Live theater tells the story of how Mongabay detected narco airstrips in the Amazon
Mongabay Newscast
’s multiyear, *award-winning ** that uncovered 67 clandestine airstrips in the Peruvian Amazon used for drug trafficking sent waves across the local media landscape. It drew attention to the Indigenous communities impacted by these illegal airstrips and the 15 Indigenous leaders who were killed defending their territory. To communicate this story to a wider audience, Mongabay Latam director Maria Isabel Torres and managing editor Alexa Vélez adapted it into an interactive live theater performance for an audience of 100. They join this week’s podcast to tell the “story behind the...
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Kiliii Yüyan details ‘Guardians of Life’ and how we can learn from them
Mongabay Newscast
National Geographic photographer returns to the Mongabay Newscast to share his experience creating his new book, from specialty publisher Braided River. This book documents the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of nine Indigenous communities worldwide, featuring contributions and essays from many members of these communities, along with Yüyan’s own photography. TEK, Yüyan says, isn’t exactly traditional so much as it is ecological knowledge that is place-based. While it draws on thousands of years of knowledge, it also innovates in society as we know it, and can offer social,...
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Lessons from 60 years of USAID development projects have been saved by this company
Mongabay Newscast
A year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump shut down public access to the Development Experience Clearinghouse, a $30 billion database holding 60 years’ worth of institutional knowledge from more than 150,000 projects administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. But before the closure, former USAID employee and artificial intelligence scientist Lindsey Moore used a large language model (LLM) to read all of the information in this database — rescuing critical lessons on development, environmental, economic and social projects in countries across the globe, all documented by...
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Writer Megan Mayhew Bergman on the lessons and moral clarity of ‘Silent Spring’
Mongabay Newscast
It’s been more than half a century since the publication of Silent Spring by the scientist and creative writer Rachel Carson. The seminal volume caught the attention of U.S. presidents, artists and musicians, spurring the environmental movement and leading to the eventual ban of the toxic pesticide DDT. Joining the Mongabay Newscast is environmental writer and director of the creative writing program at Middlebury College, Megan Mayhew Bergman. She unpacks the impact of Carson’s work, which came under public attack from chemical companies seeking to discredit her, and how, eventually, the...
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Massive decline of European olive groves harms nature and culture, but solutions exist
Mongabay Newscast
Across Mediterranean Europe, olive groves are in decline from a range of factors, from disease to depopulation. In Italy alone, there are roughly 440 million abandoned olive trees, and the ecological, cultural and socioeconomic impacts from the loss are devastating, explains the latest guest on the Mongabay Newscast. Still, solutions exist to help turn the tide of this under-discussed problem. Federica Romano is the program coordinator and UNESCO Chair on Agricultural Heritage Landscapes at the University of Florence. On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast she discusses the drivers of the...
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Joy is a winning environmental strategy for drag artist Pattie Gonia
Mongabay Newscast
Professional drag artist and environmental activist has more than 2 million followers on Instagram and has raised $1.2 million for environmental nonprofits by hiking 100 miles, or 160 kilometers, in full drag into San Francisco. She has gained international recognition for using drag artistry to advocate for the environment, in acknowledgment and celebration of hundreds of researchers and scientists in the field who identify as queer. She joins Mongabay’s podcast to explain why joy is a fundamental ingredient missing in the environmental advocacy space, how she prioritizes it in her work as...
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On plastic pollution, we have all the evidence — and solutions — we need
Mongabay Newscast
Judith Enck is a former regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by President Barack Obama, and the founder of , an organization dedicated to eradicating plastic pollution worldwide. She joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss how governments can implement policies to turn off the tap on plastic pollution, which harms human health and devastates our ecological systems — solutions she outlines in her new book with co-author Adam Mahoney, . “We now have all of this evidence. We have no choice but to act. Because who's going to stand by and let us turn the...
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How outdoor adventurers are collecting crucial conservation data
Mongabay Newscast
Gregg Treinish didn’t start out as an outdoor enthusiast, but found solace and purpose in nature during his youth. After years of enjoying the outdoors, he was left feeling a need to give something back to the world. He found fulfillment by using his passion for outdoor adventures to gather critical data that researchers need for conservation and scientific research. That’s how his nonprofit organization, , came to be. “We harness the collective power of the tens of thousands of people that are outside every day — who love the outdoors and have a passion for exploring the outdoors —...
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Shark is on the menu for millions of Brazilians, but few know
Mongabay Newscast
Mongabay senior editor Philip Jacobson joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss a two-part about how state governments in Brazil have been procuring shark meat — which is high in mercury and arsenic — and serving it to potentially millions of children and citizens via thousands of schools and public institutions. With Mongabay’s Karla Mendes and Pulitzer’s Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, Jacobson spent a year digging into public databases of government shark meat orders, called tenders. “It's quite widespread,” Jacobson says. “We found shark meat tenders in 10 states and shark meat being...
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Russ Feingold on the nonpartisan nature of conservation
Mongabay Newscast
Bill Gates recently claimed that protecting nature or improving human health is an either-or choice, but former national leaders like Russ Feingold, a retired U.S. Senator, and Mary Robinson, former Ireland President, . As chair of the Global Steering Committee of the , a nonprofit organization uniting prominent politicians in support of nature protection, Feingold emphasizes that supporting both nature and people is essential, and that these are not mutually exclusive goals. On this episode of Mongabay’s podcast, Feingold discusses the campaign’s mission and why he believes nonpartisan...
info_outlineNarratives help shape our society, culture and environment, entrenching beliefs that can help — or harm — our planet and human rights. Tsering Yangzom Lama, story manager at Greenpeace International, joins Mongabay's podcast to explain how dominant narratives — stories shaped by existing power structures and institutions — often undergird destructive industries and favor the powerful and the wealthy, and to discuss what people can do to counter such narratives.
In this interview, she expands upon thoughts shared in the essay “How to Reject Dominant Narratives,” from the new book Tools to Save Our Home Planet, published by Patagonia Books.
"A dominant narrative in reality would be anything that supports the status quo … what we have right now is a system in which we're trashing the world in which a small minority is profiting off of that destruction, and in which the vast majority of humanity does not have the basic necessities for a dignified human existence," she says.
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Image Credit: Emergent tree in the Amazon Rainforest, Ecuador. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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Timecodes
(00:00) What is a dominant narrative?
(08:04) Understand how they work
(12:56) Countering the narrative
(17:56) Making a more compelling appeal
(20:31) The real goal is to change our conditions
(23:32) When movements get co-opted
(26:20) Conversation is key
(28:49) Creating a narrative where none exists