About this episode

The episode discusses forest ecology, sustainable logging practices, ocean monitoring, and environmental activism against fracking in Colombia.

Forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has shown through her research that the biggest and oldest ‘Mother Trees’ in the forest anchor networks of social connection among the trees, and indeed the whole forest ecosystem. Her latest book is When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World, and she shares how more sustainable logging practices incorporating Indigenous knowledge can help heal decades of clearcutting harm. Also, after announcing at the end of May it was dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, the National Science Foundation faced widespread public criticism and the Senate passed a bipartisan measure to preserve the vital ocean monitoring network. NSF then reversed its decision and says an array that was already being removed will be redeployed. We discuss this reprieve for climate and ocean science. And our sixth and final installment of interviews with the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize winners features Latin American winner Yuvelis Morales Blanco, honored for fighting against fracking in Colombia and forced to flee after receiving death threats. The recent presidential elections in Colombia put fracking back on the table, after four years of…

People in this episode

Host: Living on Earth

Guests: Suzanne Simard, Yuvelis Morales Blanco

Topics covered

• forest ecology
• sustainable logging
• ocean monitoring
• climate science
• fracking
• Indigenous knowledge
• environmental activism

Keywords

• Mother Trees
• clearcutting
• ocean observatories
• climate
• environmental prize
• Colombia elections
• fossil fuels

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Science Foundation

Books & works: When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World

Places: Colombia

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