It seems we鈥檝e finally stopped asking ourselves if we鈥檝e reached peak podcast and just accepted that there are too many podcasts all the time and it is simply impossible to listen to all of them. But we听keep them around because the really good ones are nice companions that could match any听running buddy, keeping us distracted through the miles. These three new shows tell stories that will be familiar to some listeners, adding intrigue with a lot of surprising behind-the-scenes details and some very charismatic interviewees chiming in. They also ask pressing questions about conservation, climate change, and finding solutions in the face of crisis and conflict鈥攃an your running buddy do听that?
Timber Wars听
From Oregon Public Broadcasting, the same folks who brought you听, here鈥檚 another deep look at a long-standing听American culture and conservation clash. This time听it鈥檚 loggers versus literal tree huggers, though that description doesn鈥檛 really do justice to the complex dynamics that play out over听鈥 eight episodes. Host Aaron Scott reminds us just how recently forests were seen听as simply tree farms for us to harvest听and scientists who wanted to study majestic old-growth forests were viewed听as massive nuisances. It wasn鈥檛 until the 1990s that a series of high-profile protests, wildlife protections for animals like the northern spotted owl, and court cases made the Northwest鈥檚 old-growth forests the center of a perennial conservation battle. The podcast presents a fairly comprehensive look at 25 years of forest management, with careful representation from听all the main stakeholders. We meet loggers, forestry experts, and environmentalists, but there鈥檚 no clear hero or villain. The show identifies听a surprising point of origin for a conflict that most of us now take for granted,听while injecting a lot of fun,听thanks to spirited interviews with all sorts of forest-adjacent characters.
Inherited
producers Georgia Wright and Julianna Bradley, both sort-of-recent college grads, are part of听the climate-change generation. In their words, 鈥淥ur generation has inherited a flawed world and an unprecedented climate crisis. But we鈥檙e not just going to accept this world we鈥檝e been given.鈥 In their first four-episode听season, which wrapped up in early October, they touch upon major themes for young climate activists: the formation of the , climate disasters, mental health, the Green New Deal, and how to remain hopeful despite everything. This is a lot to cover 25 minutes at a time! But Wright and Bradley make it seem听easy, with plenty of production flourishes and听energetic interviews with organizers. In their striking first episode, they talk to six members of the Sunrise Movement about the group鈥檚 first prominent action, a 2018 sit-in at Nancy Pelosi鈥檚 office. In the third episode, they point out how frustrating it is that many media outlets almost exclusively cover Greta Thunberg, while ignoring the work of numerous听other young activists, before talking to , who, um, has been called the听. The podcast鈥檚 peer-to-peer interviews are its greatest strength:听there鈥檚 not an ounce of condescension or astonishment that young organizers have built such a promising movement. In an urgent听climate crisis, who has the time for that?听
Grouse
The greater sage grouse is a 听(males have puffy chest sacs and spiky tail feathers) with a grim future.听Threatened by climate change, extractive industries, and other forces that are quickly shrinking their Mountain West habitat, the birds have come to represent the struggle for compromise and collaboration among a wide array of stakeholders. In听, a new podcast from BirdNote Presents and Boise State Public Radio, we meet host Ashley Ahearn, a self-described city slicker who has left听her NPR job to ride horses and report from rural Washington. She presents herself as the very personable guide to听a species听that has an outsize听presence in the world of western conservation. Each episode is a tidy 20-ish minutes, starring individuals with a distinct perspective on the birds鈥 plight, including an elder Northern Paiute of the Warm Springs Reservation, a rancher, and a biologist. Whether or not you鈥檙e familiar with the , Ahearn provides helpful on-the-ground context and thoughtfully discusses the sage grouse鈥檚 very shaky present.