UW Notebook, encouraged by the overlap between radio and podcasting, talked with the co-hosts of this prolific show with almost two dozen produced episodes so far. Also, below, EarthLab’s podcast “” releases a new season of timely topics.

“Coastal Café” is a joint production of Washington Sea Grant and the College of the Environment. Its 23 episodes and counting explore “cutting-edge marine science and related topics with researchers, policy experts and people who live and work on the Washington coast.” The show is broadcast every Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. on KPTZ, 91.9 FM out of Port Townsend.

The podcast/radio show is co-hosted by , Washington Sea Grant’s assistant director for communications; and , its boating program specialist. Both have past radio experience: Wagner with Seattle’s Classic KING FM and Barnett with a public radio station in Alaska.

The two say they modeled the program after a Maine Sea Grant radio show called “.” They approached Port Townsend radio station KPTZ with the idea for a show and the selection of marine-related topics appealed to the station, whose listeners include many in the maritime industry.

What is the audience for ‘Coastal Café’? ��

Aaron Barnett: The content is eclectic with a focus on Washington state but with national relevance. The audience we try to reach is composed of coastal stakeholders — vessel operators, marine trades, coastal homeowners, you name it.�� The show was also syndicated on Radio Free America for a year until they folded this summer.��

MaryAnn Wagner: Really, anyone who has an interest in what is happening in the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea, and along those shorelines would be interested in our show topics, including anyone interested in learning about the latest news in marine science and policy, or even just fishing and boating.

What episode might be the best for a newcomer to listen to first?��

A.B.: That depends on what they are interested in. For example, if a newcomer is interested in the arts, we did a , whose band provides music for the show. We have many science-focused episodes, with most of those based at the UW. And we have a couple of shows focused on recreational boating and the commercial fishing industry.

M.W.: Aaron recently did an on-location show about aboard a U. S. Coast Guard Lifeboat, and we did a show on UW tsunami research in the Pacific Northwest — and another on abandoned and derelict boats and what to do about them. Coming up is a show for recreational boaters and beachgoers on how to help reduce marine debris, such as plastics and other garbage.

You are recording new episodes — what are the challenges of keeping the podcast going during the coronavirus shutdown?

A.B.: The biggest challenge we have faced during shutdown is finding a way to record good sound quality outside of the production and recording studio, since no one is allowed to tape in the station. We have experimented with different phone and internet platforms and think we have something that works now. However, good sound quality still hinges on good connection with the interviewee’s phone signal, which these days is usually from a cell phone.

M.W.: And cell phones are not always reliable! I really miss being in the studio setting with the interviewee sitting across the table with all the equipment.�� But that has not stopped us. Aaron and our excellent producer Jared DuFresne of KPTZ have experimented with a number of variations for taping the show remotely, and as Aaron said, they have found a good technical combination. The show must go on, and so it has.

We have found over the past two years that the number of marine topics we could report upon is endless. For example, there is so much research happening at the UW on marine and related environmental issues, that we could do multiple shows focused on UW projects alone.

I should add that we are always open to ideas from our listeners. So, please send us your ideas.

• To learn more or submit ideas, contact Wagner at maryannb@uw.edu or Barnett at aaronb5@uw.edu.

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EarthLab’s ‘Voices Unbound’ second season talks of social tensions from COVID-19

“” is a podcast created by EarthLab and UW Tacoma, and hosted by associate professor in the school’s Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program. The podcast has now published its second season.

“In this series opener we go way-deep into the social tensions of our time,” show notes say, “discussing how racism in law enforcement and governmental responses to the COVID-19 epidemic contribute important environmental threats to communities in our region and elsewhere.”

The podcast also will continue to report on its analysis of answers to questions posed since 2019 about public attitudes toward environmental challenges.

Principal investigators for the work are Evans-Agnew and , urban ecologist and assistant professor in UW Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

Read an earlier UW Notebook story about this podcast. For more information, contact Evans-Agnew at robagnew@uw.edu.

Social inequalities, specifically racism and classism, are impacting the biodiversity, evolutionary shifts and ecological health of plants and animals in our cities.

That’s the main finding of a led by the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý, with co-authors at the University of California, Berkeley, and University of Michigan, which examined more than 170 published studies and analyzed the influence of systemic inequalities on ecology and evolution. Published Aug. 13 in Science, it calls on the scientific community to focus on environmental justice and anti-racism practices to transform biological research and conservation.

“Racism is destroying our planet, and how we treat each other is essentially structural violence against our natural world,” said lead author , an assistant professor of urban ecology at the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý Tacoma. “Rather than just changing the conversation about how we treat each other, this paper will hopefully change the conversation about how we treat the natural world.”

The paper cites other studies that have found racism and other inequalities are reducing biodiversity, increasing urban heat island effects and augmenting impacts of climate crises across the United States.

For example, several studies the authors included found fewer trees in low-income and racially minoritized neighborhoods in major cities across the U.S. Less tree cover means hotter temperatures and fewer plant and animal species. Additionally, these areas tend to be closer to industrial waste or dumping sites than wealthier, predominantly white areas — a reality that was put in place intentionally through policies like redlining, the authors explain.

Fewer trees, over decades, has led to pockets of neighborhoods that are hotter, more polluted, and have more disease-carrying pests such as rodents and mosquitoes that can survive in harsh environments. These ecological differences inevitably affect human health and well-being, the authors said.

The main purpose of the paper is to show the scientific community that fundamental practices in science are based on systems that support white supremacy and perpetuate systemic racism, the authors said. They hope their colleagues in science fields will begin to dig into the history of the various laws and practices that built present-day inequalities — such as and — and then start to reevaluate how they run their labs and conduct their research.

“I hope this paper will shine the light and create a paradigm shift in science,” Schell said. “That means fundamentally changing how researchers do their science, which questions they ask, and realizing that their usual set of questions might be incomplete.”

For example, Schell said he has seen numerous papers comparing biodiversity in urban and rural areas. However, organisms in cities were often only measured in wealthier areas, negating the possibility for differences among urban neighborhoods of different income levels. That type of science, even if done unknowingly, is negligent, he said.

The authors also hope this paper paves the way for younger scientists entering the field, especially people of color, to have legitimacy in pushing for science that is centered around anti-racism and environmental justice.

“Identity matters, and creating space for researchers who aren’t straight white cis males to pursue questions that arise from their lived experiences can really strengthen science,” said co-author , assistant professor and social scientist in the UW School of Marine and Environmental Affairs. “I hope that scientists will read this paper and be inspired to think about representation in our labs and departments, and how that might matter for science going forward.”

Ultimately, the authors said, environmental issues should be recast to encompass societal issues, which departs from what traditional, mostly white environmentalists advocate.

For example, creating affordable housing should be on every environmentalist’s agenda, they explained. More secure housing, with less turnover and fewer vacant lots or construction areas, promotes ecological stability for people, animals and plants. Additionally, more equitable access to parks and greenways within cities also promotes more animal and plant biodiversity. And better public transportation to and from well-paid jobs cuts carbon emissions and reduces animal-vehicle collisions.

Notably, each of these actions benefits humans as well as plants and animals — and all are not included in traditional definitions of environmentalism.

Schell also led a recent paper, in Nature Ecology and Evolution, that scientists can take to fight racism and white supremacy. For Schell, this includes paying everyone who works in his lab, making sure people of color are treated equitably, and advocating for women of color to hold leadership positions in professional societies and organizations. He encourages colleagues to do the same.

“I’m hopeful things are going to happen, because I have to be,” he said. “We have the power to be activists in our own ways, in our own sectors, and we have the ability to motivate others to do the same.”

Co-authors are , Tracy Fuentes and of the UW College of Built Environments; of UW Tacoma; of the University of Michigan; and of University of California, Berkeley.

This research was funded by the ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý, the University of California, Berkeley, the David H. Smith Fellows program and the National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Schell at cjschell@uw.edu,��Woelfle-Erskine at cleowe@uw.edu and Lambert at lambert.mrm@gmail.com.

Here’s a quick look at a few such UW-created podcasts, from benevolent marketing to Arctic geopolitics — and a classics professor’s work being featured in a podcast produced by the Times Literary Supplement.

“”
EarthLab / UW Tacoma
Hosted by , associate professor, UW Tacoma Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Program.

“What do people think about environmental challenges? And what do they do every day to survive those challenges? We explore these questions in this podcast series,” say co-principal investigators Evans-Agnew and , urban ecologist and assistant professor in UW Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

Beginning in 2019 and continuing earlier this year, this team of UW Tacoma professors and students asked people in Tacoma and the South Sound to fill out postcards with their own answers to those questions.

“We stood in the street, behind booths, in the sunshine and the rain … We chose places where we wouldn’t necessarily find the sort of people who already had a voice,” the researchers wrote. The team gathered about 1,000 postcards in all, and those responses are the subject of the podcasts.

Each podcast presents selections from the postcards, and the researchers also discuss their experiences. One episode features UW Tacoma plastics researcher and geoscience lecturer .

Evans-Agnew said the team plans a second series of the podcast that will focus on COVID-19, environment justice and police oppression issues.

“I also do not want to lose sight of the continued — and quiet roll-backs of environmental policy that are occurring in the shadows of this unrest,” Evans-Agnes said. “It is the untold story of this time.”

* * *��

“”
Written and hosted by , senior lecturer, UW Bothell School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

“This podcast explores the emotional burden of climate change,” writes Atkinson, “and why despair leaves so many people unable to respond to our existential threat.”

The fourth episode, “Coping with Climate Despair in Four Steps,” outlines strategies to “beat the climate blues and become an agent of change.” Atkinson’s research focus is the environmental humanities and her teaching explores intersections between environmental studies and American culture and literature.

Atkinson added: “Meanwhile, frontline communities — particularly people of color, indigenous communities, and other historically-marginalized groups — are experiencing the heaviest mental health impacts of climate disruption and displacement. This series introduces ways to move from despair to action by addressing the psychological roots of our unprecedented ecological loss.”

* * *

Hosted and produced by the Canadian Studies Center,
Jackson School of International Studies.

The inaugural 45-minute episode of this occasional podcast series features political science doctoral student

interviewing , former two-term premier of the Yukon Territory and the Jackson School’s 2013-14 Fulbright Canada Chair in Arctic studies.

The interview focuses on Penikett’s 2018 book “.” Publisher’s notes say the book explores the nature of a new “Northern consciousness” or “Arctic identity” beyond pop culture stereotypes that “fail to capture northern realities.”

Ahlness is a 2020-2021 Foreign Language and Area Studies fellow in Inuktitut with the Canadian Studies Center, which produces the podcast with the Jackson School’s International Policy Institute and Center for Global Studies.

* * *

“”
Hosted by , senior lecturer in the and co-director of the .

“Marketing can be a force for good,” says Mills Barnhart, but it can also be “complicated, confusing and downright nerve-wracking.” Her podcast seeks to bring clarity to marketing chaos. “I talk about how you can think about marketing differently so you can do marketing differently with less stress and more joy.”

Mills Barnhart has produced the podcast weekly since April, with 1,500 downloads so far. Most episodes are a half-hour to an hour in length and have featured interviews with the UW’s of the Department of Communication and of the Evans School.

“Whether you work for a for-profit corporation or a nonprofit organization,” Mills Barnhart writes, “if you’re out to make the world a better place, this podcast will give you the insight and inspiration you need to market your mission with clarity and confidence.”

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Times Literary Supplement podcast discusses book by UW classics professor Sarah Levin-Richardson

A book by , UW professor of classics, was the subject of a recent podcast by the Times Literary Supplement, a publication of the Sunday Times of London. The book is “,” published by Cambridge University Press in 2019.

The podcast series is called “Freedom, Books, Flowers & the Moon” and the episode about Levin-Richardson’s book, featuring Rebecca Langlands of the University of Exeter is “.” Langlands also published a of the book.

Read more on the Department of Classics’ , and listen to the podcast either or downloadable from .

Across North America, coyotes are moving into urban environments, and regardless of how they feel about it, urban residents are having to get used to some new animal neighbors. A big question for wildlife researchers is how coyotes habituate to humans, which can potentially lead to conflict.

A study led by a ����Ӱ�Ӵ�ý Tacoma faculty member, recently in Ecology and Evolution, suggests coyotes can habituate to humans quickly and that habituated parents pass this fearlessness on to their offspring.

“Even if it’s only 0.001 percent of the time, when a coyote threatens or attacks a person or a pet, it’s national news, and wildlife management gets called in,” said first author , an assistant professor at UW Tacoma. “We want to understand the mechanisms that contribute to habituation and fearlessness, to prevent these situations from occurring.”

The study, done as part of Schell’s doctoral work at the University of Chicago, focused on eight coyote families at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s in Millville, Utah. The research center was founded in the 1970s to reduce coyote attacks on sheep and other livestock.

Until the 20th century, Schell said, coyotes lived mostly in the Great Plains. But when wolves were hunted almost to extinction in the early 1900s, coyotes lost their major predator, and their range began to expand. With continuing landscape changes, coyotes are now increasingly making their way into suburban and urban environments — including , Los Angeles and cities in the Pacific Northwest — where they live, mainly off rodents and small mammals, without fear of hunters.

The new study seeks to understand how a skittish, rural coyote can sometimes transform into a bold, urban one — a shift that can exacerbate negative interactions among humans and coyotes.

“Instead of asking, ‘Does this pattern exist?’ we’re now asking, ‘How does this pattern emerge?'” Schell said.

A key factor may be parental influence. Coyotes pair for life, and both parents contribute equally to raising the offspring. This may be because of the major parental investment required to raise coyote pups, and the evolutionary pressure to guard them from larger carnivores.

The new study observed coyote families at the Utah facility during their first and second breeding seasons. These coyotes are raised in a fairly wild setting, with minimal human contact and food scattered across large enclosures.

But during the experiment researchers occasionally placed all the food near the entrance of the enclosure and had a human researcher sit just outside, watching any approaching coyotes, from five weeks to 15 weeks after the birth of the litter. Then they documented how soon the coyotes would venture toward the food.

“For the first season, there were certain individuals that were bolder than others, but on the whole they were pretty wary, and their puppies followed,” Schell said. “But when we came back and did the same experiment with the second litter, the adults would immediately eat the food — they wouldn’t even wait for us to leave the pen in some instances.

“Parents became way more fearless, and in the second litter, so, too, were the puppies.”

In fact, the most cautious pup from the second-year litter ventured out more than the boldest pup from the first-year litter.

The study also looked at two hormones in the coyotes’ fur — cortisol, the “fight or flight” hormone, and testosterone. The second litter of pups had mothers who experienced more stress during pregnancy, due to the researchers’ presence during the experiment, so that may have affected their development in the womb. But hormonal changes do not seem to have been passed down in that way.

Instead, the fur samples showed that the bolder pups had higher cortisol levels in their blood, meaning they ventured to the food despite their fear of humans. Further work would confirm whether, as Schell suspects, the cortisol levels would decline over time as the coyotes began to discount the human threat.

“The discovery that this habituation happens in only two to three years has been corroborated, anecdotally, by evidence from wild sites across the nation,” Schell said. “We found that parental effect plays a major role.”

Since arriving at UW Tacoma, Schell has begun working with Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium to launch the , which will use infrared motion-capture cameras to track coyotes and raccoons throughout the region. It’s part of the Chicago-based , studying urban wildlife across the country.

Other co-authors of the recent paper include at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Predator Research Facility in Utah; at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania; , who has a joint appointment at the University of Chicago and Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, and , the latter two serving as Schell’s doctoral co-advisors at the University of Chicago. The study was supported by the University of Chicago, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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For more information, contact Schell at cjschell@uw.edu or 253-692-5838.