Conversations | 4 | Michelle Fournet

If a whale sings in the ocean, and Michelle Fournet is there to record it, how does it sound? Find out in this episode of Threshold Conversations. Michelle Fournet is an acoustic ecologist with the Cornell Bioacoustics Research Program. She studies how marine animals—including humpback whales and other creatures—use sound to communicate, detect predators and prey, and engage with their environments in an increasingly noisy world. From Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska to Florida’s Everglades, she’s recorded hours and hours of sound from the underwater world.  Threshold Conversations is an ongoing series featuring interviews with environmental thought leaders on some of the most urgent environmental and social issues today. Threshold Conversations is supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, as well as the Park Foundation, the High Stakes Foundation, and our home public radio station, Montana Public Radio, and listeners like you. Learn more about Threshold on our website.Mentioned in this episode:Give | Connect | ShareA single season of Threshold costs over half a million dollars, demands thousands of hours of field and production work over multiple years, and requires hundreds of sources, experts, and supporters to create. Learn more about how you can help at thresholdpodcast dot org.Donate

Om Podcasten

Threshold is a Peabody Award-winning podcast about people and the planet. Each season, we do a deep dive into one pressing environmental story, exploring it through the intersections of science, politics, culture, and environmental justice. We aim to make space for thoughtful, honest, and intersectional conversations about human relationships with the natural world. Season 4: "Time to 1.5" documents this profound moment in human history, when the window for keeping global heating to 1.5ºC is still open—just barely. Season 3: "The Refuge." The controversy over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Season 2: "Cold Comfort." Climate change in the Arctic through the eyes of people who live there. Season 1: "Oh Give Me a Home." Can we ever have wild, free-roaming bison again?