On this episode, writer-philosopher-entomologist Jeff Lockwood shares an essay that was inspired by his work as a grasshopper killer. The story takes us out into the grasslands, and grapples with a child's question about just when it is moral to kill other animals.
What should conservation look like, in a world where people have affected every inch of the planet? Environmental writer Emma Marris, author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World, joins us to discuss a new approach to caring for the earth. She argues that we shouldn't just focus on preserving "pristine" wilderness -- shouldn't try to freeze every landscape in time. Instead, she says, we need to celebrate and foster change.