Amazing Amazonia

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.6 • 986 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Amazon is often described as an ecosystem under dire threat due to climate change and deliberate deforestation. Yet there is still considerable hope that these threats can be mitigated. In the face of these threats, indigenous conservationists are attempting to strike a balance between tradition and preserving Amazonia. Meanwhile, two river journeys more than 100 years apart – one by a contemporary National Geographic reporter and another by “The Lewis and Clark of Brazil”— draw attention to the beauty and diversity of one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Guests: Cynthia Gorney – Contributing writer at the National Geographic Society, former bureau chief for South America at The Washington Post Larry Rohter – Reporter and correspondent in Rio de Janeiro for fourteen years for Newsweek and as The New York Times bureau chief. Author of Into the Amazon: The Life of Cândido Rondon, Trailblazing Explorer, Scientist, Statesman, and Conservationist João Campos-Silva – Brazilian researcher and conservationist, and cofounder of Instituto Jura, a conservation organization. His work, along with that of other conservationists, is featured in the National Geographic issue devoted to the Amazon. Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:14.2	The Amazon River is the biggest in the world, but you might have to see it to take that to heart.
0:19.6	When I look to my right, I know theoretically that I'm looking at a river, but you might have to see it to take that to heart. When I look to my right, I know theoretically that I'm looking at a river, but when the
0:25.6	mud actually stops and you can see the glimmer of water, it's just water all the way
0:30.6	out to the horizon. This is the biggest river on Earth, but it's really hard to remember
0:36.6	when you're looking at it that it's a river
0:38.2	and not the sea.
0:40.1	And the Amazon isn't simply one river.
0:43.4	It's a vast network of thousands of rivers and tributaries and the largest flow of
0:49.0	freshwater on Earth.
0:50.7	The rainforest is home to the most diverse collection of plant and animal species on the planet,
0:56.0	many of which are still undiscovered. The area is also home to millions of people, including
1:02.1	indigenous groups that have lived there for millennia and whose participation is key to preserving
1:07.9	this vital ecosystem. It's a place where you can find from a very small invertebrate to a group of humans that never
1:17.0	interacted with the world as we know.
1:20.1	And I think when we are immersed there, we can rethink our own existence.
1:28.0	I'm Molly Bentley, and this is Big Picture Science from the SETI Institute.
1:32.2	In this episode, we go to South America to reveal the threat to and the hope for the Amazon.
1:38.4	This episode is Amazing Amazonia.
1:51.6	Thank you. amazing Amazonia. 9 a.m.
1:52.9	A little bit hard for me to see through the sweat,
1:57.2	running down into my eyes.
	...

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