- Another year has come and gone on Mongabay’s flagship podcast with over 40 episodes added to the catalogue.
- The following are the top 10 interviews people listened to the most.
- This chronological list includes professors, authors, Mongabay staffers, conservationists, and advocates detailing investigations, research, advocacy philosophy, examining the existential and environmental threats humanity faces.
- The editorial team agrees with the audience: if you want to hear some of the best conversations from 2025, start here.
With 2025 drawing to a close, Mongabay’s flagship podcast has added more than 40 episodes over the course of the year. From professors and authors to Mongabay staffers, conservationists and advocates, we’ve hosted a diverse group of individuals, detailing their investigations, research, advocacy philosophy — all in service to shining a light on the existential and environmental threats humanity faces
The following are the top 10 interviews listeners stayed with the longest. These audience favorites are also among my own, so if you want to hear some of the best conversations from 2025, start here.
As Africa eyes protected areas expansion of 1 million square miles, concerns over enforcement persist
In one of the most listened-to episodes of the year, Mongabay features writer Ashoka Mukpo takes the audience to Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, where park rangers are alleged to have carried out extrajudicial killings of suspected bushmeat poachers. With an additional million square miles of protected land to be established across Africa, “the amount [of] violence and aggressive enforcement” has “led to a lot of mistrust,” Mukpo says.
Listen:
What environmental history reveals about our current ‘planetary risk’
Sunil Amrith, professor of history at Yale University, explains the planetary risks posed by the current global political landscape and what history has to teach us about it. Amrith offers listeners a glimpse into the past and the unique urgency humanity faces in this moment.
Listen:
Listening to whales is key to their conservation
How does listening to extremely low octaves of whale songs aid in their conservation? Biological oceanographer John Ryan explains (and shows) listeners the songs of baleen whale species and the research that shows their songs rise and fall with their food supply. This is a haunting listen.
Deforestation in REDD-protected Congo rainforests is ‘beyond words’
Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto traveled to the Republic of Congo where she witnessed immense ecological damage caused by mining in what is supposed to be protected forest under the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) framework. Instead, the government has granted 80 gold mining permits on this land, negatively impacting local communities in the region. Toto describes the damage as being “like a war zone.”
Kim Stanley Robinson on how his novel ‘Ministry for the Future’ holds lessons for the present
Celebrated science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson offers a retrospective on his popular novel The Ministry for the Future, which details how humanity finally takes drastic action to curb carbon emissions and mitigate climate change. This hour-long discussion probes whether or not — and how — the actions taken in the book could be done in reality, and what inspired Robinson’s vision. I personally highly recommend this episode.
To change the environment, change the narrative
Our most listened-to episode of the year features Tsering Yangzom Lama, an author and the story manager at Greenpeace International. Lama outlines how dominant narratives shape society and culture, and by extension, our attitudes toward nature. Most notably she explains how you, as the listener, can counter narratives that harm nature and with those that advocate for it. This is a must-listen.
In ‘Hope Dies Last,’ author Alan Weisman chronicles the people fighting for the planet
In many ways, 2025 has been a bleak year; the bad news can leave some feeling quite hopeless about the state of our natural world and human society in general. Such was the case for environmental journalist Alan Weisman, who embarked on an enormous reporting endeavor for his latest read, Hope Dies Last, which chronicles people across the globe fighting to save the planet. The effort left Weisman feeling far more hopeful about the future than when he started the project. “By the end of this book, I was so uplifted by all these people … that I’m there with them. This ain’t over.”
Listen to this inspiring conversation:
England’s rewilding movement is gaining steam, Ben Goldsmith says
Rewilding is having a moment, but perhaps nowhere else is the appetite riper for it than the United Kingdom. In England, financier and rewilding advocate Ben Goldsmith says it’s taking shape in ways he says were previously socially untenable. Cultural barriers to wildlife acceptance are breaking down; beavers, for instance, once seen as a nuisance in the country, are now being embraced by the rural community. If you’re a fan of restoring nature and seeing what’s possible when communities reintroduce species, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
To save humanity and nature we must tackle wealth inequality, says Cambridge researcher
Cambridge researcher Luke Kemp explains how humanity’s domination by a “small cadre of elites” only began roughly 12,000 years ago, after the advent of grain agriculture, and since then has resulted in a human society that is ruled by psychopathic, narcissistic and authoritarian “goliaths.” Dismantling this system, Kemp says, is the only real way to save nature and raise human quality of life. He outlines his research and argument in his new book, Goliath’s Curse. This is a thought-provoking conversation.
Pioneering primatologist in Madagascar shares decades of conservation wisdom
Primatologist Patricia Wright has been moving the needle on conservation in Madagascar since the 1980s. Her work has led directly to the description of new-to-science species and the establishment of a national park, but more work is needed to address the chronic poverty in the island nation. Investing in education and health care that are linked to forest protection is critical to this effort, Wright explains. Hear decades of wisdom from a pioneer in Madagascar wildlife protection.
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The Mongabay Newscast is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify, and all previous episodes are accessible at our website’s podcast page.
Mike DiGirolamo is a host & associate producer for Mongabay based in Sydney. He co-hosts and edits the Mongabay Newscast. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Banner Image: White rhyolite spires on the shores of Jodogahama Beach in Miyako, Japan. Iwate prefecture. These spires are estimated to be around 45 million years old, and form a natural version of a Japanese garden. This beach is part of the Sanriku Fukkō National Park. It was incorporated into this national park as a reconstruction effort following the Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011. Photo by Mike DiGirolamo/Mongabay.
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