E41 — John Calambokidis: Whales, Science, and the Cost of Knowing

Описание: In this episode of Naturally Scott, Scott Harris sits down with John Calambokidis, one of the world’s leading whale researchers and a co-founder of the Cascadia Research Collective.

John has spent more than 45 years studying whales across the Pacific, from blue and humpback whales along the U.S. West Coast to false killer whales in Hawaiʻi. The conversation begins with the reality of whale rescue work — including the emotional toll of rescues that don’t succeed — and expands into the science behind ship strikes, underwater noise, entanglements, and why whales are often most vulnerable at night.

Scott and John explore the real story behind The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52, discussing what science can and cannot say about the famous 52-hertz whale, hybrid whales, and how public narratives sometimes drift away from biological reality.

The episode also dives into cutting-edge research tools like whale tagging, photo-identification, drones, and citizen science platforms such as Happy Whale, showing how long-term data is reshaping whale conservation. John reflects on how science has changed over the decades, the growing politicization of research, and why objective, credible data still matters — even when the results aren’t convenient.

John closes by recommending Abundance by Ezra Klein, a book about why good intentions often fail to translate into real-world progress.

As always, Scott ends with a reminder to get outside, stay curious, and keep paying attention to the natural world.

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