Happy (almost) New Year! We wanted to take a look back on all of our favorite Earth to Humans episodes that we produced in 2024. From redefining wilderness to the deepest parts of the ocean, the stories we got to tell this year continue to inspire and motivate us, especially as we prepare to navigate a murky future filled with uncertainty and inevitable environmental hurdles. Hannah, Matt and Sarinah shares their thoughts on the episodes that make this challenging work worthwhile, and a few of t...
Dec 31, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast You know, it's amazing how despite this current age of information, we sometimes get lost in what’s actually true and struggle to wade through the constant barrage of misinformation. It sometimes feels like everyone's got a theory for something, whether it’s the results of the 2016 election, the source of COVID 19 or something more harmless like UFO’s and the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. We see them everywhere online and, in the world, popping up in conversations with coworkers and overhe...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast We don’t have all the answers, but the Earth needs us now more than ever before. Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
Nov 13, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recorded this interview with Nathaniel Stinnett, the founder of the Environmental Voter Project, in the summer of 2016. While there are lots of differences between this election cycle and that of 2016, the ideas that Nathaniel shared remain relevant and important today. The Environmental Voter Project has dramatically expanded it’s capacity and scope since 2016, and now has an expansive reach, with ground operations in 19 states and more than 10 million potential voters contacted. Earth to Hum...
Oct 30, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast I discovered Lisa while reading a book not penned by her - Phosphorescence by Julia Baird. In the book, Julia is faced with a life threatening illness, and goes on a journey to cultivate ‘inner light’ which sees her, amongst many other things, meeting up with jellyfish and fluorescence expert Dr Gershwin. She tells a very brief summary of Dr Gershwin’s life - her incredible accolade of identifying over 200 species of jellyfish, her experience with homelessness, and her adulthood autism diagnosis...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Steve is bursting with enthusiasm for the Maine woods and the Appalachian Mountain Club’s efforts to protect this area. He grew up right along the border of Maine’s unincorporated territories, a vast stretch of uninhabited, but privately owned, forest land that covers nearly half the state. He always had a deep bond with this land, but was told while growing up that he’d have to leave if he wanted to earn a good living or follow his passion. That turned out not to be true, as an opportunity to w...
Sep 25, 2024•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast It was 2019 when I first began working on The Invisible Mammal with director Kristin Tieche. The past five years have been a whirlwind journey, but now we get to bring this story to life for the first time. The editing process on a documentary like The Invisible Mammal , which was shot over five years in a vérité style, is truly special. For the first time we get to see which story ideas work and which ones don’t. We establish a pacing and a tone for our film, and work hard to bring out the nuan...
Sep 18, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of The Earth to Humans Podcast , the Pod gets POLITICAL . Specifically, the politics and dangers of Project 2025 and the looming chaos of another Trump administration. We delve into the far-reaching impacts of another potential Trump presidency on the environment here in the U.S. and how shifting U.S. policies might influence countries around the world, with special insight on the United Kingdom. The conversation extends to environmental and social justice policies, where we disc...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast After reading the synopsis for the film Kelp! I headed straight to their website - it featured so many things I’m passionate about that I had to watch it immediately! I hit the play button, sat back and enjoyed half an hour of pure hope and joy - something it can sometimes be a bit tricky to find within the environmental space. I was aware of seaweed farming being a big deal in South East Asia, as I have seen vast coastal areas that are home to this form of agriculture, but I was surprised to le...
Aug 29, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anthony Cohen is a historian, author and expert on the Underground Railroad who has taken a truly unique approach towards researching and teaching history. His career was launched in 1996 when he traveled 1,200 miles by foot, boat and rail to retrace one of the routes of the Underground Railroad. Since completing this remarkable journey, Anthony has developed his expertise in experiential history, establishing a living history center that teaches people about slavery and life on an 1850s plantat...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to part 2 of our series on HPAI aka highly pathogenic avian influenza. Today we continue our deep dive into the fascinating yet unsettling world of avian influenza. In part 1, we explored how these viruses leap from birds to marine mammals, unraveling their ecological and health implications. This time, we shift our focus from New England to Argentina. Joining us is Dr. Agustina Rimondi, a scientist known for her work on the molecular epidemiology of avian influenza. Dr. Rimondi's resear...
Jul 31, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we embark on the first of a two-part deep dive into a topic that's as fascinating as it is unsettling: avian influenza. Joining us is Dr. Wendy Puryear, a leading virologist who’s pioneering work on the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has revealed some startling truths about how this virus spreads and the profound impacts it has on wildlife, particularly marine mammals. In this episode, we'll explore the intricate dance of viruses as they leap from birds to mammals, mammals to mammals, and ...
Jul 17, 2024•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode, we’re re-airing an episode we really think you will love. Today, Sarinah tackles female solo hiking from the perspectives of 5 women as she tries to make sense of managing both the physical and mental fears of hiking alone, but also the beauty of mentorship and prioritizing joy in the outdoors. The women in this panel range from environmental scientists to travel bloggers, teachers to mothers, but all with individual expertise and an accomplished list of hikes that should intimi...
Jul 03, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hannah is joined by Dr Aura Goldman - a psychotherapist who, amongst other accolades, specialises in eco-anxiety and the plethora of other climate and environmental emotions. They explore different case studies of environmentalists who are experiencing various environmental emotions, and Dr Goldman gives some fantastic tips on how to cope. Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe...
Jun 19, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast I first came across the work of Laura Waterman while conducting research on the origins of the Appalachian Trail. As many of our listeners are surely aware by now, I completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2022, and am currently working on a 10-episode documentary radio series about the AT’s history and cultural influence in partnership with New Hampshire Public Radio. I was seeking information about the history of trail building in the Northeastern US, where the first modern long dist...
Jun 05, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Imagine descending into the abyss, leaving behind the sunlit waters and plunging into the dark, mysterious depths of the ocean. Here, sunlight fades away, and the pressure increases with every meter. This is the realm of the deep sea, an environment so extreme and alien that it's often compared to outer space. Under the weight of that much water and so far from the surface, you might envision the truest definition of darkness. But what if I told you there was an abundance of light just at the ed...
May 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In my echo chamber, gender, race, nationality, and gender are intersections that are spoken about and how they relate to environmentalism (still nowhere near frequently enough), yet one that was completely absent until recently was disability. I only truly became aware of this when I saw an article pop up featuring my guest on next week’s episode, who had gone to COP26 to ensure the voices of those living with disabilities were involved in climate discussions. Umesh Balal Magar is a young Nepale...
May 08, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast I first came across Erin’s work at Terra Incognita Media a few years ago when I was doing research on National Parks and the influence of John Muir. I was on a learning journey that would lead me to a series of revelations about the history of environmentalism and the generational harm caused by John Muir and his ideas. I had recently interviewed Mark David Spence, the author of “ Dispossessing the Wilderness ”, for an episode of Earth to Humans . Spence’s book exposes the deeply racist origins ...
Apr 24, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast I’m super excited to bring you this bonus episode of the podcast! We’re still a few months away from launching our new season of Earth to Humans - that will happen in April for Earth Week - but I wanted to feature this conservation with the director of our latest Wild Lens Collective co-production, Children of the Wolves . Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe...
Feb 29, 2024•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast As 2023 comes to a close, our Earth to Humans team took a look back at some of the episodes that were the most meaningful to us. We closed out our end-of-the-year roundtable conversation with a discussion about COP28. All of us agreed that just about everything that we’ve been hearing coming out of the COP thus far has been deeply disheartening - we struggled to find any kind of positive message. This is the balancing act that we play here on Earth to Humans on a regular basis - we yearn to tell...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast As of September 10, 2023, there have been 9,614 civilian deaths reported in Ukraine since Russia’s latest invasion began on February 24, 2022. And in Gaza, the latest numbers of civilian casualties in just over a month are estimated to be over 13,000. These scenes of unfathomable death and destruction have displaced millions, breaking apart families and disjointing entire communities; ripples that will have lasting effects for years to come. But there is also a quieter victim of these wars. The ...
Nov 29, 2023•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are lots of amazing stories about the early days of the Appalachian Trail, but none match the story of Grandma Gatewood. In 1955, Gatewood set out to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. She was 67 years old at the time. She began her hike in secret - she didn’t want her children to know what she was doing because she knew they’d try to stop her. But news of her trek traveled fast, and by the time she was a few months into her hike, she had become a national celebrity. When she finished her ...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Having moved to Scotland very recently, I’ve been really keen to get started on telling some stories from this amazing country. As some of you who are keen listeners to the podcast will already know, I love a good bit of folklore, especially when it relates to landscapes and relationships with nature. So, it’s only natural that my first episode from here was with Folklore Scotland . It also just so happened to fall on Halloween and, seeing as the origins of the holiday are very much engrained in...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Patient Zero”, Taylor Quimby’s podcast series about Lyme disease, takes a deep dive into the complexity surrounding this disease. He explores the origin of Lyme, and how some of the earliest Lyme patients took matters into their own hands, becoming citizen scientists and advocates for the health of their community. He also explores the controversy in the medical community surrounding Lyme’s long-term symptoms, and how bad actors are taking advantage of patients that have lost hope. Central to t...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today I want to welcome you to a truly special episode of Earth to Humans . My guest today has journeyed across continents, climates and cultures to unravel some of the most complex intricacies of our natural world. David Quammen joins us today, a renowned science writer who’s works offer us a lens to view and better understand the depths and mysteries of our ecosystems. The breadth of his work is unparalleled and his writing is both fascinating and terrifying, funny and exhilarating, scientific...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey guys, Sarinah here - if you’re anything like us and have been feeling the crippling weight of the current state of our planet on your shoulders, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Everywhere you look there seems to be a new environmental disaster. Flooding in Libya, deadly wildfires in Canada and Maui – the list just never seems to end. And this relentless drumbeat of environmental crises can feel so overwhelming. It's not just the headlines; it's the images of polar bears stranded on melting ice, the choke...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast So by now I’m sure many of you have seen videos of the muck, sludge and mire that befell this years Burning Man Festival which takes place every year in the middle of the black rock desert. From its humble beginnings in the late 1980s attracting about 300 people, Burning Man has exploded into a global event that just seems to keep growing and growing. This year, in about 24 hours, the area experienced about 2-3 months worth of rainfall, resulting in a shelter-in-place order, the closure of the f...
Sep 06, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast When I first met today’s guest I was a fresh-faced Conservation Biology undergraduate student with hopes and dreams of doing my bit to save the planet. Britta Jaschinski seemed like some kind of rock star to me. She spoke of going undercover at wildlife markets with cameras stashed in her handbag, using her photography to break apart wildlife crime rings and had strong morals she obviously lived by. I wanted to be just like her! Artwork by Jasmine Hortop CRIME I got the chance to spend more time...
Aug 23, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s episode features an interview with Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author, Elizabeth Kolbert. Elizabeth has been reporting on the climate crisis for several decades, and her book “The Sixth Extinction” brought her enormous critical acclaim. Her most recent book, “Under a White Sky”, explores the nature of the future, analyzing how humans have, and will continue to change the planet and its ecosystems in response to our rapidly changing climate. In the book, she explores controversi...
Aug 09, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guests today, Dr. Justine Karst, mycologist at the University of Alberta and Dr. Jason Hoeksema, professor of biology at the University of Mississippi, take us deep into the complex world of fungi, trees and the story we all might be getting wrong about their relationships. For a while now, there has been this narrative out there about trees communicating with each other through fungi. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s a cool concept. Trees using the vast network of underground mycelium to no...
Jul 26, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
