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Humans tend to think that our intelligence is the most distinguishing trait of our species. Collectively our intelligence has given us god-like powers. But what exactly is intelligence, and how did it evolve? How do we measure intelligence in other species, and how might we use that information to protect organisms in the wild? Joshua Plotnik is a professor at Hunter College in New York, and he's part of a community of researchers who are re-examining some of these fundamental questions. Josh is also developing techniques to use measures of animal intelligence in order to test novel strategies for conservation.
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The tone around conservation is often pretty heavy and it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair. But maybe there are opportunities in the world of conservation that we are not fully taking into account. The truth is, organisms and ecosystems have built-in defense mechanisms to respond to rapid change that might just be the secret to combatting the negative effects of the Anthropocene.
In his new book, The Rescue Effect, author Michael Webster explores the many ways in which nature is responding to disruption. And what he details has big implications for how we think about evolution and how we conserve and protect species.
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Today's episode is a cross-promotion with the Planet Texas podcast. We are featuring the first episode of the series.
The Ogallala Aquifer is the biggest aquifer in North America, and it accounts for more than 30 percent of all agriculture in the United States. And… it’s running out of water. Climate change is making the naturally hot and dry climate of the Texas Panhandle even worse. Farmers are working desperately to keep their crops alive, and the secret to survival is adaptability.
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As a species, our intelligence is probably the single most important quality that sets us apart from every other organism that has ever lived. But it’s not so much our abilities as individuals, but rather it’s our collective and accumulated knowledge. All of the drivers of the Anthropocene are only possible because of our capacity to transfer knowledge down through generations. So when exactly did that process begin? When did we start to behave in a way that was fundamentally “human,” and can we shine light on the process of intergenerational knowledge transfer? Professor April Nowell is a cognitive archeologist at the University of Victoria who studies the lives of Ice Age children. In this conversation she helps us hone in on some of the key moments in the deep past where humans started acting in a fundamentally new way, and began to set the stage for growing into a geologic force.
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What the subcultures of Preppers can teach us about preparing for environmental destruction.
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On today’s episode we’re bringing you something special and a little different: A science fiction short story. It’s weird, and cool, and is, in a way, very much about the Anthropocene. Anyway, it’s fun! Written and sound designed by Brandon Buerk with help from Jackson Roach, and read by Nick Weiler.
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Today's episode is a cross-promotion with a new podcast by Michael Osborne called Famous and Gravy.
This person died in 2013 at age 95. His given name translates colloquially as “troublemaker.” The question most often asked about him was how, after all he’d been through, he could be so evidently free of spite. In 1956, he was arrested on charges of treason. He was a symbol of the opposition to apartheid in South Africa. Today’s dead celebrity is Nelson Mandela.
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It's hard to avoid the sense of despair that surrounds the story of climate change – and for that matter the story of the Anthropocene. It can all feel so hopeless. So, who is responsible for the weight of these feelings? What responsibility lies with the scientists and journalists who are bringing us the hard truth? Elizabeth Kolbert is one of the premier science journalists living today, and in this conversation she confronts that question head on. And, of couse, we also talk about the Anthropocene.
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For as long as climate change has been an issue, the Evangelical Christian community has generally either downplayed the threat, or denied it altogether. In the last decade, however, more and more Evangelicals are coming around, and are even voicing support for meaningful action. So what's changed? In this episode, Kyle Meyaard-Schaap offers some ideas for why this shift is happening, and how climate change and Christian values aren't as disparate as they might seem.
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With his landmark book, The End of Nature, Bill McKibben was one of the first journalists to start writing about climate change for a mass audience. He's since become one of the most prominent American environmentalists of our time. With his most recent endeavor, Third Act, he's trying to mobilize the older generation that drove the political and social change of the 1960s. This episode, published on Earth Day 2022, marks the 10 year anniversary of Generation Anthropocene.
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In the late 1970s, in a neighborhood just downstream from Niagara Falls, an environmental disaster slowly came to light. In so many ways, it turned out to be a true life horror story. And, as it turns out, the story of the Love Canal also has a lot to teach us about the environmental crises we face today. In his new book, Paradise Falls, author Keith O'Brien chronicles the activists and scientists who raised the alarm to the highest levels of corporate and political power. This is a must read (and a must listen) for environmental scientists and activists everywhere.
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It's sometimes hard to square Darwinian evolution with the major religions of the world. According to Professor Bron Taylor, if you take our current scientific understanding of biological interconnectedness, and combine it with the reality of the global environmental crises, what you get is a whole new spirituality that is taking shape before our eyes. He has a term for this emerging phenomenon: Dark Green Religion.
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The history of disease is really a story about humankind’s ever-changing relationship to the natural world. All of the momentous events in human history— the acquisition of fire, the development of farming, the Columbian exchange, rapid industrialization, and accelerated globalization— all coincide with exposure to emerging new diseases. In a way, the Covid-19 pandemic is a reminder that pathogens will always evolve alongside us, and, in fact, infectious diseases can shine a light on the complexity of our behavior as a species. In his new book, Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History, Professor Kyle Harper takes us through each stage of human history, and shows just how infectious diseases have shaped us in ways we’ve never imagined.
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Humans have been shaping the course of evolution for a long time, but with today's gene editing technologies our power to determine the fate of life on Earth is reaching new levels. With the extinction crisis looming, should we use these new editing tools to rescue threatened organisms? Are we playing god? In her new book, Life As We Made It, Beth Shapiro helps us understand our long history exerting evolutionary pressure, the state of the science, and the ethical questions confronting conservationists today.
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All around the globe, biologists are discovering that organisms are ALREADY responding to climate change. They're moving, adapting, evolving, taking refuge – the whole darned thing is more unpredictable than we could've imagined. Climate change biology is here. Super weird, kind of a bummer, but also at times pretty fascinating. Stay curious, my friends!
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What happens to Earth's biology when we heat up the planet? Weird stuff, that's what. For example, everything gets smaller. As in shrinkage. Weird, right? We talk to Jen Sheridan in this conversation about why warming = smaller.
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Sometimes it seems like the only reason we haven't had meaningful action on climate change is because of the decades-long effort to mislead the public. But is that true? Just how important is climate denialism? In this 3rd installment of our explainer series, Aaron Strong helps us tackle that thorny question.
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Cows are...a problem. Especially when it comes to global warming. With an assist from Zeke Hausfather, In this installment of our explainer seires we do our best to answer (quickly) why exactly cows and beef are such a big deal.
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In this first in our new explainer series, we dive into the origins of the number 2 degrees C. How did that number come to be an international target, and what's its significance anyway? Professor Aaron Strong of Hamilton College explains.
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We all kinda know that the global waste stream is a crazy big problem, but, in terms of just bottom line dollars, most of the time we don’t think about what waste COSTS. So, where might there be big opportunities today to totally rethink everything we throw away? In today’s episode, Ron Gonen answers that question and paints a picture of the past, present, and future of waste in America.
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