Documentary storytelling on ecology and Indigenous land stewardship, hosted by Mendel and Adam.
Future Ecologies treats ecological stories as lived relationships, not abstract systems. It moves from cultural fire and wetland restoration to masting trees, seagrass recovery, port logistics, and urban shorelines with patient narration and long expert conversation.
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Future Ecologies is produced and hosted by Mendel Skulski and Adam Huggins, who narrate, report, and conduct interviews across most episodes. The format varies from episode to episode: long-form narrative documentary built from field tape and interviews, direct one-on-one conversations with researchers and knowledge holders, and occasional panel-style discussions with other audio producers. Recurring subject matter includes forest and plant ecology, such as synchronized seed production (masting) in conifers and beeches, fungal networks and biomimicry, and Indigenous land and water stewardship, including cultural burning practices and clam and sea garden restoration. Guests are typically field scientists, university researchers, and Indigenous practitioners directly involved in the ecosystems under discussion, such as a Yurok-affiliated cultural fire crew or a Shemainis First Nation clam garden researcher. Episodes frequently incorporate original music and sound design, including instruments built from natural materials. The show also engages with the practice and ethics of environmental storytelling, comparing notes with hosts of other documentary podcasts. Content leans educational and narrative rather than news-driven or debate-format, often foregrounding traditional ecological knowledge alongside Western science. Listeners with an interest in conservation science, Indigenous ecological knowledge, or long-form audio documentary are the most likely audience. Episodes typically run 30 to 60 minutes.
Made for: Listeners interested in ecology, conservation science, and Indigenous land and water stewardship who prefer long-form documentary-style audio over quick news formats.
What sets it apart: Unlike straight science-explainer shows, it pairs documentary sound design and original music with direct interviews with Indigenous knowledge holders, treating traditional ecological knowledge as central rather than supplementary.
Made for nature lovers and audiophiles alike, Future Ecologies explores our eco-social relationships through stories, science, music, and soundscapes. Every episode is an invitation to see the world in a new light — weaving together narrative and interviews with expert knowledge holders. The format varies: from documentary storytelling to stream-of-consciousness sound collage, and beyond. Episodes are released only when they're ready, not on a fixed schedule (but approximately monthly). This ad-free, independent podcast is supported by our listeners: https://www.futureecologies.net/join
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Future Ecologies makes ecological science tangible by connecting field practice, Indigenous knowledge, expert conversation, and the unresolved questions inside living systems.
Future Ecologies follows ecological questions into the places where science meets lived practice. Mendel and Adam combine close explanation with interviews and recorded scenes, moving from cultural burning and prescribed-fire monitoring to sea gardens, ocean acidification, and…
Trees skip reproduction, fungi reroute themselves, and fire becomes a responsibility before your headphones come off.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A precise field report on fire as ecological care, cultural practice, and monitored science.
Future Ecologies treats fire as practice, not metaphor: a tool learned in childhood, used to maintain gathering grounds and food sources, and governed on the line by weather, fuel moisture, wind, and ignition probability.
A thoughtful roundtable on how environmental podcasters choose stories about nonhuman life, climate litigation, masculinity, grief, and delight.
Future Ecologies hands the mic to two peers, Amy Westervelt of Drilled and Amy Martin of Threshold, for a looser conversation about how environmental stories get made.
A playful ecology episode about why some plants flood the world with seeds, then sit a year out.
Critical Mast opens with the sound of Vancouver's Critical Mass, then pivots from bicycles to masting: the synchronized, highly uneven seed production seen in many perennial plants. Future Ecologies keeps the science plain without sanding off the strangeness.
A thoughtful fungal-intelligence episode that treats biomimicry as both science lesson and ethical reorientation.
Future Ecologies introduces Bioneers' Nature's Genius as a case for biomimicry: nature not as a storehouse to raid, but as a teacher shaped by billions of years of experiment.
A careful, hopeful conversation about sea gardens, Indigenous-led resilience, and the many lives gathered at the shoreline.
Future Ecologies returns to sea gardens through a patient conversation with Skye Augustine, whose work connects clam gardens to Indigenous sovereignty, food security, and climate adaptation.
BBC World Service reporters explain climate mechanisms and policy from the Amazon to Delhi to the Alps.
Books, systems, and the questions that unlock them.
Soil life, climate repair, practical regeneration.
Coastal science, patiently and beautifully reported.
Climate justice from the ground up.
Fire is a tool, and a serious one.
The host apologizes for accidentally publishing an unfinished draft episode due to a scheduling error and asks listeners to wait for the completed version.
This episode features a conversation between Eric Higgs and Laura Govers about seagrass restoration efforts in the Netherlands' Wadden Sea, focusing on environmental and marine conservation.
This episode explores wetland restoration through the story of red-legged frogs and features an interview with conservationist Robin Anschild.
This episode promotes the Water Bodies podcast, which explores transforming urban coastal areas like Vancouver's False Creek into biodiverse, accessible natural spaces through topics such as environmental health, indigenous conservation, and citizen science.
Two Amys finally meet.
Critical Mass becomes Critical Mast.
This episode features an interview with Hannah Tollefson about her research on the port of Vancouver and supply chain logistics, exploring intersections of environmental, media, and infrastructural studies.
This episode introduces the 'Green Dreams' series, exploring Gerard O'Neill's 1970s vision for space colonization and its relevance to environmentalism through a clip from Jeff Bezos.
A conversation with poet Darby Minott-Bradford about Black poetics, belonging to land, and the tensions of language and history.
This episode features guest producers sharing stories and sounds from the Caribbean, focusing on multi-species storytelling and resilience in times of crisis.
Adam Davis interviews Tim Male, former White House environmental official, about non-partisan environmental policy during the early weeks of the second Trump term.
This episode pitches the Miyawaki method for creating dense, fast-growing forests to restore ecosystems.
Host Mendel announces a new show about False Creek, a polluted urban waterway in Vancouver, and its potential as a marine park with indigenous co-governance.
A spinoff episode where past guests interview each other, starting with a conversation about ecologically engaged art.
This episode explores the moral dilemma of killing one species to save another amid an extinction crisis, using a case study of Middle Island in Lake Erie.
Nature gets cast as teacher, not warehouse.
This episode of Future Ecologies features filmmaker Saxon Richardson discussing a long-in-the-making story about feral donkeys in the Mojave desert.
Sea gardens offer a kind of old, practical comfort.
This episode features a crossover from the show Threshold, exploring the sounds of coral reefs and their role in reef restoration.
This episode explores a traditional sea garden (clam garden) as a model for food security, ecosystem restoration, and climate adaptation, blending narrative, interviews, and soundscapes.
Hosts Mendel and Adam introduce Season 6 with a playful banter about their lack of planning, then take listeners on a sound-rich stroll through a managed Douglas fir forest, blending narrative and field recording.
A trailer announcing the upcoming season six premiere and a bonus episode for supporters.
This episode explores the ancient origins of sound in the universe, from the Big Bang to its role in forming stars and galaxies.
This episode reissues a story about whale song and orca dialects, exploring the emotional and communicative lives of whales.
A reissue of an episode about dams and ecological restoration, exploring human relationships with landscapes through stories and metaphor.
The host discusses the urgency of the climate crisis, citing the IPCC report and the Willow Project, while emphasizing the need for systemic change and hope.
This episode is a season finale that includes a listener survey request, a Patreon appeal, and the beginning of a story from a symposium on Cortez Island.
An exploration of mountain ecosystems, biodiversity gradients, and the unique ecological processes shaped by topography.
This episode explores the diverse microscopic life in soil, including bacteria, fungi, and tiny animals like nematodes and collembolans.
This episode promotes another podcast about regenerative agriculture and a farmer's journey from conventional to sustainable grain farming.
Hosts Adam and Mendel discuss natural climate solutions, their potential benefits and limitations, and the need for emissions reductions alongside ecosystem restoration.
The host promotes an upcoming episode on a controversial topic and shares a guest appearance on another podcast about creativity and cultural evolution.