Star Warsologies 50: Environmental Apocalypse in Star Wars
James and Melissa talk with Maureen Day about empathy and compassion in characters through the Star Wars galaxy.
In this episode of Star Warsologies, we hear from an ornithologist about birds in Star Wars, along with invasive species and extinction events!
Justin Hite joins us for this episode to chat about his career studying birds and the environmental chaos they put up with. We get into whether Rey was exposed to harmful chemicals during her years salvaging parts from downed Star Destroyers and of course all the devastation the Death Star wreaks. We also cover more cheerful topics like birds being tiny dinosaurs and . Being a group of 80s kids, we also talk about how great the show Ewoks is!
Show Links:
Check out the Birds Not Mosquitoes website and Instagram to learn more about the project Justin works on.
You can read the fictional account of a wildlife ranger in the Outer Rim that Melissa wrote while watching The Mandalorian. And the opinion piece she wrote for Nerdist about the killings in that show.
And to learn more about how porgs are like puffins, check Melissa’s my Insider article where I interviewed a puffin scientist and the concept artist that created porgs.
Check out ebird.org for bird species to see wherever you live or are traveling.
Check out Justin’s Instagram feed, scroll back for more birds!
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Star Warsologies is a podcast about science in a galaxy far, far away. Hosts James Floyd and Melissa Miller combine their love of storytelling in the franchise with their keen interest in all things academic.
