Austin Meyer

Apollo at the end of winter (today) ➡️ Apollo at the end of this past summer

In the winter, Boer goats like Apollo grow a dense layer of hair that acts like a thermal sweater, trapping air close to their skin to keep them warm during cold nights. As the weather warms, they naturally shed this coat by rubbing against trees and rocks.

Apollo’s winter coat (photo 3) can technically be called cashmere. Cashmere is wool from goats. However, most cashmere in the fashion industry comes specifically from a breed called the Cashmere Goat.

Through intensive selective breeding, cashmere goats produce massive yields of fiber. The annual harvesting of wool itself is a violent, high-stress process: the goats are pinned to the ground with their legs tied together while workers use sharp metal combs to rake the fiber from their skin. The moment their production wanes, around age four or five (cashmere goats can live 13+ years naturally), they are deemed unprofitable and sent to slaughterhouses to be killed for meat.

The best thing you can do for goats? Don’t buy cashmere. Don’t eat goat meat.

“A beautiful film about chickens that will break your heart and fill you with love all at once.” -

“Stunningly shot and edited… This film is sweet and full of character(s).” -

“This is such a beautiful film. I just finished it. I cried. Absolutely beautiful.” - Liz Wheeler ()

“It’s really inspiring to see people who care so deeply and devote themselves to protecting the well being of the voiceless.” -

“Extraordinary film! So moving and impactful.” -

🎥 The short documentary Maria & The Flock is now streaming on YouTube! Comment “Flock” below and we’ll send you the link.

In 2023 I attended the NatGeo Storyteller’s Summit in Washington DC. Freelancers from across the NatGeo ecosystem gathered in the theater as filmmakers and photographers showcased their work. Animal imagery from all over the planet was projected on the big screen. Everyone looked on in awe and wonder as the stories of wolves, whales, penguins, and bears filled the room, as well as the stories of people dedicating their lives to protecting those species. When the session finished, everyone clapped their hands, exited the theater, and continued their conversations about how to protect our natural world and the animals within it, all while dining on marinated chicken breast.

That was the moment that I decided to create my new short documentary, which is now on Youtube, Maria & The Flock. The film tells the story of Maria Goller, an avian researcher with her PhD in biology, who dedicates her life to caring for the most exploited land animal on Earth: chickens.

If you get a chance to watch it, my hope is that you come away with a deeper appreciation for the individuality of a species that is bred and killed by the tens of billions each year. And a deeper respect for the people doing everything they can to care for and protect them.

Directed by:
Produced by:
Cinematography by:
Edited by:
Animations by:
Post-production sound by:
Color by: .color

Each day her inbox fills up with animals in need of rescue. A family can no longer afford the medical bills for their beloved dog. An overrun shelter has a rooster that was dumped on their front step in a cardboard box. A wild donkey was rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management to make space for grazing cattle, and is locked away in a holding pen. An elderly horse with a severe swayback has nowhere else to go. In each message the stakes are clear. This dog will be euthanized. This chicken will be euthanized. This donkey will be sold into the meat trade. This horse will be euthanized.

For my wife Zoe, the executive director of the animal rescue nonprofit , this is the daily work. Triage. Whose life can they save? Where can they help?

My first creative writing teacher at Stanford, Harriet Clark, told us that we should avoid clichés because they let readers off the hook. Clichés are often true, but their familiarity lets readers move through a sentence without slowing down enough to imagine.

I remember I read a short story in that class where the author described someone’s pockets as, “hanging out like tongues, pale and obscene…” Pockets hanging out like tongues. I remember I read that and my mind immediately needed to conjure up the image. The author’s use of language, metaphor, and the unexpected invited me to slow down and imagine. So much so that I still remember that text and the scene I created in my mind 15 years later.

Whether we tell stories with the written word, audio, still images, or moving images, this is our challenge. To invite people with language and perspectives so precise and so true to the way we see the world, that they feel a desire to slow down, imagine, and see.

📸: This is a recent photo I took of Billy, a b***o at the sanctuary. Whenever I take photos of animals, especially the animals that humans exploit most often for food, entertainment, labor, and lab testing, I always think through that challenge of perspective. How can I tell the story of this animal in a way that invites people to slow down and see them differently?

Charlie is a belly-rub enthusiast (watch the video), professional dirt-rooter, and reminder of why animal sanctuaries matter.

While the holidays are often marked by the loss of animal lives, is a place where those lives are saved and celebrated. This season, I’m choosing to support the residents like Charlie who call CAPE home.

Want to join the Charlie Cheer Squad?

If you join me in sponsoring Charlie in 2026, I’ll be your personal “Charlie Correspondent.” I’ll send you photos and videos all year long so you can see what the world looks like through his eyes and smells like through his nose.

Any amount makes a difference for Charlie. Hit the link in my bio to join the Cheer Squad!

Friendships made. Swales dug. Compost piled. Gullies stuffed. Sites designed. Foods forested. Music played. Certification earned.

I just wrapped up 9 days of living and learning at the incredible Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, where I completed a permaculture design certification course. What is permaculture? At they define permaculture as “a design methodology to create ecologically regenerative and socially just human systems that are mutually beneficial to people and the planet.” In essence, it’s a way of tending to both ECOsystems and EGOsystems so that humans, animals, and nature can all thrive in a more sustainable world.

Over the past week, ~25 people of all ages and from all over the world came together to learn the ethics, principles, and techniques of permaculture. Everyday, from 8:30 am - 9:00 pm, we alternated between classroom lecture and hands on learning in the rich soil of OAEC’s 70-acre site. From scattering native yampah seeds in a restored meadow, to creating beaver dam analogs to slow water and sediment runoff, to looking at soil through microscopes, each lesson brought us back to important truths:

1.) None of this is new. Indigenous communities have been designing with and for the land for millennia.
2.) And yet, generation after generation, we continue to leave our home more depleted.
3.) Therefore, we need to change. We need to develop a new relationship with nature (new to many of us).

Thank you to all the staff and volunteers at OAEC who made the week possible, and to my fellow PDC classmates for bringing your positive energy, curiosity, and hard work to the program. I can’t wait to see how you all implement what we learned back at home and in your communities!

📸: Rachel Greenberg