Houston and Nature – Details, episodes & analysis

In the previous episode we traveled back to a time when the Pineywoods featured mammoths and saber toothed tigers. Then we worked our way forward through the arrival of the first humans and their indigenous successors.

Today we’ll pick up the story at the arrival of first Europeans. Conservationist Jim Neal will tell us what the European presence meant - not only for the region’s native inhabitants but also for the flora and fauna of the Pineywoods.

The Pineywoods is a forested area in Eastern Texas and in the West Gulf Coastal Plain (a very wide stretch of Gulf coast that extends from the Mississippi all the way to the Lower Rio Grande Valley). To Houstonians the Pineywoods is just a day trip away.

Today conservationist Jim Neal introduces us to the region. He tells us of its trees and of Caddo Lake, which is the only natural lake in Texas. Then he takes us back in time to the Pleistocene, when a huge ice sheet covered North America and the wooly mammoth roamed the coastal plain. What was the region like, back then? What did it take for the regions early humans to succeed? Jim Neal has answers.

Each human being is host to a microbiota, an ecosystem made up of trillions of bacteria that inhabit the surfaces and crevices of our body and especially the insides of our large intestine. In this episode we’ll look at the ecology inside our gut, where bacteria are on a constant quest to feed and multiply, while bacteriophages scheme to snatch their minuscule bodies for their own reproductive purposes.

Our guide is molecular biologist Dr. Laura Bridgewater. She’ll tell us how our microbiota influences our weight, our health, and even our personality. Believe me - it’s a zoo down there!

In his book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,”  Microsoft founder Bill Gates proposes a global – yes, world-wide – solution to climate change.

That’s ambitious. Does he succeed? Find out from this conversation with environmental attorney Tom Campbell, who played a key role in resolving the infamous Exxon Valdez crisis.

This is part 2 of a two-part interview.

In his book “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates proposes a global – yes, world-wide - solution to climate change.

That’s ambitious. Does he succeed? Find out from this conversation with environmental attorney Tom Campbell, who played a key role in resolving the infamous Exxon Valdez crisis.

This is part 1 of a two-part interview.

Former Congress member Beto O’Rourke knows Texas like no other. That’s because he’s visited every single one of its 254 counties – listening, debating, and campaigning for the U.S. Senate.

In this interview he shares what the geography and landscape of Texas means to him, what its needs are, and how he would like us to protect it.

Even though squirrels are a very visible form of Houston wildlife, we know little about them. Were you aware, for instance, that their brain shrinks and increases in size with the seasons, and that far from being pests, they are crucial to forest ecosystems?

Kelsey Low of the Houston Arboretum has studied our squirrels in depth. She'll tell you what's cool about them and what they do to survive. Most importantly, she'll make you appreciate these little rodents in an entirely new way.

For transcripts and other resources, visit https://houstonnature.com/houston-squirrels or https://houstonnature.com/11

Boy Scouts of America promises young men, and now also women, exciting nature experiences and preparation for life as adults.

Do they live up to the promise? What’s it like to grow up among the Scouts? Is being an Eagle Scout really as special as some people say?

For answers to those questions I turned to Eagle Scout James Sy, who gave me his unvarnished view on the good, the bad, and the great about being a member of Boy Scouts of America.

Find episode transcript and resources at: https://houstonnature.com/9

When it comes to drawing children and teenagers into nature, Mary Ann Beauchemin of Russ Pitman Park is an expert. After earning a Master’s degree in outdoors education in Oregon, she taught generations of young Houstonians how to turn over logs, use bug boxes and marvel at critters. And in the process she bolstered their other skills, from poetry and sketching to the scientific method.

Here she explains why it is so important to introduce children to the outdoors at an early age and describes her best strategies for doing so.

Find episode transcript and resources at https://houstonnature.com/9

Exploration Green is a beautiful park in flood-prone Clear Lake. The Green functions as a giant detention pond. But it is so much more: a space that welcomes wildlife, a refuge from the hustle of city life, an opportunity for volunteers to make friends and learn about nature.

My guest is Jerry Hamby, a lead volunteer at Exploration Green. He tells us how this park has come about, why it means so much to him, and why he will leave it in just a short period of time.

For show notes and transcript, go to https://houstonnature.com/8