1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: School of humans. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 2: Deep in Peru's cloud forests, a stream of fog weaves 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 2: past tree trunks, mist blankets the undergrowth, filtering the sunlight 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 2: above and supplying moisture to the plants below. The result 5 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 2: is one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. 6 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,760 Speaker 2: They are up to three thousand species of orchids here, 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,199 Speaker 2: more than anywhere else in the world. The forest has 8 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: a way of seducing people, and in two thousand and 9 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 2: two the Sirens Lord James Michael Kovac to Peru. An 10 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 2: orchid enthusiast, Kovak flew there in search of the Holy Grail, 11 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 2: in search of flowers nobody could see anywhere else, And 12 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 2: one day, as he walked past a roadside flower vendor, 13 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 2: his heartly jumped out of his chest. It was a 14 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 2: Lady Slipper, a pinkish purple orchid with giant petals unfurling 15 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 2: like the wings of a butterfly. Kovak was mesmerized. He 16 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 2: began haggling with the shopkeeper, but they refused to budge. 17 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: The owners knew they had something special, so Kovak paid 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:34,559 Speaker 2: the asking price three dollars and sixty cents. A week later, 19 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 2: Kovak had printed his boarding pass home, he slipped the 20 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 2: orchid into a cardboard tube and boarded a flight to 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 2: the United States. When he landed in Miami, customs officers 22 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 2: failed to stop him, so Kovak made his way to 23 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 2: Sarasota to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, home to one 24 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 2: of the most diverse orchid collections in the world. Kovak 25 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 2: brought the specimen in and watched the reactions. According to 26 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 2: journalist Craig Pittman's book The Scent of Scandal, the flower 27 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 2: sparked a simultaneous wave of eye widening and mouth opening. 28 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 2: Nobody bothered to ask if he had acquired it legally. 29 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:20,959 Speaker 2: Shortly after, Selby published a scientific description of the new orchid, 30 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 2: They named it Fragmipedium kovakii. Then phone lines at the 31 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 2: US Fish and Wildlife Service started to buzz. It was Peru. 32 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 2: An American botanical garden, they claimed, was saying it quote 33 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 2: discovered an orchid that had been clearly smuggled out of Peru. Soon, 34 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 2: armed agents were knocking on Kovac's door. They confiscated his 35 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: papers and more than three hundred plants. Indictments streamed in 36 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 2: the gardens were fined for violating the endangered species Act, 37 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,119 Speaker 2: the garden's orchid expert placed under house arrest. As part 38 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 2: of the punishment, the garden had to buy a full 39 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 2: page ad in a trade magazine apologizing a subtle message 40 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 2: to other institutions that they should learn from Selby's mistakes. 41 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 2: That was the dirty secret. In botany, this type of 42 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 2: low key smuggling was par for the course. In fact, 43 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 2: when activists tried to change the name of fragment pedium kovakia, 44 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 2: arguing it was wrong to name the plant after a 45 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 2: person who poached it, scientific authorities shrugged and did nothing. This, 46 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 2: they said, was too high a standard. If botany reclassified 47 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 2: every plant name for smugglers, poachers, and thieves, the entire 48 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 2: field would suffer quote major nomenclature instability. In Layman's terms, 49 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 2: it would throw the entire scientific field into turmoil. On 50 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 2: this podcast, we've explored the crimes of obsessed hobbyists, of 51 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 2: organized gangs, and even corrupt governments. But what about the 52 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 2: elephant in the room. What about when the places entrusted 53 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 2: to conserve plant life are committing the crimes. In this 54 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 2: last episode, when the worlds of policy and piracy collide, 55 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 2: I'm summer rain Oaks from school of Humans and iHeart podcasts, 56 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 2: This is bad Seeds. In the early two thousands, the 57 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:41,039 Speaker 2: Selby scandal would divide orchid collectors. Some complain that this 58 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,280 Speaker 2: was government overreach. Others wailed that it was about time 59 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 2: rich Western institutions had been taking credit for quote unquote 60 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:55,919 Speaker 2: discovering plants that natives knew about for ages. But the 61 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 2: fight went far beyond claims of who got there first. 62 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 2: For many, the problem was the profit motive. Kovac told 63 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 2: investigators he planned to artificially propagate the smuggled flower and 64 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 2: mass and those are his words. He didn't express any 65 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 2: intention to share future profits with the people in Peru 66 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 2: who had actually discovered and were actively protecting the plant. 67 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 2: In Botany, this kind of behavior, smuggling a plant and 68 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 2: then getting rich off its mass production, conjures a painful past, 69 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 2: especially in South America. 70 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 3: You start to hear them call Henry Wickham the Pirate 71 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 3: of the Amazon and the destroyer of worlds. 72 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,239 Speaker 2: That's Joe Jackson. He's a writer. 73 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 3: I'm the author of At the End of the World. 74 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 2: And he's an expert on one of South America's most 75 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 2: reviled villains, an Englishman by the name of Henry Wickham. 76 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 3: He was born in eighteen forty six, had a comfortable 77 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 3: middle class upbringing until his father died in one of 78 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 3: the cholera epidemics in eighteen fifty five or eighteen fifty six. 79 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 3: And you know, back then you didn't have pensions, and 80 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 3: his mother had three kids. He had a dream in 81 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 3: drastic descent in class, and he had a spirit of adventure, 82 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 3: and he had a talent for art. And at that time, 83 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 3: if you were an adventurous boy in the British Empire, 84 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 3: you went out to the wild places and you explored, 85 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 3: and you wrote a book about your travels. And Henry 86 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 3: thought he was ready made for that. The explorers were 87 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 3: the astronauts of that generation, and Henry wanted to do that. 88 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 2: So Henry, desperate for both money and adventure, set out 89 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 2: into the world, spending his twenties exploring places like Belize 90 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 2: and Nicaragua, hoping the jungles would give him material for 91 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 2: books and maybe even change his family's fortunes. 92 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 3: He wasn't by science. He was driven by ambition. I mean, 93 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 3: he kind of wanted to come back up in the 94 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 3: world from what he had lost. 95 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 2: He was ambitious, sometimes to his detriment. Henry was a 96 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 2: thoughtless explorer. Consider the time he brought his wife Violet 97 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 2: to the islands near Papua New Guinea. 98 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 3: There were still cannibal tribes and some of the islands 99 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 3: around there, and Henry was pretty impulsive, and some of 100 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 3: the natives had stolen a couple of his canoes, and 101 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 3: Henry got rene, and he took some of his workers 102 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 3: and he went paddling after them and left Violet on 103 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 3: that island for I don't know, like ten twelve days 104 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 3: like that, by herself, and she knew there were cannibals around. 105 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 2: Turns out that leaving your wife alone on an island 106 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 2: inhabited by cannibals not a great recipe for a happy marriage. 107 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,679 Speaker 2: Violet ended up being okay, but their union not so much. 108 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 2: Henry's absent mindedness aside, his travels helped him become something 109 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 2: of an expert on rubber, and this was the eighteen seventies. 110 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 2: Rubber was big. Railroads, telegraph companies, bicycle manufacturers, hose and 111 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 2: gasket makers. All of them were starving for the stretchy stuff. 112 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 3: Rubber was a central component. Everything was steam driven, so 113 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 3: he had giant turbines. You had these giant pistons, you 114 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 3: had looms, steam powered looms, and you had the British 115 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 3: Empire's navy. And with all of these moving parts, you 116 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 3: needed oil. But you also needed rubber to cushion the blow. 117 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 2: Problem was there was only one place to get rubber, 118 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 2: the Amazon Basin. About ninety percent of the world's latex 119 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 2: came out of Brazil, and that demand, derived from the 120 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 2: poetry heavy at Braziliensis, was fueling a boom of wealth. 121 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 2: Entrepreneurs flooded Brazil, laying thousands of miles of railroad track 122 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 2: and erecting resplendent buildings sculpted from the finest European marble. 123 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 2: The British wanted in on it. 124 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 3: They needed to find some way of getting rubber from 125 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 3: the forests of Brazil to the British empires of. 126 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 2: Possession, and that's when they set eyes on Henry Wickham. 127 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 3: And the director of Q Garden guy by the name 128 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 3: of William Booker wrote to the council and said, find 129 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 3: me that guy. He knows something about rubber. So Henry 130 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 3: did not go to the Amazon thinking he was going 131 00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 3: to be a secret agent for Q, but in a 132 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 3: way he became a secret agent for Q because Booker 133 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 3: Rhodehiman said, would you agree to be our agent and 134 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 3: bring as much rubber back as you possibly could? 135 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 2: I agreed. In eighteen seventy six, he paddled down the 136 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,160 Speaker 2: Amazon River and moored his boat near the town of 137 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 2: Boeien by a grove of potter trees. There, Henry enlisted 138 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 2: a group of locals to help them collect more than 139 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 2: seventy thousand rubber seeds, wrapping them in banana leaves. When 140 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 2: it came time to leave the country, Brazilian officials asked 141 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,320 Speaker 2: Henry if he had any seeds on him. He lied 142 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 2: and said he had some, but that they were academic specimens. 143 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 3: Said I've got some rubber seeds, and he paid the 144 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 3: tear of you know, about ten or twelve seeds. I 145 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 3: forget the exact number, but it was very low. 146 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 2: It was an undercount of say sixty nine nine ninety. 147 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 3: He saund off and he brought as seeds to Hugh Gardens, 148 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 3: and twelve percent of them survived. 149 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,359 Speaker 2: British scientists grew the seeds and sent the surviving specimens 150 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,239 Speaker 2: to the British Empire's colonies. 151 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 3: They eventually transferred them to vast plantations around Singapore and 152 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 3: malays and that became the British Rubber Empire. 153 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 2: The British Empire's rubber plantations, all grown from Henry's seeds, 154 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,719 Speaker 2: would utterly destroy the trade in Brazil, and it. 155 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 3: Broke the back of Brazil's rubber empire in one year, 156 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 3: which is pretty dramatic. 157 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,320 Speaker 2: In the eighteen seventies, the South American country controlled the 158 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 2: world's rubber production. By the nineteen twenties it had all 159 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 2: slipped away. The dramatic boom and bust killed Brazil's economic 160 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 2: momentum with effects that are still felt today. In Britain, 161 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 2: Henry would be knighted, but Brazilians would give him a 162 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 2: much different title. 163 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 3: He was the devil incarnate. They hated him down in Brazil. 164 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 3: They thought he had raped the nation. 165 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 2: He'd be called the princip those ladros, the prince of thieves. Today, 166 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 2: botanists have another name for him, biopirate. Henry Wickham's theft 167 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,480 Speaker 2: of those seeds would sap in calculable economic potential from 168 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 2: Brazil while enriching the leaders of British industry. But what 169 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,920 Speaker 2: did his actions do for him? 170 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 3: The British Empire kind of padded him on the back 171 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 3: and paid him the equivalent of about seven hundred dollars 172 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 3: and said go on your way, buddy. And he felt 173 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 3: cheated pretty much for the rest of his life. And 174 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 3: what he did for the rest of his life was 175 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 3: basically try to find discover this next great wonder plant. 176 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 3: And he never really did. He never found anything that 177 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 3: was as quote miraculous as the rubber tree. I don't know. 178 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,199 Speaker 3: It was kind of like some mythological character that kind 179 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,320 Speaker 3: of wanders the world trying to replicate his early success. 180 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:08,439 Speaker 2: If you search the annals of botany, if you look 181 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 2: at the names of great plant explorers, you discover more 182 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 2: and more people like Henry Wickham, people who today we'd 183 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 2: call poachers, traffickers and thieves, or as experts now call them, biopirates. 184 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 2: It's something of a theme. In twenty fourteen, the journalist 185 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,839 Speaker 2: Sam Knight, writing for The Guardian, put it this way 186 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 2: quote one big problem with plant crime is that it 187 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:40,319 Speaker 2: is so difficult to distinguish from the act of botany itself. 188 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 2: For decades, biopiracy was not the exception, but the rule. 189 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 2: Q Gardens paid Henry Wickham seven hundred pounds to steal, 190 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 2: mislabel and smuggle those rubber seeds out of Brazil. The 191 00:13:55,679 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 2: British East India Company asked the Scotsman Robert Fortune to 192 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 2: sneak into forbidden China and steal the country's tea making secrets. 193 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 2: The list goes on and on. In a way, the 194 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 2: study of botany was just an extension of empire, or, 195 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:18,560 Speaker 2: in other words, exploitation, and most of these early day 196 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 2: biopirates felt little remorse. They had no problems stealing from 197 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,160 Speaker 2: or talking down to native populations. In the words of 198 00:14:28,240 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 2: one nineteenth century botanist. 199 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 4: The Spanish Americas have accomplished nothing in the development of 200 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 4: the knowledge of their rome, floras and vegetable products. 201 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: The Anglo Saxon blood must originate and direct all exploitation 202 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: and development. 203 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:49,720 Speaker 2: This, of course, couldn't have been further from the truth. 204 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 2: Take San Shona officionalis a leafy green shrub with starburst 205 00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 2: blooms that grows across the Andean forest. For centuries, Peruvians 206 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 2: and Bolivians had used Saintchona bark to stop fever. They 207 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 2: were onto something. The plant contains quinine, an anti malarial. 208 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 2: Centuries after that discovery, a British alpaca farmer named Charles 209 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 2: Ledger caught wind of the bark's medicinal properties in the 210 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 2: eighteen sixties. He traveled through Peru and Bolivia and with 211 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 2: the help of his servant, a native named Manuel Incra Mammani, 212 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,440 Speaker 2: he stole seeds, smuggled them to Europe and sold them 213 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 2: to the Dutch. The production and study of quinine soon exploded. 214 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 2: It would save millions of lives. And that is where 215 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 2: the ethics of biopiracy gets sort of Harry. 216 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: It's a real gray area in a lot of ways. 217 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: There's always two sides of this biopiracy thing. I mean, 218 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: it's a sovereign nation, seems like it should have a 219 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: right to the things that are found within its borders. 220 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: But then what the British Empire used when they were 221 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: taking the Tinjona tree for quini, and they said, well, look, 222 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: this is for the greater good of mankind. And that's 223 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: something that still is going. 224 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 2: On regardless of where you land on the issue of quinine. 225 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 2: This long history of biopiracy left many nations, especially those 226 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 2: in South America and Africa, feeling cheated, and it wouldn't 227 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 2: be addressed by the international stage until the early nineteen nineties. 228 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 5: In Rio de Chenaier you had a the nineteen ninety 229 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 5: two Earth Summit, the first summit that basically came up 230 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 5: with international regulations against biopiracy. 231 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 2: That year, an international treaty was signed, the rules for 232 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 2: which are pretty simple. If a country is home to 233 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 2: a genetic resource, for instance, a rare or unique plant 234 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,400 Speaker 2: like rubber, then that country is entitled to benefit financially 235 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 2: from any profits when the plant is sold elsewhere. It's 236 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 2: essentially a thank you for keeping and protecting the plant 237 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 2: over the past few centuries. The same goes for a 238 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:16,199 Speaker 2: traditional knowledge. If a pharmaceutical company learns about a plant's 239 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 2: medicinal benefits thanks to indigenous knowledge, then locals deserve some 240 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 2: financial compensation when the profits roll in. In other words, 241 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 2: it's about giving credit where credit is due. Despite these efforts, 242 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:40,200 Speaker 2: biopiracy remains what Jackson calls a rancrous issue, especially as 243 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 2: corporations get bigger and bigger. 244 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: You still have that kind of sovereign rights versus the 245 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: greater good, that kind of pushing pool that is part 246 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: of the argument, that's part of the exchange. People don't 247 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: really believe in empire right now, Government empires aren't so big, 248 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: but I mean private are a big deal. 249 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,680 Speaker 2: In the US, corporations can patent a plant, new breeds 250 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 2: can be protected by intellectual property law, and this has 251 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 2: gotten some folks in trouble. In nineteen ninety five, the 252 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 2: US Patent Office granted scientists a patent for turmeric, also 253 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 2: known as kurkuma longa, because it could be used for 254 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 2: wound healing. Of course, over in India, locals had known 255 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 2: this for centuries, if not thousands of years. A couple 256 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 2: years later, a Texas company tried to patent basmati rice, 257 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:37,880 Speaker 2: a decision that, to put it lightly, made a lot 258 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:42,480 Speaker 2: of farmers in India very angry. And the treaty itself, 259 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,399 Speaker 2: even though it's prevented a lot of exploitation and theft, 260 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,919 Speaker 2: has its downsides because as it's gotten harder to export 261 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 2: and study some plants, they've only gotten rarer and more endangered. 262 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: By the time I wrote a book and talked to 263 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: some dis botanists and then demoloed it would go down 264 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: to the Amazon and study these things. Is said. You 265 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: go down there and you're the villain. You don't know 266 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: whether or not you're going to be called a biopirate. 267 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: Even after you've jumped through all the hoops and paint 268 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,120 Speaker 1: all of the fees at the airport, they might decide 269 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: that you're trying to steal from them, and they'll sequester 270 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: you for a long time. 271 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 3: All of you or specimens will die. 272 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 2: The ability to patent plants in the US has also 273 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 2: made it a huge target of foreign biopirates. It's twenty 274 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 2: eleven and a field manager working at DuPont Pioneer is 275 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,360 Speaker 2: peering across a cornfield when he notices an Asian man 276 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,879 Speaker 2: crouched over a row of maize sifting through the dirt. 277 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 2: Now this isn't just any old cornfield. This is a 278 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 2: grower field, a place where agricultural companies test news strains 279 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 2: of veggies, ones that could be more resistant to disease 280 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 2: and famine. In other words, exactly the kind of plants 281 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 2: a foreign nation might want to steal and replicate. The 282 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 2: manager drives over to the visitor and confronts him. The 283 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 2: man named Mo looks startled. He explains he worked for 284 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 2: a university, but he doesn't go into any more detail. Instead, 285 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 2: he quickly gets in his car and speeds away, the 286 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 2: field manager notifies the FBI. Turns out the FBI is 287 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:42,160 Speaker 2: already on Moe's tail. Mo Hi Loong has been sneaking 288 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:46,000 Speaker 2: through the cornfields of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa with a 289 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:50,719 Speaker 2: crew of accomplices, stealing ears of corn, rooting up seedlings. 290 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 2: The FBI discovers that Moe works for a Chinese agricultural company, 291 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,239 Speaker 2: and he's been targeting cornfields owned by American corporation. His 292 00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 2: goal to unlock the trade secrets buried in the DNA 293 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 2: of various new GMO corn. If he can steal the seeds, 294 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:14,120 Speaker 2: his employer can reverse engineer the plant to skip years 295 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 2: of expensive biotech research required to create new strains. Mo 296 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 2: and his accomplices would later be caught trying to ship 297 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty pounds of stolen corn seed to China, 298 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 2: hiding hundreds of small samples in envelopes of microwave popcorn. 299 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 2: The trade secrets hidden in those seeds were worth at 300 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 2: least thirty million dollars. After police caught up with him, 301 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 2: Mo would be sentenced to three years in prison, a 302 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,639 Speaker 2: pretty light sentence for a biopirate all things considered, because 303 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,719 Speaker 2: remember that story about Charles Ledger, the guy who's sticky 304 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 2: fingers helped launch the world quinine biz. You may recall 305 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 2: he had help from a native, a guy named Manuel Kramamani. 306 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 2: While in Europe, Ledger was celebrated as a hero, but 307 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 2: in gram Amani Back home, locals soon learned what he 308 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 2: had done, and he'd be arrested, beaten, tortured, and then killed. 309 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 2: The difference between a smuggler and a saint, between a 310 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:22,159 Speaker 2: backstabber and a lifesaver, may merely depend on whether you 311 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 2: live in the nation that was pilfered or the one 312 00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 2: that profited. But where there are people willing to kill 313 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 2: for a plant, there are others who are willing to 314 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 2: die for one. Their story when we return Leningrad nineteen 315 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 2: forty three, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union with a plan. 316 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 2: First they would surround Leningrad, Then they'd cut off the 317 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 2: city's supply routes, and then finally they'd starved the population 318 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:07,200 Speaker 2: into submission. The goal, according to a high level memo, 319 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 2: was to quote wipe Leningrad from the face of the earth. 320 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 2: For months, Germans dropped bombs onto Leningrad's hospitals and homes. 321 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,480 Speaker 2: The Luftwaffa zeroed in on the food depots and markets. Meanwhile, 322 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 2: Axis troops looted the cities famously ornate palaces, transforming them 323 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:33,440 Speaker 2: into smoldering heaps of ash. Leningrad became a tomb. Michael Wahlzer, 324 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 2: a political theorist, claims quote more civilians died in the 325 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 2: Siege of Leningrad than in the modernists infernos of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, 326 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 2: and Nagasaki taken together. But the Red Army punched back. 327 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 2: Snipers lurked in the rubble, hid in the bell towers, 328 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 2: and burrowed under bodies. A chorus of anti aircraft weapons 329 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:03,360 Speaker 2: boomed day and night. Millions of ordinary people who did 330 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 2: not or could not evacuate, stretched their bread rations by 331 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 2: substituting flour with sawdust, and in the center of town, 332 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 2: a team of botanists made a decision that would change 333 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 2: the course of world history forever. In nineteen forty three, 334 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 2: Leningrad housed one of the world's largest seed banks. Established 335 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 2: two decades earlier, the institute was at the forefront of 336 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 2: a new type of botany. Not as a haven for 337 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 2: biopirates or greedy monarchs, but a new botany for the 338 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 2: good of the world. In Leningrad, scientists used a vast 339 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 2: collection of seeds to study plant immunity, pathology, and cultivation. 340 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:53,080 Speaker 2: It was a library designed to preserve and protect the 341 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 2: plant world's genetic story, a repository and intensive care unit 342 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,440 Speaker 2: for some of the planet's rarest and most endangered species. 343 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,400 Speaker 2: As the neighborhood around the institute crumbled, dozens of botanists 344 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 2: working inside risked their lives to keep those seeds safe. 345 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,639 Speaker 2: But bombs and mortar fire were the least of the 346 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 2: botanist's worries. Their greatest enemy was their own hunger. To 347 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 2: preserve the seeds, the botanists had to keep the collections warm. 348 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 2: With electricity destroyed and the brutal Russian winter barreling in, 349 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,639 Speaker 2: the scientists scoured the charred rubble of their beloved city, 350 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:43,919 Speaker 2: burning any scraps to keep the collection alive. Then the 351 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 2: ice swept in. With the cold came mass starvation. Up 352 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 2: to one hundred thousand people began dying every month. Even 353 00:25:55,880 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 2: the rats began to show the rib cages inside the 354 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 2: seed bank. The botanists, grappling with their own hunger, faced 355 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 2: an unrelenting temptation. They had access to rice, wheat, peas, oats, corn, 356 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 2: the work courses of agriculture, and yet each scientist, despite 357 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 2: growing increasingly hungry, refused to tap into the collection to 358 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 2: save themselves. One by one, the botanists starved. According to 359 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:39,840 Speaker 2: The Washington Post, the first was Alexander Stutkin, a peanut expert. 360 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,720 Speaker 2: He collapsed at his desk. Then it was the institute's 361 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 2: rice specialist, and then another and another. Eating the seeds 362 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 2: could have saved their lives, but each scientist had made 363 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 2: a choice. They refused to grow or eat the seeds 364 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 2: because doing so would have destroyed the future they had 365 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 2: worked toward. The Siege of Leningrad lasted eight hundred and 366 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 2: seventy two days. Over that time, at least nine botanists 367 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 2: starved to death, but the seeds survived. Years later, those 368 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 2: same seeds would be crossbread to produce crops used around 369 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 2: the world today. You and I have definitely eaten food 370 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 2: descended from those Leningrad seeds. In a world of biopirates, 371 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:42,639 Speaker 2: these botanists were something different. What journalist Boyce Rensburger called 372 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 2: the first martyrs for biodiversity, and that's where we want 373 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 2: to end this podcast by focusing not on the thieves, 374 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,640 Speaker 2: the crooks, and the corruption. We want to end by 375 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 2: shining a light on the people making huge sacrifices right 376 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:07,280 Speaker 2: now to save us. In the nineteen forties, the Leningrad 377 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 2: Seed Bank was a novelty, but today there are approximately 378 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,040 Speaker 2: seventeen hundred seed banks across the globe. 379 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 4: My name's Eleanor Braman, and I work at the Millennium 380 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 4: Seed Bank at the roeb Botanic Gardens Queue. 381 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 2: The Millennium Seed Bank program is the largest conservation resource 382 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 2: in the world. If there's any place to find hope 383 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 2: in the future, it's here. 384 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 4: Since two thousand, we've worked with ninety seven different countries 385 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 4: and territories to help conserve their native flora. It sounds 386 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 4: deceptively simple. You just say, well, you just go out 387 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 4: and you collect some seeds, and then we dry them 388 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 4: and freeze them. 389 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 2: Of course, it's a little more involved than that. The 390 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 2: Millennium Seed Bank is the kind of place that would 391 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 2: make a Doomsday prepper drool. 392 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,080 Speaker 4: The vaulte underground is actually within half a meter thick 393 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 4: reinforced concrete, so we're near an international air The idea 394 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 4: was it could withstand a plane going down. We've also 395 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 4: got radiation detection which would cut off a supply to 396 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 4: the vault if radiation was detected, and we have a 397 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 4: flood protection mechanism, and we have backup generators, and we 398 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 4: have some solar power. 399 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 2: And protected in these underground vaults are seeds. Lots and 400 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 2: lots of seeds. 401 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 4: So we've currently got six walking cold rooms that are active, 402 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 4: four of those are full, and we've got space for 403 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 4: formal We've currently got forty thousand species held in our vault. 404 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 2: Forty thousand species, or at the moment, around fifteen percent 405 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 2: of the world's plants, all being saved for the future 406 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 2: and emergencies. 407 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 4: We are a real bank in that sense. We save things, 408 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 4: we hold it for a rainy day, but you can 409 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 4: withdraw seeds at any time. 410 00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 2: And Millennium is not alone. Many countries have their own 411 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,480 Speaker 2: networks of seed banks. In the United States, there's a 412 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 2: National Plant Germplasm System full of cryo preserved seeds in 413 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 2: Fort Collins, Colorado. Cherokee Nation has its own seed vault, 414 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 2: and at the Smithsonian scientists are currently banking the genetics 415 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 2: of two hundred plus orchids native to the US, more 416 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 2: than half of which are endangered. 417 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,720 Speaker 4: Goes back to the fundamental that all lives dependent on plants. 418 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 4: The majority of our ecosystems are made up of wild plants, 419 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 4: and these are the things that are providing us with 420 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:38,880 Speaker 4: the oxygen that we breathe, and preventing floods and providing 421 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:42,520 Speaker 4: all these amazing services within the landscape. We tend to 422 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,800 Speaker 4: focus on things that are threatened in the wild, things 423 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:49,360 Speaker 4: that are rare so they're likely to become threatened, and 424 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,120 Speaker 4: also useful plants, And that's in the broadest sense. You know, 425 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,720 Speaker 4: it could be useful for food, for medicine, for fiber, 426 00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,239 Speaker 4: for cultural reasons, whatever it is. 427 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,320 Speaker 2: Focusing on plants that are threatened carries a certain feel 428 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 2: good message, but it's not like you could bring a 429 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 2: species back from the dead, like back from extinction, right wrong. 430 00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 2: In the nineteen nineties, there was only one cylindrocline lorentzi 431 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 2: alive in the wild. The small tree native to the 432 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 2: island nation of Mauritius, was saved from oblivion when scientists 433 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:36,200 Speaker 2: successfully extracted and grew sells from dead cylindricline seeds. More recently, 434 00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:40,320 Speaker 2: researchers in Israel were able to nurture a date palm 435 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:45,600 Speaker 2: called Phoenix dactylifera from two thousand year old seeds. That 436 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 2: tree now bears the same fruit that biblical figures may 437 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 2: have eaten. And impressively, in twenty twelve, scientists discovered a 438 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 2: seed of a flowering Siberian plant which had been buried 439 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 2: an ice age squirrel thirty two thousand years ago, and 440 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 2: they successfully revived it. And you know, that spells hope 441 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 2: for the plants plagued with poaching or overexploitation, because it's 442 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 2: here in places like this that solutions are emerging. 443 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 4: We're involved in a project in South Africa because the 444 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,760 Speaker 4: illegal trade in succulent plants there is kind of at 445 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 4: a crisis point. They seized something like seven hundred thousand 446 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 4: individual plants at the borders to date, and some of 447 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 4: those plants can be tens to hundreds of years old, 448 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 4: so you know the impact that that's having on these 449 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 4: populations is pushing them towards extinction. So our partners in 450 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 4: South Africa have recently developed a nursery for growing on 451 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 4: succulent plants and for training their staff in how to 452 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 4: propagate them and how to restore them to the wild, 453 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 4: and we've got a really interesting program that's just starting 454 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 4: to see if you can use stable isotopes within the 455 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,600 Speaker 4: plants as a signature for where they came from. So 456 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 4: then could you say whether something's been illegally collected or 457 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 4: was from a reputable nursery. So can we help to 458 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 4: stop this illegal trade In. 459 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 2: That way, maybe in the not too distant future, buying 460 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 2: plants will be more secure and transparent. You'll be walking 461 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,760 Speaker 2: through the store and be assured that the plant you're 462 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 2: buying didn't come from a bad seed. 463 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 6: So we're going to walk just a little bit further 464 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 6: down this hiking trail we. 465 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 2: Wanted to end here in Tennessee. 466 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 6: So as we get out here and take a walk, 467 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 6: you'll see gravel right at the surface, so very little soil, 468 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,680 Speaker 6: very rocky, harsh environment for plants to grow in. 469 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 2: David linsecom, manager of the Natural Heritage Program for the 470 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:04,360 Speaker 2: State of Tennessee, is showing our producer Gabby around the 471 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 2: state's Cedar Glades to witness a little miracle. 472 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 6: Today we are here at Couchville Cedar Glades State Natural 473 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 6: Area in Davidson County, Tennessee. Today we're going to look 474 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 6: for the Tennessee purple cone flower Echinasia Tennessee ensus. It 475 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,920 Speaker 6: is a globally rare species and a state rare species. 476 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 2: The Tennessee cone flower Echinasia Tennessee ensus is a gorgeous bloom. 477 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 2: It kind of resembles a spinley purple daisy. It attracts 478 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 2: important pollinators like bees and butterflies. It's also rare. It 479 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 2: only exists right here in Tennessee. 480 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 6: The plants that occur here many of them her nowhere 481 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 6: else in the world, including our Tennessee purple cone flower. 482 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 6: It's surprising when you walk this hiking trail, the cone 483 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 6: flowers scattered throughout, and it's so common here that probably 484 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 6: no one thoroughly thinks about it being globally rare. In 485 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 6: about a fifteen miles of range here, and there's only 486 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 6: five wild populations, and that's in the entire world, and 487 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 6: it's all right here, primarily in Davidson County, Wilson County, 488 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:13,439 Speaker 6: and Rutherford County in Tennessee. 489 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 2: The coneflower thrives in this unique environment where shallow soil 490 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,319 Speaker 2: is layered atop limestone croppings, but back in the day 491 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:30,319 Speaker 2: its survival was at risk. In the nineteen seventies. It 492 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,239 Speaker 2: became just the second plant to be added to the 493 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 2: US Endangered Species list. But when state and federal entities 494 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 2: realized it was at risk of disappearing, they jumped into 495 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 2: action to conservative. 496 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 6: So it's the two pronged approach of protecting the habitat 497 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 6: and then working with conservation horticulture to collect seas, propagate plants, 498 00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:55,400 Speaker 6: and re establish colonies that has really proven to be 499 00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 6: successful for this species. 500 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:02,800 Speaker 2: Workers acquired land to tech the environment. They enlisted botanic 501 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 2: gardens to propagate the cone flower. They sent specimens to 502 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 2: seed banks for preservation. Up until twenty eleven, the government 503 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:13,319 Speaker 2: was spending around thirty thousand dollars a year to keep 504 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:17,319 Speaker 2: the flower on life support and it worked. All of 505 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 2: that effort helped revive a plant staring down extinction. Similar 506 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 2: efforts have worked with other plants you've heard about in 507 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 2: this podcast. The Saint Helena ebony is bouncing back. The 508 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,360 Speaker 2: cacti that you heard about in episode one, the ones 509 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:38,439 Speaker 2: found in a man's apartment in Italy. They're back home 510 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:43,080 Speaker 2: in Chile. Io For the cone flower, botanical gardens and 511 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:47,200 Speaker 2: seed banks saved the day. They propagated the plants, providing 512 00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:51,479 Speaker 2: an alternate source for obsessed buyers, known as Echinasia rocky top, 513 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 2: helping reduce collection pressures on wild populations. Seeds became widely 514 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:01,880 Speaker 2: available across the country, feeding the demands of gardeners and 515 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,319 Speaker 2: what the cedar glades protected. The government was able to 516 00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 2: reintroduce the flower into the wild. In twenty eleven, the 517 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:14,480 Speaker 2: Tennessee cone flower was removed from the Endangered Species list. 518 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,200 Speaker 6: The Tennessee cone flower was a big deal because it 519 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,400 Speaker 6: was one of the first plant species ever listed on 520 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 6: the Endangered Species Act and it took thirty two years 521 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:28,600 Speaker 6: to reach that recovery state. It's quite an achievement for myself. 522 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 6: That was one of the first species I was really 523 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:35,560 Speaker 6: actively in working with and you know, reaching recovery. I mean, 524 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 6: that's what our job is, to get these species off 525 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,359 Speaker 6: the list, and so being able to actually do that 526 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 6: and accomplish it was very rewarding. It really took a 527 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 6: small army of folks to make it happen. 528 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,799 Speaker 2: It really does take an army. And now you're a 529 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,840 Speaker 2: part of it, because the first step is awareness. But 530 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,919 Speaker 2: if you're still wondering where do I go from here? 531 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:07,640 Speaker 2: How do I help stop this? I have a few ideas. First, 532 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:10,560 Speaker 2: know where your plants come from, especially if you're like 533 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 2: buying wood or something like that. If the person or 534 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:15,880 Speaker 2: place you're buying from can't tell you anything about the 535 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 2: plant source, then get it somewhere else. If you're dealing 536 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 2: with foreign or endangered species, always ask for a FIDO 537 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 2: sanitary certificate. If they don't have one, look elsewhere. And 538 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,399 Speaker 2: please don't buy non commercial plants from places that do 539 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 2: not have nursery certificates. Many can be illegal or poached. 540 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:39,000 Speaker 2: Now if you must, always ask the seller to show 541 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 2: their nursery certificate, permit or FHIDO Sanitary certificate if need be. 542 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 2: Support your local botanical garden, not only are they wonderful 543 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 2: places to visit, where your money goes straight to the 544 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,400 Speaker 2: conservation and protection of species, and you could give to 545 00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 2: groups like the Environmental Investigation Agency, the International Union for 546 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 2: the concert of Nature or Cactus and Succulent Plants Specialist Group. 547 00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 2: The work they do matters, and please, if you're in 548 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 2: the US and witness the poaching or trafficking of plants, 549 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:15,720 Speaker 2: or have any evidence of any other wildlife crime, report 550 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 2: it to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Their tip 551 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:22,719 Speaker 2: line is one eight four four three nine seven, eight 552 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:26,839 Speaker 2: four seven seven. Again that is one eight four four 553 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 2: three ninety seven eight four seven seven. I'm Summer rain Oaks. 554 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 2: That's it for Bad Seeds. Thank you for listening and 555 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:42,680 Speaker 2: for building a future for some good to grow. Bad 556 00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 2: Seeds is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. 557 00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,560 Speaker 2: I'm your Host Summer rain Oaks. Lucas Riley is our writer, 558 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,160 Speaker 2: Gabby Watts is our producer, and Amelia Brock is our 559 00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:58,120 Speaker 2: senior producer. Fact Checking is by Savannah Hugely and Zoe Farrell. 560 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,560 Speaker 2: Original music is by Claire Campbell, sound design and scores 561 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 2: by Jesse Niswanger. Development was by Brian Lavin and Jacob Selzer. 562 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,400 Speaker 2: Special thanks to a voice actor Christopher Goldie. Executive producers 563 00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,520 Speaker 2: are Brian Lavin, Elsie Crowley, Brandon Barr, Virginia Prescott and 564 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:17,440 Speaker 2: Jacob Selzer.