Homeowners and towns along the U.S. East Coast are increasingly building “living shorelines” to adapt to sea level rise and boost wildlife habitat in a more economical and less carbon-intensive way than concrete seawalls. These projects protect shorelines using a clever mix of native plants, driftwood, holiday trees, and other organic materials.

Peter Slovinsky, a coastal geologist with the Maine Geological Survey, joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the benefits of living shorelines, how they are implemented in his state, and what other techniques coastal communities should consider in a world with a warming climate and rising seas.

Read Erik Hoffner’s original reporting on living shorelines here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Salt tolerant plants are part of a ‘living shorelines’ project on the Blue Hill Peninsula in Maine. Image by Erik Hoffner for Mongabay.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:19) What is a “living shoreline?”

(04:55) Green over gray

(13:06) How to make a “living shoreline”

(18:59) Case studies and urban applications

(24:50) Adaptation methods that deserve more consideration

(31:13) Reconsidering retreat

(32:48) The geologist’s greatest fears and biggest hopes

(39:35) Credits

The current clade of H5N1 or bird flu is an "existential threat" to the world’s biodiversity, experts say. While it has infected more than 500 bird and mammal species on every continent except Australia, the number of human infections from the current clade (grouping) 2.3.4.4b is still comparatively small. U.S. dairy workers have recently become infected, and the virus could easily mutate to become more virulent, our guest says.

Joining the Mongabay Newscast to talk about it is Apoorva Mandavilli, a global health reporter for The New York Times. Mandavilli details what virologists and experts know about the human health risks associated with this latest clade, what nations are doing (or not doing) to help contain its spread, and why. She also details how environmental degradation and industrial agriculture help create the conditions for outbreaks like this to occur.

Read Sharon Guynup’s reporting on it here.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: Highly pathogenic avian influenza killed thousands of black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) chicks in the Falkland Islands and Islas Malvinas, where two-thirds of the entire population lives. Image © Julia Emerit and Augustin Clessin.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:44) The evolution of H5N1

(05:47) Clade 2.3.4.4b

(08:21) Challenges in monitoring the spread

(11:10) What are the human health risks?

(16:34) A spotlight on industrialized animal agriculture

(18:26) A vaccination strategy?

(20:05) What lessons are we learning from other pandemics?

(23:08) The degradation of nature and the frequency of disease outbreaks

(25:57) Credits

Top National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan joined the show to discuss traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and why Indigenous communities are the world’s most effective conservationists.

Yüyan spoke about this with us in March 2023 and we're sharing the episode again after it recently won a 'Best coverage of Indigenous communities' prize from the Indigenous Media Awards.

While the National Geographic version of "Guardians of Life" is now published, the collaboration between Gleb Raygorodetsky and Yüyan will be published in book form in 2025. Sign up at Raygorodetsky's website here to be notified when it’s out.

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets atthis link. To get $10 off, use the promo code C1PARTNER. *

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: With a dip net, Karuk fisherman Ryan Reed searches for Chinook salmon under the watchful eye of his father, Ron, on California's Klamath River at Ishi Pishi Falls in October 2020. The Reeds caught no fish in stark contrast to earlier times. Before California became a state, the river saw about 500,000 salmon each fall, but last year just 53,954 mature Chinook swam up, a 90 percent decline. The nation now restricts salmon fishing to Ishi Pishi Falls, but with the slated removal of four dams, the Karuk hope the salmon will return. Image (c) Kiliii Yuyan.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Indigenous peoples: the world's best conservationists

(02:31) Who are the Guardians of Life?

(07:30) Some of Kiliii's favorite memories

(10:39) 'People are not separate from nature'

(18:04) 'Two-eyed seeing': combining Western and Indigenous science

(23:30) Advice from an Indigenous storyteller

(27:26) The Impact of storytelling

(30:52) A kayak is not a ship

(34:02) The Guardians of Life book

(39:50) Credits

Mongabay newswire editor Shreya Dasgupta joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail her new three-part miniseries, Wild Frequencies, produced in collaboration with the Mongabay India bureau.

Dasgupta details her journey with Mongabay-India senior digital editor Kartik Chandramouli. They travel the country speaking with researchers, listening and studying to the sounds produced by bats, Asian elephants, sarus cranes, wolves and many other animals. The emerging field for which this study is named, bioacoustics, is helping researchers lay foundational knowledge crucial for conservation measures.

Listen to the miniseries on the ‘Everything Environment’ podcast or by clicking the links below:

Wild Frequencies: Find Them

Wild Frequencies: Know Them

Wild Frequencies: Us and Them

Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday, and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.

Image Credit: An Indian flying fox (Pteropus giganteus). Image by sunnyjosef via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Time Codes

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(00:00) Enter: Bioacoustics

(02:51) What Is the New 'Newswire' Service at Mongabay?

(05:50) What is Wild Frequencies?

(08:45) Going a Little Batty

(17:59) The Complicated Lives of Sarus Cranes

(21:44) Animal 'Societies' We Don't Normally Hear In Cities

(30:07) Credits

Scientists described Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) over 10 years ago, a pathogen that causes the deadly disease chytridiomycosis which is currently devastating salamanders and frogs around the world, contributing to a global amphibian decline.

But thanks to a successful cross border (U.S., Mexico & Canada) effort to keep it out, it has yet to arrive in North America: the Bsal Task Force is made up of scientists from each nation using education, outreach, science and policy to keep the disease from reaching the continent.

Founding task force co-chair Deanna Olson of the U.S. Forest Service joins the podcast to discuss its successes, lessons learned that can help managers prevent other wildlife disease outbreaks, and the challenges that lie ahead.

To learn more about Bsal and the task force, please see Mongabay's six-part podcast series, published in 2020 on Mongabay Explores:

Podcast: International task force unites North America to protect salamander diversity

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website under "Podcasts" or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones. Search "Mongabay Newscast."

Image: A fire salamander in Normandy, France. Image by William Warby viaCreative Commons license.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(03:05) What is Bsal?

(05:57) The Bsal Task Force Assembles

(08:02) On the Hunt for a Silent Killer

(17:49) The Team Behind the Scene

(21:36) Lessons Learned and Broader Implications

(25:30) Community Involvement and Cultural Significance

(29:08) Policy Gaps and Biosecurity Challenges

(40:56) Scientific Innovations and Experimental Approaches

(48:14) Not "If" But "When"

(50:58) Credits

U.S. states such as Vermont and Massachusetts are cutting thousands of acres of forest for solar power projects, despite the fact that this harms biodiversity and degrades ecosystems' carbon sequestration capacity.

Journalist and author Judith Schwartz joins the Mongabay Newscast to speak with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about the seeming irony of cutting forests for renewable energy, and why she says states like hers are 'missing the plot' on climate action: she lives near a forest in southwestern Vermont where a company has proposed an 85-acre project that would export its electricity 100 miles south, to customers in Connecticut.

A recent report found that such deforestation in nearby Massachusetts is unnecessary to meet that state's clean energy commitments, and would be better achieved by using already developed land like rooftops and parking lots, instead of farms or forests.

Yet the acreage lost to solar energy projects in Massachusetts since 2010 has already released the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than 100,000 cars.

Read Judith Schwartz's commentary for Mongabay about this situation here.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *

Listen to the entire conversation on the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get your podcasts from.

If you want to support the podcast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: An array of ground mounted solar panels. Image by Derek Sutton via Unsplash

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(03:09) The Irony of Clearing Forests for Renewable Energy

(10:19) AI and Data Centers Increasingly Demand More Energy

(16:24) Forests and Heat Mitigation

(25:46) Community Awareness and Action

(35:10) Credits

Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo's reforestation project in Niger was failing – with 80% of his planted saplings dying – until he stumbled upon a simple solution in plain sight: stumps of previously cut trees trying to regrow in the dry, deforested landscape.

The degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could encourage to grow and reforest the landscape, something he refers to as 'an invisible forest in plain view.'

Today, the technique known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is responsible for reforesting six million hectares in Niger alone.

Rinaudo speaks with Rachel Donald on Mongabay's podcast about his journey implementing this technique and its massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems.

Read more about FMNR at Mongabay, here.

*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *

Love our podcasts? Please share them with a friend!

If you want to support the podcast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: Results of Farmer Natural Regeneration in Luhundwa, Tanzania, from 2019 – 2022. Photo courtesy of LEAD Foundation.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:43) The Concept of FMNR

(04:42) Underground Forests & Hidden Potential

(07:33) Roadblocks and Revelations in Niger

(14:00) The Social and Environmental Benefits of FMNR

(20:28) Regenerating Earth's Degraded Land

(25:11) "We don't have centuries to make a change."

(30:59) The Power of a Social Movement

(42:41) Undeployed Solutions

(47:55) Credits

The premier of the Malaysian state of Sarawak recently announced new dam projects on three rivers in Borneo without the informed consent of local people.

The managing director of the Sarawak-based NGO SAVE Rivers, Celine Lim, joins the podcast to discuss with co-host Rachel Donald how these potential dam projects could impact rivers and human communities in Borneo. She also reflects on lessons learned from a recent visit with Indigenous communities in California, who successfully argued for the removal of dams on the Klamath River and are now restoring its floodplain.

She says her community relies on the Tutoh River for food and transport, so the announcement “definitely threw the community into a frenzy because no one knew of this plan before the announcement.”

Read the full story from Danielle Keeton-Olsen and view footage of the guest's trip to California with the Borneo Project here at Instagram.

Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image Credit: A man steers his motorboat near Long Moh village on August 26, 2023. The village is located along the Baram River. Image by Danielle Keeton-Olsen for Mongabay.

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Timecodes

(00:00) Introduction

(02:36) A lack of consultation

(10:05) Legal rights and UNDRIP

(13:42) Impact of hydropower projects on Sarawak

(20:39) A relationship with the river

(27:58) Solidarity and solace on the Klamath River

(33:10) Breaking down the cognitive dissonance

(43:16) Credits

Last year, Mongabay launched a brand-new bureau dedicated to covering the African continent daily in French and English. The team is led by veteran Cameroonian journalist David Akana, who chats with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about the importance of covering the African continent and why news that happens there is of keen interest to audiences worldwide.

Akana details his team's coverage priorities, including solutions-oriented stories, which he says are vital to delivering a fair picture of the continent.

"The bottom line here is that whatever happens – whether it's in the business of forests [or] biodiversity or climate change in the Congo Basin [it] has linkages to anywhere else in the world," he says.

View all of Mongabay Africa’s coverage at its website, here.

Read a related Q&A with David Akana here.

Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: David Akana giving an interview at COP 28 in Dubai, UAE. Image courtesy of David Akana.

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Timecodes

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:18) David's Journey to Mongabay

(00:06:28) Focus Areas of Mongabay Africa

(00:10:46) Challenges in African Media Coverage

(00:12:09) A Multilingual Reporting Strategy

(00:15:27) Engaging With African Audiences

(00:18:46) Making An Impact in the Congo Basin

(00:22:40) Importance of Congo Basin Coverage

(00:26:16) Future Vision for Mongabay Africa

(00:29:40) Why Everyone Should Be Reading African News

(00:33:23) David's Favorite Spot In Nature

The biotic pump theory has been controversial in the climate science community ever since Anastassia Makarieva and Victor Gorshkov published their paper about it to the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics in 2010.

If true, the theory sheds light on how the interior forests of vast continents influence wind and the water cycles that supply whole nations, flipping traditional hydrological and atmospheric science on its head.

Anastassia Makarieva joins this episode to discuss the theory and its implications for future climate modeling with co-host Rachel Donald.

Want more? Read a related Amazon-specific interview with Makarieva and Antonio Nobre here.

Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!

And if you really enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep the show growing. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet, and all support helps!

See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.

Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].

Image: Physicist Anastassia Makarieva co-developed the biotic pump theory of how forests direct the movement of moisture. Image ZED/Grifa Filmes.

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Timecodes

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:41) Understanding the Biotic Pump Theory

(00:09:38) Tipping Points

(00:15:31) The Climate Regulating Function of Ecosystems

(00:25:51) Lagging Behind the Data

(00:33:20) Building a Different Climate Model

(00:41:04) Addressing the Controversy

(00:45:41) Territory, Boundaries and Water

(00:52:13) Credits