Aidan Gallagher: actor, musician and UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador. At 16-years-old Aidan has amassed a global following through playing roles such as Number Five in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy; he has an Instagram audience of over 2.5 million people; and in the most admirable fashion, harnesses the power of social media to try and influence positive change when it comes to wildlife and the environment.
It is always an honour to share my stories and interviews in different formats, and the wonderful Wild Voices Project Podcast by Matt Williams has given me a few opportunities over recent years to share the full, authentic interviews behind some of my favourite print features. My chat with Aidan Gallagher at the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference 2018 was certainly one of those top interview experiences, and I’m very grateful to be able to share the audio of this conversation now, as part of the Wild Voices Project podcast archive. You can listen to it in full on the Soundcloud player below…
As a leading figure in the modern wave of young activists tackling climate change, it was motivating to hear Aidan’s take on the simple steps we can all achieve in reducing our impact on the environment.
I was particularly pleased to hear him cite the Racing Extinction mantra ‘Start with 1thing‘, which is especially close to my heart, having personally worked on creating and promoting the UK schools’ resources for Racing Extinction during my time at Discovery Education.
Discussing his role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and his extensive work campaigning for our planet and its wildlife, I was struck by Aidan’s passion for spreading the word about the many complicated environmental issues our world is currently facing, to others of his generation.
As this interview was recorded back in 2018, I have previously shared on this blog my National Geographic Kids article and some parts of my chat with Aidan (relating to the illegal wildlife trade) that do not feature in the Wild Voices Project Podcast — you can find those extra bits here: Aidan Gallagher discusses the Illegal Wildlife Trade and saving the oceans.
If you want to keep up-to-date with Aidan’s work and environmental projects you can find out more at: aidanrgallagher.com
You can follow Aidan on Instagram here: @aidanrgallagher
