Future Ecologies

• FE6.4 - Humane Being

  When is it ethical to kill one thing to save another? Lethal intervention is a common practice in the field of wildlife management, especially when the survival of a species hangs in the balanceFor as long as we’ve existed, human beings have employed killing as one of our primary responses to adversity. We seem to believe at some deep level that if we have a problem, killing the manifestation of that problem might just make it go away. This is the logic of political assassinations, revenge plots, and the endings of most Hollywood blockbusters. But when we actually apply this logic to the more-than-human world, what does it mean for the species and ecosystems we’re impacting? And what does it mean for us?In this episode, we're facing this essential moral dilemma as we learn a way to navigate the tension between collective and individual well-being.— — —Find credits, a transcript, and citations at futureecologies.net/listen/fe-6-4-humane-beingFuture Ecologies is completely independent and listener supported. Help us keep making this show, and get all the perks* at futureecologies.net/join*including early episode releases, bonus content, discord access (now w/ book club), swag, your name on our website, and our eternal thanks

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• Future Ecologies presents: Nature's Genius

  Today, it's our pleasure to bring you an episode from our friends at Bioneers, who have just released a 6-part series called Nature's Genius.Follow Bioneers wherever you get podcasts, or listen to the rest of the series at bioneers.org/natures-genius/This is episode 1 — The Universe Beneath Our Feet: Mapping the Mycelial Web of LifeImagine an underground web of mind-boggling complexity, a bustling cosmopolis beneath your feet. Quadrillions of miles of tiny threads in the soil pulsate with real-time messages, trade vital nutrients, and form life-giving symbiotic partnerships. This is the mysterious realm of fungi. Acclaimed visionary biologists Toby Kiers and Merlin Sheldrake guide us through the intricate wonders of the mycorrhizal fungal networks that make life on Earth possible.

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• FE6.3 - Get Yer Ass Outta Here!

  In this very special donkumentary, we’re headed to the Mojave Desert — to Death Valley, in particular — where we find one animal at the centre of a heated debate in land management: the hardy wild burro (AKA donkey, ass, or Equus asinus).These feral burros, beloved by some and reviled by others, are an introduced species in the desert southwest, but are uniquely entangled in its human history. Since before the establishment of Death Valley as a national monument, they have been widely regarded as overpopulated on the Mojave landscape. In recent years, rising costs, public controversy, and some conflicting legislation have brought the sustainability of conventional burro management into crisis.But not everyone is convinced that they’re harmful. Could this crisis be avoided altogether if we looked at burros under a different light?Are they crowding out the native and endangered fauna? Or are they filling an ancient ecosystem niche? Join us as we meet the land managers, ecologists, and donkey racers all trying to do right by the desert.Find photos, credits, a transcript, and citations at futureecologies.net/listen/fe-6-3-get-yer-ass-outta-here— — —We rely on listener support to stay independent, ad free, and making the best podcast we can make.Help us keep the lights on at patreon.com/futureecologies — and get perks like early episode releases, bonus audio content, stickers, patches, a cozy hat, access to our community discord server, and your name on our websiteGet new episodes in your email: join our mailing listYou can also find us on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, & iNaturalist

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• [UNLOCKED] Skye Augustine // Diving deeper into Sea Gardens

  We’re unlocking one of the conversations from our bonus feed.In this interview, building on episode FE6.2, Mendel speaks with Skye Augustine, a leading voice uplifting the science, history, and culture of Sea Gardens. In a time where so much of the future feels uncertain, the resiliency of Sea Gardens over millennia is (at least to us) a source of deep comfort and inspiration.What’s more, if you’re as inspired as we are, and you want to learn how your community could build a clam garden, we’ve got you covered. Don't miss our conversation with Joseph Williams, Community Shellfish Liaison for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, who constructed the first Clam Garden of the modern era — available for free on our Patreon.— — —The Future Ecologies bonus feed is where we release exclusive bits of audio to all of our supporters. There’s a whole back catalogue of silly mini episodes, long-form extended interviews with guests from the main feed, and a bunch of entirely new, fascinating conversations you won’t hear anywhere else. It’s one of the ways we say thanks for helping us make the show — we really can’t do it without you.You can get access to the bonus feed (on your podcast app of choice) and more, for less than the price of a cup of coffee at patreon.com/futureecologies or subscribe directly within Apple Podcasts.

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• Future Ecologies presents: Hark (from Threshold)

  We're borrowing an episode from one of our all-time favourite shows: Threshold, a Peabody Award-winning documentary podcast about our place in the natural world.Now in their 5th Season, "Hark", Threshold producer Amy Martin is exploring sound itself: investigating what it means to listen to the nonhuman voices on our planet — and the cost if we don’t. With mounting social and ecological crises, what happens when we tune into the life all around us?Other episodes from Hark cover the sounds of the primordial microbial ooze, of insects, of fish, and of plants. Today, we're featuring episode 3: on the sounds of coral reefs, and how listening to them may help them survive a warming world.Find Threshold (and the rest of Hark) wherever you get podcasts, or at thresholdpodcast.org

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