Nature Nuggets

Today Chris Baker interviews Julia Hayes, founder of Moonrise Tattoo Collective in Brooklyn, NYC, and now Little Moon Tattoo here in Kingston NY.

Julia says "My work is influenced by scientific illustration, printmaking, folk art, and the natural environment of my childhood - a rural, coastal area of Northern California. I moved to NYC in 2010, and spent 14 years there, but I still feel most at home amongst the dirt and the sea, and my work is a reflection of my roots. I specialize in illustrative blackwork, primarily natural themes - plants, animals, humans, science and magic."

This episode Chris Baker speaks with the extraordinary local nature artist Zoe Keller! You have to see her work to truly appreciate it! https://www.zoekeller.com/

Art | Artist Zoe Keller uses graphite and digital media to create large-scale, meticulously rendered visual narratives. Placing a special focus on at-risk species and wildlands, Keller weaves drawings that explore the interconnectedness of fragile, vanishing ecosystems. By highlighting the biodiversity at risk in an era of human-driven mass extinction her work aims to inspire reverence for the natural world and action to defend what we have left. Keller's studio work draws upon months of research, collaborations with the scientific community, and on-the-ground experiences in wild places through artist residencies and self-directed expeditions.

Bio | A Woodstock, New York native, Zoe Keller's creative upbringing in the rural Catskills shaped her future as an artist and amateur naturalist. After graduating from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Keller made homes and studios in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, on the rocky Maine coast, in West Michigan's farm country and Eastern Oregon's Wallowa Mountains before finally returning to her hometown. Artist residencies have taken Keller up and down the West Coast from Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve to California's Channel Islands archipelago.

Live from Colombia! Today's special episode is hosted by Duane Martinez in the Radio Kingston studio with regular host Laurel Sutherlin broadcasting from Cali, Colombia, where he is participating in the UN COP16 Biodiversity Summit as part of his role on staff with Rainforest Action Network.

Laurel shares experiences chasing migratory songbirds and encountering many familiar Hudson Valley species in the cloud forests of the Western Andes. He also describes the stakes and opportunities of the Biodiversity Summit, the world's most important treaty aimed at stopping the extinction crisis. Laurel and his team are lobbying country delegates, hosting press conferences, calling BS on corporate-driven false solutions to the crisis and supporting Indigenous allies in protests against corporate rights violators.

WENDY HOLLENDER is a botanical artist, illustrator, author, and instructor. Hollender’s illustrations have been published in worldwide publications. Wendy  is one of the world's leading experts in using colored pencils and watercolor pencils to create detailed botanical drawings and paintings.

This episode features a wonderful conversation with Emily Packer and Josh Margolis, the filmmakers behind Holding Back the Tide, a beautiful, hybrid documentary film viewing the history and ecology of oysters in New York City through a queer, artistic lens. The New York Times film review is titled: A Film That Makes the Stationary Lives of Oysters Into a Wondrous Tale and says “Holding Back the Tide” weaves facts and dreamy moments into an unconventional take on the nature documentary that very much affects humans.

From the film's logline:

This impressionist hybrid documentary traces the oyster through its many life cycles in New York, once the world’s oyster capital. Now their specter haunts the city through queer characters embodying ancient myth, discovering the overlooked history and biology of the bivalve that built the city. As environmentalists restore them to the harbor, Holding Back The Tide looks to the oyster as a queer icon, entangled with nature, with much to teach about our continued survival.

Journey with us deep back into the geologic history of the Hudson Valley and Catskills with Robert and Johanna Titus, the prolific, dynamic duo storytellers behind The Catskill Geologist! The Titus's are scientists, Robert a paleontologist. Johanna biologist. They are journalists, authors, and long-time residents of the Hudson Valley and Catskills. They are authors of several books, including The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age, The Catskills in the Ice Age, and The Catskills: A Geological Guide. They write regular geology columns for regional magazines and newspapers and maintain the blog The Catskill Geologist (thecatskillgeologist.com). We discuss their newest book “The Hudson River Schools of Art and Their Ice Age Origins.”

The Tituses have developed a remarkable ability to reach out to and communicate Catskill geological history to the general public, including through their many articles in Kaatskill Life magazine as well as via hundreds of newspaper columns and walking tours as well. If you love Catskill landscapes, their books will present insights that you will find nowhere else.

The American Chestnut was the most ecologically, economically and culturally important tree across forests from Maine to Georgia - by some estimates comprising a full quarter of the tree cover of the Eastern U.S. - and then, in an ecological instant - it was gone, driven into functional extinction by a foreign blight introduced into New York City. This legendary tree - source of massive quantities of nutritious food and huge amounts of strong, rot-resistant lumber - has all but disappeared from its former range across 20 states. But a band of dedicated visionaries is committed to finding a blight-resistant hybrid that can be returned to the wild once again!

Today's show features Catherine Martini with the American Chestnut Foundation, who takes us on a journey through history as well as shares her organizations 40 year strong vision to resurrect this American icon.

This week Nature Nuggets goes on the road as host Duane Martinez holds it down in the Kingston studio and interviews Laurel Sutherlin who is in New York City organizing events surrounding NYC Climate Week - an annual whirlwind centered around sessions of the UN General Assembly that brings in tens of thousands of politicians, bankers and business people as well as members of global civil society, local grassroots activists and Indigenous delegations.

We discuss efforts to shift global financial flows away from fossil fuels and deforestation and towards a clean energy future, as well as ongoing civil disobedience and direct actions targeting Citibank for its role in driving fossil fuel infrastructure expansion.

We also feature the launch of an incredible new book by Indigenous Waorani leader Nemonte Nenquimo called We Will Be Jaguars (Available for sale here!) which is an inspiring memoir of her people and her journey from her remote village deep into the Ecuadorean Amazon onto the global stage as an advocate for her people who has been named a TIME Magazine 100 Most Influential People as well as winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

This week we dived deep into the intersection of birding, feminism and mindfulness with the awesome Molly Adams - founder of  The Feminist Bird Club  and author of Birding for a Better World: A Guide to Finding Joy and Community in Nature.

Molly founded the Feminist Bird Club in 2016 as a way to leverage both their passion for birds and their passion for social justice into a cohesive whole. Since then, the Feminist Bird Club has expanded to chapters across so-called North America and Europe.

Great conversation about making the benefits of nature accessible to urban communities with Duane Martinez this week!

Duane is an urban planner, community organizer and naturalist and is the Director of the River Cities Program at Scenic Hudson, where he focuses on community based planing that connects people with nature in the cities of Kingston, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. He works with scientist, designers, engineers and artists to provide technical assistance and added capacity to community organizations and local governments.

Scenic Hudson collaborates with community members, municipalities, and partner organizations to deepen relationships between residents and nature in cities. Our practice is rooted in healthy urban ecosystems, equity, fun, and vibrant public spaces that support community well-being in Kingston, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie.

These three communities have flourished in the past as centers of industry, commerce, and culture all set within the natural beauty and bounty of the Hudson River Valley. We want to build on the past, redress historic wrongs, and help these three cities to thrive again, for the benefit of all of their residents.

The River Cities Program strives to: