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Episode 5: Ginkgo Stink

Ginkgo Biloba is a beautiful tree with an incredible history that dates back millions of years – it’s also a popular street tree among urban foresters. So why are some cities clamoring to have all their ginkgoes cut down, while others are planting them in the thousands? The answer has to do with your dirty gym socks, 19th century London smog, and maybe, the curious appetites of long-dead dinosaurs.

Listen to the episode:

A selection of articles about the infamous "Ginkgo Stink"

Ginkgo Trees Stink Up Cities When Seeds Fall (The Wall Street Journal)

Ginkgo Trees That ‘Smell like Vomit’ Causing Trouble Nationwide (Huffington Post)

The Female Ginkgo Tree’s Acrid Smell of Success (The New York Times)

Pedestrian Raises Stink Over Ginkgo Berries (Chicago Tribune)

Seoul Embarks On Citywide Effort To Clean Ginkgo Stink (The Straits Times)

It’s Ginkgo Season. Watch Where You Step (The Washington Post Express)

Taylor Quimby is Supervising Senior Producer of the environmental podcast Outside/In, Producer/Reporter/Host of Patient Zero, and Senior Producer of the serialized true crime podcast Bear Brook.
Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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