Nature’s heroes: Gail ‘Rock and Roll’ Taylor vs. the destruction of nature

Though conservation victories are hard won, protecting our planet comes naturally to our donors. To say thank you to nature’s heroes, we’re dedicating a week to telling your stories. And who doesn’t like a good hero story?

Gail “Rock and Roll” Taylor’s love for nature was born of a childhood playing outside in a small northern Ontario town. She has fond memories of picking wild blueberries with her cousins while singing loudly so any nearby bears stayed away. It was then that Gail first connected her love of music and nature.

After retiring from a career in finance to pursue music, Gail wrote her first single “You Prob’ly Won’t Stay – The Not So Ideal Tenants” about humanity’s tragic love story with the environment.

She wanted to reach people like herself, people who are part of the problem but also care deeply about the environment. “The song is a tragic love story where humans are apologizing for overusing the planet’s resources while acknowledging the current damage and possibility of complete destruction if things don’t change.”

The world’s population uses up as much ecological resources as if we lived on 1.75 Earths. In other words, we’re harvesting more fish than can reproduce, logging more trees than we can grow back and emitting more carbon dioxide than the environment can absorb. To borrow Gail’s metaphor, humans are the type of tenants that stop paying their rent part way through the year but continue to eat your groceries.

The cost of our collective ecological debt is climate change and widespread wildlife loss.

Thrilled by the great response she received from the single’s initial release, Gail saw an opportunity to increase her impact by raising funds for the cause that inspires her music. Using her song’s powerful message, Gail activated her network and fans. In the campaign’s first week, she raised over $2,000 for WWF-Canada — and even matched the first $1,000 herself.

You can help Gail hit her goal of $5,000 here.

Gail was also drawn to support WWF-Canada because of our work to safeguard polar bears. She sees them as a symbol of Canadian pride and believes we have a responsibility we protect these majestic creatures and their homeland.

“I really believe if we want to make the world a better place, our footprint has to shift to a more nature-friendly position from all levels of society,” says Gail.

With the support of nature’s heroes, like Gail, WWF-Canada is working to reduce our unsustainable demands on the planet and become better tenants.

We’re partnering with Arctic communities to help them shift to renewable energy, build sustainable fisheries and protect future climate refuges for species as the climate crisis alters their ranges. We’re also using nature-based climate solutions to reduce the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere and increase our adaptation and resilience to the changes that have already begun.

What is this hero’s superpower? “I would like to provoke astronomical positive change in human behavior through my music — to create songs that inspire millions of listeners to shift toward their best selves and [have] more compassion for everything and everyone, including wildlife and our only planet.”

Our work is made possible through the generous contributions of donors like you.