You and Betty and the Nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science

a richer, more rewarding life.

Welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indravis Gontas.

This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.

We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.

Look, there are a lot of problems facing our society right now, and yet sometimes when we have an idea or we just want to make things better,

there's all kinds of roadblocks we have to overcome. I mean, just recently, taking a portion of

San Francisco's famous Golden Gate Park and making it car-free became a massive issue,

with lobbyists on both sides spending a ton of money

trying to convince the board of supervisors to go in their direction.

I mean, it seems like a no-brainer.

And yet it was fraught with controversy and red tape.

And when climate change is causing all kinds of havoc, species are going extinct at an

unbelievable rate. I can imagine how frustrating it must be to be the person on the ground

who just wants to make a difference and yet feeling like your hands are tied behind your back.

Well, sometimes, maybe, it helps to take matters into your

own hands. And that's exactly what Derek Gao does. Derek Gao is a UK-based reintroduction expert.

He's a longtime farmer, and he's written a number of books, including bringing back the beaver,

and most recently, birds, beasts, and bedlam. Essentially, it describes how he's turning his

land into a lost arc for species that are threatened by extinction. He owns a fair amount of

land in Lifton and Devon in the UK. And for a long time, he farmed it,

and he had a lot of animals. And just recently, he's decided to give it back to nature,

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