Nerdy About Nature

Over the past 40 years, Tla-O-Qui-Aht First Nation has been fighting relentlessly for their traditional unceded territory with the colonial government of BC / Canada so that they can implement a land vision and stewardship model that seeks to benefit society at large, while preserving options and opportunity for their grandchildren. I sat down with Saya Masso, the Lands & Resources Manager for Tla-O-Qui-Aht First Nation, to chat about the origins of their Tribal Parks, trials and tribulations along the way, recent wins, and the vision for the future they hope to achieve. A truly fun and charismatic guy, Saya has a great deal of experience and unique perspective on some of the most pressing issues we as a society face today, with progressive solutions that work to create an equitable, inclusive and diverse future for all of us who reside amongst these lands. Listen in, and get inspired! Learn more about the Tla-O-Qui-Aht Tribal Parks Allies at TribalParks.com 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 Saya decided to give his donation to the Tla-O-Qui-Aht Language Keepers Program. 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

What is economic reconciliation, why is it important, and what does it have to do with protecting lands and empowering communities? I sat down with Michelle Laviolette, the director of Indigenous Banking Strategy at Vancity to break it all down and hear about all the ways that they are working to support and create opportunities for individuals and their communities. They’ve been leading the charge in helping to support indigenous nations to provide banking and investment opportunities, to provide homeloans and retrofittings for climate sustainability, to opening up branches in remote communities to help support them, as well as tons of other incredible initiatives, so get ready to get inspired! Todays episode is presented by Vancity, a community credit union based in the greater Vancouver region that operates on a local scale to support and build up the communities it operates in, investing in building a clean and fair world for all. Put your money into doing good! Learn more about Vancity and become a member by checking out VanCity.com. 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 Michelle decided to give her donation to ⁠⁠Aborginal Mothers Centre. 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

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.

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

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

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

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

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