Earth Ideas

Andrew Dobson is a Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, and an expert in wildlife disease. Though disease is a part of everyday life, his research specifically focuses on infectious diseases in endangered & fragile ecosystems, including the Serengeti, Yellowstone & the world's rainforests, to better understand the risks that are posed to animals & humans as an environment is altered.   

0:00 Biodiversity is today's scientific question 

5:01 The study of Ecology 

9:49 Andy using maths in wildlife disease study 

12:34 How does habitat loss = wildlife disease? 

17:33 Differences in species 

21:56 How do bats give us disease? 

29:23 How do insects give us disease? 

33:18 How easy for viruses to jump species? 

35:54 Amazonian deforestation 

43:48 Conserving entire ecosystems  

53:13 Are people paying more attention to wildlife disease now?  

56:04 Wildlife disease & climate change 

1:02:03 Andy's next research

You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube https://youtu.be/Yxwl4jkS-DY

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

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Andy's Links: 

Lab https://dobber.princeton.edu/ 

https://twitter.com/andy2dobson  

My Socials: 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

Dr Leyla Acaroglu is an award-winning designer, 2016 UNEP Champion of the Earth, and founder of Disruptive Design Agency & the UnSchool. She is a powerhouse of innovation - a self-styled 'sustainability provocateur', who works to use design- and systems-thinking to activate social change.   

0:00 Leyla's start in Product Design 9

:50 Humanity's newest challenge 

15:46 The power to change something 

23:36 Recycling validates waste 

32:10 How products design us 

42:42 Leyla's UNEP Anatomy Of Action  

48:00 Leyla's pillars of work  

52:00 How does nature solve problems?

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH this episode on YOUTUBE https://youtu.be/jh5n1RJ56zc

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

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And come back for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Leyla's Links: 

unschools.co 

disruptdesign.co 

coproject.co (The Farm) 

leylaacaroglu.com 

https://www.instagram.com/leylaacaroglu 

https://medium.com/disruptive-design  

My Socials: 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

Sue Pritchard sits on one side of a challenge that has divided all who are aware of it - How to feed everyone fairly on a planet with finite resources? As CEO of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and a farmer herself, she works for a regenerative, smaller-scale agricultural future, and seeks to make radical changes in the way we & all the different industries involved think about our food.  

In PART 1, we discussed agri-tech & the work of the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology - https://youtu.be/hgKVKizDFGE 

This is PART 2 of this debate.   

0:00 Wizards & Prophets 

7:01 What are the biggest threats of Wizardry side? 

12:01 Can farmers shift between them? 

15:58 Polyculture methods 

22:05 The $1bn Question 

26:27 Is meat-eating still possible? 

34:12 Price & trade 

41:51 Sue's farm 

51:45 Being a steward of the land  

55:15 What's next for Sue & FFCC? 

59:45 Democracy & Agriculture

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Sue's Links: 

Food, Farming and Countryside Commission https://ffcc.co.uk 

https://twitter.com/suepritch  

My Socials: 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

Professor Simon Pearson sits on one side of a challenge that has divided all who are aware of it - How to feed everyone fairly on a planet with finite resources? As Director of the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology, he is embedded in emerging research into agri AI, robotics, gene-editing & circular agricultural economics, among many other exciting new ideas at the cusp of science.

This is PART 1 of talking about this debate.

Watch PART 2 from the camp who call for more nature-aligned approaches, here - https://youtu.be/X7K1qKUcN5k

0:00 Intro 2 Approaches  

07:08 Crop Gene Editing 

10:27 The concerns 

15:46 Polarization in Agriculture 

18:41 AI & Machine Learning 

26:43 Energy & Carbon 

34:35 Bio-fuels 

38:23 Global Food Security Index 

41:40 Brexit  

47:02 Losing Ag Jobs to Machines 

52:18 Next Gen of Food Tech

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.

You can also WATCH this episode now on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/hgKVKizDFGE

We hope you enjoy.

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And come back next week for more.

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Simon's Links:

https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/liat/

My Socials: https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

Dr Mary Menton is a Research Fellow in Environmental Justice at University of Sussex and part of team behind Not1More, a campaign group which supports frontline environmental defenders and investigates the root causes of environmental conflict. Individuals & groups facing up against powerful corporations invading & obliterating their homes for profit are being killed at an increasing rate around the world, and Mary is one of the key people bringing the guilty to justice.    

We talked about Mary's work with the Not1More Campaign - interpreting the data & evidence to map out who is being targeted, where, and what resources & corporations are correlated to these threats. We then looked at the issue on a wider scale - who are the different players (the press, the public, researchers), what impacts are they having, and what are the predictions for what can, should and will be done to protect nature & its Defenders.

0:00 2020 Global Witness Defending Tomorrow Report  

3:43 Interpreting the Data 

6:38 Who are the Environmental Defenders?  

12:07 Strategy & planning 

16:29 Police involvement 

17:39 Indigenous racism 

24:44 Public opinion 

26:36 Press approaches 

29:31 True numbers? 

36:04 Not1More's support for Defenders 

39:11 Perpetual Growth Mindset 

42:35 Impunity & governments 

50:25 International agreements 

57:58 Consumer choices 

01:02:00 Global comparisons 

01:07:10 Mary's research into the SDGs 

01:15:43 Do you ever feel unsafe?

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH this episode now on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/U4FCTQG9_XM

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Mary's Links: Sussex profile: https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p453111-mary-menton  

Not1More: https://not1more.org/  

My Socials: 

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/filmthechange

Dr Michel Dugon aka The Bug Doctor is a leading expert in the development and evolution of venom systems, predation strategies and prey detection in venomous invertebrates. He is also at the forefront of research into how venom can be applied in medicine in a multitude of avenues from antimicrobial resistance to anticancer and treating arthritis.    

We talked about the variations of venom across species & families, and their different (but ultimately equal!) paths to venom. We then spoke about Michel's research, and the potential for extracting or synthesising venoms for medicines and antimicrobial uses.   

0:00 What makes venom venom?  

3:30 Predation or Protection?  

6:30 Bee stings 

11:27 Venomous social insects 

14:17 Evolution of venom 

22:11 How does an animal experience producing venom? 

29:11 Variations across venomous species 

30:29 SHOW & TELL! 

38:28 The race to weaponise 

44:18 Environmental factors in producing venom 

49:11 Identifying venomous species 

54:49 Extracting venom for medicine 

58:25 How to put it to use? 

01:00:50 Venom as an anti-microbial 

01:10:00 Michel's hypersensitivity 

01:18:24 Venom to get high

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube now at : https://youtu.be/a4t-2_0ZEvo

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Michel's Links: 

Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/michel_dugon_the_secrets_of_spider_venom (1.8m views!) 

NUI Galway profile: https://www.nuigalway.ie/our-research/people/natural-sciences/micheldugon/ 

https://twitter.com/michel_dugon  

My Socials:

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/filmthechange

Dr Les Kaufman is a marine biologist & coral reef expert. He's been at the forefront of trying to understand how these really complex & unique ecosystems can flourish in the colourful, glorious way they do for over 40 years. And now he puts his time & energy into clinging on by the fingernails for their preservation.  

We talked about how and where Corals live, and the ecosystems they host (50% of all fishes!). We then spoke about the anthropological dangers facing them, and differences across cultures' approaches to this, finishing by talking about his latest research into behavioural economics and psychology - predicting the changes to the threats and their deaths.   

0:00 Intro 

3:58 What IS a Coral Reef? 

9:58 Coral Reefs as an ecosystem 

14:06 Kingsman Atoll (nearly human-free) 

17:57 Coexisting with Reefs (Pacific Islanders) 

21:22 Does Les eat fish? 

24:01 Reef-building clams 

27:37 Shifting homes due to climate change? 

33:53 Threats Corals are facing 

36:59 The Great Forgetting 

41:44 Sea-level rise 

43:45 Why is the ocean fundamental to all life? 

45:37 Les's career journey 

49:35 His latest research in Behavioural Economics 

55:58 Applying to fisheries 

59:21 Making predictions in nature (Science of Complexity) 

01:05:48 Our impacts generate more uncertainty 

01:08:11 Restoration Ecology 

01:16:24 Les et al's Pandemic prevention cost paper (in Science Journal)

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH this episode now on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/D82ltIp-uwU 

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

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And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

The paper on the cost of zoonotic disease vs preventative efforts, which Les talks about at the end 'Ecology and Economics for Pandemic Prevention' : https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6502/379.summary

Les's Links & Orgs he works with: 

Boston University Profile https://www.bu.edu/biology/people/profiles/les-kaufman 

Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future  http://www.bu.edu/pardee Coral 

Restoration Consortium http://crc.reefresilience.org 

Coral Restoration Foundation https://www.coralrestoration.org 

Mote Marine Laboratory https://mote.org 

Herbert W. Hoover Foundation https://www.hwhfoundation.org 

Fragments of Hope (Belize) http://fragmentsofhope.org 

Conservation International https://www.conservation.org  

My Socials: 

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/filmthechange

Dr Lisa Yon is an expert in captive animal welfare and works to improve the lives of and our understanding of wildlife living in captive & semi-captive homes around the world. She specialises in elephant intelligence & behaviour, and clearly loves them dearly. She serves on the board of many incredible organisations in the conservation world, including Frozen Ark - a global mission to cryogenically preserve endangered and ecosystem-critical species.   

We talked about how elephants navigate and interpret their worlds, and their sophisticated social needs. We talked about what different players in conservation are doing to improve both their lives in captivity and in the wild. And we also talked about Lisa's work with biobanking (cryogenically freezing species for future regeneration projects) and the cooperation across the conservation industry to bring all these hopes to reality.   

0:00 Lisa's career path 

07:16 Wild Bull (male) elephants 

13:16 Social teaching & learning 

15:18 Communicating & infrasound 

22:05 Research in their perception of their world 

25:05 Cohabitation & herds 

27:53 Navigating anthropological change 

31:34 Improving captive wellbeing  

35:30 Lisa's methods for assessing welfare 

43:38 Are elephants getting 'tamer'?  

49:07 Incentivising zoos re: welfare 

54:12 Changing laws on captive welfare 

56:14 Biobanking: Frozen Ark 

01:03:15 Global network of biobanks 

01:08:06 Cooperation in conservation 

01:14:20 Conservation & zoonotic diseases 

01:21:53 Elephants' strong social bonds 

01:27:52 Will megafauna go extinct in the wild? 

01:32:33 Lisa's next research project

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/axBNUeUWnO4

We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

And come back next week for more.   

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Lisa's Work: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vet/people/lisa.yon  

Frozen Ark:  https://www.frozenark.org  

Laura's Socials:    

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  

https://twitter.com/llcmahler  

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast  

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler

Thomas Kostigen is an environmental journalist and author of over 10 books on environmental issues. His latest, 'Hacking Earth', the informant of this episode, is a global tour of geoengineering research & technologies (big & small, futuristic & already happening) that might be our only means of survival on this planet as humans continue to destroy ecosystems and warm it over 1.5C.   

We talked about levels and growth of engineering over the millenia of human civilisation, examples of some low-risk and some more extreme technologies and where & how they're being tested and implemented. We then talked about the players involved - scientists, politicians, activists - and what international agreements and movements are taking place. As of 2020, we have 9 years before UN predicts irreversible change and collapse of ecosystems - are these techs our last shot?   

0:00 Intro to Thomas & Hacking Earth 

5:58 What IS Geoengineering? 

9:41 Millenia & levels of Geoengineering 

13:12 Comparing to today's other challenges  

15:43 Analog to extreme techs 

18:37 Biomimicry 

22:48 Masdar City: City Of The Future 

28:48 Creating a community around tech 

31:18 How to 'bring people in'? 

35:10 Industry, politics or people? 

39:04 International agreements 

45:16 AI, testing & modelling 

50:21 9 years left to change our path  

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.

You can also WATCH this episode on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/EJiS38j7x5w

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Thomas's book:  

Hacking Earth: HOW GEOENGINEERING CAN HELP US REIMAGINE THE FUTURE https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/589023/hacking-planet-earth-by-thomas-m-kostigen/

Laura's Socials: 

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth 

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast/ 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/filmthechange

Dr Jeri Wright is an insect neuroethologist whose lab investigates the interrelationship of plants and bees, and how bees sense and learn about the world around them. She works to understand how bees detect food, and how they know what nutrients they need and seek those out, and how other (sometimes unwanted) compounds affect them.  

We talked first about bee senses and cognition - their memory, their propensity to addiction, and cooperation as a Hive. We then moved on to what anthropological changes are affecting them, and in what ways their incredible way of life and previously misunderstood and underestimated cognitive abilities are being impacted by our degradation of ecosystems.   

0:00 Bees and plants 

3:56 Evolution of insect/plant relationships 

11:51 Diversity in bee diets 

14:30 Bee sense of smell  

16:10 Bee vision 

20:05 Bee memory 

22:45 Flowers or 'crops'?  

26:07 The Waggle Dance & Navigation 

30:33 Generational memory 

34:17 Instinctive or learnt? 

37:50 Anthropological effects on bees 

43:55 Drawing bees away from people 

45:48 Jeri's Lab & research (caffeine) 

53:38 Why do WE like floral scents? 

56:06 Bee communication (pheromones) 

01:00:30 Bee defense 

01:02:45 Can they sense what's bad for them? 

01:06:07 Bee decline 

01:13:42 Queen bees & Hive politics 

01:19:37 Genetics within the Hive 

01:21:05 Jobs within the Hive 

01:25:01 Bees as a Hive vs as individuals 

01:31:10 Future in bee research

This is a series of in-depth conversations with fascinating people, with loads to say about the current state of the world, everything that came before us, and everything that could be still to come.   

You can also WATCH the episode on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/UCU7R96R8Lk

 We hope you enjoy.  

Leave us a comment :)  

SHARE SUBSCRIBE! 

If you found this episode valuable, please support me with caffeine to keep them coming https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lauramahler :)

Jeri's Work: https://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-geraldine-wright#tab-1951261  

Laura's Socials: 

https://twitter.com/ideas_earth  

https://www.instagram.com/earthideas.podcast 

https://www.instagram.com/laura.mahler 

https://www.instagram.com/filmthechange