One of the most fascinating shifts happening right now in conservation biology is factoring in different cultures within certain species and the need to protect and preserve each one as we do the species overall.

You might think, well how do we know animals have culture?  How do we know their behaviors are not all genetically programmed?  And if they do have succinct subcultures, why is it important to preserve each one?  Well, in today's podcast episode we are going to answer these questions and more.

The species we are going to draw from are Sperm Whales.  Known as an "animal of extremes" for their unique characteristics and lifestyle, sperm whales are the whales made famous by the book Moby Dick, and are one of the most social and communicative whale species on the planet.

Joining us is Hal Whitehead, a biologist and professor who has been studying Sperm Whales and other cetaceans for decades.  You'd really enjoy his Ted Talk as well linked here.

We really loved recording this episode and learning from Hal, we hope you will as well!

IN THIS EPISODE

3:10 - Intro to Hal and his work

5:10 - Cultural vs. Genetic Behaviors

10:15 - Sperm Whales & Their Cultural Identifiers

20:20 - How Animal Cultures evolve like our own

26:10 - How Protecting Subcultures is Changing Conservation Science

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The hottest trend in agriculture is indoor, controlled farming. Often called “vertical farming”. These are massive warehouses, some as large as football stadiums, that are growing billions of pounds of fresh produce every day.

So what is vertical farming and why is it growing like crazy? The modern concept of indoor farming has been around for over 20 years, but only in recent years have efficiencies in key technologies such as LED lighting, AI, hydroponic systems, and robotics made this concept commercially viable.

There are tons of benefits - less land usage, less water usage, no pesticide usage, and local access to fresh produce in large, dense urban areas - and some limitations as well in terms of what crops are most suitable for this type of system today.

We get into all of this and more with Henry Sztul, Chief Science Officer of Bowery Farming, the leading vertical farming company in the US that recently closed a $300 million fundraising round.

Enjoy!

If you are not already aware, California is a big, complicated state.  It's home to over 40 million people and if it were an independent nation, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world!  From the lush forests of the north to the dry deserts in the south, from the historical Pacific coastline to the rural, agricultural Central Valley, California has some of the most diverse and wide ranging natural resources in the world.  Managing these is not easy.  From the ongoing water crisis to increasing wildfires to major drops in biodiversity in recent decades, we don't envy those who are in charge of making sense of it all.  We do however, want to talk to them.  So this week on Animalia, we chat with Angela Barranco, Undersecretary for Natural Resources for the entire state!

IN THIS EPISODE

2:30 Intro to Angela and Understanding her Role

9:20 Outside Access for All Initiative

14:00 What it means to live in a nature-deprive area

21:40 How to prioritize outdoor access vs. other critical needs for lower income communities

33:05 Role of Education in Outdoor Access

41:50 California’s Water Crisis

54:00 California’s Wildfire Crisis

SOME LINKS FOR FURTHER READING

Fed-CA shared forest stewardship agreement - https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/08/13/california-u-s-forest-service-establish-shared-long-term-strategy-to-manage-forests-andrangelands/#:~:text=Since%20the%20federal%20government%20owns,forest%20health%20and%20wildfire%20resilience.

CA wildfire and forest resilience action plan - https://www.fire.ca.gov/media/ps4p2vck/californiawildfireandforestresilienceactionplan.pdf

Early Action projects announcement from March - https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/03/30/ahead-of-peak-fire-season-governor-newsom-announces-surge-in-firefighting-support-3-30-21/

Drought and water resilience package - https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/05/10/governor-newsom-announces-5-1-billion-package-for-water-infrastructure-and-drought-response-as-part-of-100-billion-california-comeback-plan/

CA water resilience portfolio - https://waterresilience.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Final_California-Water-Resilience-Portfolio-2020_ADA3_v2_ay11-opt.pdf

This episode is hopefully going to forever change your prospective on rats!

Yes, the well known rodent that we often look at as pests in our day to day lives.

If you’ve ever had a rat problem in your home, you know how clever and smart they are, how easily they can outmaneuver you. They are natural problem solvers with such a keen sense of smell and a nose for food.

Well an awesome organization called APOPO, headquartered in Tanzania, has found a way to channel the abilities of rats to help people. To quite literally save lives. Today APOPO is working with Rats to detect land mines that have been buried for years, and to detect tuberculosis in humans, the most deadly disease in the world.

Joining us today is Dr. Cindy Fast, Head of Training & Innovation for APOPO who has a background in Behavioral Neuroscience that she is now applying to training these HeroRats.

As a bit of a teaser that will make your heart spin, check out this video about Magawa, one of APOPO’s most famous rats who won a medal of honor for clearing 141,000 square meters of land mines in just 4 years!

We promise you this - you will leave this episode with a whole new respect and appreciation for rats!

Please also check out APOPO’s website and if you can, adopt a HeroRat for yourself! It costs just $9 per month and as a non-profit, APOPO needs this support to continue to save lives. You will get regular updates on the work your rat is doing and the lives he or she is saving. It will be the best $9 you ever spent!

IN THIS EPISODE

2:45 - The story of APOPO

6:25 - Why rats are so well equipped for land mind detection

8:45 - How APOPO rats are trained

12:40 - People trusting their lives to rats

21:00 - How rats detect Tuberculosis

30:10 - Magawa, APOPO’s most famous HeroRat

32:40 - Do the rats feel pride?

38:50 - Future applications for APOPO rats

The deforestation crisis in the Brazilian Amazon has been making headlines globally dating back to 2019. In fact, the latest finding - that the Amazon in Brazil is now officially producing more greenhouse gas than it captures due to forest degradation and deforestation - is as alarming and concerning as it gets. Studies are now showing the Amazon is on the brink of a point of no return where it could mostly dry out and turn into a savannah like ecosystem, causing major negative ramifications globally in terms of climate change.

So what exactly is happening? Why is it happening? And what can be done to stop it? In this episode we sit down with Ana Ionova - an environmental journalist in Brazil who has been covering the Amazon issue for years. She gives us a first hand account of what is happening right now in Brazil, and we talk about everything from President Bolsonaro to the impact on indigenous people and dissect everything going on.

We really encourage everyone to listen to this episode and become well informed on this issue.

We also encourage you to read a couple of Ana’s past work on this topic and support her as the standout journalist she is!

Ana's Story on the Paracana people

Ana's Story on the Arrival of Palm Oil

IN THIS EPISODE

2:30  Current State of the Brazilian Amazon

11:10 Bolsonaro’s Impact & The Economic Argument Behind Deforestation

20:40  Impact on Indigenous Communities

33:10 Palm Oil’s Arrival in Brazil :(

39:20 Sentiment of Brazilian civilians

44:19  A Radical Solution

If you are like us, you probably try to buy and consume organic food whenever you can.  Sometimes it's not available, sometimes it's a bit too expensive, and sometimes you might just wonder, "what exactly makes food organic and where do those lines get drawn."  

You're not alone, we have those questions as well.  Which is why we sat down with Jessica Shade from The Organic Center to answer all these pressing questions for us!  She's the Director of Science Programs at The Organic Center, where she directs projects associated to communicating and conducting research related to organic agriculture.  Her full bio is below!

And a bit about The Organic Center.  Their mission is to bring together credible, evidence-based science on the health and environmental impacts of organic food and farming and to share the findings with the public. The Center is an independent non-profit research and education organization operating under the administrative auspices of the Organic Trade Association. For more information on The Organic Center, visit www.organic-center.org, and on the Organic Trade Association, see www.ota.com.

In This Episode

1:00 Introduction

2:15 What is the Definition or Organic?

6:00 Organic vs. Non-Organic GMO

12:30 Meet Jessica

17:45 Why is Organic Food So Expensive?

25:10 Clarifying Usage of Synthetic Pesticides

32:30 Where Organic Standards Stand on Wild vs. Domestic Pollination Services

42:15 A Discussion Around Organic Livestock

59:00 How Organic Industry Views Cell-Based Meats & Vertical Crop Farming

Jessica's Full Bio

Dr. Jessica Shade is the Director of Science Programs at The Organic Center where she directs projects associated with communicating and conducting research related to organic agriculture. During her tenure at The Organic Center Dr. Shade has collaborated on diverse research programs ranging from applied solutions to on-farm challenges to methods for improving environmental impacts of agriculture.  Some of her most recent collaborations include projects aimed at mitigating climate change, decreasing agriculturally-mediated nutritent pollution, increasing on-farm biodiversity, and developing integrated pest management solutions for organic growers.  Dr. Shade developed and leads the Center’s signature conference event, Organic Confluences, which brings together policy makers, researchers, farmers, industry members, and other non-profits to address and overcome challenges faced by the organic sector.  She has also been an invited speaker to a wide range of events including academic conferences, farmer meetings, industry expos, and TEDx.

Dr. Shade has been honored for her environmental accomplishments by the Audubon Women in Conservation through their Women Greening Food Special Recognition, the Ecological Society of America Student Section and Union of Concerned Scientists through their Ecoservice Award, and is a Switzer Environmental Fellow.  She received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

If you want to email Jessica about her work: [email protected]

You've heard this question a lot in the last few years.  What's killing the bees?  Why are they dying? How bad is this?

For starters, do you even know there is a difference between Wild & Domestic bees?  Or that the classic honey bee we are all so familiar with is not native to the US?

In this episode we sit down with Matias Viel, co-founder of Bee Flow, a technology company creating a new paradigm in pollination services that is showing Growers how much they benefit by putting bees first, and Mike Briano from Harris Woolf Almonds, a crop that relies on bees more than any other.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

EPISODE BREAKDOWN

0:45 Episode Intro

3:25 Introductions for Team Bee

8:20 Breaking Down “The Bees Are Dying” Headline into what’s actually happening

13:30 How Almond Industry Monitors Pollinator Health Today

15:25 Threats to Wild Pollinators

17:20 The Relationship between Bees & Almonds

24:00 Balancing Restoring Biodiversity without Sacrificing Yield

29:20 Measuring Pollination

35:30 Wild Pollinators & Farmed Pollinators Can Help Each Other

39:40 Dialogue on Wild Pollinators Today

47:15 The Debate over Classifying Bumble Bees as Threatened

55:37 What is The Future of Pollination Services

The Polymita Picta is one incredible, beautiful snail you are gonna want to get to know!

It is native to Cuba and does some incredible work in supporting the forest and the species within it.  Sadly though, it's under serious threat. Their remarkable colored shells are a thing of wonder, but also enticing to poachers.  Polymitas are being collected and killed for their shells, and when combined with habitat loss and invasive species, this is putting this critical species in danger of collapse.  And with it, the Cuban rainforest.

Joining us today is Norvis Hernandez, a biologist in Cuba and founder and forever leader of the Polymita Fan Club! She has dedicated her entire life to this little gastropod, and her story and work is inspiring.  

You can learn a lot more about the Polymitas as well in this great article from Nat Geo.

That's not all!

Here at Animalia are making a big push to save this species.  As part of that, we have launched a line of limited line of Polymita themed hoodies and sweats made of 100% recycled cotton.  They are super soft and perfect for Spring or Fall.  You will love them and you'll be supporting REALLY important work.  With the restrictions in Cuba it is so hard for Norvis and her team to get the word out.  Get yours today and as a podcast listener, get 15% off with the code 'POLYMITA'.

Did you know that everyone uses the scientific method everyday, even when we don't realize it?  That's highly recommended when making any important decisions, however, it's not quite Citizen Science.  Citizen Science is when anyone, regardless of qualifications or training, can contribute to the collection of analysis of data in the natural world as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists. You may have heard of apps like iNaturalist as an example.  

In this episode, we sit down with Danni Washington to discuss the role and value of Citizen Science, and why everyone should give it a try.  Danni is a Science Communicator and big time ocean advocate. She has hosted multiple TV shows, and now a couple incredible podcasts as well.  She's a major believer in the need to make science more accessible to all, from citizen science work all the way up to evolving our higher education system around science to make it more inclusive.  Please go check out her site and enjoy her amazing work.

JOIN US IN COSTA RICA

Danni is also joining us on our Costa Rican Sea Turtle Adventure!  This is Animalia's first formal, IRL Citizen Science program.  We are taking 25 lucky people down to Costa Rica from May 25th to June 1st to work with the incredible Leatherback Sea Turtle!  It's an experience you won't want to miss so please get your ticket today here while they last!

In This Episode

2:35 - What is Citizen Science?

10:10 - Making Science more Accessible

16:00 - How can we make Citizen Science most effective?

20:00 - Info about our Costa Rican Trip!

20:45 - How the Smartphone has changed Citizen Science

21:30 - Will we one day all be participating in Citizen Science constantly via our live health data?

25:40 - Social Motivations in Citizen Science

29:50 - How to evaluate the Legitimacy of a Citizen Science project

Danni's Recommendations

A) Book - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

B) Film/TV - Game Changers by Louie Psihoyos

C) Wildlife - Orcas!

D) Earth-Friendly Lifestyle Change - Eat more plant based food & know where your food comes from