Species Unite

“You know, you walk through a forest. Every leaf on every tree is unique. And that's what biology does. We are all unique, right? Everything about us that biology does, it's so magical. It's so special. And we now have the ability to harness biology in the way that nature does.” – Suzanne Lee Suzanne Lee is the founder of Biofabricate and for more than two decades she’s been uniting scientists, designers, artists, and dreamers to prove that biology isn’t just inspiration — it’s the next frontier of design. She’s leading a movement to replace plastics, leather, and petrochemicals with materials born from life itself — brewed, cultivated, and created in harmony with nature. I just spent a few days in London at Biofabricate’s Biofab Fair, a celebration of biology-based technologies and the innovators behind them. These weren’t the usual alternatives to leather or plastic. Imagine a world where textiles aren’t manufactured from fossil fuels, animal skins, or even plants — but grown from microbes, mycelium, algae, and engineered proteins. There were fabrics brewed in vats, colors grown by living microbes, perfumes made with the DNA of extinct flowers, and leather-like sheets made from banana waste and mycelium. Each innovation not only reimagines what we wear and use, but also reshapes how we think about design, beauty, and even culture. After the fair, Suzanne and I sat down to debrief — to talk about how far this movement has come, what’s next for biofabrication, and how growing the materials of the future might just change everything.  Links:  Biofab Fair Website  https://www.biofab.world/ Biofabricate Website   https://www.biofabricate.co/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/biofabricate/ Materials and brands mentioned in episode: Ephea  https://ephea.bio/ Polybion https://www.polybion.bio/ Uncaged Innovations:  https://uncagedinnovations.com/ Spyber:  https://spiber.inc/en Holon Bionics https://holonbionics.com/ Banofee https://www.banofileather.com/ AB In Bev https://www.ab-inbev.com/ MM Limited https://www.mm-greentech.com/aboutus

"Now more than ever, a lot of farmers are caught in between this kind of industrial complex that that is difficult to pay the bills with - so you got to get subsidies, and the very real problem of being exposed to all the chemicals that they have  to use to make anything grow in soil that's been hammered and depleted." - Alex Woodard This episode isn’t about animals. It’s about the ground beneath our feet — and what happens when we forget that our own health, our food, and our future are all rooted in the soil. In his novel Ordinary Soil, Alex Woodard tells the multigenerational story of a farming family in the Oklahoma Panhandle, tracing how decades of industrial agriculture and chemical dependence have unraveled both the land and the people living on it. The result is a sweeping and deeply human narrative that blends science, history, and fiction to show just how interconnected we are with the earth that feeds us. This conversation is about more than farming. It’s about resilience, healing, and the choices we still have to turn things around — for ourselves, our communities, and the planet.

“That is no life for these birds and it is definitely not what the consumer is thinking or assuming. When they see these nice labels and they think, ‘oh, I'm paying so much more for this, that change must be going for the animals, right?’ No, it's lining the pockets and it's keeping that status quo of that factory farm going.” Amber Canavan   Most of us want to make choices that are kinder—to animals, to the planet, to ourselves. But in today’s food system, kindness is often buried under labels like “cage free,” “humane certified,” or even “climate-friendly beef.” These terms are designed to make us feel good, but as PETA’s Amber Canavan reveals, they hide the same suffering and environmental destruction. For more than a decade, Amber has led campaigns that expose this “humane washing” and push companies—from Starbucks to Whole Foods—to do better. This conversation is about pulling back the curtain on the myths we’ve been sold, and about the power each of us has to choose differently. One of the simplest, most impactful ways to take action is with what’s on our plate. That’s why, this October, we’re inviting you to join Species Unite’s Plant-Powered Challenge—a 30-day adventure to try delicious, cruelty-free food, reduce your climate footprint, and stand with the animals. Because real change doesn’t come from labels. It comes from us.

“How could this owl, who was born in captivity, lived his whole life in a cage, how could he possibly survive? He's going to be dead in a few days. That's what everybody thought.” – Christine Mott   In February 2023, a Eurasian eagle-owl named Flaco made headlines—and captured hearts—when he escaped from his small enclosure at the Central Park Zoo. Born in captivity and unable to fly or hunt, Flaco defied every expectation. In just weeks, he taught himself to soar across the Manhattan skyline, hunt for his own food, and live as freely as an owl could in a city of concrete and glass. For more than a year, New Yorkers spotted him perched in Central Park, on high-rises, even outside apartment windows—cheering him on as a symbol of resilience and freedom. Today’s guest, attorney and lifelong animal advocate Christine Mott, has immortalized Flaco’s story in her new children’s book, Free Bird: Flaco the Owl’s Dreams Take Flight. Told from Flaco’s perspective, the book celebrates courage, hope, and the right of all animals to live free—without cages or confinement—while gently encouraging young readers to see captivity through an animal’s eyes. This conversation is about Flaco’s extraordinary journey, the lessons he left behind, and how one small owl sparked big changes for animals in New York and beyond.   Links: https://lanternpm.org/book/free-bird/

“I could be walking in Central Park and come up on one of these horse and buggies. I don't think twice about it because I see it as part of the New York attraction. You know, you have the Statue of Liberty, you have Times Square, and you have these romantic horse and buggy things where people get married in the park and they ride these carriages. And tourists, they take these rides in Central Park. It's romantic, it's something beautiful to see. But I never thought for one second that these horses are abused.” – Tracy Winston, juror from Ryder’s trial New York City has a big, visible animal cruelty issue: horses forced to pull carriages, carrying heavy loads for long hours in all types of weather in the middle of chaotic traffic. Three years ago, a carriage horse named Ryder was a victim of this cruelty. He collapsed on a Manhattan street after being worked for hours in the summer heat. Two months later, he was euthanized. His story sparked global outrage. Ryder’s driver, Ian McKeever, was charged with animal cruelty The trial took place a few weeks ago, but McKeever was ultimately acquitted. This conversation is with Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of NYCLASS and Tracy Winston, one of the jurors from Ryder's trial. New York’s weak and outdated animal protection laws have not changed since Ryder died— and because of this, another avoidable death that occurred just a week after we recorded this interview. On August 5th, a horse named Lady died while pulling a carriage in Manhattan. This conversation is about accountability, about corruption and about what happens when justice fails the most vulnerable. It's too late for Ryder and Lady. But it is not too late to act. If you live in New York, please call your City Council members and tell them it’s time to bring Ryder’s Law, Intro 967, up for a vote and pass this vital bill to protect carriage horses from suffering and death on the city’s streets. To find your council member, go to: https://www.speciesunite.com/ny-horse-carriage-petition NYCLASS: https://nyclass.org/

“It was just this love I developed of life, all life and how much life can be a joy to witness and experience if we're not severing ourselves or severing other lives from our own. And then you start to see all the connectedness and it's like a drug.” - Mari Andrew What if healing wasn’t about fixing yourself—but about remembering what it means to be alive? This conversation is with  writer artist, speaker, teacher, and deep feeler Mari Andrew about her new book, How to Be a Living Thing— an exploration on animals, embodiment, and the wild, wondrous mess of being human. Through stories of rats and oysters, cardinals and bears, Mari explores the quiet wisdom of creatures who live without apology, who don’t shrink themselves to be loved, who remind us what it is to be curious, connected, and enough. Links: Mari Andrew:  https://bymariandrew.com/ How To Be A Living Thing:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593831667?tag=randohouseinc7986-20

"So I think this whole idea of cumulative culture is a way to make humans exceptional. But it's clear to me that humans are exceptional, and seeing it through baboon glasses, I can understand in a different way why they're exceptional. But many of the things that we think are uniquely human are actually present in other animals." - Dr. Shirley Strum Dr. Shirley Strum is a groundbreaking anthropologist who has spent over five decades living alongside wild baboons in Kenya. Her work has transformed our understanding of these intelligent, socially complex animals — their relationships, their adaptability, and the intricate societies they create. In her new book, Echoes of Our Origins, Shirley challenges long-held beliefs about evolution, the human-animal divide, and what it truly means to coexist. This conversation is about science — but it’s also about humility, hope, and the messy, beautiful complexity of life on Earth. Links:  https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53757/echoes-our-origins https://anthropology.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/faculty-profiles/shirley-strum.html

 “I sit in the camp that is going to defend wildlife, and I will live and die in that space. Even though what I see is in the West, wolves have a bad reputation. It's still there…" -Jeffrey Reed    What if we could understand wolves? How they communicate, what they might be saying? Jeffrey Reed, is a computational linguist, naturalist, and technologist who’s doing just that—using artificial intelligence to decode the wild. Jeff is the founder of the Cry Wolf Project, a groundbreaking bio acoustic study capturing hundreds of thousands of hours of wolf vocalization across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. From howls and chorus howls to teeth clacking and whines, Jeff's work is uncovering the complex ways wolves and many other animals communicate with one another. His company, Grizzly Systems, is creating cutting edge tools to help people and wildlife share the land more peacefully and intelligently. This conversation is about wolves, language, the future of wild soundscapes, and how technology might help us become better neighbors to the beings that we've long misunderstood. LINKS:  https://www.thecrywolfproject.com/ How individuals can donate to Yellowstone National Park's Wolf Project via this link: https://www.thecrywolfproject.com/donate  Grizzly System's conservation technology: https://www.grizcam.com ​ Jeff's forthcoming (2026) book on wolf communication, via this link: https://www.thelanguagesoflife.com/excerpt Jeff's TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/jeffrey_t_reed_can_ai_help_us_speak_with_wolves Jeff's social presence: https://www.facebook.com/jefftreed, https://www.instagram.com/thecrywolfproject, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefftreed, and https://www.youtube.com/@crywolfproject

I think you could probably go back and track the stages of grief, probably that is what I went through. But I think if you do it right, you end up at acceptance. And that's where I ended up. And that's not to say that I've fully accepted the idea that the golden toad is extinct. Personally, I do still hold out hope that it could still be out there in those forests." - Trevor Ritland    This conversation is with Trevor Ritland, who—along with his twin brother Kyle—authored The Golden Toad. The book chronicles their remarkable journey into Costa Rica’s cloud forest, once home to hundreds of brilliant golden toads that would emerge for just a few weeks each year—until, one day, they vanished without a trace. What began as a search for a lost species soon became something much more profound: a confrontation with ecological grief, a meditation on hope, and a powerful call to protect the natural world while we still can.   Links: SpeciesUnite.com Kyle and Trevor: https://kyleandtrevor.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventureterm/ Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222249677-the-golden-toad Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Toad-Ecological-Mystery-Species/dp/163576996

"72 juveniles is 28% of the current population of sunflower stars under human care in California. More than a quarter of them are at our facility. If you had asked us that question about a year and a half ago. The answer would be zero at our facility, and the answer across California would be six total." - Andrew Kim In 2013, one of the largest marine disease outbreaks on record, sea star wasting syndrome swept through echinoderm populations, laying waste to sunflower stars across their historic range. Once common in California, sunflower stars are now functionally extinct there. This devastating population crash is one of the leading drivers of the 96% decline in kelp forest cover in Northern California in the last decade, as sunflower stars are no longer prowling rocky reefs and scaring purple urchins, who graze on kelp.   Sunflower Star Laboratory was founded by a group of concerned citizens who watched California's kelp disappear before their eyes and were inspired to take action.   This conversation is with Reuven Bank and Andrew Kim from Sunflower Star Laboratory, where they are actively growing sunflower stars with the aim to bring the stars and the kelp forests back to the ocean.