from grace story, or the hero or the saving the damsel or defeating the dragon, whatever archetypical story, you know that we we traditionally are exposed to. You know, it's those ones in nature that give the closest proximity to it, right, And you're like, whoa, Like that's real, that could happen in real time. It's not mythagological that's in your backyard. It's it's like, oh my god, I can go access the magnificence of what creation, the stories, the millions, the billions of different stories that Creation tells us on this planet alone, every single day. And for us when it was it used to come on on Sunday nights before Disney used to have a show, and it was this guy and and you know, he had this great voice, and it'd be you know, filmed over in Africa, or it'd be down in the Islands, or you know, he'd go diving with Jacques Cousteau or you know whatever it was. Member it was like they were on another planet. And and my dad was the one who always was like, you can access that if you are adventurous and you're courageous and you you recognize what is it. It's as soon as we can reshift, uh, the relative interpretation of our own size in creation to where we're not always monumentally bigger or more important than these other things, right, the jaguar out in Arizona, or you know, Croczilla in the Everglades. Like, once we realize, oh man, those things are every bit as important and as every bit as big as we are, then then you have the like people just get sucked into it. I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: No, No, that's fine. That's the purpose too, is that you know not I say that we're trying to inspire the next generation. But like you said, it's accessible. It's in our backyard. Me every weekend, you know, I'm working. I have an army job too. I work nine to five, and then every day off, anytime off I have, I'm out there and tracking Crocxilla and I keep missing him, and it's become this sort of obsession of mine. And I'm like the fact that I'm doing this. Anyone could really do this. That's why we tell these stories that we want to tell you guys like, hey, you don't need you don't need to be a biologist, you don't need to be an expert in this field. You can go out and enjoy creation too. You don't need anyone's permission.
00:31:32
Speaker 2: I think that's true in all art, right, I mean, I mean one of my favorite stories is Rey La Montaigne, right, a beautiful, beautiful balladero, you know who with his guitar and sings these beautiful songs. He was a carpenter and tell he was like forty two years old, you know. Or you look at some you know, great painters or whatever. You know that all of a sudden they're just like they're overwhelmed by their passion and it forces their action to get out there and and share what they see with the rest of you know, Initially it's it's through your friends and family, and then you know, it starts to now with the Internet. I mean, everybody can be a creator, thank god, I mean it. I you know, as as much as there are aspects of social media, uh in particular you know, uh, some of the hater comments I got for you know this this past week, but but you know, the overwhelming majority of people that tap into the stories that I was trying to tell about resilience, it was positive. And when I look and I see the comments on your pieces, in particular this this, you know, this the King of the Everglades man, Like, I'm so moved by Hey, this. There's something happening right. People are are seeking out these stories because because I think there's so many more opportunities to do them, Like when you first started, or are you worried about competing with anybody else in the space? Are you? Are you worried about getting funding or getting it bought, you know, having your project bought by Netflix or whomever. It's like, is that an issue for you?
00:33:17
Speaker 1: You know, it's We did start a crowd funding campaign several months ago, back in April, and it concluded I believe it may and you know, I had a bare bones budget of like just give me one more camera, a couple pieces of equipment, and let's see what we can do here. And we were able to We were able to pull together a little over ten thousand dollars, which was that that exceeded my express awesome, that's awesome. That exceeded our expectations, and I was truly grateful and blessed. We had a massive support from our friend's family and then the X following to the Goopers as you will I call them. They're great group of guys there that just like they they these are individuals who really do care about storytelling. They care, they care about wholesomeness, they care about what matters American history, integrity, the constitution, things that matter and what makes America great right And to see that sort of support and validation from others, it gave us all the momentum you could have asked for. And so to go back to your initial question, you know, everyone in this space, you know, the dream is like, Oh, I'm going to get the Netflix deal, right, my stuff is going to get on Netflix and I'm going to get paid forty quadrillion dollars. It's like, uh, you know, we we had we had a couple of windows into the into the industry, and it was actually pretty interesting that we got pulled in when we start getting a little bit of traction. I sent out emails to producers that were on IMDb or producers that were on documentaries I enjoyed, especially recently on Netflix, BBC, and I just I just drafted emails. I can I cannot tell you how many emails I sent out. It blew to the the face and sent out emails and then finally I got maybe two people responded back, and they were producers. And I'm not going to disclose his name, but this individual was one of the producers on the documentaries I loved, and he absolutely loves our work where we are pitching our trailer and the initial photography we've done, and we actually got on a on a sort of webcam discussion with him and he was actually, yeah, he had worked for BBC National Geographic and he was in works with another National Geographic project, and he said, do you boys want me to tell National Geographic about your your project? And my buddy and I look at each other like, yeah, yeah, yeah, question, that'd be nice. So unfortunately they didn't not go go go ahead and select us. They the industry right now is a little bit in shambles with how everything is the economic landscape. You know, the whole production industry is facing close to seventy percent unemployment rate, and they're very selective with where they want to throw their money because at the end of the day, you know, you can you can only you can always waste so many you can always you can only waste so much money on so many projects. And you know, with Disney, Disney owns National Geographic, they wanted to be very selective with what project they want to put money towards. So they said that there isn't really a demand for expedition content, is what was told to us, so to which I said, I don't know, because I look over on X and I talk to a lot of people, and like, expedition content is something that's that's missing today.
00:36:52
Speaker 2: I feel, oh absolutely, look at how well what's his name his show on on Netflix that came out just where he's the parks cop. Uh oh, yes, yeah, And it's like and you're like, wait a minute, the cops in a national park. But like there's an edginess because the shooting this stuff, the photography of it is immaculate, and so like it sucked me in and or you look at Chris Hemsworth or I mean, obviously there's all these people out there that have really done it. Well, you know, I think it's a lot like chasing down the Pyramids and where they were, you know, some of that stuff. So I think, but I I believe that you know, you guys, and what you saw gave me that sensation that I had grown up with watching the National Geographic stuff, watching the Disney shows, watching it Planet or stuff like I had that sensation, but was even cooler is that you gave it something specific right there was the mission of finding Crozilla, and and you know, I just thought it was incredible. That's why I was just like, I gotta talk to this guy and how he came up with it.
00:38:06
Speaker 1: So it's just a little bit of a spoiler, a little bit of a spoil alert. We recently discovered that there is another super croc that is potentially larger than Crocsilla, and he has only been photographed by two photographers so far, and he is well over eighteen feet long and he use a pond. Yeah, yeah, he's a monster. The photographer who So this crocodile is nicknamed King. It's just it's so funny that we discovered this crocodile after I had named the documentary King of the Everglades. So I was just like, cool, this is like the Lord was a nice plot twist. So I bumped into the only photographer that was able to get two photos of him, and over the span of the last six years, he photographed him twice and once was two ones was a couple of years ago, and I believe the other instance was twenty eighteen, and both times at three in the morning. This crocodile is out there and We're like, we got to get out there somehow, some way, And oddly enough, I discovered the pond that he lives in is closed off to the public currently because it's gotten a mass, a mass migration of spoon bills and storks now setting up a nursery and the pond, and they wanted to protect the nursery, you know, from tourists and anyone else out there from human intervention. So we're like, this is a perfect We're fighting to get permits, We're talking to you. I'm exhausting every contact I can find to try to get on this pond, and it's just proving very, very difficult. A lot of red tape involved. But it was a revelation because like, no wonder, this crocodile is as giant as he is because he's got a all you can eat buffet set up now with the nursery of spoon bills and storks there.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it makes total sense, man, total sense. Wow, what's up?
00:40:05
Speaker 1: Team?
00:40:05
Speaker 2: I've been writing for over forty years. Finally I've decided to bring to life a character that has been on my heart since my experiences of carrying a gun for a living. If you recently watched my episode with my best friend on his show, The Sean Ryan Show. You heard some of my real world experiences that shape this character and the story of The Poet Warrior. Can a poet's soul survive the crucible of war? The Poet Warrior follows Adam Ferguson, a reclusive teenage artist haunted by his father's early death, as he transforms into a battle scarred Navy seal. Through the chaos of combat. In the shadow of nine to eleven, Adam grapples with the raw truth of mortality. His journey is a searing odyssey of heartbreak, failure, and the relentless search for identity amidst the ruins of lost loved ones, set against the turbulent dawn of the global War on Terror. This is a story of a young man torn between his poetic heart and the hardened warrior he's become. If this sounds like a story that might pull you in, please visit my website at David Rutherford dot com or click the link in the description below, and if you pre order now, your signed copy will be delivered before the holidays. Thank you very much. In godspeed, Well, let me just I want to read something to everybody who's listening. And if you've ever you know, been on a nature walk or actually put on a rock and gone camping, or gotten in a canoe or you know, a raft or something and gotten out there and immersed yourself into creation, this will this will have an impact on you. And this is what you wrote about, and this is in your about us on explorers dot org. You go. Explore Us is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reconnecting people with the wild spaces around them. We believe that exploration begins in your own backyard and extends to the vast, untamed wilderness of North America. Our mission is to inspire curiosity, foster respect for natural environments, and cultivate a new generation of explorers. Through immersive storytelling, educational programs, and community initiatives. We showcase the breath taking beauty and vital importance of our continence wild places. Man, that's about as beautifully written as anything I've ever read. And I just what I'd love for you to do is is you know, give people kind of what they can expect in the future from your content, Like what you're gonna when you show people what are they saying as you show them these reels, what are they saying to you? And then you know, how are you shaping the narrative to really translate those beautiful words into that sensation that people are gonna feel when they watch your stuff.
00:43:16
Speaker 1: I think the main thing is, you know, that reconnection, reconnecting with untamed wilderness and showcasing what we want to start off with is American wilderness. I feel like there's more than enough stories to go around and showcase. We put together a tensative slate of ideas. One of them is the American Jaguar. I was going to premiere the title of it next week, but it is a Beast of the Borderlands and that is that is tracking the big cats of the North American jaguar and their place in Arizona and showcasing their resiliency, the history. And we're not trying to beat people over the head with an agenda or a sort of guilt tripped message, right. This is about like, hey, I had no idea we had jaguars. I want to see that, like so, And the idea is that we're going to go on this mission. We're going to show you and we're going to inspire you to do the same because you can do it too. So gatekeeping is something I keep running into a lot in the production realm, in conservation. It's just it's it is a bit of a problem. I mean, gatekeeping is everywhere, and all all walks of life expend.
00:44:29
Speaker 2: Gatekeeping if you could.
00:44:31
Speaker 1: Uh, it's it's almost this self absorption idea of this realm, this this piece of information belongs to me and only me, and I don't want to share it with anyone else. Yeah, and they monopolize it, and they monopolize and they pick and choose who gets access to it. And to me, isn't that what made science great is that we can all challenge the science. We can all run our own experiments like we did growing up in middle school, right going to the science fare and that's and you know, we run into a bit of that and we kind of have to like we're walking a little bit on eggshells because unfortunately, I don't want to get political about it, but it is left dominate, dominating, left leaning politics dominates that landscape for the most part, and we kind of want to break away with we kind of want to recalibrate to the center. If we can on a lot of these issues and show people that nature's for everyone. It's not just for activists, it's not just for intellectuals who think that they're bigger than life.
00:45:35
Speaker 2: For sure. One of my closest friends has been a hunter his whole life. He manages a ten thousand acre hunting lease up at just north on the edge of like Okachobe, and you know, and he is probably the most significant conservationalists I've ever met in my life. His family's very politically connected up in DC and even here in Florida. You know, his his his sister was very high up in the elections. She was a Senate approved elections person, you know, for the Republican Party. His brother as a conservationalist lobby for FP and l lobbyists, and you know, he he is a firm believer in conservationalism. And you know, he's hunted all over the place, and he's actually you know, like you said, he's the one who's like, I don't give a damn what your politics are, but you know, if you love the outdoors, it's on you to take that that to take up the mantle of supporting it, protecting it, and working together regardless of what your core political beliefs of if you love the outdoors, you love the outdoors. I have seen that taking place now more than I've ever seen it as a result of what we just saw with Braxton in the establishment of the Sage Brush Institute. Uh, can you explain your relationship with them and and what your position with them and how you came about being volunteer volunteered for that.
00:47:17
Speaker 1: So it all started with a discussion over wolves. I'm sure, I don't know if you know the backstort with Braxton being the wolf appreciator because he got so much flak for calling out the Colorado policy of reintroducing gray wolves, which that's a separate topic altogether, but right right, h we we befriended each other over that issue. Uh, I think over a year ago now, and we both have an appreciate for the appreciation for the great outdoors. And he kind of took point on the whole on the whole, uh, you know, the whole public land sale bill that was going to be pushed through, and we just all fell in line and you know, cooked together as many means as we could and bully politicians into into telling him like, no, this is not right, this is not what we voted for in terms of sage Brush Institute. You know, they they had put together a great board of individuals and they are putting together you know, it sounds like I'm quoting the Avengers. I'm putting together a team. And they got all these they got all these sort of you know, big name influencers on X and different platforms that are gonna are gonna do some wonderful work for Sagebrush. And I remember I was coming back from the Everglades and I got a DM notification for Braxton and he's just like, hey, you're gonna be the Florida like chairman or president for the for the Florida Chapter. I'm valling telling you, and he like, he shows me the meme of like pointing a gun at me, Like all.
00:48:49
Speaker 2: Right, all right, all.
00:48:51
Speaker 1: Right, if you say so. He went ahead and said like, hey, I think you do. You do great work as a as leader of the chapter. He went ahead and made the announcement a couple of weeks ago. And I've had a bunch of people flood the DMS and reach out to me, which has been amazing. And I have all this responsibility announce to try to pick a spot somewhere where everyone could drive to in South Florida, maybe where we can all meet up and discuss some potential you know, you know hot topics that we want to tackle for a sagebrush.
00:49:26
Speaker 2: You know, Hot Springs is a beautiful place You've got. I mean all kinds of amazing places around Lake Okachobee that are incredible. I mean up in the Panhandle that's beautiful. I mean there's a lot of spots. But I think a lot of people just think that you know, Florida's strip malls and in highway, right, but they have no idea how diverse our ecosystem is, right, And and I just I love that you have joined that organization as you I can already tell I'm a massive supporter of Braxton's, I'm a massive supporter of sage Brush, and and you know, I just think you're going to make a tremendous, tremendous addition to to that.
00:50:14
Speaker 1: So congratulations, Thank you. It was an honor, it's a privilege. It's something that I will take very seriously. And the big thing is too, I don't want to be the focal point. I want to empower Floridians I want everyone to show up voice or opinion. No one's going to get silenced. That's all discuss like you know, at the dinner table, almost like it's an open discussion. That's it's it's not a bad thing to share ideas, right. We don't want just one or two people to lead point and tell everyone how to think.
00:50:43
Speaker 2: So absolutely absolutely I love that. Okay, So let's talk about the release of this what the next six months year looks like for you? What what what are the next big steps and hurdles, and just explain what the roadmap looks for you and your organization over the foreseeable future.
00:51:06
Speaker 1: So we are filming. We're in the midst of filming King of the Everglades. It is going to be a seasonal documentary series. We have seven chapters mapped out. We're trying to hit twenty minutes per chapter because worst case scenario, we're looking at putting this thing out on YouTube and X maybe ex original it remains to be seen. So that's what's the next year and a half looks like. In terms of the King of the Everglades production. We are working with FPL, their crocodile expert. I just sent over a proposal over to them, so I'm waiting for feedback from them so we can get access to their cooling canals where they have a crocodile sanctuary there, and that's part of the over incompanying the overarching story of King of the Everglades is to showcase the conservation, right. I did get invited by a biologist out west for gray Wolf project out in Lassen National Park, last in Volcanic National Park out west in northern California, where this biologist and his team have been tracking the reintroduction of the almost or once extinct, sorry once extinct gray wolf in northern California, and they live in a shadow of a volcano. So it sounded very interesting and he invited me. So I'll be heading out there next year just to work on that story as well while I'm working on King of the Everglades, And then we're just gearing up hopefully in the next year or two, once we pick up maybe a little bit more financial support more of a following two, we're going to be working on some other projects we have lined up, like the Arizona Jaguar Beast of the Borderlands. So that's what we have on our plate right now, just a newsletter, working with Sagebrush on a couple of things as well, and taking up the mantle of Florida. Man, it feels like. And then we'll see, we'll see where we go. We're going to try to shoot to get the first chapter of King of the Everglades out by fall next year.
00:52:58
Speaker 2: Okay, that sounds beautiful, all right? So how can people support you? How can people support the effort? How can they not only support what you're doing at explorers dot org but also sagebrus support.
00:53:11
Speaker 1: My caffeine addiction, Buy me a coffee. I don't want to. I don't want to really ask for anything, but you know, all.
00:53:20
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna do it. Listen, everybody, it's very difficult to do this work. It's very difficult to meet young people that are inspired to take on these monumental hurdles. You know, the the industry itself, like he said, is very insulated and what they're choosing to get behind financially. And so I'm here to tell you this, This young man is the real deal. His organization's real deal, and more importantly, his art is the real deal. That's what got me to him. I watched his trailer. He meant it moved me and so that's what made me do it. So go to their website that's explorers dot org. And and you know it's it's fifty dollars, it's one hundred dollars. We're not asking for twenty thousand or fifty thousand dollars. That's ridiculous. What these young men, what they need is to tell beautiful stories for you and your children. Is they need just a little bit of help here and there. You know, don't go to Starbucks for a month and give them a hundred bucks, you know, so I'll ask. Don't worry. It's my pleasure.
00:54:24
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, truly, you know, every dollar goes a long way. And I'm incredibly grateful and blessed to have the support that we have and for many years to come. So I'm excited to get these stories out to you guys. And who knows, maybe I'll be in one of my followers backyards next year.
00:54:41
Speaker 2: Oh man, I love that. I love that all right? So where can people follow you where you are?
00:54:46
Speaker 1: Yeah? I have an Instagram action Xander, just the same as my ex handle or username action Xander, and then eXplorist Society is our username as well on Instagram. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram. Twitter both explores society and myself action Xander.
00:55:05
Speaker 2: Well, Alexander, I'm just truly honored that you shared your passion, your your your love of creation and what's available. I'm also very honored that you would talk a little bit about losing your friend. You know the way I look at that. You know, I've lost a lot of friends over the last you know, ten years to suicide, and and you know, each one of them, they inspire me to do what I do every day, to try and bring some goodness to the world, to try and help people when they're down. And so you know, at the end of the day, I'm sure he's smiling down on you, moved by who what you are. And then also he's he's that little inspiration to keep walking through that that thunderstorm of mosquitoes that's coming down on you out there, and pretty soon jaguars, jaguars hunch you down out you go out to Arizona. So thank you so much, God bless you, and we wish you all the luck. And when you're ready to release anything, just hit us up. We'll have you back on and we'll play a little bit of the clip and we'll just keep keep going helping you there.
00:56:16
Speaker 1: I appreciate that a lot, David, and shout out to Jordy. You guys are doing wonderful work. Thank you so much, and God bless you both.
00:56:22
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I love to tell stories, meaningful stories, impactful stories that people can relate to, and the idea of eXplorist. The reason why I founded it was that I wanted to inspire the average Joe to kind of, you know, embrace the outdoors more, don't get sucked into the nine to five too much, and go on take your family on picnics. I feel like that's something that's been lost on a lot of Americans.
00:00:24
Speaker 2: I understand that a lot of people come to my show and they have this great expectation of some deep, you know, geopolitical insight or my valuation on what's happening in Ukraine and Russia or what's going on and that type of stuff because of my background. But you also now, after watching me on Sean Ryan, if you did, you know you understand that I'm an artist at heart. And so what I'm always doing is scouring x and Instagram and the Internet looking for people that I believe are true artists, people that have taken a passion for what makes what stirs them and what gets them out of bed in the morning, and turning it into something that other people can consume and can connect to that can transform their perceptions of their own reality. And so today it is with great honor that I welcome Alexander Joseph to the show. Now. Alexander is the founder of explorers dot com and that's xp L O R I s T dot org. I'm sorry, explorers dot org. And what they do is they are documentary filmmakers that are really out there to inspire you to connect with your local environments to experience the thing that he has enjoyed throughout his whole life. So, without further into Alexander, it is a pleasure to have you on the show.
00:01:49
Speaker 1: Man appreciate it, David, thank you for having me on here. And really quick, just want to say, appreciate your service to our country. Can you know my heart goes out to veterans every time time I do meet them, So I appreciate your service.
00:02:02
Speaker 2: Oh I, well, let's just I appreciate that more than you can know. That means a lot to me. But let's just hold on because you just started working with Brax and McCoy at the Sage Brush Institute. So you might change your mind after a little bit here, because it's the guys that have gotten blown up, those are the guys that you really gotta you gotta pay attention to all right, appreciate the introduction, Yeah, for sure. Man. I just I saw your documentary, you know, King of the Everglades on on X and man, I think I've watched that thing probably ten times already. You know, growing up, I mean growing up in South Florida like you, and I can't wait to understand more about that. You know, I grew up in the Everglades were a massive part of our, uh you know, our existence down here, especially when it was you know, it wasn't as built out when I when I was born in nineteen seventy two. It's a lot small, and they seem to be a lot closer, right, But when I watched yours, you know, it really was impactful, and I was like, that's a person that really has respect for what that place is and what many people don't know. It's the only ecosystem like it in the world. You cannot find the Everglades in any other place in the world, and so we have this beautiful, pristine area, and so little people in Southeast Florida or even around the country recognize that it's available for them to experience in a deep, meaningful way. So why don't we get into that, Like, tell me about growing up in South Florida. Where did these passions for the outdoors and for filmmaking begin?
00:03:46
Speaker 1: You know, Ever since I was a kid growing up, there were two people I wanted to, you know, one of two people I wanted to be, either Indiana Jones or Steven Spielberg. So yes, So it's kind of funny how life kind of worked out in its way that it's, you know, on this sort of trend that I'm more outdoors oriented right now. And I've always enjoyed filmmaking and the process of it, as tedious as it as it is. But I have a very creative mind in that sense that I love to tell stories, meaningful stories, impactful stories that people can relate to. And the idea of eXplorist. The reason why I found it it was that I wanted to inspire the average Joe to kind of, you know, embrace the outdoors more, don't get sucked into the nine to five too much, and go on take your family on picnics. I feel like that's something that's been lost on a lot of Americans.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: A hundred percent. I mean, you know, for me, my passion place is the ocean, right, growing up going in that ocean every day. I mean, we have these beautiful beaches that have don't have, aren't inundated with condominiums on you know, every five feet in between each other. And I just remember going and just being in the water and connecting to that ocean. And then you know, you start surfing, you start understanding more about what's beneath the ocean, more about you know, the ecological realities of the ocean, and you know, and it just if you allow it to seep into your heart, it really is transformative. Was there a moment when you were a kid that you went out into the Everglades or you went down to the keys that really kind of began to capture or maybe something out west? I saw you a snowboarder.
00:05:30
Speaker 1: Too, Yeah, I am. I'm probably the only person in Miami that owns more than one snowboard. So it's this severe brain damage over here.
00:05:44
Speaker 2: Well, anybody wants to be an outdoor conservationalist filmmaker, you always got to be like what.
00:05:52
Speaker 1: So to you answer your question, there were two sort of moments that kind of fed into this passion for the outdoors.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Uh.
00:05:57
Speaker 1: One, you know, my father has always been an adventurous person. He's always told me stories about him and his grandfather and how they would travel to exotic places. It almost felt like he was Indiana Jones. He would tell me about places in Japan or you know, other islands that he would go in the Caribbean with his father and growing up. He kind of wanted to instill that sort of sense of wonder with my brother and I and he would take us out to the Everglades at a very young age. We would be walking there through the many boardwalks that they had, and Hinga Trail is one of them down south. And then he did, you know the typical American experience where you take your family out west and you start in San Francisco and drive down the coast and hit all the major national parks out west. So we have photos and I have vivid memories of you know, seeing Bighorn, sheep old faithful, those those memories that just were ingrained into my mind, and to this day, I feel like I'm still chasing that wonder, that encapsulating moment where you appreciate the art gallery that is creation.
00:07:01
Speaker 2: That's his most beautifully put explanation I've ever heard man, that was poetic. I mean, that's that was beautiful. Oh my gosh, Jeordie. I want to make sure we get that one log and that's the one I want on the clips that we promote this. This is that was just absolutely perfectly put. You know, you talk about those early memories. I mean, my earliest memory as a child is my father carrying me on his shoulders on a hike out in Yosemite. And and you're right, what does it do? Is it? It? Regardless of where you come from or what your circumstances are, when you when you get to really allow what that that framework of consciousness to broaden, to see the magnitude of God's creation that is at our fingertips or at a drive distance anywhere pretty much you live, you you really can be It's it's almost like that, what is it? It's it's it's it's that seed of wanderlust, that that that just can get in your heart and if you have that, you can you have so much more fulfillment throughout your whole life. Right.
00:08:18
Speaker 1: I think people tend to forget one of two things. Is that one. You know, mankind is part of the ecosystem, Right, people think that the ecosystem is separated from man. And the other thing too is scripture wise. You know, God called us to be stewarts, good stewards of his creation. So I think part of that, that urge of wonder, that wanderlust, as you mentioned, is that part of it's a calling to a lot of us to you know, be good stewarts to creation, to the earth that we were given man.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: That that's that's massive. I remember, I never understood it. I felt it, but I never understood it in the in the way that you just so poetically put it until I was in college. And when I was in college, I did this uh Native American studies class and we had this Sioux Indian that had come in and talked about growing up, his desire to leave. He made it to Pittsburgh. He was a welder and like he got in this welding accident felt like four stories, broke every bone in his body, his back, and then as he was recovering, his grandfather, who was a medicineman, made the trip, drove out and prayed over him for a week, and after a week he kind of just stood up and he was healed. And so here I am this nineteen year old kid. Impressionable kid. I hear this story and then he goes back to South Dakota and he starts telling the story of the Living Black Hills, right. And he was able to articulate that the connection that he had with his homeland in the connection of the legacy of generations of his a Native American tribe and as family members, and then on that deeper level as a lineage of medicine men. You know, that hit me in a way that was like, oh my god, there's there's a there's another way to experience life, to be connected to it. And it's like and then you like, well what does this mean? Man? And I think that was one of the big things. An underlying component of me wanting to go into the service was to go see the world. You know, many people ask me all the time, you know, what's the greatest place you've ever been? You know, and I say, you know, in the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, or out in Bamagne where they had you know, the tal band blew up those giant Buddhist statues that were fifteen hundred years or out in the desert of Death by the you know, by Queta in the border of Pakistan and and people like that's a war zone, wasn't it. And I was like, no, it was raw. And when you I think, when you can connect when there's no barriers, right, I think that's what it is. There's a we we have a propensity within within society to generate barriers between our soul and the in creation. I love how you put that. So you start experiencing this at a young age. What what was the first moment that you on a different note in the art, the art of storytelling? When? How did that emerge in your in your childhood?
00:11:31
Speaker 1: Well, I, you know, I saw a lot of films growing up with my dad, and you know Jurassic Park, Jaws, you name all the Spielberg classics, and you know, so the so good epic. Epic is a good word to use that. I try to always, I try to. I try to use that in all my writing. Growing up seeing these kind of movies. I didn't want the fame. I didn't want any of the Hollywood stigma and I didn't want any of that stuff or the fortune that came with it. I wanted the ability to share stories, impactful stories, captivating stories that would inspire the next generation of adventurers so to speak. And it started an early age and then it finally kind of crystallized into a YouTube channel, so awesome.
00:12:16
Speaker 2: When can I ask you one quick question? What do you remember some of the first stories other than Spielberg movies? Was because obviously your your documentary filmmaker, so that's a different type of storytelling. But what were some of the real stories that you remember as a kid, whether it was movies or TV shows or documentaries that hit you Because like for me, I remember with documentaries is when Ken Burns came out with the Civil War and that, and I was just like, oh my god, Like that changes everyhow I look at it. So what were some for you.
00:12:50
Speaker 1: For me growing up? Steve Irwin is probably the number one. May he rest in peace. He was a man of influence on who I am today, as well as people like Jeremy Wade and River Monsters. You know, I can tell you right now, I just finish binge washing River Monsters again for maybe like the thirteenth time.
00:13:15
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, but it's crazy because now you're like, oh, where do you put the camera on that? And how did he set that shot up?
00:13:23
Speaker 1: And you know, it's so funny that you mentioned that I lose sleep over this because we're not in the ever so the Irregulades isn't exactly a production friendly environment. So and full disclosure, we are a two man team at the moment. It's myself and my partner Garrett, and we are out there and it's a logistics nightmare.
00:13:45
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, And people who haven't had to do anything technical in the wilderness or jungle or deserts or mountains or anything like that, they don't get the logistics involved right. They're casually interacting with it, whereas you're trying to operate, and it's a whole different animal.
00:14:04
Speaker 1: It's you know, I'm sure you can speak on this rucking with thirty pounds of gear in one hundred and eight degree humidity, it's not a good time, dude.
00:14:12
Speaker 2: We did a jungle survival course my first platoon over in the Philippines, and I'll tell you what, you can stick me in one hundred and thirty degree weather in the desert any day of the week and twice on Tuesdays more than I want to be in any jungle, mosquito infested wet you know, everything that grabs you once to tear your skin environment.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: Right, That's one thing I always tell people, like, Hey, if there's ever God forbid is an invasion to the United States, nobody's invading Florida.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: No, Well, do you know the history of the Seminoles and Andrew Jackson and the fight that they put up in resistance.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: I'm not so familiar with it. I know that there are a lot of short stories in grilla warfare, like pockets of girrilla warfare throughout Florida and the wet lands that we have here. Yeah, to tell it. Tell me about Andrew Jackson.
00:15:03
Speaker 2: When they started the Indian campaigns to you know, really recaptured territory and expand right. Uh, you know, the manifest Destiny and that was later I forget what he called it, but you know, they sent these troops down into Florida to get rid of this little tribe because they had just been they'd been waylaying what the Cherokee they pushed out of North Carolina, right, and then they pushed them down in Oklahoma the Trail of Tears, and then they sent people, you know, try to send people up in uh to the Dakotas, and they pushed the what was it the up in New England. It was the last of the Mohicans, the Mohicans, and and they came down here and they thought it was just gonna be easy because the terrain was pretty easy. But then they hit the wetlands and they got waylaid man. The Seminoles were voracious fighters, and they could just disappear is easier than these these northern troops. And they're you know, heavy wool pants and heavy boots and their rocks and their low and these and they just got lit up for a while and it was this great resistance.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't even mention the mosquitoes.
00:16:16
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I don't know if they're more like terdactyls than mosquitoes.
00:16:21
Speaker 1: Right, So funny enough, everyone has told me that the Alaskan mosquito. Alaska has like thirty something species of mosquito, but they do have a very aggressive species. But ours, the Salt Marsh mosquito, is actually the most aggressive species that we have, and I can personally attest to it. I have a photo on X from one of our shoots and this previous June May, I just smacked my arm over here and I got some blood splatter on my shirt, and I kid you not, you could barely see the blood. It was just covered in black from the amount of sea.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: Know, my gosh, that's awesome for the week. That's dedication, not for the week. Haarted right, Okay, So you you see Steve Irwin, you see these other people, you begin to you know, fall in love with the idea of storytelling and then I'll you're like, all right, well, if this is what it is, I'm going to start a YouTube channel. Tell me what that was like?
00:17:21
Speaker 1: Uh?
00:17:22
Speaker 2: And and what was it like the first time? Like you picked up that camera and you you told your first story. Can you walk us through that a little bit? Oh?
00:17:32
Speaker 1: It was nerve wracking because I didn't know how to talk to a camera.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: That does suck.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: There was that, but I got it sucks, but you know, I got used to it, and you know, I was part of that. I was riding the wave that I don't know if you remember that trend where travel v logs were all the rage on YouTube, and I was like, oh, I could do that, you know, I get I snowboard, I do this and that, and I'm going to do a cinematic flair to it. And but then I just started feeling like, it's I want to make something that's impactful. Vlogs. Don't get me wrong, there are impactful creators out there, and there are vlogs that are not deporting. Yeah, yeah, their informative and m and to me, I felt like, no, no, you're fine. To me, I felt like it wasn't fulfilling enough for me. I felt like telling stories and inspiring even if it meant one person saw this video and that weekend they were already looking at hiking with their family and taking a photo with their phone. That to me, was the only w that mattered to me, I didn't care so much about the number of subscribers. So then I started to pivot away from the travel content and I really sat down and dedicated to writing out stories and really honing in on American wilderness. And I feel like American wilderness is significantly underappreciated and underrated to the point where we just had that bill standoff with the whole big beautiful American bill where they wanted to sell off how many millions of acres said that would have been disastrous.
00:19:05
Speaker 2: David Rutherford, my best friend. Welcome to the show. Sean Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here. What's Up? Team? I recently had the incredible honor of joining my best friend Sean Ryan on his show, and as a token of my appreciation for him and his audience, I want to do something special for you. For thirty years, I've been helping individuals and teams to discover how to utilize pain and suffering to propel their performance. From the World Series champions the Boston Red Sox to elite operators, top entrepreneurs and business owners. I want to offer the first three foundational frog Logic courses that I've been developing for the past decade. Embrace Fear, Forging, self Confidence, and Team Life. These courses come straight from the painful stories and lessons learned I talked about on Shawn's podcast, and they also emerged from the thousands of people I've instructed. Normally, these courses are two hundred dollars each, but until September fifteenth, you can get all three for just two hundred dollars. That's three courses for the price of one. Please go to David Rutherford dot com or click the link in the description to get the bundle. Thank you very much. Who yah and God speed, well, thank God for you know, Braxton and courage. He had to you know, start the ball rolling and then you know, thank God, you know, Sean was able to get him on and get that thing going. And you know, I was just up there and they showed me the Washington Post article where you know, they dropped the trailer and that night they pulled it out of the bill. So you know, I think that I think those are the stories also for me that really confirm the magnitude of great storytelling, honest sincere storytelling, like when you hear an individual's personal affiliation or not not that's not strong enough, infatuation maybe with with a particular idea, incident, place, whatever it is. And then if they can if they can demonstrate through like all these beautiful mediums of art that we have, you know it, you know, it captures us, it captures the soul. And we saw that happen with that, that that endeavor that they went on. You know, there were millions of people around the country banging on their congressman, their senators, the federal government, I mean banging on them. I mean it got so intense that you know, there was a pretty high ranking member in the Trump's administration that was trying to get Sean not to to you know, play that episode with Braxton, and so you know that that's the power of great storytelling right there. I just I love it. So when did you When did you decide, all right, I'm passionate about the outdoors. The outdoors isn't a creation. Sorry, I'm going to use the appropriate word that you brought in. I apologize for for not keeping that up where it should be. So your your your measment. You're infatuated, you're moved, You're called to action by creation itself and our relationship. You discover there's ways to do it with telling stories. When was the moment that you said, all right, this is what I'm going to focus on. And then and then how did you pick your first big project?
00:22:44
Speaker 1: The moment that kind of it was a It was a pretty pretty big moment in life. I haven't really shared this anywhere else except with my inner circle, So I guess it's a good time to talk about where we came from a little over a year ago, close to two years ago, I lost someone pretty close to me to suicide. And yeah, it was, uh, it was yeah, it was. It was tough. He you know, I grew up with him, you were good friends and childhood friends, and I kind of was not in a good spot in my life as well. I just went out into the Everglades by myself, raw dogget as people say, you know, I just went right out there and I was in the middle of the Everglades in knee high water with a brand new lens that I wanted to try out, and I just sat there and David. It was probably, you know, one of two most peaceful moments in my life where you couldn't hear anything but your thoughts, and I just like I felt like I surrendered myself to God. I spoke to him. We had a very personal one on one, it felt like. And at that moment, it felt like, you know, I want to do more with my life. I want to not just tell stories. I want to show my appreciation to your work, God, your creation, and still the same respect that we have that I grew up with with my with my family too. So that kind of kickstarted everything from there. I kind of it was sort of like a mental refresher of really pivoting and focusing on what matters most in life, everyone kind of gets so caught up with their nine to fives, their responsibilities at home. And I'm not saying disregard to any of that. I'm just saying that sometimes something happens in life, maybe too late unfortunately, but for me, it felt sooner than later where my life kind of recalibrated and I started to see what mattered more, you know, family, my relationships to my father and my mother, my brother, my friends, my immediate friends as well, and then just finding that piece again every weekend. I just started to build off of that. Every weekend I would go out into the Everglades with a buddy of mine or by myself and kind of share the passion and share, you know, this is something that we wouldn't have seen if we weren't out here. And then from then on it kind of just it was a stepping stone to something greater, where I was like, I want to found in organization because I feel like National Geographic Discovery Channel and a lot of these big names, these household names, I feel like the magic with these organizations has kind of been lost on us. And I say that because most of their work, unfortunately feels like it gets too preachy. It feels like they guilt trip people into certain agendas and narratives, and as a result, that pushes away maybe more than half your audience. And I feel like, you know, growing up, we didn't have that. We had more of the appreciation for the wonder, the appreciation for creation, the appreciation for the blade of grass right next to us that has a dragonfly that is eating the mosquitoes and saving our skin. So you know, those little things where to the granular level and then to the macro we we don't really have stories that tell us the things that matter, it feels like. And from that point on, then I started doing some research. The crocodile thing came up that same year where I photographed a rather large seventeen footer in the Flamingo Marina. Yeah. Wow, And and I would learn about him and he had a specific name, his name is Fred. And I was just sorry I went down this rabbit hole because I was at the time. I always knew that we had crocodiles, but I had never seen one until that day. And I thought to myself, Wow, do we have giant crocodiles like this in the Everglades? And then yeah, there's crocsilla. There's Freddy, There's fred Freddie's from Black Marina, the other side of the coast there, and that kind of I was like, Wow, this this is a story that nobody talks about. And you tell you talk to other Floridians and they'll be like, we don't have crocodiles, we have alligators. I'm like, actually, we're the only place on Earth that has both alligators and crocodiles. And I have the photo.
00:26:57
Speaker 2: So we have caans too in someplace.
00:26:59
Speaker 1: Now they're popping up. They are invasive, they have been popping up. I haven't seen them yet, but there are records of them popping up in the Everglades.
00:27:08
Speaker 2: Now.
00:27:08
Speaker 1: Okay, but that kind of like kickstarted the whole chasing these stories, these American wilderness stories where I started picking up rumors here and there. Another project that we have in the works too with the University of Arizona is that Arizona has jaguars. And I had no idea that we had native American, like American native jaguars. And they just recently picked yeah, yeah, they just recently picked up a couple on their game trail cameras out west, and I'm like, that's a great story, you know, that's tracking a big cat that belonged to America. And we're already you know, I'm sure you're well aware that our Florida panthers knocking on extinction store right now.
00:27:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do know that. Yeah. I remember when I was a kid growing up, there was a a you know, a scrub area just on the other side of ninety five, and there was regular, regular cats in there that they'd find, you know, and and that Florida puma was just always around. And it's just you know, I think, man, it's almost as if it's like I think, you know, like for me when I hear a story, because I've always been infatuated with great storytelling as well too, from early on my dad was a very adamant about discovery and curiosity, but through great storytelling. And I'm trying to forget what it was, but you know, this this essence of allowing the story of something outside of the norm to catch you and pull you in. Right. So whatever it might be, whether it's the the fall from grace story, or the hero or the saving the damsel or defeating the dragon, whatever archetypical story, you know that we we traditionally are exposed to. You know, it's those ones in nature that give the closest proximity to it, right, And you're like, whoa, Like that's real, that could happen in real time. It's not mythagological that's in your backyard. It's it's like, oh my god, I can go access the magnificence of what creation, the stories, the millions, the billions of different stories that Creation tells us on this planet alone, every single day. And for us when it was it used to come on on Sunday nights before Disney used to have a show, and it was this guy and and you know, he had this great voice, and it'd be you know, filmed over in Africa, or it'd be down in the Islands, or you know, he'd go diving with Jacques Cousteau or you know whatever it was. Member it was like they were on another planet. And and my dad was the one who always was like, you can access that if you are adventurous and you're courageous and you you recognize what is it. It's as soon as we can reshift, uh, the relative interpretation of our own size in creation to where we're not always monumentally bigger or more important than these other things, right, the jaguar out in Arizona, or you know, Croczilla in the Everglades. Like, once we realize, oh man, those things are every bit as important and as every bit as big as we are, then then you have the like people just get sucked into it. I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:30:53
Speaker 1: No, No, that's fine. That's the purpose too, is that you know not I say that we're trying to inspire the next generation. But like you said, it's accessible. It's in our backyard. Me every weekend, you know, I'm working. I have an army job too. I work nine to five, and then every day off, anytime off I have, I'm out there and tracking Crocxilla and I keep missing him, and it's become this sort of obsession of mine. And I'm like the fact that I'm doing this. Anyone could really do this. That's why we tell these stories that we want to tell you guys like, hey, you don't need you don't need to be a biologist, you don't need to be an expert in this field. You can go out and enjoy creation too. You don't need anyone's permission.
00:31:32
Speaker 2: I think that's true in all art, right, I mean, I mean one of my favorite stories is Rey La Montaigne, right, a beautiful, beautiful balladero, you know who with his guitar and sings these beautiful songs. He was a carpenter and tell he was like forty two years old, you know. Or you look at some you know, great painters or whatever. You know that all of a sudden they're just like they're overwhelmed by their passion and it forces their action to get out there and and share what they see with the rest of you know, Initially it's it's through your friends and family, and then you know, it starts to now with the Internet. I mean, everybody can be a creator, thank god, I mean it. I you know, as as much as there are aspects of social media, uh in particular you know, uh, some of the hater comments I got for you know this this past week, but but you know, the overwhelming majority of people that tap into the stories that I was trying to tell about resilience, it was positive. And when I look and I see the comments on your pieces, in particular this this, you know, this the King of the Everglades man, Like, I'm so moved by Hey, this. There's something happening right. People are are seeking out these stories because because I think there's so many more opportunities to do them, Like when you first started, or are you worried about competing with anybody else in the space? Are you? Are you worried about getting funding or getting it bought, you know, having your project bought by Netflix or whomever. It's like, is that an issue for you?
00:33:17
Speaker 1: You know, it's We did start a crowd funding campaign several months ago, back in April, and it concluded I believe it may and you know, I had a bare bones budget of like just give me one more camera, a couple pieces of equipment, and let's see what we can do here. And we were able to We were able to pull together a little over ten thousand dollars, which was that that exceeded my express awesome, that's awesome. That exceeded our expectations, and I was truly grateful and blessed. We had a massive support from our friend's family and then the X following to the Goopers as you will I call them. They're great group of guys there that just like they they these are individuals who really do care about storytelling. They care, they care about wholesomeness, they care about what matters American history, integrity, the constitution, things that matter and what makes America great right And to see that sort of support and validation from others, it gave us all the momentum you could have asked for. And so to go back to your initial question, you know, everyone in this space, you know, the dream is like, Oh, I'm going to get the Netflix deal, right, my stuff is going to get on Netflix and I'm going to get paid forty quadrillion dollars. It's like, uh, you know, we we had we had a couple of windows into the into the industry, and it was actually pretty interesting that we got pulled in when we start getting a little bit of traction. I sent out emails to producers that were on IMDb or producers that were on documentaries I enjoyed, especially recently on Netflix, BBC, and I just I just drafted emails. I can I cannot tell you how many emails I sent out. It blew to the the face and sent out emails and then finally I got maybe two people responded back, and they were producers. And I'm not going to disclose his name, but this individual was one of the producers on the documentaries I loved, and he absolutely loves our work where we are pitching our trailer and the initial photography we've done, and we actually got on a on a sort of webcam discussion with him and he was actually, yeah, he had worked for BBC National Geographic and he was in works with another National Geographic project, and he said, do you boys want me to tell National Geographic about your your project? And my buddy and I look at each other like, yeah, yeah, yeah, question, that'd be nice. So unfortunately they didn't not go go go ahead and select us. They the industry right now is a little bit in shambles with how everything is the economic landscape. You know, the whole production industry is facing close to seventy percent unemployment rate, and they're very selective with where they want to throw their money because at the end of the day, you know, you can you can only you can always waste so many you can always you can only waste so much money on so many projects. And you know, with Disney, Disney owns National Geographic, they wanted to be very selective with what project they want to put money towards. So they said that there isn't really a demand for expedition content, is what was told to us, so to which I said, I don't know, because I look over on X and I talk to a lot of people, and like, expedition content is something that's that's missing today.
00:36:52
Speaker 2: I feel, oh absolutely, look at how well what's his name his show on on Netflix that came out just where he's the parks cop. Uh oh, yes, yeah, And it's like and you're like, wait a minute, the cops in a national park. But like there's an edginess because the shooting this stuff, the photography of it is immaculate, and so like it sucked me in and or you look at Chris Hemsworth or I mean, obviously there's all these people out there that have really done it. Well, you know, I think it's a lot like chasing down the Pyramids and where they were, you know, some of that stuff. So I think, but I I believe that you know, you guys, and what you saw gave me that sensation that I had grown up with watching the National Geographic stuff, watching the Disney shows, watching it Planet or stuff like I had that sensation, but was even cooler is that you gave it something specific right there was the mission of finding Crozilla, and and you know, I just thought it was incredible. That's why I was just like, I gotta talk to this guy and how he came up with it.
00:38:06
Speaker 1: So it's just a little bit of a spoiler, a little bit of a spoil alert. We recently discovered that there is another super croc that is potentially larger than Crocsilla, and he has only been photographed by two photographers so far, and he is well over eighteen feet long and he use a pond. Yeah, yeah, he's a monster. The photographer who So this crocodile is nicknamed King. It's just it's so funny that we discovered this crocodile after I had named the documentary King of the Everglades. So I was just like, cool, this is like the Lord was a nice plot twist. So I bumped into the only photographer that was able to get two photos of him, and over the span of the last six years, he photographed him twice and once was two ones was a couple of years ago, and I believe the other instance was twenty eighteen, and both times at three in the morning. This crocodile is out there and We're like, we got to get out there somehow, some way, And oddly enough, I discovered the pond that he lives in is closed off to the public currently because it's gotten a mass, a mass migration of spoon bills and storks now setting up a nursery and the pond, and they wanted to protect the nursery, you know, from tourists and anyone else out there from human intervention. So we're like, this is a perfect We're fighting to get permits, We're talking to you. I'm exhausting every contact I can find to try to get on this pond, and it's just proving very, very difficult. A lot of red tape involved. But it was a revelation because like, no wonder, this crocodile is as giant as he is because he's got a all you can eat buffet set up now with the nursery of spoon bills and storks there.
00:40:00
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it makes total sense, man, total sense. Wow, what's up?
00:40:05
Speaker 1: Team?
00:40:05
Speaker 2: I've been writing for over forty years. Finally I've decided to bring to life a character that has been on my heart since my experiences of carrying a gun for a living. If you recently watched my episode with my best friend on his show, The Sean Ryan Show. You heard some of my real world experiences that shape this character and the story of The Poet Warrior. Can a poet's soul survive the crucible of war? The Poet Warrior follows Adam Ferguson, a reclusive teenage artist haunted by his father's early death, as he transforms into a battle scarred Navy seal. Through the chaos of combat. In the shadow of nine to eleven, Adam grapples with the raw truth of mortality. His journey is a searing odyssey of heartbreak, failure, and the relentless search for identity amidst the ruins of lost loved ones, set against the turbulent dawn of the global War on Terror. This is a story of a young man torn between his poetic heart and the hardened warrior he's become. If this sounds like a story that might pull you in, please visit my website at David Rutherford dot com or click the link in the description below, and if you pre order now, your signed copy will be delivered before the holidays. Thank you very much. In godspeed, Well, let me just I want to read something to everybody who's listening. And if you've ever you know, been on a nature walk or actually put on a rock and gone camping, or gotten in a canoe or you know, a raft or something and gotten out there and immersed yourself into creation, this will this will have an impact on you. And this is what you wrote about, and this is in your about us on explorers dot org. You go. Explore Us is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reconnecting people with the wild spaces around them. We believe that exploration begins in your own backyard and extends to the vast, untamed wilderness of North America. Our mission is to inspire curiosity, foster respect for natural environments, and cultivate a new generation of explorers. Through immersive storytelling, educational programs, and community initiatives. We showcase the breath taking beauty and vital importance of our continence wild places. Man, that's about as beautifully written as anything I've ever read. And I just what I'd love for you to do is is you know, give people kind of what they can expect in the future from your content, Like what you're gonna when you show people what are they saying as you show them these reels, what are they saying to you? And then you know, how are you shaping the narrative to really translate those beautiful words into that sensation that people are gonna feel when they watch your stuff.
00:43:16
Speaker 1: I think the main thing is, you know, that reconnection, reconnecting with untamed wilderness and showcasing what we want to start off with is American wilderness. I feel like there's more than enough stories to go around and showcase. We put together a tensative slate of ideas. One of them is the American Jaguar. I was going to premiere the title of it next week, but it is a Beast of the Borderlands and that is that is tracking the big cats of the North American jaguar and their place in Arizona and showcasing their resiliency, the history. And we're not trying to beat people over the head with an agenda or a sort of guilt tripped message, right. This is about like, hey, I had no idea we had jaguars. I want to see that, like so, And the idea is that we're going to go on this mission. We're going to show you and we're going to inspire you to do the same because you can do it too. So gatekeeping is something I keep running into a lot in the production realm, in conservation. It's just it's it is a bit of a problem. I mean, gatekeeping is everywhere, and all all walks of life expend.
00:44:29
Speaker 2: Gatekeeping if you could.
00:44:31
Speaker 1: Uh, it's it's almost this self absorption idea of this realm, this this piece of information belongs to me and only me, and I don't want to share it with anyone else. Yeah, and they monopolize it, and they monopolize and they pick and choose who gets access to it. And to me, isn't that what made science great is that we can all challenge the science. We can all run our own experiments like we did growing up in middle school, right going to the science fare and that's and you know, we run into a bit of that and we kind of have to like we're walking a little bit on eggshells because unfortunately, I don't want to get political about it, but it is left dominate, dominating, left leaning politics dominates that landscape for the most part, and we kind of want to break away with we kind of want to recalibrate to the center. If we can on a lot of these issues and show people that nature's for everyone. It's not just for activists, it's not just for intellectuals who think that they're bigger than life.
00:45:35
Speaker 2: For sure. One of my closest friends has been a hunter his whole life. He manages a ten thousand acre hunting lease up at just north on the edge of like Okachobe, and you know, and he is probably the most significant conservationalists I've ever met in my life. His family's very politically connected up in DC and even here in Florida. You know, his his his sister was very high up in the elections. She was a Senate approved elections person, you know, for the Republican Party. His brother as a conservationalist lobby for FP and l lobbyists, and you know, he he is a firm believer in conservationalism. And you know, he's hunted all over the place, and he's actually you know, like you said, he's the one who's like, I don't give a damn what your politics are, but you know, if you love the outdoors, it's on you to take that that to take up the mantle of supporting it, protecting it, and working together regardless of what your core political beliefs of if you love the outdoors, you love the outdoors. I have seen that taking place now more than I've ever seen it as a result of what we just saw with Braxton in the establishment of the Sage Brush Institute. Uh, can you explain your relationship with them and and what your position with them and how you came about being volunteer volunteered for that.
00:47:17
Speaker 1: So it all started with a discussion over wolves. I'm sure, I don't know if you know the backstort with Braxton being the wolf appreciator because he got so much flak for calling out the Colorado policy of reintroducing gray wolves, which that's a separate topic altogether, but right right, h we we befriended each other over that issue. Uh, I think over a year ago now, and we both have an appreciate for the appreciation for the great outdoors. And he kind of took point on the whole on the whole, uh, you know, the whole public land sale bill that was going to be pushed through, and we just all fell in line and you know, cooked together as many means as we could and bully politicians into into telling him like, no, this is not right, this is not what we voted for in terms of sage Brush Institute. You know, they they had put together a great board of individuals and they are putting together you know, it sounds like I'm quoting the Avengers. I'm putting together a team. And they got all these they got all these sort of you know, big name influencers on X and different platforms that are gonna are gonna do some wonderful work for Sagebrush. And I remember I was coming back from the Everglades and I got a DM notification for Braxton and he's just like, hey, you're gonna be the Florida like chairman or president for the for the Florida Chapter. I'm valling telling you, and he like, he shows me the meme of like pointing a gun at me, Like all.
00:48:49
Speaker 2: Right, all right, all.
00:48:51
Speaker 1: Right, if you say so. He went ahead and said like, hey, I think you do. You do great work as a as leader of the chapter. He went ahead and made the announcement a couple of weeks ago. And I've had a bunch of people flood the DMS and reach out to me, which has been amazing. And I have all this responsibility announce to try to pick a spot somewhere where everyone could drive to in South Florida, maybe where we can all meet up and discuss some potential you know, you know hot topics that we want to tackle for a sagebrush.
00:49:26
Speaker 2: You know, Hot Springs is a beautiful place You've got. I mean all kinds of amazing places around Lake Okachobee that are incredible. I mean up in the Panhandle that's beautiful. I mean there's a lot of spots. But I think a lot of people just think that you know, Florida's strip malls and in highway, right, but they have no idea how diverse our ecosystem is, right, And and I just I love that you have joined that organization as you I can already tell I'm a massive supporter of Braxton's, I'm a massive supporter of sage Brush, and and you know, I just think you're going to make a tremendous, tremendous addition to to that.
00:50:14
Speaker 1: So congratulations, Thank you. It was an honor, it's a privilege. It's something that I will take very seriously. And the big thing is too, I don't want to be the focal point. I want to empower Floridians I want everyone to show up voice or opinion. No one's going to get silenced. That's all discuss like you know, at the dinner table, almost like it's an open discussion. That's it's it's not a bad thing to share ideas, right. We don't want just one or two people to lead point and tell everyone how to think.
00:50:43
Speaker 2: So absolutely absolutely I love that. Okay, So let's talk about the release of this what the next six months year looks like for you? What what what are the next big steps and hurdles, and just explain what the roadmap looks for you and your organization over the foreseeable future.
00:51:06
Speaker 1: So we are filming. We're in the midst of filming King of the Everglades. It is going to be a seasonal documentary series. We have seven chapters mapped out. We're trying to hit twenty minutes per chapter because worst case scenario, we're looking at putting this thing out on YouTube and X maybe ex original it remains to be seen. So that's what's the next year and a half looks like. In terms of the King of the Everglades production. We are working with FPL, their crocodile expert. I just sent over a proposal over to them, so I'm waiting for feedback from them so we can get access to their cooling canals where they have a crocodile sanctuary there, and that's part of the over incompanying the overarching story of King of the Everglades is to showcase the conservation, right. I did get invited by a biologist out west for gray Wolf project out in Lassen National Park, last in Volcanic National Park out west in northern California, where this biologist and his team have been tracking the reintroduction of the almost or once extinct, sorry once extinct gray wolf in northern California, and they live in a shadow of a volcano. So it sounded very interesting and he invited me. So I'll be heading out there next year just to work on that story as well while I'm working on King of the Everglades, And then we're just gearing up hopefully in the next year or two, once we pick up maybe a little bit more financial support more of a following two, we're going to be working on some other projects we have lined up, like the Arizona Jaguar Beast of the Borderlands. So that's what we have on our plate right now, just a newsletter, working with Sagebrush on a couple of things as well, and taking up the mantle of Florida. Man, it feels like. And then we'll see, we'll see where we go. We're going to try to shoot to get the first chapter of King of the Everglades out by fall next year.
00:52:58
Speaker 2: Okay, that sounds beautiful, all right? So how can people support you? How can people support the effort? How can they not only support what you're doing at explorers dot org but also sagebrus support.
00:53:11
Speaker 1: My caffeine addiction, Buy me a coffee. I don't want to. I don't want to really ask for anything, but you know, all.
00:53:20
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna do it. Listen, everybody, it's very difficult to do this work. It's very difficult to meet young people that are inspired to take on these monumental hurdles. You know, the the industry itself, like he said, is very insulated and what they're choosing to get behind financially. And so I'm here to tell you this, This young man is the real deal. His organization's real deal, and more importantly, his art is the real deal. That's what got me to him. I watched his trailer. He meant it moved me and so that's what made me do it. So go to their website that's explorers dot org. And and you know it's it's fifty dollars, it's one hundred dollars. We're not asking for twenty thousand or fifty thousand dollars. That's ridiculous. What these young men, what they need is to tell beautiful stories for you and your children. Is they need just a little bit of help here and there. You know, don't go to Starbucks for a month and give them a hundred bucks, you know, so I'll ask. Don't worry. It's my pleasure.
00:54:24
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, truly, you know, every dollar goes a long way. And I'm incredibly grateful and blessed to have the support that we have and for many years to come. So I'm excited to get these stories out to you guys. And who knows, maybe I'll be in one of my followers backyards next year.
00:54:41
Speaker 2: Oh man, I love that. I love that all right? So where can people follow you where you are?
00:54:46
Speaker 1: Yeah? I have an Instagram action Xander, just the same as my ex handle or username action Xander, and then eXplorist Society is our username as well on Instagram. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram. Twitter both explores society and myself action Xander.
00:55:05
Speaker 2: Well, Alexander, I'm just truly honored that you shared your passion, your your your love of creation and what's available. I'm also very honored that you would talk a little bit about losing your friend. You know the way I look at that. You know, I've lost a lot of friends over the last you know, ten years to suicide, and and you know, each one of them, they inspire me to do what I do every day, to try and bring some goodness to the world, to try and help people when they're down. And so you know, at the end of the day, I'm sure he's smiling down on you, moved by who what you are. And then also he's he's that little inspiration to keep walking through that that thunderstorm of mosquitoes that's coming down on you out there, and pretty soon jaguars, jaguars hunch you down out you go out to Arizona. So thank you so much, God bless you, and we wish you all the luck. And when you're ready to release anything, just hit us up. We'll have you back on and we'll play a little bit of the clip and we'll just keep keep going helping you there.
00:56:16
Speaker 1: I appreciate that a lot, David, and shout out to Jordy. You guys are doing wonderful work. Thank you so much, and God bless you both.
00:56:22
Speaker 2: Thank you.
