Avsnitt

  • Oo hot goss’ alert!

    A new leaked map shows that while the top scientists on the Oldgrowth Technical Advisory Committee panel were picking out the best remaining old growth forest to protect in BC, the Ministry of Forests was actively undoing all that work, changing the borders on the deferral areas to include more low productivity forest while making the best forest left in the bioregion available to be logged by industry. You heard that right - government and industry blatantly working in hand in hand behind the peoples backs.

    Despite all the protests, the phone calls, the letters and the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history, the BC NDP smiled to your face and lied, while working behind closed doors with the logging industry to make sure that they could continue to log old-growth, just as they always had.

    It’s clear that those currently running our government are beyond ethically and morally corrupt, as they willfully ignore the demands of the people they were elected to serve, in order to line their pockets and continue to pander to a wealthy, established, power-hungry colonial capitalist resource extraction industry.

    So how do we create change in a system so determined to keep things as they are?

    Why do we spend so much time trying to fix those stagnant, broken systems that refuse to change, when we could be creating new systems altogether?

    What if we abolished the Ministry of Forests, created a Ministry of Ecology, and fundamentally changed the way we operate on these lands and in our communities?

    Let’s think differently to create a different outcome than this repetitive disappointment and corruption.

    Drop your ideas in the comments, engage in some constructive conversation, and let’s find a way to move forward together.

    Nerdy About Nature is a passion project whose primary goal is to provide free access for all to education about this world so that people can enjoy it more, build connection and fall in love with it, and ultimately work in ways to steward it for future generations to enjoy. We do this through short and long form videos all over social media @NerdyAboutNature, as well as this podcast you’re listening to now, and it’s all made possible thanks to support from folks like yourself. If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating, you can help keep it going by supporting us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠⁠⁠⁠, or at ⁠⁠⁠⁠nerdyaboutnature.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Undercurrents is a podcast series from Nerdy About Nature where we discuss recent studies, reports and news from the world of environment, ecology and climate which all impact our understanding of the world and the way we relate to it. In other words, it’s all the unseen things that happen without much notice that impact the direction or flow of our society and the world we all share.

    This episodes topics:

    Olivine Disintegration - https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/20/4669/2023/bg-20-4669-2023.pdf

    Reforestation Not So Cool - https://www.newscientist.com/article/2418595-climate-benefits-of-planting-forests-might-be-overestimated/

    Eastern US Forest Cooling - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2023EF003663

    Plastic Bag Reduction - https://grist.org/solutions/plastic-bag-bans-have-already-prevented-billions-of-bags-from-being-used-report-finds/

    https://publicinterestnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Plastic-Bag-Bans-Work-January-2024.pdf

    Kananaskis Logging Pause - https://thenarwhal.ca/kananaskis-clearcut-logging-pause/

    Produced by Ross Reid

    Hosted by Ross Reid & Julia Huggins

    Nerdy About Nature is a passion project whose primary goal is to provide free access for all to education about this world so that people can enjoy it more, build connection and fall in love with it, and ultimately work in ways to steward it for future generations to enjoy. We do this through short and long form videos all over social media @NerdyAboutNature, as well as this podcast you’re listening to now, and it’s all made possible thanks to support from folks like yourself. If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating, you can help keep it going by supporting us at ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠⁠⁠, or at ⁠⁠⁠nerdyaboutnature.com⁠⁠⁠.

    Natures pretty neat, ya know - let’s keep it that way!

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
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  • Undercurrents is a podcast series from Nerdy About Nature where we discuss recent studies, reports and news from the world of environment, ecology and climate which all impact our understanding of the world and the way we relate to it. In other words, it’s all the unseen things that happen without much notice that impact the direction or flow of our society and the world we all share.

    This episodes topics:

    Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Collapse

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/09/atlantic-ocean-circulation-nearing-devastating-tipping-point-study-finds

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2416631-atlantic-current-shutdown-is-a-real-danger-suggests-simulation/

    Global Ocean Temps

    https://www.wired.com/story/ocean-temperatures-keep-shattering-records-and-stunning-scientists/

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2416231-hottest-january-on-record-sees-the-world-reach-1-7c-warming-mark/

    Closure of Duke University herbarium

    https://www.science.org/content/article/tragic-mistake-decision-close-duke-university-s-herbarium-triggers-furor

    Forest composition affects drought resistance

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01374-9

    OGMA’s not actually Old Growth

    https://www.todayinbc.com/news/less-than-13-of-bcs-old-growth-management-areas-are-old-growth-watchdog-7312857

    "Old growth" antarctic moss beds as biological archives

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826052/

    Produced by Ross Reid

    Hosted by Ross Reid & Julia Huggins

    Nerdy About Nature is a passion project whose primary goal is to provide free access for all to education about this world so that people can enjoy it more, build connection and fall in love with it, and ultimately work in ways to steward it for future generations to enjoy. We do this through short and long form videos all over social media @NerdyAboutNature, as well as this podcast you’re listening to now, and it’s all made possible thanks to support from folks like yourself. If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating, you can help keep it going by supporting us at ⁠⁠patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠⁠, or at ⁠⁠nerdyaboutnature.com⁠⁠.

    Natures pretty neat, ya know - let’s keep it that way!

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • What the heck is a bioregion, what does that mean and why does it matter?Well, I’ll tell ya, because thinking bioregionally is a key component of recognizing the ground underneath your feet and the role it plays in the broader systems of earth to create a better future for us all.A bioregion is an area of land that is defined by physical properties or boundaries like coastline and mountain ranges that contain a similar mix of biota, or plant and animal species throughout, and interdependent hydrological patterns of flow that unites the region. No matter where on this planet you live, you are part of a bioregion, and what happens in one part of the world has literal trickle down impacts to another, and beyond into the oceans that unite all these different bioregions.Everything is interconnected beyond our myopic, linear way of human-thinking, and once you’re able to see this, it affects your values and thus the choices you make. From big to small, every choice we make and actions we take impacts those around us, and thinking bioregionally allows one to realize that many of the issues we talk about in silos are not limited to one little region or community, that they have bigger cross-border implications that impact the quality of lives we all live.Thinking at a bioregional scale helps contain and quantify the impact one has as a stepping stone to thinking about our global impact. It put our actions into perspective so that we can make changes that when compounded, really can make a difference. Support people and businesses in your bioregion that operate with the health of both their and your communities in mind, take action against developments that threaten the interconnections you rely on, and let’s work to break down those arbitrary lines of division to realize that at the end of the day, we’re all in this together.

    Like this vid? Support Nerdy About Nature on Patreon to make more engaging videos like this possible!⁠|| SUPPORT THESE VIDEO PODCASTS ||⁠

    Follow elsewhere Nerdy About Nature for more engaging fun-facts to make your next jaunt into the outdoors more rad!|| ⁠YouTube ⁠|| ⁠Instagram⁠ || ⁠TikTok

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Do you ever stop to think about the dirt under your feet, or in this case the rock, and wonder how it got there? Well the answer is...complicated, but basically billions of years of intense geological and mechanical processes from erosion to volcanism and everything in between.

    In this episode, I sit down with Pierre Freile, an award-winning geoscientist based in Squamish BC to chat all about how the landscape of North America and the Cascadian Bioregion in particular were formed, from the macro-scale actions of continents moving and colliding with one another, to the localized impacts of landslides that took place thousands of years ago, and rockfalls in our neighbourhoods just a few years ago.

    This one may be a doozy of an information blast, but I promise you it's worth it, and it will give you a profound appreciation for the lands on which we live, and the forces that shaped them into what they are. Buckle up tight and hang on for the ride, cuz it ain't over yet!

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Pierre decided to send his donation to ⁠The Dogwood Society!

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - ⁠https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at ⁠www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Undercurrents is a podcast series from Nerdy About Nature where we discuss recent studies, reports and news from the world of environment, ecology and climate which all impact our understanding of the world and the way we relate to it. In other words, it’s all the unseen things that happen without much notice that impact the direction or flow of our society and the world we all share.

    This episodes topics:

    Saving Bats -

    https://thenarwhal.ca/endangered-bats-fake-old-growth-trees/

    Plants Evolving to have Less Sex -

    https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19422

    How Moss Piglets survive -

    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0295062
    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2412569-we-finally-know-how-tardigrades-can-survive-extreme-conditions/

    https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2023-hottest-year-record

    Produced by Ross Reid

    Hosted by Ross Reid & Julia Huggins

    Nerdy About Nature is a passion project whose primary goal is to provide free access for all to education about this world so that people can enjoy it more, build connection and fall in love with it, and ultimately work in ways to steward it for future generations to enjoy. We do this through short and long form videos all over social media @NerdyAboutNature, as well as this podcast you’re listening to now, and it’s all made possible thanks to support from folks like yourself. If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating, you can help keep it going by supporting us at ⁠patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠, or at ⁠nerdyaboutnature.com⁠.

    Natures pretty neat, ya know - let’s keep it that way!

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Undercurrents is a podcast series from Nerdy About Nature where we discuss recent studies, reports and news from the world of environment, ecology and climate which all impact our understanding of the world and the way we relate to it. In other words, it’s all the unseen things that happen without much notice that impact the direction or flow of our society and the world we all share.

    This episodes topics:

    Norway Seabed Exploration:

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00088-7

    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605320000277

    Forest Restoration in WA:

    ⁠https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/csp2.13004

    Orca Matriarch Death:

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-biggs-killer-whale-wake-presumed-dead-1.7074033

    - Citzen Science for Whale ID: https://happywhale.com/

    Lack of Oldgrowth in ON & QC affecting Caribou: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/1/6

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/world/canada/canada-boreal-forest-logging.html

    Lack of Oldgrowth left in QC:

    https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/01/10/news/push-protect-rare-old-growth-forests

    Antarctic Heatwave and Atmospheric River:

    https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/37/3/JCLI-D-23-0175.1.xml

    Forest Fire Resilience in CA:

    https://forests.berkeley.edu/sites/forests.berkeley.edu/files/The%20Fire%20and%20Fire%20Surrogate%20Study%20Summary_2.pdf

    Produced by Ross Reid

    Hosted by Ross Reid & Julia Huggins

    Nerdy About Nature is a passion project whose primary goal is to provide free access for all to education about this world so that people can enjoy it more, build connection and fall in love with it, and ultimately work in ways to steward it for future generations to enjoy. We do this through short and long form videos all over social media @NerdyAboutNature, as well as this podcast you’re listening to now, and it’s all made possible thanks to support from folks like yourself. If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating, you can help keep it going by supporting us at patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature, or at nerdyaboutnature.com.

    Natures pretty neat, ya know - let’s keep it that way!

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • The first introduction episode to a new podcast series I'm starting here called 'Undercurrents'

    Every couple of weeks, I'll be connecting with Julia Huggins (PHD, huge nerd) where we'll share interesting articles, studies, and news from the world of environmental science, ecology, climate, and everything in between!

    The goal here is to be able to provide you all with more consistent, steady educational content to keep you up to date with the science and happenings of today, because as our understanding of the world around us changes, our relationship to it changes. This series is all about the subtle, unseen but often felt shifts in the undercurrent of our society that influences the direction we all flow.

    Looking forward to releasing the first episode in just a couple of days, so stay tuned!

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - ⁠https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature⁠

    Produced by Ross Reid

    Hosted by Ross Reid & Julia Huggins

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at ⁠www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • At a top level, the lives we live are governed by political systems which control regulations, policy and set enforcements for how we treat each other not only within our human societies, but they can heavily impact the way our societies interact with the grander, more interconnected natural world that we all share. In order to create lasting change for the better in the world today, it ultimately has to happen on a political level to officially set the direction of society…a daunting task, for sure.

    I sat down with Sonia Furstenau, the leader of the BC Green party, to get her perspective on this whole system we have established in Canada, it’s strengths and shortcomings, and some of the most glaring issues we faced that still need to be addressed. Honestly, the political landscape these days can often leave me feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, but chatting with Sonia gave me great hope for the future in that people like her are working hard every day to help create that better world.

    Sit down with us outside the Parliament building in Victoria BC to learn all about the inner workings of policy and how they translate to on-the-ground protections for things like old growth forests and Northern Spotted Owls, the convoluted wedge politics of different parties that hinders collaboration, how we can humanize the politics and indigenize the institutions, and how every day folks like you and me can get involved for change.

    Learn more about Sonia & the BC Green Party

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Sonia decided to send her donation to The Mother Tree Project!

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • On every surface of every single thing, there are tiny microbial forces at work creating the world we live in. From oily sheens on pond water to streaks of red mud, the evidence of these little microbes is more obvious than you may think - you’ve just gotta know where to look, and what to look for!

    Back for her third appearance, Julia Huggins takes us deep into the world of everyday microbes to share fun facts all about the life on life on life that surrounds us! We learn about the power these little living beings have on the bigger planet we all share, which brings us to some pretty interesting conversation regarding what life is, and what it may look like on other planets. Enjoy!

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Julia decided to support The Last Stand Legal Defence Fund.

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Have you ever stopped for a moment to think about where all our food comes from, and how it came to be? Well, if you know anything about ecology and life on this planet, you’d know that a vast majority of all that food either directly or indirectly comes from the work of pollinators. Without them, there would be no fruit, no squash or pumpkins, no berries and jam, no cattle or turkey feed so no meat…they literally are the reason we’re able to eat so much of this deliciousness. So today I’m sitting down with Emilie Usher, an urban bee-keeper and flower fanatic to chat all about our most beloved pollinators, bees. We tend to immediately think of honey bees here, but it turns out our native wild bees all around North America play massive roles not only in the health of our agriculture industries, but the functional ecology of the lands we all live amongst, and are incredibly important to biodiversity and our future on this planet.

    So why are bees so important? Do they like certain flowers more than others? How long do they live? Do they all live in hives? Do they all sting? Whats going on with those flashy green bees I see from time to time? Let’s dive into this tiny, fascinating world with Emily here and learn all about these awesome little critters.

    Learn more about Alveole

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from ⁠Patreon⁠ supporters, and in this episode Emilie opted to support The Xerces Society!

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the ⁠Patreon⁠ family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at ⁠www.NerdyAboutNature.com⁠

    Learn more about this episodes sponsor, ⁠Hoka & their Anacapa 2's

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Fire is such a hot topic these days - pun intended! Yet we used to have a lot more fire across the landscape than we do today…so whats going on?
    Fires are a naturally occurring part of a forest ecosystem, and are generally classified as either low-intensity burns (LIBs) or high-intensity burns (HIBs), both of which have different causes and impacts based on different forest types and factors.
    Since colonization of North America by western societies, a combination of fire suppression and large scale land alteration through logging has left our forests in a highly vulnerable state all across the continent that makes them more susceptible to large-scale HIBs, which has big picture issues relative to both volume and frequency.
    Speaking to volume, its estimated that roughly 85% of native forests here in North America has been lost, logged or modified to the equivalent of a HIB, which is an insanely large number, and much of this has been done in a manner that reduces the ecological function of these forests and actually contributes to large scale HIB’s that we see more and more often each summer.
    In the last 400 years of western colonization roughly 85% of native forests have been lost to the equivalent of being burnt to the ground in a HIB (in some places 4x over), which historically only ever happened in much smaller scale fires every 1000 - 2000 years if at all, yet we’re calling this all natural and sustainable…sounds more like the apocalypse to me 😬
    So instead of trying to replicate these HIBs in our clearcut logging practices, we need to allow our forest ecosystems to mature in a healthier manner over a longer period of time, and we need to spend a lot of energy properly thinning and restoring the ecological function of the billions of hectares we’ve mismanaged thus far. Through prescribed burns and by replicating LIBs we can not only create a more humble, sustainable industry and jobs, but we can improve the ecological health and functions of the lands we live amongst for a better future in this uncertain era of climate change.

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • After a serious of events that left me in need of a new car and long, arduous process of deliberation, I ended up getting a used PHEV, and decided to talk about my thought process here. Instead of going over the details, features, performance of the Rav4 Prime I ended up getting, I wanted to address the larger, more ethical issues associated with getting a car that still uses fossil fuels as gas, in addition to lithium in a battery, in this world we live in plagued by climate change driven impacts like extreme wildfire and drought.

    I start by breaking down the choice between a car & public transportation in todays world, the differences between gas and electric cars ethically, affordability of the change, and the cultural shift of having to think of things differently in order to support technology that aims to create a better future. Lot's to cover here, so buckle up, and let's go for a ride!

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • You may have heard that being amongst a forest can help calm your nervous system, but did you know that getting your hands dirty can help clear your mind too?

    This week, I sat down with self-made gardening entrepreneurial creator Jordan Mara to chat all about the mental health benefits and aspects of gardening, and what he aims to do through his project Mind & Soil. Come join us in his glorious backyard garden as it pops off in peak summer to learn all about mental health connections to the outdoors, attention restoration theory, creating play in your work, the joy of experimentation, how to make the best of your backyard, and growing your own garden whenever you may reside!

    Mind & Soil: Website | YouTube | Instagram

    Study from the Royal Horticulture Society

    Attention Restoration Theory

    National Geographic take on Attention Restoration Theory

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Jordan opted to support Food Banks Canada!

    Learn more about their work

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    Learn more about this episodes sponsor, Hoka & their Anacapa 2's

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Extinction is a common threat to thousands of species these days as a result of human development, logging, pollution, habitat loss and fragmentation, and the plethora of impacts relative to anthropogenic climate change. In all these cases, the two biggest contributing factors to a species going extinct is habitat loss and limited genetic variation in the population - but what if we applied that same logic to ecosystems?Just some deep thoughts on the hypocrisy of trying to ‘protect’ certain species while simultaneously simplifying and destroying the complexity of the ecosystems they rely on to survive at a time when they may never develop to be the same ever again.Let's not let these forests go the way of the dodo and instead let's work to find solutions to keep these ecosystems intact to help mitigate the impacts of climate change, stabilize our soils, protect us from wildfires, host all of this amazing biodiversity and continue being the backbone of the culture we live in for generations to come.Like this vid? Support Nerdy About Nature on Patreon to make more engaging videos like this possible!|| SUPPORT THESE VIDEO PODCASTS ||

    Follow elsewhere Nerdy About Nature for more engaging fun-facts to make your next jaunt into the outdoors more rad!|| YouTube || Instagram || TikTok

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Grasslands are incredibly biodiverse and carbon rich ecosystems that perform numerous ecological functions, yet many of them across Turtle Island have all declined for various reasons, whether that be decades of development, fire suppression, removal of grazing animals, introduction of invasive species and lack of Indigenous stewardship or a combination of them all. Here in coastal Cascadia, our native Oak Meadow Grasslands play an important role within many First Nations cultures and are the most biodiverse ecosystem we have. Sadly, they’re also the most threatened, down to less that 5% of their native range in BC alone.

    I sat down with Nancy Shackelford, assistant professor at Uvic & director of the Restoration of Natural Systems Program, to chat all about what makes these wonderful ecosystems so unique, what threatens them, and what we can do to ensure their health for a better tomorrow.

    Restoration Futures Lab

    Grasslands Conservation Council of BC

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Nancy decided to support Stewards Of Sc’ianew!

    Learn more about their work here: https://stewardsofscianew.com/

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Wanna ask a question? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    Learn more about this episodes sponsor, Hoka & their new Anacapa 2

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • I'm going to start releasing some of my slightly longer video here in a new series I'm tentatively calling 'Thought Snacks', because that's what they are...not quite a full meal, but just enough to get those wheels turning and reflecting about the world we live in.

    When it comes to impacts of climate change, wildfire is one of the hottest topics there is days - pun intended! A majority of our forests across Turtle Island have become prone to very violent, catastrophic fires, whether as a result of fire suppression that has allowed stands to become thick and overgrown, or excessive commercial logging that has replaced stand diversity with an even-aged secondgrowth forest.
    As a means of addressing these issues, forest thinning has become popular, where trees are felled to increase spacing so that fire, when it does occur, doesn’t have the fuel connectivity to spread and escalate.
    In many commercial thinning operations, companies are granted access to previously off-limits oldgrowth forests in order to thin them for ‘fire-proofing’, which in theory would consist of removing the smaller, immature trees to create the necessary spacing and reduce fuel load while leaving the older, more mature and naturally fire resistant trees that would have existed on those landscapes prior to colonization…but unfortunately that’s not often what happens.
    This is expensive, skilled work and those little trees fetch very little market value, so instead this thinning is often done by ‘high grading’ these forests, which is a term that means they only take the biggest, most monetarily valuable old growth trees, and instead leave the smaller trees spaced out. This unfortunately does very little to increase the fire resilience and overall ecological function of these ecosystems, meaning that it’s no effective thinning for fire management.
    Commercial operations hopping through loopholes and taking advantage of the situation by using either thinning or salvage as a justification to continue logging old growth forest for their own monetary gain, and doing so in a way that actually jeopardizes the health of these lands and our collective future amongst them is just unethical, irresponsible, and shouldn’t be allowed. We need proper thinning efforts done to restore the health, vitality and resilience of these ecosystems first and foremost to create a better, safer future for our communities.

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  • One of the biggest hurdles we face today is reducing our dependence on fossil fuels for energy, which are rampant in just about everything we do and consume on a daily basis. Fortunately, it is possible and we have a roadmap for doing just that, which is the subject of today’s episode where we talk about decarbonizing the energy grid - that’s taking all of our electricity we’re currently using and finding ways to get the same amount from clean, renewable sources instead of from fossil fuels. What does that involve, what does it look like, and how do we get there as a society?

    In this episode I sit down with Stephen Thomas, who is the Clean Energy Manager at the David Suzuki Foundation, to break it all down in terms of what it’s going to take for a country like Canada, which currently has plans to fully decarbonize the grid by the year 2035, to actually meet those goals.

    While we’re talking specifically about Canada in most of these examples here, many of these topics, methods, hurdles and solutions are very much applicable to communities and nations all over the world, especially those here on Turtle Island like the United States as we share lots of similarities in land use, long distances between cities across the continent, and how to ethically manage this change across existing nations in a decolonial way.

    Lots to cover in this one from the types of energy we need to be focusing on, to the benefits of this energy, how much cheaper and more reliable it would be, to market opportunities and incentive programs in place to help support everyone throughout this transition so that no one gets left behind.

    Petition for Clean Energy in Canada

    David Suzuki Foundation - Clean Energy

    Shifting Power, Zero-Emissions Electricity Across Canada by 2035, DSF, 2022

    Decarbonizing Electricity, and Decolonizing Power, DSF & Neegan-Burnside, 2022

    Keeping the Lights On, DSF & Das-Martiskainan, 2022

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Stephen decided to send his donation to Mi’kmaw Grassroots Grandmothers!

    Learn more and support them at https://stopaltongas.wordpress.com/donate/

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • A few months ago in the news, you may have heard or seen articles about open net fish farms being removed from BC waters, and thought, “Wow! That’s great!”...and then not done or heard much since then. As you may or may not be aware, fish farms are one of the biggest threats to our at risk and endangered populations of wild Pacific Salmon that travel all over the ocean from down south in Oregon up through BC and into Alaska, and the fight to get these farms fully removed from BC waters is still ongoing, despite what you may have heard (or not heard) in the news.

    I sat down with Kilian Stehfast who is a marine conservation specialist at David Suzuki Foundation to chat all about these fish farms, their history, how they came to be, the threats they pose to wild salmon and why that matters, and what the future of aquaculture looks like here in BC. It’s a great episode and you’re gonna learn a lot not only about this industry, but what you can do to get involved to help ensure the survival of those awesome anadromous fish that tie us and these ecosystems we all reside in together.

    David Suzuki Foundation - Fish Farms

    More on Indigenous Clam Gardens

    Background on Fish Farming & Aquaculture

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters, and in this episode Kilian decided to send his donation to Clayoquot Action!

    Learn more about the advocacy they do at www.ClayoquotAction.org

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more!

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support
  • Have you ever seen those slick little certification logos on a product that claims it comes from sustainable forestry practices? Unfortunately, those certifications aren’t those most ethical, accurate, and in some cases are just downright bogus, and may not truly reflect the logging practices used to obtain that wood.

    Peter Wood is a campaigner for Canopy Planet, as well as an adjunct professor at the UBC Faculty of Forestry and a consultant for organizations such as Ecojustice. With greenwashing being so prevalent these days, our forest products are no different, so I sat down with Peter to chat all about the nuances of these false certifications, how they came to be, current legal challenges, and what you can do to help create a better marketplace for ethically sourced wood products.

    Links & Resources from this episode:

    EcoJustice legal challenges:

    Against the Canadian Standards Association (e.g. certified Teal Jones and Fairy Creek tenure) (July 2021):

    Against the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (e.g. certified a large proportion of Canadian forestry, including all BC Timber Sales) (November 2022)

    This letter was sent by Canada’s consulate to New York State Senators in response to their proposed Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The letter argues that "widespread use of third-party forest management certification...provides added assurance that a forest company is operating legally, sustainably and in compliance with world-recognized standards for sustainable forest management”.

    In the end, these lobbying efforts were successful in making sure that this law did not apply to Canada, as detailed in this CBC piece.

    Canopy Planet forest mapper tool

    KPMG Article

    TJ Watts before & after photos from certified ‘sustainable’ old growth clearcuts

    Regime changes & logging affecting Salmonid survival study

    OSO Landslide in 2014* logging influence

    Unbuilders

    Competition Bureau - 1-800-348-5358 - @CompBureau

    EU Anit-Greenwashing

    Protect Old Growth in BC

    Each episode of Nerdy About Nature makes a donation to a non-profit of the guests choosing using funds from Patreon supporters - this episode’s donation goes to The Awi’Nakola Foundation!

    Learn more at https://www.awinakola.com/

    Nerdy About Nature is an independent passion project that relies on support from folks like you. If you’re enjoying this podcast and videos, help me keep making them by joining the Patreon family for 1$ a month or more! - https://www.patreon.com/nerdyaboutnature

    Got Questions? Want Stickers? Want community? Wanna engage? Do it all as a Patreon member, it’s easy!

    You can also make a one-time donation, get NAN merch, resources and more information at www.NerdyAboutNature.com

    --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/nerdy-about-nature/support