What if the most enduring civilization on Earth has six legs?

Ants have been organizing, farming, waging war, recycling waste, and engineering ecosystems since the age of dinosaurs — and most of us barely notice them.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Brian Fisher of the California Academy of Sciences to explore ants as superorganisms: colonies that eat, share, and decide as one body. Larvae function as the stomach. Adults pass energy mouth-to-mouth. Queens can store decades of future in a single organ. What looks like a simple trail across your counter is actually logistics, chemistry, and collective intelligence in motion.

We meet honeypot ants that serve as living food storage, Dracula ants with one of the strangest feeding strategies in nature, and queens capable of determining the sex of their offspring. We unpack chemical language, colony takeovers, and the quiet but essential role ants play in recycling nutrients through what scientists call the “brown cycle.”

But this isn’t just fascinating biology. Ants hold ecosystems together. As global insect populations decline, monitoring and protecting these tiny engineers may be more urgent than we realize.

By the end of this episode, you won’t look at the ground the same way again.

Because ants?
They’ve been running things for a very long time.

AntWeb
MadagascarBio
iNaturalist
Breakfast Before Conservation
AntCat

Interview with Dr. Brian Fisher, Entomologist - Explorer, Scientist, Teacher

Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.

What happens when the most elite combat divers in the world turn their training toward saving coral reefs, rescuing sea turtles, and restoring the ocean?
You get Force Blue—a nonprofit that retrains and redeploys special operations veterans to work alongside marine scientists on urgent conservation missions… and in the process, helps veterans rediscover the thing many lose after service: mission, team, and purpose.

In this episode, I’m joined by Jim Ritterhoff, Executive Director and co-founder of Force Blue. We talk about how the organization began—one friend trying to help another friend heal—and how it grew into a global force for good. You’ll hear what veterans bring to conservation work (discipline, focus, relentless teamwork), what scientists gain from partnering with them, and why Jim calls it “mission therapy.”

We also dive into the idea of Blue Mind—the healing power of water—and explore Force Blue’s core values: buoyancy, belonging, and betterment. Because this conversation isn’t just about coral, oysters, and marine sanctuaries… it’s about what happens when service becomes restoration—of ecosystems and of the people doing the work.

If you’ve ever needed a reason to believe in hope again—this one’s for you.

Force Blue

Interview with Jim Ritterhoff, Executive Director and Co-Founder

Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.

The power of a simple question can change everything.
When a man named Isaac approached our cleanup team in Ewaso Ngiro, Kenya, and asked, “Can you give me the tools to clean up my side of town?”—none of us could have predicted what would follow. That single question launched Project PickUp (phase 2), a community-led movement that’s now reshaping how waste is handled in rural Kenya.

In this episode, Vanessa sits down with Justin Imamura and TJ Lauters of The Trash Punx and Therese Hjelm of Sabore’s Well to reflect on their recent return to Kenya—two years after their first trip—to help open an Upcycling Center that’s now in local hands.

From hilarious travel stories (beware “the rat”—aka complete exhaustion—and Nairobi traffic!) to powerful moments with changemakers like Violet, who makes reusable diapers in Kibera, and the welder whose life changed simply by being next door to the Upcycling Center—this episode is packed with laughter, heart, and global perspective.

At its core, it’s about what happens when environmental solutions are community-led. The Upcycling Center doesn’t just reduce waste—it creates jobs, replaces tree-cutting with recycled plastic fence posts, and models conservation that doesn’t leave people behind.

Join us for this raw, joy-filled conversation about listening first, staying curious, and trusting what can unfold when we say yes to the messy, beautiful work of creating change—together.

🌍 Want to support this work? Check out the links to the people and projects mentioned.

The Trash Punx
Sabore's Well
Violet Ochieng'
Ocean Sole

Interview with: Therese Hjelm, TJ Lauters & Justin Imamura

Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.