215. Ben Goldfarb with Brooke Jarvis - Life is a Highway: Protecting Wildlife through Road Ecology

<p data-aura-rendered-by="4410:121057;a"><strong><em>Did you know that there are 40 million miles of roadways on earth?</em></strong></p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="4410:121057;a">While roads are practically invisible to humans, wild animals experience them entirely differently. Conservation journalist Ben Goldfarb has explored the environmental effects of this ubiquitous part of the modern world.</p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="4410:121057;a">In his book, <em>Crossings</em>, Goldfarb explains how creatures from antelope to salmon are losing their ability to migrate in search of food and mates; invasive plants hitch rides in tire treads; road salt contaminates lakes and rivers; and the very noise of traffic chases songbirds from their habitat. These effects on nature are everywhere, all because of human activity.</p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="4410:121057;a">Yet there is human activity that is working to combat these effects as well. Goldfarb describes conservation work such as highway wildlife bridges, similar to the I-90 wildlife corridor in Washington state. He explains how tunnels for toads and deconstructing old logging roads can make a difference. These projects and other research in road ecology are working toward lessening the hazards of roadways. While they may take up millions of miles of the planet, roads can leave a smaller impact in the future.</p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="4410:121057;a"><strong>Ben Goldfarb</strong> is an award-winning environmental journalist who covers wildlife conservation, marine science, and public lands management, as well as an accomplished fiction writer. His work has been featured in <em>Science</em>, <em>Mother Jones</em>, <em>The Guardian</em>, <em>High Country News</em>, <em>VICE</em>, <em>Audubon Magazine</em>, <em>Modern Farmer</em>, <em>Orion</em>, <em>World Wildlife Magazine</em>, <em>Scientific American</em>, <em>Yale Environment 360</em>, and many other publications. He is the author of <em>Eager: <span class="TextRun SCXW77936822 BCX0" lang= "EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"