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Unintended Consequences
Unintended Consequences episodes
- Ep 149: Wolves entering 29 Wisconsin counties cut deer-vehicle collisions by about 24 percent.Wolves entering 29 Wisconsin counties cut deer-vehicle collisions by about 24 percent.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the winter of 2009, a radio-collared wolf crossed a county road in northern Wisconsin and paused to scent-mark a stretch of pavement that also served as a deer travel corridor. Within two years, local deer began shifting their movement patterns away from that same stretch. ...Sources: theatlantic.com · arstechnica.com · pnas.org · pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · sciencenews.org · eurekalert.org · web.archive.org · onlinelibrary.wiley.comAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page📬 Get the sources and notes by email, free: join the newsletter🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.10 min
- Ep 148: In 1988, the Philippine law meant to redistribute 4,900 hectares of Hacienda Luisita…In 1988, the Philippine law meant to redistribute 4,900 hectares of Hacienda Luisita instead let owners keep control through shares.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn June 1988, Congress passed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law to transfer large estates to the families who tilled them. On the Cojuangco family’s Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, a stock-distribution plan approved the next year gave farmworkers shares instead of title to the land. ...Sources: docslib.org · ideas.repec.org · gov.ph · ang-kaalaman.com · lawphil.net · jur.ph · elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph · lis.dar.gov.phAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.🎬 Watch on YouTube (public from 7:00 PM ET): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa-L5OiuZtYIf this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page📬 Get the sources and notes by email, free: join the newsletter🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.11 min
- Ep 147: Thirty-eight Dutch Large Coppers released at Woodwalton Fen in 1927 required annual…Thirty-eight Dutch Large Coppers released at Woodwalton Fen in 1927 required annual captive releases for over sixty years.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the summer of 1928 more than a thousand adult Large Coppers flew across the sedge and pools of Woodwalton Fen. Capt. E.B. Purefoy had brought thirty-eight Dutch butterflies to the site the year before and planted their foodplant, great water dock, in advance. ...Sources: learnbutterflies.com · dispar.org · ukbutterflies.co.uk · archive.org · sciencedirect.com · conservationevidence.com · greatfen.org.ukCorrection to episode 146: This episode said corn prices rose roughly 30 percent between 2008 and 2016 as ethanol demand grew. They did not: U.S. corn prices climbed to a peak in 2012 and then fell, and the 2016 season-average price was below the 2008 level. The ethanol mandate's effect on prices is a modelled counterfactual, not an observed rise over that span.AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page📬 Get the sources and notes by email, free: join the newsletter🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.13 min
- Ep 146: The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard expanded U.S. corn area by 2.8 million hectares, raising…The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard expanded U.S. corn area by 2.8 million hectares, raising nitrate flows into the Gulf.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the spring of 2008, farmers across Iowa and Illinois prepared fields for record corn plantings after Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act the previous December. Policymakers had intended the expanded Renewable Fuel Standard to cut oil imports and lower tailpipe emissions by blending more corn ethanol into gasoline. ...Sources: pnas.org · govinfo.gov · epa.govAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page📬 Get the sources and notes by email, free: join the newsletter🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.11 min
- Ep 145: Thirty-two major dams on the Tigris and Euphrates reduced the flood pulses that fed Iraq's…Thirty-two major dams on the Tigris and Euphrates reduced the flood pulses that fed Iraq's Mesopotamian marshes.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the early 2000s, Landsat images showed the vast reed beds and shallow lakes of southern Iraq reduced to cracked salt flats dotted with dead fish and abandoned buffalo. ...Sources: mdpi.com · wired.com · researchgate.net · earthobservatory.nasa.gov · svs.gsfc.nasa.gov · press.un.org · wedocs.unep.orgAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.12 min
- Ep 144: Seventy percent of Strait of Georgia coho catch came from hatcheries by 2001 despite lower…Seventy percent of Strait of Georgia coho catch came from hatcheries by 2001 despite lower survival than wild fish.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the early 2000s, biologists sampling coho salmon in the Strait of Georgia found that seven out of every ten fish carried a hatchery mark. The Salmonid Enhancement Program, launched in 1977 to increase overall abundance for fishers and coastal communities, had produced exactly that numerical success. ...Sources: onlinelibrary.wiley.com · publications.gc.ca · searanching.org · pac.dfo-mpo.gc.caAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.10 min
- Ep 143: Over twenty million flex-fuel vehicles earned CAFE credits yet used almost no E85 because…Over twenty million flex-fuel vehicles earned CAFE credits yet used almost no E85 because stations stayed scarce.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn 2014, more than twenty million flex-fuel vehicles sat in American driveways, each one built with a special credit that let its manufacturer meet fuel-economy rules without burning a single gallon of E85. The Alternative Motor Fuels Act of 1988 had offered those credits to push ethanol into the market and cut oil imports. ...Sources: congress.gov · governorsbiofuelscoalition.org · epa.gov · afdc.energy.gov · ecfr.gov · eia.gov · nhtsa.govAI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.16 min
- Ep 142: In 1883 seventy-two mongooses released on one island to protect sugarcane also began…In 1883 seventy-two mongooses released on one island to protect sugarcane also began preying on ground-nesting Hawaiian birds.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenSugar planters on the Hāmākua Coast of Hawaiʻi Island watched rats strip their cane fields in the early 1880s until whole sections became unharvestable. They responded by ordering small Indian mongooses from Jamaica, hoping the animals would hunt the rodents the way they had in Caribbean plantations. ...AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.12 min
- Ep 141: James Watt's engine used one-third the coal of Newcomen engines but raised Britain's coal…James Watt's engine used one-third the coal of Newcomen engines but raised Britain's coal consumption many times over.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn 1769 James Watt patented a separate condenser that let a steam engine do the same work on roughly one-third the coal the older Newcomen design required. Mine owners who installed the new engines watched their fuel bills drop sharply. ...AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a_YYcQeIj8If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.11 min
- Ep 140: For every 100 acres idled by the Conservation Reserve Program, farmers converted 20 acres…For every 100 acres idled by the Conservation Reserve Program, farmers converted 20 acres of other land to crops.Segment 1 — The Cold OpenIn the central United States during the late 1980s, a federal contract paid a farmer to stop planting on one field so the soil could rest and erosion would slow. On a neighboring parcel that same farmer still owned, new ground was cleared and planted instead. ...Correction to episode 139: This episode said the Argentine government licensed the Patagonian toothfish fishery off South Georgia and that Argentine-flagged boats worked it. South Georgia is a British Overseas Territory; its fishery is licensed by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands under CCAMLR rules, not by Argentina. The episode also said the licences cut orca calf survival there. We could not find a source for that finding and the episode cited none, so treat the case as unsupported.AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.If this episode was useful, a rating or a short review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is how the next listener finds the show — and following it in your app means the next episode is there when you are.📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.15 min
About Unintended Consequences
From the publisher's feed
Every day, one true story of good intentions gone sideways. From cobra bounties in colonial Delhi to recommendation algorithms, each episode follows a single case through the original idea, how it rolled out, the unintended fallout, and the lessons that still apply — told with empathy for the people who tried.
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.