Conservation science and good news, from people doing the work.
Pelecanus pairs conversations with the scientists, writers and practitioners behind conservation work with NEWS episodes that gather rewilding, biodiversity and clean-energy headlines. Its common thread is hope backed by evidence, which the host calls possibilism, and guests talk about what keeps them going as well as about the science.
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Pelecanus is a conservation podcast with a clear point of view: the planet's problems are serious, and the people working on them deserve a hearing. Its core interviews carry the Conservation Conversations label, and the guests are working scientists, a reporter and restoration practitioners. Each conversation is fronted by a short clip of the guest, often a line of advice. The coast is the common ground in titles like 'Adapt Alaska with Dr. Davin Holen', 'Restoring Our Coast with Karina Johnston' and 'California Against the Sea with Rosanna Xia'. Holen, of Alaska Sea Grant and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, sketches a state of rainforest, boreal forest and Arctic tundra where 22 distinct Indigenous languages are spoken and climate change is visible. His method starts with workshops in which a tribe or community decides what to focus on. He also makes the case that subsistence harvest is about family, place and practice, not just a full freezer. The science turns technical with Dr. Kelton McMahon of the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, whose isotope tools can track an oil spill or long-term coastal change. His work alongside the nonprofit One People One Reef on Ulithi Atoll keeps the chemistry tied to communities that eat from the reef. Rosanna Xia, the Los Angeles Times coast and ocean reporter, talks sea level rise, the debate over rebuilding in Malibu after the Palisades fire, and the question she says haunts her: how much hope she owes a reader. Karina Johnston connects dune and wetland restoration to flood protection, a nature-based approach she frames as common ground. Not every episode stays on the shoreline. A bonus episode profiles Sanjana Ramesh, the 2025 recipient of the Carrie Wilson Memorial Scholarship and a Project Dragonfly graduate student, who talks about sacred groves in India and the D.C. South Asian Environmental Group she started. The scholarship belongs to Pelecanus itself, which operates as a nonprofit. A second thread runs beneath the subjects: who gets to do this work. Holen describes drawing students into marine and coastal science from communities where college is not the usual path, and McMahon describes a lab of students from fishing, art and engineering backgrounds. The NEWS episodes work differently, with show notes that sort headlines under labels like Rewilding, Drawdown, Protections and Biodiversity, from flat-headed cats reappearing in Thailand to plastic bottles turned into a Parkinson's drug. Host and producer Austin Parker keeps things relaxed and openly enthusiastic, and he has a name for the outlook: possibilism. A good place to start is the Rosanna Xia conversation, where urgency and hope get weighed out loud.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants conservation science explained by the researchers and practitioners behind it, with the focus on solutions rather than doom. It also fits someone weighing a path into marine, coastal or environmental work, since guests talk openly about students, mentoring and how they found their way.
What sets it apart: Pelecanus sets conversations about coastal resilience, restoration and climate communication beside NEWS episodes built from headlines about recoveries, reintroductions and clean-energy progress, so the problems and the progress share one feed. It also runs its own scholarship and gives recipients airtime, and the host gives its outlook a name: possibilism.
Pelecanus Conservation ConversationsPelecanus NEWSThe PossibilistsPelecanus Deep DivesPelecanus is a conservation-based collective in continuous wonder of the healing and encouragement that is possible on this planet and the people making it happen. We are committed to telling these stories and demonstrating optimism through science.
That buried water pipe is a climate question, if you like your hope with municipal details.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at Alaskan coastal resilience through community workshops, infrastructure planning, and local priorities.
Alaska's coastal resilience comes through here as a matter of community planning, not abstract climate talk. Dr. Davin Holan describes Adapt Alaska beginning with workshops where a tribe, tribal government, or community sets the agenda, keeping adaptation tied to practical…
A grounded, hopeful look at marine science, coastal communities, and adaptation in warming waters.
Coastal resilience comes through as shared problem-solving, with Dr. Kelton McMahon linking ocean science to the communities that rely on coastal systems for food, storm protection, and local economies.
Sanjana Ramesh traces climate action through D.C.-area community, painted saris, children's books, and sustainable dinner parties.
The 2025 Kerry Wilson Memorial Scholarship recipient Sanjana Ramesh frames environmental work as something that can begin close to home, especially when yearly trips to India are not possible. In the D.C.
A clear, grounded look at sea-level rise, coastal rebuilding, and who is left most exposed as the shoreline changes.
The coast becomes an immediate climate question here, as an environmental reporter links sea-level-rise projections once centered on 2100 to a timeline that now reaches into the 2050s and 2030s.
British landscapes, patiently listened to.
Wildlife wonder, policy, and fieldwork in conversation.
Field conservation, told by the people doing it.
One plant per episode, and a guest who knows it.
This episode covers rewilding news, including a hazel dormouse reintroduction in the UK, highlighting successful conservation efforts.
This episode covers news about using bacteria to recycle plastic into a Parkinson's medication, highlighting conservation success stories.
This episode covers two conservation success stories: Kazakhstan's tiger reintroduction effort and a record breeding season for the critically endangered cockapoo parrot in New Zealand.
This episode covers positive conservation news, including a drop in Amazon deforestation and biodiversity updates.
A conservation podcast covering news on hydrogen heating systems and biodiversity efforts.
["Dr.
Pelecanus interviews Dr.
["Pelicanus brings back 2025 Kerry Wilson Memorial Scholarship recipient Sanjana Ramesh, a Project Dragonfly graduate student from D.C., to review her India and Galapagos fieldwork.", "In Pune, she worked with Applied Environmental Research Foundation on sacred groves that protect village deities, ancient trees, and hornbills around rural communities in the Western Ghats.", "She says her master plan changed after she realized that wildlife education ideas like iPads and the Seek app need local stakeholder input rather than a D.C.-to-India assumption.", "Back in the DMV, her South Asian environmental group led to an artist climate activist with sari paintings, a children's-book project, and a sustainable-chef connection before she described Galapagos camping, giant tortoises, and sea lions."]
Pelecanus' Conservation Conversations episode centers on California Against the Sea, Rosanna Shaw's book about sea level rise along California's 1,200-mile outer coast and the San Francisco Bay estuary.
An interview with a restoration ecologist about coastal habitat restoration and conservation efforts.
A roundtable discussion among Pelicanus members about conservation, fire, and forest health, explaining the organization's origins and positive approach.
An interview with author Obi Kaufman about his book on California wildfires and the state's ecological challenges.
A conversation with a CALFIRE forester about forestry health and workforce development programs in California.