Hello and welcome to the Anthropocene Reviewed, a podcast where we review facets of the

human-centered planet on a five-star scale.

My name is John Green, and here in our first episode, I'll be reviewing Canadian geese

and Diet Dr. Pepper.

But first, a quick thank you to our sponsor today, audible.com.

You can get a free audiobook right now if you sign up for audible at audible.com slash

anthro.

Okay, let's begin with the Canadian goose, also known as the Canada goose if you're one

of those pedantic people who likes to point out that geese have no nationality.

You probably know the bird in question, the brown-bodied black-necked honking waterfowl,

ubiquitous in suburban North America, and now also in Europe and New Zealand.

With a song like a dying balloon and a penchant for attacking humans, the Canada goose

is hard to love.

But then again, so are most of us.

These days, the world contains between four and five million Canada geese, although from

where I'm sitting in Indianapolis, that estimate seems low as there appear to be four or five

million just in my backyard.

Regardless, their numbers are growing, but they were once exceptionally rare.

In fact, the subspecies you're most likely to see in parks and by retention ponds, the

giant Canada goose was believed to be extinct early in the 20th century due to year-round

unrestricted hunting.

Canada geese were particularly susceptible to so-called live decoys, hunters would capture

...