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
Top National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan joined the show to discuss traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and why Indigenous communities are the world’s most effective conservationists.
Yüyan spoke about this with us in March 2023 and we're sharing the episode again after it recently won a 'Best coverage of Indigenous communities' prize from the Indigenous Media Awards.
While the National Geographic version of "Guardians of Life" is now published, the collaboration between Gleb Raygorodetsky and Yüyan will be published in book form in 2025. Sign up at Raygorodetsky's website here to be notified when it’s out.
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*Come celebrate Jane Goodall's 90th birthday, and Mongabay's 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets atthis link. To get $10 off, use the promo code C1PARTNER. *
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: With a dip net, Karuk fisherman Ryan Reed searches for Chinook salmon under the watchful eye of his father, Ron, on California's Klamath River at Ishi Pishi Falls in October 2020. The Reeds caught no fish in stark contrast to earlier times. Before California became a state, the river saw about 500,000 salmon each fall, but last year just 53,954 mature Chinook swam up, a 90 percent decline. The nation now restricts salmon fishing to Ishi Pishi Falls, but with the slated removal of four dams, the Karuk hope the salmon will return. Image (c) Kiliii Yuyan.
Time Codes
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(00:00) Indigenous peoples: the world's best conservationists
(02:31) Who are the Guardians of Life?
(07:30) Some of Kiliii's favorite memories
(10:39) 'People are not separate from nature'
(18:04) 'Two-eyed seeing': combining Western and Indigenous science
(23:30) Advice from an Indigenous storyteller
(27:26) The Impact of storytelling
(30:52) A kayak is not a ship
(34:02) The Guardians of Life book
(39:50) Credits
Mongabay newswire editor Shreya Dasgupta joins the Mongabay Newscast to detail her new three-part miniseries, Wild Frequencies, produced in collaboration with the Mongabay India bureau.
Dasgupta details her journey with Mongabay-India senior digital editor Kartik Chandramouli. They travel the country speaking with researchers, listening and studying to the sounds produced by bats, Asian elephants, sarus cranes, wolves and many other animals. The emerging field for which this study is named, bioacoustics, is helping researchers lay foundational knowledge crucial for conservation measures.
Listen to the miniseries on the ‘Everything Environment’ podcast or by clicking the links below:
Like this podcast? Please share it with a friend and help spread the word about the Mongabay Newscast.
*Come celebrate Jane Goodall’s 90th birthday, and Mongabay’s 25th anniversary, during an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco (or virtually) by purchasing tickets at this link. To get $10 off, use promo code C1PARTNER. *
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: An Indian flying fox (Pteropus giganteus). Image by sunnyjosef via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Time Codes
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(00:00) Enter: Bioacoustics
(02:51) What Is the New 'Newswire' Service at Mongabay?
(05:50) What is Wild Frequencies?
(08:45) Going a Little Batty
(17:59) The Complicated Lives of Sarus Cranes
(21:44) Animal 'Societies' We Don't Normally Hear In Cities
(30:07) Credits
