On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we’re featuring highlights from a conversation with author and biologist E.O. Wilson, one of the greatest scientists of the last 100 years.

Wilson was recently interviewed by Mongabay senior correspondent Jeremy Hance about the Half-Earth initiative, the Trump Administration, and how he maintains hope for the future, and we’re excited to share portions of the conversation with you on the Newscast.

We also welcome back to the Newscast Mongabay founder and CEO Rhett Butler, who will be answering a listener question about the sounds you can hear in the background at the start of every episode.

Here’s this episode’s top news for your further reading pleasure:

• NASA releases images of dramatic deforestation in Cambodia
• Poaching gang of wealthy software engineers, coffee planters arrested in India
• The end of a People: Amazon dam destroys sacred Munduruku ‘Heaven’
• ‘Day of Terror’: Munduruku village attacked by Brazil’s Federal Police
• ‘Last frontiers of wilderness’: Intact forest plummets globally
• Rusty patched bumblebee now first bee to be listed as endangered in continental U.S.

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