Munir Virani is a world-renowned raptor biologist and the executive vice president of the Peregrine Fund. We talk with him about growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, his inspiration to begin studying birds of prey, and how he helped solve a continent-wide mystery about the source of a mass-poisoning event that wiped out more than 95% of India’s vulture population. Join private conversations with top authors and access exclusive bonus content!
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In a Gentle Way, He Shakes the World

Earth to Humans is a bi-weekly interview series featuring conversations with some of the amazing humans who are fighting for a brighter and more just future for all of Earth's inhabitants.
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Natural Sciences

Science & Medicine

Science

Nature

I first came across Erin’s work at Terra Incognita Media a few years ago when I was doing research on National Parks and the influence of John Muir. I was on a learning journey that would lead me to a series of revelations about the history of environmentalism and the generational harm caused by John Muir and his ideas. I had recently interviewed Mark David Spence, the author of “Dispossessing the Wilderness”, for an episode of Earth to Humans. Spence’s book exposes the deeply racist origins of the National Park system, as well as the role played by John Muir in advocating for the forced removal of indigenous people from what would become Yosemite National Park. After speaking with Mark and reading his book, my perspective on National Parks, and protected landscapes in general, made a dramatic shift. I was beginning to understand that these treasured “wilderness” landscapes were a fabrication of white supremacy. The land that makes up these protected parks was inhabited by Indigenous people, as it had been for thousands of years previous, and the establishment of National Parks provided the US government with a convenient excuse to forcibly remove these people from their homelands. These new National Parks were specifically designed, developed and established for wealthy, white visitors. During the lead up to Yosemite receiving “protected” park status, there was a vigorous debate within the budding conservation community in California over whether the Indigenous community that called the Yosemite Valley home should be allowed to stay. John Muir was quite vocal in his opposition to allowing these Indigenous people to remain in the newly created park. He used his skill as a writer to bring others over to his side, and his success set a precedent for land protection that is maintained to this day. Indigenous people all around the globe have been, and continue to be, forcibly removed from their homelands in the name of conservation and land protection, as documented by journalist Mark Dowie in his book, “Conservation Refugees” (check out our interview with Mark Dowie here) Erin’s article about John Muir referred to him as, “a toxic masculine, egocentric, eco-jock” and encouraged her readers to share posts tagged #FuckYouJohnMuir. I was eager for this message, and began to dig back through many of Erin’s previous posts on Terra Incognita’s website. What I found was an open dialogue about Erin’s path towards becoming a advocate for an anti-racist, anti-capitalist brand of environmentalism. Her willingness to talk about the missteps and mistakes that she made along the way made her perspective all the more appealing to me. I was on a similar learning journey, making my own embarrassing mistakes, and the insight provided by Erin’s writing was extremely helpful to me. I hope that you gain the same level of insight and inspiration from Erin’s work as I have! I’m incredibly excited to share this interview with all of you! -Matt Podolsky  

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Erin Monahan's Feminist Response to the Outdoor Industry

I’m super excited to bring you this bonus episode of the podcast! We’re still a few months away from launching our new season of Earth to Humans - that will happen in April for Earth Week - but I wanted to feature this conservation with the director of our latest Wild Lens Collective co-production, Children of the Wolves.  

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BONUS - Children of the Wolves

As 2023 comes to a close, our Earth to Humans team took a look back at some of the episodes that were the most meaningful to us.  We closed out our end-of-the-year roundtable conversation with a discussion about COP28. All of us agreed that just about everything that we’ve been hearing coming out of the COP thus far has been deeply disheartening - we struggled to find any kind of positive message. This is the balancing act that we play here on Earth to Humans on a regular basis - we yearn to tell hopeful stories, but refuse to peddle false hope. The situations surrounding COP28 and our continued struggle to make progress on climate is the reality that we live in, and we’ll continue to seek out stories that highlight this struggle. This is the final episode of this season of Earth to Humans. We’ll be back with new episodes in mid April of 2024 - just in time for Earth Day.  

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2023 Wrapped!

As of September 10, 2023, there have been 9,614 civilian deaths reported in Ukraine since Russia’s latest invasion began on February 24, 2022. And in Gaza, the latest numbers of civilian casualties in just over a month are estimated to be over 13,000. These scenes of unfathomable death and destruction have displaced millions, breaking apart families and disjointing entire communities; ripples that will have lasting effects for years to come. But there is also a quieter victim of these wars. The land, the water, the plants, animals and fungi that call those places home. I have been thinking a lot about how these conflicts are impacting the ecosystems within them and I wanted to talk to somebody about it. And that’s how I found Oleksiy.      As a Ukrainian scientist, Oleksiy knows better than most, how these wars shape and change not only people, but amphibians, insects and birds. I asked Oleksiy about his life and work before the war, the idyllic lands he once explored, and also life after, the bombing, the militarization of the world around him and an ongoing race to save invaluable data sets before they’re lost forever. He’s smart, he’s candid, and he has a lot to say.  Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group 

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The Quieter Victims of War

There are lots of amazing stories about the early days of the Appalachian Trail, but none match the story of Grandma Gatewood. In 1955, Gatewood set out to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. She was 67 years old at the time. She began her hike in secret - she didn’t want her children to know what she was doing because she knew they’d try to stop her. But news of her trek traveled fast, and by the time she was a few months into her hike, she had become a national celebrity. When she finished her hike she appeared on the Tonight Show and had stories featured about her in magazines and newspapers across the country. For many Americans at the time, hearing news stories about Grandma Gatewood was their first exposure to the Appalachian Trail. The trail had been completed in the 1930s, but had been in left unmaintained during World War II, and by the 1950s it was in danger of being lost to obscurity. Gatewood awakened the public consciousness to this unique footpath, ensuring that it would receive the recognition and protection that it deserved. Gatewood hiked the entire Appalachian Trail not just once, but three times. She became a fixture of the long distance hiking community in the 1950s and 60s, and has long been considered a legend of the Appalachian Trail. But until Ben Montgomery’s book was published, very little was known about her life before her Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Her motivation to hike the trail was largely a mystery. Montgomery’s research and conversations with family members revealed that Gatewood’s husband was an long-time abuser. Her ambition to hike over 2,000 miles along the Appalachian Trail was in part a reaction to decades of physical abuse and suffering. This added a layer to Gatewood’s story that hadn’t yet been told, and it brought her motivation into clearer focus. 

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In a Gentle Way, He Shakes the World

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