This podcast was created by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, which hosts the “largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world”. The heart of Kew is the science collection with for example the Seed Collection at the Millennium Seed Bank – 86,000 collections and over 2 billion seeds or the Herbarium – 7 million pressed plant specimens. The episodes obviously talk about plants, but from very different angles : how forensic botany helped to sentence the curry killer or identify what allergen killed a young woman, learning about plant trade and this multi-million industry, or understanding the concept of ecocide. A fascinating podcast and a new place to visit when this will be possible again.
“I want to ask you about the term ecocide. That’s one that we hear a lot nowadays. What’s your opinion on the term ecocide ?
I would be very careful with using that world. Most deforestation or changes into the forest that I see are being done because people are desperate or hungry. And it maybe also been done by us, you know, we demand products from around the world and those products often come from land that was once forest and has been changed. So, I find the word quite difficult”
Seven episodes of approximately 30 minutes each
Episode 1. Uncovering a multi-million pound smuggling
Episode 2. The Curry Killer : How Kew helped bring a Murderer to Justice
Episode 3. Curious Cures and Mysterious Medecines
Episode 4. Zombies, tripping and the Everyday Normality of Fantastic Fungi
Episode 5. Harm or Harmony : How safe are we with the Food we eat
Episode 6. The Disappearing Forests : Is Ecocide a Crime ?
Episode 7. Dirt on our Hands : Overcoming Botany’s Hidden Legacy of Inequality