Humor Meets Habitat: Blending Science, Silliness, and Serious Conservation Issues
Apr 05, 2024Season 1
Global Center for Species Survival
Unlock the secrets of successful conservation efforts and witness the collision of science, humor, and hope as we engage with some of the sharpest minds in the ecological arena. Co-hosts Dr. Monni Böhm and Justin Birkhoff invite you to eavesdrop on their banter with conservation heavyweights like Dr. Steve Amstrup, Dr. Rima Jabado, Dr. Vivek Menon, Dr. Sam Ivande and more! Prepare to be educated and entertained as we dissect the struggles and victories in the world of biodiversity preservation.
Unlock the secrets of successful conservation efforts and witness the collision of science, humor, and hope as we engage with some of the sharpest minds in the ecological arena. Co-hosts Dr. Monni Böhm and Justin Birkhoff invite you to eavesdrop on their banter with conservation heavyweights like Dr. Steve Amstrup, Dr. Rima Jabado, Dr. Vivek Menon, Dr. Sam Ivande and more! Prepare to be educated and entertained as we dissect the struggles and victories in the world of biodiversity preservation.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
[Preparing] .. converse with conservationists. Converse with conservationists Converse. Sorry, serious stuff, isn't it? Welcome everybody to the Protect Species podcast, where we celebrate biodiversity and converse with conservationists. I'm Monni Böhm.
Justin Birkhoff:
And I'm Justin Burkoff. So you are. We're both conservation coordinators at the Global Center for Species Revival. So we are, which is a partnership between the Indianapolis Zoo and the Species Revival Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, or the IUCN SSC. For short.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
That was a lot of words, Justin.
Justin Birkhoff:
That was a lot of words, a lot of words.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
That's why we like acronyms. We love acronyms. On the Protect Species podcast, we'll talk about acronyms, but we'll also chat with some of the planet's most wonderful people conservationists not just in general to find out what they're doing to secure a future for animals, fungi and plants.
Justin Birkhoff:
Today. We're joined by Dr Steve Amstrom. We're joined by Rima Jabado. We're joined by Dr Vivek Mannot.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
By our colleague Dr Sami Vande.
Justin Birkhoff:
The bird conservation coordinator at the Global Center for Species Survival.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
The Founder and Executive Director of Wildlife. Trust of India Chief.
Justin Birkhoff:
Scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
Leads the Elasmo Project and the Shark Specialist Group within the IUCN Species Survival Commission.
Justin Birkhoff:
We'll also take a deep dive into the conservation news stories making headlines, or those that shit From coral bleaching and carbon offsets to habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
Excellent alliterations.
Justin Birkhoff:
Excellent alliterations.
Dr. Vivek Menon:
When I started my whole journey, I actually started in anti-poaching. I went undercover, I busted criminal rings. I went to 13 countries and that was good. I was young, I had a lot of adrenaline and, as a result, worked with Interpol, worked with all sorts of people in busting criminal rights.
Dr. Greg Mueller:
It's not well advertised because people don't want to. You know the funders don't want to admit it, but many of these big, massive tree planting across the globe aren't working right. After a couple of years the trees don't survive and it's because not using the right tree in the right place that has the right soil organisms that are associated with it.
Dr. Rima Jabado:
We've had incidents of human wildlife conflict where sharks have been at the forefront and that's been a struggle and every time there's any incident there it's all over the media. It doesn't happen for hippos, it doesn't happen for snakes, for bees, for so many other animals where you have a huge number of deaths every year from that interaction if the topics sound grim, don't worry.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
You've probably already gotten the gist that there will be tangents. We're here to learn with you. We're here to laugh, mainly at Justin, and hopefully leave you with a feeling of hope. Justin, you're our only hope.
Justin Birkhoff:
Oh, that's so much pressure, so it should be Save us, save us. But we're looking forward to having some fun with you guys on this podcast and, uh, we'll see how it goes.
Dr. Monni Böhm:
Spoken like a true jedi. We'll just see how it goes.