WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.560 Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I, and today I 2 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.320 will be reading National Geographic Magazine dated June twenty twenty five, 3 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.240 which is donated by the publisher as a reminder Radio 4 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:14.480 I as a reading service intended for people who are 5 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:17.480 blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to 6 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:21.000 read printed material. Please join me now for the continuation 7 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:24.760 of the article I began last time, entitled what we 8 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:33.039 Can Learn from the Genius of Beavers by Ben Goldfarbe. 9 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.960 If that isn't serving a societal need, I don't know 10 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:40.560 what is in the San Pedro River. Shippek estimates that 11 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:42.960 up to twenty one beavers now live on the Arizona 12 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.280 side of the border, and perhaps seventeen more in Mexico, 13 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.479 though the populations are divided by a metal floodgate that 14 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:52.280 is part of the border wall. During our survey we 15 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:56.320 saw ample chew and a few lodges, but no dams. Still, 16 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.159 Shipeck hopes that beavers will could some day restore or 17 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.560 the bountiful wetlands that long ago prevailed in many desert 18 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:07.840 water courses and helped the Southwest address its water woes. 19 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:10.680 I can only imagine how difficult it would have looked 20 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.560 Shappek said wistfully as we waded through the shin deep 21 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.840 flow of the former Beaver River, envisioning the ponds and 22 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:22.400 marshes that once shimmered here. It just seems so important 23 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:25.599 to bring back this critical species. It's the evolution of 24 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:31.200 restoration in this area. As beavers reoccupy floodplains and stream corridors, 25 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:34.920 they risk becoming victims of their own success. The rodents 26 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:39.599 gnaw down orchards, flood roads, and block irrigation, ditches mischief 27 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:44.400 to which landowners generally respond by calling trappers. The USDA's 28 00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:48.640 Wildlife Services program that deals with problematic animals kills an 29 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:51.760 average of one beaver every twenty two minutes. But in 30 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.159 the places where communities are learning to coexist, they're reaping 31 00:01:55.319 --> 00:01:59.120 surprising benefits. On a blue May morning, I found myself 32 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.719 slogging through a wetland in Gresham, Oregon, a city of 33 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:05.920 one hundred twelve thousand, a dozen miles east of Portland. 34 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.360 A beaver built weave of willow stems had formed a 35 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:13.120 pond whose mucky floor sucked at my boots. Red winged 36 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:16.960 blackbirds buzzed in the bushes. Wood ducks glided across the 37 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.919 glassy surface. Katie holds her the city's watershed scientists scooped 38 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.039 up some translucent jelly peppered with black specks. Those little 39 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:29.919 dots are the embryos of the Pacific tree frog. She said. 40 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:33.879 This pocket of biodiversity wasn't always here. In two thousand 41 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.319 and eight, Gresham had excavated an elaborate maze of berms 42 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:42.199 and canals known as the Columbia Slough Regional Water Quality Facility, 43 00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:47.159 to capture the heavy metals, nitrates, and pesticides that habitually 44 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.800 ran off streets and into the nearby Columbia and Willamette Rivers. 45 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:55.560 To the city's dismay, beavers damned the ditches, sabotaging humans. 46 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.319 Best laid plans orchis destroyed the dams and trapped the beavers, 47 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:03.439 but the beef came back. The animals, Holtzer finally figured 48 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.479 were there to stay, so why not study them. When 49 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.719 she analyzed the water trickling past their dams, she discovered 50 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:14.439 something extraordinary. Beaver ponds were cleaning Gresham's storm water better 51 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:18.319 than the water Quality Facility had without them. Mercury, copper, 52 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.599 led and zinc settled out in ponds and were trapped 53 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:25.400 within the sediment and woody lattices of dams, further strained 54 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:30.319 out contaminants, Bird diversity increased, and salamanders hid in the 55 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:34.919 dam's cool crevices. Beaver's, Holzer said, are a perfect self 56 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.759 maintaining system. After every storm, they come out and patch 57 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:42.159 things up for free. The city's relationship with Beaver's was 58 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:46.360 still fraught. The resourceful animals were inudating access roads and 59 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:50.800 clogging the wastewater facilities pipes. Instead of killing the troublemakers, 60 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:55.479 city officials hired Jacob Shaki, a mop top biologist whose 61 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.960 truck sported B three A V three R vanity place 62 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.080 to mediate. I found Shaki waist deep in a pond 63 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:07.919 behind a culvert packed with sticks and mud. Beavers are 64 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:10.039 plugging this up so often that they have to clean 65 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:12.879 it out once a week, Shaki said, wiping his brow. 66 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.360 Shaki had been asked with crafting tasked with crafting a 67 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:22.000 permanent solution, including fences to keep beavers from blocking culverts 68 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:27.399 and pipes to lower road flooding ponds. A study showed 69 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:30.600 that such non lethal interventions work up to ninety six 70 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:33.319 percent of the time, and they saved money to boot. 71 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:35.879 The best thing we can do for beavers, said Shaki, 72 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.519 is to partner with them in the places they've chosen 73 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.639 to live. Like a Holtzer and Shaki, researchers and policymakers 74 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:45.399 around the country are trying to let the animals thrive. 75 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:50.480 In Montana, a new beaver conflict resolution program helps landowners 76 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:54.240 solve their beaver problems without resorting to traps. In Maryland, 77 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:57.240 the collogists are counting on beaver ponds to filter out 78 00:04:57.319 --> 00:05:01.439 nitrates polluting Chestapeake Bay. One of the swiftest progress is 79 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.959 happening in California, which in twenty twenty three launched a 80 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.720 statewide beaver program that set aside one point four million 81 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:13.920 dollars to implement beaver restoration initiatives. That same year, California's 82 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:17.519 Department of Fish and Wildlife released seven beavers onto the 83 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:22.199 ancestral lands of the Mountain Maidu, the state's first official 84 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:26.120 relocation in almost seventy five years. Other tribes are also 85 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:31.920 welcoming beaver's home in californiears Klamath River Watershed. The Yurok 86 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:36.680 Tribes Fisheries Department has constructed beaver dam analogs human built 87 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:41.079 dams designed to imitate beaver activity, encourage the rodents to return, 88 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:45.519 and create sheltering ponds for juvenile salmon. Some young salmon 89 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:47.720 have since gone to sea and come back to spawn, 90 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:51.639 a strong suggestion that the tribe's beaver based approach is working. 91 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:56.680 Higher up the claimeth the removal of four massive hydroelectric 92 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:00.920 dams has recently helped fish reclaim their spawning grend Yet 93 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.279 near the river's mouth, the beaver inspired dams, small and 94 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:09.720 permeable rather than colossal and concrete, have also produced substantial gains. 95 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.879 Every species teaches us lessons on how we're supposed to 96 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:17.319 live together, said Frankie Meers, the eurok's vice chairmen. Just 97 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:21.040 as beavers designed their own environment, Meyers said, Native people 98 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:26.079 are charged with activity, with actively restoring nature to ensure 99 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:29.319 its flourishing. We do this work to restore our fisheries, 100 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:33.000 restore beaver because this is our place, right, We belong 101 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.959 to this place. The future is liable to change for beavers, 102 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:40.720 for one thing, there expanding their range. As climate change 103 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:45.439 warms the Arctic, plucky beavers have followed onto willow doubted tundra. 104 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:48.639 In New York City, beavers have recolonized the Bronx River 105 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:52.199 and Staten Island in Seattle, they occupy eighty six percent 106 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:56.480 of suitable habitat. Considering the animals were once on extinctions, 107 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.680 doorstep beavers have made a spectacular recovery, yet they're still 108 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.920 at a sad fraction of their historic numbers, particularly in 109 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.040 Western states that need them most. Environmental laws like the 110 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:12.519 Endangered Species Act prevent scarce animals from going extinct, but 111 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:15.360 beaver's pose a different challenge. How do we help an 112 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:19.800 animal that's already fairly common become truly abundant. Perhaps it 113 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:23.079 starts with figuring out where they are and aren't. The 114 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:26.319 ultimate testament to beaver's influence may be that you can 115 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:30.240 study their architecture from space. Engineers at Google have recently 116 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:35.399 trained a machine learning program dubbed e Eager to identify 117 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:38.839 the distinct appearance of ponds and dams in satellite imagery. 118 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:42.759 California's Wildlife Department is using the algorithm to count its 119 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:47.360 beeaver's and guide restoration. A similar effort, the Colorado Beaver 120 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:52.040 Activity Mapper has already roughly counted this centennial state's beaver ponds, 121 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:56.120 the taily around eighty thousand, according to Sarah Marshall, the 122 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:00.279 ecologist who led the Colorado program's development. Getting a handle 123 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:05.000 on beaver distributions could allow wildlife managers to preemptively address 124 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:09.639 potential classes with farmers and ratchers, or pinpoint spots where 125 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:13.600 beaver dam analogs and relocations will have the biggest water 126 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.720 storage and fire fighting benefits. Comparing where beavers used to 127 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.199 be with where they are today as a prescription for 128 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:24.399 where to do large scale restoration in Colorado, Marshall said, 129 00:08:24.920 --> 00:08:27.680 on a recent spring day, I visited Birch Creek, a 130 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.720 stream in southern Idaho that represents a different approach to 131 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:34.600 re beavering. I walked up stream with j Wilde, a 132 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:38.279 rancher who sported a battered cowboy hat and a drooping mustache. 133 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.120 Every sixty feet or so, Birch Creek was stapled by 134 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:44.480 another dam, some eighty feet long, some ten feet high, 135 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:49.120 some that formed staircases of mirrored acre wide lakes. Lobes 136 00:08:49.159 --> 00:08:53.159 of waters shot onto the floodplain. Single channels split into 137 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:57.720 twisted strands, and beaver dug canals. Spiderwebbed everywhere. A few 138 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:01.679 neglected grass covered dams melted into the landscape. It was 139 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.000 glorious chaos, a mess of water and wood that scarcely 140 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:10.519 resembled a discreet stream. This was a recent transformation. Wild 141 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:14.320 had grown up along Birch Creek, which supported his family's homestead. 142 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:17.360 By the late nineteen nineties, though the stream had dwindled 143 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.720 to a pitiful trickle that would dry up. By the 144 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:23.840 fourth of July. Birch Creek had lost its beavers. Wild realized, 145 00:09:23.879 --> 00:09:27.600 and he resolved to bring them back. After two failed relocations, 146 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:32.080 he contacted Utah States Wheaton, the nearest beaver expert, who's 147 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.320 crew built twenty six beaver dam analogs in the creek 148 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:39.559 between twenty fourteen and twenty seventeen. The human made dams 149 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:44.200 created ponds in which subsequent reintroduced beavers could evade predators 150 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.240 and focus their own damming. By the time I visited, 151 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.759 more than two hundred beaver built dams spanned Birch Creek 152 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:55.360 and its tributaries, and native cutthroat trout populations had grown 153 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:58.679 more than tenfold better, Yet, the creek was again staying 154 00:09:58.679 --> 00:10:02.200 wet deep into summer, as water seeped from the saturated 155 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.320 floodplain as though from a squeezed sponge. We've gained forty 156 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:10.559 days of flow, whild said, his drawl tinged, tinged with 157 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:16.399 wonder beavers. Researchers sometimes point out our critical infrastructure builders 158 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:20.279 of fire brakes and reservoirs and storm water catchments, but 159 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.240 there also beings with their own wills, desires, and volition. 160 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:26.440 Near my tour's end, a beaver popped up in one pond, 161 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:29.279 had raised and ears pricked. I had to train em 162 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:31.960 all winter to do that. Wild cracked a joke that 163 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:35.559 was funny precisely because beavers, for all their benefits to humanity, 164 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:40.000 serve no master. The rodents swam to and fro assessing us. 165 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:43.919 Then with a resounding KerPlunk, he thwacked his tail against 166 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:47.440 the surface, roiling the pond and raising a shower of droplets. 167 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:50.480 By the time the tumult settled, he was gone, gliding 168 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:55.039 invisibly through the watery world. He had created. Benefits of beavers. 169 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:58.440 These engineers create their watery kingdoms to evade predators and 170 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:03.879 access food, but their habitat modifications also provide surprising advantages 171 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:09.159 for entire ecosystems. Adapted to dam along with their stout 172 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:12.679 bodies and waterproofer, beavers have a host of adaptations that 173 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:17.720 allow them to thrive healthier landscape, from better water quality 174 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:21.919 to increased wildfire resistance. Beavers improve their surroundings in a 175 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:26.080 variety of ways. Next Why your dog looks like You 176 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:31.159 words by Terra Law. New research confirms your long simmering 177 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.879 suspicion that dogs resemble their owners and even act like 178 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:37.679 them too. When I walked into the ring at the 179 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:41.840 Pennington Day Dog Shows Lookalike contest in suburban New Jersey 180 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.840 in the mid nineteen nineties, I was brooming with confidence 181 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:48.399 and why wouldn't I be? Soccer, my buff colored Cocker 182 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:52.399 Spaniel puppy had long, floppy ears, the perfect complement to 183 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.519 my wavy, blond Bob. We stormed to victory. For the 184 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.600 next few years, Soccer and I competed at Pennington Day 185 00:11:59.639 --> 00:12:03.360 in n array of matching outfits. We scored similar results, 186 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:05.799 wrecking up a row of blue ribbons. I have not 187 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:10.200 succeeded at anything as constantly since. At this point, it's 188 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.159 a cliche. Lots of people look like their dogs. It 189 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:17.080 turns out that there is actual science to support this stereotype. 190 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.159 A recent review of fifteen studies from around the globe 191 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:23.279 suggests that people and their pets look and act similar. 192 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:27.080 In several of the experiments, volunteers were asked to match 193 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:29.799 pictures of dogs in their owners, and they scored higher 194 00:12:29.799 --> 00:12:32.480 than they would have just by chance. In one study, 195 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:36.399 participants successfully inferred whether dogs were matched with the correct 196 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.679 owners despite being able to see only the dogs or 197 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:43.360 owner's eyes. Another found that women often preferred dogs with 198 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:47.279 ears similar in length to their hair. So what gives 199 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:51.879 a blend of benign narcissism? Seemingly experts to suggest people 200 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:54.559 dogs that look like them or reflect them in some way. 201 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.919 I imagine when I was young, my parents subconsciously chose 202 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.639 our pet Soccer, as she looked a bit like a 203 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:04.639 canine version of their child. Perhaps even more strikingly, the 204 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:09.279 review also showed that dogs and owners share similar personality traits, 205 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:13.840 especially in the cases of extra version the term psychologists 206 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:19.480 use for xtro version and neuroticism, and that their temperaments 207 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.080 appear to grow more alike as the years pass. It 208 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:27.320 offers different theories for why this might be the case. 209 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.799 One idea is that owners could be drawn to dogs 210 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:34.919 that are like them to begin with. Another holds that 211 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.480 over time, the pair may regulate each other's emotions reinforce 212 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:43.080 each other's behavior by learning or observing and imitating one another. 213 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.519 After all, the relationships we build with our dogs can 214 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:48.919 be some of the longest and most meaningful of our lives. 215 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:52.039 It resembles the way we also look for our partners, 216 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.120 says review leader Yanna Bender, a doctoral research in the 217 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:00.080 Dog Studies Research Group at the Max Planck Institute of 218 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:05.080 of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany. Dogs and their owners, she 219 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:08.279 points out, share a very close relationship comparable to many 220 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:12.120 human relationships. Authors of the review, published in the journal 221 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:17.080 Personality and Individual Differences, noted several limitations to their research, 222 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.320 such as the relatively small number of dogs and owners 223 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:24.120 included in the studies. Many of the owners who volunteered 224 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:27.639 to participate in the studies also had purebred dogs, and 225 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:32.440 scientists need additional data on mixed breed canines, which are 226 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.600 more common worldwide. Owner bias plays a role too. Even 227 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:41.440 with standardized methods for assessing dogs personalities, different researchers use 228 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.960 varying concepts, and it can be just as hard to 229 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:47.000 think that your own pet objectively as it is with 230 00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:51.840 your human family. Who's the goodest boy you are? Ways 231 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:56.320 Researchers can address this bias using established questionnaires and asking 232 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:59.759 owners more clear cut questions about how their dogs act 233 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:03.039 int certain situations rather than asking them to weigh in 234 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:07.240 on Fido's goodness. The influence humans have on their dogs 235 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:12.000 comes as no surprise to Borbada Turkshan, who studies dog 236 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:18.120 behavior at Beauttris Darand University's Faculty of Science in Budapest, Hungary. 237 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:20.919 She estimates that while about a third of a dog's 238 00:15:20.919 --> 00:15:24.480 personality is genetic, the remaining two thirds is influenced by 239 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.679 its environment, which means that if your dog has been 240 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:30.879 with you from puppyhood, you occupy a place of enormous 241 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:34.639 influence in its world. Dogs are also prime to trust 242 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:37.960 their owners because tens of thousands of years of domestication 243 00:15:38.519 --> 00:15:42.679 made them deeply attached to us. Like parents raising a child, 244 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:46.000 pet owners can have a powerful influence over their dogs. 245 00:15:46.279 --> 00:15:49.960 Turksand explains, for instance, if there is a truck coming 246 00:15:50.360 --> 00:15:52.759 and it's very loud, then the dog will look back 247 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:55.039 at the owner. If the owner doesn't care, then the 248 00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:58.320 dog will learn not to care, She says. Bender hopes 249 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.240 her study will help people build the eber more nuanced 250 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:06.279 understanding of dogs, particularly those like search and rescue, police 251 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:10.320 and service animals that work in Roll's vital to public safety. 252 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:14.039 Not long ago, my husband and I adopted Milo, a 253 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:17.840 mixed breed pup that loves playing fetch and taking daily walks. 254 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.559 We aren't quite the lock to win lookalike contests the 255 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:24.279 way Soccer and I were, though he does have short, 256 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:27.039 tan ears, not far off from my current hair style. 257 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:30.480 Maybe that influenced why my husband and I picked him 258 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:34.399 after scrolling through several hundred photos of dogs at shelters 259 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:37.919 and nonprofits all over Los Angeles. But even if I 260 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.639 grow my hair long or diet another collar, I'll be 261 00:16:40.679 --> 00:16:43.039 mindful that the way I treat Milo can have a 262 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:46.840 profound effect on him, just as his behavior can affect mine. 263 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.840 To a point of course, however the facts, He'll always 264 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.399 be my goodest boy. Next. The future of fashion is 265 00:16:54.559 --> 00:17:00.159 farm to Closet by Claudia Klba. How in INDONIESI which 266 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.519 and fashion brand is embracing traditional techniques to build a 267 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.599 new blueprint for making and selling truly sustainable clothes. On 268 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.240 a damp, de summer morning in the mountainous district of 269 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.640 Ambarawa in Central Java, a woman in an inky, black 270 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.200 sleeveless vest and gathered skirt, balances herself on the back 271 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:22.200 of a motorbike that carries her through a small village, 272 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.119 past houses adorned with tropical plants and bird cages, and 273 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:29.839 into a forest. The land here, some three hundred miles 274 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:34.119 east of Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, brims with shrubs and 275 00:17:34.200 --> 00:17:39.200 trees that grow a variety of crops, including cassava and coffee. 276 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:43.599 But it's the forest floor that's brought Danika Riyadi Ni 277 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:47.319 Flesh thirty four to this corner of her home country. 278 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.880 Under the shade of banana, papaya, and cocoanut trees, she's 279 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.400 trying to seed a revolution in the form of hundreds 280 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:58.440 of vibrant indigo plants, all casting a glossy viridescence across 281 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:04.599 the soil. Riadini Flesh is the founder of Sukasita, a 282 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.000 fashion brand that partners with hundreds of Indonesian farmers and 283 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:13.160 artisans on Java and in neighboring Vali Flores and West Timor, 284 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:16.000 and it's her company then inspired the success of the 285 00:18:16.039 --> 00:18:20.039 spurgeon and crop. Indigo comes in many varieties, but one 286 00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:26.519 commonly used is Ambarawa. Needs profuse sunlight. Riadini Flesh realized 287 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:30.480 that boosting growth would require cutting down trees. Instead, she 288 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:35.160 offered the farmers an alternative, a hardy varietal called assam indigo, 289 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:38.759 which flourishes in the shade. To day. The forest is 290 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:41.200 a wash with indigo that brings vital income into the 291 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:46.960 community while fueling a kaleidoscope of colorful dyes for Sukasita's clothing. 292 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.039 This includes the very garments Riadini Flesh is wearing, which 293 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:56.720 achieve their botanical black hue after being dipped into fermented 294 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:00.799 indigo leaves thirty times. Such a meticulous process is at 295 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:05.599 the heart of Suka Sita's environmentally responsible and ethical fashion brand. 296 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:10.240 The Kappas Kabaya vest she's wearing retails for three hundred 297 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:14.759 and twenty dollars, and the Angkasa Constellation cane, a fabric 298 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:18.160 she ties into a sarong, sells for about five hundred dollars, 299 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.839 pricing that reflects the workmanship of each garment. As she 300 00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:25.799 stands among the trees, Rihadini Flesh exudes a sense of 301 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.319 awe that she hopes to convey to her customers. This, 302 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:32.319 she says, excitedly, is a fashion forest. Indigo is just 303 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:37.799 one ingrediment ingredient in Suka Sita's radically transparent supply chain. 304 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:40.880 Every piece of fabric in the brand's farm to Closet 305 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:44.319 collection is crafted out of one hundred percent plants, from 306 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:49.759 traceable natural fibers to regeneratively grown plant dyes. Cotton fibers 307 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:53.519 are hand spun and woven on manual looms. Fabrics are 308 00:19:53.559 --> 00:19:58.680 decorated by indigenous artisans practicing an intricate hand drawn wax 309 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.440 technique called batis, before being dipped into vats of color, 310 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:06.039 dried in the sun, and finally cut and stitched into clothing. 311 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:09.720 The entire process from seed to garment takes about sixty 312 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:13.480 to one hundred eighty days. Once completed, clothing is sent 313 00:20:13.559 --> 00:20:18.160 to Sukosita's flagship store in Jakarta, marketed online, or sold 314 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:22.079 at select boutiques in Singapore and New York, where clients 315 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:25.319 are increasingly inclined to by their dollars tourt an elegant 316 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:28.200 dress or a pair of pants designed by brands that 317 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:32.880 prioritize their social and environmental impact on the world. The 318 00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:35.720 so called slow fashion movement has a ridden in direct 319 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:39.960 opposition to the values of fast fashion. The prevailing factory 320 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:43.960 lead process thats rife with excess and waste. Many of 321 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:47.680 today's clothing makers contribute to a one hundred billion dollar 322 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.519 plus industry of cheap polyester T shirts and spandex leggings, 323 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:55.319 which comes at the cost of both exploited workers and 324 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:00.279 the environment. In Indonesia, the Sietaurum River, a mainsae source 325 00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:04.160 of drinking water and irrigation, is contaminated by toxic chemicals 326 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.640 dumped into the waterway by the textile factories that line 327 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.599 its banks, and the global impact stretches farther from the 328 00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.400 Atacama Desert in northern Chile to a landfill outside of 329 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:20.079 Ghana's capital of Acraa mountains of discarded clothes pile higher 330 00:21:20.279 --> 00:21:24.920 each year. Riodini Flesh believes that empowering consumers with knowledge 331 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:27.640 about how their clothes were made, be it the plants 332 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:30.720 that color them more the artisans who stitch them, will 333 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.680 lead to a deeper relationship with what they wear, a 334 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:37.000 stronger appreciation for both the craft and the product, and 335 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:40.559 a realization that the choices we make as consumers directly 336 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:43.960 affect people in the planet. She's already drawn an impressive 337 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.799 roster of influential supporters, rock musician Chris Martin from cold Play, 338 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:54.680 National Geographic Explorer at Large and oceanographer Sylvia Earle and 339 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.039 celebrated cellist Yo Yoman have been spotted in Sukasita garments. 340 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.759 Denika journey is testament to the best kind of cultural thinking, 341 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.279 says Mah, who is kept in touch with the founder, 342 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:08.720 powered by a willingness to put in deep work with head, 343 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:12.519 heart and hands. Sukasita is not the first brand to 344 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:16.319 provide an alternative blueprint to how fashion is created, and 345 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:19.559 it's met a fundamental truth had on Clothes made with 346 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.480 care and intention are going to be relatively more expensive 347 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:26.519 than the alternatives, but Riadini Flesh believes that if shoppers 348 00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:29.880 understand the value of what they're paying for, they'll realize 349 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:33.599 that cheap garments bear a far greater cost. Clothes won't 350 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:35.920 change the world, but the people wearing them will. She 351 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:38.960 says her journey started with thinking about how she could 352 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.119 use her own knowledge as a bridge to uplift others 353 00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:45.759 and replenish the planet. While Indonesia has made strides in 354 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:49.359 reducing poverty, nine percent of the population still struggles to 355 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:53.000 make a living wage. That's roughly twenty four million people, 356 00:22:53.079 --> 00:22:56.720 many of whom live in rural villages. Growing up in Jakarta, 357 00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:02.000 Riadini Flesh experience the country's deeply ruins, did issues with inequality, 358 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:06.039 and studied developmental economics in college. After a stint working 359 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.319 at the World Bank, she gained her most sobering understanding 360 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.720 of what that truth looks like when she began traveling 361 00:23:12.759 --> 00:23:17.759 the countryside in twenty thirteen. Riodini Flesch knew nothing about fashion, 362 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.640 but one day she met three batique artisans in a 363 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.319 village on the outskirts of Tuban in East Java. The 364 00:23:24.359 --> 00:23:26.559 women told her that they had learned the ancient craft 365 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.440 from their mothers, who had used natural dyes to color 366 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:33.880 their fabrics, but their tradition was at risk. With limited resources, 367 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:37.359 the artisans had switched to cheaper and work readily available 368 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.880 chemical dyes that burned their lungs. Yet, even when they 369 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:44.480 could not compete with the speed of factory printed at textiles, 370 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:49.039 all were mothers or abus who worried about feeding their families. 371 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:52.640 Until then, Riodini Flesh had never thought about how clothing 372 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:56.160 was created. It may be realized that without not knowing it, 373 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:58.839 I was part of the problem, she says in the 374 00:23:58.839 --> 00:24:02.000 months that followed, Rieti Flesh saw other problems in the 375 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.720 modern fashion supply chain, which affected not only the artisans, 376 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:09.559 but also farmers who had abandoned cotton growing for monocultural 377 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:13.240 crops like corn, thereby degrading the health of the soil 378 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:18.319 plants and wildlife that thrived with agricultural diversity. Both of 379 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:23.160 these age old practices, craft and farming, were deeply rooted 380 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.599 in village life. They just needed to be restored. Slow Fashion, 381 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.119 she realized, could create a new vehicle for change. Early on, 382 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.279 the IBus were wary of Riadini Flesh because of stark 383 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:37.920 class divisions in Indonesian society. Although she had only two 384 00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:40.759 thousand dollars to invest, she put the money into paying 385 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:44.000 the batique artisans a living wage, which allowed her to 386 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:48.160 create her first sample, a bandana she called Cupoo or Butterfly. 387 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.400 By twenty nineteen, three years after incorporating, the company had 388 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:55.880 drawn enough interest from residents near Tubon to open its 389 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:00.480 first craft school with the Ruma Suka Sita Foundation, which 390 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:04.880 is funded by the company's profits, donations, grants, and entrepreneurship 391 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:09.440 awards from non profits and AIDS groups. The school provide 392 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.759 workshops where artisans can teach botique to younger generations, and 393 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:18.279 farmers can learn about regenerative ways to plant cotton. Villagers 394 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:23.319 are now leveraging an indigenous technique known locally as tupang sari, 395 00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:28.000 which prioritizes the cultivation of multiple plants together, allowing them 396 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:31.599 to nourish each other. Cotton is planted alongside corn, which 397 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:37.720 provides shade, chilis help control past and peanuts add nitrogen 398 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.279 to the soil. The approach allows rural Indonesians to grow 399 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:44.799 cotton for sucasita while providing more food for their families 400 00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.599 and additional vegetables or nuts that can be sold for 401 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:52.359