This week we're continuing our Sitka, Alaska series with the Education Director of the Sitka Sound Science Center! Janet Clarke's job is to help connect the people and students of Sitka to the incredible research that's taking place in their backyards. She spearheads the SSSC's Scientists in the Schools unit, which brings a working scientist into every Sitka school classroom every single year and which has bolstered Sitka's science literacy rates way above the statewide average! Listen in as we ...
Dec 01, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Todd Tanner is the driver behind Conservation Hawks, a nonprofit group of hunters and anglers that are working to protect the environment. They're taking it upon themselves to identify and address the single biggest threat to our hunting & fishing activities: climate change. The more time a person spends outdoors the more they'll care for the health of our planet, and who spends more time outdoors than hunters and anglers? Listen in to hear about the waves that Todd Tanner and Conservation H...
Nov 24, 2019•25 min•Season 2Ep. 21
To kick off Season 2 of Conservation Connection, we're starting with our first ever husband and wife team, Keisha Bahr and Danny Coffey! Keisha is a coral researcher who has been examining the causes and effects of the global phenomenon called coral bleaching, and Danny investigates the movement patterns of large pelagic fish and sharks with advanced wildlife tagging technology. We caught up with this duo at Sitka WhaleFest 2019 in Sitka, Alaska, where Keisha was presenting her research to ocean...
Nov 17, 2019•32 min•Season 2Ep. 20
Glenn Prickett is the mastermind behind Rock Creek Strategies, a consulting firm that "helps companies, investors, and organizations incorporate the value of nature in economic development". So what does that mean? It means that Glenn crunches the numbers to find ways for businesses to help protect nature AND their bottom line at the same time! Need to remove carbon pollution that your factory is producing? Well you could pay to install carbon scrubbers on the top of your smoke stacks, or you co...
Oct 06, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Sarah and Daniel sit down with us at SeaWorld's Park to Planet Weekend to describe the ways in which they are inspiring the next generation to care about aquatic systems and the environment. These two incredibly passionate educators go above and beyond for their students, exposing them to real world aquatic systems and the ways in which every day choices impact them. Listen in to discover why their aquatic science program has doubled in size in just four years!
Sep 22, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Don Hartsell, the first commissioner of the World Air League and a member of The Explorer's Club, is promoting energy efficient cargo transportation by organizing a world first: an airship race around the globe! Harkening back to the days of new frontiers and untested technology, the World Air League is organizing an eighteen-leg circumnavigation race where the vessels competing are lighter-than-air crafts that float across the sky with minimal energy consumption. This is the first time in human...
Sep 15, 2019•24 min•Season 1Ep. 17
David Marquis is an activist, writer, political powerhouse, and all around renaissance man with a burning passion for creating lasting environmental change. We sat down with him at EarthX in Dallas to discuss his goals for the city over the next few decades, including the ways that Dallas needs to respond in order to conserve the largest urban forest in America and the Trinity Watershed that serves half the population of the Lone Star State. His goal is to take the energy of activist movements a...
Sep 08, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Underwater robots searching for deep sea coral, algae-loving bacteria that might solve wastewater problems, and an invasive seaweed that is shifting ecosystems and bringing bacterial hitchhikers; quite a broad range for undergraduate research! Lilia, Pressley, Ana, and Jordan are three undergraduates from across the country participating in the Fort Johnson REU program this summer, and they sit down with the Conservation Connection team to share their experiences and discoveries. Not only are th...
Sep 01, 2019•29 min
The Hansen name was made famous when Mark Victor Hansen co-created the best selling book series Chicken Soup For the Soul, and he and his family are using their success to make this planet a better place! We sit down for a mini episode with the team that's pushing to make water-purifying technology available across the globe. Powered by table salt and a tiny solar panel, this device can fit in a pocket and purify up to 10 gallons of water a day! Listen in to hear all about its development and ho...
Aug 29, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Intersex snails with a story to tell, dead shrimp that are validating a mathematical model, and the hidden dangers of oceanic micro-plastics; quite a broad range for undergraduate research! Sam, Carolina, and Kelsey are three undergraduates from across the country participating in the Fort Johnson REU program this summer, and they sit down with the Conservation Connection team to share their experiences and discoveries. Not only are these undergrads pushing the boundaries of scientific understan...
Aug 25, 2019•28 min
Extremophile bacteria affecting clouds, disappearing crocodiles, and an epidemic affecting wild sea lions; quite a broad range for undergraduate research! Jackson, Jules, and Katherine are three undergraduates from across the country participating in the Fort Johnson REU program this summer, and they sit down with the Conservation Connection team to share their experiences and discoveries. Not only are these undergrads pushing the boundaries of scientific understanding in their topics, they're p...
Aug 18, 2019•27 min
Charley and Aislinn are two of the founding members of Heirs to Our Oceans, a global youth organization that is working to inspire kids to learn about and protect oceans and waterways for future generations. Did we mention they are only 15 and 13? Yep, these teens aren't just sitting back and waiting, they're taking action today to protect their own futures! With chapters from Kentucky to Palau, this nonprofit is building up steam to be a major player in the fight to protect our planet! Listen i...
Aug 15, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 14
We're kicking off our first mini-series by bringing Dr. Bob Podolsky back on the show! He's the director of both the Grice Marine Lab and the Fort Johnson REU Program, and he's sitting down with his colleague Dr. Heather Fullerton to describe the incredible opportunities they make available to undergraduate students every summer. These students get ten weeks to pursue original research, allowing them to experience the life of a professional researcher while honing skills they'll need in their fu...
Aug 12, 2019•25 min
Heidi Whitehead is the Executive Director of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, and has helped countless marine mammals in need over the course of her career. Listen in to hear about TMMSN's partnership with SeaWorld and how their "time capsule" of resources is advancing the field of marine mammal medicine and rehabilitation all over the world! She also shares wild stories of rescuing animals in the wake of devastating hurricanes. To learn more about the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Net...
Aug 08, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Dr. Slattery is the Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies at Texas Christian University, and he and his students are making waves all over the field of ecology! Listen in to hear more about TCU's research station in the Cloud Forests of Costa Rica, where it's not precipitation but the clouds themselves that feed the hydrologic cycle. We also discuss the plight of the South African Rhino, possible solutions to the problem, and the incredibly complex issue of wildlife poaching. To le...
Jun 30, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Museums are illuminating places, and no one knows that better than Kirk Johnson, the Sant Director of the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institute. He believes that museums are the last bastions of the real thing: one of the only places left where you can come face-to-face with an authentic artifact and experience it first hand. Listen in as Chance and Sarah Kathryn talk with Kirk about his experience as the Director over the last few years; everything from innovative tech...
Jun 06, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The world's coral reefs are in crisis and dying off at an alarming rate, but conservationists are working day and night to protect them! Meet Guyon Brenna and Zoë Ward, two members of Reef Life Foundation ( https://www.reeflifefoundation.org/post/last-chance-endeavors ) who are doing just that. Reef Life Foundation and its partners have developed a brand new material (Oceanite) that they're using to build artificial reefs, and are applying the cutting edge science of coral micro-fragmentation to...
May 30, 2019•26 min•Season 1Ep. 10
If you thought that all conservationists are scientists and forest rangers, think again. Cassie Bowe and Bethany Gorham, two key members of Energy Impact Partners, sit down with us at EarthX 2019 to discuss how the world of venture capital and conservation go hand in hand. EIP is the link connecting energy utility investors to innovative green energy start-ups that are propelling the energy field to new heights! Listen in to learn how EIP makes a difference for the planet through intentional inv...
May 23, 2019•21 min•Season 1Ep. 9
National Audubon Society is known worldwide as a leader in bird conservation, and for good reason. Listen in to hear David Yarnold describe the steps that Audubon is taking to reach the next generation of conservation leaders through their brand new Campus Chapters program! With as much diversity as birds bring to our planet it's no surprise that they're facing an equally diverse set of threats, but the biggest of them all is climate change. As the environment changes, species of birds that we h...
May 16, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Dr. Bob Podolsky is the director of the Grice Marine Laboratory at the College of Charleston, and has spent his career working to unlock the secrets of the early life stages of marine invertebrates. He's on the front lines of ocean acidification, fighting every day to understand the ways in which changing oceans are putting the foundation of important marine food webs in peril. The gametes and larvae of your favorite marine organisms (sea stars anyone?) live in an alien world where minor changes...
May 14, 2019•27 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Vicki Nichols Goldstein and Taylor Shedd, two key members of the Inland Ocean Coalition team, sit down with us at EarthX 2019 to discuss a hidden truth: no matter where you live your choices still affect the ocean and the ocean still affects YOU. Increasingly across the continent groups from inland states like Colorado, Arizona, and Illinois are banding together to protect our ocean, proving that "out of sight, out of mind" isn't always true. Listen in to learn how you can start your own Inland ...
May 04, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Sarah Kathryn and Chance travel out to Texas to take part in the largest Earth Day Celebration in the world! EarthX is a public event with hundreds of free exhibitors and educational opportunities in Fair Park, Dallas. Beyond the public expo, EarthX hosts a series of conferences that bring together experts from all corners of the environmental arena, providing a space for important discourse to take place! Listen in to hear what's going on in the Lone Star State. For more information on EarthX, ...
Apr 27, 2019•25 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Dr. Paul Gayes does a little bit of everything. He's the Executive Director of the Burroughs and Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies with the Coastal Carolina University, and he's involved with everything from tracking changes in long-term storm patterns to searching the sea floor for the best location to place an off-shore wind farm! In this episode, the Conservation Connection team sits aboard the Coastal Explorer to learn how a changing environment interacts with a growing coastal po...
Apr 21, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Conservation Connection takes Dallas by storm! We've got a big announcement, and it has to do with the massive EarthX conference being hosted in Dallas on April 26-28th! We'll see you next time on Conservation Connection!
Apr 17, 2019•2 min
Dr. Jody Beers is an integrative physiologist who focuses on how fish respond to changes in their environments. She's the newest faculty member at the College of Charleston's Grice Marine Lab where she's setting up a lab to investigate the effect of cooling waters on local fish populations. Listen in as she describes her previous experiences living and working in Antarctica with the only vertebrate that lives without hemoglobin in their blood! By understanding the ways that a changing climate af...
Apr 14, 2019•29 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Dr. Dave Eslinger is an oceanographer for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In his spare time, he and his team are documenting the beauty and value of South Carolina's waterways at many levels; using everything from satellite imagery to microscopy to produce a wholistic look at this vibrant ecosystem. Listen in to hear how a 12 year-old boy from land-locked Idaho became the citizen scientist saving his underwater robot from entanglement beside a nine foot alligator! If y...
Apr 07, 2019•23 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Dr. Gorka Sancho is a fish ecologist and a professor of biology at the College of Charleston where he conducts research at the Grice Marine Laboratory. He's been captivated by fish since age seven and has spent his life dedicated to unlocking their secrets. Though he is a prolific scientist, he also firmly believes that research and education should go hand in hand. Join us to learn about his work on the issue of micro plastics in Charleston Harbor and how he has tracked unexpected tiger sharks ...
Mar 31, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Episode Notes Every day, scientists and conservationists around the globe are working to answer critical questions about our rapidly changing environment and the organisms that live there; the minute details of their work reveal both the beauty and the precarious balance of the natural world. Join the Last Chance Endeavors team as we interview today's leading wildlife scientists and conservationists about their most recent discoveries. Listen in to hear the ongoing story of the scientific studie...
Feb 14, 2019•1 min
