Show Notes
Oyster reefs in the Northeast are like the coral reefs of the tropics—natural powerhouses that clean the water, shelter marine life and buffer our shorelines from storms. Yet most of these reefs have all but disappeared. This episode follows an inventive partnership between oyster farmers and conservationists with a shared goal of bringing oysters back. Through the intertwined worlds of oyster reef restoration and aquaculture, we explore how rebuilding reefs strengthens ecosystems, supports coastal economies and brings much needed resilience to our coasts.
Host: Steve Kirk, Coastal Program Director
Featuring: Dr. Boze Hancock, TNC Senior Marine Habitat Restoration Scientist; Island Creek Oysters; Honeysuckle Oyster Farm; Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group; and Tom O'Shea, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game
Learn more about our oyster aquaculture and restoration projects over the years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from Nature is the Solution
Exciting news! Nature is the Solution is a finalist in the 2026 Signal Awards' Science category for Brand Storytelling.
In this final episode of the season, we speak with Senator Bill Frist, Global Board Chair, and Catherine Machalaba, TNC’s first planetary health scientist, to explore how environmental change is becoming a defining public health challenge—and how nature can help protect people. We then travel to Lynn, Massachusetts, to see how the environment is affecting community health. Together, the episode connects local lived experience with global science to show why a healthy planet is essential to healthy people.
This episode explores natural climate solutions—the powerful, often overlooked ways nature can help address climate change. From forests to farms to coastal ecosystems, we share how working with nature creates real climate impact on the ground. Hear from a landowner, a forester and science leaders as we connect local action to a bigger picture of climate solutions hiding in plain sight.
Meeting our climate goals means building more renewable energy. But expanding that capacity requires land and careful navigation of competing needs across energy, housing, conservation and communities. With so much of our landscape already supporting critically important forests, farms and wildlife habitat—and many communities already doing their share—figuring out where everything fits becomes a real puzzle. In this episode, we’re joined by solar operators, an agrivoltaics farmer, and a local planning and energy official to explore how we can expand clean energy while protecting the nature we rely on and communities we live in, and what makes a good solar site for people, nature and the climate.
Take a deep look at Native-led land conservation and the connections between Indigenous communities and their homelands. Host Karen Lombard visits with partners from Native Land Conservancy and members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to learn how they honor, protect and restore the landscapes of Cape Cod and the life that depends on it.