Primate Conservation Continues

After meeting Jane Goodall and having learned lots from the Roots & Shoots summit, we continued on our adventure.

Day 3- Monday, October 11

We had lunch in Manhattan with Dr. Carter Ingram, Assistant Director of Conservation Support at the Wildlife Conservation Society. We discussed the carbon market and the potential of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation).

That night we had dinner in Philadelphia with Dr. Meredith Bastian, Curator of Primates at the Philadelphia Zoo, and Dr. Michele Rasmussen, Dean of Students at Bryn Mawr. Meredith suggested we support sustainable palm oil (which will be more effective than boycotting palm oil). She also mentioned the sad news that her orangutan field site was completely burned down (so all the animals she had studied are presumably dead).

Day 4- Tuesday, October 12

We ran into Thomas Friedman on the metro in Washington, D.C. and filled him in on our retreat (he suggested we connect with Conservation International).

After some detours on the metro, we arrived in Arlington, VA at Jane Goodall Institute headquarters. We met with Alex Thornton, Vice President of Public Policy at JGI. She suggested we create a resource page about how to take action for primate conservation. We also discussed the Alamogordo chimpanzees and strategies to improve conditions for chimpanzees used in biomedical research. We then met with Dr. Lillian Pintea to follow up on conservation strategies in Africa. He told us more about the use of GIS and high-resolution imagery. He is excited about making collaborations with universities and will be coming to Duke sometime in the next few months. We also chatted with Alice Macharia, Director for East Africa Programs, and Lisa Pharoah, 
Director for West and Central Africa Programs. They shared with us some of their conservation education materials that are used in chimpanzee habitat countries. We bid farewell to Stephanie Keller and Allison Deines, both of whom are excited about Primate Palooza 2011.