Human Footprint

Wool has transformed Scotland’s landscapes, livelihoods, and legacy. Shane joins fashion historian Sally Tuckett at the Royal Highland Show and shepherd Joe Bakeron in the rugged hillsides of Scotland to explore how selective breeding and the Highland Clearances shaped today’s sheep-filled pastures — and how wool still weaves its influence through our clothes.

Shane links up with journalist Ben Goldfarb and suits up with beaver expert Skip Lisle to uncover how beavers reshaped the American landscape — and what we lost when they vanished. From centuries of fur trade to modern-day beaver-saving inventions, this segment shows how one bucktoothed rodent could help restore wetlands, fight climate change, and save taxpayer dollars.

Fashion historian Clare Sauro and journalist John Bartlett trace the hidden costs of fast fashion. From cheap, short-lived trends to mountains of textile waste dumped in Chile’s Atacama Desert, they expose how global supply chains and impulsive shopping habits fuel an environmental crisis — and why what we wear says more about us than we think.

Pollination gets personal when Shane meets Margarita Lopez-Uribe, an entomologist who studies squash bees — a wild, solitary species with a deep evolutionary bond to agriculture. These high-speed pollinators rely solely on cultivated squash to survive, revealing how humans and bees have co-evolved for millennia — and what their survival means for the future of farming.

Everyone knows the honey bee, but it’s just one species – there are 20,000 others! Humans
have depended on bees – both wild and managed – for millennia. But as bee populations
collapse around the world, can we save them before it’s too late?

From billion-dollar almond orchards to parasite-fighting labs, Shane dives into the hidden costs of industrial pollination. Commercial beekeeper John Miller and scientist Dr. Sammy Ramsey reveal how honey bees became essential to our food system — and how diseases, parasites, and stress are pushing them to the brink. Can we save the bees before the next pollinator pandemic hits?

Wild bees like the rusty-patched bumble bee are vanishing — but not without a fight. Conservation photographer Clay Bolt shares how a rare sighting sparked a nationwide effort to protect native pollinators. Shane joins Clay in Wisconsin to witness one of North America’s rarest bees and uncovers how pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change are threatening the future of wild bees.

Take a look in the mirror… do you like what you see? From biotech labs to beaver ponds, from New York Fashion Week to Chile’s textile graveyards, Shane unravels how the trends we chase to fit in and stand out leave a lasting mark on our planet.

In humankind’s conquest of planet Earth, we rely on improbable allies – species we’ve recruited from nature to help us defeat our adversaries. But in this brave new world of “biocontrol,” is the enemy of an enemy always a friend?

Host Shane Campbell-Staton meets the unlikely heroes of pest control—from 10,000 ducks in Thai rice fields to microscopic mites dropped by drone over Washington’s hops. Exploring the ancient roots and modern science of biocontrol, Shane reveals how farmers are teaming up with nature to protect crops — without relying on chemicals.

Shane Campbell-Staton joins biologist Rick Shine and toad buster Simon Middap to unpack the full story of Australia’s cane toad invasion. From unintended consequences and rapid evolution to backyard eradication and sci-fi solutions like “Peter Pan” tadpoles, this is biocontrol at its wildest — and weirdest.

Shane Campbell-Staton investigates how shrimp became America’s #1 seafood — and reveals the exploitation and forced labor that fuel its global supply chain. With journalist Ben Lorr and activist Patima Tungpuchayakul, he exposes how modern slavery hides behind low prices and how grocery stores disconnect us from the people who feed us.