054: Capturing Big Trees and Cultivating Curiosity with author and professor Matt Ritter
A Sustainable Mind - environment & sustainability podcast
Marjorie Alexander
4.6 • 588 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2018
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dr. Matt Ritter grew up in rural Mendocino County, California. After earning a bachelor's degree in microbiology from U.C. Santa Barbara, he attended U.C. San Diego for a Ph.D. in plant biology. He's a botany professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California, where he lives with his wife and two children. He's the author of several books, including a new guide to California's flora, California Plants: A guide to our Iconic Flora (www.pacificstreetpublishing.com). He also wrote the funniest and best-selling guide to California's urban forest, A Californian's Guide to the Trees among Us (Heyday, 2011). His writing has appeared in several magazines, including a regular column on tree diversity in Pacific Horticulture. He won the Cal Poly's Distinguished Teaching Award and the International Society of Arboriculture Award for Excellence in Education. He is the California Coordinator of the American Forests Big Tree Registry, studies California's native plants, and trees that escape cultivation, particularly Eucalyptus. He's an avid woodworker, mason, and gardener.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a Sustainable Mind, episode 54, and I'm your host, Marjorie Alexander. |
| 0:06.0 | So what do drones and trees have in common? |
| 0:09.0 | Well, not much until Matt Ritter and some of his colleagues started using drones as a tool to study these amazing specimens. |
| 0:17.0 | We'll hear from him in just a moment, but before we do, I want to give a huge shout out to the supporters of this week's episode. |
| 0:25.5 | Annalisia H. from Detroit, Michigan. |
| 0:28.2 | Callie S. from the San Francisco Bay Area. |
| 0:31.4 | Claudia B. from Hawaii. |
| 0:33.8 | Lawson H. from Burlington, Ontario. |
| 0:36.5 | Caitlin F. from San Jose. Melanie B. from Los Angeles, |
| 0:41.5 | Sean P. from Pleasant Grove, Utah, Susan and Rachel B. from Seattle, and Sydney T. from Calgary, |
| 0:49.8 | Alberta. Thank you all so much. And a big thanks to our newest supporter, Elizabeth B. from Oak Park, Illinois. Thank you all so much, and a big thanks to our newest supporter, Elizabeth B from Oak Park, Illinois. |
| 0:57.7 | Thank you all so much for supporting us. |
| 1:02.5 | Welcome to A Sustainable Mind, where we delve into the minds behind today's most impactful environmental campaigns, organizations, and startups, inspiring |
| 1:13.1 | the environmental change makers of tomorrow. |
| 1:16.1 | I'm your host, Marjorie Alexander. |
| 1:21.5 | Matt Ritter is a plant biologist, a botany professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is the author of the new book, California |
| 1:29.9 | Plants, A Guide to our iconic flora. |
| 1:33.3 | Matt, welcome to the show. |
| 1:35.0 | Thank you. |
| 1:35.6 | Thanks, Marjorie. |
| 1:36.3 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:37.2 | I am so excited to be talking to you because I remember when I first learned about what you do for a living and I saw these amazing |
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