Unless it adds to context, we're not usually name droppers. Okay, maybe sometimes when we're really excited about an interview (Temple Grandin) or person (Isabella Rossellini) that has used his or her power for good (Phillip Sponenberg), or maybe someone (Harvey Blackburn) that has done great things in their field of study (Cary Fowler) for the planet as a whole (One more? No – that would be too much).
But here, we're going to shamelessly use proper nouns, and our guests pretty much fit into all of our name-drop categories. What is the topic? Plants. Yep – humble little things that they are, they’re pretty much at the top of the list, as far as organisms of planetary importance are concerned. They make air for us, remove waste for us, feed us - the little things. Here are two gentlemen who probably know more than almost anyone in this field (yes, that was on purpose).
Our guests today are Dr. Peter Raven and Dr. Ari Novy, who got together with us to talk about their past and future work in the fields of botany, biodiversity, conservation, and concepts relating to plants and animals on our planet. We also talk about how the world is changing and how plants are changing with it, just like the rest of us.
So here’s the name-drop part, which is only a fraction of the collective experience of our guests:
Missouri Botanical Garden. UC Berkeley. UCLA. Stanford. Pontifical Academy of Sciences. The Vatican. The Pope (bunches of them). The Sierra Club. The White House. National Academy of Sciences. National Geographic.
San Diego Botanic Garden. NYU. Rutgers. U.S. Botanic Garden. Washington DC. Smithsonian. National Museum of Natural History. White House Council of Environmental Quality.
Dr. Peter Raven. Dr. Ari Novy. Maybe we are name droppers now. You have to admit, with these two very accomplished men, those are some names worth dropping.