If a whale sings in the ocean, and Michelle Fournet is there to hear it through her hydrophones, how does it sound? How are these songs impacted by human activities—and by the pandemic’s quiet oceans?

Michelle Fournet is an acoustic ecologist with the Cornell Bioacoustics Research Program. She studies how marine animals—including humpback whales and other creatures—use sound to communicate, detect predators and prey, and engage with their environments in an increasingly noisy world. From Glacier Bay National Park in Southeast Alaska to Florida’s Everglades, she’s recorded hours and hours of sound from the underwater world.

Threshold is a public radio show and podcast that tackles one pressing environmental issue each season. Launched in 2016, Threshold has received a Peabody Award nomination, a national Edward R. Murrow Award, and a citation from the Overseas Press Club among other honors.

Threshold Conversations features interviews with environmental thought leaders on important issues impacting cultures, communities, and ecosystems in the United States and beyond. These conversations aim to create space for thoughtful, civil conversations about the urgent environmental issues we’re living with today.

Threshold Conversations is supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, Montana Public Radio, Park Foundation, High Stakes Foundation, and Threshold’s listeners.