About

Micah Siegel is a 13-year-old student in Bethesda, Maryland. Micah is an avid videogamer and loves to exercise. He loves taking long walks up to ten miles. He loves to ski, bike ride, skateboard, and play tennis. In the summer of 2023, he went with his dad and brother on a 31-mile wilderness hike in a remote forest in Pennsylvania. He has been to the Galapagos islands, the Amazon rainforest, Canary islands, Switzerland, London, Amsterdam, and the Bahamas. He has been river rafting on the middle fork of the Salmon river in Idaho and on two other daylong rafting adventures.

Micah is concerned about real problems in the world. He read Jordan Peterson’s Twelve Rules for Life and was inspired to take more initiative than just going to school and getting grades. He wants to make a difference.

Micah loves animals and wants to help them. In May 2023, he and his father started a podcast, Nature’s Guardians, to tell the stories of humans working to save and help animals around the world. Each week he talks with someone around the world and learns about the issues that person faces in trying to save animals, preserve their habitat, or improve their lives.

In September, 2023, Micah and his dad received a $10,000 grant from Tyler Cowen’s Emergent Ventures. With that money, he and his dad and brother will go to South Africa and Botswana in spring 2025 to go on safari and make documentary films of people helping animals. His goal is to get a deal with a studio to produce a series, where he goes out on location to document the amazing work of conservationists worldwide.

In January, 2024, Micah started his own homeschool program called Rogue Scholar Academy, based on mentorship and project work. His first project was a book on animal conservation — the State of the Animals Report — that took five months to write and produce. He also produced a video update on learning what it’s like to be a realtor. He’s working on a project to understand the state of recycling, and he’s working on a keynote speech based on his book.

Micah is also concerned about demand for animals and animal parts. People want exotic pets, exotic skins, and body parts of animals who would be better off keeping those items to themselves. He’s interested to help reduce demand for rhino horn in particular. See his R0 project page.

Micah has been vegetarian since summer 2023. His brother has been mostly vegan his entire life. His dad has been vegan for a bit longer.