Podcast
Threshold
Hosted by Auricle Productions · EN
Threshold is a Peabody Award-winning documentary podcast about our place in the natural world. Each season, we take listeners on a journey into the heart of a complex environmental story, asking how we got here and where we might be headed.
In our latest season, Hark, we hand the mic over to our planet-mates and investigate what it means to truly listen to nonhuman voices—and the cost if we don't. With mounting social and ecological crises, what happens when we tune into the life all around us?
Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced.
24episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Corridor | 1 | River Road
1w ago00:35:33Tap to summarizeOne of the largest concentrations of petrochemical plants in the country lies along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Petrochemicals are made from fossil fuels. We use them to make a huge range of synthetic materials that are found in almost every part of our daily lives — but petrochemicals are made where people live. Here, amidst houses, schools, and churches, more than 150 plants release toxic pollution into communities that are often poor and black. In this episode, we meet residents and explore what it’s like to live - and love - a place at the center of our modern consumer culture.Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.
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The Corridor | Preview
2w ago00:04:24Tap to summarizeComing Tuesday, June 2nd: A podcast about history, pollution, and resistance on the frontlines of America’s petrochemical industry.Over seven episodes, The Corridor examines how Louisiana became a center of industry and an epicenter of disease, with some communities facing cancer risks among the highest in the nation. Everything that’s happening in the industrial corridor today has been shaped by history - from slavery and segregation to huge technological breakthroughs and environmental change. Across the series, we explore how residents have pushed back - against the destruction of their past, the construction of more plants, the lax enforcement of environmental regulations, and further harm to people’s health as they seek to claim their right to a prosperous and healthy future.Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Water and War with Kaveh Madani
3w ago00:22:33Tap to summarizeLike many countries, Iran has struggled with major water scarcity in recent years. Last summer its capital, Tehran, came very close to “day zero,” the day when the whole city runs out of drinking water. Now, with the United States at war with Iran, President Donald Trump has further threatened the country’s civilian water infrastructure, including dams, water treatment plants, and the electrical grid.Dr. Kaveh Madani is a water scientist and the former Deputy Head of the Department of Environment in Iran. He now leads the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. He joins us to talk about his work on the concept of ‘water bankruptcy,’ his experience working on environmental issues in Iran, and the links between water and conflict.Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer.Resources and Links: Kaveh’s major new report on water bankruptcyThe United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Coyotes in the City with Christopher Schell
Apr 2100:21:59Tap to summarizeAs surprising as it may be to encounter a coyote in the big city, these wild carnivores aren’t passing through—they’re right at home. Whether it’s a quiet grassland or a downtown Quiznos, they’re adapting to their environment, and to us. Dr. Christopher Schell is an ecologist who studies city-dwelling carnivores at UC Berkeley, and he joins us to think about how wild animals live in the built environment, how human social dynamics shape the behavior of our nonhuman neighbors, and what lessons we can take from these resilient creatures. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer. Resources and Links: The Schell Lab One of Chris’s papers: The ecological and evolutionary consequences of systemic racism in urban environmentsChris’s upcoming events in SeattleMapping Inequality, an interactive history of Redlining in America
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Walking Like a Curlew with Matthew Trevelyan
Mar 1700:17:27Tap to summarizeAll around the Northern Hemisphere, the evocative call of a curlew is a telltale sign of spring. With their tall, skinny legs and long, curved bills, this group of migratory shorebirds has earned a reputation in many different cultures—but now they’re facing serious threats, and one species is already extinct.Last spring, one man became so concerned about the plight of these iconic birds that he walked for two days across the English countryside inside a giant curlew costume. His name is Matthew Trevelyan, and in his day job he works to protect the pastoral grasslands of Nidderdale, a landscape in Northern England where Eurasian Curlews love to nest. Matthew joins us to talk about his long walk, the challenges facing curlews in the UK and worldwide, and why so many of us find the song of this slender bird to be so moving.Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer.Resources and Links: Matthew in the BBC in his giant curlew costumeMatthew’s new plan to climb the Yorkshire Peaks in the curlew costumeThe Nidderdale National Landscape where Matthew works to conserve curlewsCurlew conservation and news at curlewaction.orgCurlew Moon by Mary Colwell
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Feminism in the Wild with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer
Feb 1700:31:34Tap to summarizeHow much of what we know about animals is actually just an assumption? From dominant males and passive females to stigmas around same-sex sexual behavior, ideas from our human world influence our understanding of the nonhuman one.Ambika Kamath is a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist, and Melina Packer is a scholar of race, gender and sexuality. Together they wrote the book Feminism in the Wild: How Human Biases Shape Our Understanding of Animal Behavior. They join us to unpack some long-held ideas in biology, explain why these ideas are so powerful, and imagine how we might open our eyes to animal behavior that defies our expectations.Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer.Resources and Links: Episode transcriptFeminism in the Wild from MIT PressThe paper on female birdsong by Michelle Hall and colleaguesAmy’s Substack, Letters to Earthlings
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Climate Negotiations with Lina Yassin
Jan 1300:30:24Tap to summarizeThirty-four years ago, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established the annual “conferences of the parties,” known as COPs, where almost every nation on earth comes together to negotiate a solution to climate change. But this past November, for the first time ever, the United States did not send a delegation to COP, and this month, the Trump Administration announced its intention to withdraw from the UNFCCC entirely. Lina Yassin has been to nine COPs, including the most recent, COP30, in Brazil. Originally from Sudan, Lina provides support for some of the world's poorest and most climate-vulnerable nations at these negotiations. She joins Amy to talk about what happened at this year’s conference, and why, despite the U.S. withdrawal, she believes it’s essential to keep this multilateral process alive. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer. Resources and Links: Lina’s work at the International Institute for Environment and Development Key outcomes of COP30 from Carbon BriefAmy will be writing more about recent developments in climate diplomacy at her Substack, Letters to Earthlings
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | Climate Emotions with Audrey Martin
Dec 900:22:07Tap to summarizeAll over the world, small groups of complete strangers are getting together to share their feelings about climate. These gatherings are called Climate Cafes, and they’re carving out space for some big emotions we might prefer to avoid. But what if talking about our feelings can also help us address the climate crisis? Audrey Martin is a Bay Area psychotherapist and one of the leaders of the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. She also happens to be Amy Martin’s sister. Audrey joins us to unpack some of our complicated, scary emotions around climate, and to make the case for why this kind of self-reflection isn’t just comforting—it’s crucial. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer. Resources and Links: Climate Psychology Alliance of North America
Transcribe →Threshold Conversations | The Roadless Rule with Ben Goldfarb
Nov 1800:24:03Tap to summarizeLast June, the U.S. the Secretary of Agriculture announced that the Trump administration intends to repeal something called the “Roadless Rule”—a policy implemented in 2001, which protected some of the Forest Service’s wildest lands from logging, mining, and road-building. Author Ben Goldfarb examined the impacts of road and roadless areas in his 2023 book, Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. We talk with Ben about why our Forest Service lands already have so many roads, and what building more would actually mean for wildlife and for people. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today. To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter.Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer. Resources and Links: Ben’s book, “Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet” at W.W. Norton To read more of Ben Goldfarb’s ecological writing, go to his website, bengoldfarb.comA map of Forest Service Roadless Areas in the United StatesThe Forest Service website about Roadless Areas and the new rule40 Years a Forester by Elers Koch
Transcribe →Something New Coming Next Week
Nov 1100:02:36Tap to summarizeSomething new is coming to your feed next week.Threshold is made possible by our listeners. To keep making our show, we need to raise $75,000 by the end of the year — and we’re already 15% of the way there! Support real journalism, powered by real listeners.Make a donation today and your gift up to $1,000 will be doubled. DONATE NOW
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