Bad Seeds
The biggest black market you’ve never heard of is blooming right under your nose. Whether it’s a 4,000-pound cactus shoveled from the Arizona desert or delicate orchids pinched from the tangled jungle of Peru, rare plants are at the center of a rapidly growing and lucrative world of crime. Hosted by plant expert Summer Rayne Oakes, Bad Seeds plunges straight into it, featuring the buyers, the sellers, the obsessives, and those who came face-to-face with the criminals behind an underworld few know exist.
Our Editor's Take
The Bad Seeds podcast investigates the poaching and smuggling of rare plants, as well as the repercussions. The government prohibits smuggling plants like marijuana and coca leaves. But do officials care about the black market for endangered plants? Host Summer Rayne Oakes is an eco-model, author, activist, and plant specialist. She interviews experts on threatened plants and theft. The stories are so shocking they seem like fiction. For example, one New Zealand woman tried to breach airport customs with 947 succulents under her coat.
Oakes holds degrees in environmental science and etymology from Cornell University. But the Bad Seeds podcast isn't only for plant enthusiasts. As Oakes reveals, plants create 75 percent of the oxygen and 80 percent of the food humans consume. They're essential to producing crops, livestock, beverages, textiles, flooring, homes, furniture, and medications. According to Oakes, 40 percent of plants in the world are at risk of extinction. Theft is a primary cause.
The Bad Seeds podcast exposes plant thieves to listeners. Some poachers are surprising. Drug cartels are at fault. But so are wealthy hobbyists seeking endangered plants. Companies like Gibson Guitar have committed illegal wood harvesting in Madagascar. Mukula trees kept disappearing from Zambia. The EPA took hidden cameras to find the Mukula thieves. Listeners discover the surprising culprits.
Oakes and her guests discuss the main threats to plant sustainability. One is what they call "plant blindness." Oakes explains that humans are eager to save elephants, whales, and tigers. But they ignore the vital landscape around them. Oakes says plants comprise 60 percent of endangered wildlife. But the US Wildlife Protection budget allocates two percent of spending for plants. Oakes urges listeners to protect all living things, not only the sentient ones. Humans, animals, and the environment all need plants to function and exist.
Oakes gained notoriety for a video revealing over 1,000 plants in her Brooklyn apartment. She teaches others how to protect plants and writes books about cultivating them. Bad Seeds serves as an important reminder that plants are for humans to enjoy. But people can't enjoy plants if they don't protect them.
Episodes
