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...
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Freeing ourselves from cars is simpler (and healthier) than we may think
Mongabay Newscast
Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon and Aaron Naparstek realized that no one was discussing the many cultural factors that have played a role in humanity’s car dependency, or the negative impacts this reliance on motor vehicles has on human health and the planet. So they started their own show to do exactly that, . Gordon joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss just how human society got here — and how we might get ourselves out of it — which is also the subject of a new book he co-authored with Goodyear and Naparstek, : . “We felt that nobody was really covering the car as this overwhelming...
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Indigenous and local communities regain millions of hectares of land via successful legal effort
Mongabay Newscast
Nonette Royo is a lawyer from the Philippines and executive director of , a group of “barefoot lawyers” working to secure land tenure for Indigenous, local and Afro-descendant communities across the world. To date, the organization has secured more than $150 million in funding and has made progress in securing land rights covering across 35 projects, an area larger than Greece. Royo joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss the organization’s success, its recognition as a for the 2025 Earthshot Prize, and why land rights are so crucial both for cultural survival and slowing the pace of...
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Madagascar conservation successes hinge on public education and health, famed primatologist says
Mongabay Newscast
Patricia Wright, a pioneering primatologist who established the research station in Madagascar, began her work there in 1986. As the person who first described the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus) to Western science, her contributions led to the creation of Ranomafana National Park, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. She joins the Mongabay Newscast to discuss her conservation breakthroughs and the challenges the island faces during political instability and widespread poverty. Wright has participated in the making of numerous documentaries over the years, including Island of Lemurs:...
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Mongabay founder reflects on success, Jane Goodall, and more
Mongabay Newscast
Hello listeners. This week on the Mongabay Newscast, we ask that you take a few minutes to fill out a brief survey to let us know what you think of our audio reporting, which you can do . Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler was recently awarded the by the and named to the list alongside conservation greats such as David Attenborough. The credit for this success belongs to Mongabay, Butler says on this week’s podcast. “While my name is on the award, it's for Mongabay. All that Mongabay achieves is not necessarily me. I’m the figurehead,” Butler says of receiving the Henry Shaw...
info_outlineRewilding advocate, financier and host of the popular podcast Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith, joins Mongabay’s podcast to discuss nature restoration in his home country of England, where a significant cultural change is taking hold toward reviving biodiversity, such as beavers. Once seen as a nuisance there, many farmers and planners now embrace the rebound of the huge rodent, thanks to its impressive ability to mitigate flooding events that the island nation now experiences with regularity, due to climate change.
“If you stop a random person on the street now, in the city or in the countryside, they know that beavers are back, that [they] are native species, that they play a vital role in managing our rivers,” he says.
However, he argues that while there has been some rewilding momentum in England, it’s not happening fast enough, particularly for larger carnivores like wolves.
“The idea of reintroducing them is considered madness. Even though there are news reports of swelling populations of deer and growing incidents of Lyme disease and road traffic collisions and a disequilibrium in our forests,” Goldsmith says.
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Image Credit: Chrome Hill in Yorkshire, England. Image by Tim Hill via Pixabay (Pixabay free content license).
Timecodes
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(00:00) “We don’t have wildlife here”
(11:46) England’s rewilding comeback
(15:05) Cultural and economic shifts
(25:24) Changing environment policy
(30:52) Nitrogen and pollinators
(37:43) Getting along with ‘difficult’ wildlife
(47:51) Rewilding the World