biodiversity – How On Earth

From Habitat Loss to Repairing Connectivity

Helping Wild Animals Roam (start time: 3:29) Wild animals, whether buffalos or bats, need space to move around–not just to survive, but to forage, reproduce, migrate, and generally thrive as a species. But it’s getting increasingly difficult for so many species to do this, thanks to humans breaking up their habitats to build roads, fences, housing developments, croplands, etc. Of course, climate change, pesticides, and other stressors compound the problem. In this week’s (fall fund drive) show, host Susan Moran interviews Hillary Rosner, a local environmental journalist and University of Colorado Boulder assistant teaching professor of journalism. Her debut book, called Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World (Patagonia Works), will be released next week. In her reporting, Hillary digs into some of the threats to wildlife here in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as bold efforts by individual humans and communities to repair and connect landscapes enough to let many animal populations thrive. And in many cases, helping wildlife move also helps human communities become economically and socially stronger.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show & Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:30 — 62.9MB)

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Birds at Risk

Arvind Panjabi releasing a banded grasshopper sparrow in Chihuahua state, Mexico. Photo credit: Sujata Gupta

Birds: Risk and Resilience (start time: 5:55) What speaks of Spring more than the songs of American robins, yellow warblers, spotted towhees and other birds in the early morning? As we relish in these avians choruses, it’s also an important time to examine why bird populations in North America have, by and large, been plummeting in recent decades, due to multiple stressors, including climate change and habitat destruction. At the same time, some conservation efforts (including bipartisan legislation) on the federal, state and local levels, are bearing some fruit. And everyone can help give these winged creatures a hand, starting with their own gardens, and by getting involved in citizen science projects, such a bird-banding and bird-counting. In this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews Arvind Panjabi, a senior research scientist at Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, a nonprofit organization devoted to the conservation of birds and their habitats. (Listen to Shelley Schlender’s sound portrait of five migratory birds that are visiting Colorado now (start time: 2:58).

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Headline Contributors: Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:33 — 37.8MB)

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Mutualism in Nature

Sweet in Tooth and Claw (start time: 0:59) Since the 1800s, science has been obsessed with the notion, stemming from Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection, that only the “fittest” can survive and pass on their strong genes. As in, it’s a ruthless, violent world. And today, we humans find ourselves mired in a hyper-polarized society fixated on competition, disruption, and “If you win, I lose” thinking. A good time to take a look at a different way of living together–how a “kinder, gentler” approach also helps species evolve. In this week’s show, Susan Moran interviews journalist/author Kristin Ohlson, whose most recent book, Sweet in Tooth and Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World, was recently released in paperback by Patagonia Works.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:04 — 37.2MB)

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COP16 Biodiversity Conference

COP16: Hope & Hurdles (start time: 1:20) On this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews two conservation biologists at Colorado State University — Chris Funk and Liba Pejchar. They both recently attended the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, which is still underway in Cali, Colombia, and they share their experiences, perspectives, and optimism from the global gathering. Nearly 200 nations are attending the summit to negotiate targets aimed at slowing the alarming decline in plant and animal species and critical habitats around the world. The outcomes of the talks could determine the roadmap for the future of the planet (despite the fact that the United States has not been a signatory to the global biodiversity treaty). The stakes are high: Biodiversity is shrinking globally faster than at any time in history, with around 1 million plant and animal species currently threatened with extinction, according to an intergovernmental panel of scientists. Two years ago, the biodiversity conference, which convenes every two years, met in Montreal and hashed out a landmark agreement. Among the 23 measures in the accord is a commitment to place 30 percent of the planet, and 30 percent of degraded ecosystems, under protection by 2030. Some progress has been made, yet so far no nations have met their targets, and COP has no enforcement mechanism.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:25 — 37.7MB)

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Welcoming Biodiversity Back To Cities

In this week’s How on Earth, we focus on how cities can foster biodiversity in an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.

First, we speak with author and journalist Tony Hiss (4:29), who says that while the Earth is rapidly losing species, we can still do something about it. In his latest book, Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth (Vintage), Hiss recounts the numerous ways in which grassroots movements around the world are creating habitats that are allowing biodiversity to thrive, including in least obvious of places — cities.

Next, we discuss how this is being done in Colorado by the nonprofit organization, Denver Urban Gardens (DUG). Creighton Hofeditz (14:37), the Director of Permaculture and Perennials at DUG, tells us how he turns empty city lots into “food forests” — a type of agroforestry — for residents in the metro area. The creation of these gathering spaces for humans also gives nature a place to thrive.

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Benita Lee
Producers: Benita Lee, Alexis Kenyon
Engineer: Shannon Young
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:07 — 22.5MB)

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Climate (COP25) Summit Review

At COP25, Tashiana Osborne (far right), Sarah Whipple (2nd from right), CSU Prof. Gillian Bowser (2nd from left) and colleagues. Photo credit: Adewale Adesanya

COP25 Postmortem (start time: 3:35) Earlier this month many nation’s leaders, as well as scientists, environmental activists, companies and others gathered in Madrid for a two-week United Nations climate summit. The conference, called COP25, is rooted in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which is a blend of pledges from about 200 nations to dramatically slash their planet-warming emissions. Next year’s meeting is when signatory nations will update their actual commitments. So, what happened at the recent climate summit, and what’s next? How On Earth host Susan Moran today interviews two scientists who attended COP25. Tashiana Osborne is a PhD candidate in atmospheric and oceanic science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at UC San Diego. And Sarah Whipple is a PhD candidate in ecology at Colorado State University.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:18 — 25.9MB)

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City Nature Challenge BioBlitz Citizen Science enhanced with iNaturalist

Attention all Nature Lovers and Amateur Naturalists, Friday April 27th kicks of the City Nature Challenge, where Boulder will compete with 65 cities throughout the world to identify the most species within their area over a 4 day period. It’s a competition to identify biodiversity powered by the enthusiasm of citizen scientists. Chip Grandits speaks with Dave Sutherland and Melanie Hill two members of the Wild Boulder Team, which is organizing the City Nature Challenge for Boulder.

Citizen science is enhanced with iNaturalist a crowd sourcing platform developed by the California Academy of Sciences with applications for you smartphone which can help you can tap into a global network of amateurs and experts to help identify what species that thing is which you can never quite identify.

Host: Chip Grandits
Producer: Chip Grandits
Engineer: Chip Grandits
Additional contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:25 — 30.2MB)

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Biodiversity Matters // Scientists Implore Trump

This week’s show offers two features:
Global Biodiversity (start time: 1:22): Scientists, NGOs and government representatives from nearly 200 countries have been gathering in Cancun, Mexico, for the UN Biodiversity Conference, known as COP13. They’re meeting to promote protocols and strategic actions related to biological diversity, climate change, food security, and even citizen science. Gillian Bowser, a research scientist at Colorado State University, has studied international climate and biodiversity conventions, while working on issues such as women in sustainability, as well as citizen science. She discusses with host Susan Moran the importance of COP13, and the impact of citizens in scientific studies, such as identifying and tracking butterflies, birds and other species.

alan_rmnp — Alan Townsend, ecologist, CU Boulder

Scientists’ Letter to Trump (start time: 12:09) Last week roughly 800 earth and planetary scientists, as well as energy experts, sent an open letter to president-elect Donald Trump, urging him to take six concrete steps to address climate change and to help protect “America’s economy, national security, and public health and safety.” Trump has called global warming a concept created by China to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive, and he has picked a climate change denialist to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Many scientists fear that a Trump administration will drastically decrease federal funding for climate research. Indeed, the Trump transition team has already issued a questionnaire to the Department of Energy to identify employees and contractors who have worked on climate change research. Alan Townsend, an ecologist at the University of Colorado Boulder and one of many Colorado scientists who signed the letter, discusses these issues with hosts Maeve Conran and Susan Moran.

Hosts: Maeve Conran, Susan Moran
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:43 — 24.5MB)

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I Contain Multitudes–Our Microbes, Ourselves

Multitudes of Microbes (start time: 3:38): You may find it unsettling to learn that our human cells make up only half of our bodies. The other half is a bunch of microbes (in the neighborhood of 40 trillion), all living and reproducing in, and on, our bodies. What’s more, these invisible machines could have a powerful influence on your brain, and on your overall health. Ed Yong, a staff writer for The Atlantic, found it disconcerting at first to learn this when he researched his book called “I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life.” The book, published earlier this year, explores the mysterious partnerships between humans, and many other species, and the mighty microbes with which we have co-evolved. Today we air the full phone interview that How On Earth host Susan Moran recently had with Yong. We played short clips of the conversation during our fall pledge-drive show last Tuesday. Thanks to you listeners who pledged! And thanks to Yong’s publisher, Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, for donating to KGNU several copies, which some generous members are now reading. This interview continues our series called “Our Microbes, Ourselves.”

Hosts: Kendra Krueger, Susan Moran
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Kendra Krueger
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:39 — 22.6MB)

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Pledge Drive//Interview with Ed Yong

This week’s pledge- drive show features a teaser introduction to Ed Yong’s new book I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. We play segments from the interview that host Susan Moran recently had with Yong, a science writer for The Atlantic. There still may be a copy left, so call now to have your own, with a pledge of at least $60 to KGNU. Call 303.449.4885.
The book explores the role that invisible yet mighty microbes play in our lives, as well as the lives of so many species with whom they have co-evolved. Yong highlights the research of many scientists in this emerging field who are studying how our gut microbiome influences our brain chemistry, and our overall mental and physical health. The book deepens our understanding of the ecosystems within our bodies as well as the ecosystems in the natural world.
Next Tuesday, Nov. 4, we will broadcast the complete interview with Ed Yong.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Beth Bennett, Kendra Kruger
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:02 — 24.8MB)

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