How the sounds of whales guide conservation efforts
Mongabay Newscast
Biological oceanographer John Ryan joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss his team’s multiyear study that examined vocalizations of baleen whales, including blue (Balaenoptera musculus), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), and how this science is critical for understanding their feeding habits, and thus informing their conservation. The found that these whales’ songs rise and fall with their , which provides valuable insights into how changing ocean conditions can affect their health and guide management measures. “Some of the research we did...
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How a prize-winning project brought saiga antelope back from the brink
Mongabay Newscast
Two decades ago a group of NGOs came together with the government of Kazakhstan to save the dwindling population of saiga antelope living in the enormous Golden Steppe. Since then, the has successfully rehabilitated the saiga (Saiga tatarica) from a population of roughly 30,000 to nearly 4 million. For this effort, it was the 2024 Earthshot Prize in the “protect & restore nature” category. Joining the podcast to discuss this achievement is Vera Voronova, executive director of the , an NGO involved in the initiative. Voronova details the cultural and technological methods used to...
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The impact-driven success of Mongabay’s nonprofit news model
Mongabay Newscast
Media outlets are newsrooms and the audience for traditional news is in , but Mongabay continues to grow thanks to its , nonprofit model. Mongabay's director of philanthropy, , joins the podcast this week to explain the philosophy behind Mongabay's fundraising efforts, why the nonprofit model is essential for impact-driven reporting, and how the organization ensures editorial independence. " Those who fund us and read us, they're really expecting real-world impact and high-quality journalism. So, people are coming back to Mongabay because they're interested in what we're reporting on....
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The climate movement should emphasize humans, not just carbon, Paul Hawken says
Mongabay Newscast
Renowned author, activist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss his new book, , and argues that the jargon and fear-based terms broadly used by the climate movement alienate the broader public and fail to communicate the nuance and complexity of the larger ecological crises that humans are causing. Instead, Hawken argues that real change begins in, and is propelled by, communities: "Community is the source of change, and what we have [are] obviously systems that are destroying community everywhere." The title of Hawken's book, carbon, is also the fourth most...
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Why has Australia paused key environment commitments?
Mongabay Newscast
The Australian government recently key environmental protection commitments indefinitely, including the establishment of an environmental protection agency, and a robust accounting of the nation’s ecological health via an environmental information authority. The latest suspension was announced by the Prime Minister just ahead of a federal election. Australia initially proposed these “nature positive” in 2022 and hosted the first in 2024 to great fanfare, but has not implemented any substantial domestic legislation to overhaul its old environmental laws. Joining the podcast to...
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What environmental history says about our current ‘planetary risk’
Mongabay Newscast
Recent and major shifts in international environmental policies and programs have historical precedent, but the context of global environmental degradation and climate change presents a planetary risk that’s new, say Sunil Amrith. A professor of history at Yale University, he joins this week’s Mongabay Newscast to discuss the current political moment and what history can teach us about it. " When we look at examples from the past, [societies’ ecological impacts] have tended to be confined to a particular region, to those states, and perhaps to their neighbors. Because of where we are...
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How ‘ecological empathy’ can shape a better world
Mongabay Newscast
A new framework for considering the needs of the “more-than-human world” when designing human-made systems is “ecological empathy,” the focus of , founder of , a sustainability consulting firm. Her research, , was published in the journal Ecosystems and People in late 2024, when she was at Arizona State University. She joins the podcast to detail the concept and its potential for reconnecting humans with nature for mutual benefit. "Ecological empathy as I define it [is] essentially a framework of practice for how to use empathy as a guide to connect to the more-than-human world, and...
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Degrowth’s benefits in Barcelona are getting noticed across the globe
Mongabay Newscast
Middle and working-class citizens in nations across the globe are feeling their purchasing power diminish while billionaires historically high levels of wealth. People are looking for economic solutions out of the inequity that are in line with their ecological values and planetary boundaries. "People are really hungry for solutions [and] really hungry to find alternatives," says Alvaro Alvarez, the documentary filmmaker of the new BBC documentary Alvarez joins Mongabay's podcast to detail real-life solutions using the concepts behind “degrowth” in the city of Barcelona, which he...
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How corporations meet their climate targets, on paper
Mongabay Newscast
A in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes there is limited accountability for corporations that fail to achieve their climate change mitigation targets. The analysis shows 9% of company decarbonization plans missed their goals, while 31% “disappeared.” However, 60% of companies met their targets. While this might initially seem like good news, it may not be leading to genuine climate action. This week's podcast guest, , a consultant and researcher for nonprofit organizations in the climate sector, explains that many corporations are not actually decarbonizing their supply chains,...
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Bobcats provide health benefits for ecosystems and humans, but are largely misunderstood
Mongabay Newscast
The bobcat population has over the past century, making it North America’s most common wildcat: as of 2011, there were an 3.5 million bobcats in the United States alone, a significant increase from the late 1990s. These felids, Lynx rufus, have benefited from conservation efforts that have increased their natural habitat. The species also thrives at the edges of towns and cities, where their presence can even reduce the spread of pathogens like Lyme disease that affect people, says podcast guest Zara McDonald, founder of the . McDonald shares her thoughts on how the bobcat manages to...
info_outlineBiological oceanographer John Ryan joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss his team’s multiyear study that examined vocalizations of baleen whales, including blue (Balaenoptera musculus), humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), and how this science is critical for understanding their feeding habits, and thus informing their conservation.
The study found that these whales’ songs rise and fall with their food supply, which provides valuable insights into how changing ocean conditions can affect their health and guide management measures.
“Some of the research we did tracking the movement and ecology of blue whales helped our sanctuary [to] act on this long-term concern about ship strikes, and to join a program that is called Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies,” the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) researcher says.
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This episode is dedicated to the memory of Mongabay’s East Africa editor, Ochieng’ Ogodo. Read here about his life, legacy and achievements.
Audio credit: Blue and humpback whale calls featured in this episode are courtesy of MBARI and John Ryan.
Image credit: A humpback whale dips back beneath the surface of the ocean. Image courtesy of Cristina Mittermeier/SeaLegacy.
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Timecodes
(00:00) Marine heatwaves and their impact
(06:33) Analyzing whale songs
(12:30) A change in tune
(20:13) Interspecies communication?
(25:16) The reason behind the heat
(27:36) Informing conservation
(36:52) Credits