Planet: Critical

One of the greatest challenges we face when tackling the polycrisis is understanding and applying a diversity of approaches. This means recognising the solutions are as complex as the crisis itself. There is no singular, simple answer.

Accepting the ecosystem of solutions we need to implement also comes with accepting both unknown variables and the fact that different people are going to attempt different things—but each attempt is valid, and potentially plays a significant role in the bigger picture. A diversity of approaches demands a diversity of understanding. It also demands accepting we’re not always going to agree with how some choose to fight the battle.

Asher Miller, CEO of Post Carbon Institute, joins me to discuss this very problem on today’s episode. He explains the role the Institute has played in pointing out the severity of the crisis, the dangers of oversimplifying or universalising responses, and how to apply systems thinking to creating complex solutions—and just how tough that can be.

* Listen on Apple or Spotify

* Watch on Youtube

* Read the interview transcript

* Bonus video out on Monday

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today.

Coastal cultures have often enjoyed abundant lifestyles thanks to the wide array of food, fiber, and other useful resources provided by the world's seas, sounds, estuaries and oceans. Indigenous peoples have also developed strong marine conservation traditions and ingenious methods of ensuring sustainable long-term harvests through practices commonly called 'aquaculture' today.

On this episode we hear from Nicola MacDonald about Kōhanga Kūtai, a project in New Zealand that aims to replace the plastic ropes used by mussel farmers with more sustainable alternatives. MacDonald tells us about the project's basis in blending traditional Maori knowledge with Western science.

We also speak with Dana Lepofsky, a professor in the archaeology department at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Lepofsky tells us about her research into clam gardens on the Pacific coast of North America, some of which have been found to be as much as 3500 years old.

These clam gardens are such a reliable and sustainable source of food that there’s a movement afoot today to rebuild them.

Resources & reading:

• ‘We have a full pharmacopoeia of plants’: Q&A with Māori researcher Nicola Macdonald

• The Clam Garden Network website

Hear our conversation with Dune Lankard of the Native Conservancy about their kelp aquaculture project in Alaska on episode #137 or here: 

• "Podcast: Kelp, condors and Indigenous conservation"

Episode artwork: Green-lipped mussels are endemic to New Zealand and are commonly grown in aquaculture operations. Image courtesy of Adrian Midgley via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

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“Too many cooks spoil the broth.” That’s the old adage—but could the opposite be true when it comes to politics?

Researchers and writers Susan Clark and Tom Prugh say so. Their research into deliberative democracies show that inviting local communities to take responsibility for local governance improves engagement, depoliticises debate, and achieves excellent results. And the best thing about it? The more people see their impact in the community, the more responsibility they take—creating even better results every time.

What’s even more exciting is the deliberative democracy model scales up. It may not be “fast”, like the political processes we live in today, but it might just be the model we need to empower citizens to confront the climate crisis and hold their leaders to account.

* Listen on Apple or Spotify

* Watch on Youtube

* Read the interview transcript

* Bonus video out on Monday

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today.

'Rewriting Extinction' is a new conservation funding group trying to reach fresh audiences that has so far raised $180,000 for projects in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Critics of the organization say 'Rewriting Exctinction' has made exaggerated claims about what it can, or has, achieved. Some experts say the effort should still be applauded.

This episode features the popular article "Can celebrities and social media influencers really 'rewrite extinction'?" by James Fair: https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/can-celebrities-and-social-media-influencers-really-rewrite-extinction/

Please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast wherever they get podcasts, or download our free app in the Apple App Store or in the Google Store to have access to our latest episodes at your fingertips.

If you enjoy this series, 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: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Photo Credit: Art for Rewriting Extinction created by mxvisoor.

Please send feedback to [email protected], and thank you for listening.

From the global financial crash in 2008 to Arab Springs in 2011 to the rise of authoritarian regimes climaxing in the election of a fake-tanned despot to the White House and a compulsive liar buffoon in Downing Street, the past decade and a half has seen the unravelling of political, financial and ecological stability.

What was the first domino?

Academic, documentarian and author, Rupert Russell, thinks we can blame prices. Rupert spent the past few years tracking how speculative markets and the resulting volatility in prices have exacerbated and even caused much of the crises we see around the world.

He joins me to explain how the coffee crash in Guatemala led to the U.S border crisis, how the Arab Springs were caused by a spike in wheat prices, and how the physical effects of the climate crisis are driving vulnerable people into market climate wars, dictated by the speculative whims of bankers in the West.

* Listen on Apple or Spotify

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* Read the interview transcript

* Bonus video out on Friday

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today.

Joining us first to discuss agroecology as a science, a practice, and a movement is Dr. Maywa Montenegro, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Then host Mike G. speaks with iconic Indian scientist, activist and Right Livelihood Award winner Dr. Vandana Shiva, whose brand new book, Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture: Sustainable Solutions for Hunger, Poverty, and Climate Change, synthesizes decades of agroecology research and implementation. She's also the founder of Navdanya, which is both an agroecology center and a global food sovereignty movement.

Dr. Shiva shares how agroecology is an effective solution not just to climate change but also for a host of other ecological crises we’re facing, such as water scarcity, land degradation, nutrition and biodiversity loss.

Further reading:

• ”From traditional practice to top climate solution, agroecology gets growing attention” by Anna Lappé 

• "Transitioning to sustainable agriculture requires growing and sustaining an ecologically skilled workforce," Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 96. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00096

Episode artwork: Dr. Vandana Shiva, photo by Kartikey Shiva.

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, news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].

We’re living in the anthropocene — a geological period defined by the impact of human activity on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. Essentially, it’s our behaviour that’s at the root of the problem. But so often this isn’t addressed as the root. Our economic system claims tech will save us from ourselves—but imagine we do find a silver bullet, do we have the social cohesion in place to implement that solution, or any?

That’s what Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at Post Carbon Institute, joins me to discuss. Richard’s devoted his life to understanding the crisis and its solutions, authoring 14 books and hundreds of articles on the topic. Richard’s a big picture thinker, and he believes it is our behaviour and our current political division which is the real threat to climate progress.

We discuss energy rationing, political division, the effect of increasing economic inequality, and the knowledge gap between the public and leaders.

* Listen on Apple or Spotify

* Watch on Youtube

* Read the interview transcript

* Bonus video out on Friday

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today.

On March 24th, Indonesia's Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced the birth of a new female Sumatran rhino calf at the SRS captive breeding facility at Way Kambas National Park in Indonesia's Lampung province. 

For this bonus episode of Mongabay Explores, we speak with senior staff writer for Indonesia, Basten Gokkon. He explains the significance of this event, the difficulty in breeding Sumatran rhinos, and what this birth means for the future of this critically endangered species.

If you missed the ten part series of Mongabay Explores Sumatra, you can find them via the podcast provider of your choice, or locate all episodes of the Mongabay Explores podcast on our podcast homepage here. 

Related Reading:

• It’s a girl: Super rare Sumatran rhino born in captive-breeding center

Episode Artwork: Rosa and her child. Image courtesy of Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry.

Please invite your friends to subscribe to Mongabay Explores wherever they get podcasts.  If you enjoy our podcast content, 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: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok by searching for @mongabay.

Feedback is always welcome: [email protected].

Degrowth is making waves in academic and climate circles. Not only does the research field provide genuine hope for a more equitable and environmental future, but its advocates are hellbent on revealing the incorrect math, manipulated data and idiotic assumptions propping up capitalism’s regime. They’re debunking the myth of green growth.

Ecological Economist, Tim Parrique, the lead author of ‘Decoupling Debunked’ joins me this week to explain how neoliberal ideologies have co-opted the climate movement by promoting “green growth”.

He exposes the language and mechanisms economists and politicians use to lull the public into a false sense of security, gives a damning analysis of decoupling (believe me, you need to know this), drops a bombshell about the IPCC report, and puts to bed the argument that growth on a finite planet could be a good thing.

This is a brilliant episode building on Jason Hickel’s Introduction to Degrowth a few weeks ago. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube tomorrow, and this week everyone has access to the interview transcript.

© Rachel Donald

Planet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today.

It's a really busy time of year for birds all over the world as they migrate and prepare for a new breeding season, so on this episode we discuss the amazing fierceness and beauty of birds, why they deserve your interest and attention, plus some recent research and avian conservation trends in Nepal.

We welcome back the incomparable and award-winning author Sy Montgomery, whose most recent books are all about our avian friends: The Hawk’s Way: Encounters With Fierce Beauty, which is now in stores, and also 2021's The Hummingbird’s Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal On Wings.

In her signature & wonder-rich way, Montgomery shares some of the truly amazing things learned from personal experiences with falconry and hummingbird rehabilitation, and discusses why we find birds so fascinating.

Host Mike G. also speaks with Mongabay staff writer Abhaya Joshi about the birdlife in his country of Nepal, a new bird-counting app that’s sparking newfound interest there, and some of the most recent conservation actions being taken in the country to protect birds.

Hear Sy Montgomery's previous appearance on this show here (or search for episode #37 in your podcast app):

• “Podcast: Exploring the minds and inner lives of animals”

Further reading about Nepal's birdlife by Abhaya Joshi:

• “Bird-counting app kindles interest in Nepal’s rich avian life”
• “Nepal’s first bird sanctuary takes flight, raising hope for conservation”
• “Study: Farmland birds in Nepal, India in dire need of conservation action”

Episode artwork: Fiery-throated hummingbird at Paraiso del Quetzal, Costa Rica, by Joseph C Boone via Wikimedia Commons.

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, news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay.

Please share your thoughts and ideas! [email protected].