127. 40 by 40, the Future, and Some Good News

What's up Plant People?? Planthropology is finally back! It may look a little different over the next year, but ride along with me today and let's chat about the plans I have and the cool stuff that's coming up. Thanks for sticking with me, and if you know of some good news you'd like to hear on my new segment, let me know. If you'd like EVEN MORE good news and hope about our world, go check out Alaina Wood and Katharine Hayhoe!

Listen to Deep Roots!

Transcript

Welcome Back And What’s Changing

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What is up, plant people? It's time once more for the Planthropology Podcast, the show where we dive into the lives and careers of some very cool plant people to figure out why they do what they do and what keeps them coming back for more. I'm Vic Rombeliga, your host and your humble guide in this journey through the sciences, and as always, my dearest friends, and once again, I'm so excited to be with you today. It has been a hot minute, y'all, and we've been here before. We have. But that's okay. I published my last episode with my friend JSPAR in December of 2025. I don't know when you're listening to this. Maybe you're on the Wayback Machine and you're finding this in the distant future where we've solved the climate crisis and we're in flying electric vehicles and made of trees. I I don't know. I'm just saying words. But it's been a while. It's been like seven months since I've put out an episode. And I have a lot of reasons why that is, but the long and short of it is that life is messy and busy and complicated, and I have been super burned out. Just super burned out. And there's a whole lot of life that's been happening, and a whole lot of really good stuff with work and with other things, which I'll talk about a little bit more in the mid-roll during the break. But I'm back. And a few things today that we're gonna cover. I want to talk about my plans for plant anthropology going forward. I have some ideas, I'm gonna talk about some things, and then a new segment I'm gonna start on every episode, regardless of how long they are, is to leave you with some good news at the end. Because goodness knows, Lord knows, there are so many things in the world today to be scared of that are hard and heavy. And sometimes because it doesn't play well all the time on the media and out there in the world, we don't hear the good stuff. Whether it is good news in academia, things that I'm seeing with students, articles I read about the future of education, whether it's climate-related or plant-related or a cool discovery or something that happens. I'm gonna leave every episode from now on with just a bit of good news. So we'll start that today. But yeah, so let's jump into it. I'm gonna give you an update. This will probably be a short episode, but I just want you to let you know where we are and what we're doing with Planthropology. And thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for being here. Y'all are cool, and listen to some cool music, and we'll be right back.

Where I’ve Been And Burnout

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Again, who knows when that is? Hopefully, you've stuck around and you got this cool little notification in your podcast player app that there's a new episode and you're listening to it today as it came out. But I want to give you just a little bit of information about where I've been and what I've been doing. So last as I record this on Thursday, oh July 9th, which is the day I'm recording this, this will come out on July 10th. Last week was my 39th birthday. And I started thinking about as we do when we get older and we start to reflect on our lives and the things that we do in our lives. I started thinking about the things that matter and the things that I want for myself and I want for my outlets, whether that's the podcast or my social media or just my education. I'm trying to figure out still at 39 years old who I am and what I want to be when I grow up, right? I think that's something we never stop doing, and I hope you never do stop trying to figure that out because life is about progress and moving forward. And so that's where we are today. So I was thinking about how I have a year left before I turn 40. Now, I've I said this on social media, and a bunch of people were like, life doesn't end at 40, and I'm aware, I know that. I'm actually looking forward to it. I think, goodness, what a privilege it is to get older, right? And to live a lifetime where in the past I would have already done that, right? I have beat the odds from the grand arc of human history. But I like to set goals for myself, and sometimes I'm so busy and my brain is in so many places that I have to get things and I have to come up with hard goals if I'm ever gonna have a chance of meeting them. And sometimes I don't. But setting the goal makes me try, and that's

The 40 By 40 Challenge

SPEAKER_00 4:30

something that I want to do. So I want to talk about a few of the goals overall that I've set for myself, and I'm calling it 40 by 40. So 40, it's not 40 things, and it's not even 40 individual things, but again, I it's catchy and I like a catchy gamey kind of thing. Okay. So the one that's most relevant here is that I want to put out 40 episodes of Planthropology. This is number one, before my next birthday on July 2nd of 2027. Now that's a lot. I at one point in the way back when started doing episodes every week, and that would be what, 52 episodes? And I made it through about 44 before I was like, oh my gosh, that's so many episodes. And that's I approach this with some hesitation because of that. So the way I'm thinking about this is normally my episodes are around an hour long, and a lot of these won't be. I think sometimes what I would like to do, and maybe the format of the show going forward, is I'm still gonna have lots of full episodes, QA episodes, interviews with people, and I've got a great one recorded, which will drop next week with the guys from Let's Botanize that I recorded back in January, February, and that was supposed to come out back then, and it just never did. And if you're listening, guys, I'm sorry, but it's such a good episode, and I can't wait for y'all to hear it next week. But some of these will just be short little updates, cool articles I read, neat information, maybe some tips, some quick tips on what you can be doing in your garden at a given time of year. And I may say, hey, it is early August. Here's some things that you should be thinking about for your garden and your landscape.

Short Updates And Gardening 101

SPEAKER_00 6:05

In January of 27, I'm gonna start a gardening 101 series. And that's something I'm really excited about. It's something that I want to put on my YouTube and create some video content around as well. And I've talked about this before, I think, but I think something that's really important, especially as the world is so uncertain, is that we take ownership and control where we can in our lives and find ways to empower ourselves, even in small ways. And gardening is so much that. If you've ever grown a garden, if you've ever harvested a tomato or a pepper fresh off your plants, you know what a good feeling that is. And I want to talk to folks about what it looks like to garden from the ground up. What do you need? What considerations are there? When should you plant? But depending on where you are. And I want to take you through a short course on home gardening. And so probably the way that I'm gonna structure that is that'll start in January, and I will release one episode of Gardening 101 through the end of the spring until sort of the end of the series, probably going forward past that. But my idea is that in six to seven episodes, I should be able to give you some sort of the basics you need to be fairly successful in your home garden or at least to get started. Because just like this, trying is the most important thing, I think. And having the tools to do that, having the opportunity and the support, maybe the educational support, whatever else to try is such a big deal. So that's my plan going forward. So 40 episodes of Planthropology between now, again, this is one, so 39 more at least, before my next birthday next July of 2027, which by the way, the fact that we're talking about 2027 feels fake. That's a fake number. If you're listening to this sometime in the future, you know, you probably have fond or terrible memories of the past in 2027. But right now, it just feels like a fake number. So that's one thing for sure. And then there's some other personal goals. I am interested again in doing longer format videos, so I want to put out 40 episodes or 40 videos on YouTube of whatever, right? Some of it will be this content, some of it will be the gardening 101 content. They're probably not going to be very produced or polished, and I'm okay with that too. But practical things, fun things, funny things. I put lots of shorts on there, like I post on my other social media, but that's something that I want to get into too, is longer format sort of video. And then there's some personal goals. Like I want to lose 40 pounds because I was looking. Facebook likes to do this thing where it shows me old pictures of myself, and I look like I ate that guy. And I would like to not look like I ate that guy anymore, mostly for my own health. My doctor was like, come on, but also a little bit, a lot bit, some amount for my own vanity. I don't know. But then some other stuff. I want to get back into woodworking. I want to write another children's book. Plants to the Rescue has been one of the most fulfilling things I think I've done in my career. And I would like to get another one going. I've got two or three ideas. I've even started a couple, and I just need to finish them. So lots of goals, lots of things. But the future of Planthropology is that I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna try my hardest. I know this show has meant a lot to a lot of y'all, and it has certainly meant a lot to me over the past goodness. I started in October of 2019, so nearly seven years. It's meant a lot. And I don't want it to go away. I was a little bit afraid that it would, but I don't think that's where I am yet, at least. So I was telling my son the other day, Bradley's almost 10, by the way. And if you go back to one of my very first episodes, you'll get to hear Bradley's three-year-old little voice, I think actually in December of 2019, which is just wild. So if you haven't listened to that episode, I think you should. It's really cute. He's 10 now, he'll be 11 in January. And I was telling him, we were talking about drum lessons or something, and I told him, you know what? I want you to stick with it for a year and try really hard for a year. And at the end of the year, if it's something that brings you joy that you like, that you love, yeah, let's keep going. And if not, then you tried it. So that's where I am too now. So I'm gonna go hard at this the next year, and I still love it and I still have the joy for it. And I just want to practically see what that looks like to do 40 episodes between now and next July. So those are some of the goals for the future of

Send Guests And Topic Ideas

SPEAKER_00 10:28

the show. If there are people you would like to hear me interview, please send them my way. You can email me at planthropologypod at gmail.com or reach out on social media. I am Planthropology Pod or the Plant Prof, all the places. If there's topics you'd like to hear me cover, please send those along as well. Because again, I am going to give this my absolute best for the next year, and then we're gonna see where we are. I think at that point I will have found my joy for it again and found my groove again, and we will dive back in. But let's take a quick break, and then when we come back, I'm going to give you a piece of good news that I've read recently, and then we'll wrap up for today. Like I said, this will be a short one, and then over the break, I'm gonna tell you about a new project I have going and that I think you should go listen

How To Support The Show

SPEAKER_00 11:13

to as well. Hey there, welcome to the mid-roll. Fancy seeing you here once again. Planthropology happens or usually happens sometimes because of you, and because I enjoy doing this for you. I enjoy it for myself. I like to learn, I like to research things, I like to get to talk to cool plant people, and there's some really cool ones coming up, but I do it f because of the community that I have developed around it, that has developed. I can't take any credit for that really, the community that has developed around it. I've met some really amazing people through planthropology, people that have become honestly lifelong friends. And just thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. If you want to support planthropology, go tell someone about it. Go follow on social media all the places, word of mouth, reposting videos, things like that is still the best way to spread the word, to get it out there. If you want to financially support the show, you can go to buymeacoffee.com/slash planthropology and donate some coffee money there. And I can assure you that's what it'll go to. I'm if you're watching this on YouTube, I still am working on this industrial-sized coffee for today. And I actually had a meeting at a coffee shop earlier where I had more different coffee. Maybe I should worry about that. I don't know. Maybe that's the thing that my doctor should know as well. But I'm not telling them because this is what's keeping me animated most days. You can also go to planthropologypodcast.com and snag some merch and leave a comment. Again, just be involved. Let me know who you want to hear on the show, what you want to hear on the show, and all of that. But the thing that I said I was gonna talk about, I have actually started a new podcast or I'm involved with a new podcast at work now, as part of my job here at Texas Tech University.

Deep Roots And Texas Tech Work

SPEAKER_00 13:01

You may remember that this show used to be very much under the auspice of my main day job, and I've carved it out as my own thing. And one of the reasons I did that is because in my role as assistant dean for outreach and engagement, I am hosting and helping produce a show with our comms team called Deep Roots. And I hope that you'll go look up Deep Roots by the Davis College. It has been so much fun. And in this show, the format's a little bit different. It is still interview style, but we're looking at and talking to some of the researchers, the students, the educators in our college about some of the cutting edge work that they're doing. So, whereas sometimes the interviews in the show are very much about the person and their background, and we meander a whole lot and chase all the rabbits, these are a little bit tighter, more focused episodes on a specific research thing, on a specific program, and some of the incredible work that's being done. One that I just recorded a couple of weeks ago that'll come out soon is using cotton trash. So leftover seed holes after they've been pressed for oil and lint and all those things to make fully, truly biodegradable bioplastics out of cotton that can be used to go back and wrap cotton bales, round bales, modules, things like that. So if little pieces break off, it's already cotton and it's not ruining the quality. So really cool research along those lines. And I think it's a show that you'll really enjoy. So if you don't get enough of me here, and even if you do, please go subscribe to the Deep Roots podcast, anywhere you get your podcast. I would love to hear what you think about that as well. But again, thanks for being here. Thanks for being involved, being a part of it, part of this, and let's go hear some good news.

Why Hope Beats Doomerism

SPEAKER_00 14:44

So, again, in the news, if you watch any news channel, if you get on social media and doom scroll for a while, it really does feel that way, right? It's Doomerism all the way down. Oh, the world is ending, we're in trouble. And there's some truth to some of that, right? There are a lot of challenges here where I live in Lubbock, Texas. We are this is our warmest year on record overall. We've had less above 100 degree days, but starting in January, our average temperature is 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average on record. It's the warmest by 1.3 in recorded history. And nine of the 10 warmest years on record are since about 2006. That's concerning, sure. And I think that those data are not unique to where I am. That's the thing we're seeing all over the place. But only hearing that, only hearing those things can leave us not in a good place, right? Hope, it turns out, is a force multiplier. And when people have hope, they are so much more likely to fight for the things that give them hope, to fight for the things that matter. And I I have some really good examples and some people that I really respect in the climate space. Catherine Hayho, who has been a guest on this podcast before, just is relentless in her hope. Elena Wood in Good Climate News, which you should go subscribe to on Substack and go follow Elena on social media as well, tells good climate stories all the time and really go, they both go out of their way to combat this doomerism, this idea that there is nothing we can do and all hope is lost. Because hope is powerful, right? So I want to talk about some good pieces of things that are happening. Again, this might be good climate news. This might be really cool plant science things that I've discovered. It may just be a cool interaction I had with a student or colleague to give you hope that people are still good and people are still people, right?

Mangroves Are Making A Comeback

SPEAKER_00 16:42

So today, one thing I want to talk about is mangroves. So if you don't know what a mangrove is, these are these really cool plants that live in a lot of coastal ecosystems in primarily tropical climates. We see a lot of mangroves in Asia and a few different other places. And their populations along coastlines, they actually live out in saltwater and coastal estuaries and interesting, really tough ecosystems, ecological climates. A lot of times they live in really tough climates and a tough place for a plant to grow. Most plants don't love saltwater, it turns out. But one of the things that mangroves do in their natural habitat where they grow is they anchor the soil. They hold sandy beaches together and they create these really cool coastal ecosystems where small fish and other animals can thrive. But one big thing they do is they protect coastlines. So there's so much data out there, and there's some really cool videos. I'll link a couple in the show notes that you can watch of when storm surges are coming in, when hurricanes are blowing through, when tidal waves are coming in, these mangroves actually hold the soil together. They break up the intensity of a lot of these waves and this water moving in and they protect coastlines, they protect villages. They are critical in these coastal ecosystems. And over the past hundred years or so, so many of them have been removed for rice patties, for to make rice patties and clear out some of that water and put in fresh water and different things to do fish farms and other activities on the beach and on the coastlines. And because of that, we've seen across the globe and places where these are native and then where they normally grow, that there's a lot of degradation in these coastal ecosystems. But mangroves are making a comeback, and that's just the coolest thing. It's just the coolest thing that when we put our minds to, and about this since the 1980s or so, we have been, nearly all of the losses have been reversed. That's wild. That's wild. In 40 years or so, since sometime in the 1980s, in an article recently published in Science, they've done satellite analysis and community counts and things like that. And most of the losses have been reversed. Now, there are still places where those ecosystems have not been rebuilt. There are still plenty of areas where there's still a lot of work to be done. But if we look at it at a macro scale, mangroves are back. And if we think about that as a model for approaching our climate action, as we think of it as a model for going forward and restoring prairies, even or waterways, or whatever else, wherever it is that we're trying to make an impact, the fact that targeted work, intensive, intentional efforts have huge benefits. Right. In 40 years, again, in my lifetime, this problem has been nearly fixed. And to the extent that future generations might look back and say there were never any problems there to begin with. We see this phenomenon in pollution through the Clean Air Act, where people have grown up not knowing what it's like to have smog blankets over some cities. And it leads them to think that it was never a problem. The hole in the ozone layer, we we took out some of the chemicals that were being sprayed, some of the aerosols that were damaging the ozone layer. And a lot of those holes have patched over time, right? So successes are great, and we can have massive successes just through some intentional hard work, but we also have to tell those stories, which is why I'm doing this segment, which is why people like Elena Wood at Good Climate News, why Catherine Hayhoe and so many others that fight this fight of talking about hope are so important. It's so powerful. And I hope that's encouraging to you and motivates you just a little bit to again try to start to find a cause that matters to you and work at it even just a little bit. Okay.

Wrap Up And Keep Being Kind

SPEAKER_00 20:50

So that's all I have for you for today. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. Planthropology is produced, hosted, all of the things by yours truly. Our music is by the award-winning composer Nick Scout. Our mid-roll music is by my buddy Rui and his dope lo-fi dad jazz. Y'all, I love you. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being involved. Thanks for being a part of Planthropology. Keep being good. Keep being kind. If you have not yet been kind to the people around you, maybe give that a shot. This is a really darn good time to try. Be good, be safe, and keep being really cool plant people. Until next time.