Oh Behave!

Aidan joined EDO in 2022 as the End of Plastics and Canopy Project Coordinator. Growing up on the coast of North Carolina, Aidan has always had a passion for a clean environment and engaging in outdoor activities like hiking, surfing, and SCUBA diving. With his passion for nature, Aidan earned a degree in Biology and minored in Geographic Information Systems from University of North Carolina Wilmington. Before joining the Earthday team, he worked in wetland reclamation then taught middle and high school science. In his free time Aidan enjoys biking and hiking around DC with his fiance and their two dogs, Buzz and Sally.

Transcript:

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Announcer: Pet Life Radio, this is Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets.

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Announcer: It's Oh Behave with Arden Moore.

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Announcer: This show that teaches you how to have Harmony in the household with your pets.

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Announcer: Join Arden as she travels coast to coast to help millions better understand why cats and dogs do what they do.

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Announcer: Get the latest scoop on famous faces.

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Announcer: They're perfectly pampered pets in Who's Walking Who in Rin Tin Tinseltown.

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Announcer: From famous pet experts and best selling authors, to television and movie stars, you'll get the latest buzz from Wagging Tongues and Tails.

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Announcer: Garner great pet tips and have a doggone fur flying fun time.

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Announcer: So get ready for the pause and applause as we unleash your Oh Behave host, America's Pet Edutainer, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: >Welcome to the Oh Behave Show on Pet Life Radio.

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Arden Moore: >I'm your host, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: >Give me a pee for pets.

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Arden Moore: >Give me a pee for plastics.

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Arden Moore: >Do you ever wonder what impact pet items made from plastic have on our planet?

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Arden Moore: >You can bet our special guest knows.

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Arden Moore: >Here, to unleash some findings from a new report, it's called Pets vs Plastics, is our special guest from earthday.org.

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Arden Moore: >Please welcome Aiden Charron.

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Arden Moore: >Welcome, welcome, Aiden.

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Aiden Charron: Thank you so much for having me.

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Aiden Charron: I really appreciate it.

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Arden Moore: >And Aiden, we just one letter off, Aiden, Arden, Arden, Aiden.

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Arden Moore: >So this will be a good show.

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Aiden Charron: Hopefully, we don't get messed up.

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Arden Moore: >I hope not too.

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Arden Moore: >Hey, we're going to learn more about how we can keep our planet Earth healthy when it comes to our pets and our purchases after we take this break.

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Arden Moore: >You guys know the drill.

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Arden Moore: >We're going to sit, stay.

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Arden Moore: >We'll be right back.

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Announcer: Time for a pause for furry ones actually sit and stay.

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Announcer: Oh Behave will be right back.

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Announcer: Take a bite out of your competition.

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Announcer: Advertise your business with an ad in Pet Life Radio podcast and radio shows.

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Announcer: There is no other pet related media that is as large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: With over 7 million monthly listeners, Pet Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms and our live radio stream goes out to over 250 million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Audacy, TuneIn and other streaming apps.

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Announcer: For more information on how you can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network, visit petliferadio.com/advertise today.

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Announcer: Let's Talk Pets on petliferadio.com.

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Announcer: Oh Behave is back with more tail wagging ways to achieve Harmony in the household with your pets.

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Announcer: Now back to your fetching host, America's pet edutainer, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: >Welcome back to the Oh Behave show on Pet Life Radio.

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Arden Moore: >I'm your host, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: >Our special guest today is Aiden Charron.

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Arden Moore: >He is the director, I love this title, of the End Plastics Initiative for this great organization called Earth Day.

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Arden Moore: >Check him out, earthday.org.

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Arden Moore: >So welcome to the show, Aiden.

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Aiden Charron: Thank you so much for having me.

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Aiden Charron: I really appreciate it.

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Arden Moore: >So what a title, End Plastics Initiative, but let's back up the bus.

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Arden Moore: >And I'm hoping we're not doing any carbon fuel release at that point.

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Arden Moore: >Tell people, for the three people on the planet, what is earthday.org?

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, earthday.org, we're the official organizers of Earth Day each year.

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Aiden Charron: It's the largest non-secular celebration that takes place every year.

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Aiden Charron: Over one billion people celebrate on April 22nd.

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Aiden Charron: We've been around since 1970, founded by Dennis Hayes and a junior senator, Gaylord Nelson out of Wisconsin as a way to kind of activate the environmental movement and bring in as many people as possible, whether you're a fisherman, firefighter, an environmentalist, somebody that's just looking to get involved in your local community.

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Aiden Charron: We try to round them all up and get them activated for a healthier planet and for a healthier, you know, yourself and personal life.

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Arden Moore: >Well, we definitely know we have limited resources on this planet and we have lots of people and we have lots of pets.

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Arden Moore: >Before we get into your initiative, I want to dive into you because I think you were kind of destined for this career.

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Arden Moore: >Tell us what you were doing at age 12 with the Outer Banks.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, so I grew up on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

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Aiden Charron: It's a coastal region.

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Aiden Charron: I grew up scuba diving.

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Aiden Charron: I went out and got my scuba dive certificate at a pretty young age.

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Arden Moore: >Wow.

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Aiden Charron: My parents are pretty surprised, but I was already working at that age, which is a little bit-

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Arden Moore: >At age 12?

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, my parents owned a restaurant, so it's kind of farmer's laws there.

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Aiden Charron: But I paid for it myself, got my student certificate and then went on to pursue the environmental world because in a weird way, it was tied directly into my family's business.

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Aiden Charron: With it being such a large tourist town, that was kind of my initial like, I'll protect the environment to protect my parents' income.

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Aiden Charron: Then from there, fell in love with the environmental movement, pursued a degree in biology where I studied.

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Aiden Charron: My concentration is tertiary and freshwater studies, which is just a really fancy way.

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Arden Moore: >Tell people what tertiary means.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, it's just a fancy way to essentially say wetlands.

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Aiden Charron: I don't know why we don't just put wetlands.

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Aiden Charron: It caught me by surprise when I earned the concentration because they were like, you have this.

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Aiden Charron: I'm like, I've just been studying bogs and swamps for the past four years.

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Aiden Charron: But from there, I scuba dived her in college for the North Carolina Aquarium of Pinellas Shores directly in the shark tank.

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Aiden Charron: That was a really fun job.

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Arden Moore: >Slow it down.

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Arden Moore: >When you say a sentence like that, come on Aiden.

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Arden Moore: >Oh, by the way, I was in a shark tank.

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Arden Moore: >What?

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Arden Moore: >What were you doing?

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, I was leading the presentations while I was helping the volunteers and I was leading the presentation.

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Aiden Charron: I was the guy you see in the middle of the shark tank with a big thing on his head, basically talking and the one praying, the one constantly praying and then holding two stints in my hand to make sure the sharks aren't coming near me.

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Aiden Charron: That was my first foray into informal education and I just fell in love with it.

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Arden Moore: >How were the sharks with you and what's the tip?

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Aiden Charron: Sharks are gentle, shards are easy.

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Aiden Charron: Sand tider shards are just they're asleep most of the time.

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Aiden Charron: We feed them well at the aquarium, they feed them well still at the aquarium, so they're not even looking at me.

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Aiden Charron: I'm also a bigger person, so I'm about the same size as them, so they don't want anything to do with me.

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Aiden Charron: But occasionally they'll bump into you and just kind of startle themselves, but it's always fun to see.

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Arden Moore: >You have not had a boring life.

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Arden Moore: >So in 2020, that's when you came on board to earthday.org, correct?

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Arden Moore: >What made you want to come for that organization?

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Aiden Charron: I just came on in 2022.

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Aiden Charron: I was working as a Wetland Reclamation Consultant, as well as a GIS, so satellites consultant for an engineering firm.

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Aiden Charron: My wife and I, my now wife and I moved up to DC with our two dogs to pursue teaching initially, and then I discovered earthday.org through their climate education program, and then realized I could easily send my way into it and just do informal education the way I prefer to do it.

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Aiden Charron: I'm just talking to people directly, talking to people of all ages and kind of educating them that way rather than the normal school setting, which I was starting to get used to, but wanted something different, wanted something more environmentally involved directly.

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Arden Moore: >I'm amazed that at age 12, you got your SCUBA license before you could drive.

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Aiden Charron: Much before I could drive, so I was riding my bike back and forth to the dive shop.

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Aiden Charron: Luckily, the woman and owners of the shop, Pam and Matt Landrum, who I looked up to to this day, and I worked with them for the summer in college as well.

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Aiden Charron: They were willing to let me just ride my bike to their house, carry my SCUBA tank over my shoulder from their shop to their pool in their backyard, and just kind of haul it around that way.

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Arden Moore: >That's dedication.

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Arden Moore: >That's dedication.

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Arden Moore: >People love pets and name the two pet dogs that you and your wife, name your wife, dang it.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah.

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Aiden Charron: My wife Emily and I have two dogs.

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Aiden Charron: We have Buzz, Buzz Lightyear, who's about, you think, seven years old.

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Aiden Charron: We adopted him about five years ago.

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Aiden Charron: He's just a mutt of mutts.

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Aiden Charron: We all know what he is.

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Aiden Charron: He probably has some pity in him, probably has some lab in him, probably has some-

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Arden Moore: >How much does he weigh?

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Aiden Charron: He's 55 pounds.

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Aiden Charron: He's on the lower end when it comes to labs and pit mitzes, but we're not sure what he is.

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Arden Moore: >Well, there's a great veterinarian, Dr.

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Arden Moore: >Marty Becker.

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Arden Moore: >People know him, America's veterinarian.

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Arden Moore: >He calls those kind of dogs.

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Arden Moore: >Ready for it?

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Arden Moore: >Canine cocktails.

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Aiden Charron: My wife calls them a smoothie.

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Arden Moore: >Okay.

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Arden Moore: >All right.

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Arden Moore: >What about your other dog?

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Aiden Charron: Yeah.

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Aiden Charron: My other dog is a failed hunting dog I adopted while doing wetland reclamation.

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Aiden Charron: She is, we think, an American foxhound that just really didn't like to hunt.

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Aiden Charron: It really didn't like that lifestyle.

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Aiden Charron: Yes.

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Aiden Charron: I adopted her because I was working in these wetlands all by myself about 30 miles from civilization.

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Aiden Charron: It was like, I need a companion.

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Aiden Charron: This dog doesn't like hunting, but she loves the outdoors.

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Aiden Charron: I'll just take her with me everywhere.

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Aiden Charron: They've now been acclimating to the city, which was a hard adjustment for her, but we get her out enough that she's happy.

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Arden Moore: >In DC?

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Aiden Charron: In DC, yeah.

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Arden Moore: >There's good parks there though too.

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Arden Moore: >You could be walking miles in DC.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, and we typically do.

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Aiden Charron: It surprises my family every time they come to visit, we'll do like 12 miles and they're all peeled over and we're just like, it's how we get around.

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Aiden Charron: That's how you have to do it.

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Arden Moore: >Well, we've got about a minute before the break.

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Arden Moore: >I do want to dive in first though, because you all reached out to us and said, look, that we have a new report, Pets vs Plastics.

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Arden Moore: >Let's get the overview first and we're going to dive in after the break.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, the overview is that plastic is dangerous for both human health and our pets' health, and just the lack of regulation when it comes to the pet food and pet toy industry is just ridiculous.

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Aiden Charron: There's just nobody safeguarding our pets and I think it's time that we start calling them out for it.

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Arden Moore: >So you're talking about the chemicals used to be in the products as well as the bang it gets to our planet, right?

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Arden Moore: >Because some of them don't recycle.

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Aiden Charron: Yeah, so it's the the plastic has over 16,000 different chemicals that can go into it.

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Aiden Charron: Very little of them are regulated and most of them are harmful for our health and therefore they're going to be harmful for our pet cell.

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Arden Moore: >All right, hey everyone, we're speaking with Aiden Charron.

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Arden Moore: >He is with earthday.org and we're going to find out more about the new report that came out, Pets vs Plastics.

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Arden Moore: >And you know, we love our dogs and we love our cats.

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Arden Moore: >We love giving them toys and other products.

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Arden Moore: >So we're going to get our eyes opened a bit, I think.

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Arden Moore: >So everybody just sit, stay.

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Arden Moore: >We'll be right back.

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Announcer: Time for a walk on the red carpet, of course.

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Announcer: Oh Behave will be back in a flash, right after these messages.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets, live and on demand only from Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets.

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Announcer: Let's talk pets.

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Announcer: On Pet Life Radio.

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Announcer: Pet Life Radio.

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Jeff Corwin: Hey everybody, I'm Jeff Corwin, host of Wildlife Nation, brought to you by Defenders of Wildlife, and I'm with Oh Behave with Arden Moore.

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Announcer: We're back from the lot.

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Announcer: Just check the paper and we had a record showing at the box.

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Announcer: The letter box that is.

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Announcer: Now back to Oh Behave.

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Announcer: Here's Arden.

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Arden Moore: >Welcome back to the Oh Behave show on Pet Life Radio.

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Arden Moore: >I'm your host, Arden Moore.

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Arden Moore: >We're chatting with Aiden Charron at C-H-A-R-R-O-N.

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Arden Moore: >He is, his fancy title is the Director of End Plastics Initiatives.

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Arden Moore: >He's with a great organization that loves our planet.

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Arden Moore: >It is called earthday.org.

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Arden Moore: >And before the break, Aiden, you were telling us there's a double whammy here.

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Arden Moore: >You know, we get toys for our dogs and cats, whatever.

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Arden Moore: >Some are made out of plastics.

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Arden Moore: >And you were talking about, in some cases, there could be up to 16,000 chemicals in pet products.

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Arden Moore: >And then you hit the hammer with very little regulation.

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Arden Moore: >Please expand.

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Arden Moore: >Yeah.

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Aiden Charron: So plastic and plastic is essentially everywhere at this point.

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Aiden Charron: I'm sure if you looked around your room, Arden, you'd see plastic all over the place.

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Arden Moore: >Even my plastic water bottle from you before the show.

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Aiden Charron: I really appreciate it.

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Aiden Charron: It just, it did set off as soon as I see one.

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Aiden Charron: But plastic is essentially everywhere.

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Aiden Charron: A lot of people don't realize it makes up a lot of the clothing we use.

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Aiden Charron: It makes up the carpets that we have around our house, as well as the blankets we might give our pets.

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Aiden Charron: And then it covers the furniture we have in a lot of cases.

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Aiden Charron: And the true danger of plastic is it's additive chemicals.

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Aiden Charron: So there's 16,000 different chemicals that can go in a plastic.

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Aiden Charron: In the United States, we only regulate six of those 16,000 chemicals.

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Aiden Charron: But the majority of those 16,000 have been found to be harmful for human health.

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Aiden Charron: And therefore, they're going to be harmful for our pets' health, especially mammals.

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Aiden Charron: Like our pets, or like our cats and our dogs, as well as our guinea pigs, rabbits.

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Arden Moore: >And dogs, come on, we like Buzz and Sally.

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Arden Moore: >Dogs love to chew.

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Aiden Charron: Dogs love to chew.

00:13:37.880 --> 00:13:46.600
Aiden Charron: And then when it comes to plastic toys, those toys tend to break down in terrible ways once they enter into the dog's digestive systems.

00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:50.580
Aiden Charron: We have something called phthalates that gives plastic that kind of flexibility.

00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:57.260
Aiden Charron: And once that enters into the dog's body, those chemicals start to leach out, and then chemicals are entering our dog's body.

00:13:57.980 --> 00:14:03.860
Aiden Charron: Plastic becomes a different form all together, and can cause blockages in the intestines of the dog.

00:14:03.860 --> 00:14:06.840
Aiden Charron: That's a huge danger when it comes to some plastic.

00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:14.860
Aiden Charron: That's not to include the evidence that it's linked directly to dementia-like symptoms in rats from the additive chemicals, as well as Alzheimer's.

00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:21.040
Aiden Charron: And then you have, you know, attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder in humans, also going to be evidence in our pets.

00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:28.220
Aiden Charron: And then just a whole sleuth of different cancers that are caused by endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are introduced into plastic.

00:14:28.220 --> 00:14:32.740
Arden Moore: >So I'm betting that Buzz and Sally are not fed from plastic food bowls.

00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:36.680
Aiden Charron: No, Buzz and Sally are fed from stainless steel and ceramic bowls.

00:14:36.680 --> 00:14:40.660
Aiden Charron: So their water bowl is a stainless steel bowl, and their food bowls are ceramic bowls.

00:14:40.660 --> 00:14:55.980
Aiden Charron: And then we've started to move away from the traditional food that comes in the big, giant plastic bag to kind of making our own food with our vet's approval, you know, going through that process, talking to vets and things to make sure we're, you know, feeding them the proper diet for life and not have the means to do so.

00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:58.020
Aiden Charron: So that's what we chose to do.

00:14:58.020 --> 00:15:02.040
Aiden Charron: It's not accessible to everybody, so make little changes where you can.

00:15:02.040 --> 00:15:06.860
Aiden Charron: But a lot of the dangers with the consuming microplastic is from the food.

00:15:06.860 --> 00:15:09.120
Aiden Charron: There's so little regulation when it comes to it.

00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:20.360
Aiden Charron: Like there's ingredients that are labeled as waste products that are introduced into the pet's food, and it's literal groceries from humans that are just ground up altogether with the packaging still on them.

00:15:20.520 --> 00:15:24.720
Aiden Charron: So you're going to have a bread bag that's ground up, dried up and then thrown into that food.

00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:30.200
Aiden Charron: You'd also have the plastic tags that go onto the cattle, which is ground up directly with the rest of the food.

00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:30.800
Aiden Charron: Are you kidding?

00:15:30.800 --> 00:15:31.920
Aiden Charron: And that's fed to our pets.

00:15:31.920 --> 00:15:32.160
Aiden Charron: Yeah.

00:15:32.160 --> 00:15:32.420
Arden Moore: >Wow.

00:15:32.420 --> 00:15:34.020
Aiden Charron: There's very little regulation.

00:15:34.020 --> 00:15:51.500
Arden Moore: >Because there's very little regulation, and I'm non-partisan, but I want to ask you, what can groups like Earthday do and get others to help to get some legislation that has a little bit more safety oversee of products and how they're made?

00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:51.740
Aiden Charron: Yeah.

00:15:51.740 --> 00:15:53.560
Aiden Charron: And we're non-partisan as well.

00:15:53.560 --> 00:15:55.860
Aiden Charron: It's the environmental issues are non-partisan.

00:15:55.860 --> 00:15:57.740
Aiden Charron: Everybody is affected by climate change.

00:15:57.740 --> 00:15:59.380
Aiden Charron: Everybody gets affected by plastic.

00:15:59.380 --> 00:16:05.740
Aiden Charron: Doesn't matter if you're right-wing, left-wing, somewhere in the middle, somewhere so far off that I can't even name it.

00:16:05.740 --> 00:16:11.360
Aiden Charron: But I think what people need to do is what we've seen is just write letters to the FDA.

00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:21.180
Aiden Charron: We have a link on our website now that has a pre-conditioned letter for you to write, and just saying, look, we need more regulations, we need more accountability when it comes to our pets.

00:16:21.180 --> 00:16:22.800
Aiden Charron: These are parts of our family.

00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:29.220
Aiden Charron: There's over one billion pets in the world, and that number is only going to rise over the next couple of years.

00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:33.480
Aiden Charron: The FDA needs to recognize that we care for these animals like we care for our children.

00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:39.100
Aiden Charron: I don't have any children of my own, so my two dogs, Buzz and Sally, are those kids, much to my parents' chagrin.

00:16:40.300 --> 00:16:45.420
Arden Moore: >But we have one billion pets on this planet and more to come.

00:16:45.420 --> 00:16:45.880
Aiden Charron: More to come.

00:16:45.880 --> 00:16:58.580
Arden Moore: >So when people are looking to get bowls or toys or pet products, what are some safe options that are kinder to our planet that you could recommend?

00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:01.860
Arden Moore: >It doesn't have to be a name of a company, just types.

00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:02.180
Aiden Charron: Yeah.

00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:06.300
Aiden Charron: So the bowls, like I said earlier, go for the stainless steel, go for the ceramics.

00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:14.980
Aiden Charron: You know, I don't like eating on a plastic bowls myself, and not just because I've been inundated with information about how bad plastic is.

00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:16.080
Aiden Charron: That's part of it.

00:17:16.080 --> 00:17:18.500
Aiden Charron: But the other part is it's just healthier.

00:17:18.500 --> 00:17:28.360
Aiden Charron: It's actually inert compared to plastic, and you can trust that it's easier to clean as well, and it's not going to pocket as much as plastic does, hold in that bacteria.

00:17:28.360 --> 00:17:37.500
Aiden Charron: The other simple thing that my wife and I have done, and this kind of caused a little bit of anger at first, was we've spent hundreds of dollars on toys over the years.

00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:48.280
Aiden Charron: And then the toys now that my pets have fallen in love with is old ratty t-shirts I had that are made up of 100% cotton, or natural fiber, whatever you have, and you're planning on throwing them away.

00:17:48.280 --> 00:17:52.660
Aiden Charron: If it's 100% cotton, that's safer for your pet, as long as you monitor them.

00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:59.820
Aiden Charron: But their favorite thing now is just a t-shirt that's ripped up and then tied into balls, and they'll play with that for hours.

00:17:59.820 --> 00:18:04.740
Aiden Charron: And watching it, I was just like, Oh, I could have been doing this the entire time.

00:18:04.740 --> 00:18:16.020
Arden Moore: >Well, yeah, you got the tug toy, but I know they make tennis balls for dogs that are made of materials that don't wear down the enamel like the tennis balls you would grab from a tennis court.

00:18:16.020 --> 00:18:20.140
Arden Moore: >But what kind of balls would you use that you could wrap kind of an old t-shirt?

00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:21.900
Aiden Charron: Go for all natural rubber balls.

00:18:21.900 --> 00:18:24.680
Aiden Charron: So you want natural rubber, you want natural rubber.

00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:28.280
Aiden Charron: That's a safer material than, you know, a plastic rubber.

00:18:28.280 --> 00:18:36.820
Aiden Charron: And it can be kind of hard to find, but there are companies out there, I won't name them directly, but there are companies out there that make 100% natural rubber material.

00:18:36.820 --> 00:18:39.000
Aiden Charron: And that natural rubber is safer for our pets.

00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:41.040
Aiden Charron: There's less chemicals added to it.

00:18:41.040 --> 00:18:44.020
Aiden Charron: There's less unknowns when it comes to the material.

00:18:44.020 --> 00:18:48.920
Aiden Charron: It might break down a little bit easier in some cases because of the way that rubber is just naturally.

00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:53.360
Aiden Charron: But that's OK, as long as it's not breaking down the same way microplastic does.

00:18:53.360 --> 00:18:55.080
Aiden Charron: Plastic doesn't truly disappear.

00:18:55.080 --> 00:18:58.920
Arden Moore: >So, OK, we've got toys, we've got the food bowls and the water bowls.

00:18:59.300 --> 00:19:03.820
Arden Moore: >You know, there are some people out there that want their Fido to be a Fido fashionista.

00:19:03.820 --> 00:19:10.360
Arden Moore: >So, shopping for clothes or harnesses for dogs, what kind of tips can you offer?

00:19:10.360 --> 00:19:19.960
Aiden Charron: Avoid polyester, avoid nylon, avoid those materials that sound really cool, sound really futuristic, but in reality are just made up of plastic.

00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:21.380
Arden Moore: >Like your leash, what's the leash?

00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:23.620
Arden Moore: >What should the leash be made out of?

00:19:23.620 --> 00:19:26.140
Aiden Charron: See if it's going to be made out of a natural rope fiber like hemp.

00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:27.520
Aiden Charron: They make hemp ropes out there.

00:19:27.520 --> 00:19:28.560
Aiden Charron: They make cotton ropes.

00:19:28.660 --> 00:19:33.360
Aiden Charron: They make sturdier ropes that are just made of materials that aren't nylon or polyester.

00:19:33.360 --> 00:19:34.740
Aiden Charron: They can be a little bit harder to find.

00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:36.740
Aiden Charron: They also make leather ropes as well.

00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:41.680
Aiden Charron: I know some people don't like to use leather, but that is an option if you're trying to avoid plastic.

00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.640
Arden Moore: >And collars?

00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:43.820
Aiden Charron: And collars, the same thing.

00:19:43.820 --> 00:19:44.940
Aiden Charron: They made leather collars.

00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:46.280
Aiden Charron: They made collars out of cotton.

00:19:46.280 --> 00:19:48.160
Aiden Charron: They made collars out of hemp.

00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:50.800
Aiden Charron: They made collars out of burlap.

00:19:50.800 --> 00:19:53.020
Aiden Charron: There's plenty of options for your pet.

00:19:53.020 --> 00:19:57.680
Aiden Charron: We have, I think one of my dogs is currently wearing a North Carolina collar made up of cotton and leather.

00:19:58.320 --> 00:20:02.200
Aiden Charron: The other one is wearing a space collar that's made up of cotton and leather.

00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.180
Aiden Charron: And just with and comes to the clothes.

00:20:04.180 --> 00:20:06.480
Aiden Charron: And I like to dress my dogs in clothes.

00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:10.060
Aiden Charron: Sally, the failed hunting dog, likes to wear sweaters in the winter.

00:20:10.060 --> 00:20:12.080
Aiden Charron: It's ridiculous.

00:20:12.080 --> 00:20:14.300
Arden Moore: >Yeah, but just the materials, right?

00:20:14.300 --> 00:20:16.200
Aiden Charron: The material we use is natural wool.

00:20:16.200 --> 00:20:20.560
Aiden Charron: So I went online, looked up, made sure it was actually wool material.

00:20:20.560 --> 00:20:27.320
Aiden Charron: And then when it comes to me dressing them in t-shirts, I made sure that it's like an actual cotton rather than those polyester.

00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:28.900
Aiden Charron: There's some bedded fibers.

00:20:28.900 --> 00:20:34.120
Arden Moore: >I'm kind of digging Sally because I think she knew from the get-go.

00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:40.300
Arden Moore: >No, sitting out in a cold marsh and being, I think the couches are beckoning.

00:20:40.300 --> 00:20:48.660
Arden Moore: >So I'm just going to trip up on all these skills for hunting and I'm going to become a couch dog and hang out with my dad on hikes.

00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:49.680
Arden Moore: >She's pretty smart.

00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:51.640
Aiden Charron: She loved the heated seats in the truck.

00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:53.820
Aiden Charron: She loved, it was funny doing out there.

00:20:53.820 --> 00:20:58.180
Aiden Charron: I was working with a lot of people that hunted all the time, which is, you know, whatever.

00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:01.180
Aiden Charron: But they would look at that dog and they'd be like, you don't need to take your hunter in.

00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:02.900
Aiden Charron: I'm like, she won't hunt at all.

00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:04.020
Aiden Charron: She won't do anything for me.

00:21:04.280 --> 00:21:07.600
Aiden Charron: She's just here to hang out and just look pretty, I guess.

00:21:07.600 --> 00:21:08.920
Arden Moore: >I love her already.

00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:10.940
Arden Moore: >So parting messages.

00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:18.620
Arden Moore: >We have people tuning in from all over the globe and you are on the longest running weekly pet podcast on the planet.

00:21:18.620 --> 00:21:24.300
Arden Moore: >Oh Behave has been on the air since 2007 and somebody named Feedspot said, We really like you.

00:21:24.300 --> 00:21:26.680
Arden Moore: >So voted as one of the top three shows.

00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:28.080
Arden Moore: >You got some people listening.

00:21:28.080 --> 00:21:33.740
Arden Moore: >Give us some more ways that they can find out about this Pets versus Plastic initiative.

00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:34.000
Aiden Charron: Yeah.

00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:39.200
Aiden Charron: If you just look up Pets versus Plastic right on your search engine, it should pop up directly.

00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.360
Aiden Charron: Go to earthday.org.

00:21:40.360 --> 00:21:42.620
Aiden Charron: We have it plastered all over the place.

00:21:42.620 --> 00:21:49.900
Aiden Charron: I've been pushing our comms team and our social media team as well to just kept poking them and be like, I want to keep talking about pets.

00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:50.940
Aiden Charron: I want to keep talking about pets.

00:21:51.000 --> 00:21:53.020
Aiden Charron: I want to keep talking about pets.

00:21:53.020 --> 00:22:03.480
Aiden Charron: It's all over our websites, all of our social media channels, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, I believe is what it's called now, as well as just everywhere you can find us.

00:22:03.480 --> 00:22:08.100
Aiden Charron: Then just realize that it's not your fault that this is happening.

00:22:08.100 --> 00:22:17.940
Aiden Charron: Plastic is such just intrinsic in our lives now and it's so hard to avoid, but just start making little changes throughout your life and you start giving a healthier life for yourself and your pets.

00:22:18.660 --> 00:22:22.380
Arden Moore: >Does that mean you would hit the pause button on plastic?

00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:24.640
Arden Moore: >Come on, I had to put a pun in there.

00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:25.300
Aiden Charron: I love you.

00:22:25.300 --> 00:22:26.320
Aiden Charron: That was fantastic.

00:22:26.320 --> 00:22:27.660
Aiden Charron: I do that to my wife all the time.

00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:29.260
Aiden Charron: She's getting real tired of the puns.

00:22:29.260 --> 00:22:30.120
Arden Moore: >You can have that.

00:22:30.120 --> 00:22:31.060
Arden Moore: >You can have that one.

00:22:31.060 --> 00:22:34.660
Aiden Charron: I actually think I used that for a title for when I was going recently.

00:22:34.660 --> 00:22:35.640
Arden Moore: >A pause button.

00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:51.120
Arden Moore: >But you can open my eyes to about before you just go to the store and buy or go on Amazon and order, really pay attention to what the leashes are made out of, the bowls, the toys, the clothing and there are Earth friendly options.

00:22:51.120 --> 00:22:51.420
Aiden Charron: Yeah.

00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:56.580
Aiden Charron: I mean, and then you have natural organ meat that they sell at pet stores and everything.

00:22:56.580 --> 00:22:57.740
Aiden Charron: Like a trapeze.

00:22:57.740 --> 00:22:58.940
Aiden Charron: They sell trapeze.

00:22:58.940 --> 00:23:01.600
Aiden Charron: If you want to feed your pet that, it could be a little smellier.

00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:04.320
Aiden Charron: Make sure you do it outside or at least in a contained area.

00:23:04.320 --> 00:23:06.260
Aiden Charron: But there are options out there.

00:23:06.260 --> 00:23:07.140
Arden Moore: >All right.

00:23:07.140 --> 00:23:08.020
Arden Moore: >Hey everybody.

00:23:08.020 --> 00:23:12.280
Arden Moore: >We have had Aiden Charron on from earthday.org.

00:23:12.280 --> 00:23:17.380
Arden Moore: >He's opened my eyes about some of the things that I didn't realize of the dangers of plastics.

00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:21.220
Arden Moore: >I know we love our pets and I know we love our planet Earth.

00:23:21.220 --> 00:23:23.820
Arden Moore: >So Aiden, thank you so much for being on our show.

00:23:23.820 --> 00:23:24.680
Arden Moore: >You survived.

00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:30.240
Aiden Charron: Thank you so much and congrats on I think 17 years of a Running Pets podcast.

00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.100
Arden Moore: >When no one knew what a podcast was.

00:23:32.100 --> 00:23:33.440
Arden Moore: >I mean, seriously.

00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.860
Arden Moore: >I mean, now this mug has got its own show probably.

00:23:36.860 --> 00:23:38.220
Arden Moore: >Everybody's got a podcast.

00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:43.500
Arden Moore: >But anyway, at this time too, I want to give a shout out to my producer, Mark Winter.

00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.720
Arden Moore: >He is the executive producer of Pet Life Radio.

00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:49.160
Arden Moore: >That's tons of shows on our network.

00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:50.700
Arden Moore: >We're the number one network.

00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:52.320
Arden Moore: >And I want you guys to check me out.

00:23:52.320 --> 00:23:55.100
Arden Moore: >I got a YouTube channel because this man's going to be here.

00:23:55.100 --> 00:23:56.180
Arden Moore: >Go to Arden Moore.

00:23:56.180 --> 00:23:56.580
Arden Moore: >That's it.

00:23:56.580 --> 00:23:57.640
Arden Moore: >Just do the YouTube.

00:23:57.640 --> 00:23:58.680
Arden Moore: >That's my real name.

00:23:58.680 --> 00:23:59.860
Arden Moore: >Please subscribe.

00:23:59.860 --> 00:24:04.300
Arden Moore: >We have over 800 videos with great people just like Aiden.

00:24:04.300 --> 00:24:05.900
Arden Moore: >And I have a newsletter.

00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:07.860
Arden Moore: >It's called Four-legged Life.

00:24:07.860 --> 00:24:08.840
Arden Moore: >Please do that.

00:24:08.840 --> 00:24:09.760
Arden Moore: >And the last pitch.

00:24:09.840 --> 00:24:10.760
Arden Moore: >Sorry, I got to do this.

00:24:10.760 --> 00:24:12.260
Arden Moore: >My last name is Moore.

00:24:12.260 --> 00:24:17.200
Arden Moore: >Hey, I teach Vet Approved Pet First Aid with a real dog and a real cat.

00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:19.360
Arden Moore: >I have been doing that since 2011.

00:24:19.360 --> 00:24:20.940
Arden Moore: >I'm a master instructor.

00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:24.360
Arden Moore: >You want to keep your pet safe and have a fun practical class?

00:24:24.360 --> 00:24:27.440
Arden Moore: >Come join us at Pet First Aid for you.

00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:35.560
Arden Moore: >So until next time, this is your flea-free host, Arden Moore, delivering just two words to all you two, three, and four legged out there.

00:24:35.620 --> 00:24:36.980
Arden Moore: >Oh Behave.

00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:41.340
Announcer: Coast to coast and around the world, it's Oh Behave with Arden Moore.

00:24:41.340 --> 00:24:49.040
Announcer: Find out why cats and dogs do the things they do and get the latest buzz from wagging tongues and tails in Rin Tin Tinseltown.

00:24:49.040 --> 00:24:57.100
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00:24:57.100 --> 00:25:05.420
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