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In the early 2020s, many conservation-related organizations seem to have accelerated their promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as reckoning with their racist origins. The University of Puget Sound recently made the decision to remove the name "Slater'' and give back the original name of their natural history museum. Furthermore called Puget Sound Museum of Natural History, the institution calls this out as "an important step in acknowledging the often problematic figures intertwined in natural history museums and ensuring our museum is an inclusive space for all." My guest on this show, Grace Maria Eberhardt is a PhD student at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign studying the history of science and race. She led the movement to remove the name "Slater" from the Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound, where she earned her B.S. in Biology and African American Studies, and Bioethics emphasis in 2020.

This episode contains discussion of sterilization, which includes involuntary or coerced removal of a person's ability to reproduce; murder by police; selective breeding of humans for the improvement of human race; and, genocide.

Puget Sound Museum of Natural History website and @pugetsoundmuseum post about renaming

The History of Eugenics at Puget Sound and Beyond

Chang-Yoo, Albert. University tackles ugly history in Slater Museum renaming. University of Puget Sound's The Trail. May 13, 2022

Hodder, Sam. "Reckoning with the League Founders' Eugenics Past." Save the Redwoods League Blog (2020)

King 5 News. University of Puget Sound removes name of professor from on-campus museum. May 23, 2023

Miriti, Maria N., Ariel J. Rawson, and Becky Mansfield. "The history of natural history and race: Decolonizing human dimensions of ecology." Ecological Applications 33.1 (2023): e2748.

Wohlforth, Charles. "Conservation and eugenics." Orion Magazine (2010).

Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. University of Puget Sound to remove name of eugenics professor from museum. Seattle Times. May 19, 2023.

Music from the show TrackTribe & Dyalla

Despite rapid environmental change, the foremost approach to ecological restoration is to find the elusive, historically-appropriate reference ecosystem as the target of ecosystem recovery. But, the emergence of novel ecosystems beckons new ecological science and political ecology as surprising species' relationships flourish out of dramatic anthropogenic change. There has been (maybe there still is) a debate within ecological restoration about both the existence of and how to restore ecosystems that some people think have crossed thresholds with no historical analog. Ecosystems that have 'tipped' or exhibit 'new' nature challenge our training and ecological theories while eliciting perspectives on what we value and respect, such as biodiversity and access.

Mel PIneda-Pinto explores nature-based solutions, with a particular focus on issues of justice in ecosystems often overlooked and found in interstitial spaces, sometimes characterized as ruderal, wild, wastelands or unintentional. She is currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College Dublin on the project NovelEco in which they are co-designing an online citizen science tool to better understand novel ecosystems in cities. Mel has experience in social research methods, inter-transdisciplinary collaboration, systems thinking and exploring human-nonhuman nature interactions. Previous architectural and planning experience in the industry and not-for-profit sectors gave her skills in design, project management, stakeholder engagement, and technical abilities. Her research interests include urban ecological sustainability, urban ecology, social-ecological-technical systems, environmental and ecological justice, transformative capacity, sustainability, climate and just transitions, environmental and multispecies planning/design.

Connect with Novel Eco https://noveleco.eu and on Twitter @NovelEco

Pineda-Pinto, Melissa, et al. "Finding justice in wild, novel ecosystems: A review through a multispecies lens." Urban Forestry & Urban Greening (2023): 127902.

Gandy, Matthew. "Unintentional landscapes." Landscape Research 41.4 (2016): 433-440.

Hobbs, Richard J., et al. "Novel ecosystems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order." Global ecology and biogeography 15.1 (2006): 1-7.

Kowarika, I. "Novel urban ecosystems, biodiversity, and conservation." Environmental Pollution 159.8/9 (2011): 1974-1983.

Music from the show Quincas Moreira, Slynk, and TrackTribe

Renata Poulton Kamakura reminds us of the importance of nearby nature and the power in community that orbits around urban ecology. Renata is a PhD student at Duke University's Clark Lab, a NatureNet science fellow, and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

Renata's current work is mostly within the realm of urban ecology. They have authored and collaborated on published research focused on the pace of tree migration and invasion in tallgrass prairies. Also, tree fecundity related size and age as well as indirect climate effects. Long story short, I also know Renata because they have some insights on phenology, growth, mortality and local adaptation of Pacific madrone. I cherish their contribution to the body of thought about madrone as well as their efforts at applying emergent strategy and expanding the possibilities for healthier urban forests in community with our neighbors.

More about Renata and their current research on Duke University website https://sites.duke.edu/renatakamakura

Kamakura, R. P., DeWald, L. E., Sniezko, R. A., Elliott, M., & Chastagner, G. A. (2021). Using differences in abiotic factors between seed origin and common garden sites to predict performance of Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii Pursh). Forest Ecology and Management, 497, 119487.

From treating ash trees to neighborhood outreach to petitions, residents rally to protect the urban forest. Chicago Tribune. June 12th, 2022.

'Urban areas are stressful': Ecologist shares how to help trees thrive amid city life. Spectrum News. March 23, 2022.

The reimagine restoration store is now up! https://treehuggerpod.creator-spring.com | enter code REIMAGINE for 10% off until end of January 2023

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The music for the show you heard from Gunnar Olsen, Riot, MK2l, and Bad Snacks

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Some species walk into our spaces, uninvited – they don't belong. They can be trees we bring from the homeland to plant, insects that show up through international trade, or fish we stock for sustenance. However, when they liberate themselves from cultivation, they are portrayed as a potential threat to the economy or even challenge our conceptions of wild nature. This is a short presentation recorded in advance of the Partners in Community Forestry Conference that came to Seattle, hosted by Arbor Day Foundation. There is a growing underflow of writing and thought surfacing that grinds against the dominant thinking about how we not only talk about, but treat, our more than human relations. The words we use express our values, and are a portal to change how we treat the trees we do not think belong in our Landscapes. Organizing around "Just Language" is key first step to applying a lens of love, compassion and harm reduction to the practice of ecological restoration. The invitation is "What is the role for invasive species and what might they have to share for us?"

Weekend Update: A Spotted Lanternfly on Being an Invasive Species - SNL https://youtu.be/K_x4soinsRQ

Arbor Day Foundation Video of Just Language About "Invasive" Species Presentation Just Language in Ecology Education https://justlanguage.org

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Dr. Elies Gornish is an early career leader in the fields of arid land restoration and weed management and has published over 60 papers. Recently, she just self-published "A Kids Guide to Ecological Restoration," what she believes is the first children's book on ecological restoration. Gornish is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration at the University of Arizona. The Gornish Lab focuses on developing practical strategies for effective restoration of dry land systems in the Southwest. She is also passionate about STEM inclusion and in 2018 become the Director of UA GALS (Girls on outdoor Adventure for Leadership and Science). This new program focuses on providing science learning and leadership opportunities to traditionally underserved female high school students through backcountry programming.

Elise Gornish profile | Gornish Lab | twitter

A Kids Guide to Ecological Restoration

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Laura J. Martin is a historian and ecologist who studies how people shape the habitats of other species. She is author of Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration. One will also find articles of hers in journals such as Environmental History and Science as well as featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times. She is currently an environmental studies professor at Williams College and now with the publication of Wild by Design in the rearview mirror, Laura is not digging into a global history of hormonal herbicides.

Laura builds on scholarship that meets at the intersection of environmental history and science and technology studies. This blending of the sciences and the humanities s so essential. Wild by Design provides this crosswalk between various aspects of restoration.

Laura J. Martin | historian and ecologist who studies how people shape the habitats of other species

Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration is available from your local bookseller | Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

"The Women Who Saved Wildflowers," Sierra Magazine, June 2, 2022

"Earth Day is a Chance to Win the Messaging War Against Polluters," The Washington Post, April 23, 2022

"Is Humanity Doomed? That Depends On Us," Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2022

The music for the show you heard from MK2, Astron and Noir Et Blanc Vie.

It takes a community to keep a podcast going. Donate to the show @myadrick via Paypal and Venmo and CashApp

Music on the show was from Twin Musicom, Bad Snacks, Text Me Records

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My guest on this show is mother and grandmother, Renate Rain. She is the convener and healer behind the Puget Sound Plungers and certified Deliberate Cold Exposure guide. Renate described herself as just a person looking for relief from chronic pain problem when she slipped into the cool waters of Puget Sound. Alleviating pain came along with an ever-growing community she didn't even know she needed.

What is Puget Sound and how cool is it? Puget Sound is a "sound" of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. The cool measurement is an average annual temperature of about 10° C (50° F). Cool, clean water is the lifeblood of this complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with myriad connections to the open Pacific Ocean.

Puget Sound Plungers on Facebook and Instagram

Puget Sound Institute Salish Sea | Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Huberman Lab (2022). Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance. Podcast and YouTube. April 4.

Quantum Biology Collective https://www.quantumbiologycollective.org/

Morozko Forge https://www.morozkoforge.com/

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Music on the show was from MK2, Astron and Noir Et Blanc Vie

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This is the episode where we discuss Indigenous Science with Binnizá & Maya Ch'orti' scholar Dr. Jessica Hernandez. Dr. Hernandez is a transnational Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. Her work is grounded in her Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing with a background that ranges from marine sciences, land restoration, environmental physics and justice.

Currently, one can find her completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Washington Bothell, a Climate Justice Policy Strategist at the International Mayan League and the Environmental Justice Representative on the City of Seattle's Urban Forestry Commission.

Dr. Hernandez has been finding her way in academia and academy hasn't always embraced her ways of knowing and engaging with Western science. She has published some inspiring articles and is recent author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes with Indigenous Science. She weaves powerful personal stories and family histories that expand our conception of Indigeneity while centering ecofeminist voices of women, non-binary relationships and protectors of lands and waters.​ It also blends sharp and cogent critiques of western conservationism while also offering Indigenous models informed by case studies and a framework that elevates Indigenous leadership. Working at the nexus of climate science and justice Jessica tells us she is in the process of writing her second book, Growing Papaya Trees: Nurturing Indigenous Roots of Climate.

Our conversation wanders from talking about her journey to becoming a scientist, supporting Indigenous-led movements that seek self-determination and autonomy, her current research at the intersection of energy and equity, specifically climate science to climate refugees. We also look back at efforts of hers in Seattle that informed her dissertation about Indigenizing Restoration in urban parks.

Doctora Nature Website, Instagram and Twitter

Native Land is an app to help map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages https://native-land.ca

Hernandez, J. (2022) Fresh Banana Leaves - Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science- North Atlantic Books.

Hernandez, J., Meisner, J., Bardosh, K., & Rabinowitz, P. (2022). Prevent pandemics and halt climate change? Strengthen land rights for Indigenous peoples. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(5), e381-e382.

Hernandez, J., & Vogt, K. A. (2020). Indigenizing Restoration: Indigenous Lands before Urban Parks. Human biology, 92(1), 37-44.

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Music on the show was from NEFEX, Yung Logos, and Mini Vandals

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treehugger has bounced from Julia Plevin's offer "what message might invasive species have to share for you" to the Just Language invitation to pay more respect and humility to them. Now Jenny Liou leads us through a critical rethinking of invasive species. This is the episode where we tell shories about identity/politics, our entanglement with weeds, the invasive vs. native ideology and more.

Jenny Liou is an English professor at Pierce College and an avid naturalist and ecological restorationist. She likes thinking and writing about bodies – bodies of thought, the mineral body of the loess-covered plains where she grew up, bodies of water – the rivers along whose banks she has explored the Pacific Northwest and her family's history in China, the body of the Pacific which divides her from that part of her family. She lives and writes near that ocean in Tacoma, Washington.

"Am I an Invasive Species?" in Hight Country News from July 9, 2020

Washington Native Plant Society South Sound Chapter – "The Invasion that Sustains Us: Himalayan Blackberries and Invasive and National Discourses in Native Plant Conservation" https://www.wnps.org/events/1527

Samples of Jenny's work and more on her website https://www.jennyhwayuliou.com

Muscle Memory from Kaya Press https://kaya.com/authors/jenny-liou

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Music on the show was from DJ Freedem, Chris Haugen and DJ Williams.

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Dr. Laura Smith is a geographer at the University of Exeter, U.K. She works across cultural geography and the environmental humanities, with research interests in ecological restoration and rewilding, the history and conservation of U.S. public lands, national parks, American literature, and environmental protest and activism.

Exeter University Profile and Twitter

Her first book, Ecological Restoration and the U.S. Nature and Environmental Writing Tradition: A Rewilding of American Letters, was published earlier this year, on the American environmental writers Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Edward Abbey, looking at how the connections between writers and places, and the texts produced, have helped shape ecological restoration programs. Palgrave Macmillan Amazon.com Barnes & Noble

Dr Smith takes us on an exploration of the entanglements between these famed writers and the places they focused they're writing on presented in her own storying—restorying—restoring framework on early American environmental literature. From her unique perspective, Dr. Smith lays out an intricate human geography that she says lead to and continues to impart "literary interventions in restoration politics." She shows us how these early writings have been used and recycled far and wide by conservationists, activities, policymakers to defend U.S. public lands and ideas about wilderness, restoration and rewilding. The takeaway is that we should pay attention to environmental writing, because it has a powerful role in guiding references for restoration, practice on the ground or contributing to policy debates. These are the legends baked into our origin stories, ethical intentions, organizational missions and politics.

This discussion is an opportunity to crack those letters open again to ponder where we came from collectively and reinvigorate our imaginations about what exactly we are conserving and with whom we are comrades in restoration.

Walden Woods Project: https://www.walden.org

Restore Hetch Hetchy: https://hetchhetchy.org

Aldo Leopold Foundation: https://www.aldoleopold.org

Friends of the Everglades: https://www.everglades.org

Glen Canyon Institute: https://www.glencanyon.org

Penguin Green Ideas book series: https://www.penguin.co.uk/series/grnidea/green-ideas.html

Eden Project: https://www.edenproject.com

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Music on the show was from Cheel Stayloose and DJ Freedem, and DJ Williams.

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