E134 Anika Staccone: Nature Needs More Than Numbers

Anika Staccone has always lived at the edge of forests and frontiers. From watching pine beetles devastate her childhood landscapes in Colorado, to leading research on nitrogen-fixing trees at Columbia, her path has been shaped by the question of how we truly understand nature. Today, as Product Owner at Earthshot Labs, she is fusing AI, geospatial data and field science into tools that don’t just measure trees, but unlock new ways of protecting them.This conversation is about why ground truth matters more than satellite snapshots, why conservation must be designed with people as much as with pixels, and why the future of carbon and restoration isn’t about billion-dollar projects but smallholders finally having access to global markets. We explore the role of ecotourism, the promise of AI, and the stubborn reality that nature will not be saved by numbers alone.