Brain Soda Podcast - Episode 27 - Mallgroves

Episode Date: August 5, 2023

This week on the Brainsoda Podcast we're talking about the filmography of Kevin Smith and the amazing plants/ecosystem of mangroves!

Brainsoda Snitchy-Boochies, it's the Brain Soda Podcast. I, as always, am your host Kyle, join by my co-host and cohort, Brad. How's it going? Today, we are going to be discussing mangroves, but first, the works of Kevin Smith. Oh, man, Kevin Smith? That's great man. Like yeah you introduced me to him like seriously I guess. I remember from Clarkson on. One of my most beloved creators as far as a film producer, director, writer, Kevin Smith, absolutely. Now

we are gonna also talk about like the kind of downturn that happened. Yeah. So let's get into it though. By the time that we're not even of age, to be viewing the view of Skeuniverse or at that point, what was the Jersey trilogy? What were those three movies, clerks? So that's clerks small rats and then chasing a- Okay. And realistically with those films, there's not only like a rotating cast of actors, but like all of those characters have a Jason C to one another via like family ties, obviously the proximity to Red Bank and adjacent New Jersey areas, you know, but like like in real life or in the shows. So okay, here's a great example. Everything that takes place in Mallrats happens directly the day before clerks. And while Dante and Randall

are not a part of those events, Brian O'Hallor and the glazed Dante and the clerks films, plays Gil Hicks and there's Hicks laden throughout the Jersey trilogy and things like that. Now, my point is just simply like, realistically, it wouldn't make any sense that Bankie Edwards looks just like Broday. Yeah, but I mean, you know what I mean? But absolutely you can. I feel like those three movies are really where he has his most,

maybe not commercial appeal, but definitely critical claim. And you could make an argument for the former as well as the latter too, because like clerks is a 1994 film that is part of a revolutionary landscape for filmmaking at the time for independent film, for comedic film. In general, it's like, it's crazy that it's black and white because that's unusual at that time. But do you know why it's black and white?

Because it's cheaper, right? Because this guy literally dropped out of film school and directed it with credit cards. At his local convenience store you worked at, yeah. Mm-hmm, that is perfect. But like look where it got up, you know, like it, like the clerks is, I gotta, it is, you're right,

you're one of the funniest movies. Like, especially in that time period, you know, it really captures that time period a lot, like very well I'd say. But I also feel like it's like kinda timeless. Like one of the things I love about, and I mean, I guess not timeless because like who's going into a video rental store?

But you know what I mean? Like just imagine you're in a family video or blockbuster, whatever it may be that those things still exist. And then like you have this little kid you're looking for a film for and this guy behind the counters just listing off the most raucous ridiculous raunchy pornos that he's got a order. God it like the ascetic attitude yet the high level hijinks are just, ah, chef's kiss baby, I love it.

Maybe that makes me quasi bad person, but I'll take it. There is, yeah, it's kind of wrong, she know what I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I know, like so Kevin Smith is like after that, also he made that, that mall rats. Yeah, so it's funny to see because mall rats So it's funny to see because Mallrats is almost like the antithesis of what clerks would be. Clerks is this very solid state.

I mean, there's elements of clerks that make it like an art house film. Like different portions of the film are kind of like title carded with these big, long words. I mean, there's words, obviously, I mean, they're words obviously, but like they're just yeah like long like speeches and stuff like that. I know you're talking about that. Yeah, you know, and then yeah, and then you go to mall rats which is like a porquies for 1995. You know what I mean? Like it is a kind of teen college age sex comedy of its day. And it's made by Universal.

It's one of those things that like to see where Smith starts and then goes next is almost a full 180. Yeah, it really is. Like I mean, and especially like Chase Amy is a completely different film on top Well, I mean that one's kind of like, you know, it has it they all have a Kevin Smith element, right? Oh, that's a thing like they all carry like that that that certain like touch of his But like they are very different movies like definitely very no absolutely and and that's what I feel like is is the funny thing is

Again the critical acclaim that comes from clerks translated to audiences. Mallrats, as a film, has garnered a huge fan following, and I think some critical acceptance. So again, another 180 there, another flip flop of like, people kind of dug it, but it really didn't do that well financially. Critics really hated it, but it's a film that's carried on because of the fan base for Kevin Smith and those films.

When you get to chasing Amy, I feel like this guy has now, he's made the marriage between the two. People can take the intimate touchstones of that film for its comedic and interpersonal relationship drama. It works for its dramatic effects, it works for its comedic effects, it works as a straight-up Kevin Smith movie, it works as a 1997 independent film in and of itself, right?

Yeah. And it all kind of comes wholesale to the point where I think you could make a very solid argument that that is Kevin Smith's best film overall in general. But okay, I will, okay, I want to talk about that film just a little bit because, you know, I mean, they don't make it, I don't know, can we put, well, let's say the premise of the film essentially is a man meets a girl, that's a lesbian, and then he falls in love with her and she ends up falling in love with him, correct?

Like that's essentially what the film's about. He's chasing Amy, the girl is Amy. Well, she is not Amy, it is a allegory story that Silent Bob makes in one of the, every Kevin Smith film I believe that that Silent Bob makes in one of the every Kevin Smith film I believe that has Silent Bob has a Silent Bob monologue within it. You know what I mean? And his monologue is his story for an Alyssa adjacent story which is chasing Amy. Now to be clear, is the film wholesale like complimentary or does justice to what a queer person may think and feel in 2023 versus 1997? No. Or even in 1997. No. Sexuality is a, you know, it's a spectrum and everything like so.

Obviously, but- So my point is that while the film has elements to it that is befitting those people, there's a lot of people who might look at that film. Find it to be somewhat disingenuous. They might find it to be disingenuous, right? My point is that for its time and being who Kevin Smith was in pop culture, it is an important moment that I feel like leads to acceptance and understanding that may not have been there otherwise. Not that it changed culture overall towards homosexuality

or queer culture or whatever, but like I do feel like it's an important film for things like that within mainline pop culture. Sure. Yeah, definitely. I just like I just wanted to point that out because like I mean, I don't know, I don't know. It's not like it's definitely not an anti like LGBT movie at all all like actually it's probably pro pro pro LGPT is definitely very pro and like but I don't know like if would that movie be made in nowadays? I don't know if it would be and how it would be accepted nowadays Well, I think one of the things that really makes it work though too is that with a listen you have a character who is I with Alyssa you have a character who is I think kind of at times struggling with their defined sexuality like when you meet her she is a lesbian and she's kind of always referred to as such derogatorally so or whatever it may be but like she does fall in love with this person

She does fall in love with this person who is not of that specific sect of sexuality that she's kind of become attributed to. And well, that's like, yes, it's like, you know, sexuality is a spectrum, right? So like, it makes sense. And like, I don't know if even if they address that really because maybe that's not even something that was in the mind yet, but maybe that's something Kevin Smith understood. And like, because it really, I don't know, like I'm not, like, I'm not giving the video just, or just as much as justice,

because it is like, it's a very good movie. And like, definitely watch it. I just think of you. It is addressed, I would say, when she says like, you know, the whole reason I ended up ever being with women and things like that is because it was about not limiting who I could phone love and have my time and heart be shared with her. That's a very important part to make for people who may not understand why someone could

be attracted to or within the opposite or the same gender or whatever. That's very true. Because yeah, yeah. But as a story overall, the film really is about adumed romance too. And that's one of the things I always found to be so interesting about it is that like while there are so many little happy little upbeat Romantic comedy kind of moments, like the film ultimately really has a crux of like, but they're not going to be together. This isn't going to work. It's not going to last. Yeah. And while that's unfortunate, it really makes for a really good film. Definitely. Moving on from Jason Amy, like, what's his next movie? James, James had a bob.

Dogma. Dogma, oh my gosh, how did I forget about that? Now that one, I think is his best work for me, but. Yeah, it's a coin flip. It really is a coin flip. I feel like Dogma's downfall is that where both films do really well because they're a little bit more disjointed

from the regular Jersey trilogy kind of set way of films like clerks and mall rats are two comedies almost of a different variety. Chasing Amy is a romantic comedy drama, right? Oh, for sure. Dogma, however, is like this science fiction action film most weird.

I get you. You're on this cross country journey. You're meeting multiple different figures who are adjacent to like George Carlin and Chris Rock and Alan Rickman. The people, yeah. There's so many crazy people in this. And like, I mean, it's yeah, the stars are Ben Affleck and mad Damon, you know,

so like yeah, it is crazy. And like definitely why? One of the things I love the most about this film though I mean, the stars are Ben Affleck and Mad Damon. You know, so like, yeah, it is crazy. And like, definitely why. One of the things I love the most about this film, though, is that, like, so many, like, the anti-catholic league and people like that were like involved in this or whatever, like, these protests about dogma. So Kevin Smith and Brian Johnson, a comic bookman fam,

go and show up to their local New Jersey theater to protest the film. Really? Yeah, and he covers this in his DVD and evening with Kevin Smith where there's supposed to be like a hundred people or something outside of this theater. I don't know if it's opening night, but whatever, like for this specific protest of dogma. And literally, there's like 10, 15 people there and Kevin Smith ends up getting interviewed while holding a sign that says dogma is dog. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

And he's like, he gives them a fake name and like, it seems like part of the way through the process of being interviewed. They kind like I think you're Kevin's like yeah but it is one of those moments that's hilarious I'm pretty sure you could find the clip on YouTube oh I'm sure yeah yeah god it is just wow I love it I love it. I love it. A film at that point by a guy who is really mostly known for taking fart jokes and Ronchy kind of sex comedies and things like that. Like, to have this guy then take a film where he's like, I'm going to take this weird nuance thing within Catholic dogma. I'm going to take this larger than life,

kind of comic book-esque story as a principal element of the plot and then spin Jay and Silent Bob into it and we're off to the races. Jay and Silent Bob strike back the film after Dogma. And obviously I feel it's probably worth your time to see as well if you have not. It's probably his biggest movie, right? Like I don't know probably his next but like maybe not like now. I think commercially it may be his biggest film Yeah, cuz like that was like a big like theaters like theaters everywhere and stuff like that Like what it is though is that like

it kind of ties all of those films together as best it can. And oddly enough, for the time frame that it's in, it's about a comic book movie that like, if you're to look 20 years later, are literally anywhere and everywhere they possibly could be. That's true, because they weren't around then. Like, well, I guess like, maybe X-Men, and there was like Spider-Man. It's true, because they weren't around then. Like, well, I guess like maybe X-Men, and there was like Spider-Man.

It's the dawning of the modern day superhero film. That is so crazy. I mean, it's a little different, but yeah, I'd not have to give it away, but yeah. Part of the reason why there was so much promise when we get to two, three movies later, and Kevin Smith has kind of stepped aside from the Viewerscube universe

and you start seeing films like Jersey Girl and eventually Red State. I don't think I saw that or Red State. I did nobody, we've watched Red State together when it first came out. Jersey Girl was unfortunately, I think, a movie that like was in this really bad spot within Ben Affleck's career. So while we both love and

praise dogman suggested and honestly most people I would say have seen Jay and Silent Bob strike back. It within those five films is what most people largely consider the view of skew universe for, you know, most time. And to be honest, like his most current works have jumped back to those, you know, J. and Simon Bob reboot and clerks three now. Yeah. We're not really going to get into those too hard. They're a little too modern and real close to the release of this episode first, to want to speak about them openly. But we are going to talk about the post-view of Fisk University stuff kind of quick.

So you have a film Jersey girl. And it also has George Carlin in it. Really? Was that one of his last movies? Yes. Carlin is not really unknown for many film roles, but yeah, as far as like if you were to look up his IMDB page and not include his specials and things like that, yeah I believe it's one of the very

few things he had done. You know what I mean? On film and over. I mean like he was only like a little shorts and like like Jane's time Bob, for instance, yeah. Yeah, he just plays the grandpa in that. So he has a bit more of a role than he has in literally any Jane Bob movie. But I feel it's a pretty cool kind of heartwarming little story, and unfortunately it really did not do well. And part of that is because the lull that Ben Affleck was in in his career at that point, like this is right around the time of Glee, if you've ever heard about how bad that movie flopped is.

Yeah, I've heard of that one. Yeah, and then we get into some of his other films like as an example, Red State, which I felt was a direction that like Smith was bound and determined to go to at some point. It as a film is kind of a dual take on like the Westboro Baptist Church and then like the Waco events and you know I feel like probably out of anything that he's done post the Jersey trilogy or whatever you would like to call it those are things that are Those are things that are advantageous for his creative career, yet probably not that well for him financially. Now he did do a movie with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, cop out, another notorious flop. Zach and Miriam make a porno, I don't know if it was a flop, but like a lot of people always like

to look at that film and go like, he was just trying to do a Judd Aptow film. But I feel like the crux of much of that is that like there would be no Judd Aptow films if there weren't Kevin Smith films. Also in between those films, between Jersey Girl and Zach and Miri, he made clerks too. And one of the things about clerks too was that it was supposed to be like this. Kind of rejuvenating look through the lens of the clerks themselves who went from being in black and white working at the convenience store in the first film in 94 and a kind of view through film of being a a Mick Job worker in your 20s, it now goes to being a Mick Job worker in your 30s and they're literally working a Mick Job. They're working at the movies, you

know, but you know, with three, I feel like it so much of that is probably laden into his recent heart attack around that point, you know, the guy has become a huge podcaster. He has done spoken word stuff that I think honestly one of the best things you can ever watch him in his evening with Kevin Smith because some of the mid to late 90s. The stories with prints, I always enjoy it. Just so many different things that he covers within those films, the E.P. Harder's, and I just, you know, that's on YouTube too. Yeah, yeah. I was watching the second and third, I think, on YouTube and stuff like that. But yeah, man, I mean, you know, when you get into his even later stuff than that, like Tusk and yoga hosers, there's a level of bad film that is unfortunate, you know what I mean? But a lot of stuff like that really appeals to people. So like,

if you want to see some bad movies, check out Tusk and yoga hosers. Yeah, I'm sure he's like, you know sure he's got his die-hard fans and stuff. But he's made some awesome movies. Check out his big ones. They're really good for sure if you haven't watched this stuff. Even if you were looking for some more low-key, not as well-known stuff, I would suggest Red State. That was a film that I really enjoyed.

I think works in the context of Kevin Smith's work without being like directly referential to his other works, Zach and Mary as well. You know, but either way man, he was somebody who I found to be a great creator and pretty influential and we're probably gonna talk about his Daredevil run at some point. But you know if it was great a director and writer producer as I found Kevin Smith to

be and many people to be fair, sometimes in that post 2000's era, it's hard for him to see the force through the trees, if that makes sense, almost like mangroves, right? Yeah, it actually would be really hard to see the forest through the trees in a mangrove. Okay, so what's a mangrove? So, I know you know what these are, you just don't know they're called mangroves. Yeah, probably. They are, they're like trees and shrubs

that are found on the coastlines of like tropical and sub-tropical regions, right? So, think of like swampy areas and like really thick, like the really thick thickets of them, like the Everglades and things like that. Yeah, maybe Everglades are more, you know, like grassy kind of stuff, but yeah, I guess, but I mean, the Everglades down in like rural Louisiana, like that Florida, yes, yeah, I would say more like, well, like South America and Asia definitely have like a lot

in Africa, you know, but. Okay. And actually, like, I don't think the North America has too many now, thanks, you know, because of, you know, development. T-4 stations. Yeah, yes, which, yeah. Actually, international day for the conservation of mangroves

or the mangrove ecosystem is July 26. Like, I didn't even know that when I started researching this. I just happened to restart researching mangroves, or the mangrove ecosystem is July 26th. Like, I didn't even know that when I started researching this. I just happened to restart researching mangroves. I'm like, holy crap. It all fell into place. Yeah. So, it was adopted by UNESCO in 2015. So, it's been around for eight years now.

There's a reason why we need this, because mangroves are getting destroyed, like crazy. But, so what this does, it aims to raise awareness about that, obviously. And to show you, it's a unique, special, and vulnerable ecosystem. It's really crazy, like how the mangroves are. It's weird because there are shrubbing a tree, but people call, like, look at the mangrove,

you're like, they'll call it a mangrove forest, I guess. But, you know, you'll use it as, like, I guess, like a different noun than, like a tree. But, so we, but you know, you'll use it as like, I guess like a different now than like a tree. But uh, so we're not talking specifically about the species of flora within a big setting, right? We're talking about just the setting itself. Well, yes and no. Well, okay, because well, okay because like Yes, mangroves. There's like 80 species of mangroves right around you know, but there's also like you know You you'll talk about like oh look at the mangroves over there, you know Okay, you want to say like look at the oaks and oak forest. So it's kind of it. It's interchangeable, right?

Okay, they're like they're really special though because these, they're on the border of the ocean, right? So, like, they are kind of like the transition from the ocean to the shore in a lot of places. Oh, okay, I get, yeah. Yes, so they live in like really saline, or like salty, right? Or like brackish environments, right? Like, brackish is like very little oxygen and all that, like swampy areas, right? And they like buffer the sea from the land in a lot of areas, which is extremely important, right?

You need that. Yeah, yeah, it generally usually is, yes. So like these trees and shrubs, like they can withstand levels, like saline levels up to like a hundred times more that other plants. Okay, like most plants like trust your plants cannot live on ocean water. Right near sea water like that, right? Yeah. Yes, exactly. There's different ways that they like handle the salt though.

Like some of them just filter it out, like 90% of the salt before it even like gets up to Oh wow. Yeah, just by by probably osmosis and whatnot. But other ones excrete the salt through glands in their leaves. So they'll have crystallized salt on their leaves. Yeah. And then some of them, other ones, they just concentrate the salt into older leaves and bark and stuff.

And then it just sheds off. So a lot of them have big, waxy leaves that minimize. just like yeah a lot of them have thick waxy leaves like that that minimizes they've got it's okay and it keeps the water in too because like if you think about it like it's a big like think of aloe plants and stuff like that you know they're they're waxy you know like they're like thicker they have the waxier and thicker leaves you know and that helps the water stay in their stomata and stuff like that are different from a lot of the normal, I don't even want to say normal, but it's easy to see like terrestrial trees and whatnot.

Terrestrial plants, because they're in this like this brackish environment, right? Like they're usually like a swampy type environment where like the soil is saturated with water all the time. You can't breed that, right? There's no oxygen. They plants kind of breathe just like humans do. They still need to have oxygen. They still need to have like gas exchange and everything,

especially with their roots. That's very important to have air within the soil. That's why every plant has a stomata as well. Yes, exactly. Yep, yep, that's how like they transpire and all that. To accomplish respiration and stuff within their roots, they actually, some species of magroves have these pencil-like roots called pneumatophores

that stick up out of the ground. And like, they're like kind of like little tubes or straws that stick up outside of the dirt. It's crazy to think about, like, most plants don't do this. Yeah, what? Yeah. So what do they look like? Do they almost look like little shoots, like most plants don't do this. Yeah, what? Yeah. So what do they look like? Do they almost look like little shoots,

like not like bamboo shoots, but okay. There's little like, little like roots, you know, in a sense, yeah. I guess if you look at Magros, you look at pictures of them. They kind of look like trees and shrubs that are like on stilts, like their roots are very exposed because of the way that the tides come in and out, right? Okay.

Again, they're right on the edge of the ocean. It'd be like a beach, that type of area. But there's trees and shrubs instead of a beach. Like it's right on the edge of the ocean. And like these buffer so much, like these are so important for ecosystems in different areas because of that, right? They like buffer the sea and like sea level rise

and from storms and from surges and all that. It's insane how important these things are, but they're getting chopped down. Like crazy. Right. So like the largest areas that these are in though are like mostly in Asia, like I was saying earlier, and like Indonesia and Brazil actually has good bit surprisingly. Like I didn't think, I guess it's subtropical But when I think of Brazil I always think of Southern Brazil I always forget about like how much of the Amazon rainforest is Brazil, you know Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah a lot of the tropical coastline, so have mangroves Like I said, I don't think there's too many in America probably in Louisiana

I would I would say like that type of area Louisiana and maybe some parts of like Mississippi and Florida Florida probably has a Oh, yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, like nearly 75% of the tropics and sub tropics have some type of Magro though, so like I mean it is in like all of our states probably just like dominant, right? But it's actually been streaking and NASA has found that from 2000 to 2016 2% of the world's mangroves bend destroyed like like just they're gone completely and more than that though yeah we'll get into it later but like more than that's been like damaged like this is just destroyed and like I don't know other people have gotten like the stats were kind of all over the place

but in general it's getting damaged and of course over the place, but in general, it's getting damaged. And of course, climate change is making it worse. And like, it's just, yeah, we're going to get into it. Yeah, I would assume that's where a lot of the destruction or damage would be is if not directly deforestation. What exactly are the like ecosystems? What fauna is in the typical flora for a man, girl, like what animals in ecosystems exist?

Obviously it spread throughout several different continents across the world, so it wouldn't be always this or always that. There's tons of animals that, like especially endangered animals that live and benefit directly and indirectly from angriose. Like, so the big ones, I would say, that people have heard of, I guess the biggest one the people have heard of is the Bengal tiger. They live in mangroves and it's endangered right now.

I think it's in India, if I'm not mistaken. The big tiger you think of, right? It's the origin black tiger. I guess they're not endangered any... well, technically, they're endangered in the wild, but they're like all over the place in the world I think. But there's also like several endangered bird species and reptiles. The mangroves are a very important stopping point for migratory birds too. As they're you know, migrating from land over the ocean to let's say South America to North America or vice versa or going through oceana and things like that. They use those, these mangroves,

and they're almost like shelters for them and like resting points before or after if they're going across the ocean. What would be the immediate benefit to them? Like obviously a landing point for them to stop and rest or whatever it may be, but like, what kind of thing do they eat on? Well, these things are actually fish nurseries.

Because of like, they're secluded, they're, you know, they're big tangles of roots and like, the roots, they're almost like stilts, okay? Like, it's like, they give a swamp, right? But a very thick swamp. Like, you've seen these things in countless movies, you know? They're just those thick thing right in the edge of like, the ocean, right? But to answer your question though,

there's nurseries for like, people actually like make nurseries for fish in the mangroves, but like natural nurseries for fish. Like a lot of fish come in to lay their eggs there because it's more secluded area. There's not, you know, lots of activity. It's easier for them to hide, but birds can obviously get them and stuff easier.

But another thing that's super important there is coral. And coral uses that as kind of like a breeding ground. And I'm sure you know, like there's a bunch of like, yeah, the coral is dying in the world because of climate change. It's just coral bleaching because of the rising temperatures and the ocean acidification from the rising CO2, CO2 turns into carbonic acid in the ocean, which causes the ocean to get more acidic and that kills things. So the mangroves, because they filter, they're kind of like a, they filter that salt water to fresh water, but they also, they can act as a buffer.

So they're kind of like a safe spot for so many different babies. You know, little babies of different animals use these baggrobes. It's like a nursery. It's like the ocean's nursery, essentially. Yeah, because you can tuck away. Keep them projected, and there's probably more than enough coverage and feeding material and things like that, right? Yeah, exactly It's actually estimated that almost 80% of global fish catches are directly or indirectly dependent on magros

So like yeah, like these things are super important and again, they're being destroyed like crazy But the reason why it's not just because of you know, like just climate change, right? Like it's it's an ideal source for aquaculture. Just like I said, it's like a breeding rep for fish. So like, you would want to use it too, or like even farming in the water, you know, like for rice or whatnot. And it's actually the currently the fastest food producing sector in the world. So like people are starting to use it more and more than any other area. Yeah.

So like, I mean, if you do it sustainably though,, like, it's possible to do these steams sustainably, but not usually. It's not the norm to be done sustainably. Well, like, like, with very many other things in this life, unfortunately, it seems like you can go through the extra labor effort or sometimes painstaking process to be fair, effort or sometimes painstaking process to be fair or you can be in an ethical piece of shit about it and just not care about any of that and do it in the most wanton, Mimi, kind of way there is. I hate to oversimplify it to some eyes and ears but like let's just be honest about it. Like when you've heard for 30 years about the state and shape of the planet and it becomes this kind of self-fulfilling prophecy where every decision you make in your life is justified as to why you will negatively impact this ecosystem and thus the planet like it just snowballs.

It really does. Like, man, that's the thing. Like, it's hard to say that because like America, you know, we've already kind of just screwed up this country enough, you know, like, well, compared to what it was when we came here, you know, when Europeans came to America, what it looks like then versus now, we've already taken, like, we've stripped the national resources. We are sustainable in some areas and like, we made we've already taken like we've stripped the national resources We are sustainable in some areas and like we we made national parks and stuff like that So like I mean right obviously I'm like exaggerating that a little bit these other countries a lot of these countries are developing Right, they're just they're getting to that like stage now where they're like advanced developing

But to do that they kind of have to like they have to make new cities and things like that. So it's really hard to say, don't develop. Keep your natural things. But at the same time, these things are so important. And it can be done right. Again, you can do it right. It's just very hard and expensive to do it right. To wrap up one thing about it before,

I want to talk about what's endangering them. I'm gonna end on a bad note unfortunately but they're carbon sinks. So because of the way that they grow, they store what's called blue carbon. They can store like be you know through photosynthesis and whatnot. They're storing the carbon from the air and it goes down into the roots into the soil that is covered by water. And because it's covered by water, it's kind of left undisturbed, versus like, you know, other sources where kind of gets taken out of the carbon cycle, essentially.

And because of that, it's actually a really good carbon sink for climate change, right? Overall, it doesn't take so much, like, versus Yeah, right. Something like that. But to hit that specific area of that, it's always in. You know what I mean? Like off the ocean front.

Yeah, exactly. It's kind of going to like some of the things that some of the ways that our mangroves are depleting. One of the big things is like weather events. But I mean, it does buffer against weather events, right? So like this hurricanes and things like that, it does help with them, but it still hurts. Right. If they don't have like, you know, 30 being damaged or weakened by other things, you know, they can die from that, right? Well, and to go back to one of the things we were talking about with episode 15,

I kind of dive on climate change is that storms and natural weather events compound and get worse. the more that climate change is not buffered. And it's happening right now. Like, I mean, look at all the heat waves and stuff that are having right now. You know, and this is, we're recording in 2023. So if someone's listening to this in the future,

I'm sure it's gonna be even worse, you know, but like, it's, maybe not, I hope, you know, like maybe if someone listens to this 20 years from now, they're like oh man We return that around I don't know oh god this podcast is so old. Oh there's a crime and change We fixed exactly. I hope that's what happens, but so like the global mangrove alliance like I was saying this the sets are different Because these guys are saying that it's estimated that 67% of mangroves have been lost or degraded but they say degraded so like maybe

they're not dead but like they're they are hurt and they're saying they'll that an additional 1% are lost every year you know so it's getting worse it's not getting better right now it's actually getting worse and they're trying to they have a bunch of different international groups led by the UN's decade of ecosystem restoration it's like a big initiative they're trying to, they have a bunch of different international groups led by the UN's decade of ecosystem restoration. It's like a big initiative. They're trying to actually reverse that and increase the mangrove coverage by 20% by 2023. I hope that's, I don't know exactly how far along they are, but you know, they've got

seven more years. I hope that it's working well. But yeah, so like some of the main causes of this depletion is things like pollution, particularly runoff because by like cities nearby because of cities being developed and things like that or like oil spills in the in the ocean or Agriculture runoff, which I don't want to get into that this episode, but I'm definitely going to talk about that soon I want to talk about agriculture runoff. That's important for sure. You know in like a place like Mumbai again India I don't know why I'm signaling out India on this but

With the Bengal tiger. Well, I mean, but you got to think though too. That is a largely developing in the last 30 years Still developing to this day. It's a perfect example It's the second most popular country in the world. It has like over a billion people live there It's insane to think about how big, like how many people live in India. But they found like high concentrations of heavy metals, like lead, mercury, and chromium in the plants. And but they also found like debris dumping

and untreated sewage and stuff like that. So like, it's just terrible. And like because these plants are filtering plants, like they're just taking all that pop, right? They filter, that's one of the things they do. Another thing that is terrible for them and is making them to be depleted is damning and irrigation. So when you dam up stuff, you're damning up the fresh water.

So then these plants get too saline, you know, they get too much salt from the ocean. They need a little bit of a mix, right? Or when you're irrigating, you're deluding them out. They're not getting enough, like it's too much and it's like it's keeping... You got to keep that pH balance, right? Yeah. Yes. Oh, like, oh, yeah. So like when you're irrigating, you're messing with the tides and stuff like that, right? So like you're changing the way the water circulates around them. So like they

don't get the right balance of water or even enough water in general, right? They might like dry out. There's also, again, chemicals and fertilizers and agriculture. That's, yeah, that's bad. But just general overfishing and over harvesting too from the locals, you know, it sucks.

But like, I hate to say that because like, they need to eat and everything. But like, that's destroying the bedrooms too. Like, it's just, I don't know, because like they need to eat and everything, but like that's destroying the Magro's too. Like it's just out of the man. It's all like I wish like I could end this on a good note, but yeah, they're kind of getting messed up pretty badly and I'm trying to bring awareness, I guess. I would like, you know, people knew more about Magro's. You didn't even know what Magro's were before, you know, we started talking about this. Right. No, and I think one of the important things is number one, like you were saying, like addressing the issue and bringing it to the forefront.

Some more people are even aware, but even beyond that, I feel like, obviously, I don't think this episode's going to hit. And then there's a dozen different people who are doing upstart companies and learning how to like take mangrove samples and then you know restart a new one a new somewhere else. You never know Kyle one of our viewers might be someone that is a mangrove researcher. Well not even just a researcher I'm talking about the people who are big and internet culture of like I'll take a couple of snips off this plan bring it back home, bring it

back home lay that out somewhere and develop something that's beneficial to the planet and not just your Cascading plants in your house. Exactly. You know, right? Do that everywhere, but definitely if you have mangroves around you, definitely. Yeah, right? If you live next to a mangrove and you're listening to this, get some snips, lay them out somewhere else that a mangrove could thrive. I do mean to say though, like I believe that somewhere else that a man could thrive. I do mean to say that, like, I believe that by making awareness for people, there is an adjacent effect of like,

because people are aware people will try to develop more. Exactly, definitely. One last thing, a really cool thing about Magrobes is they have these seeds and they germinate on the plant and then dropped out and started. Oh, yeah, yeah, really cool to be about. It's fun, thank you, but leave us out of that, okay?

And with that, we'd love to thank you for joining us here each and every week. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Patreon for exclusive access to our episodes by one week for Brad. I'm Kyle. Thank you. See ya. Blam! Brainsoda