On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, we’re thrilled to feature a conversation with the one and only Paul Simon, who’s just announced he’s going to tour in support of the environment. The 12-time Grammy-winning musician recently announced on Mongabay.com that he is embarking on a 17-date US concert tour, with all proceeds benefitting Half-Earth, an initiative of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso interviewed Paul Simon about his long-time friendship with E.O. Wilson and why Dr. Wilson’s Half-Earth idea inspired him to get involved in this environmental cause. You can find info on Paul Simon’s 17-date tour in support of Half-Earth here.

Also on the program, we feature another Field Notes segment, this time with Zuzana Burivalova, a conservation scientist at Princeton University who has recorded the soundscapes of over 100 sites in the Indonesian part of Borneo together with colleagues from The Nature Conservancy. We listen to a variety of those recordings, each made in a different type of habitat, from protected rainforest to an oil palm plantation, and Burivalova explains what we’re hearing — and in some cases, what we’re not hearing.

Here’s this episode’s top news:

• 13,000 acres of cloud forest now protected in Colombia
• Cruise ship wrecks one of Indonesia’s best coral reefs at Raja Ampat
• Investigation reveals slave labor conditions in Brazil’s timber industry
• Stepping on their paws: study explores recreation’s unfun impacts on wildlife
• Rare beaked whale filmed underwater for the first time

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