Mongabay Newscast – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

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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

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

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 submissions@mongabay.com.

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

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 submissions@mongabay.com.

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

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 submissions@mongabay.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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