A Slight Digression: Invertebrates
Invertebrates. Gutless, spineless– but perhaps underappreciated invertebrates. We probably don’t spend enough time thinking about that other category of organisms on earth, so on this episode we’re...
View ArticleHistory is a Mess
The very idea of an Anthropocene suggests that the world is changing faster than ever before. And a growing number of historians, archeologists, and geologists are looking at our modern world in the...
View ArticleHidden Water
Most of the changes scientists see on our planet are either visible to the naked eye or directly measurable. But changes to our water systems are among the most difficult to see. In this episode, we...
View ArticleSeeds of Change
At the dawn of the agricultural revolution, humans began to tinker with our seeds. Over millennia, we’ve managed to breed plants for selective traits and grow more food. As certain crops now dominate...
View ArticleThe Stakes
Climate change is one of the many defining characteristics of the Anthropocene. But it’s about more than greenhouse gases, energy consumption, and rising temperatures. Climate matters because of the...
View ArticleWhat Went Wrong in Rondônia
In the late 1970′s, tens of thousands of Brazilian agricultural workers found themselves out of work due to technological advances on farms. To combat the problem, the government, with help from the...
View ArticleThe Evolution of Fire
Fire is evolving. The three necessary ingredients for fire – heat, fuel, and oxygen – each appeared at different times in geological history, meaning that fire wasn’t always around on Earth’s surface....
View ArticleThe Soundtracker
Listen up, because you never know when a sound will change your life. Acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton tells us the story of how he became “The Soundtracker,” an unorthodox career choice that has led...
View ArticleLearning to die in the anthropocene
Does climate change mean the end of civilization? Maybe that sounds crazy, but, then again, all the forecasts are deeply sobering. There are reasons for hope, sure, but there are also reasons to...
View ArticlePreparing for Paris
When the Conference of the Parties meets in Paris in the coming weeks, it will mark the 21st time the nations of the world have met to try to strike a deal to combat climate change. Given existing...
View ArticleThe Big Data of Nature
As we hear over and over again, environmental issues are mounting, and the stakes are huge. So how might big data be used to tackle the issues of sustainability, climate change, habitat loss, and...
View ArticleVanishing Remains
Student reporter Reade Levinson travels to Mongolia in hopes of witnessing a practice known as sky burial, in which bodies of the dead are prepared for the afterlife. But as Reade learns in her...
View ArticleScars of the past
Beneath Cambodia’s troubled history with the Khmer Rouge lies a complex agricultural legacy that reaches back centuries. Once the symbol of a thriving region, we see how a prolonged El Nino brought...
View ArticleThe Planet Remade
In 2011, author and editor Oliver Morton wrote a cover article for “The Economist” titled: Welcome to the Anthropocene. Many credit this article with jumpstarting popular interest in the term. On...
View ArticleThe Ecosystem Within
The microbiome is the term doctors use to describe the countless organisms each one of us carries in and on our bodies. In the last few years there’s been an explosion of research around how the gut...
View ArticleInside the Cloud
A core tension at the center of many environmental debates has to do with our relationship to technology. After all, the environmental movement that arose in the 1960s was propelled by a desire to “get...
View ArticleThe Nature of Disney
Disney movies have captured the imaginations of children and adults for decades. The endearing characters, the colorful landscapes, and the epic tales of heroism carry a sense of wonder and...
View ArticleRare Earth Elements
“Oil is the blood; steel is the body; but rare earth elements are the vitamins of a modern society.” While many of us can’t even pronounce elements such as praseodymium, yttrium, or gadolinium, these...
View ArticleLivelihoods, Poverty, and Climate Risk
Perhaps you’ve noticed recently that there’s been a shift in way experts are approaching climate change. While much of the focus (rightly) continues to be on “bending the CO2 curve downward,” there’s...
View ArticleNo Ordinary Garbage
Trash. Garbage. Refuse. Waste. Call it whatever you like, this is the stuff we deal with everyday that we no longer want in our lives. It’s not that it has no value; it actually has negative value....
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