8 sustainability podcasts to listen to this Earth Day

Today’s global challenges, from climate change to health and digitalisation, are of unprecedented scientific complexity and transcend national borders, rendering isolated action ineffective. A prime example in this regard, the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the need for more science-informed public decision-making and international scientific collaboration on solutions to global crises, once again making science-policy interfaces and science diplomacy a priority for governments worldwide. At global, regional, and national levels of governance science-policy interfaces, fostering relations between scientists and policymakers to enable joint formulation of knowledge and policy solutions, are today widely established.

Have you ever heard of the Tasmanian devil?  It’s actually nothing like the cartoon version—the real devil is a black animal with white markings that’s smaller than a cocker spaniel, and it’s in trouble.  The Tasmanian devil once lived on the continent of Australia but now survives in the wild only on the island state of Tasmania, just off Australia’s south coast.  It’s the largest surviving marsupial carnivore in the world.  A marsupial’s young develop in a pouch on their mother’s belly rather than in a uterus inside their mother’s body.  Other than females with young, the devils are solitary, living in a burrow in the ground during the day and coming out at dusk to feed.  Devils can hunt for prey but much of their diet consists of dead animals—carrion–such as road-killed wallabies and wombats.  A disease spreading across the island since 1996 has decimated the devil population.