On this episode, we welcome marine biologist and director of Greenpeace USA’s oceans campaigns John Hocevar. When the Greenpeace ship Esperanza embarked on an expedition earlier this year to document the newly discovered Amazon Reef, John piloted one of the submersibles that took the first-ever underwater photos of the reef system, which lies in an area targeted for oil exploration.

John talks about the discovery of the reef, what it’s like to be one of a few people on Earth who have ever seen it with their own eyes, and what the opposition to plans to drill for oil near the reef will look like should the plans move forward.

We also welcome two staffers from Mongabay Latin America to the show: MariaIsabel Torres and Romi Castagnino. Mongabay LatAm just celebrated its one-year anniversary recently, so we wanted to take the opportunity to speak with MariaIsabel and Romi about what it’s like covering the environment in Latin America, what some of the site’s biggest successes are to date, and what we can expect from Mongabay LatAm in the future.

Here’s this episode’s top news:

• Trump withdraws U.S. from Paris Climate Accord; scientists respond
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest increased almost 60 percent in the last year
• Cheetahs return to Malawi after decades
• As Arctic sea ice shows record decline, scientists prepare to go blind
• Is the snow leopard actually 3 distinct subspecies?
• Thylacine survey: Are we going to rediscover the ‘moonlight tiger’?

You can stand with Mongabay to support climate science, independent journalism, and nature by purchasing Mongabay’s limited-edition t-shirt, which is only available until June 17th. Go to represent.com/mongabay to see the design and order yours today, they can be shipped anywhere, to any country. That’s represent.com/mongabay by June 17 to get your t-shirt and say yes to a brighter future.

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Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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