The Swans are Back

Welcome to The Corridor

Next week, Threshold [https://www.thresholdpodcast.org/] will be releasing The Corridor, a new series about a stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is often referred to as Cancer Alley. Over seven episodes, The Corridor examines how this part of Louisiana became a center of industry and an epicenter of disease, with some communities facing cancer risks among the highest in the nation. Hosted by Jaha Nailah Avery and written and produced by Erika Janik and Sam Moore, this series connects the dots between current battles for environmental justice and the history of slavery and segregation. It’s the story of a place, and the people who live there and love it. It’s also the story of products all of us use every day, and the industries that depend on the rest of us to not get interested in the question of who and what gets sacrificed in the process of making them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe [https://letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Bufo bufo

I’ve been recording the voices of a lot of big, dramatic, eye-and-ear-catching creatures lately — cranes, geese, swans. But on one recent night, when I wandered down to the water’s edge in the darkness, someone a bit more mysterious and shy was making itself heard. Tentatively. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe [https://letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Swans are Back

Whoop! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe [https://letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Ladybirds Sing Too

Related links: * Threshold Conversations: Feminism in the Wild, with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer. Listen here [https://www.thresholdpodcast.org/conversations-ambika-kamath-melina-packer]. * One of Michelle Hall’s most important papers: Female song is widespread and ancestral in songbirds [https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4379], Odom, K., Hall, M., Riebel, K. Nature Communications (2014). * A more recent paper Michelle was involved in: Global incidence of female birdsong is predicted by territoriality and biparental care in songbirds [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60810-5], Odom, K.J., Araya-Salas, M., Benedict, L. et al. Nature Communications (2025). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe [https://letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Fire and Ice

The sounds, images, and stories from Minnesota are crushing. Enraging. Disorienting, heartbreaking, and all of the other descriptors you don’t need me to name because you’re feeling them too. I don’t know what to do, what to say, how to respond, how to be of use, how to even take in that this is reality. I still don’t. This is not a post in which I walk myself or anyone else from despair and confusion into any sort of clarity. All I know is this: I went to bed feeling overwhelmed with feelings about ICE. And I woke up with a clear, simple urge to meditate for a moment on fire. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe [https://letterstoearthlings.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]