treehugger podcast

Early in 2020, UC Santa Cruz Professor Karen Holl published "Primer of Ecological Restoration" through Island Press . Karen is a season veteran of ecological restoration with her boots (and her students embedded) on the ground in Latin American and Californian ecosystems. She has created an accessible book that explains foundational concepts with care while also highlighting more advanced topics f...

It is no longer science fiction. The future is now people. Can we respond quicker to disturbances and mitigate climate change by planting tough places with drones? Matthew Aghai joins me from Droneseed to demystify this ever-adaptable technology. This company is scaling up to what Matthew refers to as "terraforming-level operations using biomimicry" - package seed up with resources to survive, loa...

On this episode I want to introduce you to Sean Rowe. He is a restorationist born and raised in Humboldt County, CA. Sean has a science communication-based business called Resonant Restoration that is currently doing the Resonant Restoration Podcast with his cohost, Kyle Sipes. The podcast focuses on topics related to the world of ecological restoration and includes interviews about specific proje...

Forests can and do play an essential role in urban life in many places - 4 bil people live in cities world! Join my conversation with Sarah Low, Executive Director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation - an organization dedicated to community-powered urban greening in the South Puget Sound of Washington State. They provide a great template for community engagement around tree planting, tree care and integ...

Natural light from the sun is so vital to the health of every living thing. My guest on this episode is Dr. Travis Longcore. He is going to "illuminate" this topic of the ecology of light, especially focusing on impacts of artificial light at night. Light pollution doesn't just affect our ecosystems. The loss of darkness is linked to increased energy consumption and a disrupted connection with the...

Finally, an episode about forests. And climate. My guest Dr. Sally Aitken delivers a nuanced discussion that embraces the complexity of how climate has and will continue to drive change in our beloved long-lived tree species and plant communities. Sally Aitken is currently a Professor and Associate Dean, Research and Innovation, in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. In...

Restoration ecologists may be the optimists of biology. We are often hopeful and confident about the future and our work. Brianne Palmer is back to discuss hope and doubt, environmental change, community, environmental heroes and gratitude. This conversation was jumpstarted by Brianne's 2019 Opinion Article called Restoration Ecology: The Study of Applied Optimism  found in the journal Restoration...

The Society for Ecological Restoration is a global community of restoration professionals all over the world. Bethanie Walder is our Executive Director, guiding the mission to expand restoration science, practice, policy and the community. The Society claims members in 81 countries and growing! You can be rest assured that while we work on our local/regional projects, there is also a small staff a...

The United Nations has named the years 2021-2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which seeks to scale up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide. For more information, mosey on over to decadeonrestoration.org. The coordinator of this Decade is Tim Christophersen from the United Nations Environment Program. His focus is on cultivating grassroots suppo...

Explore coral restoration in our shallow seas with my guest Sabine Bailey. Her organization, the Coral Restoration Foundation, is the largest group in the world focused on coral restoration, building reef resilience while cultivating healthy oceans for the future. We all may understand the importance of coral as an ecosystem, providing nearshore protection and sustaining livelihoods. However, so m...

"The medicine you need is the medicine you have to offer" is what she asserts. Eco-spiritual guide, author, and nature-based designer is who she is. On this Winter Solstice episode, Julia Plevin joins me to discuss the intricacies of forest bathing. It can be a solitary practice or one to share in community. She even started a Forest Bathing Club. Julia breaks it way down about how the forest guid...

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a global phenomenon and have been called the "living skin of the earth" and one can find them on every single continent. Ecology PhD student Brianne Palmer joins treehugger podcast to discuss how this complex and beautiful suite of diverse organisms live in direct contact with the soil surface – yet are distinct from the soil below the crust. Brianne's resear...

Dr. Kathy Wolf is a social scientist and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. She investigates people's perceptions of and behaviors in nearby nature. Together, we explore the social dimensions of urban greenspaces and restoration.

On this inaugural episode, Jacob Mills discusses Microbiome Rewilding - the use of urban biodiversity to restore the human exposure of microbes to a more native, healthier state.

In this first installment of the treehugger podcast, creator and host Michael Yadrick introduces the show to the world.