Nerdy About Nature

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 ||

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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:

Shifting Heatwaves:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adl1598

The Cost of Bad Winters:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13683500.2024.2314700

Droughts and Fire:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168192324001059

Nitrogen Impeding Nocturnal Pollinators:

https://www.science.org/content/article/night-pollution-keeps-pollinating-insects-smelling-flowers

Better Variable Retention Management:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112723000816

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!

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.

Forestry is a large part of the culture and economy of the PNW in both the US and Canada, but over a century of poor forest management has led to some of the largest issues we face today from a lack of biodiversity and carbon stores, to ecosystems that are less resilient to drought and forest fires.

How can we create healthy communities living amongst healthy forest lands through a thriving forestry industry? Well, simply put - it's by changing the way we do things and learning to value a forest for more than just its value as a source of timber.

I sit down with Barry Gates of Wildwood Ecoforest to talk all about ecoforestry as the best solution to our industrial logging complex problem, and I hope you find it as incredible and inspiring as I did. There's a lot of work to be done, but thankfully Barry and the crew at Wildwood have already done the ground work in laying out a clear path for a better future, so let's get to walkin' it already!

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 Barry decided to send his donation to ⁠Stand.Earth

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 - 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

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:

Boiling Microplastics:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.4c00081

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2419556-boiling-tap-water-can-remove-80-per-cent-of-the-microplastics-in-it/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2366304-ingesting-microplastics-may-increase-fat-absorption-by-145-per-cent/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2420674-microplastics-linked-to-a-greater-risk-of-heart-attack-and-stroke/

Oil & Gas Gaslighting:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/04/exxon-chief-public-climate-failures
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/22/us-oil-company-exxonmobil-investors-climate-follow-this

Glyphosate:

https://enveurope.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12302-018-0184-7

https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/unbc-research-team-gets-15-million-to-study-glyphosate-8296613

https://www.evergreenalliance.ca/analysis/32/

Climate Bandaid Solutions:

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL106132

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00119-3

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!