Skyler Thomas (vegan): Helping to Protect Endangered Species, Part 1 of 2

Skyler Thomas, a vegan, is an educator, wildlife ecologist, and independent film producer. He has dedicated himself to fostering a harmonious coexistence between humans and animal-people living in their natural habitats. In 2009, he started a nonprofit called White Shark Video and began releasing short films of his underwater experiences. These received considerable attention and led to Mr. Thomas producing his first feature-length documentary, “Great White Lies,” in 2014.

In 2021, Mr. Thomas graciously agreed to be interviewed remotely for Supreme Master Television. We began by asking him about the motivation for his cinematic activism. “A lot of the things that we call civilized – if you look at them – basically mean oppressing other animals and subduing the Earth. And that really bothers me because not only are we doing something cruel and unkind, but we’re actually hurting ourselves at the same time. And it’s a very twisted little circle we’ve gotten ourselves into, and I’m just trying to get people to wake up to that.”

“Our species revolves around money. We define value by how we can monetize something. And unfortunately, that means that decisions that the purer side of us, the child inside of us, would have made get put to the side, because those internal morals or those ethics have been put aside by what we’ve adopted as adults as what defines us as a successful or important member of society.”

Point Reyes National Seashore in the United States is an example of a scenic reserve that is home to a rich diversity of wildlife. But when Mr. Thomas learned that high levels of fecal coliform bacteria from cattle-people had been detected in the streams bordering the ranches and that the pollution was flowing into Tomales Bay, he was shocked. He started making a film that turned into a three-part series called “The Shame of Point Reyes.” We asked him to tell us what was at stake there.