Episodes
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“Legal personhood” and laws regarding the “rights of nature” are being trialed in nations worldwide, but whether they lead to measurable conservation outcomes is yet to be seen, says environmental economist Viktoria Kahui. Still, she says on this episode of the Mongabay Newscast that she’s very hopeful about them.
There’s a global debate surrounding these laws’ efficacy as a tool for conservation, and growing uneasiness about how they may impose a Western viewpoint upon something as inherently complex and extralegal as nature. Some critics argue that such a concept not only transcends the legal system but also cannot be subjected to it without harming the people and places these laws are intended to empower.
Yet Kahui argues that there’s potential for rights-of-nature laws to develop in context-dependent scenarios, where humans can advocate on behalf of nature in places like Ecuador, which she says is a particularly powerful example.
Read more about legal personhood and the rights of nature here:
Is ‘legal personhood’ a tool or a distraction for Māori relationships with nature?
New guidebook supports U.S. tribal nations in adopting rights-of-nature laws
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Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.
Image Credit: Blue water of the Quinault river, Olympic Rainforest. Image by Rhett Butler.
Time Codes
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(00:00) Introduction
(00:58) The global debate on rights of nature
(03:52) Can these laws protect biodiversity?
(07:58) Challenges for legal personhood
(14:10) The advantage of using rights of nature
(24:21) Philosophical qualms with anthropocentric laws
(28:55) How laws can shape our relationships with nature
(33:00) The 'big possibility'
(40:56) There's no silver bullet
(44:01) Credits
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Homeowners and towns along the U.S. East Coast are increasingly building “living shorelines” to adapt to sea level rise and boost wildlife habitat in a more economical and less carbon-intensive way than concrete seawalls. These projects protect shorelines using a clever mix of native plants, driftwood, holiday trees, and other organic materials.
Peter Slovinsky, a coastal geologist with the Maine Geological Survey, joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the benefits of living shorelines, how they are implemented in his state, and what other techniques coastal communities should consider in a world with a warming climate and rising seas.
Read Erik Hoffner’s original reporting on living shorelines here.
Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.
Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.
Image Credit: Salt tolerant plants are part of a ‘living shorelines’ project on the Blue Hill Peninsula in Maine. Image by Erik Hoffner for Mongabay.
Time Codes
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(00:00) Introduction
(02:19) What is a “living shoreline?”
(04:55) Green over gray
(13:06) How to make a “living shoreline”
(18:59) Case studies and urban applications
(24:50) Adaptation methods that deserve more consideration
(31:13) Reconsidering retreat
(32:48) The geologist’s greatest fears and biggest hopes
(39:35) Credits
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Missing episodes?
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The current clade of H5N1 or bird flu is an "existential threat" to the world’s biodiversity, experts say. While it has infected more than 500 bird and mammal species on every continent except Australia, the number of human infections from the current clade (grouping) 2.3.4.4b is still comparatively small. U.S. dairy workers have recently become infected, and the virus could easily mutate to become more virulent, our guest says.
Joining the Mongabay Newscast to talk about it is Apoorva Mandavilli, a global health reporter for The New York Times. Mandavilli details what virologists and experts know about the human health risks associated with this latest clade, what nations are doing (or not doing) to help contain its spread, and why. She also details how environmental degradation and industrial agriculture help create the conditions for outbreaks like this to occur.
Read Sharon Guynup’s reporting on it here.
Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.
Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.
Image Credit: Highly pathogenic avian influenza killed thousands of black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) chicks in the Falkland Islands and Islas Malvinas, where two-thirds of the entire population lives. Image © Julia Emerit and Augustin Clessin.
Time Codes
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(00:00) Introduction
(02:44) The evolution of H5N1
(05:47) Clade 2.3.4.4b
(08:21) Challenges in monitoring the spread
(11:10) What are the human health risks?
(16:34) A spotlight on industrialized animal agriculture
(18:26) A vaccination strategy?
(20:05) What lessons are we learning from other pandemics?
(23:08) The degradation of nature and the frequency of disease outbreaks
(25:57) Credits
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Top National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan joined the show to discuss traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and why Indigenous communities are the world’s most effective conservationists.
Yüyan spoke about this with us in March 2023 and we're sharing the episode again after it recently won a 'Best coverage of Indigenous communities' prize from the Indigenous Media Awards.
While the National Geographic version of "Guardians of Life" is now published, the collaboration between Gleb Raygorodetsky and Yüyan will be published in book form in 2025. Sign up at Raygorodetsky's website here to be notified when it’s out.
Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.
*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets atthis link. To get $10 off, use the promo code C1PARTNER. *
Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.
Image Credit: With a dip net, Karuk fisherman Ryan Reed searches for Chinook salmon under the watchful eye of his father, Ron, on California's Klamath River at Ishi Pishi Falls in October 2020. The Reeds caught no fish in stark contrast to earlier times. Before California became a state, the river saw about 500,000 salmon each fall, but last year just 53,954 mature Chinook swam up, a 90 percent decline. The nation now restricts salmon fishing to Ishi Pishi Falls, but with the slated removal of four dams, the Karuk hope the salmon will return. Image (c) Kiliii Yuyan.
Time Codes
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(00:00) Indigenous peoples: the world's best conservationists
(02:31) Who are the Guardians of Life?
(07:30) Some of Kiliii's favorite memories
(10:39) 'People are not separate from nature'
(18:04) 'Two-eyed seeing': combining Western and Indigenous science
(23:30) Advice from an Indigenous storyteller
(27:26) The Impact of storytelling
(30:52) A kayak is not a ship
(34:02) The Guardians of Life book
(39:50) Credits
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Mongabay newswire editor Shreya Dasgupta joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail her new three-part miniseries, Wild Frequencies, produced in collaboration with the Mongabay India bureau.
Dasgupta details her journey with Mongabay-India senior digital editor Kartik Chandramouli. They travel the country speaking with researchers, listening and studying to the sounds produced by bats, Asian elephants, sarus cranes, wolves and many other animals. The emerging field for which this study is named, bioacoustics, is helping researchers lay foundational knowledge crucial for conservation measures.
Listen to the miniseries on the ‘Everything Environment’ podcast or by clicking the links below:
Wild Frequencies: Find Them
Wild Frequencies: Know Them
Wild Frequencies: Us and Them
Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.
*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday, and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *
Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website, or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones.
Image Credit: An Indian flying fox (Pteropus giganteus). Image by sunnyjosef via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Time Codes
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(00:00) Enter: Bioacoustics
(02:51) What Is the New 'Newswire' Service at Mongabay?
(05:50) What is Wild Frequencies?
(08:45) Going a Little Batty
(17:59) The Complicated Lives of Sarus Cranes
(21:44) Animal 'Societies' We Don't Normally Hear In Cities
(30:07) Credits
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Scientists described Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) over 10 years ago, a pathogen that causes the deadly disease chytridiomycosis which is currently devastating salamanders and frogs around the world, contributing to a global amphibian decline.
But thanks to a successful cross border (U.S., Mexico & Canada) effort to keep it out, it has yet to arrive in North America: the Bsal Task Force is made up of scientists from each nation using education, outreach, science and policy to keep the disease from reaching the continent.
Founding task force co-chair Deanna Olson of the U.S. Forest Service joins the podcast to discuss its successes, lessons learned that can help managers prevent other wildlife disease outbreaks, and the challenges that lie ahead.
To learn more about Bsal and the task force, please see Mongabay's six-part podcast series, published in 2020 on Mongabay Explores:
Podcast: International task force unites North America to protect salamander diversity
Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website under "Podcasts" or download our free app for Apple and Android devices to gain instant access to our latest episodes and all of our previous ones. Search "Mongabay Newscast."
Image: A fire salamander in Normandy, France. Image by William Warby viaCreative Commons license.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(03:05) What is Bsal?
(05:57) The Bsal Task Force Assembles
(08:02) On the Hunt for a Silent Killer
(17:49) The Team Behind the Scene
(21:36) Lessons Learned and Broader Implications
(25:30) Community Involvement and Cultural Significance
(29:08) Policy Gaps and Biosecurity Challenges
(40:56) Scientific Innovations and Experimental Approaches
(48:14) Not "If" But "When"
(50:58) Credits
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U.S. states such as Vermont and Massachusetts are cutting thousands of acres of forest for solar power projects, despite the fact that this harms biodiversity and degrades ecosystems' carbon sequestration capacity.
Journalist and author Judith Schwartz joins the Mongabay Newscast to speak with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about the seeming irony of cutting forests for renewable energy, and why she says states like hers are 'missing the plot' on climate action: she lives near a forest in southwestern Vermont where a company has proposed an 85-acre project that would export its electricity 100 miles south, to customers in Connecticut.
A recent report found that such deforestation in nearby Massachusetts is unnecessary to meet that state's clean energy commitments, and would be better achieved by using already developed land like rooftops and parking lots, instead of farms or forests.
Yet the acreage lost to solar energy projects in Massachusetts since 2010 has already released the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than 100,000 cars.
Read Judith Schwartz's commentary for Mongabay about this situation here.
*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *
Listen to the entire conversation on the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get your podcasts from.
If you want to support the podcast, 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: An array of ground mounted solar panels. Image by Derek Sutton via Unsplash
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(03:09) The Irony of Clearing Forests for Renewable Energy
(10:19) AI and Data Centers Increasingly Demand More Energy
(16:24) Forests and Heat Mitigation
(25:46) Community Awareness and Action
(35:10) Credits
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Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo's reforestation project in Niger was failing – with 80% of his planted saplings dying – until he stumbled upon a simple solution in plain sight: stumps of previously cut trees trying to regrow in the dry, deforested landscape.
The degraded land contained numerous such stumps with intact root systems, plus millions of tree seeds hidden in the soil, which farmers could encourage to grow and reforest the landscape, something he refers to as 'an invisible forest in plain view.'
Today, the technique known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is responsible for reforesting six million hectares in Niger alone.
Rinaudo speaks with Rachel Donald on Mongabay's podcast about his journey implementing this technique and its massive potential to help tackle biodiversity loss and food insecurity through resilient agroforestry systems.
Read more about FMNR at Mongabay, here.
*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *
Love our podcasts? Please share them with a friend!
If you want to support the podcast, 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: Results of Farmer Natural Regeneration in Luhundwa, Tanzania, from 2019 – 2022. Photo courtesy of LEAD Foundation.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:43) The Concept of FMNR
(04:42) Underground Forests & Hidden Potential
(07:33) Roadblocks and Revelations in Niger
(14:00) The Social and Environmental Benefits of FMNR
(20:28) Regenerating Earth's Degraded Land
(25:11) "We don't have centuries to make a change."
(30:59) The Power of a Social Movement
(42:41) Undeployed Solutions
(47:55) Credits
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The premier of the Malaysian state of Sarawak recently announced new dam projects on three rivers in Borneo without the informed consent of local people.
The managing director of the Sarawak-based NGO SAVE Rivers, Celine Lim, joins the podcast to discuss with co-host Rachel Donald how these potential dam projects could impact rivers and human communities in Borneo. She also reflects on lessons learned from a recent visit with Indigenous communities in California, who successfully argued for the removal of dams on the Klamath River and are now restoring its floodplain.
She says her community relies on the Tutoh River for food and transport, so the announcement “definitely threw the community into a frenzy because no one knew of this plan before the announcement.”
Read the full story from Danielle Keeton-Olsen and view footage of the guest's trip to California with the Borneo Project here at Instagram.
Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!
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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image Credit: A man steers his motorboat near Long Moh village on August 26, 2023. The village is located along the Baram River. Image by Danielle Keeton-Olsen for Mongabay.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:36) A lack of consultation
(10:05) Legal rights and UNDRIP
(13:42) Impact of hydropower projects on Sarawak
(20:39) A relationship with the river
(27:58) Solidarity and solace on the Klamath River
(33:10) Breaking down the cognitive dissonance
(43:16) Credits
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Last year, Mongabay launched a brand-new bureau dedicated to covering the African continent daily in French and English. The team is led by veteran Cameroonian journalist David Akana, who chats with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about the importance of covering the African continent and why news that happens there is of keen interest to audiences worldwide.
Akana details his team's coverage priorities, including solutions-oriented stories, which he says are vital to delivering a fair picture of the continent.
"The bottom line here is that whatever happens – whether it's in the business of forests [or] biodiversity or climate change in the Congo Basin [it] has linkages to anywhere else in the world," he says.
View all of Mongabay Africa’s coverage at its website, here.
Read a related Q&A with David Akana here.
Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!
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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: David Akana giving an interview at COP 28 in Dubai, UAE. Image courtesy of David Akana.
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Timecodes
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:02:18) David's Journey to Mongabay
(00:06:28) Focus Areas of Mongabay Africa
(00:10:46) Challenges in African Media Coverage
(00:12:09) A Multilingual Reporting Strategy
(00:15:27) Engaging With African Audiences
(00:18:46) Making An Impact in the Congo Basin
(00:22:40) Importance of Congo Basin Coverage
(00:26:16) Future Vision for Mongabay Africa
(00:29:40) Why Everyone Should Be Reading African News
(00:33:23) David's Favorite Spot In Nature
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The biotic pump theory has been controversial in the climate science community ever since Anastassia Makarieva and Victor Gorshkov published their paper about it to the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics in 2010.
If true, the theory sheds light on how the interior forests of vast continents influence wind and the water cycles that supply whole nations, flipping traditional hydrological and atmospheric science on its head.
Anastassia Makarieva joins this episode to discuss the theory and its implications for future climate modeling with co-host Rachel Donald.
Want more? Read a related Amazon-specific interview with Makarieva and Antonio Nobre here.
Love this conversation? Please share it with a friend!
And if you really 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: Physicist Anastassia Makarieva co-developed the biotic pump theory of how forests direct the movement of moisture. Image ZED/Grifa Filmes.
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Timecodes
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:02:41) Understanding the Biotic Pump Theory
(00:09:38) Tipping Points
(00:15:31) The Climate Regulating Function of Ecosystems
(00:25:51) Lagging Behind the Data
(00:33:20) Building a Different Climate Model
(00:41:04) Addressing the Controversy
(00:45:41) Territory, Boundaries and Water
(00:52:13) Credits
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Burning wood to generate electricity – ‘biomass energy’ – is increasingly used as a renewable replacement for burning coal in nations like the UK, Japan, and South Korea, even though its emissions are not carbon neutral.
On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, reporter Justin Catanoso details how years of investigation helped him uncover a complicated web of public relations messaging used by industry giants that obscures the fact that replanting trees after cutting them down and burning them is not carbon neutral or renewable and severely harms global biodiversity, and forests.
Catanoso lives near biomass industry giant Enviva in North Carolina and has reported on their practices extensively, including the claim that they only use sustainable wood waste in their product, which his investigation disproved. Though it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, it remains the single largest producer of wood pellets globally.
“When those trees get ripped out, that carbon gets released. And that comes before we process this wood and ship it…then we burn it and don't count those emissions. This is just [an] imponderable policy,” he says in this episode.
Read Justin's coverage of the UK biomass firm Drax and their attempt to open two large wood pellet plants in California to ship 1 million tons annually to Japan and South Korea, where they will be burned in converted coal plants.
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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: Wood pellets for biomass energy. Image courtesy of Dogwood Alliance.
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Timecodes
(00:00:00) Introduction to Biomass and Carbon Emissions
(00:03:08) Understanding the problems with biomass fuel
(00:08:18) Clear-Cutting in North Carolina and British Columbia
(00:12:48) Physics Doesn't Fall for Accounting Tricks
(00:19:55) Understanding the Arguments from the Industry
(00:25:30) Picking Apart the Logic
(00:28:26) Why We Don't Have Long-term Solutions
(00:34:27) Overcoming an Impossible Situation
(00:39:55) Post-chat
(00:49:28) Credits
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Putting a dollar amount on a single species, or entire ecosystems, is a contentious idea, but in 2023, the New York Stock Exchange proposed a new nature-based asset class which put a price tag on global nature of 5,000 trillion U.S. dollars.
This financialization of nature comes with perverse incentives and fails to recognize the intrinsic value contained in biodiversity and all the benefits it provides for humans, argues Indigenous economist Rebecca Adamson, on this episode.
Instead, she suggests basing economies on principles contained in Indigenous economics.
"The most simple thing would be to fit your economy into a living, breathing, natural physics law framework. And if you look at Indigenous economies, they really talk about balance and harmony, and those aren't quaint customs. Those are design principles," she says.
Hear a related Mongabay podcast interview on the connection between nature and financial systems with author Brett Scott, here. We also recently spoke with National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yuyan about what Indigenous knowledge has to offer conservation, here.
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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: The doll orchid. Image courtesy of Bhathiya Gopallawa.
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(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:01:30) The Financialization of Nature
(00:07:35) Indigenous Economic Principles
(00:14:04) Can Putting a Price on Nature Save it?
(00:27:15) Redistribution and Reciprocity
(00:33:15) The Ubiquity of Violence
(00:38:37) The Wealth Gap and Its Implications
(00:41:31) The Power of Shareholder Activism
(00:44:36) Indigenous Economic Systems and Modern Applications
(00:51:57) A Critical Analysis of the Financialization of Nature
(01:00:27) Religious Perspectives on Environmental Awareness
(01:04:24) Credits
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Two experts join the Mongabay Newscast to discuss the decline in koala populations in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), even as city councils and the government green light development projects on koala habitats that aren't being replaced by biodiversity offset schemes, ecologist Yung En Chee of the University of Melbourne, explains.
Meanwhile, the promised Great Koala National Park has been delayed by NSW Premier Chris Minns, even as his state allows logging of koala habitat within the park borders while he tries to set up a carbon credit scheme to monetize the protected area, says journalist Stephen Long with Australia Institute.
“I'm not sure how long this failure has to persist before we decide that we really ought to change course,” says Chee of the biodiversity credit schemes, which seem to be based on outdated data, and don’t come close to satisfying their ‘no net loss’ of biodiversity goals.
See related coverage: How a conservation NGO uses drones and artificial intelligence to detect koalas that survive bushfires, here.
If you want to read more on biodiversity offsetting and 'no net loss,' please read this resource from the IUCN.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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Please send your ideas and feedback to [email protected].
Image: Gumbaynggirr Country is home to the dunggiirr, the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), one of the totem animals for the Gumbaynggirr people. Koalas numbers are estimated to be in the tens of thousands in the state of New South Wales. Image by Steve Franklin via Unsplash (Public domain).
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(01:34) The Koala Crisis in New South Wales
(04:33) Where is the Great Koala National Park?
(06:39) Logging Activities and Government Delays
(09:53) The Problem with Carbon Credits
(16:46) Interview with Yung En Chee
(18:38) Biodiversity Offsets: Concept and Criticism
(20:15) Failures in Biodiversity Offset Implementation
(31:23) Double Dipping and Offset Market Issues
(35:22) Conclusion
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On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Rachel Donald speaks with campaigner and activist Jon Moses about the ‘right to roam’ movement in England which seeks to reclaim common rights to use private and public land to reconnect with nature and repair the damage done from centuries of exclusionary land ownership.
In this discussion and the new book Wild Service: Why Nature Needs You he's co-edited with Nick Hayes, Moses recounts the history of land ownership change in England ('enclosure') and why re-establishing a common ‘freedom to roam’—a right observed in other nations such as the Czech Republic or Norway—is needed. English citizens currently only have access to 8% of their land, for example.
“There needs to be a kind of rethinking really of [what] people's place is in the landscape and how that intersects with a kind of [new] relationship between people and nature as well,” he says on this episode.
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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: Participants of the 'Love Your River' event on the River Derwent. Image courtesy of Jon Moses.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:19) The 'Right to Roam'
(06:06) The historical context of 'enclosure'
(13:42) The modern struggle to reclaim access to nature
(27:49) Cross cultural perspectives, and breaking the barriers
(38:32) Post-chat
(50:19) Credits
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On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, we speak with a co-founder of the award-winning Canadian nonprofit news outlet ‘The Narwhal,’ Emma Gilchrist.
She reflects on Canada’s unique natural legacy, her organization's successes, the state of environmental reporting in the nature-rich nation, how she sees ‘The Narwhal’ filling the gaps in historically neglected stories and viewpoints, and why something as universally appreciated as nature can still be a polarizing topic.
She also details a legal battle her organization is involved in that could have significant implications for press freedom in Canada.
If you enjoy the 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: Bow Lake in Banff, Canada. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:30) The mission and impact of 'The Narwhal'
(05:16) The Canadian environmental paradox
(24:40) Fighting for press freedom
(29:31) An uncertain political landscape
(34:50) Post-chat: independent outlets make waves
(45:58) Credits
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In recognition of her leadership and advocacy, Indigenous Wirdi woman Murrawah Maroochy Johnson has been awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize.
She joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss a landmark victory for First Nations rights in Australia, led by her organization Youth Verdict against Waratah Coal, which resulted in the Land Court of Queensland recommending a rejection of a mining lease in the Galilee Basin that would have added 1.58 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere over its lifespan.
The court case set multiple precedents in Australia, including being the first successful case to link the impacts of climate change with human rights, and the first to include on-Country evidence from First Nations witnesses.
If you enjoy the 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: 2024 Goldman Prize winner Murrawah Maroochy Johnson. Photo courtesy of Goldman Environmental Prize.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:51) An unprecedented victory
(05:33) Including on-Country evidence
(16:17) Future legal implications
(20:34) Challenges of navigating the legal system
(26:14) Looking to the future
(28:16) Credits
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Indigenous rights advocate and executive director of SIRGE Coalition, Galina Angarova, and environmental journalist/author of the Substack newsletter Green Rocks, Ian Morse, join us to detail the key social and environmental concerns, impacts, and questions we should be asking about the mining of elements used in everything from the global renewable energy transition to the device in your hand.
Research indicates that 54% of all transition minerals occur on or near Indigenous land. Despite this fact, no nation anywhere has properly enforced Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocols in line with standards in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Further, local communities too seldom benefit from their extraction, while suffering their consequences in the form of reduced air and/or water quality.
This conversation was originally broadcast on Mongabay's YouTube channel to a live audience of journalists but the conversation contains detailed insight and analysis on a vital topic listeners of the Newscast will appreciate. Those interested in participating in Mongabay's webinar series are encouraged to subscribe to the YouTube Channel or sign up for Mongagabay's Webinar Newsletter here.
If you enjoy the 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: A symbol for a renewable charging station. (Photo courtesy of Nicola Sznajder/Flickr)
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:57) Why are they called 'transition minerals?'
(07:04) Geopolitical tensions and complications
(16:04) Realities of mining windfalls
(26:30) Cartelization concerns
(32:50) Environmental and human rights impacts
(39:46) Reporting on Free Prior and Informed Consent
(46:49) Recycling
(54:45) Additional Indigenous rights concerns
(57:04) Certification schemes and community-led mining initiatives
(01:03:22) Deep-sea mining
(01:09:21) Credits
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On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, journalist Dahr Jamail joins co-host Rachel Donald to discuss the ways many international conflicts are based on resource scarcity.
Notable as an unembedded reporter during the US-led Iraq invasion, Jamail expands on the human and ecological costs to these conflicts, the purported reasons behind them, how those justifications are covered in the media, and the continued stress these conflicts put on society.
"There was a saying a ways back by Lester Brown [who] said 'land is the new gold and water is the new oil.' And I think that that perspective is really kind of driving what we're seeing," Jamail says.
If you enjoy the 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: A U.S. Army soldier watching a burning oil well at the Rumaila oil field in Iraq in April 2003. Image by Arlo K. Abrahamson/DoD via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(01:57) From Alaska to Iraq
(10:59) Resource scarcity and the geopolitics of war
(29:31) New horizons and new tensions
(35:09) Post-show discussion
(50:05) Credits
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On today's episode, climate activist and founder of the non-profit Force of Nature, Clover Hogan, details list of challenges activists face both from outside and within their movements.
Not only do environmental activists face growing legal and physical threats across the globe, they are also vulnerable to burnout, exhaustion, and ridicule as they navigate a host of other social challenges while doing this work that is poorly compensated.
Hogan speaks with co-host Mike DiGirolamo about these challenges and the way forward for more inclusive movements while navigating the noise:
“It's no accident that we spend so much of our time thinking about our individual lifestyles and not thinking about how [to] actually hold these systems accountable,” she says.
Attention, Google Podcasts users—although that podcast provider is being closed by Alphabet, which is moving all podcasts to its YouTube Music service—you can find our show via any of the podcast apps, so please find and follow the Mongabay Newscast via any of those to not miss an episode!
If you enjoy the show, 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, mongabay.com, or follow Mongabay on any of the social media platforms for updates.
Image credit: Clover Hogan speaking in Paris, France. Photo courtesy of Clover Hogan.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Introduction
(02:10) Force of Nature
(05:36) The challenges activists face
(08:52) The myth of 'perfection'
(16:50) Hostile environments
(25:59) The most surprising 'confessions' of a climate activist
(32:51) Throwing soup on paintings: helpful or harmful?
(39:49) 'Hope' is a verb
(43:53) Climate activism is an intersectional movement
- Show more
