The devastating bushfires in Australia have been front and center in the news this month, with a total area of around 8.4 million hectares burned as of the 6th of January. The images of smoke plumes visible from space and eerie orange skies reminded us here at Terra Informa of the wildfires in the Amazonian rainforest this past summer. So, this week we are revisiting an archive episode from August 2019, where we discussed the state of the wildfires and Terra Informer Elizabeth Dowdell interviewe...
Aug 11, 2025•29 min•Ep. 437
This episode originally aired on June 7, 2021: This week we’re bringing you a documentary where CSL students Brook Kelela and Ashley Krehut explore the significance of outdoor gardens in our communities. Listen in for discussions of food security, food sovereignty, and more! Original broadcast: 5 May 2021 Prairie Urban Farm: http://www.prairieurbanfarm.ca/ Veg in YEG: https://veginyeg.ca/ Further listening: Seeds! https://terrainforma.ca/220 Urban Beekeeping https://terrainforma.ca/209 Indigenou...
Aug 04, 2025•29 min•Ep. 436
This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021: Have you ever considered feeding insects to your dogs? Maybe that's too easy, how about purchasing a cricket muffin for yourself at a local cafe? Producers Nhu Ho and Bethany Godreau take a dive into the world of insect protein close to home. Bringing perspectives from Brad Ewankiw of Enterra Corp on the impacts of insect protein production and Serge Boutet, a Montreal-based agronomist with a passion for critters both four-legged and centi-legged. ...
Jul 28, 2025•29 min•Ep. 435
This episode originally aired on September 18, 2023: This week on Terra Informa, we explore the industry of cellular agriculture (cell-ag), and its impacts on farming, the environment, and people. Megan Posyluzny and Jenny Kim interview Dr. Yadira Tejeda Saldana, director of Responsible Research and Innovation at New Harvest to learn more about how biotechnology is shaping the future of food systems – beginning with the new institute of Cell-Ag that is currently in development at the U of A. Pro...
Jul 21, 2025•29 min•Ep. 434
This episode originally aired on July 19, 2021: This episode we visit Aspen Ridge Greenhouses to talk with former Terra Informer Dylan Hall. Dylan is a beginner beekeeper and welcomed Hannah and Elizabeth for a hive inspection. We also talk about the impact of heatwaves on different important pollinator insects. Program log here . Production, script, interview - Elizabeth Dowdell Script, interview, research - Hannah Cunningham ★ Support this podcast ★...
Jul 14, 2025•29 min•Ep. 433
This episode originally aired on February 27, 2017: In this week's episode, the Terra Informers travel to a grain terminal in the City of Edmonton to see some rare birds of prey and meet the folks who watch and photograph them there. ★ Support this podcast ★
Jul 07, 2025•29 min•Ep. 432
In this week's archive episode, we revisit a Terra Informa review of the film Metamorphosis, a climate change documentary, along with an interview with the creators of the film. Program log. ★ Support this podcast ★
Jun 30, 2025•29 min•Ep. 431
This episode originally aired on February 21, 2022: This week, we are airing an audio documentary created by Madelyn Lux and Mario Rodriguez for an agricultural economics class that had a community-service learning component at the University of Alberta. Through interviews with beekeepers and business owners, this documentary explores how urban beekeeping has changed the city of Edmonton. After that, we introduce an interesting product that was developed with bee conservation in mind, that may h...
Jun 23, 2025•29 min•Ep. 430
This episode originally aired on November 18, 2019: This week on Terra Informa, Matthew Danyluik and Daniel Alexander from Renewable Energy Design (RED), a student engineering group aiming to make university a greener place through developing net-zero products, talk about the inspiration for starting the group and current sustainability design projects such as a solar phone charging station scheduled for installation in SUB. Find out more about RED here: https://alberta.campuslabs.ca/engage/orga...
Jun 16, 2025•29 min•Ep. 429
This episode originally aired on June 24, 2019: Terra Informer Charlotte Thomasson speaks with Mackenzy Albright, one of the founders of SNAQCS, a Slow Nice And Queer Cycloventure Squad based out of Victoria, British Columbia that creates a welcoming space for members of the LGBTQIA2S community who want to have fun and ride bikes! Tune in to hear Charlotte and Mackenzy share cycling stories, talk about businesses and queerbaiting, the binary of the outdoors community, and how SNAQCS is pushing t...
Jun 09, 2025•29 min•Ep. 428
This episode originally aired on February 8, 2021: The power of storytelling gives us a way to cope with the uncertainty of our climate future. This week on Terra Informa we’re exploring those stories about the future worlds that are not so different from our own. While you may be familiar with science fiction, genres like speculative fiction, climate fiction, or cli-fi, Afro-futurism, and Indigenous futurism are reimagining oppressive realities and re-envisioning our climate future. In this dis...
Jun 02, 2025•29 min•Ep. 427
This episode originally aired on May 4, 2020: This week several Terra Informers reflect on the changing seasons, and what spring means to them. Listen in for some great ambient spring sounds and grateful reflections on the warmer air around us. Download the program log . ★ Support this podcast ★ ★ Support this podcast ★...
May 26, 2025•29 min•Ep. 426
This episode originally aired on May 17, 2021: Terra Informers Curt Blandy and Liam Harrap explore sustainable brewing with Steve Beauchesne at Beaus Brewing. They also chat with Christine O'Grady, from UCalgary’s Advancing Canadian Water Assets, and Jeremy McLaughlin, Head Brewer, on the Village Brewery project on making beer with waste water! We also get to listen to a local Edmonton beer song called Beer Tastes Better (When The Work's All Done) by the Denim Daddies. Download the program log h...
May 19, 2025•29 min•Ep. 425
This episode originally aired on July 8, 2019: This week on Terra Informa, we discuss solar energy, including topics such as the definition of solar, how it works, the pros and cons to solar, and who the solar power leaders are around the world. ★ Support this podcast ★ ★ Support this podcast ★
May 12, 2025•29 min•Ep. 424
This episode originally aired on January 14, 2019: What if we could bring extinct animal species back from the dead? This week, Terra Informer Sofia Osborne brings us a story about de-extinction: Sofia brings us a story about de-extinction: the use of selective breeding, cloning, and genetic engineering to “resurrect” extinct species. This technology poses a lot of moral and ethical questions—would these “de-extincted” animal species be authentic? Could they ever be wild? Do we owe it to the spe...
May 05, 2025•29 min•Ep. 423
This episode originally aired on May 4, 2020: This week several Terra Informers reflect on the changing seasons, and what spring means to them. Listen in for some great ambient spring sounds and grateful reflections on the warmer air around us. Download program log. ★ Support this podcast ★ ★ Support this podcast ★...
Apr 28, 2025•29 min•Ep. 422
This episode originally aired on June 2, 2020: June is Bike Month in Edmonton and lots of other cities, so we're bringing you the right content for the season! On this episode Terra Informer Curtis Blandy talks to Bike Edmonton Executive Director Chris Chan and LuGr Enterprises Founder Luke Grayston. Chan talks about his inspiration for, and experiences of, cycling in Edmonton. Grayson gives us the lowdown on Beet 55, an innovative deicer used to keep roads safe for winter cycling. Program Log ★...
Apr 21, 2025•29 min•Ep. 421
This episode originally aired on March 21, 2022: Have you ever come face to face with the majestic beaver? Have you ever thought about just how impactful the little dam-builders are to the ecosystems they inhabit? This week, Sara Chitsaz, Hannah Cunningham, and Dylan Hall (a Terra Informa alum!) discuss Glynnis Hood's book The Beaver Manifesto , as well as our general thoughts about the popular, and sometimes not-so-popular, rodent. At the end of the episode, Sara also gives us a run-down on wha...
Apr 14, 2025•29 min•Ep. 420
This episode originally aired on August 9, 2021: Finding the language to build sustained public engagement on the climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges faced by science communicators today. In this episode, Terra Informers Sonak Patel and Elizabeth Dowdell consider the role that language plays in communicating the climate crisis and how it getting it wrong may contribute to continued climate inaction. To get further insight into the big picture of climate change communication, they sp...
Apr 07, 2025•30 min•Ep. 419
This episode originally aired on June 3, 2019: This week, Charlotte Thomasson talked to resident Nature Nut, John Acorn, about local bird songs and birding stories, with audio captured by Terra Informers live in Edmonton, Alberta, near Drumheller, Alberta, and on Saturna Island in British Columbia. ★ Support this podcast ★
Mar 31, 2025•29 min•Ep. 418
This episode originally aired on April 29, 2019: This week on Terra Informa, we're talking about periods. Own very own Terra Informer Sydney Karbonik recently hosted an educational event about the environmental, social and economic impact of menstrual products and what other options exist for women. ★ Support this podcast ★
Mar 24, 2025•29 min•Ep. 417
This episode originally aired on August 2, 2020: Human intervention in our environment often comes with damaging consequences, and today we're taking some time to learn about the history of the regions that are special to us and turning a critical eye on efforts to "protect" these spaces, efforts with a colonial history and present. Listen to our very own Terra Informers Elizabeth Dowdell, Curt Blandy, Andy Silva, and Daniel Pietraszewski as they share some personal stories about natural places ...
Mar 17, 2025•29 min•Ep. 416
This episode originally aired on November 22, 2021: This week on Terra Informa we jump into the giant world of the fungi kingdom. Charlotte Thomasson sings a song, and interviews Josh Smith and Mike Schultz, members of the Alberta Mycological Society. Daniel Pietraszewski shares a fun story about Vilna, AB. You're not going to want to miss this. Download the program log here . Check out the Alberta Mycological Society to learn more about their important work! ★ Support this podcast ★...
Mar 10, 2025•29 min•Ep. 415
This episode originally aired on March 8, 2021: In this episode, we speak with urban beekeeper David Whitaker about how he picked up this unique hobby and the benefits of bees in the City. Learn more about beekeeping from the City of Edmonton and how to avoid the hype of bee-washing . To get your hands on some sweet, sweet, local honey email davesurbanhoney@shaw.ca! Thanks to: Sonak Patel for research + writing + hosting Andrea Miller for music Elizabeth Dowdell for interview + hosting + product...
Mar 03, 2025•30 min•Ep. 414
This episode originally aired on February 3, 2020: This week, we're bringing you part one of a two-part series on the Canadian Energy Centre Ltd., alternatively known as the Energy War Room introduced by Alberta's UCP government. In this episode, Terra Informers Sonak Patel and Hannah Cunningham discuss what the centre is, why it was created, the funding and organization behind it, and its staff. We also feature audio from a talk on the Canadian Energy Centre done as part of the Parkland Institu...
Feb 24, 2025•29 min•Ep. 413
This episode originally aired October 10, 2022: Who do you think of when you think about environmentalism and music? This week, Jasinta Rweyongeza is joined by Rasheena Fountain, a poet and essayist, to talk about the lack of mainstream recognition of Black musicians in the world of environmentalism in music, as well how specific genres of music that are underrecognized in their ability to tell stories about environmental relationships, environmental vulnerability, and environmental justice. Ras...
Feb 17, 2025•29 min•Ep. 412
This episode originally aired on April 19, 2021: This week on Terra Informa we take you on an auditory journey into the swamp, where we do a little science communication about the Ghost Orchid. We were inspired by the short documentary, Chasing Ghosts , and dig into the flower, film, and scientific research about this rare and endangered plant. Download the program log here ★ Support this podcast ★...
Feb 10, 2025•29 min•Ep. 411
This episode originally aired on August 16, 2020: This week, Andrea Miller debuts her news training piece. She sits down with Ashley Hillman to discuss her research on lichen and how it is an essential part of the ever elusive and endangered woodland caribou. Tune in to hear more! Download the program log here . Here are links to Ashley's article on lichen cover and the article discussed in the piece on being a person of colour in ecology. Production of CJSR 88.5FM in Amiskwaciy. ★ Support this ...
Feb 03, 2025•29 min•Ep. 410
This episode originall aired on March 27, 2023: This week on Terra Informa we bring you the first installment of our reporting and recording from the Parkland Institute's Fall 2022 Conference: Doing Democracy Better: Challenging the Politics of Fear and Resentment which took place on November 18-20, 2022 at the University of Alberta. This week's episode includes a talk given by Parkland Institute Research Manager Ian Hussey entitled "Job Creation or Job Loss? Big Companies Use Tax Cut to Automat...
Jan 27, 2025•29 min•Ep. 409
This episode originally aired on August 31, 2020: This week on Terra Informa, Charlotte Thomasson and guests talk trees. On both an individual and collective level, the protection of these leafy giants has always been important, and the urgency to protect these ancient species only grows with the increasing threats of climate change, wildfire, industry, and development. Indigenous land-defenders have long led the effort to protect endangered old-growth trees on a large scale. But as we’ll hear t...
Jan 20, 2025•29 min•Ep. 408
